UPDATE: We want to thank all of you for all your enthusiasm and support. Special thanks to all our colleagues who gave us advice and contributed games, video testimonials, footage, photos, designs, music, help at events, and other support. We also want to thank the team at Sony’s Foster City office for championing the concept and making the PlayStation side of the project possible.

Hi PlayStation.Blog readers! Over the past few weeks, the Sportsfriends designers and I have been posting about the four indie multiplayer games that we’re hoping to bring to PS3 as one action-filled compendium.

We’ve exhibited all four games around the world at festivals and parties, and now we want to get them into your living room. But we need your support on Kickstarter to raise enough development funds. Today is the final day of our campaign!

So far, Noah Sasso has told you about BaraBariBall – a carefully balanced fighting game that plays like a stylized mix of Super Smash Brothers and volleyball.

Bennett Foddy, the creator of browser game classics like QWOP and GIRP, wrote about his head-to-head physics-based pole-vaulting game, Super Pole Riders.

Ramiro Corbetta told you about his popular 2v2 minimalistic sports game Hokra.

And I posted about Johann Sebastian Joust, a multi award-winning, no-graphics motion control game that uses PlayStation Move motion controllers and feels more like a 21st-century martial art than a videogame.

For us, Sportsfriends is a passion project. We believe that local multiplayer is a hugely rewarding way to play games, and we hope to demonstrate that it’s still viable for indies like us to develop these kinds of games. We love all sorts of videogames of course, but we feel like local multiplayer has been a bit overshadowed in the last decade with the rising popularity of online play.

Why local multiplayer? There’s nothing quite like playing games with your friends on the same couch or in the same physical space, yelling, laughing, trash-talking, and just plain old having a good time. There’s a certain magic playing in front of raucous crowd, or seeing the facial expressions of your opponents.

Think back to the console games you used to play in your friend’s basement, the playground games you improvised at school, or the games you played at the arcade. Those are the kinds of gaming experiences that have inspired Sportsfriends. We want to breathe new life into local multiplayer, taking it into the 21st century. We want to make deeply replayable games that will last the test of time. We want to call attention to what happens in front of the screen, between the human beings playing and spectating.

But today is the final day of our Kickstarter campaign, and we need your help to make it happen. Support us now and pre-order four extensively tested multiplayer games for PS3. Support local multiplayer!

Hello again PlayStation fans!

Last month, I posted about our Kickstarter campaign for Sportsfriends – a compendium of four multiplayer indie games, packaged together. The other three Sportsfriends developers already posted about their games – BaraBariBall, Super Pole Riders, and Hokra.

We need your support to help bring it to PS3, so I want to tell you about the fourth and final Sportsfriends game – my PlayStation Move game, Johann Sebastian Joust.

J.S. Joust is a motion control game for 2 to 7 players. The game isn’t even played with a screen! It’s playing using sound, rumble, and the LED light on the Move controllers.

The core idea is simple: if you ever move your controller too fast – or if someone comes up to you and makes you move your controller too fast – you’re out! The result is a minimalistic but deeply replayable game that plays like a face-to-face sword fight. Like some crazy 21st century martial art, it’s all about balance and timing. Protect your controller from your opponents, and try to jostle theirs!

The game’s music – Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Brandenburg Concertos” – sets the tempo of the game. When the music is slow, the controllers are extremely sensitive to motion, and so players have to move slowly. When the music speeds up, the threshold is higher, and so players can move a bit faster.

J.S. Joust is a game that works especially well at social gatherings and parties. I wanted to create a game that is as fun for spectators as it is for the players themselves. Because there’s no screen involved, players end up looking at each other, moving around the entire physical space. The game becomes a kind of combat qua baroque dance – players circle around each other, waiting for their opportunity to strike.

The game has received a lot of enthusiastic press coverage. Polygon, for example, declared that J.S. Joust “is defining a new gaming genre.” Penny Arcade wrote that it’s a game “that people need to play.”

J.S. Joust has been a big hit at festivals and game exhibitions around the world. It was a finalist at this year’s PAX 10, it was nominated for the 2012 IGF Seamus McNally Grand Prize, and it won two awards at IndieCade 2011. The game also took home the Innovation Award at this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards, beating out some AAA games like LA Noire and Portal 2.

Showing the early alpha version at all those events has been a ton of fun, but now I want to finish the game and get it out to all of you! That’s why we’re crowd-sourcing development funds on Kickstarter.

I’m especially excited to add a variety new modes and gameplay features. For example, I’ve been experimenting with an “invincibility mode.” If you press your trigger button, your light goes white and you go invincible – temporarily. After a few seconds, you run out of invincibility power, signaled by the fading brightness of the light. This feature makes the game even more tactical – you have to save your invincibility power for when you really need it… or for a good surprise strike!

I want to add a whole bunch of new features, so that each group of players can mix and match rules to find their own preferred version of the game. Like any good playground game, J.S. Joust is all about making the game your own by embellishing the minimalistic rules with custom modifications.

