DIYGamer » football

‘Gameplay Football’ Preview – Making The Starting 11

Mark OBeirne — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:00:27 +0000

The beautiful game has been given an indie overhaul with the public beta release of Gameplay Football. In its current state, it looks like a promising prospect from the youth academy of football video games.

Gameplay Football features nine unlicensed teams though the teams and players are easily identifiable. Players can choose teams such as Los Merengues (that’s Real Madrid in Spanish), the Gooners or FC Masterdam among other clubs, along with the international sides of the Dutch, the Germans and the Spanish. It’s a clever workaround, but subtle enough so that players know to give the ball to Outiesta or Van Persil.

As the title is taking its first steps as a public release, the options are a little curtailed. Players can play single matches, but Cups are planned for future releases. Matches can be played against other players locally or against the AI, which can provide a challenge or allow players to practice shooting at will, depending on where the slider is set. Matches can also be set to last anywhere from five to twenty-five minutes. While the upper end of this scale may appear intimidating, it may be the option to choose if you have some spare time because when matches finish, the game exits. This breaks the feeling of “just one more game” that other sports titles can nurture so well.

The basic mechanics of Gameplay Football work well. The emphasis is on a pass-and-move style and the teams selected would drift towards this style in real life. Technically, Germany falls into this category because, yes, long route-one style passes do constitute a pass. The passing system does work quite well and it is rare that players will find themselves yelling at the passer that a simpler or better pass was on the cards. However, the likes of Messy can still tear defences to shreds with the ball at his feet because the controls are quite responsive and players change direction well.

Players such as Messi are the ruination of a good defender’s career and sometimes it’s necessary to take the ball from him by any means necessary. In Gameplay Football, only mistimed sliding tackles are punished, though the standing collision system seems more accurate than FIFA 12’s impact engine at times. The game goes back to a time when men were men and challenges were tough. As a result, there is no place for the antics of players such as Ashley Young or Didier Drogba. If you want a free kick, your player is going to have to earn it.

Balancing goalkeepers is an incredibly difficult task – so much so that developers with years of experience and titles behind them still struggle to find the perfect line between a reliable keeper and one that is unbeatable. Unfortunately, Gameplay Football requires some tweaks in this regard. While some stunning efforts can be saved from six yards, there are some thirty yard efforts that fizzle out on the way, yet slide into the net inches from where the keeper is standing.

Some tweaks are required and, naturally, Gameplay Football is not perfect. The idea of playing advantage should probably have been left out, for example. Again, this is an element that is tough to manage at times and the safer option is to simply give fouls and free kicks. The notable incident during play was a clumsy challenge that should have resulted in a penalty. However, the AI got the ball back and was allowed to play on rather than getting the penalty. Brash challenges also bear no punishment as long as play isn’t stopped; once advantage is played, no cards are shown.

With the basic gameplay elements and mechanics sorted, the interface could use a couple of changes for future versions. If players get carded, there is no way to easily identify who is on thin ice. Unfortunately, during the process of being booked it doesn’t show a name either, so caution is advised once a yellow card has been shown. There are certain things that players expect from football titles at this stage; a power bar for shots and crosses, two kits per team in case of clashes and some atmosphere during matches. These are missing for the time being, but will hopefully be implemented in the near future.

Gameplay Football is a solid title that plays to its strengths. It has emphasised passing and has made this element silky and smooth. For an early public beta, it shows plenty of potential. There is room for improvement, but a couple of tweaks here and there will ensure that Gameplay Football puts its hand up for selection as part of the starting lineup.

Gameplay Football has been released as a public beta and is available from the official Properly Decent website. Updates from the team can be found on Facebook or Twitter.

‘Bundle4Dead’ Has Arisen – 4 Games For 4 Dollars

Chris Priestman — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:44:25 +0000

‘Bundle4Dead’ Has Arisen – 4 Games For 4 Dollars

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March 26th, 2012 | By Chris Priestman

The Bundle4Dead has now just gone live on Indievania which includes four zombie themed games for a measly $4.

The upcoming and rather brilliant store for indie games, Indievania, is holding a bundle from now until April 9th which offers for undead games for a rather bargasmic $4.

The bundle consists of four DRM-free downloads for Windows only (apart from one of the games) with all of the money going straight to the developers. We’re good at maths so were able to work out that it’s a dollar for each developer from every sale. Bring on the gold stars!

In the Bundle4Dead you will get your grubby, rotten hands on:

Zombie Football Carnage
(Windows)
Metal Dead
(Windows)
Three Dead Zed
(Windows, Mac, Linux)
Corril Slayer
(Windows)

You can make your purchases over on the bundle’s official page where all of the information you may need to know about the games and the bundle is also contained.

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New Star Soccer Free to Play Until Sunday + Sale

Arsen Nazaryan — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:55:17 +0000

Some good news for those with free accounts in New Star Soccer 5: the game will have an unlimited number of matches to play for free until tomorrow, November 27. For those who are on the verge of purchasing NSS5 (which you really should do since it is a great game), it is still available at a 50% discount as part of the Show Me the Games sales promotion.

