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Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast
From Sifu to Rematch: The Sloclap Interview - Kinda Funny Gamescast
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- [00:00]
Pierre Tarnow
Foreign.
- [00:06]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yo, what's up? Welcome to the Kind of Funny Games Cast. Someone your host Blessing, Addie Oye Jr. And remember, this is the kind of Funny Games Cast where each and every weekday we get together and talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, support us with the Kind of Funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify and Apple podcasts to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show for a chance to be a part of the show. Some of your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. Housekeeping for you. We're an 11 person business all about live talk shows. KD was right before this after this is even more fun things for you. If you're a Kind of Funny member you can get today's Greg Way. And also thank you to our Patreon producers Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm Twining. Today we're brought to you by Mood in Factor but we'll tell you about that later. For now, let's start with topic of the show which is a very special one. I got to do a one on one sit down with Pierre Tarnow, the creative director over at Slow Clap. Of course you know them from making Rematch and Sifu and so sit back, relax and enjoy the conversation. Without further ado, enjoy. Yo, what's up? Welcome to Topic of the Show. I'm one of your hosts blessing. Adio Yay Jr. And joining me is the Slow Clap creative director, Pierre Tarnow. Pierre, thank you so much for joining me here.
- [01:32]
Pierre Tarnow
For having me. Yeah, to be here.
- [01:35]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah. Right before we started recording you mentioned that you had saw the reaction that we did to the game awards trailer when you guys first announced rematch and you saw us losing our shit. And I was about to mention. Right. But I wanted to say for the show that like I particularly lost my shit because all of us here were big fans of Sifu, right. Like Sifu was one of our top games of the year that it came out. And I am also somebody who's very into playing soccer games, right. I'm into FIFA. I when I was in middle school played a lot of soccer, a lot of football depending on where where you're from. Right. Like played a lot of that growing up. And so to see the developer of this action game that I love working on, a competitive football game that this had me, that had me ecstatic. And so first of all I wanted to say thank you so much for making this game. It feels so particularly, you know, veered towards my interest.
- [02:26]
Pierre Tarnow
Thank you. Thank you for playing it. Thank you for your kind words and thank you for your. That initial reaction which really made my day when I saw it. It was so cool.
- [02:35]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Hell yeah. How's the fan reaction been so far? Right, like since the launch. I have an article here from game developer that mentions in the first 24 hours you guys attracted 1 million players. And then yesterday there was a post from the slow clap Twitter account that mentioned that that rematch has now reached 5 million unique players. Like, is that surreal? Is that expected? Like, how do you guys feel about that?
- [03:00]
Pierre Tarnow
It's always super difficult to know how things are going to turn out when you release a game, but I mean, obviously we're super happy with, with the reception. And you know what's even more important than I think 5 million players is got 6 over 60 million hours played in the games. And we see players week after week coming back to play some more and you know, seeing players not just try it and just let, let it go, but actually come back, engage in it, try to improve. This is, this is really great to see.
- [03:40]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
I'll ask you some. As you know the creative director, right, somebody who made the game, what is it that you see that is bringing people back to it time over time? Because I have the same thing where I played Rematch at launch and I like, as I was playing it, I was like, man, all right, one more game. Okay, I need to come back. And even still to this day, I have other games. I'm playing DK Bonanza, I'm playing death training too. But I hit 8pm and I look at my discord and I have my friend, my friend Easton is on. I'm like, all right, we got to get some rematch games in, right? Like, what is it about the game that you think keeps people coming back?
