The Next Step in Immersion For Me

[lakers24]

Before I begin, I'd like to let it be known I've been writing, editing, and creating examples for my ideas for a few weeks now before the announcement of "MyLEAGUE" so some of my original thoughts/concerns aren't valid anymore. Also, I don't frequent OS as much as some so I don't how the moderators may categorize this thread(ideas/wishlist). I for one considered it too long and needed its own thread.
This is my thought process on some of the visions I'd pitch to the team if I was involved, followed by examples. If the mods feel this is a part of one of the above mentioned threads, I'd like to apologize and request it be merged instead of deleted.

NBA 2k has delivered the closest representation of simulation basketball in a videogame, even including the several issues that have plagued the franchise. One of the calling cards of the series was their attention to detail and impeccable presentation. Now, while the presentation is not bad by any means, it has taken a step back and even regressed in some ways. This along with the staleness that was "association mode" made me begin to think of what I wanted and how I wanted it.

With the transition to current-gen happening in NBA 2k14, we were introduced to the dreadful(for the most part) MyGM mode, Real Voice, MyCAREER cutscenes, etc. Each thing had several flaws and could(and most likely will) be improved upon:

Miscellaneous

1. Cameramen
While it seems to be very minor, it is a very distracting sight when there was an overall lack of sideline characters period. No mascots, cheerleaders, and only two cameramen(Though in the short 2k15 footage a mascot was shown). It also rears its head in something I will bring up a little later.



2. Real Voice Interview Placement
Another minor yet distracting thing was seeing an interviews take place at mid court going into halftime or the end of games just feels weird and awkward, especially when players are seen walking aimlessly in the background. Moving them closer to the benches/under the baskets/etc. gives a more authentic feel.



3. Crowd Colors/Arena Lighting
While 2k has made strides in the past in these areas, but have dropped the ball lately on last-gen and current-gen. While current-gen was able to finally get most jersey colors correct, the crowds suffered from last-gen issues by having a washed out color palette.
Combine that with each arena having Staples Center/MSG lighting and everything besides the floor almost became a static backdrop. While it is possible it was done to prevent frame rate issues, history tells us it's not as last gen had the same issues. (PC mods were able to alleviate these issues)


(Update: With the news of a current-gen PC port, I, along with others, will try to correct a lot of what I mentioned above)


4. Award Ceremonies
You'd think this would be a given an easy to do, but its not in the game. Whether it be MVP, 6th Man of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, or Rookie of the Year. A short cutscene like it is after winning a title and your team raises the banner of the winner raising the trophy while the commentary says he received it before the game tonight or a short cutscene at the press conference of it being handed to the player.



5. Injured Players Sit On The Bench In Suits
That is a terrible picture but the only one I could find, but while this is considered more of a "glitch" (being the result of only having 12 players on the roster) it was cool to see. Playing a game and seeing a guy you know is injured cheering his team on in a suit just added a lot to me. Again, little things add up.



6. Player Highlights During Dead Ball situations
This is something that is missing from the presentation package but has been there in different forms over the years. Right now it's the "assist of the game"
before the fourth quarter. Before it was the "Sprite spark of the game."Yet, it has never been player specific. Madden introduced something similar this year where if your qb is having a big game they'll get their own graphic and then replays along with commentary breaking down how effective they have been in the game. Even FIFA now has something like this replaying the biggest moments in a movie style package.

(skip to 2:04)


7. Scores/News Ticker
Way back in ESPN Basketball I remember playing Association mode and loving whenever I heard the classic ESPN "da-da-da, da-da-da" and the scores of current and previous games in my association would show up. It's hard to explain, but I didn't feel like the mode revolved around only me. It was as if I was just the team I was controlling but the rest of the league lived and breathed on it's on. Because even while I was busy, it continued to progress.
The biggest thing for me though is getting to the last few weeks of the season and you are fighting for playoff positioning. You check the standings before your game and see that you're only a half game back of the 8th spot so you go into the game with added pressure, but you wouldn't feel it until after once you've checked the score. If the ticker exists, you could be in the 3rd quarter and you see that they've won and it's mandatory you win now, but you're loosing by double digits...Again, immersion.


8. "Real Noise" Immersive Arena Atmospheres
This game is beautiful. No doubt about it, but it sounds horrible barring commentary. Everything from rim/net sounds, shoes squeaking on floors, crowds, arena sound ambiance, the list goes on and on. With the introduction of "Real Voice" last year, overlaying real interview audio clips of NBA players, maybe it's possible to overlay specific sound effect/crowd noise clips from past broadcasts(w/o commentary) and use them to replace the existing sounds.



