A Northern Irish game developer is looking to release the latest computer game to feature Ireland’s indigenous sport, known as All Star Gaelic, with help from the game’s stars.
This game will mark the third attempt by game developers to take the sport to the gaming world after IR Gurus released Gaelic Games Football in 2005 and Gaelic Games Football 2 in 2007, both of which, frankly, received little-to-much praise.
Now however, with the help of Monaghan captain Darren Hughes and Tyrone’s Mattie Donnelly, the game’s lead designer Peadar McCann and the team at MojoPin claim the game has been in the works for more than 12 years.
Speaking to the Sunday World, McCann said that all those years ago, he contacted Japanese game developer Konami, of the Pro Evolution Soccer series, about whether MojoPin could use its code to build a GAA game. Konami never got back to him.
Using motion-capture technology, MojoPin and its two-player models have been busy creating realistic movements for the game’s players and soon hope to have a platform to work on.
“This is an extremely significant time in the process. In the following months we will be able to combine the data captured and the artwork and actually we will have something to show people,” McCann said.
The team hopes now that with the broadcasting of the sport to a global audience with BSkyB’s acquisition of the rights to broadcast some matches means the game could potentially have an international market.
The release date for the game is expected to come this Christmas depending on finances for the indie company, who has yet to decide on what platforms it will be released.