Sociable Soccer - New game by Jon Hare

Well put Retrieving.

I still lament the fact that Fight Night let people pick the old button mashing control scheme. Though not perfect (it was a first try, after all), I thought the new analog punch control was absolutely fantastic for the game, and could have been revolutionary. It couldn t compete with button mashers online though, so it died off before it even got a chance.

Decisions like this influence gameplay! Designers have to make strong design choices (it s the job of a good designer!). Sometimes (as shocking as it seems to modern gamers) that means *restricting* the player s options.

Which may very well not be the case, being Sociable Soccer an entirely new game and whatnot, but let s assume for a moment that you re, indeed, correct, for the sake of argument;

the thing is, in SWOS, if I know what direction you re coming from and how many dribblings you ve done thus far, I can predict fairly accurately where you re gonna end up next, because you can only move so much before losing control over the ball and there s only 8 potential directions (and people don t go backwards very often either)... now, try that with actual 360 degree movement and then try stopping someone who can move 360° with no such degree of freedom and just 8 directions available...

Good points. Restricting controls to analog I can see a potential balancing argument for even if I don t see it being an issue. But it seems (in these games in general - see Active Soccer 2) 8-way functionality would just be available to those who a) dislike analog or b) don t have an analog control method available on their device. Surely better to enable the 8-way option than to prevent them playing the game altogether. In AS2 it doesn t make that much difference; someone playing 8-way is at a disadvantage but it was their choice - it s an analog game.

BTW I have played an early build of Sociable Soccer (I am providing the data for it) and currently it plays very much like SWOS, not that this won t change somewhat.

Alright, if you pass me the analogy, let s say we re playing a Counter Strike or Call of Duty team deathmatch, you (along with everyone else in your team) are stuck with the typical first-person shooter view, whereas I get to use a 3rd person, bird view taken out so far, it allows me to see most of the map.

I m now aware of the positioning of the whole opposing team at any moment, are you sure it s not giving me a game-breaking tactical advantage, even though my camera angle, technically, isn t affecting the other players view in any way, shape or form?

Back to us and Sociable Soccer, if one of the views will be showing a larger portion of the pitch (which seems to be the case, judging by the video, just compare these two shots: A. B. ), it will become standard for competitive online matches and if it happens to be one of the side views (that look a lot of fun, don t get me wrong), it s gonna leave a bad taste in a lot of SWOS fans mouths.

But any player at any time can choose any camera view, and they will presumably choose the one they think confers to them the best view/greatest advantage. So there is no grounds to complain if it doesn t. I don t think this is an issue on AS2, on FIFA, on anything. I don t see any case for a needlessly restricted camera view especially in an age when people will be playing the same game on phones and on 50 LED displays.

edit: just zoom A out a bit and you ll get a proper half-pitch view like you did on XBLA SWOS (right stick zooms as per ). It d show more of the pitch than shot B if that s all that concerns you, but also the position of the ball relative to players will be far clearer in any variant of A than in B

those are just my opinions and not those of the actual designers/Jon Hare

As an old SWOS player I thought it was harder to aim at the goal and get a good angled shot in the side view, while it is much more preferable to shoot in the bird view.

I m listening and feedbacking your discussion to the team. Thanks!

Hey people.

I guess you ve all checked out our latest blog post and office video. sociablesoccer.com/game-videos/first-cup-at-the-office/

We re currently working on our next build that will go out to publishers.

Also, there s some new events we ll be attending (don t know if we ll show the game) but at least me and Jon will be at Nordic Game Conference 18th - 20th May and there s another event planned for us to attend in the UK.

Hey people.

I guess you ve all checked out our latest blog post and office video. sociablesoccer.com/game-videos/first-cup-at-the-office/

We re currently working on our next build that will go out to publishers.

Also, there s some new events we ll be attending (don t know if we ll show the game) but at least me and Jon will be at Nordic Game Conference 18th - 20th May and there s another event planned for us to attend in the UK.

Got plans for Sensidays in August? That d be like, the perfect place to show a preview of the new game to the oldschool SWOS fans!

Hey people.

I guess you ve all checked out our latest blog post and office video. sociablesoccer.com/game-videos/first-cup-at-the-office/

We re currently working on our next build that will go out to publishers.

Also, there s some new events we ll be attending (don t know if we ll show the game) but at least me and Jon will be at Nordic Game Conference 18th - 20th May and there s another event planned for us to attend in the UK.

Got plans for Sensidays in August? That d be like, the perfect place to show a preview of the new game to the oldschool SWOS fans!

Me and my friend would love to come. I d probably lose all my games while he is more accurate in his touches. He wants to win it all.

We announced our first event in the UK on the 30 April - 1 May in Blackpool.

www.playblackpool.com/get-sociable-with-...play-expo-blackpool/

We re also gonna be at the Nordic Game event in Malmö on the 18-20th of May.

conf.nordicgame.com/

Following that we will be in Poland 3-5 June at something called the Pixel Heaven.

www.pixelheavenfest.com/

So a few things coming up now

Hey guys, we are gonna show the game as up to date with the latest build as it is at that point.. We are also looking at going to Germany. Obviously there s Gamescom in August but that coincides with the World Championships in SWOS in the Netherlands. If there s a possibility we will go to something earlier than that. You got any suggestions?