Dev Update #5 - Football Sport Showcase

Football is a sport that is loved by millions around the world! It gives people a sense of pride and belonging in their local teams - no matter how big or small. It unites nations globally on events like the Euros or the World Cup even in the toughest of times! So how could we not have it in Squishy Sports?! :D

Football in Squishy Sports has one of the lowest barriers to entry with its largely horizontal gameplay. It is also a sport that most people recognize meaning that most players can easily understand how it functions with little direction from us! They spawn on either side of the screen with a goal at the other end and instantly know that’s where the ball needs to go!

One of our goals with Squishy Sports is to get as many members of the family involved - even if they are typically non-gamers! In football, you can get involved with just using the analog stick in the direction of the ball or taking it up a notch slightly and using the simple jump button to start adding a tiny bit of complexity. This simple movement and one button input feel great meaning that Grandma, Grandad, your little brother, or sister can easily get involved and play a video game together!

On the flip side, when skilled friends get together they will be able to utilize all our controls from double jump to directional dash paired with the choice of character shape and special moves that make for some ridiculously fun, competitive matchups! This level of choice is what builds the layers of complexity in Squishy Sports and creates that low barrier to entry for anyone who wants to get involved but also scales up quickly for those who are more confident!

The physics-driven gameplay drives many aspects of Squishy Sports. In this gif below you can see how the crossbar impacts the goal causes it to react! There are 4 animations (soft, medium, hard & extreme hits) that are triggered based on the velocity of the ball to give that handcrafted, visual feedback that feels responsive and juicy!

This is our first prototype of Football that perfectly captured that fun factor we were aiming for :

Fast-forward to now and we have supercharged that same fun factor paired with our full roster of character shapes and special moves all skinned in our beautiful art to create our unique flavour of 2d Football!

Thanks for reading - we can’t wait to get one of the most popular sports in Squishy Sports into your hands soon!