Ever thought about how a digital football moves in a video game? It sounds simple, but getting that perfect “thwack” of the ball just right is a massive challenge for game developers. The folks behind REMATCH, the new sports game, know this struggle all too well.
The team, including Sloclap co-founder Pierre Tarno and Game Design Lead Dylan Allen, recently chatted with PC Gamer about this very topic. They explained that making players feel good when they kick the ball is a huge priority. But reaching that sweet spot takes a lot of careful work and time.
“There are many ways to handle this,” Allen noted. REMATCH mixes sports action with elements from fighting games. Think of Sloclap’s past hits, Absolver and Sifu, which focused on smooth combat. “One of the most important things we brought from Sifu to REMATCH is thinking about how things feel,” Allen added. “When you kick the ball, it simply has to feel right, doesn’t it?”
But this “feel” has to fit the rest of the game. Allen explained the challenge: “If the ball moves too fast or too far, defenders can’t react quickly enough. Goalkeepers would have an impossible job. Then, what’s the point of fighting for control in midfield if you can just send the ball from one end to the other?” It’s a delicate dance between making it feel fun and keeping the gameplay fair and tactical.
The answer to that question, of course, is yes. Players need to see accurate passing matter. A goalie could boot the ball across the entire field, but it wouldn’t get far if no teammate is there to receive it. “You have to give up something to gain something else,” Allen stated. It’s a classic trade-off in game design.
Could the ball’s physics change in the future? Both Tarno and Allen suggested that changing the ball would be like tearing down the game’s foundation. It’s the “basic brick” of the entire experience. Altering it would mean rebuilding a huge part of the game from scratch.
Still, they didn’t rule out all adjustments. The team might tweak things with extreme care. But don’t expect any sudden, huge shifts to the ball’s behavior right now.
REMATCH is available today on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.