Review Fix chats with Liam Chung, Project Manager for the online Soccer game, “Freestyle Football,†discussing the game’s growth goals for the future and inspiration. Although based in Korea, the development team agreed that the FIFA and PES games have played an instrumental role in soccer video games, they wanted to add community features and gameplay elements that made for a more hearty multi-player experience.
Review Fix: What games have inspired this one?
Liam Chung: When people think of football games today, they always think of FIFA or PES games. Naturally, gamers may believe that those games inspire the recent football game releases and obviously there is no denying that we have received some sort of influence from those games for the realistic football animations and skills. However, our game isn’t about playing with licensed professionals like Messi, or Ronaldo. We focus on the ‘fun’ of playing football with others; whether it would be on your team or the opponent team. So classical games like Kick-Off and Sensible Soccer have inspired us because it reminded us the fun of playing football games with your mates.
Review Fix: What has the reception been like for the game thus far?
Chung: We are currently servicing two regions, US and Europe. Many users are happy about the game because it is different from the general ones. Our reception is especially higher in Europe where football is the most dominant sport.
Review Fix: What do you think the game needs to improve on to be as successful as you’d like?
Chung: Since this game focuses playing with others, we need to improve on community features that brings the users closer together. We are currently working on this and we hope to bring it to the game soon.
Review Fix: What’s the development process been like?
Chung: Our biggest goal is to bring the content that users want. So when developing, we try to think from the user’s perspective. For example, if we were to develop a community feature, we first think ‘what is fun when users get together, what experience do you want to provide the users by bringing them together’ Once that is decided then we think about the ‘features’ and plan it and develop it. If you change your process to setting your goals to develop a  ‘features’ before thinking about ‘what make it fun or what experience the users want from this’ then the experience is deteriorated. Our process takes a longer time to develop, but we think it will benefit us in the long run.
Review Fix: What do you think is the game’s best feature?
Chung: The game’s best feature is being able to play an individual footballer where everyone is essential. In real-life football, everyone is important as well and there is no one that is not essential. However, the focus usually shifts towards the forwards who scores the goal. Because our game is 4 vs 4 and not 11 vs 11, everyone is vital to winning the game. Even if you have the best offensive player, if the defense is weak or your midfielder isn’t able to connect the ball to the forward then you can’t win. Therefore, every single person is involved and everyone can be a rock star.
Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy this game the most?
Chung: Anyone who has the love for playing football or watching football on TV with their mates in real life will definitely enjoy this game. Especially if you have your mates over or playing together on voice chat or something, you will absolutely able to feel the energy!
Review Fix: What updates do you have planned?
Chung: Right now, we are focusing on community and competition aspect of the game but it’s quite large so I can’t give you a definite date on the release date. In fact, if the volume is too big, we might have to separate the content and bring it one piece at a time. But rest assured, the content is coming.
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