- [04:14]
Pierre Tarnow
I think there's quite a few things when you just mentioned, which is you hit 8pm and you see your friend online and you're like, okay, let's jump in games together. And this very social aspect to it, like wanting to play games with your friends, I think it's a super important part of it. The fact that it's like the games are pretty short also also helps because you're like, yeah, let's do just one more. Like you win a game, you want to play one more, you lose a game, you're like, okay, this, I'm not gonna stop here. I gotta, I gotta, you know, finish on a on a win. And, and I think there are, I'd say, two other things, which is that the rhythm of the game is quite peculiar. So, you know, it's. There are like, when you're actually playing football and your experience probably, you know, shares that you don't always have the ball since you're only one character. And so you're observing, positioning, marking a player. And so this is like medium intensity, but as soon as the ball gets close to you, it goes to very high intensity where you have to make the right decisions, execute efficiently, know where everybody is. And, and so it's not like constant pressure, but this, you know, varying rhythm is, you know, makes me. It makes you want to go there again, I think. And I'd say the final point is that here also, like in football, it's. Every interaction is so important that you, you know, where you messed up and you want to improve. You're like, ah, you know, had I passed that ball correctly, had I not, you know, done that stupid dribble, had I. And, and you like, you know, rethinking about your game and how you can improve the next time and you're going to want to practice and improve yourself constantly. So I think these are some of the reasons.
- [06:13]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
So when did you guys realize you wanted to make Rematch? Was this something that was always in the plans for you guys as you're making Sifu like this? One of the conversations that I have with people all the time about this game is that it's so interesting to see people see your studio go from making an action game to making like a multiplayer competitive sports thing. Like, at what point in the process did you guys decide to devote yourselves to this game?
- [06:37]
Pierre Tarnow
Actually, back in 2018, when we wrapped up Absolver, I'd been wanting to make a football game, but at that time, you know, we didn't have the size of the team that allowed us to do two projects at the same time. And so we went for sifu, which was a great decision. It was a great game. And as we were well underway in Sifu's production, so like 2021, there was like one year of production left. That's when we actually started prototyping what eventually became Rematch. And then when C4 was released in February 2022, that's when most of the team came on. So 2021 was really like early prototypes trying to figure things out, things, some basic things out. And then pre production started for real. And once SIFU was released.
- [07:32]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Nice. So one of the things that you'd mentioned earlier, right. When talking about what keeps people coming back to it is the idea of the high intensity when you have the ball right and having to make those right decisions. And that's one thing that I definitely have taken notice of is one of the most important parts of being mid match in seafood with the ball is knowing where all your teammates are even when you're off ball. Right. Like knowing when, where all your teammates are so you can get them the ball or make a cross or you know, make a, you know, a hit off the wall to, to get to them. Positioning feels like the most important thing even beyond even the physics of it. I think early on when I was playing rematch I had the thought of oh, this is, it's going to be like Rocket League, right. It's going to be more physics based and like there's physics in the game for sure, but it's not as physicsy as Rocket League. It feels way more oriented toward teamwork and you know, understanding where your teammates are. What, how, how did you guys zero in on that being the like the core aspect of this game, right? The, the playing with other people and making sure that like you're getting the ball off of yourself onto another player when you can.
- [08:44]
Pierre Tarnow
I mean that was, I think that was the initial vision of the game was. And maybe the first like image I had that I wanted to translate into actual gameplay mechanic was being in third person. One character. Having my friends on the other side of a football field doing a big cross pass towards me and me like volleying that ball right away. That sort of, you know, pass to volley action is, was really like the first thing that I wanted to see happen.
- [09:17]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah.
- [09:18]
Pierre Tarnow
And when we actually like implement it for the first time after having done like the shoot system, the tap system and when we implemented the volley part of it, that's when things really click together because now you could really be doing these quick one touch passes is really dynamic moments because like volley actions are some of the most, the coolest actions in football. And we had three pillars during game development. It was like feel like an amazing player, feel part of a team and feel pressure. And a volley action embodies all these three pillars because it's whether it's a header, a low kick or bicycle kick, it looks and feel, it feels really cool. So you feel like an amazing player. It's also very often something that's used to pass the ball to your team, not just to score. And so it's often something that is used for team play. And finally since it accelerates the tempo because the ball moves faster than players, it puts the pressure on the opponent team. And so I think this was really like, I think one of the key actions. And when we had it started having it in the game, that's when things really started clicking. Does that answer your question?
- [10:38]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Oh, for sure, yeah. No, for sure. To bring it back a little bit. Right. What was the reaction when you guys announced rematch? I know for me, obviously, you know, I was ecstatic. I was, you know, going crazy also so hyped for the game. But again, when you're making such a strong shift out of, you know, from an action thing to a, to soccer. Right. Like, was there excitement from the slow clap audience? Was there trepidation? What was the reaction?
