Active Soccer 2023

Man, trailer looks really nice. I'm also a sucker for different weather conditions, so I love they put an emphasys on it. If it has enough personality/variety/fun/challenge I'll surely look at it with interest.
 
Already put it on my wish list. :)

Haha, after the developments in the football gaming world lately, I'm getting really excited about this. My favorite part of the trailer is: Full Career with 30+ leagues and 1,000+ clubs! At this point, I don't care if they are licensed or not, or if the players are real or invented. Having this kind of retro football game with all of these options looks really promising and fun! Let's see how it turns out, but I'm putting very high hopes on this one! :BSCARF:

Definitely looks like a game which can appeal to us retro and maybe even new gamers.
 
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Hi guys, this is Gianluca the Active Soccer developer. Thanks everyone for the nice words, I really appreciate it.
Yes, the game is retro arcade experience. It will be released on consoles as well next year.
May I ask you what you would like to see in a football game? Is there any game mode or unique feature you would love?
I am collecting different ideas for future updates.
Thanks! :))
 
Well i repeat my self for this game, after a little research.

I like the horizontal camera, proves that there is a vision, further from "just anOther Kick Off revival". It takes some serious steps.

No offense to kick off fans, ive played a lot kickoff, it's a classic, but that games gives you all tou need in that genre.

I mean, at least for my tasting, i want another football game, ok not sim, but with a reasonable balance between Sim/Arcade, and more towards Simulation (fixed thanks to @Chris Davies )

Meaning, Virtual Striker was also self-presented as Arcade, but its fundamentals were more SIM than more modern football games.

So to conclude, just by watching videos, it is 5/10 for me. It's an acceptable base, ot makes me want to try it, but it's base is must acceptable, it needs a lot of work to be in decent levels , at least in FIFA 11/ PES 11 levels, that for me the lowest denominator in our days.

But i mean from, that point to only improve.

If it's to stay like that, and just milk the momentum of no decent Offline footy game, then it's not for me, more than some matches.

There are tons of others arcade, simarcade football games, and more experienced, like the recent Super Mario Strikers, the Disney Football games, and all the Kick Off , spin-off and rip-offs.

If it's to improve, slowly or fast, then maybe it can be my new PES equivalent.
 
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slamsoze said:
I mean, at least for my tasting, i want another football game, ok not sim, but with a reasonable balance between Sim/Arcade, and more towards Arcade.
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Do not listen to this man... We need a sim! Chant with me everybody - do a sim! Do a sim! Do a sim! :LOL: The slower and the more pass error the better!

@TheFoxSoft I don't have any specific feedback without having played the game but I'm looking forward to trying it - the career mode gives me real SWOS vibes and I still play SWOS regularly. Good luck and thanks for registering here!
 
Chris Davies said:
Do not listen to this man... We need a sim! Chant with me everybody - do a sim! Do a sim! Do a sim! :LOL: The slower and the more pass error the better!

@TheFoxSoft I don't have any specific feedback without having played the game but I'm looking forward to trying it - the career mode gives me real SWOS vibes and I still play SWOS regularly. Good luck and thanks for registering here!
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Plot twist, i miss typed, i meant SIM/Arcade more towards SIM. :)

I meant, we have far more games ,than lean towards Arcade, already. We need more leaning towards SiM... Ok not we, me i can't speak for everybody.
 
slamsoze said:
I meant, we have far more games ,than lean towards Arcade, already. We need more leaning towards SiM... Ok not ,we, me i can't speak for everybody.
Click to expand...
I agree. There are so many arcade choices - just look at this list. I've tried a lot of them, too (Super Soccer Blast for example), but there's just so little depth to the gameplay that I've only played them for a few days.

(New Star Manager is the best by far, but even that I can't really enjoy because I don't like the sort-of turn-based gameplay.)

