Australian Guidelines Soccer, Australia’s favorite sport, is a contact sport performed between two groups of 18 gamers, the place they chase a ball on a cricket oval, and rating targets by kicking the ball between two gigantic posts. For a lot of, Aussie Guidelines seems like a totally made-up sport – and that’s the place our recreation is available in: we redefine the principles of Aussie Guidelines Soccer.
Welcome to Pro Jank Footy, launching August 12 on PlayStation 5.
I’m David Ashby, Inventive Director for Pro Jank Footy, a love letter to Aussie Guidelines Footy, retro sports activities video games of the 90s, and our cultural irreverence. Now, there have been many “Footy” video games over time, however there was by no means one which leaned into the high-energy arcade sensibility shared by titles comparable to NBA Jam or NHL ‘94. We leaned proper into each the enjoyable and absurdity of our sport and I’m excited to share extra about it with the PlayStation Group.
The “jank”
Aussie Guidelines Footy is a high-scoring recreation, akin to basketball and hockey, which makes it quick by design, which permits us to implement a easy core mechanic whereby at any time when a participant scores a aim, the opponent will get to decide on certainly one of three random power-ups. That is how we put the jank in Pro Jank Footy.
There are over 150 power-ups within the recreation. These powers vary from making your staff higher, making the opposition staff worse, or altering the principles of the sport. Not solely does this enable gamers to bounce again, however it additionally permits gamers to alter the sport from retro sports activities into pure, unhinged, janky chaos. Personally, I suck at sports activities video games. There’s nothing worse than simply sitting there, taking an absolute belting. With our energy system, you’re rewarded for shedding. Tyler Roach, who co-created this recreation with me, is a genuinely dominant participant (and to be truthful, he did make the sport). After we play one another, my solely tactic is to concede a bunch of targets so I can get an honest power-up construct to show the tide (be aware: he nonetheless beats me more often than not).
There are easy power-ups that make your staff sooner or gigantic. There are brutal powers that reset the scores. There are even powers that add a 3rd staff to the sport or flip all of the gamers into seagulls (a really actual fixture of Australian soccer, who cling round ovals to eat everybody’s meals). Certainly one of my favourites turns certainly one of your gamers into your dad’s beat-up sedan. There’s even a trophy you possibly can pop in case you ram it right into a procuring trolley. There are additionally power-ups which are intentionally imprecise, comparable to Burnt DVD and The place’s the Distant? – determining what they do is a part of the enjoyable!
From a problem to actuality
The venture began as a dare in 2024, after I was challenged to get into video video games by Cam Rogers, an leisure lawyer (who later got here on board as producer), whereas at a fantasy soccer league BBQ. Cam made the argument that there aren’t lots of humorous video video games being made, regardless of the urge for food, and I ought to give it a go. It occurred to me fairly rapidly that footy was the reply.
Like that fantasy draft, we needed to put a staff collectively. Along with Tyler and Cam, there’s Broden Kelly, identified for his work with Australian comedy collective Aunty Donna. He performs in-game commentary and utterly understands the intent and humour, bringing a efficiency that’s each honest and comically absurd. Hyemin Yoo, a Korean artist primarily based in Adelaide, animated all of the superb aim celebration lower scenes. Not solely did she deliver a voice of authenticity to the venture, however her humour and distinct visible model actually elevates the venture to an entire different stage.
Oscar Armstrong-Davies singlehandedly constructed the web performance for the sport, and Dario Russo composed all of the music, together with all of the staff songs.
Umbrella Leisure, a movie distributor trying to department into video games, is supporting us as effectively. By way of them, we’ve even began rolling customized arcade cupboards into pubs round Australia to construct an actual match scene, created by Louie Roots, the cabs can run on automotive batteries to allow them to be performed anyplace, they usually even have AM radio transmitters so you possibly can tune in your radio to the sport audio for that true footy expertise.
Get able to have a ball
There are a number of recreation modes in Pro Jank Footy. You’ve gotten the choice to play the true “Pro Jank Footy” expertise, with all of the power-ups activated, or you possibly can play the appropriately named “Regular Footy” which is, because the identify suggests, regular Aussie Guidelines footy with out power-ups. The sport is designed to be a sofa co-op expertise, however you possibly can play solo towards bots, and you may play on-line too.
There’s additionally a single-player Season Mode, the place you begin the marketing campaign with a random set of powers and battle your approach by ten more and more ridiculous groups – one staff of giants, one made totally of vehicles, one which’s only a single unstoppable participant – to turn into Pro Jank World Champion. There’s additionally a Watch Mode the place you possibly can simply watch the AI battle it out (which is surprisingly entertaining) and a Kick-to-Kick Mode, which is a throwback to the classic “Aussie Guidelines Footy” recreation. We’ve discovered that lots of youthful children gravitate in the direction of this recreation mode greater than the rest.
Pro Jank Footy is each a love letter to arcade sports activities video games from the ‘80s and ‘90s, and to a sport that’s arguably Australia’s recreation, one that’s value sharing with the remainder of the world for all its attraction and absurdity. We are able to’t look ahead to the PlayStation group to share a slice of Australia when Pro Jank Footy involves PS5 on August 12.