Interview with Steve Marshall from Football Superstars

Interview with Steve Marshall from Football Superstars. Steve Marshall is the Creative Director for Cybersports, the company behind the upcoming Football Superstars metamogg. The Warcry network (a portal for online gaming) has an excellent interview with Steve – read the full article here.

The interview gives a good insight into upcoming launch as well as the dynamics of the gameplay and the virtual environment. Here’s an extract:

WarCry:

One reason team sports have paradoxically remained single player games is that it can be rather boring to play as an individual in a team sport. In real football (soccer), players need to stay within a system, play their position and spend a lot of time watching others with the ball to be successful. How do you intend to simulate soccer, but still keep it entertaining on a PC?

Steve Marshall:

The principal of playing a computer based football game as an individual was proven to everyone the first time we had the opportunity to playtest our initial concept game. As simple as it was, the most frequently voiced comment I heard was that it is just as satisfying being the person that enabled their team mate to score, or being the one that prevented the equalizer from going into the back of the net as it is to be the foot behind the winning goal. After a little “honey pot” chaos people naturally fall into attacking, midfield or defensive roles, every player immediately understands the basic football concepts and naturally do what is required for their team.

Being part of “the whole” is a very tangible feeling while you play and is one of the fundamental reasons I believe football is such a popular sport overall.

Within the Football Superstars world we answer the issue in several additional ways… Players will not be exposed to the trials and tribulations of hard-core 11 aside tournament matches immediately, they will be eased into it at their own pace, ensuring that their initial matches will be fast, very dynamic and certainly chaotic as they progress through the smaller lower league divisions.

This should give the community plenty of opportunity to develop relationships and a clearer understanding of the control systems, personal development and awareness of their own individual play styles which will subsequently lead to the formation of tactics and true organised team play at which point opportunities for higher profile games will emerge.

It is also clear from my experience of other MMO’s (mainly RPG’s) that people genuinely enjoy playing supportive roles, which as we all know in football is just as important as the man up front. A strong defender is arguably as valuable to a team as a strong striker possibly more so.

In addition we capture an incredible wealth of statistics and reward players for holding position and generally playing as part of a team. This will ensure that nobody feels left out, regardless of how high or low profile their participation may seem during any individual match.

More information relating to Football Superstars and the opportunties for advertisers and brand partners will be published on the K Zero week in the forthcoming weeks. Companies wishing to learn more about the opportunities available can contact K Zero here.

K Zero is an accredited agency for Football Superstars development and marketing strategy.