Get Info: #sensiblesoccer

Abandoned project: Soccer for Playdate

by Matt Sephton — Thu, 01 May 2025 14:34:00 +0000

On September 30th, 2023, I was sitting in the cinema waiting for an anniversary screening of Talking Heads “Stop Making Sense” to begin when I got a message from Panic. They asked if I was familiar with Sensible Soccer. Naturally, I was—I’ve played it since its release in 1992, as man and boy. Back in 2000, I’d even made my own arcade-style take on it called Simple Soccer, and in 2002 I designed an official Sensible Soccer T-shirt that was sold on the high street. Panic had no idea about any of this, but luck works in funny ways sometimes.

Panic’s idea was to make a soccer game for Playdate, tied in as a promotional companion to the soccer-infused first-person slice-of-life game Despelote (out today—1st May, 2025). Very cool.

I was super keen, as you’d imagine, and quickly got to work on a prototype (download at the link). It let you move around the pitch, zoom in and out, and switch between different pitch surfaces. I sent it off and asked for a budget and scope. With the expectation set that the project was going forwards and while waiting for a reply, I kept going: I got the ball moving (using the same sort of ball movement trick I first solved 25 years ago and more recently reused for Fore! Track), and had two AI-controlled teams running around the pitch, tracking the ball using the classic Sensible Soccer grid system.

But I never heard back about the budget. So I stopped—just before adding goal-scoring. It would’ve been so cool.

Lesson learned. I now always ask for a contract upfront and of course don’t do spec work. If a client wants me to build something, they need to commit—and at the very least, meet me on the halfway line.

Found whilst backing up an old PC

by Matt Sephton — Sat, 03 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Backed up a very old laptop and found a bunch of cool old stuff from 15-20 years ago! #thread

2003-04-25: Custom Fruit Labels for a Zelda: Wind Waker competition (I think in Official Nintendo Magazine?) I sent them a fake plastic pear with one of these these stuck on.

2005-01-18: grid-based music puzzle game called BEAT HIT

2004-12-24: game mockup “Katamari Christmasy” 2D side-scroller

2004-07-11: reverse engineering “Mini Golf” JAVA cell phone game to make custom levels. w/ hyphz

2004-03-10: Atari arcade game Super Sprint themed T-shirt

2004-07-22: source code (Blitz Basic, Windows PC) for my game Wire Hang Redux, which you can still grab and play for free at (gingerbeardman.itch.io/wire-hang-redux)

2004-12-21: various themes for Sony Ericsson K700i cell phone

2002-01-15: source code for my Futurama-themed Robotron clone “Bendertron”

2001-04-24: WIP Mode 7 style kart game “Manga Kart”

2002-03-04: source code for Pang style bouncing ball physics

2003-07-02: beach-themed QIX clone “QUARTZ”

2003-07-02: source code for rainbow block matching puzzler “ROY” - it’s not balanced, or much fun, but it’s still downloadable at (gingerbeardman.com/archive/roy/)

2000-2003: source code for my Sensible Soccer clone “Simple Soccer” (gingerbeardman.com/archive/soccer/)

2002-09-17: source code for aborted attempt at bringing @armyoftrolls mockup “Space Squad 5” to life

2002-08-23: source code for my entry into the BlitzCoder Stupidest Game competition, Summer 2002. “Terra Firma” still available to download and play at (gingerbeardman.com/archive/terraf…)

2002-08-24: source code for my kayaking simulator “yaking”

hurrah! was hoping i’d find this. will rinstate working download ASAP at (gingerbeardman.com/archive/yaking/)

2000-06-10: photos from my first digital camera (a Fujifilm FinePix 1400 Zoom) including some of my first car (a 1972 FIAT 500)

1995-1998: my University Comp Sci directory photos (I was age 18-21)

2002-05-23: original artwork for my Sensible Soccer T-shirt that was sold in River Island stores across the UK (still a shame they didn’t print the lines on the neck and shoulders!)

