38-0 Joins Top Ten UK App Store Games as Second Amateur Football Drafting Hit
The rise of football drafting games has led to a significant milestone with the entry of 38-0 into the UK App Store's top ten. This amateur-made game, crafted in just a few days by hobbyist Josh Pavey, has achieved over 100,000 downloads on iOS since its launch on June 11, without the backing of marketing or PR. Remarkably, it even topped the Simulation genre chart for a brief period.
As of now, 38-0 holds the 26th position in the overall games chart, positioned between Pixel Flow and Royal Kingdom, while also surpassing popular titles like Chess.com, Subway Surfers, and Township. Pavey revealed that the game's primary markets include the UK, Ireland, EU, US, Australia, and New Zealand. A version for Android is currently awaiting approval.
Pavey, who works in advertising, is a self-taught coder with eight years of experience in side projects. Inspired by the recent popularity of basketball drafting game 82-0 and similar web apps circulating in social media, he aimed to create a genuine iOS football drafting application. "I can't take credit for the idea, especially after seeing 82-0 and other games online recently," he stated. "It's surprising that no one had ventured into app development before!"
He utilized a variety of tools, including Opus, Gemini, ChatGPT, Cursor, and OpenCode, to develop the game rapidly, incorporating multiplayer functionality through Cloudflare Workers. "I likely wouldn’t have built it as quickly without AI, as it significantly accelerated mockups and testing," Pavey explained. He encourages others with access to similar models to explore their creativity, noting that advancements in AI have been remarkable in recent months.
Why it matters
Since its launch, 38-0 has undergone several updates, adding new game modes, multiplayer features, and sharing options. Currently, the game does not include any monetization, as Pavey enjoys the rising player count and retention. "I've only had about 10 hours of sleep since Friday, constantly working on new features since the App Store surge… thanks to Celsius drinks and Starbucks for keeping me energized!" he added.
Original source
MobileGamer.biz
