Soccer Moves - a new game from Fuzzy Logic

edited in Projects
Hi everyone,

We're really excited to announce a new game that we've spent the last year working on... Soccer Moves.

It's been great fun to work on and we hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it. Over the course of the next few weeks I'll be releasing information regularly and welcome any feedback.


SOCCER MOVES

Outsmart defenders with your clever moves and become the ultimate soccer legend!

Defenders inspired by infamous players, past and present, stand in the way of you living the dream. With a limited number of moves, cleverly pass, run or shoot your way through the defenders to score the perfect goal.

Progress from novice to pro, improving your skills and unlocking kits, journying from humble beginnings at amateur grounds all the way to the fame of the international stage.

Are you ready to become the ultimate soccer hero?


Features:
- Fight your way through eight defender types inspired by legendary players
- Master various moves like chip, dribble and curve on shots
- Use your moves wisely to solve over 90 unique level challenges
- Progress through five unique environments, from a local park to incredible stadiums
- Unlock various outfits from major country kits to zombies and action heroes
- Collect rewards for completing unique objectives on every level


image

Comments

  • Like everyone else would say... Gameplay video! Playable build! Something anything!

    Looks pretty though :)
  • If you guys are this far along in development, what do you expect from feedback? I worry that a lot of the typical feedback style people give here will be dismissed because you're already done working on the game...

    But yeah, video would help :)
  • New details will be released weekly and that will include a range of videos. Gameplay videos are always the first request and are definitely planned.
  • This sounds awesome. Have you played New Star Soccer? It's a similar idea that does quite a few things right.
  • I love New Star Soccer, definitely my favourite mobile soccer game.
  • edited
    Hey! Been wondering what you guys were up to. Nice poster! The art style looks promising.

    That's all the feedback I have.
  • @Jason said:
    New details will be released weekly and that will include a range of videos. Gameplay videos are always the first request and are definitely planned.
    So this is basically a marketing push? I'd suggest either trying out your marketing material here in one go to get crits/feedback on it, or just doing straight up "Hey, how should we market this thing" type questions.

    Treating this forum as a spot to market at isn't going to get you a good return otherwise.
  • I would like to use this as a space to keep everyone updated in the run up to release, as well as then start a small beta phase. So it's a bit of marketing and also an area to show people what we do and get comments.

    Is this not what the forum/area is for?
  • Have you browsed around this forum a bit? There's typically a bunch of game devs who constructively crit each other's stuff where people post stuff to playtest and get feedback so they'd be able to improve it.

    I think you'll be very hard pressed to find real marketing value for already-completed games here. Though of course we do find good local productions interesting.

    Though as everyone else has said... There's not much to see, so nothing but a pretty image for us to be excited about.
  • edited
    Maybe posts like this should be filed under portfolio or some other category? Just so that we can separate who would like critical feedback on their projects and those who would like to do a news/marketing type of thing of their game.

    Else maybe the general category is this right place for a post like this?

    @Jason I'm keen to see a gameplay video :) Your game reminded me of the kickstarter I saw earlier on indiegames.com for Soccer Legends.
  • @Jason said:
    I would like to use this as a space to keep everyone updated in the run up to release, as well as then start a small beta phase. So it's a bit of marketing and also an area to show people what we do and get comments.

    Is this not what the forum/area is for?
    Well, the "everyone" here are all people who are interested in game development or who makes games for a living. So while we'll cheer on a local release as much as we can, there's generally not that much help we can provide beyond that for a game that's already raring to go. This isn't a huge facebook platform or anything, so it won't get you thousands of pairs of eyes looking at your game, which is what I was warning against assuming in my first reply ;)

    Everyone uses feedback and crits differently - I think we're just used to early crit cycles often having more impact and helping games get out there better. Like, here would be a great place to discuss your overall marketing strategy, for instance, rather than subject us to said strategy. Does that make sense?
  • I'm happy to be moved to another area if thats best! Please just advise where and we can move it.
  • @Jason: It's not so much moving anything as finding out what you're looking for as responses :)
  • Please just advise where and we can move it.
    There isn't another area... We have one big area. With catagories, but everything shows up on the master discussions forum :)
  • @Squodcor thanks for introducing me to New Star Soccer; it's a lot of fun and a lot of laughs.
  • Sorry for being a bit quiet, we've been busy with the game PR. I thought I'd share some images for the defenders we have in the game. They're important as they're all inspired by defenders past and present.

