New Menu Scene design - added stadium elements, and character animations.
Reduce Xp on loss logic
Minor UI fixes
Added new camera views and fireworks for goal celebrations
Updated lighting for more “stadium” feel - work in progress
Made major improvements to multiplayer logic
What I’m working on next:
Stripe integration
New textures and different character designs
New menu and end of round UI
Simplified thrusters and particle system
New sprint animations and vfx
Fixing sounds
It feels great to finally able to focus on “making things look nice” while all the core logic is in place. Still lots of fine tuning and improvements to be made, but I really like how the game is coming along and super proud of what I’ve built in the last almost 3 years.
Last Alpha update before Beta release for the FIFA World Cup. I have decided to keep the game in Beta for now, as it’s nowhere near the final product. But for a Beta I think it’s in pretty good shape.
Still lots of things to do, time to buckle up for the final push. I’ll start making some posts on socials and hope that I see the game gaining some traction in the coming weeks.
The main things I’m working before the release:
Stripe integration for Cosmetic Shop
Update UI for mobile
Lobby Scene for Multiplayer
World Cup mode for Singleplayer
Update landing Page with social links, background vid etc.
After almost 3 years of working on this project (probably the longest time I ever stuck with anything in my life ) I’m very proud of what I have achieved, especially considering my limited coding skills and experience.
It’s been a wonderful journey, and learned so much during this time.
I wanted to give another shoutout to everyone here in the Babylon js forums as without you, this would have not been possible.
No matter how the launch goes, I’m happy to have found Babylon and looking forward to posting my future projects (there are a few in mind haha).
To celebrate the FIFA World cup, I have created some premium country textures, that players unlock if they guess the match outcome correctly on my Discord prediciton channel:
It’s a quick play through of the World Cup mode in singleplayer. I discovered some bugs, and some things I need to improve but overall I’m pretty happy with everything and had fun playing the game
The Beta 1.2 Patch it’s on it’s way with:
Updated physics and abilities for faster, better gameplay.
Fixed Stats Bug where the updated character stats weren’t being applied properly
Updated Animations
New kicking indicator using chevrons. I’m most excited about this updated, as it makes the aiming of kicks so much more intuitive and easier!
Added trail mesh to the football - This looks really amazing, so whoever made the trail mesh, I love you
Massive perf improvement - my mid tier Android phone is now running the game at Ultra High Graphics at 60+ fps
What I’m working on next for Beta 1.4
UI updates
New character designs
New VFX for abilities, sprinting and kicking (I’m really excited about updating these and have some great ideas. I think this will make an big overall improvement)
What I have planned long term (Beta 2.0):
I got some really cool ideas on things I can add to the game. Challenges, characters, game modes, new stadium, multiplayer weekly tournaments, better inventory system, just to name a few. There are 2 secret updates I’m suuuper excited for, and will change the gameplay quite a bit, and some more variety in game modes.
Added a Speed Run timer to World Cup mode, which gets saved to my DB and leaderboard
Fixed Customization Bugs
Updated Character designs
Updated weapon/shield designs
Fixed Minor UI bugs
What I’m working on next for Beta 1.4
A complete re-haul of the customization screen - better UI customizable shaders, more variants etc.
Added footsteps
New VFX for abilities, sprinting and kicking using Sprites, particles etc. (I didn’t get around to implementing this just yet, but it’s in progress )
What I have planned long term (Beta 2.0):
I’ve started posting vids on TikTok and YouTube (still learning how to get the best out of CapCut for editing and OBS for recording/streaming.
Once I build a bit of social media following and have a more stable player base, I’ll start reaching out to potential sponsors and see if I can organize a tournament of some sort.
Just a few days ago I looked back and some old GIFS/pics from the early stages of the game, and it honestly brought tears to my eyes. The game has come so far, and it has still so much to go!
See you on the pitch
Edit - A sneak peak of the updated character designs (nowhere near finished, but I like the direction):
I was going to use the World Cup as the main marketing event to try get more eyes on CosmoKick. I started streaming, posting on YouTube, TikTok etc. Slowly I started seeing a few players jump in a play a couple of games. Nothing crazy, but I could see how doing this constantly can bring players over time.
So naturally instead of focusing on things I’m supposed to do, I wanted to see if removing texture images will actually have a big impact on mobile perf. Well… It did
So here I am in the middle the biggest re-write of the project so far… But I like where it’s heading. We are now at less than 5MB size
I’ve also tested the game on a potato PC with these specs:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 (3.10 GHz)
GPU: Intel HD Graphics 4600 (Integrated)
RAM: DDR3
Ran the game pretty well at 40-45 fps on Ultra settings (up from 30-35 fps)
My mobile now is feeling so much smoother as well (some fps drops here and there, but overall around 55-60 on Ultra settings)
So now I’m onto re-writing the entire customization section, so instead of using textures I’ll be creating different customizable shaders.
Next challenge will be to get the entire size down to 3MB, which should be pretty simple now (basically need to compress some audio files)
And then I can go back to marketing the game. While I’m a bit disappointed I couldn’t take advantage of the World Cup hype a bit more, it pushed me so much to finish a lot of things with the game.
