Meet Belgium Football Manager Youtuber Leyodemus
Welcome to the first in a series of interviews where we recommend Football Manager Youtubers to Watch in 2021.
As we leave Football Manager 2020 and a version that saw lots of quality content and a bunch of new content creators rising in the FM Community, it’s time to focus on FM Youtubers for FM21.
Today we like to put attention to one … perhaps the only content creator who played FM on Google Stadia; meet Leyodemus – a Belgium Football Manager Youtuber. Here you’ll get an insight into Leyodemus experiences with Google Stadia, about his channel and what we can expect to see from him for FM21.
Whether Football Manager 2021 will appear on Google Stadia or not we don’t know at the time of writing, but I’m sure this interview will give you an insight to how the experiences with Google Stadia and FM20 was last year, and perhaps why FM21 won’t be launched on Google Stadia.
About Play With Passion
According to our vision of sharing the passion for Football Manager, we have promoted Streamers, Youtubers and Bloggers the past year under the hashtag play with passion. In the coming months, we’ll continue this trend by highlighting the Football Manager Youtubers to watch in 2021 with personal interviews.
If you enjoy these types of interviews, please check out Custard Prophet’s Football Manager Creator Showcase which let you meet both small and big Youtubers that he recommends. These showcases normally feature two creators and are out bi-weekly.
The Inteview With Leyodemus
Welcome, Leyodemus! Thanks for taking the time to sit down with us to talk first and foremost about Google Stadia and your experiences with it and secondly about you as a Football Manager Youtuber.
First of, in case there are readers who are not familiar with your Youtube channel. Can you give a brief introduction to you as a Football Manager Youtuber and tell us a bit about yourself?
First of all, thanks for having me! Well, to be honest, I guess I’m a fairly “new” member of the FM-community, at least as far as content creation goes. I started out last March with some FM20-videos and I’m happy to admit I have been enjoying it ever since! I’m a 38-year old software developer from Belgium and have been playing video games for as long as I can remember. Like so many people from “my generation” (dear god that makes me sound old!) I started out with the classics: Outrun, Mortal Kombat, Sim City, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and trust me: this list could go on forever! Pretty soon my interest definitely shifted towards the management/tycoon genre, hence my interest in Championship Manager/Football Manager.
How long have you been playing Football Manager?
Well, I remember I played the very early editions of CM, probably around 1993/1994. But the first game that actually became the equivalent of a full time job as far as playing hours go, was CM 2000/2001. In short: I pretty much chose to play the game instead of going to my college classes. Then CM 2001/2002 followed and I was still in college, so do the math! Up until this very day, I’m pretty sure those 2 editions are the ones that have sucked up the most playing hours for me since I literally played day and night. Not to sound old again, but those were the days…
Do you got a specific area within Football Manager which interests you the most; whether it’s something relating to tactics, training, scouting or transfers that makes you spend some extra time on?
I’m not afraid to say that I honestly love most (if not all) aspects of the game, but since you put me on the spot here… I would go for the absolute joy when you have scouted and recruited a very young unknown player, and then watch him grow year after year to become an ab-so-lute superstar!
I also love the overall process in the transfer window, when you simply try to assemble the best possible squad with the resources that you have at your disposal. Especially in lower league management, this can prove to be quite the challenge, but if everything more or less goes according to plan… I freakin’ love it.
And on that note: when it’s end-of-season time, I’m one of those old school guys who use Excel spreadsheets and whatnot, just to make sure I don’t miss or forget anything when (re)building my squad.
Why did you decide on playing Football Manager 2020 on Google Stadia?
For several reasons really. First of all, as a software developer I am still quite fascinated by the technologies behind it, so that triggered me to at least give it a try. But maybe the biggest reason for me to check it out was the idea that I could simply play the same game on all my computers and TV. That thought just blew my mind and in fact: it IS awesome… So when FM20 came out on Stadia, you can probably imagine that it was an absolute no-brainer for me.
How have your experiences with Google Stadia and Football Manager been? Have there been any options you have been accustomed to with the original PC version of FM, that you have missed on the Google Stadia platform?
First of all, let me say that in general I really enjoy playing FM20 (and other games) on Google Stadia. Since you are using Google’s infrastructure, the in-game speed is pretty darn fast of course. Even with a LOT of leagues loaded, the performance is absolutely awesome.
That being said, there were some issues along the way.
When FM20 launched on Stadia, you literally had no “disk space” available to store tactics, views, set-piece instructions, … you name it. So every time you started a new save, you had to set everything up from scratch. Luckily that issue was fixed after a couple of months and now you have 250MB of storage available if I’m not mistaken.
Another BIG issue was savegame-related. If you check out my Iberian Sun series, there is a certain point where I literally thought I would have to quit the save, simply because all my files were getting corrupted in some way.
