The Pitch
In Three Forms
I want to start out today with some gratitude. I was not prepared for the warm reception, well wishes, and genuine interest in what I am doing here. Thank you! To hold up my end of the bargain, I want to ensure this is a valuable use of your time, so let’s talk Pitches!
The Elevator Pitch
So, what is this tactics game anyway? My working elevator pitch is:
It’s Final Fantasy Tactics… but with a football.
If you aren’t familiar with that game, I would generalize this and say:
It’s like chess… but with a football… and mages.
The game is turn-based. It has RPG elements with leveling up and unlocking new abilities. It has varied landscapes and a retro aesthetic. What makes this game unique is the ball. In most tactics games, the goal is to destroy your enemies. The focus of this game is not on violence (though, that could be a viable strategy). The objective is instead to outscore your opponent by gaining possession of the ball and getting it to a goal zone.
A lot of familiar terms and abilities for seasoned RPG/tactics players are present like HP, EXP levels, magic spells etc., but there are also many concepts from the football world like passing and fumbling.
The Pitch Ability
In the game you manage a team of four players. On each player’s turn they can move, and perform one additional ability. These two actions can be done in any order. There are four common abilities that every player in the game can use:
Move - Move some number of spaces on the field as defined by the player’s “move” stat.
Tackle - This is your basic “attack” ability. It will deal physical damage to an adjacent opponent, and may cause a fumble if they are carrying the ball.
Pitch - See below!
Done - I’ll probably rename this to “Wait” - as it implies, you forfeit the remainder of your turn. In exchange, this player’s next turn will come sooner.
My original vision for this game was a much more literal interpretation of American Football. I really wanted it to be interesting to have 11-on-11 turn based action where you really cared about your offensive line and would level them up and… yeah, it wasn’t that much fun. Something that stuck was I wanted “the forward pass” to be special. Not everyone can do it, only specially trained Throwers.
This left me with the problem of how do non-throwers move the ball around? So I took another inspiration from American Football called the lateral and created the Pitch ability.
When a player has possession of the ball, they can pitch the ball to a teammate to their sides or backwards from your goal. Here it is in action:
While the game is heavily inspired by American Football, it also draws influence from Soccer (Go Tottenham! #COYS), Rugby and other similar sports. Researching the shared history of these sports is a fascinating topic unto itself.
I am a big fan of color, so you can expect lots of varied and vibrant looking fields. I am designing them so that they are *mostly* fair regardless of which side your goal zone is on, and to be touch screen friendly. I have eliminated camera controls, and I am using design and other tricks to ensure every space is easily tappable with a finger.
Yesterday I started blocking out the second level of the game I am calling Gothic Pasture. It features rolling hills of dark grass, a nighttime setting, and a creepy looking farm structure in the back. I have a ways to go to finish it but I figure if you are still here, you might like seeing some early and behind the scenes work:
Thank you so much for reading and taking the time out of your day! If you have any feedback on anything I shared today, questions, or suggestions for what else you would like to see please leave me a comment below. Otherwise, I will be back in a few weeks with another update.
-John
Thanks for sharing!