    Hardman
    Every team has one, the bully, the one that gets a bit to aggressive, the one that might only really be there for the fight! Inspired by the likes of Vinnie Jones, Neil Ruddock, Duncan Ferguson, Terry Butcher, anyone from Wimbledon...

    The Hardman is one of our favourite, even though his moves are very limited.

    image


    Journeyman
    He's the guy in the team that isn't actually that great, but he's not that bad either. He's the one that is always picked, probably at right back, since he trains the hardest and knows more about the opposition that anyone. He's the guy that ends up with a 20 year career as there's always some team that needs this exact player, not the most skillful, but the most dedicated...the Journeyman.

    Inspired by the likes of Gary Neville, Abel Xavier, Danny Mills - they might not technically be the best, but they've always been key to their teams success!

    image
  • edited
    We have a few intro movies to go with these:


    Hardman Intro Movie

    Journeyman Intro Movie
  • Soccer Moves is a puzzle / football (soccer) game that revolves around the eight defenders who each have their own personality traits.

    The personality traits mean they all move in their own unique way, kind of similar to chess pieces. You need to use the limited moves available to you, in order to get past each defender and score the perfect goal.

    With all of the above in mind, I know the number one thing people will always want is a gameplay trailer.

    So here it is....

    GAMEPLAY TRAILER
  • Video linking for convenience :3

    (Our youtube format code is SUPER pedantic. Any way to fix that?)

  • Hi everyone,

    I'm happy to say Soccer Moves was released today on both Apple App Store and Google Play.
    Grab it for free with the link below, and let me know what you think:

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soccer-moves/id675083486?ls=1&mt=8
    http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=coza.fuzzylogic.soccermoves

    All feedback is welcome!



    cheers,
    Jason
    Thanked by 2Fengol hanli
  • edited
    I downloaded it last night, been playing it during random breaks and having a good time with it :)

    The animations and character designs are sweet, the gameplay feels like it's got some interesting wrinkles, it's like a puzzle version of Steambirds and/or that new Sid Meier dogfighting game (both are excellent) - I'm really looking forward to unlocking more moves (I just got to the sunday league) and seeing how those work. I understand why you went F2P, but I'd buy this up front from what I've seen so far. Take my comments below with that in mind.

    - The game thinks my iPad's normal orientation is upside down and won't flip itself around no matter how much I jiggle it. I don't think it's doing orientation checks at all.

    -The interface tutorial could have a few more parts to it, I think the biggest thing it needs to do is point out the different elements in the top left and right of the UI. It took me a while to realise that I had a limited stock of specific moves - I kept trying to run a player all the way down the wing and was like "Hey, why can't I do this?". I also took a while to figure out what the icons on the upper right were for, nothing explicitly pointed their use out to me. Plus, once I started experimenting with them, they kinda all did different things, even though they shared a design. I thought they might all have to do with move/turn confirmation (which the tick totally does), but I expected the restart button to let me undo a move I didn't like (which totally needs to be an option) and the X to be a complete turn cancel, but not full restart. If those were slightly visibly different from each other, it would help to "un-group" them.

    -Undoing moves. I really wanted to be able to grab a move end point and either "chuck it off the pitch" or drag it back to the player it was coming from to undo a planned move. Especially in multi-turn solutions, where it felt annoying to have to do a complete restart if I happened to swipe the screen instead of select a player properly.

    -You guys really need to check player locations and make skins for where most of your players are. I know it's potentially dodgy licensing ground, but I see lots of soccer fans seeing that sort of customisation as something they'd want to do. Don't just hide the different nationality uniforms in a menu ;)

    -The post-solution juice was cool, but eventually it got a little tedious. Is there an option to speed that up if the player holds down on the screen or something? Also, the inbetween load times felt a little long sometimes, especially if I solved a level on the first try. Your restarts are fast, can you do something similar for new levels if you're not switching play areas? Relatively minor niggle though.