Thank god I found a workaround myself because I am under the impression that the actual problem has not been solved to this very day… Here is a SI-thread about the issue: https://community.sigames.com/topic/509912-wont-save/
Comparing it to the PC version, I mostly miss the option to use custom skins and databases. I know it’s not a life-threatening issue or anything, but I simply think that it enhances the gameplay even more and can really lift the FM-experience to a higher level.
What’s the biggest benefit, in your opinion, to buy Google Stadia?
Easy: the fact that you don’t have to buy a new gaming PC to keep up! You can play the newest games (IF they are released on Stadia of course) simply through your Chrome browser on your desktop/laptop/TV/… The only thing you really do need to consider is having a good internet connection with preferably an unlimited data package. Because when using Stadia, a LOT of data traffic will take place while you are playing the games.
To play a game like FM, a decent wireless connection is good enough in my opinion, but when you start playing a shooter for example, you will want a fast and stable cabled connection.
Would you recommend Google Stadia as a platform for FM21?
At this point, I’m not even sure if FM21 is going to be released on Stadia? But for now, let’s assume that it is. I would definitely recommend it for FM21, but NOT for content creation. To simply play the “vanilla” version of FM (so no custom skins or databases) I think this platform is perfect. Even with a (decent) wireless internet connection,
I really enjoyed playing FM20 like that.
I’m not saying that it’s impossible to use it for content creation, see both of my FM20-series as evidence, BUT at the moment of recording you are simply 100% depending on a cloud service and your own internet connection in general… and nobody wants to see laggy gameplay. If you browse through the episodes of my Iberian Sun series, I think you will feel my pain ?
Why have you decided on moving away from Google Stadia for FM21?
For the exact reason, I just mentioned, so purely for the content creation part of it all. I don’t want to be relying on external factors any more, that’s also why I have bought a new gaming PC. A lot of content is coming for FM21, only no longer played on Stadia ?
Are there any FM21 features you wish to see incorporated, perhaps in order for you to change your mind to further your Google Stadia experience, or that would enhance your overall game experience with FM?
As far as Stadia goes: if they can find a way to implement custom skins and databases, that would really benefit the overall FM-experience on that platform I think. And if I can push it even further, interchangeable savegame files between the PC version and the Stadia version would be epic. I don’t think that is ever going to happen, to be honest, looking at the savegame-related issues that they have had so far.
For the overall FM-experience…that’s a tough one. I really like in-depth simulation and management games in general, so for me, it’s quite simple: the more features/options/possibilities, the better!
One thing I REALLY hope they will improve is the match engine graphics. And I know you might argue that it will make the game “heavier” as far as minimum requirements go because the graphical part will require more processing power, but I mean…this is the 21st century, right? I’m not expecting FIFA-quality graphics, but still…
I have just read that SI has made some major changes to the game engine itself, so maybe the graphical part also got an update? I’m excited to find out either way!
You have enjoyed the Iberian Sun for Football Manager 2020, but what can we expect to see from you for FM21 and what’re your future plans with your channel?
I have a couple of saves planned at this point. For the beta, I will manage the national team of Belgium, my home nation. The plan in this “Hold my beer!”-series is simple really: fast forward to the European Championships in 2021…and win it!
The second series that I have planned is an MLS-save called “A Bronx tale”, where I will be managing New York City FC. I’m not sure when I’m going to start it though, because… my MAIN series for FM21 will be “Stuttgart über alles”, a one-club save with the German Bundesliga team VFB Stuttgart. The goal is to achieve eternal football glory by winning the Champions League! This series will kick-off as soon as the final version of FM21 drops, so stay tuned!
I have launched a video explaining a little bit about these 3 saves that also includes all the intros I have created, so feel free to check it out!
As you can tell, I don’t have a journeyman save planned at this moment, but that is probably something for later on next year.
So, we have come to the final question, and before I let you g oI have to ask; what’re your expectations in front of Football Manager 2021 release?
Well to be honest…I have seen the teaser videos for the upcoming new features, and I am most excited about the additions to the whole recruitment and end-of-season process. That thing with the body language… I’m not sure about that, but only time will tell! Overall, I will probably once again simply enjoy FM as it is, regardless of the new stuff. I just love the game, I have loved it for 25+ years, and I can’t wait to scout my first Brazilian wonderkid newgen!
Also, the upgrade for the match engine seems like a very good addition to what is already an awesome game. Best case scenario though: SI have made some more “secret” major improvements which they didn’t announce at all, and we will all be blown away by this new edition! I don’t think that’s going to be the case, but still…a man can dream, right? ?
That would be excellent! Before I let you go, I want to wish you all the best for Football Manager 2021 release and we’re all looking forward to your FM21 plans!
If you enjoyed this interview, please subscribe to Leyodemus’ Youtube channel or follow him on Twitter for the latest save announcements and uploads!
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Stay tuned for more Football Manager 2021 related content coming very soon!
Until next time, thanks for reading!