SWOS and PES are my two favourite football games of all-time, and they have one major thing in common that most modern games don't do, IMO:

In SWOS, without needing a difficulty level, I'd get (fairly) beat by better teams, but I'd beat worse teams. Why? Because attributes really matter. In PES, I can't make difficult passes with crap passers, and I can't score worldies with defenders (unless it's a bit of a freak occurrence). Why? Because attributes really matter.

That way, a career mode really works - because it matters who you buy, who you train and who you play. Without gameplay to support that - if you can do the same dribbling, passing and shooting with every player - it doesn't work (it's why I can't play FIFA's career mode any more).

(There you go @TheFoxSoft, there's some feedback I wasn't intending to provide! :LOL:)
 
slamsoze said:
Well i repeat my self for this game, after a little research.

I like the horizontal camera, proves that there is a vision, further from "just anOther Kick Off revival". It takes some serious steps.

No offense to kick off fans, ive played a lot kickoff, it's a classic, but that games gives you all tou need in that genre.

I mean, at least for my tasting, i want another football game, ok not sim, but with a reasonable balance between Sim/Arcade, and more towards Simulation (fixed thanks to @Chris Davies )

Meaning, Virtual Striker was also self-presented as Arcade, but its fundamentals were more SIM than more modern football games.

So to conclude, just by watching videos, it is 5/10 for me. It's an acceptable base, ot makes me want to try it, but it's base is must acceptable, it needs a lot of work to be in decent levels , at least in FIFA 11/ PES 11 levels, that for me the lowest denominator in our days.

But i mean from, that point to only improve.

If it's to stay like that, and just milk the momentum of no decent Offline footy game, then it's not for me, more than some matches.

There are tons of others arcade, simarcade football games, and more experienced, like the recent Super Mario Strikers, the Disney Football games, and all the Kick Off , spin-off and rip-offs.

If it's to improve, slowly or fast, then maybe it can be my new PES equivalent.
Click to expand...

Well, to be honest Active Soccer 1 has been released in 2012, there is no intention to milk the momentum of no decent offline footy game.
I am a huge fan of classic 16 bit football games such as Kick Off 2 and SWOS, I competed in many Kick Off 2 world cups on real Amiga years ago.
I released also a Kick Off 2 remake in early 2000's. I am a retro gamer and I am developing Active Soccer mainly because I don't like new football games anymore.
I honestly think Super Mario Strikers and the Disney Football games belongs to a different genre.
Active Soccer 2023 has more depth both managerial and in the pitch, on the other hand has of course less charm and polishing.
Thanks anyway for your sincere feedback, I appreciate it :))
 
Chris Davies said:
I agree. There are so many arcade choices - just look at this list. I've tried a lot of them, too (Super Soccer Blast for example), but there's just so little depth to the gameplay that I've only played them for a few days.

(New Star Manager is the best by far, but even that I can't really enjoy because I don't like the sort-of turn-based gameplay.)

SWOS and PES are my two favourite football games of all-time, and they have one major thing in common that most modern games don't do, IMO:

In SWOS, without needing a difficulty level, I'd get (fairly) beat by better teams, but I'd beat worse teams. Why? Because attributes really matter. In PES, I can't make difficult passes with crap passers, and I can't score worldies with defenders (unless it's a bit of a freak occurrence). Why? Because attributes really matter.

That way, a career mode really works - because it matters who you buy, who you train and who you play. Without gameplay to support that, it doesn't work (it's why I can't play FIFA's career mode any more).

(There you go @TheFoxSoft, there's some feedback I wasn't intending to provide! :LOL:)
Click to expand...

Hi Chris, yes the career mode is really close to SWOS career mode.
Each player has different attributes (speed, acceleration, shot accuracy, shot power, pass, cross, header, defending, stamina, technique, aggression, keeping) and those reflects the behaviors of the players in the pitch. There is also a transfer screen in which you can analyze all the players on the market, or purchasing free agents or even legends (if you enable this option).
I agree with you about little depth of current arcade games, unfortunately Active Soccer is not known as many others but I put a lot of effort to recreate different tactics, movements of the players, 1 - 2 pass, pass on empty spaces, etc. I tried to offer a lot of way to play the game in the pitch.

