2K Sports - Open Source Campaign Proposal

[SBartlett]

Hi OS Team,

I just posted this blog in my arena. Eager to hear the modding community's thoughts on this type of proposal. Could the modding community be unleashed with the release of such tools discussed in the blog?

Thanks everyone.

-SMB

http://www.operationsports.com/SBart...aign-proposal/

[trekfan]

Re: 2K Sports - Open Source Campaign Proposal

Your idea isn't bad at all; I just don't think 2K would go for it. Increasingly since the release of 2K15, 2K has really locked down the modding community's ability to improve the game.

The old UBR project for 2K14 is a testament to the amazing abilities of modders out there and what they can do when they come together, but that type of freedom is sorely lacking in 2K's recent titles.

Considering the number of former OS guys on 2K's staff (Leftos among them), I would imagine they've pushed for more freedom for the community; I definitely think we have a voice in those offices, I just don't think 2K's higher ups (the guys in charge of the guys making the games) are for it. The in-house tools 2K has to develop and modify the game are likely propriety anyway.

I wish the modding community was as vibrant and alive as it was for 2K14, but the increased restrictions about what we, the user, can control is choking the life out of it.

[BBallcoach]

Re: 2K Sports - Open Source Campaign Proposal

Your idea isn't bad at all; I just don't think 2K would go for it. Increasingly since the release of 2K15, 2K has really locked down the modding community's ability to improve the game.

The old UBR project for 2K14 is a testament to the amazing abilities of modders out there and what they can do when they come together, but that type of freedom is sorely lacking in 2K's recent titles.

Considering the number of former OS guys on 2K's staff (Leftos among them), I would imagine they've pushed for more freedom for the community; I definitely think we have a voice in those offices, I just don't think 2K's higher ups (the guys in charge of the guys making the games) are for it. The in-house tools 2K has to develop and modify the game are likely propriety anyway.

I wish the modding community was as vibrant and alive as it was for 2K14, but the increased restrictions about what we, the user, can control is choking the life out of it.

I still have 2k14 installed just for UBR. Absolutely amazing mod. Especially the draft classes.

[SBartlett]

Re: 2K Sports - Open Source Campaign Proposal

Your idea isn't bad at all; I just don't think 2K would go for it. Increasingly since the release of 2K15, 2K has really locked down the modding community's ability to improve the game.

The old UBR project for 2K14 is a testament to the amazing abilities of modders out there and what they can do when they come together, but that type of freedom is sorely lacking in 2K's recent titles.

Considering the number of former OS guys on 2K's staff (Leftos among them), I would imagine they've pushed for more freedom for the community; I definitely think we have a voice in those offices, I just don't think 2K's higher ups (the guys in charge of the guys making the games) are for it. The in-house tools 2K has to develop and modify the game are likely propriety anyway.

I wish the modding community was as vibrant and alive as it was for 2K14, but the increased restrictions about what we, the user, can control is choking the life out of it.

Thanks for the feedback! I also do think it is a shame. When you think big picture and what is really going on, I think it all comes back to licensing. The NBA and Players Union licenses are a huge piece to this. Ideally, the NBA and Players will want the game represented in a very specific way, and any deviation from that might not be welcome. The product has to be approved by them ultimately.

The older titles that have been modded already - those are the games to embrace - and adding more tools to the kit for these guys already doing it.

I think that the proprietary tools would be an easy workaround since 2K would be the ones owning those tools and can re-work the legal contracts to release them.

Appreciate the feedback and read.

[trekfan]

Re: 2K Sports - Open Source Campaign Proposal

Thanks for the feedback! I also do think it is a shame. When you think big picture and what is really going on, I think it all comes back to licensing. The NBA and Players Union licenses are a huge piece to this. Ideally, the NBA and Players will want the game represented in a very specific way, and any deviation from that might not be welcome. The product has to be approved by them ultimately.

The older titles that have been modded already - those are the games to embrace - and adding more tools to the kit for these guys already doing it.

I think that the proprietary tools would be an easy workaround since 2K would be the ones owning those tools and can re-work the legal contracts to release them.

Appreciate the feedback and read.

2k14 is still installed on my PC strictly for the UBR rosters. I really believe that if the modders got access to 2K15 in that way, they'd blow it out of the water. Imagine UBR 2K14 with updated graphics of 2K15, and the possibilities are really endless.

I think it would give a good sales boost for the previous iterations of the series, and further bolster the shrinking PC community.

2K17 has been better than the last two iterations as far as modding goes, thanks to the Chinese guy who put out the editor, which has given PC users the ability to manipulate things more so than than the last two years (classic draft classes for instance) but full classic rosters, as well season mods, are still well out of reach due to the difficulties in dealing with the files.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[SBartlett]

Re: 2K Sports - Open Source Campaign Proposal

I guess the next question, and I might open a new thread for this: If we had the choice, what kind of in-game tool or developer tool would be the most in demand and present the most utility for gamers?

[trekfan]

Re: 2K Sports - Open Source Campaign Proposal

I guess the next question, and I might open a new thread for this: If we had the choice, what kind of in-game tool or developer tool would be the most in demand and present the most utility for gamers?

I would think easy to use roster editors would be among the top draws -- possibly a modeler import/export function so player models could be altered/created so classic players with bad models could get a much-needed overhaul.

Anything that would make editing and changing rosters/players faster and simpler to do (with more depth if possible) would be better. The quick-edit function in the game is a step in the right direction on that front, but it doesn't allow you to do everything related to that player.

[SBartlett]

Re: 2K Sports - Open Source Campaign Proposal

I think those would be great and also difficult from a licensing perspective. A player likeness is something highly protected from an IP standpoint which is going back to your first point to why 2K would not end up agreeing to releasing those things.

It's a shame how much control money has over all of these options but that's the business.

I was thinking along the lines of on-screen gameplay mechanics, sliders, visual feedback, and tools? Anything there?

[SBartlett]

Re: 2K Sports - Open Source Campaign Proposal

Interestingly enough, Electronic Arts released a dev. tool kit as open-source one year ago.

http://www.frostbite.com/2016/04/eastl-is-now-open-source/

[Nza]

Re: 2K Sports - Open Source Campaign Proposal

Microsoft is somewhat of a pioneer in the closed-shop-now-making-stuff-open-source space, albeit without the elephant in the room being involved (Windows). If they can do it, anyone can. EA releasing some stuff OS is a big step too.

I think being associated with the NBA makes something like this a bit of a minefield for 2K - open sourcing internal dev tools and patterns are one thing, but having a significant part of the product open to modification is perhaps not totally within their control.

Something like advanced gameplay mechanic tweaking can be done without being open source though - a sufficiently well designed API would allow for this. An issue with this is it would likely be PC only, so not a high value project for 2K, and further more, it could create a divergence between PC and console that they perhaps don't want.