NBA 2K16 Developer Blog - MyLEAGUE, MyLEAGUE Online, MyGM & More

[videlsports]

I don't play leagues but I might join one this year, this is an awesome job 2k. Just makes me wish you can make More Sports Games again

[vannwolfhawk]

Re: NBA 2K16 Developer Blog - MyLEAGUE, MyLEAGUE Online, MyGM & More

Hi folks,

In hindsight, I don't think I did a good job of eloquently explaining why MyLEAGUE Online is what it is, and how it came to be in 2K16.

About 5 years ago, I made a strong push to management to give me the resources to provide a fully featured online franchise mode, which later came to be known as The Association: Online. Ambitious, and by-and-large, it worked. Sure, there were some quirks or design decisions that people didn't like (e.g. the moving window of advancement). Once that project was complete, my team and I moved on to other areas of the game. Having watched Online Leagues in NBA 2K14 and NBA 2K15 falter (for lack of a better word), I went back to management very early this year and told them I would be taking over the online league experience once again. This wasn't up for debate. To be fair, the people at VC that worked on this mode the last two years did a very admirable job, they just didn't have the experienced resources needed to deliver the proper experience you guys were craving. Those guys were hungry this year to right the ship. I loved seeing it.

For NBA 2K16, we combined our resource pools, which gave us the opportunity for me to allocate some of my more specialized and experienced engineers on this project. One such engineer, Brad, spent the majority of his year coming up with a completely new server-based architecture that is the heart and soul of NBA 2K16's MyLEAGUE Online feature.

This brings me to my main point for writing this. I've seen a few mentions (and about 12 of the same post from ataman (oh snap!)) and assumptions of this being the same mode as last year with potentially x and y feature added. This really couldn't be further from the truth. This is a completely new experience built with an all-new backend driving it. Gosh knows it won't be 100% perfect (though we certainly hope it is), but you do have my word that we will give you 110% until it is. We'll work through anything that comes up. Heck, Leftos won't sleep until issues are resolved. Brad is the same way. You guys got the 'A' team supporting you at this point; these are some of the brightest guys in the industry.

I played last year's Online Leagues pretty heavily. MyLEAGUE Online isn't last year's leagues. It may not have the offseason you covet, but it does contain the features that make MyLEAGUE such a special experience. You will be able to (and I can't believe some of these weren't there last year, sorry):

Make Rotational adjustments
Implement Gameplans (and everything that comes with that)
Utilize custom playbooks
Adjust gameplay sliders (at the admin level)
Adjust MyLEAGUE-specific sliders like Trade Negotiation Difficulty (at the admin level)
Custom Roster support
Control everything as an admin (trade approval, force winners, force losers, reset games, etc. etc. etc.)

I see people mention things like, "did they fix the bug about being able to rejoin the league once you leave?" To that, I say no. No, we didn't because this an entirely new experience. That bug never existed in this experience. Unfortunately, time IS a factor when you release an annual title. It's not an excuse I use, because it is my problem, not yours. You want (and deserve) the universe. That being said, I'm tremendously proud of the people who managed to create an all-new online league foundation (that will serve us well as new features are added) while simultaneously making what I think is probably the biggest single year jump in our franchise in a long time.

Lastly, I truly appreciate the discussion taking place within this thread regarding MyLEAGUE Online. I'm not one to shy away from a solid discussion or get my feelings hurt because someone doesn't like the way something isn't done. While this is business, this is my passion. This is the same for Leftos, Dave Z, Brad, and everyone else that played a major part in these modes. We WANT to hear your thoughts on what we're adding (or not adding if the case may be).

At the end of the day, if it's not abundantly clear even after reading the "Little Things" section of my blog post...We've got your best interests at heart. Enjoy the mode(s) this year.

You had me at "utilize custom playbooks"!!!

[slashpg88]

WOW! This is exactly why 2K should be making other sports games. EA Sports (specifically Madden) comes out with 1-2 changes per year and after a month or two it feels too similar to previous games. I don't think 2K will have that feeling this year! Thank you for bringing online leagues back to life! I was getting worried with all of the attention on Ultimate Team style modes. Take care of the gamers that have been with you from the beginning and the rest will fall into place! 2K needs to make a football game. EA Sports should be reading this and taking notes.

[Junior Moe]

Re: NBA 2K16 Developer Blog - MyLEAGUE, MyLEAGUE Online, MyGM & More

Are you guys sold on this because of the customizations or just the mode itself?

For me it is the mode itself. It is just so deep. The customization is just icing on the cake. I'll dabble a little, but I just like to build and watch the league grow and change. I'm sure I will update a few teams' logo/unis/courts after a few years to keep it fresh. But I am an "franchise" guy through and through and they have given MORE options than I honestly will mess with. I downloaded Madden16 early access today and went strait to CFM. The gameplay is solid but I can already tell that CFM isn't up to snuff. Rookies are op and still have odd accessories and I cant do anything about it. As a result, I will probably put Madden down after a month or so because ot's the only mode I really get up on....