Player Movement

This is a biggie for me. I've thought about it in recent weeks from people's complaints of 2k playing "like 2k." I really tried to understand what that statement meant and a lot of it has to do with the overall movement of the game. It's distinctive. It looks like basketball, but something about it looks off and weird. After looking at the new NBA Live gameplay clips it really hit me what the game is lacking in the movement department:



Notice in this clip the cuts Dion Waiters makes off the ball. That is non existent in this game regardless if a play is called or not. Most times players tend to jog to a position and even when running never plant their feet showing a sense of momentum.



In this clip 2 things are visible. One, look at how LeBron comes to get the ball hard. The angle he uses, the cut, it looks like how it would irl vs him just jogging over or standing at the left elbow waiting for a pass while the defender could easily jump the passing lane but doesn't to make up for it. Two, when the user switched to Ariza he slightly moved his feet to LeBron right foot opening up a drive left for Lebron. Irl LeBron's first step is so quick that this is enough to do exactly what happened and get to the hole, in 2k the defender would have slid over without chopping his feet basically rendering your first step and advantage useless.



In this clip, again the cuts off the ball look like real ball. Harden cuts to the top and meets the ball hard giving him ample time to make something happen, but also giving him an advantage over Waiters because Waiters is late and has to recover(also notice Ariza's side skip back out w/ his hands ready to catch and shoot right before Harden drives). Harden's stutter step was also a thing of beauty. After the in and out he crosses to his dominant hand and hesitates, Waiters bites with a reach and BOOM Harden has blown past him(you reach I teach).

In this video, I show the lack of athleticism the movements in this game has. Right now the running styles look like something dating back to PS2 era(mind you they only updated them 1 time since that era back in 2k9 I believe). There also isn't enough of them and they are tied to position and not athletic ability. Perfect example is the Clippers. While DeAndre Jordan is a 7 ft C and Blake Griffin is a PF, both are probably the most athletic to ever play their respective positions. Both are as fast as some guards and have a certain bounce to their sprint, jog, walk. In 2k they plod down the court like Yao Ming giving them no distinctive character besides dunks(btw DeAndre needs his own dunk package and some alley oops need to be removed and replaced with others because they don't look real at all. Same with the chin up dunks, technicals anyone?).
Same thing for the ultra athletic guys like LeBron, Rose, Westbrook. I feel no different controlling them than i do the rest of the NBA, and not one of them can I legit break away from anyone on a fastbreak while in reality that's what sets them apart:




MyCareer: Old Meets New
Where can this mode truly go that is hasn't already? THE FUTURE!....No, seriously:

Basics
For the 1st time, your "myplayer" will be drafted in the upcoming draft rather than the past draft. This combats having to try to work around players that have already been drafted and yes you can go number 1 overall.

There are 4 different player arcs(classes) to play the career you want. Consensus, 1st round pick, 2nd round pick, Undrafted.
(Now I originally thought to leave it this way, but an MMO type leveling system would be cool. I'm not entirely finished with this idea yet though)
Each has its own subset of player development along with pros and cons, and different goal sets. You are not tied to any goal set because you can advance through them as you progress your player(Think difficulty levels. The better you get the higher the expectations). For example:

By choosing consensus, you get a bevy of advantages and disadvantages leading me to...

Pros and Cons
This is completely based on what the user wants to experience and makes the journey different for everyone. You will have to decide what you want carefully when choosing a path because these can drastically alter your career path.
If I choose consensus I will receive nice ratings right out the gate, high popularity, and endorsements. On the negative side I will have higher hype meter so if I don't reach certain goals my ratings may take a dip and my team may even look to trade me and I'll have to work myself back up. You earn less VC for accomplishments than lower tiers and goals are also the highest of all the tiers.

Calendar

The calendar allows you to efficiently use your time as a pro by showing upcoming events and being able to schedule events like association users could in the past. Maybe do an interview to increase popularity and fan support?
In the off-season it'd be wise to use as many off days as possible to schedule personal training days or work with legends(each has a cost though so make sure to save up). You can also host charity events or participate in Summer Pro-Am games(both of which raise popularity).

Pre-Draft/Team Workouts/Interviews
These are completely optional just like everything else in the mode. You can play them, sim them, or not participate at all. This will either increase, not change, or decrease your draft stock, and popularity.

Draft Combine
If your low on draft boards work your way up by impressing in drills ala Elfrid Payton. Do bad or don't show up at all and you may fall ala Noah Vonleh.