2000-08-06: email attachment ATT09176.jpeg a photo of forest fire. (Bitterroot National Forest, Montana, on Aug. 6, 2000) (earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/843/bit…)

…plus tons of work files, game screenshots and ROMs, failed prototypes, and random stuff I found interesting. Which goes to show that half a lifetime ago I was exactly the same person I am today. Phew. #end

OK, a couple more…

2003-06-29: me taking photos of a big old widescreen CRT showing the Samsung N504 Virtual Light Machine (VLM-2) - still got it the NUON - no it’s not for sale ;)

2005-09-05: my favourite game at the time was a Japanese skill game called “Pendulumania” (version 1.3 A) still downloadable from (vector.co.jp/magazine/softn…)

2000-10-16: the original Fontographer .fog .fon .ttf files for my font BLOCKOUT (inspired by The Designers Republic but - contrary to their threatening legal letter - actually designed on a completely different grid system!) (flickr.com/photos/emsef/5…)

Review: Sensible Soccer

by Matt Sephton — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:35:00 +0000

The beautiful game.

When people mention football (soccer) games these days there are probably mean one of two games: FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer. These games have evolved year-on-year, from when they were originally poles apart to today where they are very much the same sort of game: photorealistic players, recognisable stadiums, team kits, tournaments and commentary from your most loved (or hated) TV sports commentator. They really feel like you’re at a football match. But I often ask myself why they feel like you’re watching a football match rather than playing a football match?

Back in the days when pixel graphics ruled the world - well my world at least - the computer football game was an entirely different beast. The power of the machines at the time imposed limits on what was possible in terms of graphics and anything else superfluous to the gameplay. Football was rendered at a much more abstract level and the rest was left wide open ready to be filled in by your imagination.

In this story it all started with Microprose Soccer - created for Microprose by a couple of Essex boys: Chris Yates and Jon Hare, who later went in to form Sensible Software. It literally flipped football games on their head - displaying the action from a top down viewpoint which allowed for easy control of both player and ball, and also let you influence the path of the ball after a kick using aftertouch. From humble beginnings come great things, as they say, and that was definitely true in this instance.

The story goes that in the middle of developing their “god simulator” Mega-lo-mania, the guys at Sensible Software started dressing up the tiny characters in football kits for fun. Reflecting on their addiction to Anco’s Kick Off 2 at the time, they realised that they had the basis for a new football game of their own: Sensible Soccer - or Sensi as it is affectionately known.

What set Sensi apart from its competitors was that you could see so much more of the pitch at once, allowing for an unparalleled level of forward planning. Control of players and ball was more accurate than ever and meant that it really felt like you were on the pitch playing as part of a team. Although the graphics may seem purely functional they possessed an ability to show remarkable likeness for the players they were representing, regardless of the fact they were only composed of hair colour, skin colour and shirt number it was completely obvious who each player was.

Subsequent revisions of the game made small, incremental improvements including the addition of red and yellow cards and an on-screen referee, as well as improved goalkeeper behaviour and other tweaks. International teams were added along with the World Cup Tournament in a version that also made it onto most consoles at the time, but it remained the same game. A year later came Sensible World of Soccer, which proved to be the ultimate version of the game. It added further refinements to the core gameplay and a comprehensive manager mode giving the game so much more depth. It also featured an amazing amount of player data - all of the players in all of the teams from all of the professional leagues in the world at that time were included - over 1,500 teams and 27,000 players in total. Add to that all national and international competitions for all club and national teams around the world and you have an most perfect representation of football.

But you know what? All that data doesn’t really matter - all you need is a couple of joysticks, a second player and a few minutes to enjoy one of the finest videogame experiences every made. In fact, in 2007 the game was included in a list of theten most important video games of all time. The fact it plays as well today as it did all those years ago is testament to it’s quality. It remains a truly beautiful game.

Sensible Soccer T-shirt

by Matt Sephton — Thu, 23 May 2002 11:00:00 +0000

I won a competition in a magazine that resulted in my design for a Sensible Soccer T-shirt being put into production by a company called Joystick Junkies.

By early 2004 they were available to buy at online from the BSI Merch website and Amazon UK, as well as on the UK high street at all River Island stores, and to buy wholesale from Big Ben Interactive.

T-shirts were spotted in the wild as far afield as Canada and Australia!

Design

It’s a shame they didn’t have the budget to do the lines along the shoulders and around the neck!

Eagle-eyed pixel-peeping viewers will notice that the final design isn’t actual Sensible Soccer sprites.

Simple Soccer

by Matt Sephton — Fri, 29 Sep 2000 11:00:00 +0000

Simple Soccer is my take on the classic Sensible Soccer. It was written in BlitzBasic and ran at 800×600 under Windows 9x.

I built multiple parts—player control, dribbling, cpu and formation, goalkeeper behaviour—but never managed to combine it all in a finished game. Still, I count it as my first real game.

Archived web page: gingerbeardman.com/archive/soccer/