Improving The Franchise Mode in NBA 2K

[RaychelSnr]

Matthew DiStaulo checks in today with an article looking at how to best improve the franchise mode in the NBA 2k series. Be sure to check out his article, Improving the Franchise Mode in NBA 2k.

<!-- message -->"One thing I love about NBA 2k8 is the game play on the court. One thing I hate about NBA 2k8 is everything else. The Franchise Mode has been stale for years now, which seems to be a trend in most next generation sports games. Companies are so focused on graphics, game play, and online play that they neglect an entire sect of their customers who love flying solo. The best way to cater to this group of gamers is to give them a more in depth franchise mode."

[convince]

I think i remember a post by a 2K designer, stating that 2k9 will focus more on improving the presentation. Hopefully that includes "in game" and aspects of the franchise mode.

[Pepenfl]

Excellent! I agreed. I'm a lonely player who DON'T enjoy playing online (everyone, every human, play the game with an awful style for me) and i need a really deep franchise mode ti be happy. NBA 2k8 is a wonderful basketball game, but i need a wonderful NBA sim game.

[Iadf]

I agree, i look forward to the franchise mode and jump into it once i get the game and i would love more detail,cut scenes.and for the love of god let us sign real coaches, i want to bring phil jackson to the raps and i cant tisk tisk tisk.

[ennepetal]

I play dynasty/franchise style play in all my games exclusively, and I play nothing other than sports game (well, nearly...anyhow). I really don't like the NBA 2K franchise stuff. It does need to be more compelling to keep me from just jumping into another game, especially with such long seasons. I like the idea of a weekly show that would keep you checking in on stuff going on around the league.

I find that setting the practice schedule is a thankless chore. If I could turn it off, I would. I think it would be great if your assistant coaches would update you (emails?) with team trends or personnel issues so you could then address them. Just arranging practices weekly, frankly, sucks.

[johnny33]

I guess I'm in the minority in that I'd rather have a stripped down Franchise mode... I don't want to set practices every week, or have to hire scouts to give reports on some made-up prospect. I just want to play, make trades, at draft time get a list of prospects to choose from with ratings, etc.. I want a Franchise mode that's at more like 80% playing games and 20% managing the team, not 20% playing and 80% managing.

[johnny33]

..would be a great feature too, that as players retire in your franchise... you can turn them into assistant/head coaches.

[edubbs]

Re: Improving The Franchise Mode in NBA 2k

All I need is the season mode that they had back in the Dreancast days.

Just give me the ability to control every team's depth chart and rosters. So, I can mirror the season that is going on IRL.

I really miss this feature and I wish VC would bring it back.

Oh yeah, and please fix the rotation/injury bug from 2k8. That caused the game to scramble player's MPG each time there is a injury during the season.

[Behindshadows]

Great read! I agree the Association has fell off! And I'm been complaining and wishing about a full weekly wrap up for years! And in 2k8 the team chemistry really didn't seem to effective. I'd sacrifice 24/7 mode and dunk contest crap for a better presentation and more on court features in a second.

Live 08's Dynasty mode killed the Association this year! Also I truly hope 2k9's graphics are more realistic this year. I want them to surpass EA's player models which look so real. There is a lot that needs to be done in so little time. Lets hope after or during E3 we find a lot out about this game and seem some 80% completion screenshots or videos. Anything less than that is a waste of time!

[statum71]

That weekly re-cap show idea a la SportsCenter is something they've shown they can do anyway. So now that College Hoops is discontinued, they should move that right on over to NBA 2K.

And "College Hoops Tonight" with Greg Gumbel and Clark Kellogg was tight by the way....

[DC]

Re: Improving The Franchise Mode in NBA 2k

LOL @ Shadows finding a way to mention graphics in an Association Post.

But what did Live do that was so much better than 2K? I didn't play Live this year

[Shinyhubcaps]

I disagree with statum71 about the recap in College Hoops. I need to train my players, find recruits, do the bonus drills, practice plays... I don't need to see some poorly-animated show saying that Ohio State is playing Michigan State this week. In fact, is there a way to never remind me of the highlight show?

A highlight show is always mentioned on the 2K Sports forums, but they're all newbies with no clout as opposed to people who want a genuine sim experience. So, no matter how much I play offline (100%, by the way), I don't feel that a highlight show would be a good use of the developers' time or disk space (not that they utilize even a quarter of the PS3 disk space as-is).

I'd just like to see more things for the GM to do like interviews, with the press or with players or anyone in the organization.

I think that there is a lot that can be done with the game including Association, but I don't think your list pinpoints those well. I mean, storylines would be good in the case of two players not getting along or something, but this isn't professional wrestling. I do like the idea of players going into the GM's office, though.

[studbucket]

Say what you want shinyhubcaps, but I play only offline, do all the training, am in year 6 of a closed legacy, and I still like the highlights shows. I don't watch them every week, but I do enjoy them.

If that makes me less of a gamer to some elite pricks, so be it.

[Kodii Rockets]

Re: Improving The Franchise Mode in NBA 2k

Great Read. I think the addition of features such as the NBDL and ten day contracts are a must for a succesful association, the way the baseball games implemented their respective minor league systems this year would be a good place to start. Being able to send those young prospects down to the LA Dazzlers would be excellent for the longevity of the game

[luv_mist]

Re: Improving The Franchise Mode in NBA 2k

To piggyback on this, they don't even have to sign the real NBDL. They could make up their own leagues and crap where we could go scout players and stuff. Make it a bit deeper so that we can have the ability to find our gems. I enjoyed the read. Basically what I'm waiting for from 2K. I'm very curious to see how Live's Dynasty was though I didn't play it? What did they do to make it better than 2K's Association? Need to do some copying and pasting in this piece??