If the project is successfully funded, I’ll be experimenting with these ideas – and more. But we won’t be able to bring J.S. Joust or the other Sportsfriends games to PS3 without your grassroots support. If you have any interest in local multiplayer or motion control games that are actually physical and fun, support us on our Kickstarter page and secure your copy of the game now!

Hokra is a minimalist sports game for two teams of two players. Players score points by holding the balls in the goals of their color on the corners of the screen. This video I did with Kotaku does a great job of explaining the basics of the game:

The rules are quite simple, but the game has a lot of depth to it. Even though I have played it for innumerable hours, I’m still finding new techniques and strategies when I play against expert competition.

When I started working on Hokra, I wasn’t exactly making a game. I had been playing lots of FIFA, and like many other people, my favorite part of the game is making a good pass. So, as a programming exercise, I decided to develop a top-down passing mechanic. At first, all I had was a single player and a ball. From a top-down view, the player could bounce the ball against the walls. It wasn’t until a friend who is also into FIFA came over that I added a second player. And then, having four controllers at home, I decided to add a couple more players and some goals. Suddenly, I had a game.

Around that time, I was invited to make a game for the NYU Game Center’s No Quarter exhibition of games. The early version of Hokra I had been working on was perfect for the exhibition, so I kept working on it, attempting to perfect it for a competitive audience. One of my primary goals for Hokra was to take the joy I get from playing sports games (and sports) and bring it to everybody. I wanted to make a game that is fun both for people who are into sports games and for gamers who tend to look down on sports games. In this process there were a lot mechanical decisions I had to make in order to make the game feel just right, so I’m super thankful for all the friends who have playtested the game with me. I am especially thankful to Nathan Tompkins (of the band Ava Luna) for creating the music and audio design for the game.

As I keep working on Hokra to make it an even better game for Sportsfriends, I plan on adding quite a lot to it – from the many mechanical tweaks that I’m making all the time to bigger changes like new arenas, and even a crazy 8-player mode. In order for Sportsfriends become a reality, though, we need your support. We are running a kickstarter campaign to get the game made, so if you like the idea of getting together with your friends and playing some of the most awesome competitive multiplayer games ever, consider supporting us.

BARABARIBALL TRAILER from noah on Vimeo.

Pre-order to support Sportsfriends on KickStarter!

HELLOOO OFFICIAL PLAYSTATION BLOG! I’m really happy and fortunate to be able to tell all of you that BaraBariBall is headed to PSN as part of Sportsfriends, alongside JS Joust, Hokra and Super Pole Riders. We introduced the Sportsfriends collection about a week ago so you should already know what that is (if you forgot, it’s a collection of four fun, competitive multiplayer games), so now I’m here now to tell you all about BaraBariBall, or BBB for short.

BaraBariBall is a new fighting game for 2 to 4 players. Instead of just smacking your opponent around, players duel for control of the ball and score points by dunking it into the goals on either side of the screen… though, there is still a lot of smacking each other around, especially since spiking someone into the water will cause them to lose a point.

The other aspect of BaraBariBall that makes it especially fresh is the jump system. See those balls rotating around each character? Those are jump orbs — each time a player jumps while in the air, one of them disappears. Jump orbs regenerate while the player is touching the ground. The number of jumps remaining also contributes to the knockback and hitstun dealt when attacks connect.

These are just the basics – the game features a variety of unique characters, arenas and moves – but if you want to learn more about how to play, check out the manual on the BBB homepage here. The team is still hard at work tuning and polishing the game, but it already plays like a dream and has been shown around the world, including at EVO 2012, Tokyo Game Show’s Sense of Wonder Night, IndieCade and many more. Apart from an awesome and talented playtesting group, I’m also working with the Terrell bros over at Critical Gaming blog. The blog speaks for itself but I’ll say it’s hard to find more thorough and articulate writers and designers.

As for myself, I’ve been making and playing games for most of my life, both by modding games like Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM, developing a bunch of small independent projects, and working professionally as a programmer and designer.. I’m just about old enough to remember playing Street Fighter 2 back when America had arcades. All this to say, this stuff is in my blood and, though BBB may have a retro look in screenshots, in motion it runs great at a smooth 60 FPS and we’re taking the balance and the feel of the game very seriously.

So what’s next? We’re still focused on delivering a tight, highly polished gameplay experience and, once that’s accomplished, there are a few things we hope to be able to add. I’m especially excited about including a special mode for three players, as well as some single player challenges and training modes. There’s also some top secret stuff that we’ll have to talk about later…

Anyway, if you’ve read this far, think about supporting Sportsfriends on Kickstarter or telling your friends. We’re dying to bring you these games, but we need your help!