- [11:06]
Pierre Tarnow
I must say that there was some disappointment from SIFU fans because we hadn't announced prior to revealing the game that our next game would not be a sequel to sifu. And a lot of SIFU players were kind of hoping for more sifu. And so that core part of the audience was like, oh, you know, and you started the trailer with, you know, from the creators. SIFU were hoping for some sifu and now you're doing some soccer game and I don't care about soccer. And so, you know, some players were disappointed, but much more players were like, this is the game I've been waiting for. You know, we haven't had, I mean, there hasn't been a modern online action football game. There's not really another game like this out there. And I think a lot of players saw that and said, okay, I was kind of getting tired of all the other offerings in terms of football and this is really what I need. And actually beyond that, what we saw was that a lot of players who don't really care about football, but like, like online team based, you know, competitive multiplayer games, they were driven to the game because it's so team oriented, it's so tactical. You know, there are, you know, a lot of mechanics to understand. And so, yeah, I think the audience that doesn't necessarily love football or football games, I was also driven to the game.
- [12:51]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
So how does it feel now to have the audience that you have now with rematch? You know, one of the things that impressed me, one of the things that I thought when I first saw the game get revealed was that, oh, this is going to be popular. You know, so much of the world loves soccer, loves football. So much of the world is very passionate about it. And then also so many people play FIFA. So many people miss the days of playing FIFA. Street back on PlayStation 2. Right. Like, you know, when we FIFA 98, like when you go down the years of soccer games, there's so much reverence for those types of games. It is actually really interesting that we don't see more people make soccer games. You know, I think we kind of like let sports games be made by like EA or the big publishers because they have the licenses and they have the money and everybody's kind of just given up on that. But as soon as I saw Rematch, I was like, oh, this is going to be popular and it's nice to see that post launch of Rematch. You know, I'll go on TikTok and I'll see so many people making clips of cool plays or I'll see people making tips and tricks videos. Oh, funny enough SIFU in our background now, but I'll see people making like tips and tricks videos and things like that. Like it seems like the game is really caught on. Is this, when you look at the rematch community, does this feel like a whole new, you know, group of people have come in now as, as, as part of the slow clap audience? Or are you seeing a lot of conversion from sifu over to rematch? Like what does that look like?
- [14:19]
Pierre Tarnow
It's, it's, it's hard to say and we don't have like precise data or numbers. But for sure, seeing players invest so much time on it and I'm regularly jumping on games with elite players who you know, are already clocking 100, 150 hours on a game in a month. It means that you've I guess, done something right. And so that, that does feel good. What felt less good was that when we released, the first 10 days or so were a bit patchy from a technical standpoint. And so we did a lot of hotfixes like almost daily for the first 10 days and now we're about to push tomorrow our first major patch. But it was a lot of fixing issues and trying to improve the game and, and it's issues that we wish we had been able to tackle them for launch. But it's very complex development processes and we had run some betas but still some issues slipped through the cracks. And so this past month was not so much being overjoyed about, hey, great, we've got millions of unique players, that's amazing, etc. But more like, okay, what's, what needs to be fixed, what's the roadmap, what are the next steps, what's, what are we going to bring in in season one, season two, season three? You know, thinking 18, 18, 24 months ahead and, you know, trying to, you know, match all pieces of the puzzle together, to have to make sure that the game keeps getting better and better, keeps getting more interesting, that we, you know, add content that's required for the players, that we balance it, that we tweak it and because it's, you know, it's a game that we love ourselves and that we think it deserves to say and to be maintained for a long, long time. And so it was more like when the game released. Great success, but let's get back, back to work right away.
- [16:43]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah.
- [16:44]
Pierre Tarnow
And so it's been pretty intense.
- [16:46]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
How do you, how do you view the longevity of rematch? I know right now we're in the era where so many live service games are coming out. Like, is rematch something that you would consider a live service? And also, like, what does, what does the, I guess, roadmap and support look like in terms of volume? Is this the thing? Is this a game where you're, you know, you're thinking small tweaks, let's make sure the game works and let's give people, like, things here or there or. Do you guys have big ambitions on where you want to take rematch?
