Hello from the north of England!

I flew into Manchester this week, ahead of the Pocket Gamer Connects conference down south in London next week.

MANCHESTER

Staying with close family and friends has given me lots of fresh playtesters, with varied levels of gaming experience. E.g. My old mate Paul, a devoted gamer, really got really into Kickabout and gave me some great refinement ideas. My aunt Debbie, who says she never plays games (aside from word puzzles), was the very first play tester for my new Easy Mode.

EASY / HARD MODES

Making it easier to score was the number one ask I heard from playtesters, and I've been planning an EASY mode since day one. So watching my aunt Debbie score in her first minute of the new EASY mode, and then go onto beat my dad Mark in a 2 player Kickabout, was validating (not to mention hilarious as their lifelong sibling rivalry kicked in!).

As well as EASY there's also now has a HARD mode now where players take better defensive positions, respond more quickly, and kick more powerfully. Playing both difficulty levels myself and observing others play is teaching me a lot about how the difficulty progression can evolve, and unfold over time. In due course I plan more difficulty levels in single player, so that building your skills and rising through the difficulty levels is a key replay motivation - like we did for Guitar Hero.

KICKABOUT iOS

The other big development is that I’ve now got Kickabout working on both iPhone and iPad! It plays great on iPhone, silky smooth and super convenient to play/demo as I've always got an iPhone in my pocket. iPhone is going to be my lead platform for release.

The big breakthrough though is the iPad - where the added screen space is just as transformative as I'd hoped! Obviously iPad is physically much bigger than a phone, so I was able drop the camera zooming in/out behavior on drag/release - while still providing the physical size that allows a high level of control. It’s great being able to see the whole field of play at all times, helping you to pick long range passes. Today I'll try the very first 2 player match on iPad, which I’m fully expecting it to be the most fun way to play Kickabout in a party setting.

LONDON NEXT

Next I travel to London for the Pocket Game Connects conference, where I’ll be meeting publishers and showing them the game. I’ve lined up a good number of meetings for the 2 day event, and got myself into a the Very Big Indie Pitch competition too. My main goals are (1) to learn more about the mobile space, and (2) start networking with potential publishing partners for Kickabout. I’ll report back on the conference in my next newsletter.

MATCH DAY

Finally, while I was in Manchester, I got to see my team Man U at Old Trafford with my best mate Chris who's a season ticket holder. We lost and got knocked out of the FA Cup, but hey - we cheered and did our part!

robkaysf

♬ [Raw recording] Record playback noise 01 (3 minutes) - Icy Light

​

Please also subscribe to my new TikTok channel or Instagram, where you'll get Kickabout clips and updates over the coming weeks and months!

OK that's it for this update. Bye for now!

Rob