I just returned from a bumper GDC, where I was demoing Kickabout at parties, went to 20+ sessions, met with loads of friends new and old, and even did a 5 minute micro-talk on how to keep it simple in game design. Plus of course I’ve also been developing the game, so let’s dive in!

GDC prep

Dev updates (all in the demo):

• Added High Scores (on results and main menu, local save game)
• Moved points to top left (so more clearly secondary to the goals scoreline)
• Made final whistle to result screen robust (no more scoring after the whistle!)
• 2 player result screen now faces the winner
• Made goals 15% bigger (so easier to score)
• Drop ball in from above at Kick-Off
• Fixed bug that made iPad player offset unintentionally huge
• Added Analytics (so can see which modes get played most, avg score, etc)
• Added TestFlight QR codes (so testers can download demo to own device)
• Added Demo Feats (i.e. achievements) a reason to come back & keep playing
• Add a surprise reward for completing all the demo Feats!

Plus of course I designed the promotional materials, made a GDC demo trailer, and found a spiffy green cocktail table cloth on Amazon!

GDC Party Showcases

I was thrilled to showcase Kickabout at the biggest GDC party - The SF Game Dev party at DNA lounge last Tuesday night. 2000+ people crammed into the nightclub, and found Kickabout on the main dance floor amongst a bank of cocktail tables, with 11 other indie game demos (and more in surrounding rooms). I had a well positioned cocktail table to demo at, but ended up bringing the iPad and iPhone out onto the floor, attracting all manner of players as they roved around. It was back-to-back demos for five hours straight! A huge thanks to Tom and Kira who both supported me, running demos while I took restroom breaks and loaded up on red bull!

My main goal for the evening was to collect survey feedback from new players; including letting them download the demo to their own device via a QR code on the demo result screen. I was very pleased that many enjoyed playing and were eager to download Kickabout to their own iPhone then and there. I have a growing set of survey responses - invaluable signal as I prioritize my feature development.



I also showcased the game at another GDC fringe event at Kaedim on the Thursday night, and this one gave me 5 minute of stage time to present myself & Kickabout! Given the audience was specifically 3D artists and indie devs, I figured a more educational angle could resonate; and used my 5 minutes to give a micro-talk on how to keep games simple. I’ll drop that 5 minute video in at the end, so you can check it out. After the talks, I did a couple of hours demoing and really enjoyed watching people finish a 1 player game, then immediately go grab friends to play 2 player. I watched as people had fun hanging out and trash talking as they played. Kickabout demos really well in these social groups; it’s clearly working as a party game.

I also got some great constructive feedback at this event, especially from veteran devs. GDC is a real snapshot of the entire industry, from students to veterans, but they all share a love for gaming and game dev. They also tend to be early adopter types who love trying something new and sharing opinions, so Kickabout went down very well and I had some wonderful conversations & made many new connections who helped me see the game from new angles.

Meeting friends

It was great seeing friends at GDC too!

I met up with good friends who worked with me at PlayStation Studio PixelOpus on the Wednesday night. It was fantastic reconnecting over drinks at the W, and my plans for attending the Indie Game Festival awards that night (which I helped judge) totally fell by the wayside.

I totally lost track of time chatting away, until my outer sunset neighbor Allan (now at Insomniac) drove me and Zach back home across San Francisco in his sweet Mini Cooper!

20+ Sessions

Burning the candle at both ends, I was up bright and early every morning for sessions and meetings.

Not content with attending GDC, I also decided to attend another conference in the same week! PocketGamer Connects SF is a parallel 1 day summit on Monday of GDC week. I attended their London conference back in January, and got so much value I had to come to this one too, even though it meant I was running back and forth between each venue to catch the best sessions!

I attended well over 20 sessions during the week, focusing on leveling up my knowledge of mobile meta-game design, marketing, and community building. I took furious notes at Epic’s talk on Unreal Engine Mobile optimization, as well as Apple's talk on how to get your game seen by their editors for potential App Store editorial coverage. The Apple folks were super transparent and friendly, and I said hi in the corridor afterwards.