At only $10 for a premium account, New Star Soccer 5 is honestly one of the best indie football and sports games in general. As to how to actually get the discount: ”[Until Monday] Simply log-in to your account page or load your save file and click the upgrade button. Then use the discount code SMTGNSS.” There, it’s as easy as that. If you’ve yet to try NSS5, remember that it is still available for free until tomorrow and you can still play a limited number of free matches with a free account any other day.

[New Star Soccer 5, New Star Games]

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DIYGamer Holiday Give Away! For each and every article we post we’re giving away an indie game.

This article’s game is Antipole for the PC (code is redeemable on Desura), by Saturnine Games!

Leave a meaningful comment below to enter into the drawing.

A Football-Management MMO “For the Fans, By the Fans”… Ultimate Football Live [Interview]

Arsen Nazaryan — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:00:07 +0000

[It's not very often football/soccer fans have the opportunity to take their love of the game online -- in a whole new way. Sure, we've got our FIFAs and our Football Managers, but as Netsports' Tom Heller explains, there is a huge void where a football-management MMO should be. That's not for too long, though, as the Netsports team is hard at work on Ultimate Football Live, or UFLive for short.

Although it is ways away from release, UFLive has us excited. It is a project that boasts great promise, but that requires a tremendous amount of hard work and determination. So we will monitor it closely, ensuring we keep you up to speed on its development... in the hopes that you're perhaps a fraction as excited as we are. Forgive the lack of screenshots, there really isn't much to show off just yet, but read on to find out the story of how Netsports came to be and what it is trying to do.]

DIYGamer: How did this project come about? Who is working on it?

Netsports Software: All of the members of the UFLive development team previously played Football Manager Live before it closed down. In the days after its demise, Will [Riches, the General Manager -- ed.] posted on the forums that he wanted to get a group together to develop a new game, created by the community. And quite quickly a core of highly enthusiastic developers came forward and began the discussion process. At first a Google group was created, and the game was given the working title ‘Soccer Universe’.

I think it’s fair to say that at first there was a fair bit of scepticism, but as time went by and the public saw progress it became clear that we were serious, and since then we have received great support from the fans, and where possible we have asked for their opinions to help shape UFLive.

The dev team come from a diverse mix of personal backgrounds, but all have in common a love of gaming, football and MMO’s. We all offer something very important to the development, ranging from programming, to feature design, web design, graphic design, project management and company management.

The company we have formed also reflects our community based roots. Netsports Software Ltd, as we are now, is a consortium co-op. Each member of the team has one vote in all important company decisions from the directors down, and we all complete many diverse tasks within the development. We work together and help each other out wherever necessary, be it for content, UI design, or many other things.

What are some inspirations for the game? Are there elements you will draw from FIFA, Football Manager, FIFA Manager, etc.?

We’ve had a close look at all these games to find out what makes them so appealing to the users. Since Football Manager and Football Manager Live in particular is of a very similar genre to us, we’ve really analysed what aspects of these games have worked well and what has let them down. Having said that, we’re aiming to make UF Live a very unique and enthralling gaming experience!

What entails the basic gameplay of the game? In other words, what are you doing most of the time? How is the game set up? Will you be dealing with stats, formations, injuries, etc. and then watching the games in a 2D or 3D plane like in Football Manager? Will you actively participate in the games (e.g. getting to play as the players) or just be calling subs, tactics, and the like?

Although we are designing our own game, and bringing in many unique features and design concepts, there are still, inevitably some commonalities with Football Manager Live – You manage your team as a whole and don’t directly control the players individually during match-play. Most of your game time will involve community interaction:
- Managing your match day squads on and off the field
- Wheeling and dealing for players and staff.
- Taking an active part in the creation of in-game content such as Fanzines, Reportage, kit designs, badge designs, and maybe eventually stadium designs and new game skins.
- Managing club finances and building a whole array of infrastructure.
- Developing youth players from schoolboy age through a comprehensive scouting and development system
- Taking part in International & Inter-Gameworld competitions.
- Interacting with 1000s of other real-life managers from your Gameworld or any other Gameworld, through chat, through playing mini-games, in the live games cinema, and inregular moderator created live quizzes; also through very comprehensive website features and our very own social network.
- We are also developing a huge PvE element in UF Live, with as much mission oriented content as we can.

Is UF Live online only? Will it be subscription based or free-to-play? Will there be social integration through Facebook/Twitter/etc.? Is UF Live playable on any computer like a browser-based experience, or is there a client for download?

UFLive will be online only, and it will be subscription based. We considered a free-to-play model but realised for this type of game, subscription based is the way to go. It was something we discussed in depth though! The main concern with free-to-play (and purchasing add-ons) would mean that wealthier people would have a significant advantage, and also free accounts lead to a lot of other problems associated with this genre. We want an even playing field for everyone who joins the UF Live community, where you actually have to put yourself into the game to get the most out of it.
There definitely will be integration with Facebook and Twitter and hopefully down the line (along with a mobile client), you will be able to play a limited version of UFLive through a Facebook app.
Unlike most other online football management games, UFLive will be client-based rather than browser-based. However we are aiming for some browser integration where users can view and access team and player information from their browser.