- [17:12]
Pierre Tarnow
No, no, I think we have major ambitions and there are tons of things that we want to bring into the game. Whether it's, you know, for gameplay improvements. There are, you know, where are. We're trying to make the game as deep and, you know, challenging and balanced as possible for competitive gameplay. And this goes, I mean, this is obviously like constant working on netcode, but also like refining some mechanics. You know, we want to work on the goalkeeper, we want to work on the tackle, we, we want to work on the body system. You know, we've got things to improve here, you know, new core gameplay features that will always bring more depth. But there's also like social things, social aspects, because it's so important in that, in this game to be able to easily play with your friends or make new ones in the game. So Crossplay is obviously a major priority and it's going to be released in a few weeks. But stuff like being able to team up at the end of the game, being able to join your friends as spectator when they're, when you're connected and you see your friends are already playing a game. These are really important too. Then there are competitive layers, features such as tournaments, such as clubs that will bring variety to the competitive experience. And then there's also more casual play features, new game modes that provide, you know, make things fresh again, approach the game in a different way. Things like having, you know, solid AI bots to train with and against eventually like being able to play the game split screen so that you can like enjoy it on your couch with a friend. Well, these are some examples of like stuff we've got in the, in the backlog and that we're trying to build a roadmap out of. But there's a lot of things still to be done. Yeah.
- [19:15]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
What do maybe collaborations and stuff look like in the future? Right. Like so far in the game we've gotten. Ronaldinho has a, has a skin that you can have. Right. You have Puma making an appearance in the game, Ter Stern, the goalkeeper. Do you can. What is your vision for the types of collaborations that you can have in the future for rematch?
- [19:37]
Pierre Tarnow
It's pretty open ended. We can, there are. And I'm not gonna leak because I would probably get instantly killed by. Yeah, exactly. But you know, as long as it makes sense in our, in the universe, in the context of football, it can be pretty wide ranging and it doesn't necessarily just stop with football players, but whether it's, you know, kits, special skins, specific pieces of equipment, environments to play in, we've got a lot of ideas and actually a lot of things already planned for the next 12 to 18 months. So we'll have quite a few things to announce on that front. Yeah.
- [20:34]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Now one of the things I see talked about a lot, at least toward the launch timing was Free to play Game Pass. All these things, Right. You guys came out on Game Pass and I'm curious on what your thoughts are as far as how Game Pass has affected the launch either positively or whatever. Right. And then also I was curious if you guys ever considered free to play because that was a very hot button topic I would see in comments.
- [21:03]
Pierre Tarnow
I never considered free to play because, you know, this is the first time we do a live service game and we didn't know like how Meditation performs. We're starting to dabble with this, with the special skins we released with the Puma collaboration, et cetera. But we're an independent studio, we need to be able to keep operating. And so having that initial revenue and ongoing revenue was super important and we didn't want to rely or build the game around monetization mechanics that could have felt out of place. Besides, I mean the. In a way there's no other game like this out there. And so I think this, this has value and I think players should be willing to pay for something unique, original and it's not because it's like an online competitive game and like some other online competitive games are free to play. We were confident that we would have the critical mass of players that's required for having, you know, high quality games with decent matchmaking times. And that's, that's all that counts. And I like to say that, you know, the game is free to play. You just have to pay 30 bucks and then it's free to play.
- [22:37]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
I love that.
- [22:38]
Pierre Tarnow
And in a way it's true. It's true. It's, it like it's, it's really cheap compared to, you know, other games out there. Like people are playing paying 70 to 80 bucks to UFC year after year. And you know, we're asking for much less for an original experience that you can play for hundreds of hours. I think it's insane value for your money. And it's, it's, I think it's really, really worth its price.
- [23:08]
C
This episode's brought to you by our own show, Kind of Funny in Review. It is our movie review show and it is the best place to get all of our thoughts on all the latest in entertainment. Greg, and how has it been this year?
- [23:21]
D
It's been awesome because I came back Alien vs Predator in review. Superman in review. Fantastic Four currently happening in Review. It's been a great time and I've been crazier than ever.
