An Early Look at NBA 2K18 Gameplay Changes

[strawberryshortcake]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmaj315

But if the warriors tried to do that irl lebron gets a layup or an assist 85% of the time. Sometimes you should take your medicine and accept the mismatch.

Quote: Originally Posted by jmaj315

The biggest issue i have with plays in 2k17 is that they aren't very fluid. The players struggle to get to their starting spots and they dont start the play until everybody is in precisely the "correct" location. Frustrating to waste so much of the shot clock between calling a play and initiating the play. So many 3 second violations waiting on guys setting screens in the paint but the cutter never getting there. So i guess my real question is, did running a play feel any more fluid than what I've described above?

(1) Blue Part. I have no problems switching every now and then, I probably do it about 65% of the time (give or take, honestly, I don't know the percentage) when I play on HOF vs the CPU. Probably depends on the situation.

Let me further elaborate. It goes both ways. Sometimes this cat and mouse chase happens when I switch, and it also happens when I don't switch.

Sometimes when I want to switch, my computer teammate doesn't switch and now the same scenario happens. Me and my computer teammate starts guarding the same guy, and when I adjust to cover the open guy, my computer teammate would also simultaneously go cover that same open guy, ultimately leaving the CPU open. It becomes an awkward cycle and cat and mouse.

It certainly happens in real life where miscommunication happen, but it would be nice to some type of button input (i.e. being vocal on the court, telling my teammates "switch") during those pick plays. Let me further say that I can certainly overcome this issue because I always trying to control all five players (on-ball defense) and when necessary (off-ball defense). I personally love this fact about 2k, because it challenges me to watch all 10 players on the court, and take over parts of the court when necessary.

(2) Red Part. Personally, I would use the word "urgency" rather than "fluid." To me, the word fluid really means how smooth the animations are. In hindsight, NBA2k17 felt and looks the smoothest compared to NBA2k14 and 2k16 (I skipped 2k15 because there wasn't a halftime show). What you're describing sounds more like the players lack urgency.

Plays certainly need to be faster. But I also personally like the fact that the defense will "bump/chip/impede" my offensive teammates during plays. But what needs to happen is for my teammate to fight with greater urgency. More urgency animations would be a welcome addition. It would also be nice if 2k19 and future iterations would allow me to call two plays in a row. If the first play is taking too long to run because the defense is getting "rough," give me the option to immediately cue up my second play with a tap of a button either in the middle of the first play or any point during the first play if I see something else. I can already call out back to back to back plays if I wanted to, but it just requires me to cue up the on the fly play calling menu each time.

[Da_Czar]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmaj315

But if the warriors tried to do that irl lebron gets a layup or an assist 85% of the time. Sometimes you should take your medicine and accept the mismatch. The biggest issue i have with plays in 2k17 is that they aren't very fluid. The players struggle to get to their starting spots and they dont start the play until everybody is in precisely the "correct" location. Frustrating to waste so much of the shot clock between calling a play and initiating the play. So many 3 second violations waiting on guys setting screens in the paint but the cutter never getting there. So i guess my real question is, did running a play feel any more fluid than what I've described above?

Plays relay on motion to get to their destination. The play design could be the exact same but run much better on a different motion system. As you have heard we have a new motion system in 2k18 and the offense is on of the biggest beneficiaries of that system.

Now as I always say it's not perfect, far from it,however in comparison with 17 if you used plays at all I can't see how you wouldn't notice the difference immediately.

Your still going to get caught by an occasional a "video game moment" where your player can't get to a spot. But it should be more of an exception than a rule (with the current version of the game)

Also side note because I see this a lot where people say that players have to be in the exact right spot to initiate plays.

While not technically true I get what you mean. There is a buffer of space for each position to be near their point they don't have to be exactly on a point.

The issue is with all the branching we have in our game if you let a play start without people near their positions (both ballhandler and offf-ball players) you may trip off branches and ruin some of the reads the AI is making when running plays.

Many times I have seen users even with the buffer we have, be completely out of position for the first option or two because they inadvertently kicked off a branch they were unaware of.

I test wider buffers, but it just looks super messy and unorganized especially if you don't have the plays memorized.

When you have actions as complex as we do this is a side effect.


Sent from my iPad using Operation Sports

[ch46647]

Czar- Did your team add plays/freelances/defenses to 2K18?

Or did you spend a majority of the development cycle optimizing what you added in 2K17?

[Mike Lowe]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmaj315

So many 3 second violations waiting on guys setting screens in the paint but the cutter never getting there. So i guess my real question is, did running a play feel any more fluid than what I've described above?

I saw at least one 3-second violation in a game I was playing. The pacing still felt similar to me, but I also depend a lot on running plays, and I was also chatting while waiting for plays to develop. One request I did put in was that I'd like some sort of notification if the coach is calling for something freelance. I use coach settings all turned to On/Auto, and sometimes I'd wait around for a play to start, only to realize it never did, and I have like 9 seconds to wing it!