In 2010, when I started making Pole Riders, my original plan was to make a straight pole-vaulting game, like the ones in Summer Games or Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, both games that were super-popular when I was six years old. Back in 1984, local multiplayer games were nearing the peak of their popularity. In the arcades, there were games like Joust and Track & Field, but at home, and in the public libraries, the Epyx compilations ruled the roost: not just Summer Games but Winter Games and the immortal California Games too. I was absolutely obsessed with the pole-vault event in Summer Games and for the longest time, I wanted to make my own version of it.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence, then, that I’m now involved in Sportsfriends, which is a spiritual successor to Summer Games – a compilation of four sports-themed games, to be played by up to four friends on the one couch. But unlike the old Epyx compilations, none of the Sportsfriends games play it straight. Hokra is a hockey game with no goals and no sticks. BaraBariBall is a volleyball game with no net, where the players routinely drown in a lake. J.S. Joust is a game that has no screen!

For my part, I’m making a sequel to my game Pole Riders, a game that crosses pole vaulting with polo and kung fu. I guess it didn’t turn out much like Summer Games, after all! The original is a free web game – go try it out if you haven’t already!

Pole Riders doesn’t get the most traffic on my website (that honour goes to QWOP) but it has the most passionate fans. At Maxis and Harmonix, homes of the Sims and Rock Band franchises, I’m told there are regular Pole Riders tournaments. And when I show the game at public events like Wild Rumpus or Babycastles, I’m always approached by challengers who want to beat me at my own game. Local multiplayer is like that – it inspires a kind of passion that singleplayer games don’t.

For the Sportsfriends compilation I’m building a better, more complete version of the game called Super Pole Riders. When I showed the original game around the world, I would always think of little changes that could make the game better. I wanted the kung-fu kicks to be crunchier. I wanted the arenas to be more vertical, more interesting and complex. I wanted the game to be playable by four or even eight players at a time, for maximum chaos. When games were locked in a stalemate, I wanted the players to be able to resolve the match by swapping their poles out for spears, poleaxes and warhammers, for brutal and hilarious combat.

I’m hard at work on Super Pole Riders, which is going to have all these features and more. I can’t wait to bring you the ‘real’ version of the game!

Questions? Let me know in the comments! And if you like the sound of Sportsfriends, I hope you’ll consider supporting our Kickstarter!

SPORTSFRIENDS featuring Johann Sebastian Joust from Die Gute Fabrik on Vimeo.

Greetings PlayStation peoples! I’m Doug Wilson, producer of Sportsfriends, a compendium of indie multiplayer games that we’re bringing to PSN in 2013.

And you can pre-order it on Kickstarter right now!

Sportsfriends is more than just a game – it’s four games! The games have already been prototyped, and we’ve exhibited them at parties, arcades, and special events around the world. A lot of people have been clamoring for us to bring these games to market, and now we can finally announce our lineup:

First up is my own no-graphics physical game, Johann Sebastian Joust. The game is basically a face-to-face sword fight, set to music. It uses the PlayStation Move controller, and supports up to seven players!

J.S. Joust is so much more than your average motion control game. It’s more like some kind of crazy 21st century martial art, illuminated by those beautiful LED lights on the PS Move controller.

At this year’s Game Developer Choice Awards, J.S. Joust even won the Innovation Award, beating out heavy hitters like L.A. Noire and Portal 2. We promise you’ve never tried another console game like it!

BaraBariBall, by Noah Sasso, is a colorful mix of fighting game and sports game. Players try to dunk the ball in the water on their opponent’s side. It’s like a more accessible, more stylized take on Super Smash Brothers, honed down to its essentials and set to charming tabla drums.

BaraBariBall has been shown at events like EVO, IndieCade, and Wild Rumpus, and it never fails to draw a crowd. You fighting game junkies out there are especially going to dig it!

Super Pole Riders is the four-player sequel to Bennett Foddy’s pole-vaulting polo game Pole Riders.

Bennett is the same guy who developed the ridiculous web game QWOP, so you know Super Pole Riders is going to bring that same formula of absurd, physics-based fun.

Hokra is a 2-vs-2 minimalistic sports game made by Ramiro Corbetta. It’s a deeply replayable game that’s all about competition, teamwork, and skill. It recently won the Audience Award at IndieCade 2012.

The thing that unites all four games is that they’ve been designed to be played with a bunch of friends, together in the same room, talking trash, sharing laughs, and kicking some butt. The four games are super easy to pick up and play, yet deep enough to support skill and high-level play.

And don’t worry, you don’t even have to be a fan of sports or sports games to enjoy Sportsfriends! Think back to those games you used to play at the arcade, or on the playground, or on your friend’s couch. That’s the kind of gaming experience that we’re proud to offer with Sportsfriends.

Why PlayStation 3, you ask? J.S. Joust has been specifically designed with the PS Move controller in mind, and the other three games fit great into a console setting, so we knew PlayStation 3 would be a perfect match. PlayStation has been very supportive of the whole Sportsfriends concept, and we’re happy to announce that we’ll be part of their forward-thinking Pub Fund program – the same program that helped bring you indie hits like Joe Danger, Papo & Yo, and Dyad.

But even with PlayStation’s Pub Fund support, we could still use some up-front funding to expand on the games and get them ported. That’s where you come in! You can preorder the game right now on Kickstarter. At the higher donor levels, you can also nab some sweet rewards.

Check it out, and let us know what you think!