Football and Gaming. Two global, titanic and accrescent industries united by so many common elements: fun, competitive and entertaining amongst many. A match made in heaven right? As someone who’s been obsessed with both worlds from a very young age, football games have unfortunately so far been anything but.
The start was bright and the potential was there for all to see but we quickly transcended into a repeated pattern of games filled with connection troubles, recycled gameplay, same old content and complete monopolisation. How come the virtual side of the biggest sport in the world is in the state it’s in despite the major advancement in technology and gaming? We desperately needed something new, something refreshing to realise all that initial potential and just when all hope was being lost……. GOALS came along.
When fellow football and gaming enthusiasts came and asked me to join them in making a brand new football game made from scratch together with the community I had to pinch myself. A dream come true but one with a lot of responsibility. You see what I have quickly learned over the years is that football fans have different interpretations of the perfect football game. You cannot please everybody and that’s something you have to quickly make peace with.
Football is the biggest and best sport in the world for a reason, there are very few better feelings in life than scoring a solo goal after dribbling past 5 players or combining 20 passes with your teammates to score a fantastic team goal or firing an absolute thunderbolt into the top corner from 30 yards out or making a last ditch goal saving tackle. The list goes on and on. Our promise to the footballing world is that we will do our utmost to stay true to the sport of football but also be willing to bend the rules where necessary in order to keep the game as enjoyable as possible for our users. The darker side of the sport such as diving, time-wasting and “parking the bus” will be insignificant or limited as much as possible.
From a gaming perspective a high skill gap is a necessity while ensuring that the game remains fun and engaging for all types of players. Trying to fit a 90 minute football game into a 12 minute one naturally means that the game will be faster paced. On the ball we want to focus on giving you the freedom to express yourself. Prioritising left stick dribbling to ensure that you can turn in whichever direction you desire is crucial in achieving that as well as giving you the ability to take players on and drive your team forward. For the rest of the core elements such as shooting, passing and defending we want to certify that you feel in control and every single decision you take matters. Of course in a 1v1 game a single user can’t control all 11 players at the same time so some form of assistance from the AI has to be in place. Our aim here is to increase the AI’s off the ball activity such as making runs, tracking runs and getting into the most optimal overall positions but will make certain that the AI, aside from Goalkeeping, will never assist in any direct actions such as shooting, passing or tackling.
When it comes to game modes our aim is to establish a perfect balance of fun, engaging, competitive and rewarding. In order to enhance the social aspect of the game we will also provide you with the ability to play across a variety of modes ranging from solo 1v1 to co-op 2v2/3v3 to even controlling only 1 player and diving into our special GOALS GO 5-a-side mode.
We have a clear vision of what we want to accomplish and a huge part in fulfilling that will be combining the best of both worlds to give football the game it so richly deserves.