This is a simulation of the AI :))
 
TheFoxSoft said:
Hi Chris, yes the career mode is really close to SWOS career mode.
Each player has different attributes (speed, acceleration, shot accuracy, shot power, pass, cross, header, defending, stamina, technique, aggression, keeping) and those reflects the behaviors of the players in the pitch. There is also a transfer screen in which you can analyze all the players on the market, or purchasing free agents or even legends (if you enable this option).
I agree with you about little depth of current arcade games, unfortunately Active Soccer is not known as many others but I put a lot of effort to recreate different tactics, movements of the players, 1 - 2 pass, pass on empty spaces, etc. I tried to offer a lot of way to play the game in the pitch.

This is a simulation of the AI :))
Click to expand...
Ooof. That video... it gives me tingles.

You have a new follower. :D

Really look forward to trying this out.
 
Hey glad to see you hear. I played your previous titles actually and really enjoyed them, also it was always hard to rename the German Teams :D because I could never figure out which team they are meant to be.

but it really gave me positive SWOS vibes. Will you also have classic teams again? because I really loved that you included classic squads for a lot of leagues.
 
TheFoxSoft said:
Well, to be honest Active Soccer 1 has been released in 2012, there is no intention to milk the momentum of no decent offline footy game.
I am a huge fan of classic 16 bit football games such as Kick Off 2 and SWOS, I competed in many Kick Off 2 world cups on real Amiga years ago.
I released also a Kick Off 2 remake in early 2000's. I am a retro gamer and I am developing Active Soccer mainly because I don't like new football games anymore.
I honestly think Super Mario Strikers and the Disney Football games belongs to a different genre.
Active Soccer 2023 has more depth both managerial and in the pitch, on the other hand has of course less charm and polishing.
Thanks anyway for your sincere feedback, I appreciate it :))
Click to expand...
Thanks for reply Gianluca .

Just to set things properly, in order not to be misunderstood, by my side.

This post of mine was a general thesis, i have for all new football games, that come from devs with passion, like you seem to be.

It's not a criticism for your project, i deeply respect your passion and your vision and i am hoping to have the best success possible. I can't judge something without play it of course.

Of course, i will try your game, and i would be happy to submit proper feedback, and support you as much as possible.

And to be more patient to you cause i think you are an independent dev, if i am jot wrong.

So i will give to you more easily a vote of confidence, than to the mutli-billion football projects that already in the market, or plan to be, like PES, FIFA, UFL, Goalz, etc.

Don't get me wrong on this, i am not putting illogical requests, neither i would judge a game out of a video. And by your description i can feel part of your visions, thats why i said SIM/Arcade balance.
And i didn't mean your game is arcade like Super Mario Strikers.

________________

To give you a simple example, of how i am thinking, as English is not my native language, i am a guy like you, i have no taboos to play older games.

I've played the football game in Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 for Switch. Well in a mix of sports game, i could say its passable , but if i can isolate it as a football game, developed in the late 10's, around 2019, it's a bad game.

On the other hand, Super Side kicks soccer, a game developed almost 15~20 years ago, and i still find it much enjoyable and playable, despite having less technology than the Tokyo 2020 football game, and much more games from the PS2 era. I am still playing Super Side Kicks Soccer 3 today , like ISS, like Kick Off, like Sensible World of Soccer. Cause with lesser technology, they still respect that balance.

That's the same i hope from amy new Football game. šŸ™‚

____________________

To conclude , and don't be misunderstood again, i hope your game is good for me, it gives some good first step vibes, by your video, and i hope it matches my liking when i will play it :)

Really, wish you the best , for your project :D

Plus, as previous posters said, it gives me very good vibes, i subbed to your channel too.
 