Endorsements

Features new endorsements like clothing. The offers are based on popularity. So, the higher the popularity, the more VC you can earn in your contract, better incentives, and the bigger the companies offering endorsements.
(Note only a consensus player has enough popularity to sign a shoe deal right off the bat. It can be a surprising offer from a lesser brand like UA but you can wait and receive better offers once you become a bigger star)

Speak with GM/Agent
This is where your requests and demands are met, if they aren't ask for a trade or fire your agent, it's up to you.

Story
As in the above picture, everyone will start their careers in late May where they will receive an invite to the NBA Draft Combine from the their agent. You then arrive at the NBA Draft combine where you will either make or break your draft stock.

(climb up draft boards or fall down draft boards, it's all up to you)

Once that is complete you will then view the Draft Lottery from home with your agent where he will ask what 3 teams are you most interested in playing for. From there it's all work until Draft night. Workout for teams interested in you and complete pre draft interviews with the team(remember if you don't want them to draft you, you can always tank like Jabari lol).
After being drafted, you will then head to Las Vegas to compete in the NBA Summer League(you can train during off days if you have the VC to pay for the drills).


Once Summer League is over you'll begin training camp and begin fighting for your place on the depth chart. Earn more minutes by playing well in practice and in games.

Free Agency
If you are a star in the league you may be surprised the lengths teams will go through to get you to play for them. Players will recruit you, coaches, and even fans on social media. Set the contract terms you want and the desires you have. Your agent will relay it to interested teams and have you meet with every team willing to agree to those terms. Big market teams like the Lakers may even go the extra mile to get you to sign.


Off The Court
-Get the call to grace the cover of the NBA 2k franchise and get suited up to pull off your signature moves for some motion capture.
-Meet celebrities while doing endorsement work and you see them pop up at a big game of yours. Maybe even add them to your team if you have a charity game or pro-am game.
-Train with NBA Legends to get significant boosts in the skill you're training in, but beware, they charge a lot for their services.
-Run into another a star free agent in the off-season and talk about teaming up
-Etc.


MyLEAGUE Presentation

Now, the meat and potatoes of what i wanted to touch on. I have been a dynasty/association guy since those modes were available in sports games. I'm also a HUGE sim-realism guy and if you couldn't tell by reading this far, even the little things kill the immersion for me. I've played pretty much every 2kSports and EA Sports game and they both had one thing in common, their franchise modes seemed to have peaked presentation wise around the mid 2000's.
For some reason, the last games on the PS2/Xbox were some of the best overall presentation wise. I remember had magazine covers in Live 04 and if you got cutscenes for training camp, when big name player was brought into the team, and award ceremonies. Madden 05 had radio and articles from local and national newspapers. NBA/NFL 2k4 had a sports ticker running along the bottom of the screen of in progress games and upcoming games. They showed fans entering stadiums, tailgating, getting seated, buying snacks, and even showed city landmarks. That doesn't even include the greatness that was NFL's postgame/weekly recap/etc. shows. Yet, it seems that there has been a regression in these elements. There are definite limitations to what can be done, but now is the time to see those ideas that have been done, expanded upon and improved.

I broke it down into basically four tiers that everything centers around:

• Playoffs Hub
• Rookie Hub
• Free Agency Hub
• Rebrand/Relocate/Update Hub

Playoffs Hub


As the graphic above shows, it pretty much all revolves around IN GAME immersion. One thing that no basketball game outside of NBA Live 10 has been able to do well is capture the excitement of playoff basketball. With the graphics 2k has now, immersing you in this virtual world should be a top priority. If you play a full season in this game mode, where is the payoff? Not once have I gotten to the playoffs and felt, "these games are important!" They felt just like regular season games. Nothing differentiated them. In reality, April-June is probably the biggest time of year for a basketball fan (unless you live in Sacramento).



From the conference finals championship celebration, handshakes after a series win(versus jumping around every game like you hit a buzzer beater), better crowds sounds/reactions, locker room celebration after winning the title and having a clip of the title parade or pictures like when visiting the president.
That would and should be the payoff for rebuilding a cellar dweller or just continuing to play the mode for countless decades.


Rookie Hub


Draft Lottery
This is one of the biggest parts of an NBA offseason, and with more and more hype surrounding incoming rookies now a days the draft lottery has become almost as important as the actual draft for bad teams. So why not go to the next level and get rid of the static screen and have the new deputy commissioner call out the order at the podium. Again, it's all about immersion.

