Project Soccer

Motivation

The basic idea for this game was to thread the needle between EA’s FC (formerly FIFA) series and one of my favorite games as a kid: Super Mario Strikers Charged!

For my taste, FC has some incredible mechanics, but the pursuit of making it feel more an more like a simulation game has left the movement feeling a bit rigid, clunky and frustrating at times when you compare in game animations or referee decisions to the real world.

On the other hand, Super Mario Strikers’ movement is way more snappy, there are no refs (crowd goes wild), and the chaos of items and “super moves” adds a lot of fun to the experience. However, I miss some of the dribbling mechanics and player progression in the FIFA series.

Enter in: Project Soccer! (The title is temporary 😅)

Goals

• Replicate the basic movement, passing, shooting, and tackling from Super Mario Strikers. ✅
• Robust Debugging Tools & Visualizations for gleaning insights about the team and field states. ✅
• Add in the “Nimble strafing”, “Protect the Ball”, and “Sprinting” dribble modes from FIFA
• Jumping!!! Aerial shots & passes, using the Jump to dodge certain supers, this could be a lot of fun!
• Different characters, with “plug and play” supers and attributes that can be unlocked and equipped.