The Sensor Tower State Of Gaming 2026 was a informative industry snapshot - and included some surprises to me, such as Roblox earning less revenue than a handful of other mobile games! i.e. Roblox may be the most played game in the world by some distance, and a fast growing platform, but 5 or 6 other mobile games actually make more money than it each year. Crazy.

Jesse Schell’s talk on why chatbot NPC’s fail, and how the design problems inherent to them may be intractable, was fascinating too. AI was a hot topic at GDC, and it’s grounding to hear about the challenges from teams like Schell Games who’ve been trying to integrate chapGPT style chatbots into new games for years now, without meeting their quality bar for success. Look out for that ‘Game Designer’s Notebook’ talk when it hits the vault / YouTube.

New connections & insights

Transparent information sharing like this is why GDC is so awesome, and this openness goes for 1-1 meetings too. I was able to connect with two bonafide experts in football games at GDC, who accepted my invite to get hands on with Kickabout, and gave me very high quality feedback.

I met Michael Jones, a Senior Software Engineer at EA in Salesforce Park. He has over 20 years experience working on the FC/FIFA franchise, works on the FC Gameplay Team, and is a foosball player too! He found Kickabout instant fun, and had some great feedback on the gameplay. We got into a neat conversation around gameplay tuning, ball speed, the number of players per team, and much more.

Alex Rietveld, Senior Product Manager at Miniclip - is PM on mobile game Kick-Off! Ultimate Football Manager. He also enjoyed playing Kickabout, and had great gameplay feedback too. With his senior PM perspective, I was especially happy to receive his advice on progression systems, retention/churn norms, and monetization approaches. Coming mainly from console game dev I’ve got more to learn here.

Both experts were super personable and very generous with their time and insights. It was a joy chatting, thank you guys!

I did met with publishers at GDC, and continue to explore potential partnerships. I won’t share specifics here, but I am talking with a couple, and now have a much clearer picture of what such partnerships could look like. The biz dev utility of game conferences is massive, as everyone congregates in the same few blocks you so spend less time/money on exploring potential leads.

Kickabout at a Kickabout!

One of the funnest events of the whole week was a GDC Kickabout… yes a real life Kickabout, with a real football and real field! It was hosted by Diego, who I met at my very first Kickabout playtest at SF Game Dev meetup in December. When I said I couldn’t play because I injured my ACL years ago, he invited me to demo my game at his Kickabout - which of course I did gladly!

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The GDC kickabout was a blast, everyone was super friendly and vowed to do it again next year!

All in all it was a really invigorating GDC, which left me feeling very upbeat about Kickabout (the mobile game!) AND my fellow game developers.

App Store release window

I plan to release Kickabout on the App Store at the start of June, just in time for the World Cup!

It’ll still be a “beta” but complete and stable enough to get it out there. I’ve had people telling me I should put it out now, and once I’ve got more single player content in I totally agree. Nothing tests a game better than exposure to large numbers of real players who don't know me from Adam!

So the path to June is now my focus for roadmap planning. I’m thinking to do a soft launch BEFORE this point, to give myself another deadline, analytics test, and feedback opportunity. I'll update on that, once I decide timing. The great thing is that all the feedback from the March GDC demo, plus my previous feature planning, is helping me plot a clear roadmap to beta launch, and I’ve never felt clearer on what I need to do to get there. Onwards!

Thanks to everyone who has played the demo and given feedback via the survey. For those that haven’t, there’s still time until March 31st!

3 steps to victory

1. Find an iPad / iPhone (stealing from a friend / family member if needed!)
2. Get the demo on that device here (using the TestFlight app to install Kickabout): https://testflight.apple.com/join/tQTy54pr​
3. Play the demo, and complete the post play survey: https://forms.gle/KR2smiwnMCzHXTER6​

5 minute talk on simplicity

As we wrap this bumper newsletter up, I’ll leave you with my 5 minute talk on how to keep it simple in game design. It's easy to say, but takes a lifetime to learn. Enjoy! Then like and subscribe!

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Phew, that was a big newsletter! Thanks for reading, and bye for now,

Rob