(My newest game, Strike The Goal, is now available on the Amazon App Store for Android! I didn’t expect it to get its first approval until later this week, but the Amazon Android App Store review was super quick. It will also be available on the Apple App Store soon.) 

Strike The Goal is a fun soccer themed physics puzzler. The goal… of the game is to strike the ball into the goal. Move your teammates around to help set up the perfect shot. Aim the arrow in the direction you want to kick the ball to score while avoiding obstructing opponents & yellow cards. However, sometimes you might be able to use an opponent to your advantage. The match is lost when you strike a wrong goal, get two yellow cards, or strike the ball more than 9 times(tournament mode only).

 – Plan out each strike by moving teammates around or just strike it.

 – Learn about different countries before each match. Over 700 random facts in the game.

 – Exhibition mode: Compete against 40 top international teams.

 – Challenge yourself by trying to score in one strike. 

 – Score a goal in 1 strike to obtain 3 stars. 2 strikes for 2 stars. 3 or more strikes for 1 star. 

 – Tournament mode: Win 3 randomized matches in a row to obtain the STG championship & extra coins.

 – 20 Achievements/Trophies for a total of 1,000 Game Center achievement points.

 – Opponents stand still, move around, and sometimes attack the ball.

– Extend the aiming arrow further for a harder kick or shorter for a softer kick.

– Real crowd noise, chants, vuvuzelas, and other sound FX.

– Use coins earned in-game to buy different balls & fields.

Development Notes:

I like soccer/football a lot and I also enjoy physics puzzle games so a couple of months ago I thought it would be neat to make a bouncy puzzle game with a soccer/football theme. In the beginning I had a clear “goal” of how I wanted the app to turn out, so I just followed through with my to-do list and added more features as I progressed. I did several things in this app that I’ve never done before in app development land. While developing this app I also found more ways to enhance performance by using tables.

This is also my first game with Game Center achievements. I’m a Xbox 360 and PS3 gamer so I know achievements/trophies can add to a games fun and accomplishment factor. It’s always neat when you accomplish something and get a little bleep achievement pop up. Also looking back on games you’ve played as well as your achievement score/trophy level is neat too. I also wanted to make sure the game included in-game achievements for Android users and also because I know a lot of people don’t even bother with Game Center so I didn’t want to leave those people out.

This game has fundamental puzzle elements, presents a lot of trial and error, and some nominal strategy. One thing I wanted to make sure of while developing this app is that it maintained a quick restart time. I envisioned this being the kind of game that gets restarted a lot during gameplay like the infamously fun Trials HD & Evolution games. Part of what makes those games great is knowing you can restart quickly and jump right back into the game and try again for that perfect run or high score. So hopefully  when you hit a nice strike but it bounces off the side bar you won’t feel bad about restarting if you’re going for those 2 or 3 stars in Exhibition or if you ran out of strikes in a Tournament match.

Overall I’m very proud of this game and I think it’s awesome. It’s easy to jump into and start playing, but it also makes you stop and think while presenting a challenge if you approach it in that way. If you want to score goals without continuously striking the ball you have to plan out your goal before it happens, but you can also just play around and blindly strike the ball until you make the goal. I think Strike The Goal is very unique and I haven’t seen anything else like it in the app stores. I also like the overall look and feel of the game too. The graphics are colorful & sharp and the sound is realistic & atmospheric. I missed out on several hours of sleep while staying up late developing this app, but I’m satisfied with the outcome, so it was worth it. I enjoyed developing this game and I still enjoy playing it. Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!!!!!!!