NBA 2K11 Developer Insights: Making a Smarter Game

[bearschicago]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hotobu

LOL at the 2K10 defensive insight throwback. Could you send me a direct link to that? I knew there was stuff like that from year's pas that they didn't deliver on. It'd be nice to have a direct reference to it.

http://community.2ksports.com/commun...id=999213&l=11

http://community.2ksports.com/commun...d=1002935&l=11

http://community.2ksports.com/commun...d=1003473&l=11

Just read through it.

Looking back, some things I found interesting:

Quote:

With smarter player rotation and help defense, you will no longer feel like ‘babysitting’ your CPU teammates on defense to get them in the correct position on the court

CPU defense is still not where it should be.

Quote:

Defensive Rotations are new in NBA 2K10. Last year, our Help Defense system relied on assessing the best defender to help based on distance from ball and closeness to basket. However, it failed to truly represent the fact that rotations in basketball are part of an underlying strategy by the coaches to cater to their defensive strengths. In NBA 2K10, we spent a ton of time trying to balance these rotations correctly based on defensive awareness and ball position. The rotation of the defense usually creates an opening that the offense will have. Think of it as pulling a short blanket to cover your body. As you pull it one way, another extremity will be exposed. The game is to expose the least important extremity, and hope that the offense doesn’t realize where that extremity is. The new fun element on defense now is a security that help comes in a timely fashion, but if the offensive player recognizes where the rotation leaves the open man, you will need to recover as quickly to him as possible, and that isn’t always feasible. Rotations also factor in the double team logic, now. What that means to the user is that the rest of the team will rotate to cover in case of a double team. Again, all of this because playing team defense is a preset strategy and not just an awareness check. In doing all this, we created a new dynamic in playing team offense and defense and added a dimension to our game that was previously lacking.

I didn't really notice this. Rotations/help defense/help-the-helper were either too late or didn't show up at all.

Quote:

In previous versions of the game, fans complained that the defenders were too casual on the floor, almost looking like they are not paying attention to what’s going on around them. In 2K10, players will now appear more intense off the ball, especially when their match-up is only one pass away from the ball handler. You will see players position themselves to defend a pass, stick their arms out in the passing lane, reach out and feel their man when looking at the ball, and many other little nuances that makes defender more active and gives the game that realistic feel.

I also didn't see any aggresive off-ball defense. Never putting a hand on their man especially within 15 feet.

[Kaanyr Vhok]

Lurking Visual Concepts folks aka LVCF: Can we finally have a CPU opponent that scouts our VIPs and comes up with game plans to utilize strategic double teams and their own stoppers?

[Kaanyr Vhok]

Quote: Originally Posted by bearschicago

http://community.2ksports.com/commun...id=999213&l=11 http://community.2ksports.com/commun...d=1002935&l=11 http://community.2ksports.com/commun...d=1003473&l=11 Just read through it. Looking back, some things I found interesting: CPU defense is still not where it should be. I didn't really notice this. Rotations/help defense/help-the-helper were either too late or didn't show up at all. I also didn't see any aggresive off-ball defense. Never putting a hand on their man especially within 15 feet.

The help defense was a lot better than 2k9's. Unfortunately 2k9 had close to 0 help defense. You could improve it by leaps and bounds and it would still suck.

[jeebs9]

I'm so excited reading this. I love the part about the players taking better angles. That was a huge problem in 2k10. Players exactly like the explained....missile...

[7stringking]

all 2k hoops has really been missin'...was still pretty realistic, but definitely the A.I. playstyle was in need of a serious overhaul...with this and classic teams, i am looking forward to a lot of hoops this year

[Goffs]

Quote: Originally Posted by jeebs9

I'm so excited reading this. I love the part about the players taking better angles. That was a huge problem in 2k10. Players exactly like the explained....missile...

i hope this jostling animation they added isnt just limited to playing the guy with the ball....i want contact animations for the guys without the ball as well....solves that mario running feel when running into someone...

i still remember what beluba said in one of his NBA LIVE 10 vids about how the players have a more organic feel to them when they make contact with each other and it shows to....i hope they implemented that in 2k11...

[reptilexcq]

"stick their arms out in the passing lane, reach out and feel their man when looking at the ball."

LOL

[jeebs9]

Quote: Originally Posted by mrnoobie

i hope this jostling animation they added isnt just limited to playing the guy with the ball....i want contact animations for the guys without the ball as well....solves that mario running feel when running into someone... i still remember what beluba said in one of his NBA LIVE 10 vids about how the players have a more organic feel to them when they make contact with each other and it shows to....i hope they implemented that in 2k11...

Yea man....But this is all hear-say right now. Just wetting your tail a little...lol

I'm excited right now. I'm still playing 2k10 nightly....We can only go up...