- [23:33]
C
You really have. It's been banger after banger after banger of episodes of In Review. Review doesn't mean the movies necessarily work.
- [23:39]
Pierre Tarnow
Oh, they often are.
- [23:39]
C
Sometimes we're talking about some all time greats. Sometimes we're talking about some of the worst movies ever made. But no matter what, Greg is drinking his cokes and having a good time and saying some of the craziest things you've said on Kind of Funny Content ever.
- [23:51]
D
That's right. If you're unfamiliar, of course, In Review is us picking a movie series, watching them all, then ranking and reviewing them all while meticulously recapping the plot and not screwing anything up.
- [24:02]
C
But here's the thing. I know a lot of you are watching live, probably on Kind of Funny Games Daily or Kind of Funny Games cast. We cover video games, but we also cover movies and we have a great time doing it. Just best friends hanging out. So don't worry, we're getting back to Alien versus Predator, everybody. Right after we get through some of the big summer movies. But Fantastic Four, Superman, Alien versus Predator, it's been a great time. The good times are just starting.
- [24:25]
D
That's Right. So right now like subscribe share on your favorite part podcast feed or YouTube.com kindafunny games and we'll see you at the movies.
- [24:33]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
That was good.
- [24:34]
Pierre Tarnow
Thank you.
- [24:35]
D
I mean we stole it.
- [24:35]
Pierre Tarnow
It's you know, I think Cisco Neighbors line.
- [24:37]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah. And it's in like, I mean from the success you guys are seeing, right. I think that's the right decision. Right. I think as far as whether to go free to play or non free to play, I think the big question is is this a game that people are willing to pay money for? And from the outside looking in, I would say yes. Right. Based on the sales numbers that are being reported. And then also yeah, it is something that is unique. It is something that is one of the, one of a kind at the moment. And one of the things that I always think about when it comes to making those decision decisions of what to make free versus not what to make free is that it's way easier to go from a paid game to a free to play game than it is to go from a free to play game than a paid game. Right. And so like if you had launched and the monetization wasn't working out, that'd be a bigger problem because you can't then flip that lever to the other side. But hey, if you, if you're able to launch for $30 and you're seeing the success and people are playing it and people are vibing with that, then guess what, that's good. But then if things aren't going well, hey, like maybe we can then switch up. Maybe we can then look at other options. Right. But as far as I can see, it seems like rematch is doing well for being $30, you know, with the 5 million players being, being hit. And I assume Game Pass being is probably a big part of that as well, right?
- [25:50]
Pierre Tarnow
Yeah, yeah. I mean there's you know, three out of these 5 million players, 3 million players are coming from, from Game Pass. But that's still, you know, very, you know, significant sales on, on the other platforms. But yeah, it's, I think it's okay to have that gate. I think if it's, you know, it's a little expensive for you, you know, they'll, we will be doing some discounts further down the line and I think it's again, it's, it's great value and it's, it's a game that's worth, you know, saving up a little to play it and, and it's, it should be a commitment also, like notably because it's a game in which, you know, team play is so important. You know, I think it's important that, you know, players have committed and maybe if, you know, we'd see more, even more bull huggers and like players just running around doing messing up if the game was free to play. But like players who actually bought the game are actually invested in it. And that's in a game like that where everything you're, you know, winning is so dependent on your teammates, you know, it's really hard to carry a team if they're messing up. It's, I think from that perspective also it makes sense.
- [27:10]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
So Slow Clap as a studio has done something special for me, which is you guys have now created multiple games slash franchises that I really care about between SIFU and Rematch. And like that that really warms my heart. It really makes me excited for where you guys take Rematch, but then also just the future of the studio in general now that you guys are, you know, doing work on Rematch. Obviously you have post launch things to do. Obviously you want to have, you know, work on the updates and the con content and collaborations and all these things. Is, are there other games in mind for Slow Clap or is Rematch like the sole focus right now?
- [27:54]
Pierre Tarnow
Oh, right over there. Got, got a whole team working on another game.
