Crowdfunding a New Sim Basketball Game - Let’s reclaim the court

[Reddcheese]

Sim Nation,

We all know the state of NBA 2k today is far from what it could be. While games like NBA 2K have given us moments of greatness, the heavy reliance on microtransactions, predictable AI, and a lack of true innovation has left many of us frustrated year after year. We deserve a game that truly respects the sport and its fans—a game that prioritizes authentic basketball gameplay over cosmetics and corporate profit.


I’ve been thinking: What if we crowdfunded our own basketball game? No NBA license needed—just a game built by the fans, for the fans. A game where:

AI tendencies are smarter and more organic, reflecting real-life player behavior.
The gameplay feels authentic, rewarding skill and strategy instead of spamming broken animations.
There’s no pay-to-win model—just basketball at its finest.

We can build and expand through community feedback, not corporate greed.

How We’d Do It
To make this dream a reality, the first step would be to gauge interest from the community—starting right here on Operation Sports! If enough people are interested, we’d launch a Kickstarter campaign to secure initial funding and spread the word to a wider audience (through Twitter, Discord, and Reddit).

We’d aim to:

Hire a team of passionate developers, designers, and basketball enthusiasts who share this vision.

Focus on gameplay mechanics first—making the on-court experience as realistic and engaging as possible.

Involve YOU, the community, in development decisions through regular feedback and updates.

What We Need From You
I want to hear from all of you: Would you support a basketball game like this? What features would you want to see? What’s most important to you in a basketball simulation?

Let’s start a conversation. If there’s enough support here, we’ll move forward with a Kickstarter to get this project off the ground.

We’ve all talked about how frustrating the current state of basketball gaming is—this could be our chance to finally do something about it. Together, we can create a game that brings basketball fans what we’ve always wanted: a truly great basketball game.

Let me know your thoughts below. If you’re interested in supporting this project, reply to this thread or DM me so we can keep you updated as things progress.

Let’s make history. Let’s reclaim the court.

[ILLSmak]

The truth is that the way capitalism works, it would eventually get bought up and changed.


I'm always trying to get involved in development of genres that I like, but this is a tall ask. I think there would have to be some middleman if it was going to be a console game, for instance.



It'd really be nice to have a game that was not based around grinding and artificial boosts with a bunch of flashing lights while you play, though.



Someone needs to really get athletic physics right and then they can go from there with that engine. I am surprised nobody has worked on a generic engine for that because it could be altered and used in so many ways.



2k has gone more toward animation based again, and that tends to make ratings govern stuff even more. I would definitely not only get involved in this, but I would travel the internet and hype it. However, there needs to be a lot more people on board. Lemme kno haha


-Smak

[Smirkin Dirk]

Dude. Cmon now.

[Real2KInsider]

Quote:

No NBA license needed—just a game built by the fans, for the fans. A game where: AI tendencies are smarter and more organic, reflecting real-life player behavior.

I think you need to ask yourself what you're trying to accomplish in the game space, and what a License-less Basketball game actually looks like.

[PhlliesPhan6]

Considering MyNBA is the only mode that I play, no NBA license is a big pass from me.

[jk31]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhlliesPhan6

Considering MyNBA is the only mode that I play, no NBA license is a big pass from me.

i mean, as long as everything is editable, this shouldnt be a big hinderance. look at pro evolution soccer in the past, where you could download "mods" that changed everything to the real names and such. but still. how does OP think this is just done easily like he thinks it is? just throw some people a little bit of money and suddenly we have the perfect basketball game or what?