Draft Combine
Some players will scout during the season, but you still have never been able to play with these players before and sending a scout can only give you so much information on that player. Put them through drills that are already in 2k to reveal their overall and play scrimmages. This is where you can introduce back stories for each player based on his personality. Madden has something similar as during through the regular season they'll have updates on the bigger college players. This helps with the lack of college games and gives these generic characters some individuality, which gives me, the gamer, more incentive to keep playing. Will I draft the next big thing? Will he stay his whole career or bolt in FA(more on this in a bit)? Will I draft the talented but troubled player ala Lance Stephenson? Will I draft the proven college guy who may be a bust or the athletic guy with potential? Or will I go overseas chasing the Spurs model?

Draft
The NBA Draft in this game has stagnated since its current iteration. It's neat seeing the commissioner on stage calling names, but if I'm forced to sit through the entire experience it should be done right. Having it resemble an actual broadcast would bring this afterthought to life.
Having every player go on stage with a draft hat to shake the hand of the commish like in MyCAREER and adding analysis reviewing each pick based off attributes/etc. would be the ideal way it would be implemented.

Summer League
This is a big one for a person like me. I was a part of the group of people that LOVED when it was in MyPlayer and hoped it'd make its way over to Association at some point. That point should be now. This is what would cap this section of the offseason, allowing you to play with your freshly drafted rookie and see just how good he is in comparison to other rooks. It can also allow you to get in some extra development for the player before the following season starts and maybe sign one of the guys on your SL team for extra depth(this would be nice considering a past friend of mine Deonte Burton was just signed by the Sacramento Kings).
(Btw if you haven't noticed, all this would be perfect for MyCAREER especially considering you NEVER start at the beginning of your career)


Free Agency Hub
This is THE biggest part of the NBA offseason, and some may consider this bigger than the season sometimes. For years free agency has felt like another mundane task in an menu driven mode. MyGM had a good idea, but it was executed badly. Not to mention crazy things have always happened in free agency like Carmelo signing with Utah and LeBron signing with Philadelphia. Yet, even when these players are signed, it never feels like a big deal. If my team signs LeBron or a conference rival I knew was one piece away picked him up I want to feel like I do in real life and have that "woah" moment. Most of the time, I'm not even able to see where everyone signs in the offseason outside of the few that appear on the NBA.com screen.

First off, free agency should be 30 days long. Secondly trades should be able to be made as soon as the NBA Finals are over just in case you are gunning for a top free agent and you need that extra few million, you can ship out that role player or two to clear the cap ala Cleveland with Jarret Jack. Thirdly, free agency should be a game within itself, a strategy based game of maneuvering under the salary cap and assembling a great team.

Free Agent Pitching


Taking a page from college sports games recruiting is how these mechanics should/would work. Nowadays, big free agents have made the process become more and more like college recruiting but only centered around a few crucial things: can they win a title now, the city, and if they are willing to leave their current team to win now.
Why not be able to pitch to them using various things that (ala the video above) are aimed at their preferences(you may not know what value they place on each preference but you find out through the process), and for players rated above 85 you may even see a picture from the visit(more below).

More Categories


This may be helped by the increased sliders and we'll have with MyLEAGUE's options, but the player still only has 3 motivating factors; Play for winner, Financial Security, and Loyalty. Play for winner is the category that needs to be broken into more specific categories along with a preferred list. Now, you won't see the biggest stars in small markets anymore unless they are homegrown. If market size, team prestige, and roster overall matters in the process we won't be seeing Utah and Philadelphia anywhere near relevance without shrewd roster management and drafting (cough* Spurs*cough). This is a tactical thing because even if you are the Knicks or Lakers, you aren't just guaranteed to get anyone you throw money at(like real life). If I'm chasing Anthony Davis and I'm the Lakers, I see that Davis is only 70% interested and he places roster overall as his number 1 priority. My roster isn't the most talented, so either I need to make some improvements quick or try to pitch my other strengths to compensate for that. My team prestige would be among the best in the league with the history the team has and my team has the 2nd largest market along with a max contract. Maybe now by focusing my pitch more on those his interest increases and he may sign the contract.
Now this isn't a complete death sentence for fringe franchises, it actually would encourage solid team building to increase your teams' prestige by becoming a perennial playoff team. Teams like the 76ers are a perfect example seeing as they aren't a destination right now. But, if their talent develops and they are able to become winners again, Philly is a large market with history, a great young roster and money to spend.

