You do not need to install anything on your device - whole game is played through browser, so all you need is access to Internet and a web browser.
Yeah, yeah, I know it sound terribly pompous, but on the other hand if you force yourself to get through this paragraph it may save you a lot of time on reading all the rest.
First of all Santa Monica FC Online is devised as compact and casual single player online game, which means the whole interface and data range is minimalistic, so if you expect stunning graphics and 3D match engine you should look elsewhere.
Second major thing about SMFC Online can be put in just one word: uncertainty. Our goal was to create a game unlike most of the football manager games, where you can reach all the data before making a decision. Why? Years ago I used to play Hattrick (among other similar games) and one day I had to buy one more player, I looked through auctions and found 3 players that would suit my needs: one from Poland, one from Sweden and one from Brazil. They had exactly the same parameters, same character elements, same experience level and then I realized it makes absolutely no difference which one will I buy, they are exactly the same and it is 100% certain. But in real life you usually don't know much details about the player before buying him and that's why we have limited the data you get while browsing through the transfer list and some parameters of the player you bought remain hidden until you get to know him better (through matches he play for you).
The third major thing about our game is a side-effect of the game being built as casual and minimalistic - while the game contains most of the options available in big productions we've cut some corners to keep it simple. For example we've cut out the negotiations from transfers and signing contracts - yes, they do matter, but at the same time often they are just a giant waste of time, the player will only accept offer on certain level, so we just jumped to the moment where he puts his minimal expectations and you either accept or look somewhere else.
Similar story with the stadium - yes, when you increase the capacity it is a big thing and part of the stadium should be closed for at least few weeks, but it isn't much fun to just wait. We could have created 40 or 50 player parameters to cover every single detail of his skills, but usually they don't have that much impact on the performance, so we compacted them to just 8 technical skills (f.e. tackling covers also marking and physical duels). This way it is easier to read them and get the grasp what your player is like.
We wanted to avoid mistakes many teams are making when they start the game from scratch - get too ambitious and then just abandon their projects - so our plan was to create a fully functional game that will not be impressive graphically, but technically finished and then look into ways to improve it and polish its appearance (similar to retro games that involved with time). So don't expect us to compete with AAA games right now.
The fifth and last major thing is replayability of the game - we do not use real clubs nor real players, each game has procedurally generated content, so each time you start new game you will be given new reality (from players, to local and international opponents). But SMFC Online has in-built editor that allows you to adapt the game to your liking - you can change club names, their team colours, manager names, also names and nationality of every available player. You can make changes to them any time you want, not only at the start of the game.
If you got through that paragraph and you agree with our concept of the game then give it a try or browse through rest of the "how to play" section to learn more.
