A History of the SuperHappyTime Simulated Football League

I had bought a desktop computer in late 2012, a better machine than the burnt out laptop I had used throughout college and for the past year and a half. At the time I was living in Oklahoma, doing a job I didn’t like and because my boss and I were not on good terms, I was not given a regular task, told to “stay at home until we called you”. As I lived in a town in the sticks instead of in Oklahoma City or Tulsa, I spent time on the computer or watching TV, with little reason to leave my apartment. Somehow I stumbled across a website performing a simulated league using Pro Evolution Soccer.

When I was little (8 or 9) I made a few fictional teams with NBA Live (I think there were 4 spots). When I got older, the same thing happened with what I believe was the last NHL game on PC. The NHL game was disappointing, I was set up to make a full league, I had the drive, I was watching games with created teams, and it made it to about four full teams. As through expansion I made it to six, I was informed the game wouldn’t make enough players for a seventh. It had nothing to do with hard drive space (I had plenty), the game had a personal limit. It killed my plans, and I gave up both the League Idea, and the game.

PES went a little different, there wasn’t a ‘create your own team function’, I was new to soccer, and didn’t really have an idea for teams at the time. I stuck to the fictional teams PES included, running a number of sim games between computers in exhibitions. Before long I learned I could simulate a lot in tournaments, I learned a little about soccer, and then discovered which of the teams were fictional. One thing I loved was the “Visitors Section” where fans wore the color of a different team, something that only happened in the US at College Football games.

The first team I created was Lewes Peculiar, which after learning about naming conventions later became Lewes Peculiar FC. A funny little logo was created, and I started on club number two (Valeria Club), three (Club Amazing Football), four (Treason Football) and so on. The first league consisted of 24 teams, which played a number of friendlies. Soon I created the PLQT (Prime League Qualifier Tournament) which would aid in selecting the 8 teams established as Prime League, and the other 16 that would be the 2nd-Class Minor League.

I started to expand the league from here. I built a sketched-out nation, assigned teams to the cities, created city rivalries (called a “derby” in soccer), relationships between teams and cities (such as how Treason moved between Hotson and Sand Springs), junior teams (most of which became full teams). The first Prime League went through a Spring and Summer Season, an 8 team elimination tournament where losers played each other to avoid elimination, and winners moved on. The 16 team minor league would advance the winner up to the Prime League.

The league would evolve by 12 to 36 teams, most of which were the Junior teams and natural rivals for teams already present. Teams had a logo (while early ones were made in MS Paint, later would be clipart taken from Powerpoint). Uniforms (Kits) were created for every team. A separate league was created with four levels (Prime (8), Minor A (6), Minor II (6), and Rookie (4 regions of 4). The map advanced, and even created cities with “Official”, “Beloved”, and “Top” teams, generating the idea of why rivalry might exist in cities. Scheduling was intense, with League Matches and Regional Matches, the idea of a ranking between teams, Trade Unions where teams would trade players to help each other).

I managed a “weeks”, roughly fourty games, before I settled for doing a normal league, which lasted two weeks before PES 2014 came out.

PES2014 added Latin America and Asian leagues, which came with their own fictional leagues, and thus, it was expanded to 78 teams in total. A quick elimination round dropped this to 64 teams to run two qualifier tournaments to re-determine a new 20 team Prime League, 18 team Major League (2^nd Division), and two 20 team Minor Leagues (East and West). I formatted the map to look like the USA (what it was based on), introduced the idea of three other nations of Novos (Canada), Buenas (Mexico) and Keven (Cuba). Teams in the Prime League would receive kits, games would be played as half a league season, with each team playing one another once. Two Cups would run at the end of the year, followed by a season for derbies that were not played during the year to settle grudges.

Season 1 Winner: SC For the Cause                         Season 2 Winner: SC For the Cause

Champions Cup 1 Winner: Central Outsiders      Cup 2 Winner: Valeria Club

Cup 1 Winner: State University                                 Season 3 Proj. Winner: Lewes Peculiar FC

The league would go through another format change before the end of PES2014. Tidal Port Football would have the highest ELO before the end of that season.

Moving to PES2015 was avoided for a long time as the program was not as option-available. Tournaments could not be held with COM vs COM teams, nor could teams transfer from Asia to Europe, When it would go, only 16 teams were moved over as the Prime League for the first season. There was an effort taken to build custom players with random stats, and a second class B-League run in the background via Excel with more of the older teams.

Season 1 Winner: Knights of Duria                           Cup 1 Winner: Northern Way

A second season was about to begin (The B-League was simulated), but a move to PES2016 was made mid-way through, the season cut to Championship at the halfway point.

Season 2 Winner: Houghton Club                             Cup 2 Winner: FC Crapes

The Prime League was increased to 20 teams, a 24 team Major, and a 16 team Minor. Leagues were quartered into divisions, and divisions would only trade teams inside each other (So the lowest Northeast Prime team would exchange for the Highest Northeast Major Team). Teams played a playoff for their positions in the Prime and Major Leagues.

2016 Season 1 Winner: Lewes Peculiar FC                             2016 Cup 1 Winner: FC Ongong City

2016 Season 2 Winner: Enforcers                                            2016 Cup 2 Winner: Valeria Club

2016 Season 3 Winner: Valeria Club                                         2016 Cup 3 Winner: FC Golden Reef

The League had trailed off after Season 4 kicked off; there was a change in division structure as well. PES2017 returning the ability to run tournaments via Computer games again, but the move did not occur. I’d found a girlfriend, to whom I proposed, and am now happily married with. I haven’t had the time to play the games anymore, nor update to PES 2017.

With discovery of OotP18, I think I’ve found a league that will be more interesting to simulate (since statistics go more hand in hand with baseball than soccer). Plans are to use the same world the soccer world was built with.