This project started shortly after England’s second game of the 2026 World Cup and missing what had been my routine post-match recovery of the 2000s and 2010s… a few hours with friends cooperatively trying to steer an underperforming England team to World Cup glory on a PS2 or Xbox 360.
I thought about this and realised I hadn’t played any football games like this in years, and hadn’t played anything on a shared TV screen like that for just as long. I wondered why not. I wondered if we could play online as a substitute.
I realised that even though I regularly play games online with friends, we just didn’t play that sort of game. Why not? Had we outgrown the games — perhaps. One friend commented that those games didn’t really exist any more. Really? These were massively popular franchises for well over a decade, surely they would still exist. Turns out they do — both games we alternated between still existed, but with changed names and very different business models.
One look at packs, points, coins, deals and tokens told me these were not the games for me. Then it turns out they don’t seem to offer much in the way of co-operative play or offline play at all either. Since my experience playing football games consisted entirely of 2/3/4 vs computer, and 1v1 and 2v2 matches in person, they seem to have entirely changed into a different genre.
But that is surely no problem — I can simply pick up an old version of the game and play like we did before… except even if you can find a copy of the game, you need the system to play it on and enough controllers for your friends. Plus in this day and age it would be nice to be able to play online sometimes as well!
That’s really the itch I want to scratch with LOWBLOCK — a game with more control and tactics than a truly arcade experience like Sensible Soccer and its many clones and derivatives. A game where a deftly played through ball can be match-changing, a great cross and headed goal elicits a high-five, and holding out for a nil-nil to get through your group is a bonding experience.
Now I’m just one developer, but none of this seems impossible. None of it requires complicated graphics, expensive licenses or loot boxes.
I’ve always thought 2D top-down actually suits the tactical side of football rather well anyway.
The requirements
- Co-operative play against the computer
- Online and offline multiplayer
- Fun single player
- Tactical controls - must feel considered rather than reaction-based
- Feels tense when defending, rewarding when you score
First prototype
I had incorrectly assumed that 2D soccer sprites would be easy to find… how wrong I was. In the end I settled for Chaser’s Gaming football/soccer asset pack on itch.io, as they provided everything I required and look amazing.
Small as they are, they did the job. The prototype actually works — passing, through balls, switching player, all the tactical bits that were the whole point of this — and it was genuinely reassuring to see those hold up in 2D top-down the way I’d hoped they would. And I had fun just testing it, which is a good sign.
The problem is resolution, not gameplay. At 16px, everything would’ve read fine on an old CRT at a sensible distance, but on a modern high-res screen it just looks small and a bit lost, especially from further back on a TV. So the mechanics are promising, but the visual side needs a proper rethink before this is something I’d want anyone else playing.
That’s led me down a path of 3D models and animation that I really hadn’t expected to need for what’s supposed to be a simple 2D top-down game, but it’s slowly coming together, and I’m hoping to get a demo out before too long.
