How Zoo Kickers is being made, step by step. Newest news on top.
October
Every player on all 12 teams got a fresh look we call v1.1. The voxels are softer and rounder, so the animals look even cuddlier.
The pandas got extra love: shorts, striped socks and a bold headband for the captain. And the game now speaks 12 languages, from Chinese and Japanese to French, Portuguese and Thai.
October
The game got its name: Zoo Kickers, Football Gone Wild. The new logo was built in 3D from our own design, and it lands on the title screen with leaves, a ball drop and a big paw stamp.
Goals got better too. Smart replays pick the best camera angle, and the net now wobbles when the ball hits it.
October
We started building online play: a lobby, ranked 1 vs 1 matches and 16 fun emotes on the D-pad. It still needs lots of testing before launch.
Each player can now switch on Easy mode just for themselves, so younger kids can play with grown-ups. And there are 12 easy trophies to win, like First Goal! and Hat-trick!
September
With all the teams in, the work turned to polish: fixing glitches, one by one.
And making sure every team is fair and square, so no animal is too strong or too weak. Every team should have a real chance to win.
September
The game got all its sounds, made with the help of a friend: real whistles, real crowds and real music. And the commentator’s voice is the developer’s own!
The Samba Toucans also arrived from Brazil, with huge colourful beaks and their own stadium, Rio Beach Carnival.
September
All the teams arrived: Pandas, Tanuki, Kitsune and Monkeys, then Roosters, Dachshunds, Red Pandas, Penguins, Toucans, Elephants, Kangaroos and Bison. That makes 12 teams from every continent, each with its own 3D crest.
The stadiums came too, from a bamboo forest in Japan to Iceberg Bay in Antarctica, with rain, snow, storms, fog and even cherry blossoms.
July – August
A lot of Blender to make the models, and a lot of Godot to make the stadiums work.
The lighting, the look, and learning how a game engine really works under the hood.
And finding out which bells and whistles we could add, so every match feels special.
June
The first playable version: just blobs on a pitch, no real animations yet.
But it was playable! We tested it ourselves, on a lot of long nights, to answer one question: is it fun?
May
With Godot learned, the real work began: getting the engine running and testing the physics of the ball.
Bounces, rolls, kicks: the ball had to feel just right. Then the players: making them run, turn and stop exactly the way we wanted.
That is where Zoo Kickers really began.
February – April
Daikon Studio has been making video games for 3 years, mostly browser games.
For this game, we wanted to dive into the Godot game engine. So from February to April, it was tutorial after tutorial, and lots of small test games.
It was very hard. A little bit fun too. Every small test taught us something new.
Wishlisting is free. Steam emails you on launch day.