GridIron

GridIron

You own a football club in a 16-team league. Spend your money upgrading 24 rated starters, draft rookies with hidden ceilings, hire staff, and try to win the Gridiron Bowl.

When game day comes, you can sim it, call every play from the sideline, or take the controls and play the down yourself.

Inspired by the 8-bit football games of the early '90s.

What's in it

• A 16-game season across four divisions, then a six-team playoff
• Every starter has individual ratings that actually change what happens on the field
• A money economy: upgrades get more expensive the better a player gets
• A three-round draft, a free-agent market, and scouting
• Staff to hire: an owner, a head coach, and a scout
• Play calling on offense and defense, with scouting reports on what the other team likes to run
• Live arcade plays: run the ball, throw to a receiver, kick field goals and punts with a timing meter, and run back kickoffs and punts
• Pick how involved you want to be: sim the game, call every play, offense only, defense only, or only the big downs

Controls

Menus use the mouse. Live plays use the keyboard:

• Space: snap the ball, start and stop the kick meter
• A or Z: switch receivers
• B or X: throw
• Arrow keys or WASD: run with the ball carrier

To play a down yourself, set Coaching to anything except "Sim the game". That menu is on the season and playoff screens.

Good to know

• Desktop only for now. It needs a keyboard and won't play on a phone.
• Your save lives in your browser. Clearing site data or switching browsers starts you over.
• The version number is in the top bar of the game (this is v0.1).

I'd love your feedback

This is the first public build. Please leave a comment with your version number and anything that felt off. A few things I'm especially curious about:

1. Did the play calling make sense? Could you tell why a play worked or didn't?
2. Did the live plays feel fair, or did something feel broken?
3. Was there one upgrade or strategy that felt like the only right answer?
4. How far did you get, and what made you stop?