Hello! Time for an exciting update about my Epic MegaGrant news, and then (newsletter-first) design details of how I’m using it for League Mode, 20 English Club teams, and an update on Android release timing! Let's dive in.

Epic MegaGrant

I received an #EpicMegaGrant to support Kickabout expansion!

As a solo indie dev this support is invaluable, directly assisting my plan to bring Kickabout to Android phones and tablets. It will also help me deliver new feature and content updates as we head into a new football season.

I built Kickabout in Unreal Engine, and I’m thrilled to have Epic’s support in bringing the physics powered action of Kickabout to more fingers worldwide.

Let's dive into the expansion it's supporting...

League Mode coming soon!

I’ve wanted a League mode in Kickabout since day one. I’ve always enjoyed playing through a season of games in titles from Sensible Soccer to FIFA / FC, and I’ve heard lots of requests from Kickabout players for League play too.

I’ve now completed the League mode design, and stood up a v1 that I’ve been playing and refining as I go.

I'm happy to say there will be leagues for both national and club teams, and mini leagues of 8 teams as well as full sized leagues of 20 teams!

National team leagues will include regional leagues, so in the screenshot we see the player chose Argentina in the Americas Mini League.

One feature I’m excited to add is League Leaderboards, which will be based on cumulative arcade points scored over the season. This addresses a problem I’ve always had with league modes in other football games - that there’s no reason to raise the difficulty level and keep pushing at the edge of your ability; and it gets dull when you're in 1st place by a long way. Kickabout’s unique arcade scoring system provides a granular scoring model that is key to combatting this. You will accumulate these arcade scores as you progress through the season, and finish with a final cumulative score which gets logged on the League’s Leaderboard. I expect this to help raise the stakes for every league match played, leading to more competitive league play & increased replayability.

20 English Club teams coming soon!

The English Club League will be populated with recognizable city’s and colors… and non-infringing club names.

I’ve enjoyed designing a system for team shield icons, with team colors and abbreviated names.

These are designed to meet the IP constraints, e.g. you can use city names and colors safely so long as you steer clear of implied sponsorship (e.g. you can’t use “Liverpool” even though it’s a city name, as that could create customer confusion that it’s an official affiliation). I’ve also gone with abbreviated letters inside the shield, instead of lame looking non-infringing icons, because I want to keep things minimal AND editable for future flexibility. E.g. I’m considering an In-App Purchase for editing your club team name locally.

Android version coming by November!

I’ve had many requests for this, and am happy to say I will release Kickabout on Android by November.

It will support both Android phones and tablets. More details to come, and Newsletter subscribers will be the first to hear about them.

Finger Football gets the views!

My latest finger football clip on Instagram is the most viewed yet, with over half a million views and growing.

I’ve found this format, showing finger/s playing the game, hooks people; instantly communicating what makes Kickabout different to basically every other football game - the finger football controls. These organic views are converting well to Kickabout downloads, and they’re fun to make. It’s a format open to anyone - so feel free to steal the idea & get hundreds of thousands of views on your channel ;)
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Help spread the word​
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Raising awareness is more than half the battle as a solo indie dev. If you want to help, here are 3 super easy ways YOU can spread the word:

1. Boost posts you see from me on social media (comments & reposts really do help).
2. Tap to Rate Kickabout (5 star ratings are noticed by Apple’s App Store discovery algo’s and staff)
3. Share Kickabout with friends (e.g. the 2 player mode on an iPad is a fun party game in it's own right!)

Thanks to everyone who's been doing this already, it really does help.

OK, thank you for reading this update. Be well, and see you on the Leaderboard!

Rob