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@TheFoxSoft Hi there! Great to see you here and I think it's awesome that you are receiving feedback. :TU:

There are several points that to me make a football game great. These are some of my suggestions, and things that I look for in football games. Even though I might go into some detail here, this is only a "wish-list" that I've been thinking about for a while and some of the aspects which I think are most important. :)

1. Immersive Career mode/Master League: This is the main point that attracts me to a football game: the Offline Experience. Even though I'm not a huge fan of micro-management (we already have other titles that focus on very small details, like football manager for example), I think that an immersive career mode is something a lot of people are looking for. Player emotions, press conferences, chemistry/team spirit, realistic salaries and stats growth and a good youth system are great additions. I like the fact that you added the "positional arrows" and other details in the tactics! I also think that giving the manager a personality and/or an appearance is a huge plus. It adds to the immersion. In addition, some of us are not a big fan of "regens" (retired players coming back as youth players), so if there's a system to create realistic invented youth players, with realistic appearances and names according to nationality, that'd be ideal.

2. Plenty of lesser known leagues. I'm not really sure what the licensing situation is with Active Soccer, but the part I liked the most about the trailer was the 30+ leagues and 1000+ teams. That's awesome and really encouraging. :) I think many titles focus on the biggest, most well-known leagues, which of course is understandable from a marketing standpoint. But, if in addition to these leagues, if you guys can include plenty of lesser known leagues/second or even third divisions, that would be really cool. Asian, South American, African, Eastern European and Middle Eastern Leagues are all very welcome! Even though many players will be focusing on the so-called "big five or six" European leagues, I think that having a more global representation of leagues is great, since every league and team has its own culture, history and personality and it adds to the entire experience of having different places represented. This to me is an aspect which is under-represented in a lot of footballing games and if it can be implemented, that would be one of the most engaging parts of the game!

3. In terms of gameplay, I think a mixture of simulation/arcade is great. One thing to keep in mind is the following: I think most of us like to play 10-30 minute matches (personally, I like 15-25), and following this train of thought, I think if a good balance is achieved between these two styles, it works great for a football game. The most important aspect here for me and others is: player stats should have the appropriate weight. Like I've mentioned in other threads, I like it when a Modric pass feels like a Modric pass, as opposed to a midfielder from a lesser known league. I'm not against the concept of pass assistance at all (in fact, in footballing games, I always like to play with limited pass assistance). The reason why I like PA is because, if applied correctly, it gives passing stats the appropriate importance and also makes the game dynamic. I think most footballing gamers dislike "ping-pong passing", in which passing is too automated, but having an appropriate, balanced pass assistance which really reflects the stats to me is important. Anyway, there could be an option between switching with manual/assisted to appeal to different syles. Related to the previous point, I really like the customizable angles/weather/camera views. That's crucial in a football game. Also, I think customizable game speed is a great plus, the ability to have from quite slow to quite fast gameplay included in the game options is necessary. Some of us like a somewhat slower pace, some of us like a speedier game, and the ability to customize this to the player's preference is really crucial.

4. Speaking of customization, I think one of the great things of communities such as this one is the ability to mod gameplay and leagues. The more moddable a football game is, the better! Gameplay, league structure, faces, names, kits, you name it. What attracted me to evoweb in the first place was its amazing modding community, and if Active Soccer somehow has a moddable structure, then that's always a huge plus.

I'll probably add some more aspects when I can think of them, but these points cover my suggestions for now, anyway these are my two cents! Even though they are a bit long, I wanted to get into some detail since I've been awaiting a game like this for a long time. I'm no tactical expert or connoisseur, just someone who really loves footballing games and retro gaming with a passion! :BSCARF: In anycase, thanks a lot for your hard work @TheFoxSoft . This is a major step in the right direction I really feel. In this age of "instant gratification" in footballing games, I think a proper, retro-feeling edition is really needed. I'm quite liking the overall feeling of the game, the idea behind it, and the fact that it acknowledges the great retro editions of the past, retaining a lot of their spirit while keeping an eye on the present and future. It's something a lot of us are very glad to see. I wish you the best of luck in the development of this game and will be keeping a close look on it! :)
 
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slamsoze said:
Thanks for reply Gianluca .

