Article

Community Event

As you may have read on the forums, earlier this week four of our community’s best contributors were invited to the Monumental Games studio in Nottingham to meet the team behind Football Superstars and to be the first fans to test the game.

Here’s how it happened in their words:

HageneeS:

Last week, suddenly an email appeared in my inbox with the subject: “The Most Exciting Email You’ll Receive Today”. I have to admit, exciting it certainly was. An invite to come down to the Monumental Games HQ to meet the team and get the chance to play the game for the first time.

Included in the package was a meal, an overnight stay and a full day of gaming! Obviously, even though it was my 1st wedding anniversary, I couldn’t decline this offer.

BigBubbs:

We met with Community Lead Plectrum, Creative Director/Main Man Steve and Marketing Man Mark and then we sat down in the conference room for about three hours talking about the features of Football Superstars.

Steve answered all our questions about the game and we discussed the features that would… hmm… feature in the Beta and Launch, as well as the features that are on everyone’s wish list for Post-Launch. A lot of our ideas (from the forum) HAVE actually been taken on board and are in the pipeline for post-launch.

HageneeS:

I can assure you that a LOT of stuff that has been thought of and ideas brought up by the community on the different forums have been thought of by the team as well.

Tons of features that are on our wish-lists are on the wish-lists of the Devs too and I’m pretty sure they’ll do the best they can to get a lot of cool stuff implemented. We were able to fire all our questions at them and get those long-wanted answers!

Since it was coming towards 6 o’ clock by then, we decided to head out for a meal at a restaurant of Steve and Mark’s choice. During the meal, not only did we have a good laugh with each other, we also found out that Mark has a serious obsession with mussels… and I found out that ice cream CAN push your chocolate fudge cake off your plate when the machine gets stuck and you get waaaaaay too much.

With our bellies full, it was time to hit the bar! All sorts of cocktails found their way to our table… from “Girlies” to “Fruities”(Mark’s way of naming cocktails by smell, don’t ask).

BigBubbs:

On day two with much lack of sleep, the Football Superstars forum members gathered themselves in the hotel for breakfast and then over to Monumental Games HQ.

On arriving, main man Steve Marshall could not be found, so Team FS Forum checked out the original FS Alpha test – The Table Football – with great strength, determination and just downright awful goalkeeping from Tompi, Hag, Trouble, and late sub Plectrum got victory over Tompi and myself… the added pressure of meeting forum superstars Rocco and Caseus didn’t help our game…

HageneeS:

We started off with a couple of 2v2 matches amongst ourselves so we could get used to the controls which, I must say, are brilliant once you get the hang of it (which doesn’t take long).

First reaction of the game… and I quote myself: “I Don’t know what I was expecting, but whatever it was – this is better.”

The graphics are good, the player movement is realistic, some of the animations when passing or shooting simply looked awesome. When using the pre-loaded actions (pressing your shoot or pass button before actually receiving the ball), the action really comes to life and it all looks so fluent.

Obviously, with the game actually still being in Alpha phase (since Beta isn’t released yet) there are still tweaks to be made. Overall I was definitely impressed with how good and how much fun the game actually was.

The first couple of games were a disaster. Everyone chasing the ball like it was made of chocolate, passes going wrong, shots going wide… it was hilarious. After a bit though, we started to get our acts together and the football we produced became of higher quality.

Within no time Bubbs became the master of the header and I became the master of the yellow cards. Tompi and Troublehalf were a good team, kicking our butts on a regular basis. However, after a couple of games, things started turning around and finally Bubbs and I managed to win several games.

The feeling after seeing your character make a good cross or simply a great pass is pretty cool – a certain sense of achievement. You really have to work as a team to make things happen, so keep that in mind!

BigBubbs:

“Wow” “WOOW” and “OMG WOW” were all uttered as we watched our virtual selves walking out onto the hallowed virtual turf, our names emblazoned on our jerseys and our hearts pumping with adrenaline.

Awesome… plain and simple. The ball and players flowed nicely, the control system of mouse and keyboard work like a dream; the kind of dream that you can play over and over again for hours.

Ok, true enough at first I was finding moving a little different, being used to Second Life and FPS games, but this is only because I am used to games where you can turn on yourself in a blink of a eye. This, ladies and gentleman, is FOOTBALL. You can’t turn on a sixpence, I don’t care how good you think you are…

Troublehalf:

The game was fab! Even if you removed the entire “lifestyle” part of the game, it would still be brilliant. All I can say is good job to the team for taking a chance with this genre of game. It has never been done before, so lets hope CyberSports and Monumental Games can make this the pinnacle of FMMO.

I was told there was more to come so if thats anything to go by, then we are all in for a treat.

This game has so much potential, it is excellent already, we have a real gem in the making.

BigBubbs:

This game IS everything you think it is and possibly even better then that. Graphically it kicks serious butt and the lifestyle area, dare i say it, looks much much better than SecondLife.

The gameplay is flowing, realistic, and easy to grasp, which means even if someone does not like football they could pick up FS and play from day one. Monumental Games and CyberSports have put this together perfectly with US the users being thought of at all times.

I truly believe that all of you will NOT be disappointed with the final version, because if I was so impressed with this game now, including the few bugs which are currently in the game (not annoying, but very funny) – then i am going to be blown away with the launch product.

One final point, please don’t think we get ignored in the CyberSports/Monumental Games office because we don’t. A lot of the staff could mention members from the forum or something that they had said – there are even a few quotes directly from the forum stuck on the wall in the coffee area.

I would just like to say a huge THANK YOU on behalf of the four guys who got this awesome opportunity to everyone at CyberSports and Monumental Games.

HageneeS:

would like to take this opportunity to thank the guys at CyberSports and Monumental Games on behalf of Tompi, Troublehalf, BigBubbs and myself for giving us this chance. A wonderful way to say ‘Thanks’ to us for being part of this great community.

Troublehalf:

Thanks again guys for inviting us to your studio, and thanks for an amazing time.