- [27:59]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Oh, wow. Oh, that's awesome. Now obviously there's not much you can say, right, but like, obviously, you know, as a fan of Sifu, like, do you guys have, do you guys still have like the action game, I guess, like Gene in you? Like, is that a thing you want to chase? Or are you guys the type to like, continue to find new ideas, new IPs, new, like, what's, what's the vibe as far as what Slow Clap wants to do as a studio? The kind of games you want to make.
- [28:29]
Pierre Tarnow
You know, never say never. And so I'm not, I don't want to rule out potential sequel to Sifu 2 at some point, but until now, I think in the three games we've released, in a way I think it's fair to say that there were games that hadn't been made before. And I, you know, as creators, we're extremely lucky to be able to take these kinds of creative risks because not many game developers, not many studios can afford to say, okay, we did that thing that worked pretty well, but we're going to do something totally different next time. And so as creative, we're really grateful to be in that position and we want to make the most of it. And I think that's also what players enjoy and want. Gamers are a very discerning and demanding audience. And I think one thing gamers appreciate is when you come to them with an original proposition. And so that's, that's what we'll try to do moving forward. And even if there were to be a sequel to Sifu one day, we would want to bring, bring, you know, something new, something fresh to the table to really make it worth the effort.
- [29:59]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
What about Absolver? My friend Sinke was a big fan of Absolver back in the day. Like, is that a thing that you look back at and want to try, try doing again?
- [30:08]
Pierre Tarnow
Oh, you know, there's still a niche community of Absolver fans. I think we're still playing the game out there, still playing the game and shout out to the Absolver community, same. You know, I'd love to be, to do, you know, something more with Absolver, but it's like we can't do everything at the same time. And so it's not in the plans yet. But yeah, Solver had a really unique gameplay system, really unique worlds that, you know, would, could warrant some, you know, another game, you know, other games set in it.
- [30:48]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Nice. Now, yesterday, before this conversation, I went online, I went to Blue sky and I asked people if they had questions for you since they need. Since I let them know that you're coming in here. So I have a list of questions from the audience that I want to bring to the table. I want to start from. It's Jesse on Blue sky who says, where do you see the game in five plus years? Is a live service model something you're excited about or what is this? Something smaller in between different projects, talking about rematch.
- [31:18]
Pierre Tarnow
It's, it's difficult to say in five years, really because, like, I think we're thinking like two years ahead and like in a year we'll be thinking two years, like ahead, ahead from then. But, you know, thinking much beyond that is kind of gets into wishful thinking. And so it's. So it's hard to say to answer that question, but it is very much a live game that we want to keep supporting for as long as possible. And as I mentioned, we've got, you know, tons of ideas that we'd like to experiment and offer to players. And that's where, you know, the whole live system with a season pass, with a store in which, you know, the most engaged players can, you know, customize their characters with really cool assets that they find engaging and, you know, allow, you know, and that they can purchase. This is what allows, you know, the team to continue operating. And so the live service model, in a way, is a means to an end. It's like, how do you keep an ongoing flow of revenue that will allow you to continue developing the game, improving it, making it richer, more interesting for a long, long time?
- [32:44]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
I got another question from Vibrato Filter on Bluesky. Speaking of customization, they ask possibility of or desire for a Blue Lock crossover. Are you familiar with Blue Lock?
- [32:55]
Pierre Tarnow
I'm familiar with Blue Lock.
- [32:56]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
How much, like, how much Blue Lock talk have you seen around this game? Because I see it nonstop.
- [33:03]
Pierre Tarnow
It's been about, like. Well, prior to release, it was about, like, I'd say between 20, 30% of comments on every single video we put out was along the lines of Blue Lock collab. When and. Sure, sure, We'd. We'd be. We'd be interested, for sure.
- [33:24]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah, get those guys on the phone, you know, make it. I know there's a. Your community would absolutely fall in love with that.
- [33:31]
Pierre Tarnow
I'm sure they would.
- [33:33]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Chef Andy Lunick writes in and says, are there other genres you think this formula would apply well to. And I'll sprinkle on top of that. Right. Like, as I play rematch, one of the conversations that I often have with friends is like, man, I'd love to see slow clap make a basketball game or a tennis game or a volleyball game. Like, there's hockey, you know, Like, I kind of go down the list of the kinds of things that I'd want to see for you. Are there things that come to mind as far as, I guess, what the rematch formula could work well with?