Just to set things properly, in order not to be misunderstood, by my side.

This post of mine was a general thesis, i have for all new football games, that come from devs with passion, like you seem to be.

It's not a criticism for your project, i deeply respect your passion and your vision and i am hoping to have the best success possible. I can't judge something without play it of course.

Of course, i will try your game, and i would be happy to submit proper feedback, and support you as much as possible.

And to be more patient to you cause i think you are an independent dev, if i am jot wrong.

So i will give to you more easily a vote of confidence, than to the mutli-billion football projects that already in the market, or plan to be, like PES, FIFA, UFL, Goalz, etc.

Don't get me wrong on this, i am not putting illogical requests, neither i would judge a game out of a video. And by your description i can feel part of your visions, thats why i said SIM/Arcade balance.
And i didn't mean your game is arcade like Super Mario Strikers.

________________

To give you a simple example, of how i am thinking, as English is not my native language, i am a guy like you, i have no taboos to play older games.

I've played the football game in Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 for Switch. Well in a mix of sports game, i could say its passable , but if i can isolate it as a football game, developed in the late 10's, around 2019, it's a bad game.

On the other hand, Super Side kicks soccer, a game developed almost 15~20 years ago, and i still find it much enjoyable and playable, despite having less technology than the Tokyo 2020 football game, and much more games from the PS2 era. I am still playing Super Side Kicks Soccer 3 today , like ISS, like Kick Off, like Sensible World of Soccer. Cause with lesser technology, they still respect that balance.

That's the same i hope from amy new Football game. šŸ™‚

____________________

To conclude , and don't be misunderstood again, i hope your game is good for me, it gives some good first step vibes, by your video, and i hope it matches my liking when i will play it :)

Really, wish you the best , for your project :D

Plus, as previous posters said, it gives me very good vibes, i subbed to your channel too.
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hey mate, no need to apologize at all!
Super Side Kicks is a brilliant game! I also love Football Champ from Taito
Thanks for your words!
 
Jay-Jay 10 said:
Hey glad to see you hear. I played your previous titles actually and really enjoyed them, also it was always hard to rename the German Teams :D because I could never figure out which team they are meant to be.

but it really gave me positive SWOS vibes. Will you also have classic teams again? because I really loved that you included classic squads for a lot of leagues.
Click to expand...
This is the real story behind the German league....Unfortunately I had legal threat from Bundesliga's lawyers.
In 2017 they sold Bundesliga's license exclusively to FIFA, in order to guarantee this exclusivity they was taking a legal action threat against me.
Active Soccer 2 DX provides city or region names instead of real club names. They insisted that Dortmund was the shorter name of Borussia Dortmund, and so many other club names. My lawyer tried to take PES as example, a game with misspelled names.
At the end, in order to avoid a millionaire legal action, which I could not afford, basically I had to agree to pay an undisclosed amount of money and remove any division reference.
Of course this heavily impacted my financial situation and my morale, I had to stop developing games and find new job opportunities. Luckily I slowly recovered from that situation and I am back again with Active Soccer 2023 :))

In AS2023 the number of leagues and included classic squads are increased respect the ones in the previous version
 
@TheFoxSoft
When people in here talk about simulation - dont get scared.
For a lot of people - simulation comes to play when you just cover the basics of football.
If your football game will have decent AI with various patterns of play, bringing unpredictability on the pitch - thats a great start.
If player attributes really matter and make the difference - fantastic.
If you have fouls, injuries, cards that happen organically - amazing.

We do realise it will not be tripple A game and no one expects miracles.
But football games these days are lacking in actual basics of the sport.
Once you cover them - it will be something fresh.

In time you could add customisation and edit mode, add empty leagues, so people could create their own, sorting your licensing issues.
The more edit options the better.

If you are really trying to reach far - maybe stadium creator.

And also gameplay options, like difficulty and speed, so people could make it into more simulation/slow paced football.

