Developer Blog

I've always loved the style of 2D match engines and how they simplify the beautiful game. Cutting out all the unnecessary graphics that 3D engines bring, leaving you to focus on what matters, tactics and.....luck. Though where to start? After some extensive googling I came across the book "Programming Game AI by Example (Mat Buckland)" which seemed like a great starting point as it provided a worked example on football match engine.

⚽ Match Engine Tuning

• Slightly reduced Striker shooting accuracy when shooting from acute, near-touchline angles. Outfielders will now prioritize passing rather than shooting from bad positions.
• Defenders are now slightly smarter about tracking runs and will not crowd the center line as easily.

🍺 Tavern Economy & Leaderboard

• Winning a match now earns an ice cold freshly poured 1.0 Pint 🍺 payout (previously 0.8 to 1.2 random scale) to help plan transfer window investments.
• To incentivize team optimisation, the Leaderboard formula now applies a minor penalty for excessive transfers (Score drops by 1 point per buy/sell operation). Play smart in the transfer window!

🛠️ Quality of Life Updates

• Added a safety warning on mobile portrait view prompting players to rotate to landscape for the matches.
• Jersey number assignment logic rewritten: signing a new player automatically checks your squad's active numbers and gives them a unique jersey between 1 and 99.