I'm the award winning game designer of Guitar Hero and Slope. I’ve been a soccer fan my whole life, and now I'm making a mobile soccer game as easy to play as foosball. Follow my journey!
Kickabout national teams, production push, and more
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Hello! As Kickabout’s June launch approaches, I’ve been on a big production push which I’ll cover in this newsletter. First though, let’s kick things off with a bang by announcing the 35 Kickabout launch teams! Here are the national teams you'll get to play as, and against, in Kickabout (grouped by region): National TeamsHome Turf Heroes:
Samba Legends:
Asian Engines:
Euro Titans:
Euro Underdogs:
African Pride:
It’s a truly diverse and international line up, with all the must have nations of the beautiful game represented. I’ve gone 'more fantasy, less filler' than the real life 2026 tournament. I want players in Kickabout launch countries to be able to play out a fantasy of their home nation Vs titans like Brazil, Spain or yes Italy, rather than play out boring group-stage games against minnows like Curacao. The Big Production PushI pushed hard over the last four weeks implement the "meta-game" I described in my previous newsletter, and I am very proud to say it's now systems and content complete. 🎉 I've also made huge strides on the User Interface which I've entirely redesigned to make the metagame loop easy to understand and enjoy. Here’s the big list of features I’ve added in the last month:
I’m loving how much better it plays than the Kickabout GDC demo. To win on EXPERT, I’m finding myself needing to defend better, progress the ball more thoughtfully, and think about my opponent’s strengths & weaknesses. It’s still chaotic fun at the lower difficulty levels, but more strategic and skillful than before at the top end. The improvements to CPU AI playstyle and difficulty make a big difference. I’m also finding the daily rewards to be highly motivating. They shape a daily loop of playing to win tickets, then spending tickets to buy a couple of teams, then repeating the next day to expand your collection of tabletop toys / gameplay variation. Play-testing kicks off this week, and I can’t wait to get it into everyone’s hands come June 2nd. App Store Release beckonsTalking of which.. if you've read this far, you’re probably a regular here. Thank you for following along. Here's how you can support me at iOS launch. Beyond downloading Kickabout, playing solo & with friends, and paying to remove the ads…. LOL... my biggest ask is that you RATE the game on the App Store when it goes live (June 2nd). It turns out high ratings convince people to tap on apps - so I need as many 5 star rating as humanly possible to get my download numbers up. Apple’s algorithms will be watching too, and automatically promote new games that get good ratings. So your rating will make a noticeable impact, and thankfully ‘tap to rate’ is as simple as it sounds. No written “review” is needed, you literally just tap on that 5th star. So, on June 2nd when Kickabout goes live, please take 5 seconds to rate it. It’s genuinely exciting to be approaching the home straight to the Kickabout iOS App Store launch. I’m keeping my head down for a couple of weeks to finish strong, then I'll switch fully into promotion mode! Wish me luck!!! ✊ Bye for now, Rob |
Rob Kay
I'm the award winning game designer of Guitar Hero and Slope. I’ve been a soccer fan my whole life, and now I'm making a mobile soccer game as easy to play as foosball. Follow my journey!
I will launch Kickabout for iPhone & iPad on June 2nd! In this month’s newsletter I share more on the App Store plan, metagame design, and more; so grab a drink and let’s dive in. SUMMER OF SOCCER Kickabout’s June 2nd launch is just 10 days before the World Cup kicks off. The 8 English speaking launch countries will be USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, and South Africa. It’ll be a universal app for iPad and iPhone, free to play and ad-supported, with a...
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...
Hello! It’s time for an update on Kickabout - the game PocketGamer described as "as easy to play as table football, but far more addictive". Between new features, a showcase in Oakland, and recent press coverage, there’s plenty to share. So let's dive in! Representational Characters Previously, I used identical character models to focus on gameplay, resulting in 22 blonde-haired players. While functional for prototyping, this didn't match my vision for representing a global sport. As a solo...