- [34:01]
Pierre Tarnow
Never really thought about it this way, but I have a scoop for you, if you want.
- [34:07]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Oh, sure, we'll take a scoop.
- [34:11]
Pierre Tarnow
It's not really a scoop, but rematch is not just a football game. It's a samurai game. It's, you know, every interaction is so critical. Every choice you make is, you know. You know, every confrontation between two players is swift, is decisive, and at the end, you know, one of them is left bleeding on the ground. And so that's interaction between players. But even when you have the ball, when you shoot it, it's like, you know, you have to make that perfect, you know, sword cut if you want your pass or your shot to reach the exact destination where you want it. And. And that's pretty specific to football. So, yeah, I mean, obviously it's a football game, but there. There is that samurai aspect to it, and that's. I don't. I'm not sure it would translate as well to, to other sports or. But. But game modes within Rematch could be inspired by other sports. Volleyball paddle, I think you call it pickleball in the U.S. you know, there are quite a few things of like to bring variety. And even if it's temporary game modes, it can be super fun to like, you know, take inspiration from another sport and bring this into the core rematch controller.
- [35:39]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
I love that. I absolutely love that. It's funny. One of the things I noticed too when I'm playing Rematch, like the art style obviously is like there was so much SIFU in the art style of Rematch and even the music, like there's something about the drums and all that stuff that also reminds me of like the martial arts sifu like style thing. And so as you're mentioning it, being a samurai game. Right. Like that starts to. That lines up in my brain as far as the choices you guys made there for esthetic. And so I absolutely love that.
- [36:07]
Pierre Tarnow
Cool.
- [36:08]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
I got another one from Chris who writes in and says, what lessons learned during the making of Rematch would you apply to a hypothetical SIFU sequel?
- [36:22]
Pierre Tarnow
It was more. I'm sorry, I won't answer directly, but it was more like what did we learn from Sifu that allowed us to make Rematch? And that's like Precise, very reactive control. 60 FPS 60 FPS gameplay, you know, a sense of physicality, of impact. How do you translate these? You know, in animations, in gameplay programming, in game mechanics. How do you translate that? And maybe, maybe, you know, some of the elements of being part of a team could inspire potential and unconfirmed SIFU sequel. But that's really very hypothetical from that.
- [37:13]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
I got another one here from Anthony who writes in and says, any plans for a Switch 2 launch?
- [37:21]
Pierre Tarnow
We'd love to, to bring the game to Switch 2 eventually. We're not actively working on it but. But we're thinking about it for sure.
- [37:29]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Nice. And then the last one I'll ask here is from James who writes in and says, aside from Rocket League and I suppose FIFA, what other games provided inspiration for Rematch?
- [37:45]
Pierre Tarnow
I'm a big Overwatch player and my like my two favorite genres, like forever have been since I started, you know, playing video games 25 years ago, have been third person action games and online multiplayer shooters. And. And you know, at its core, Rematch is also third person shooter. Right. I mean you have aim and shoot mechanics. You've got to aim that crosshair precisely and you know, and build your shot trajectory from that. It's, you know, projectile. But it's still, still a shooter. And, and I think like this influence of like team based shooters was, was very important in like how do we handle camera, camera mechanics, how do we handle precise aiming, how would, how do we implement these mechanics in game? I think Overwatch is a hero based shooter, so it's much more complex and many different things involved. But team based shooters were an inspiration also, beyond the obvious Rocket League and I wouldn't even say FIFA because I hardly ever play FIFA personally.
- [39:07]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
That's actually really funny. That surprises me. I would have assumed that you played a lot of FIFA, but also that could make sense because the game doesn't control anything like FIFA.
- [39:15]
Pierre Tarnow
Yeah, yeah.
- [39:15]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Rematch controls like as a somebody who has played a lot of FIFA, hopping over to rematch was an adjustment in my brain and now I'm scared to go back to FIFA because I'm sure now you guys me up that's possible.
- [39:28]
Pierre Tarnow
Sorry about that.
- [39:29]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
It's all good. It's all good.
