Feature Focus | Control and Push Ball Mechanics ⚽️

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Hi all,

Here is some more information on two important mechanics: Ball Control and Push Ball. 

Ball Control is a passive ability of the player: when you move close to the Ball, you automatically control it and take possession. This only happens if the ball is not too “Powerful” ( what “Powerful” status means is another story which we’ll cover in a separate post!). 

Ball Control happens around the player’s Control Hitbox When we detect that a Ball Control is about to happen, an interruptible pre-animation starts, which ends with the player being in Possession - unless something happens to the ball in these few frames, like another player controlling or hitting the ball (or if the player decides to change direction, for instance to let the ball pass through to another teammate). 

The Control Hitbox is made of a capsule approximately the player’s height,as well as a larger rounded hitbox at the player’s feet. This means that the player can’t control balls that are higher than the player’s height (ie. 1.85m), and can control balls from further away when they are close to the ground. To interact with balls higher than this, players need to perform a Volley or a Jump (both of which will be the focus of upcoming posts also!). The Control hitbox is slightly larger around the players legs - a ball closer to the ground can be controlled from further away. 

When you perform a Ball Control, you get Possession, and you automatically move the ball along with you. However, there is an important drawback: when you are in Possession, you are vulnerable. This means that nearby opponents can Tackle you, making you stumble or fall: you briefly lose control of your player, and of course you also lose control of the Ball - leaving it free for anyone to interact with. More information on Tackles will be in another post (we’re starting to see a pattern here!). But basically, when you’re in Possession, you’re really under pressure. 

This is where the Push Ball mechanic comes in: by pressing A (on PC/Xbox), you push the ball in the direction of your movement input, releasing Possession. This means you are no longer vulnerable to Tackles: if another player tries to tackle you when you are not in Possession, you automatically avoid their tackle, and it doesn’t impact your movement. Push Ball allows you to keep the Ball close to you, while limiting the risk of being tackled. It must be used with care: since you’re not in Possession, you can’t manipulate the ball directly, and if you do a Push Ball towards an enemy (or a teammate), they will take Possession of it.

Players also move slower in Possession, so releasing possession by using Push Ball allows you to move faster on the pitch. Alternating between Possession and Push Ball, you can optimize your movement speed while avoiding enemy tackles, making Push Ball an important mechanic to master. 

Note that just like the “Tap” mechanic, the “Push Ball” feature can be modified to become a “Lob Push Ball”: if you hold RB (PC/Xbox) while pressing A, you will push the ball high in the air (aka a “Rainbow Kick”). This is very useful when you want to push the ball in the direction in which your enemy is coming from: a regular push ball would either give the enemy possession, or get tackled, but a Rainbow Kick will avoid this. It can be countered by a Jump though.

We’ve mentioned a number of features in this post: Ball status, Volleys, Dives, Tackles… We still have a lot of mechanics to cover! The next feature post will be about Volley actions, which bring together the three previous mechanics we already covered: Shoot, Tap, and Push Ball. Stay tuned !  

Any questions? Shoot them in the Reddit post!