Get Info: #simplesoccer

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…)

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/