MWN contributor Gardner Thornhill sits down with IMV Gaming to talk about creating a college sports video game.
NCAA Football 14 was the last College Sports Video Game, but IMV Gaming is here to change that.
Everyone remembers the fun of playing NCAA Football dynasties, rebuilding teams, or taking a team like UAB to a National Championship. These dreams were crushed in 2014, as EA Sports announced that they would discontinue their NCAA Football series. EA Sports has now dealt with countless lawsuits with the most prominent being the Ed O’bannon suit, a former UCLA Basketball player, who is suing the NCAA and EA Sports for profiting off of his likeness. The suit show no signs of settling, so is there any hope for a new NCAA Football Game?
Insert indie Developer, IMV gaming, whose mission is to #BRINGBACKGREATNESS, while getting input from the community to build the perfect college football video game for the fans by fans.
We sent the guys over at IMV a few questions to find out more about their genesis title Gridiron Champions.
What made you guys decide to pursue making a new College Football Video Game?
Our company, iMackulate Vision Gaming LLC was founded because of our passion of bringing back college football video game to market. My partner and I both grew up with the NCAA Football video game series as a huge fabric of our lives. A few years back when it was discontinued, it really left a hold in our hearts and our summers. After doing extensive research, we noticed that the community was so spread out. They all had the same goal in mind but they were doing different efforts attempting to get the game backwards compatible and others were writing petitions and asking for signatures.
In January of 2016, after months of extensive research and truly finding the undeniable demand for the game, we thought why not unify the College football gaming community in an effort to #BringBackGreatness
Explain what lessons you learned from your failed Kickstarter campaign, and how that will shape your future funding for the game
We learned many lessons from our first year in business. In particular, we learned a lot from our kick starter campaign. The biggest take away that learned from the Kickstarter was that we needed to find a way to get the gameplay that the community wanted to see and that we needed to find a way to reach a larger audience. To address the gameplay issue, we have agreed to terms with an established development company that will begin working with once we have met our funding goal to begin full-time development. Then we will be able to produce the gameplay and screenshots that the community is yearning for.
We have almost doubled the amount of money that we raised in the three months of our Kickstarter campaign in the first three days of the insider program. So, the biggest lesson that all of this taught us is that if we are patient, put our trust in God, and consistently work towards a goal that anything is possible!
Favorite College Football Team?
Our founders two favorite teams are the Alabama Crimson Tide (Alex Lewis) & the Miami Hurricanes (Kameron Lewis)
Favorite NCAA 14 Mode?
Our favorite mode in the past NCAA series was without a doubt dynasty mode. It is the most authentic mode to the series because it allows you the ability recruit and build small programs up from the ground up. No other simulation football video game offers the user this experience and for that reason it is definitely our favorite.
New ideas you are looking to incorporate into Gridiron Champions
We have many new and innovative ideas that are looking to feature in Gridiron Champions. Unfortunately, its a bit too early to discuss them just yet but we are excited about the in-depth creativity that we plan to allow the user to have to essentially create their own authentic college football experience. We intend to allow users to be able to edit and create plays, conferences, and teams (uniforms & stadiums).
Why did you pick the name Gridiron Champions?
We chose the name “Gridiron Champions” because we want to come up with a name that was innovative, fresh, and true to college football. We truly believe that we were able to do that by choosing this name.
Is IMV Gaming pursuing Licenses from conferences as well as teams?
Currently we are not pursing any licensing for our first game at this point and time. Currently our priority is getting the necessary funding to begin full-time development so that we can create a quality foundation for our game. This foundation included gameplay, graphics and mechanics. With that said, we do intend to pursue licensing in the future.
What leagues (D1, D2, D3, JUCO) are you looking to represent?
Our generic teams will cover all levels of football including D1, D2, D3 & Junior College.
What’s next for IMV?
IMV Gaming is currently in the process of funding Gridiron Champions, and have to date raised over $18,000 of their needed $850,000. Funding for Gridiron Champions is coming from an insider program , which you can join HERE.
🚨Update: 152 Spots Have Been Taken! S/O To All Of Our Insider Supporters! #RoadTo20k #BringBackGreatness #TrustTheProcess pic.twitter.com/oFzGMPagDD
Want to learn more about Gridiron Champions? Check out their Twitter account & Website.