Tag: games

FM Kit Creator

For all my life I have gamed and played video games since I was a child playing on the Sega Mega Drive. One of the earliest type of games I had got into was football (soccer) management simulation games. I forget the names now of the very early games I played on Mega Drive, maybe FIFA Manager or Championship Manager but they got me hooked.

Moving on to PC gaming I remember picking up big cardboard boxes containing Greatest Hits versions of Championship Manager 97/98 onwards and that is really the bulk of my gaming. Championship Manager eventually split into two rivals Football Manager and Championship Manager, though the name was retained the quality and game went to Football Manager.

Today there is only Football Manager existing, and it is on Football Manager 2024 (2025 version scrapped for FM 26 due to development issues). The game has a yearly release and despite minimal changes in recent years I have always bought it and played the life out of it, a quick look at steam shows the hours I have put into it, though some hours account for idle time and background. I’d play while I work or do stuff. A huge chunk of my life devoted to the game. A game that is essentially a spreadsheet.

Due to the current two year cycle of FM24 it is feeling a little stale and boring even with updated squads and new matchsim files to play with (a key feature of the series is fan made skin and mods to update the quality of life and cosmetic aspect of the game like kits, badges, profile pics and skins).

I discovered something and I am addicted to it, it is making my own kits for my teams to use in the game. I discovered this site FM Kit Creator and it has blown my mind being able to create my own 2D and 3D kits to use in game. I enjoy using the real kits but its fun to make my own. You can edit styles, patterns, colours, badges, logos and sponsors. The past few weeks I have spent as much time making kits as I have playing the game.

I plan to going forward make new kits every in game season for whoever I am managing, like currently I am managing Liverpool FC and Brazil, so made custom kits for both.

Here are some (mostly Liverpool FC) kits I have made for my game.

Anbernic RG35XX Plus Emulator

Something a little different today. A few weeks ago I did a post here about converting an old PS VITA to be an emulator for playing roms of retro consoles like Gameboy Colour etc. It worked well but I had a problem with the charging cable, it being a proprietary cable and not easy to source unlike a USB C or Micro USB cable. I had always been curious about emulators and with my birthday a few weeks ago I treated myself to an emulator. The emulator I purchased was Anbernic RG35XX Plus.

I have been using it for a few weeks now and I love it. It emulates consoles up to PS1 and Nintendo N64, essentially anything before the use of analogue sticks. You can buy emulators that have them but for this first purchase I played it safe. It looks like a classic Gameboy console and has the added bonus of the R1,R2,L1,L2 buttons on the back. It is smaller to a Gameboy original so more like the Colour but chunkier. Very comfortable with the added buttons on the back. The sound is not Dolby Atmos quality but it is a nostalgia hit similar to the Gameboy and retro handhelds. The screen is excellent too and the games look great on it.

In terms of emulators and emulation it is perfect, I am mostly using it for Gameboy Colour, Mega Drive, NES and PS1 games and not had a problem at all. It is very easy to upload and add roms to the memory cards.

You can purchase it online from many retailers but I purchased mine from UK retro console refurbisher and modern emulator seller called Retrolize. What I like about the purchase was it came with a case and the included memory cards were replaced from generic Chinese ones to more reliable SanDisk ones. The price was cheaper than Amazon too, for more product and better cards.

At the moment I am enjoying getting lost (literally) in Pokémon Yellow, its a nice addition to my EDC and with a long trip coming up shortly it along with Kindle will help alleviate boredom.