Gridiron, 1st Physics-Based, Fully Multiplayer Football Game, Becomes Viral Hit on Steam Early Access

Gridiron, the first physics-based, fully multiplayer football game that I briefly mentioned last year, launched on Steam a few weeks ago, and has already gained impressive traction, especially as it's still in Early Access. Player reviews run Very Positive (difficult to achieve with Steam's highly critical userbase), and even more notable, has been embraced and made viral by some popular YouTube streamers.  (As above and below.)

I've played Gridiron and can confirm it's goddamn good, capturing the "oh shit oh shit shit" waves of mayhem players feel when two teams collide, and crash into the unpredictability of real time player and ball movement. It's perfectly poised to be an esports/Twitch streaming hit like Rocket League -- but with actual humanoid players instead of you know, cars.

Surprisingly, Gridiron was basically created by a single developer, Brandon McDuff, with art assets created by his wife, Gizem Mishi McDuff. (Who regular New World Notes readers will know by her massive Second Life-based Blueberry fashion brand.)

"Yes this our first game," Brandon confirms to me. 

 

"Actually," he adds, "I did make a game for Mishi for her birthday using Game Maker Studio. Does making a game that only one player played count?" (Why not?)

 

More from the McDuffs on making Gridiron, and the husband/wife team's plans for its future:

Brandon McDuff on Gridiron's inspiration, and its development:

"I grew up on games like Blitz and NBA jam and I also played a lot of games pro/semi pro and competitively over the years. When I finally found mods for other games that allowed me to play football with friends, it was only natural that I'd want to take all of that experience and make a football game where me and my friends could all play together and make it a stand alone experience. All of the best games out there started as a mod that someone said ‘Hey, that should be its own thing’ and built upon those proven gameplay concepts.

"The most challenging aspect for me has been trying to design a game that has a very high skill ceiling, while still allowing newer or more casual players to come in and find enjoyment. I've always been the kind of gamer that wants to jump into a game and grind until I'm really really good. Not everyone wants that experience, so the game needs to accommodate both groups of people."

Brandon McDuff on how Gridiron differs from Madden and other football games:

“I think the short answer is that 'football' is all our game has in common with Madden and most other football games. First of all, Gridiron is the only stand alone game available that allows you and your friends to team up and compete against other teams of players. This is something that I and many fans of football games have been begging for, FOREVER. 

“Aside from that, our game is also highly skill based. You don't press a button to throw to a receiver, you have to actually have the ability to judge where you want to throw the ball then aim and as a receiver how to read the ball in the air and position yourself to beat others to it.

"So while other football games do take a degree of skill to play, our design goals have been to maximize this in an effort to allow football to finally be played as a team esports game. This is new territory for football fans, and I think so far the response has been pretty positive (thankfully!) 

"Outside of all of that, our game is also very arcadey, meaning we don't focus too much on the penalties etc. We made the design choice to just not allow things to happen that would normally be penalties. This means to play our game and have fun you need to only know where to stand to score points, leave the minutia of the technical stuff out."

Brandon McDuff on Gridiron's Sci-Fi Football Theme & Upcoming Storyline:

"Honestly, I'm a huge sci-fi geek first and foremost. But on top of that, I wanted to present the game of football to a new audience and kind of break away from this sense that football or sports in general have to be this 'boring' grounded thing. For the record I don't feel that way, but have lots of friends that do. I wanted them to look at football and be like, "Wow what is going on here? I want to play that!". It's always a bit of a gamble, because you never know if football fans are willing to embrace their favorite sport being warped to the year 2300. 

"It also allows us to tell stories about our characters and make the universe itself that this game is being played in, more than just the game. After making the decision to go this route I was turned on to a book series called Galactic Football League the first book called 'the rookie' and when I read that book, I was convinced that there are endless opportunities with the direction we have chosen. I even named our first character after that book! (With author Scott Sigler’s permission, of course.)

"We will have our own stories that we intend to explore through voice lines of the characters in the game, and visually through some of the levels. We may also introduce more of the background lore through content drops as the game matures."

Gizem McDuff on taking a break from Blueberry to create Gridiron's look:

"I have always had different hustles while I operated Blueberry. I have built and exited 2 companies during this time. I don't like to usually talk about them, because Second Life is a magical world where all the tools you need is in your creativity. That unfortunately isn't the case outside of Second Life. Why bring in the boring stuff?

"I had an opportunity to follow my dreams, so I am really passionate about helping my husband follow his. So I exited my last business and hopped on board to co-develop Gridiron with my husband. Gridiron and Blueberry are now my only pursuits."

I'm fairly sure we'll see a lot more about making that dream fully real in the near future. Until then: Lay on, Mcduffs, and damned be them that play Gridiron and first cries, “Hold, enough!” (Yes, I went there.)

Comments

[Hakeem Jackson]

OMG!!
Where are players of color?
Why are they not knelling in solidarity against inequality?
No background messages or on player messages supporting the BLM Movement?

All Sports including E-Sports need to comply in solidarity!

They better fix this before coming out of beta, if your not supporting us then your against us as we stand against racism my all means necessary with moral righteousness we stand united !
advice to start seeing support at her store soon in the form of support banners and educating her customers about how damaging the white privileges they maintain are to all people of color or the possibility of boycotts and pressure on Steam & LL will be swift!

Hakeem Jackson
Black Lives Matter Coordinator

[Aidan]

There's literally a player of color character from level 0 in the game. They've also tweeted about the subject of BLM! Play the game before making comments like these! I'm sure you know better :)

[Alicia]

@Hakeem Jackson, don't pull that crap on them. All you'll end up doing is showing what you really are. A person whose sole intent is to harass and intimidate.

Since you want to go there, then explain why hardly anyone is watching sports this year.

[Wagner James Au]

I think the algorithmic tractor beam has already exited that gentleman and bad faith topic from the NWN cocktail party!

Also, Googling "Hakeem Jackson Black Lives Matter Coordinator" only brings up... this post.

[Kyle]

Surely people have better things to do than bitch about the wokeness of a fucking VIDEOGAME. Get a life Hakeem.