They have gone above and beyond to make the mode dynamic and even give us feedback on what the other teams are thinking. There will be quirks, sure, that's any game, but I really feel like these guys "get it". Franchise modes have been put on the back-burner in favor of more lucrative online modes. Nothing wrong with that. I was nodding along reading that blog because I can feel that Simballer is a "franchise nerd" like myself. So while the customization itself doesn't lead me to purchase, it's just a sign of passion and I respect that because it shines through in the entire product. I gladly purchased my little brother a copy of 2k16 and he doesn't even play MyLeague. But I know that 1, the game is just a great product, and 2, the team behind it "gets people like me" and I want to support that because it's a rare thing this day and age.

[Halloween]

Re: NBA 2K16 Developer Blog - MyLEAGUE, MyLEAGUE Online, MyGM & More

Sounds all fun and games but

- if the servers won't work as usual online league won't be ish. They say every year in they work on network architecture etc and every year out I can't even play a simlpe exhibition vs my friends.

- I can't cheer 2k for cutting features, bringing them back a couple years later and sell them as the second coming of the lord. Why haven't auto save OFF and 3 team trades (just to mention an example) been in 2k15 in the first place?


Customization looks good but I won't be spending all year relocating teams. Last year you couldn't even equip players with different shoe brands so I'm still hesitant about all this.

I'm patiently waiting for blogs and vids about gameplay. This gonna sell it for me or not.

[BMDinTDOT]

Re: NBA 2K16 Developer Blog - MyLEAGUE, MyLEAGUE Online, MyGM & More

So much potential for this mode...

- Will make an old school NBA season(s) with the logos, jerseys, courts,
arenas and advertisements of those years.

- Even though we can't relocacte teams to different countries this is a
good step for us being able to add International Ball like FIBA and
the Olympics. We can make the National teams jerseys and arenas
which is a good start.

- Custom sounds coming back for 2K17 is great to hear I can wait
another year after all this news.

- As a Raptor fan I can undo our terrible Rebrand and get rid of the
hideous new logo, jerseys and court and go back to the classic purple
and black.

- Might move the Grizzles back to Vancouver as 2K has never had
the Vancouver Grizzles jerseys as an option for the Grizzles in the game.

- I just hope we have a zillion Create a player spots gonna be creating
a lot of players for as many seasons as I can do or find.

[JazzCeltics]

It looks like Kristaps Porzingis is a 77 overall. You know, that is an almost perfect overall rating for him.

[The 24th Letter]

Re: NBA 2K16 Developer Blog - MyLEAGUE, MyLEAGUE Online, MyGM & More

I can't cheer 2k for cutting features, bringing them back a couple years later and sell them as the second coming of the lord. Why haven't auto save OFF and 3 team trades (just to mention an example) been in 2k15 in the first place?

The second coming of the lord? It's in 'The Little Things' section of the blog....it's not like it's going to be on the back of the box...

Autosave OFF – In MyLEAGUE, you will now have the ability to disable the Autosave feature. Additionally, you will be able to ‘Save As’ copies of your MyLEAGUE, thus creating multiple instances of it. I hear you…and here you are!

I don't understand how anyone could have a problem with that last sentence.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Wildcats302]

Re: NBA 2K16 Developer Blog - MyLEAGUE, MyLEAGUE Online, MyGM & More

It looks like Kristaps Porzingis is a 77 overall. You know, that is an almost perfect overall rating for him.

For a guy with so many unknowns seems high to me, but I assume this means Karl Anthony Towns is a 79-80 already as a rookie...which seems high to me, but not when compared to Porzingis' rating.

[ataman5]

Re: NBA 2K16 Developer Blog - MyLEAGUE, MyLEAGUE Online, MyGM & More

Hi folks,

In hindsight, I don't think I did a good job of eloquently explaining why MyLEAGUE Online is what it is, and how it came to be in 2K16.

About 5 years ago, I made a strong push to management to give me the resources to provide a fully featured online franchise mode, which later came to be known as The Association: Online. Ambitious, and by-and-large, it worked. Sure, there were some quirks or design decisions that people didn't like (e.g. the moving window of advancement). Once that project was complete, my team and I moved on to other areas of the game. Having watched Online Leagues in NBA 2K14 and NBA 2K15 falter (for lack of a better word), I went back to management very early this year and told them I would be taking over the online league experience once again. This wasn't up for debate. To be fair, the people at VC that worked on this mode the last two years did a very admirable job, they just didn't have the experienced resources needed to deliver the proper experience you guys were craving. Those guys were hungry this year to right the ship. I loved seeing it.

