NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

[Steve_OS]

We have just posted our NBA 2K13 interview with Producer, Rob Jones. Thanks to the OS community for submitting the questions. We'll continue to set these interviews up as new features are announced.

What role will shading ball handlers play regarding help defense, double teams & pick & rolls? Does the AI adjust and shade to a dribblers weak hand? Front a dominant big after too many scores? Sag on the weak side after they decide to front?

Well, shading a ballhandler to the correct area automatically forces that player to attack an area that has the type of help defense you want to play (the rotation). Shading a player on a pick and roll can either mean getting over the pick easier or getting caught out of position if the screen comes from the opposite side. We like the concept of forcing a player to his weak(er) hand, but it is something that is very hard to convey to users, so we have been limiting our focus to forcing the ball handler towards a better help situation.

Read More - NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

[Goffs]

Re: NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

These are the answers to the questions we asked months ago?

thanks for the reading material Steve

[youALREADYknow]

Re: NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

Good Q&A, thanks!

Expanding the fast break to a 5 lane system is huge. The way tendencies worked last year required setting certain ones to extremes to prevent 2 faster players from reaching the lane before the bigs got downcourt. The reason we would see guys like Griffin/Jordan stop at the perimeter on a break was that the faster guards were already in the lane.

[SouthBeach]

Darn.

I was hoping the passing would be pressure-sensitive. But more responsive passing is a big plus. I hated the lag at critical times. I'm glad they addressed it.

And the fast breaks should be great this year with the 5-lane system.

[THE YAMA]

Nice Q&A. Some of the stuff is new to me.

[richmo]

Re: NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

Some good stuff. Still want to know how exactly Sig Skills differentiate from an animation and ratings standpoint though.

[jayman504]

Re: NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

As long as Im on a fast break and D12's not running wide on the 3pt line ...I'll be happy

[XenoZograscope]

Re: NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

Nice insight given in the Q&A, seems like 2K13 its shaping up pretty darn good if you ask me.

[Plush oNe]

The hop step button is back? Ok so then what's the post button? Or is the hop step button not the triangle anymore but another button?

[xMoJox]

Yeah the 5 lane system sounds like it's going to be work out really well! I hated how on 2K12 guys like DeRozen, who are great dunkers but bad shooters, would run to the 3 pt line on the break instead of running towards the rim!

[vannwolfhawk]

Re: NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

The hop step button is back? Ok so then what's the post button? Or is the hop step button not the triangle anymore but another button?

Hop step is B button...

[STLRams]

Re: NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

I will say with all the new additions on the offense and defense side of the ball, 2K is making sure there trying to keep this game going into NBA realism and SIM gameplay direction. Shaping up nicely....

[silverskier]

Re: NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

Nice interview, good job

[clipperfan811]

Re: NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

Lots of interesting little bits of info, it really can be fun trying to piece together a solid picture of what sort of differences/improvements we can expect.

Will the AI read and look for back door cuts on offense and defense? What about flares and curls off screens?

Yes. Let me give you an example. I play against a colleague that truly loves his Celtics. Ever since they got Jason Terry, he loves to run these double screens to get him and Pierce open for three point shots. One thing the new AI does quite well is deciding where to square up based on how I navigate the screen. So, for example, I usually attempt to follow him around the baseline screen, and Terry will generally pop out to the wing for his shot. Every once in a while, I will try to cheat and go over the screen. In these cases, Terry pops out to the corner, effectively negating my cheat. This is definitely new behavior in the play system, whereas instead of just running through a script, the AI can adjust its movements based on how the defender chooses to approach the play development.

I think this is going to be huge if it's been implemented as he says. The more adaptive the AI becomes the longer we'll be able to see the game as fresh and engaging.

Are there any new sliders, tendencies and ratings this year?