- [39:30]
Pierre Tarnow
Stick to rematch. Stick to rematch.
- [39:31]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
I mean, for now. For now I am. Because like, I think the thing that I really like is that, you know, rematch doesn't factor in stats. You don't factor in like body types or anything like that. As far as the gameplay, it is just pure. Everybody's on the same playing field. And when I'm playing FIFA, I'm not somebody who's looking at stats. I'm not subbing out players, I'm not doing all that stuff, which inherently brings back my gameplay because I'm not willing to interact with the game on that level. And so rematch is perfect for me because I just want to play the game. I just want to play football. And you guys give that to me and so I really appreciate it.
- [40:05]
Pierre Tarnow
That's what it's all about. I think you got it perfectly.
- [40:10]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Hell yeah. My final question for you are, is about features that you wish would have made Launch but weren't able to make it for day one. Right. One of the things you talked about was Crossplay and I'm very excited to hear that crossplay is still coming. But you know, you also mentioned Overwatch there, which reminded me of a conversation I was having one night playing Rematch where I'm like, man, I. I wish this game had a play of the game feature. I would love to finish a game and then look back at like the best player, the best plays or highlights or something like that. Like for you, are there any features that you wish made it to day one that just weren't ready for launch?
- [40:52]
Pierre Tarnow
I think Crossplay is pretty much, I mean, the elephant in the room.
- [40:57]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Oh, yeah.
- [40:58]
Pierre Tarnow
I was actually underestimating how important it would be for players, and it was a mistake on my part. But I. I'm not sure we could have gotten, you know, managed to really implement it correctly even. Even if we'd made different choices, you know, beforehand. But yeah, crossplay was really the main thing. Play of the game would be amazing, but like gold replays as such is. Is actually a pretty complex feature too. And when I say pretty complex is like super complex and technical, like recording old gameplay, replaying it correctly, and then going back seamlessly to the game. I know, you know, a lot of games do it, but when you had.
- [41:52]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
It for Sifu, the.
- [41:54]
Pierre Tarnow
The what?
- [41:55]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Sifu had like a. A feature where you could like record and then edit together videos and stuff.
- [42:01]
Pierre Tarnow
But it. But it happened much. You know, it was an update after launch and, and it was not in an online context. Whereas, you know, you know, rematches, everything is online. And so you're, you know, you've got to record everything that's been happening online. It's really technical programming wizardy going, going in there and so having like, goal replays work correctly and we still have improvements to do to go replays to make you, like, frame the action in a more interesting way, something that's more dynamic, introducing slow motions, because that's a key part of replays in actual football. So I think we'll be polishing that before like diving in the play of the game kind of feature. Like play the game, I think would be in a category that's not in the next 12 to 18 months, but actually like beyond that. But it would be super cool. I agree. For sure.
- [42:59]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Pierre, thank you so much for joining me on this episode. It's been lovely talking to you about rematch. And of course, I know obviously I'm such a big fan, but there are so many people in the. In our audience that are also big fans of rematch. You know, I see the spike in views whenever we get to stream it and so thank you so much for working on the game and thank you so much for sitting down with me.
- [43:18]
Pierre Tarnow
I really, really appreciate it. Thanks for your kind words. It's always a pleasure to see someone, you know, gets the game who enjoys it. Unfortunately, we can't play together because you're in the US in the US and like, ping wouldn't. Wouldn't be so good. But, you know, maybe. Maybe someday.
- [43:34]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah, I mean, a few updates from now, we'll figure it out, we'll get there. I'm so down to play. I need people who understand how to pass.
- [43:42]
Pierre Tarnow
Exactly. That's the most important.
- [43:44]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
Yeah. I would love to get you on my team.
- [43:47]
Pierre Tarnow
Amazing.
- [43:47]
Blessing Adeoye Jr.
But of course. Thank you so much. Yeah. This has been Kind of Funny. Gamescast each and every weekday we get together and talk about the biggest previews, reviews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch, and on podcast services around the globe. If you love what we do, please support us with the Kind of Funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live, and get a daily exclusive show. You can catch Today's KOTD on YouTube or podcast services and know that until next time, it's been our pleasure to serve you.