I’ll be leaving up the current World Cup Speedrun mode as a core feature of the game, maybe just changing the name to CosmoCup Speedrun. So it wasn’t entirely a waste.
Now that the FIFA Club World Cup is wrapped up, I wanted to share a raw update on my experiment growing CosmoKick.io.
Going into the tournament, my main question was simple: Can a solo dev leverage the World Cup to get eyes on a free browser game?
Here’s how the stats actually shook out:
The Numbers
YouTube: ~5k views | +3 subs
TikTok: ~8.5k views | ~800 followers
CosmoKick.io: ~200 visitors | <50 played a match | 1 completed the World Cup Speedrun | $0 revenue
Discord: 0 new members
On paper, those game conversion numbers hurt a bit. But honestly, the metrics don’t tell the whole story.
Over the last month, I managed to:
Overhaul a huge chunk of the rendering system (swapping textures for shaders to cut load times and boost FPS).
Build the World Cup Speedrun mode from scratch (which turned out fun enough to make permanent).
Start live streaming for the first time ever, which meant learning OBS and CapCut on the fly.
Set up proper creator outreach.
Finally build a content pipeline I can actually stick to.
Honestly, the biggest win wasn’t a game feature, it was figuring out a marketing flow that doesn’t burn me out.
Instead of just praying the algorithm finds me, I have a clear loop now: Stream → Clip → Post → Reach out → Tweak → Repeat.
The tournament also gave me a ton of clarity on where to take the game next. On the immediate roadmap:
Permanent Speedrun mode
Zombie Survival mode
Referees, fouls, and cards
Managers, leagues, and clubs
Further visual and performance tweaks so it runs smoothly on literally anything with a browser.
Would I have loved to see thousands of active players? Definitely. But I don’t view this month as a loss.
I went in with basically zero audience. I came out of it with hundreds of new followers, a significantly faster game, a scalable marketing routine, and a very clear direction for what’s next.
The World Cup is over, but for CosmoKick, it feels like the foundation is finally set.
Did you do anything else to achieve these numbers? Like (paid) ads, cross linking, sharing elsewhere (x, facebook,…), etc.? Because if not then for doing nothing extra to promote your content, these numbers are not too bad, are they?
Most of the changes were in the background this time, nothing visually impressive.
I pivoted from the all shaders approach to a hybrid approach. Replaced some textures and kept some others.
Massive perf improvements and download size reduction!
Fixed physics bugs in multiplayer and singleplayer
UI fixes/updates
I designed a rough Road Map, and budget allocation for the next couple of months
I started streaming again
What I’m working on next for Beta 1.6
Further optimizations and reduction in bundle size (no, it will never stop )
Fixed gun mesh position bugs in Customization screen
Fix UI bugs
Fix Inventory and achievements bugs
Update sounds
Set up and launch the first ever competition in CosmoKick!
This month is going to be all about building a community around CosmoKick. The focus will be on improving the UX, and get the game in front of as many players as possible.
I’ll try to stream more regularly, and post on socials as well. In the coming days, I will be sharing the Road Map and Competition announcement as well.
Goal this month:
Reach 5k followers on TikTok (currently at 1.5k)
Reach 100 members in Discord (currently at 10 members)
Reach 100 subs on YouTube (currently at 4 subs)
10 speed runs submitted
500 new players in CosmoKick
P.S. Here is me being super focused on my speedrun
Good luck on the community/social goals! All the polish and optimizations you are doing will surely help for those, it’s the things that people only realize when they are missing, but they are always super appreciated even if it’s unconsciously
Over the past month I ran a speedrun competition with the best time winning €50. Overall it may not have brought in the numbers I was hoping for but instead it helped in so many un-expected ways.
One player took me on the challenge and grinded in-game every day to beat my record. He joined every stream, helped my find countless bugs. And in the end, I was super happy to send him the €50 Steam Gift card. He well deserved it for all the help.
I also started streaming on Twitch instead of YouTube and it really feels like while taking longer it is the better path for building a community around the game.
One thing I need to improve is constant posting on social media. I’ve been kind of lazy with it, and I think if I was posting short clips more regularly on TikTok/YouTube, I would have had better results.
For the month of September, I will be focusing more on the multiplayer mode, and adding a co-op mode as well to try catch some of the friendslop wave happening right now. I was already planning the Zombie survival mode anyway, so I think it’s the right time to try testing with it for the Hallloween competiton in September.
Soon announcing a streamer knockout tournament at the end of the month, with a minimum of 16 players.
I’ll also be updating the inventory to have 25+ hat items, 50+ textures and 50+ decals.
So happy to start seeing some results, and can’t wait to see where I’ll end up by the end of the month.
And as always, thanks to anyone for commenting, reacting, giving feedback/advice. I appreciate all of it!
Let’s see what the month of September brings for CosmoKick.io
) I’m very proud of what I have achieved, especially considering my limited coding skills and experience.
To celebrate the FIFA World cup, I have created some premium country textures, that players unlock if they guess the match outcome correctly on my Discord prediciton channel:
2. 
3. 
It’s starting to look like a proper game more and more. I think the updated vfx will make a big difference in the next update!
(up from 30-35 fps)
)