There is a new tendency for post shooting, but otherwise the work done on sliders and tendencies was meant to yield more predictable results from the way the AI plays the game. We spent a lot of time tuning the tendencies in the roster to really perform the way we expected each player to play and, more importantly, revisiting how those tendencies are used within the game in the AI’s decision making. We also worked on each slider to make sure that it provided a desired and consistent effect when adjusted in game. Seems like a minor revision, but as this game has grown over the past few years, some of the innards of the game needed to be readjusted to achieve expected results.

It's nice to know that they're refining how effective the sliders are; the more clearly and consistently that the sliders work, obviously the finer degree of customization we'll be able to have.

How have charge/blocking fouls been improved?

Well, for once they work reliably! Getting a charge actually feels good in the game this year. You can control the defender’s position while holding the charge button too. Mostly, getting the rule right was made a priority by the AI team.

I've been waiting for this for a few years. I feel this is key to limiting all sorts of cheese from both ai and human opponents. One major gripe for me with 2k12 was how the offensive player slid off of the defender when driving and especially when doing up and under moves. I can't wait to see how this implementation feels like on the virtual court.

How well does the new physics integration effect screens and players moving without the ball, through traffic? When running plays, will players still get hung up or will they take more realistic angles to come free?

The offball player interaction has been improved dramatically. We really lightened up on those collisions, relying more on single player collision avoidance animations and/or collision reactions. It makes for a much more enjoyable experience, especially in player lock situations and in play timing.

This almost sounds too good to be true but if this plays out as stated this could be THE game changer of this year's game. The over reaction to slight bumps and the inability to maneuver through traffic without the ball almost seems inverse to the slippery D seen when trying to defend. When it happened it would reduce intricate play calls to a demolition derby style mess.

Are there any collisions between players if the ball handler is under the rim?

Yes, players under the rim collide. We’ve made the ball handler pretty sensitive to contact under there in order to balance the game out.

I hope that this serves to differentiate excellent ball handlers from mediocre and poor ones. A guy like Chris Paul or Steve Nash can at times dribble through extreme traffic and make it out or find an open teammate however for most guys going into a crowd should result in having to pick up your dribble or lose the ball (mediocre/poor respectively). A lot of times in 2k12 the offensive player would do some Mario running and then eventually either slide by or finally react according to the contact.

Definitely some nice tidbits of info and its funny cause it seems like we're really starving for any bit of info, trying to piece together the puzzle. It's sounding good so far as we approach the stretch run til launch.

[blues rocker]

Re: NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

Darn.

I was hoping the passing would be pressure-sensitive. But more responsive passing is a big plus. I hated the lag at critical times. I'm glad they addressed it.

yeah, more control is good, but not if it comes at the expense of responsiveness. responsiveness should always be first priority. by adding pressure sensitive passing, the delay before the animation would counteract any benefit from the pass being faster. hopefully 2k can just continue to work on their pass speed so the game will just make better passes on its own...eventually they will perfect it.

anyway, good interview. it's good that they SEEM to have addressed the uninterruptible nature of the hop step, but we'll see how well it actually works in game. from the wording Rob used, it doesn't sound like there will be automatic physics-based charges on hop steps like i wanted, but hopefully what they do have will be good enough to deter reckless hop stepping. adding automatic physics-based charges on hop steps would really punish people for trying to ram into defenders, but maybe 2k didn't want to anger casuals by making hop steps too unforgiving or too realistic. one thing i didn't like about what he said is that hop stepping in the wrong situation will result in a hard contact shot...this implies that the player will automatically shoot after a hop step in certain situations, which will get very annoying from the user's standpoint...this was already an issue in 2k12 (the game forcing you into an "auto-shot" after certain hop steps). hopefully he meant that the shot FOLLOWING the hop step will have more contact....but i'd rather the hop step animation itself be interrupted by contact. i have my doubts that they have found a way to consistently determine the failure or success of hop steps. i have a feeling the results may be somewhat random and inconsistent...and random success is not something i like in video games.