LOWBLOCK Soccer
Tactical top-down football, built to be played together
LOWBLOCK started from a specific absence: the football games I used to play with friends — two or three of us against the computer, trying to drag an underperforming England side through a tournament — do not really exist any more. The franchises are still there, but they have become a different genre.
So this is the one I want to play. More control and tactics than a pure arcade game, where a well-timed through ball changes the match, a cross and a headed goal earns a high-five, and holding out for a nil-nil to escape the group is something you do together.
What it has to do
- Co-operative play against the computer
- Online and offline multiplayer
- Fun single player
- Tactical controls — considered rather than reaction-based
- Tense when defending, rewarding when you score
Where it is
A first prototype exists and the mechanics hold up: passing, through balls and switching player all work, and 2D top-down suits the tactical side of football better than I expected. The problem is resolution rather than gameplay — 16px sprites read fine on a CRT and get lost on a modern TV — so the art is being rebuilt from 3D models, which was not a detour I planned on. A demo should follow.
There is nothing to play just yet, and no itch.io page until there is.