Does UF Live use real-life players or are they going to be fictional players or a combination of both?

They will be fictional players, but they will have realistic attributes, personalities and skills. We are trying to model their development as accurately as possible. Some may question whether people would be interested in playing with fictional players, but it was found that fantasy Gameworlds were more popular than real-player ones.

Will all players be assigned to a league or will they choose their league? Since these licenses are likely very expensive to obtain (for Barclays Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and others), how “official” will UF Live get?

We won’t be using any of those real-life leagues as you have mentioned. Managers will be part of Football Associations and within them, leagues. Some leagues will be ofsimilar structure to the Premier League, whereas others may have more interesting formats to cater to the needs of different types of managers.

This is just the tip of the iceberg though really. On top of this we are aiming to have inter-Gameworld chat, matches and tournaments so you will be able to challenge your friends irrespective of where they play. There will be also International Management and we’re discussing the possibility of MMO-like ‘clans’ as well. Lastly, there will also be mini-games and challenges for managers to complete.

Are there elements of a Champions League-like experience where the best of the best will go head to head?

Within a Gameworld there will be Champions League-like tournaments on a seasonal basis where the best of the best will face each other. As mentioned above, we’re aiming for this to occur between Gameworlds as well so we can really find out who the best managers are!

Are you aiming for the game to appeal to casual fans, hardcore fans, or both? How MMO-like is it?

We want to appeal to all users, and to achieve this we are creating a real sense of achievement (and reward) for all league levels, and opening up many features to all managers regardless of how long they have been playing, or how good their team is. These elements will include PvE and full international competitions. We are also adding many MMO type elements into the game. A lot of mission type PvE, and also a progression system similar to leveling with which MMO players will be very familiar. We feel the MMO aspect is key to success in this genre, and massive emphasis on the community. Making players feel like they are part of something much bigger than just a football game. For this reason we intend to eventually integrate personalised avatar elements into the game, with various graphical enhancements; cars/houses/new suit? These types of things are of course in our minds for the future of the game, and are not intended as part of the initial release.

But we will have mini-games, and a clubhouse called ‘The Dugout’ in game from the first release where managers can meet up and chat about the days matches in game or in real life over a drink or two, or play a round of poker for virtual money.

What is your biggest obstacle in the game’s development?

We have a core team who are currently working on UFLive in their spare time, and to say that they have outperformed all expectations would be a massive understatement. But time management is problematic, and the company setup is agile, the devs are from all over the world, and so meetings are very difficult to achieve, and discussions 99% of the time happen on IRC. So we are all becoming very fast typers! And we’ve had to develop our own developmental methodology pretty much from the ground up!

When will we be seeing UF Live in action? Is there a realistic time frame for release?

Well right now we are approaching the beginning of closed Alpha testing. This will be devs only initially, and then a few invited people will join this process as it develops. Then we have the Beta testing when the features are ready for more intensive scrutiny.

Launch will not be hurried. We will only release when we genuinely feel the product is ready. We have no paymasters looking over our shoulders. We will not be forced into a premature release. This is one of the advantages of the way our company is set up.

Would you like to share any observations on the gaming industry? Any words of advice for aspiring developers? Anything at all that you would like to add about UF Live or the world in general?

I would say listen to your customer base! Get them involved, as they know what they want, and I would also say “Don’t hurry a game release. First impressions count a lot!”

Computer games, and the need to immerse yourself in an alternate reality are a reflection of the hard economic climate we live in. We all need to escape every now and then, and what better way to exorcise your frustrations, than by starting your own football team and beating up the virtual world!

Lastly, there are a lot of people willing to offer advice within the industry and there are many helpful people who have some great experience. You should take it all on board but still make your own decisions.

[Netsports UFLive]

Devs and Community Teaming Up for Soccer MMO: Ultimate Football

Arsen Nazaryan — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:00:06 +0000

The devs seem to have already summed this one up perfectly: Observe. It pays to use Reddit, because users like me often go scouring for gems like this, and I was very excited to come across something that is near and dear to my heart: a soccer/football MMO. How it really works, I have no clue, and probably won’t know many details for some time. But the news here is that Ultimate Football will be going into Alpha soon and gamers are in demand!

It’s so great to see a game that, almost literally, is being built from the ground up by the community and for the community. At the moment, Netsport Software seems to be aiming for the release of Alpha towards the end of September (Q3 2011 is listed on the website). We obviously won’t see the game launched for a long time, but we can certainly aid in its development by donating and spreading the word. What football fan wouldn’t want to control their own team, use their own tactics, manage the club wholly, against anyone and everyone from all over the world?

It’s an inspiring idea, one that requires plenty of thought and effort and an even more terrific execution. Whether or not Netsport Software can achieve it is certainly questionable, but they’re taking this seriously and they need your help. Time to be a part of a game greater than all of us!

[Netsport Softwar e's UF Live]