    -The shooting mechanic felt a bit juiceless - I get the bar moving up and down and it looks pretty neat, but it moves crazy fast (I assume that's to make a specific upgrade more useful?) and it didn't have much impact on the actual shot itself outside of the animation it used. The animations are great and I liked the reward, but the shot felt like a weird break in play and a final score determination that wasn't super relevant to the other smart stuff I did while playing - like I could be all clever in the buildup and then get a bronze goal because I twitched in an otherwise non-twitchy game... I get the mapping to soccer itself, goals matter, showing off doesn't, but it felt strange. Maybe a system where you had to drag off the ball to find a random hidden point on the screen that was the point of maximum score or something - the further you dragged, the more spin the ball would get and that would affect your actual shot? Also, spinning the ball around defenders... Yeeees ;)

    -I really liked how characters faced the ball when a pass didn't get to them and how they'd do quick turn and shoot moves if they weren't going to run more on the end of a pass. That's really cool.

    @Angrymoose needs to play this game.
    Thanked by 1hanli
  • Great feedback, thanks dislekcia!

    To answer some of your notes:

    - iPad orientation: we have put this down as a bug and will look into it next week for our update
    - It took me a while to realise that I had a limited stock of specific moves: this was the thing we've struggled with the most in user testing. People simply don't see the icons no matter what we're tried. We've had a tutorial, jiggling icons, help text, we've stopped the game.....it's been impossible. Not really sure what else to do. Any suggestions?
    - I expected the restart button to let me undo a move I didn't like (which totally needs to be an option: we have a 'rewind' drink which can be purchased and used for a really low in game credits amount. We don't introduce this too early as it confused people initially, so this happens about 10 levels into sunday league and by then people understand why it's needed
    - Undoing moves. I really wanted to be able to grab a move end point and either "chuck it off the pitch" or drag it back to the player it was coming from to undo a planned move. this was our initial design intention, inspired by Geared. In testing we found that people didn't really enjoy it as they wanted to instantly get playing. I definitely preferred this solution but it didn't feel as nice, or as quick to get into, which was an important goal for us.
    - You guys really need to check player locations and make skins for where most of your players are. Totally agree and we're planning this
    - The post-solution juice was cool, but eventually it got a little tedious. sorry, not sure which you mean here, the result screen or a drink? can you clarify?
    - Also, the inbetween load times felt a little long sometimes, especially if I solved a level on the first try. Your restarts are fast, can you do something similar for new levels if you're not switching play areas? Added as a task to look into as I agree. One worry is that people are complaining that the load times are too quick as they miss the tutorials, so it's a difficult juggling act. Perhaps a 'press to continue screen' and quicker loading solves both problems...
    - The shooting mechanic felt a bit juiceless - I get the bar moving up and down and it looks pretty neat, but it moves crazy fast (I assume that's to make a specific upgrade more useful?) This is because you're too far away from the goal. It slows down the closer you get, encouraging people to get closer and find the perfect solution. Drinks can be purchased to slow this down, but it's a fall gap rather than something we encourage.
    - like I could be all clever in the buildup and then get a bronze goal because I twitched in an otherwise non-twitchy game... Agreed. This was actually a frame rate issue which we've solved, and submitted a new build yesterday. We simply didn't have time to perfect this before submission as it only became a problem late in the day. Should be fixed the next update.
    - Also, spinning the ball around defenders... Yeeees We have a move for that in later levels :-)
    - I really liked how characters faced the ball when a pass didn't get to them and how they'd do quick turn and shoot moves if they weren't going to run more on the end of a pass. That's really cool.
    Thanks, this was something we're planning on adding to if possible, having more dynamic animations that react in different ways. It's tricky though with all the different options in terms of move timing and speed. I'll let the guys know you liked this!


    Thanks again for the great feedback, all excellent points which we've noted and looking at.

  • edited
    I haven't gotten this yet, but a colleague at work was playing, and he said it was really cool! :D
    The post-solution juice [...] not sure which you mean here, the result screen or a drink?
    Erp! We refer to "juice" as things that give you an appealing, immediate response. Explosions, jiggles, etc. are described as being "juicy". :) I imagine @dislekcia's talking about the result screen.
  • Yes, that meaning of juice, not a drink - sorry ;)

    Speaking of - I just got to the career mode buy point. I think you should sell the game a little more there: Show players what they can do later on so that they'll want to buy it even more - presumably getting this far already means they enjoy it, but if you show them the moves that they'll be able to pull off, they'll be even more likely to drop that dollar. It doesn't have to be anything fancy either, just 30-45 seconds of in-game footage showing off how much cool stuff they could be doing right now.
Sign In or Register to comment.