And from me, personally, Id love to see Manual Passing and Shooting option, so people could play Full Manual. There's a whole bunch of Full Manual lovers in here, so Im sure it would be very well received.
 
TheFoxSoft said:
This is the real story behind the German league....Unfortunately I had legal threat from Bundesliga's lawyers.
In 2017 they sold Bundesliga's license exclusively to FIFA, in order to guarantee this exclusivity they was taking a legal action threat against me.
Active Soccer 2 DX provides city or region names instead of real club names. They insisted that Dortmund was the shorter name of Borussia Dortmund, and so many other club names. My lawyer tried to take PES as example, a game with misspelled names.
At the end, in order to avoid a millionaire legal action, which I could not afford, basically I had to agree to pay an undisclosed amount of money and remove any division reference.
Of course this heavily impacted my financial situation and my morale, I had to stop developing games and find new job opportunities. Luckily I slowly recovered from that situation and I am back again with Active Soccer 2023 :))

In AS2023 the number of leagues and included classic squads are increased respect the ones in the previous version
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Good inside info. It's always fair when the community knows things that do happen behind the curtains.

As for the licensing, if you plan to include a decent in game Editor or Edit mode, and easy ways to import/export/share, i would say don't worry so much.

The editing community has proven over the years, that they/we can do miracle in reasonable time. Remember when the king , had R. Larcos and Ravoldi... šŸ˜ƒ

Well as for the Leagues, of course it's always the more the merrier, but it's also good to be a proper pyramid in a League, if not 3rd or 4th divisions, then at least 2nd Division for every league.

The battle for relegation/promotion/survival, makes a league always more spicy.
 
@Emroth
thanks for the feedback. You can set your preferred speed in Active Soccer 2023. There is already a competition designer, in which you can configure your preferred format (ie: league, cup, or Champion's league style).
From the feedback I am receiving people love to edit and create content, this is awesome! This is just the starting point, I hope to expand and make the game customizable even further in the next updates. Stadium creator is a superb idea, thanks.

The shooting system is full manual, you must set the direction, height and swerve of the ball. The crossing system is full manual as well, you can impress the length and direction of the cross. There are 2 buttons dedicated to short pass, auto and full manual.
 
TheFoxSoft said:
Well, to be honest Active Soccer 1 has been released in 2012, there is no intention to milk the momentum of no decent offline footy game.
I am a huge fan of classic 16 bit football games such as Kick Off 2 and SWOS, I competed in many Kick Off 2 world cups on real Amiga years ago.
I released also a Kick Off 2 remake in early 2000's. I am a retro gamer and I am developing Active Soccer mainly because I don't like new football games anymore.
I honestly think Super Mario Strikers and the Disney Football games belongs to a different genre.
Active Soccer 2023 has more depth both managerial and in the pitch, on the other hand has of course less charm and polishing.
Thanks anyway for your sincere feedback, I appreciate it :))
Click to expand...

Hey man, don't worry about making a sim game especially if you are 1-manning it. It's virtually impossible due to the amount of time it takes to create a simulation football game(mostly due to animation and IK). You can make an arcade game really fun and I even consider PES 5/PES 6 to be an arcadey game because of it's usage of pre-baked key frame animations and ball physics that isn't fully simulated as well as no body collision physics. But what makes PES 5/PES 6 so fun is how responsive it is and how it follows basic fundamentals of positioning when it comes to formation and tactics. Also how different each player feels and stats having a lot of impact causing you to have endless replayability.
 
Well, im thrilled by what im reading and watching on this thread, @TheFoxSoft congratulations, really amazing job and i wish the best for you, as a modder & programmer, i will look forward to this game, and probably will help the modding community to get some amazing tools to create new stuff, even if you don't add it from the start on a edit mode, leagues, i will be please to help your project growing from the shadows :)

ps. already into my steam wishlist!

EDIT:
as for stadium creator (which we know if you ever get there will come on a futher update or even a new release) you can probably take as an stadium the one included into pes2013 pc version
 
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