NBA Today News Updates


This was mentioned above, but not knowing who signed where and it not feeling significant when a star is signed is where this feature would shine. The video above highlights the top restricted fa's and their could also be one of the top unrestricted fa's before the offseason. These weekly updates review all the significant signings and show random generated highlights of the players they are covering(note it obviously won't be as specific with names but speaking in generalities about the particular player like the commentary team already does is the idea).
There also could be a twitter like social media feature incorporated to get the news faster(again something that's in line with MyCAREER). Having these run across a ticker at the bottom of the screen will always keep me updated on the latest signings, rumors or trades.
(This would also be a weekly recap show during the season)

Marketability


One thing that's not taken advantage of is the star power that you may have on your team. MyGM took steps towards this by allowing us to allocate prices to everything from food to merchandise, but it really had no drastic effect. In Madden, if I have a marketable star player and I lower the price of their jersey I may sale more than I already was and bring in even more revenue to upgrade facilities and make my franchise more attractive. The NBA is driven off star power so introducing marketability would be perfect to increase fan interest and start making extra cash by marketing players around town.
Pick up a new star in FA or by trade, maybe throw up a billboard and see a pic pop up on social media. Give a introductory press conference and get an auto fan interest increase based on overall and marketability:

99-95/5 star=15%
94-90/4.5 star=12.5%
89-85/4 star=10%
84-80/3.5 star=7.5%
79-75/3 star=5%


Rebrand/Relocate Hub


This is a tricky one because I've read that the league "may" have a problem with putting the option to relocate in the game(though I'm not sure if that was about dynamic attendance or this). Either way, this would be a big thing to add considering pretty much every other sports game has had the option at one point or another.
There would have to be repercussions for drastically altering the league and your team. By having to pay for the majority of a rebrand or relocation, there may actually be a reason to make a profit in this mode. For this to work right and be a popular feature, there would need to be a major revamp to the create-a-team tool though, because from the outdated logos to the limited amount you can actually edit, there really was no customization. The structure would work as such:

• Logo Creator/Update
• Court Creator/Update
• Stadium Creator/Update
• Uniform Creator/Update

Logo Creator/Uniform Creator


These two are together because they would work essentially the same way. They would work by taking shapes and allowing the user to create any design they want. The only limit would be the necessary requirement of a basketball somewhere in the logo, so it would have to overlay other shapes and be visible, similar to shoe logos when creating shoes.
For jerseys, the same would apply as far as how it would work overall. Trying to place the lettering just right and using the right font for you. Editing the pipping to get the perfect design you want etc.

Court Creator/Stadium Creator


This is self-explanatory, but you'd have the ability to choose the color of the out of bounds, paint, three point line, inside arc, halfcourt line, and place logos. This would be really similar to the court editor in College Hoops 2k8.
The stadium editor as well. Choose a layout basically using the crowd section models from other arenas, choose the type of video boards you want and jumbotron, etc.
The price of relocation should range anywhere from $100M-$200M to minimize moving and a rebrand about $3M-$4M. It also would encourage people to play the mode the right way.


Sorry for the long winded post, I've just had a lot of this on my mind for so long with no outlet.

[steelers99_58_36]

And gameplay. But great post though totally agree with everything that was said here.

[TexasFan2005]

Awesome post, lakers24. I agree with everything, and for the millionth time expressed in the 2k forums, i wish they'd get the TNT license for thursday night/playoff games. The game would be on another level since they'd just about be forced to include these types of presentation elements seen on national tv.

[lakers24]

Quote: Originally Posted by steelers99_58_36

And gameplay. But great post though totally agree with everything that was said here.

Yeah I decided to not include gameplay for several reasons(one being it'd be longer than it already is lol), but mainly because I don't know exactly they've improved on this year.
Btw thanks for reading through the entire thing lol

[The 24th Letter]

fantastic man...great, constructive feedback...

[cthurt]

Im 100% with you on the pitching idea in free agency, esp since its not all about money anymore when it comes to signing players.Great post!

[steelers99_58_36]

Quote: Originally Posted by lakers24

Yeah I decided to not include gameplay for several reasons(one being it'd be longer than it already is lol), but mainly because I don't know exactly they've improved on this year. Btw thanks for reading through the entire thing lol

Yeah it was a great post. 2Ks focus is mostly on presentation, but if they added a lot of these things it would be so much better.

[Junior Moe]

This is gold. The only thing I would add is dynamic commentary. Have a template set up (like with the signature skills dialogue) where the commentators fill you in on pertinent info about the players. For instance:

Player "X" is at the line.

Kevin: "So, Clark, what do you think about (player last name) game?

Clark: "I really like this kid out of (school). He (pick best position specific attribute) well, and he's not bad at (2nd best attribute). He needs to work on his (lowest position specific attribute), though. He has room to grow (based on his actual potential) his game some more. He may not be a star (again, based on potential) in the league, but he can help round out your rotation."

Kevin: "He's certainly an interesting player to watch, Clark. So far he's averaging _____(PPG) along with ______(position specific stat). That's on par with what he did last season."

That's just one example. There could be dozens of them. It would really add to the ingame immersion.