For NBA 2K16, we combined our resource pools, which gave us the opportunity for me to allocate some of my more specialized and experienced engineers on this project. One such engineer, Brad, spent the majority of his year coming up with a completely new server-based architecture that is the heart and soul of NBA 2K16's MyLEAGUE Online feature.

This brings me to my main point for writing this. I've seen a few mentions (and about 12 of the same post from ataman (oh snap!)) and assumptions of this being the same mode as last year with potentially x and y feature added. This really couldn't be further from the truth. This is a completely new experience built with an all-new backend driving it. Gosh knows it won't be 100% perfect (though we certainly hope it is), but you do have my word that we will give you 110% until it is. We'll work through anything that comes up. Heck, Leftos won't sleep until issues are resolved. Brad is the same way. You guys got the 'A' team supporting you at this point; these are some of the brightest guys in the industry.

I played last year's Online Leagues pretty heavily. MyLEAGUE Online isn't last year's leagues. It may not have the offseason you covet, but it does contain the features that make MyLEAGUE such a special experience. You will be able to (and I can't believe some of these weren't there last year, sorry):

Make Rotational adjustments
Implement Gameplans (and everything that comes with that)
Utilize custom playbooks
Adjust gameplay sliders (at the admin level)
Adjust MyLEAGUE-specific sliders like Trade Negotiation Difficulty (at the admin level)
Custom Roster support
Control everything as an admin (trade approval, force winners, force losers, reset games, etc. etc. etc.)

I see people mention things like, "did they fix the bug about being able to rejoin the league once you leave?" To that, I say no. No, we didn't because this an entirely new experience. That bug never existed in this experience. Unfortunately, time IS a factor when you release an annual title. It's not an excuse I use, because it is my problem, not yours. You want (and deserve) the universe. That being said, I'm tremendously proud of the people who managed to create an all-new online league foundation (that will serve us well as new features are added) while simultaneously making what I think is probably the biggest single year jump in our franchise in a long time.

Lastly, I truly appreciate the discussion taking place within this thread regarding MyLEAGUE Online. I'm not one to shy away from a solid discussion or get my feelings hurt because someone doesn't like the way something isn't done. While this is business, this is my passion. This is the same for Leftos, Dave Z, Brad, and everyone else that played a major part in these modes. We WANT to hear your thoughts on what we're adding (or not adding if the case may be).

At the end of the day, if it's not abundantly clear even after reading the "Little Things" section of my blog post...We've got your best interests at heart. Enjoy the mode(s) this year.

Lol i know i'm crazy and crazy addicted and dedicated to Online League! But i got what i want finally so.

Off-season were never an issue for us (me esp.) but those other areas that i kept asking were all answered. And answered as "Yes" and some more.

And it feels good it feels great. I can't descibe the love atm. From now on i have all my tools to get going and doing my stuff!

So i guess all i could say a very Big Thank You to you in the first sense and to the devs who worked on this mode thru.

I can sleep after all...

[Capitol P23]

so online my league is only 2 seasons without any offseason activites... consider me disappointed

No. What they are saying is at the end of each season Admins can choose to continue the MyLeague or end it if people would rather venture into other modes than continue the season.

[blues rocker]

wow...i'm not even a franchise mode guy, but this is still ridiculously impressive to me. posts like this one by Boenisch show how 2k got on top and remains far above the competition - their developers are insanely passionate fans of basketball and video game basketball - they obsess over it even more than we do - that's why their games are so good (they have crazy attention to detail, extremely high standards, and they work for a company that lets them carry out that passion to make their game better). 2k knows what works, what doesn't, and what people want - and that shows in every area of their game.

[Mike Lowe]

Re: NBA 2K16 Developer Blog - MyLEAGUE, MyLEAGUE Online, MyGM & More

Wow. This is impressive. I wish all games received this level of commitment and attention to detail.

[Capitol P23]

Do you have to do all your edits, court designer, team designer, etc on the console or will there be a webpage you can access online via your PC or Mac? Like in NCAA football where you could create/ design a team online and it would be on your console game.

There is a dedicated website to upload your own photos/logos. Read Below:

"We have a large selection of on-disc team logos that you can choose from, otherwise you can head over to our website and upload any image of your choosing to be your team logo. If you want to upload a picture of a hummingbird and name your team the Hummingbirds, have at it. Feeling lazy? You can also browse uploads from other users and choose to use one of those as your own. The options are endless."

[JazzCeltics]

Euroleague.

I would love if you could go to the Euroleague to get your rightful players (Ex: Dario Saric, Alessandro Gentile, Fran Vasquez, etc.) If this were a possibility that would be fantastic. If we could also trade rights to players that would definitely spice up the League. However, I don't expect this, and if it were put in I think I'd faint from shock and elation. Just an idea.