Customization is the only way to a perfect sports game. - RaychelSnr's Blog

RaychelSnr's Blog

Customization is the only way to a perfect sports game.

Posted on August 24, 2010 at 04:25 PM.

(25)

You may have heard the old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Well, after spending about a decade within the sports gaming community, I can safely say that so is realism in sports video games.

So I submit this idea to sports gaming developers to give their games the leg up on their competition: make them customizable. Give your customers the power to define their experience as they see fit.

Think about the concept of sliders, then apply that to every nook and cranny of the game. You'd have sliders from simulation results to player progression to the most intricate aspects of the on the field gameplay. And what about fully customizable controls?

I know giving customers more control is a scary proposition to developers because let's face it -- when customers are given the option to mod a game so thoroughly, they typically succeed in ways developers never thought they could.

So I suppose there is always that risk that users could create a game so good that there is no longer any need to buy another edition of the series.

And sure, that's a definite possibility for developers. It's a quandary really. You'll never see another truly great sports game again without it being more open and customizable again, and you might ruin your business model by doing just that.

However, there are things which you can save as aces in the hole. New features, new modes, updated rosters, better graphics, commentary, and animations.

Those are all things that customers would still pay money for. Ask Giants and Jets fans how hard it'd be to get into a game in the old Meadowlands stadium. Ask Heat fans if they want to play a game without Lebron and Bosh on their roster.

There is still year to year marketability here. 2K Sports has provided a great blueprint for sports gaming developers with the Jordan Challenge -- giving sports games themes to honor their sports' legacy is a great step towards giving customers something different each year.

And you could always do the usual upgrades to online modes and franchise/dynasty modes as well.

To quote Michael Scott, "It's a win-win-win."

Chris is the Executive Editor of Operation Sports and maintains this blog on the site. He is also a native Oklahoman and avid storm chaser. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisSnr.

Comments

# 16 Sedihawk2K5 @ Aug 25

Let's not forget what an enhancement Teambuilder really is? Just 2 years ago, if someone even suggested the idea that EA would create a web-based tool that allows people to upload custom logos, create custom uniforms, and edit rosters, and these teams could be downloaded onto your console? It is a huge step forward, even if it has some limitations, for a console game. Imagine if EA had this for Madden, and allowed full stadium editing, as well as full roster editing, including player portraits and audio. Or if The Show did the same thing, and you had people like Knight taking his classic roster sets to a whole new level with stadiums, portraits, etc. As Teambuilder has shown, it really isn't such a pipedream after all for serious customization to work outside of the PC world!

# 17 savoie2006 @ Aug 26

Of course if you're gonna have a game full of sliders, the developers would have to make sure they all worked. This was one of the biggest faults with the 2K Hockey series.It seemed like half the sliders did'nt work. I'm all for the idea though.

# 18 tril @ Aug 26

I agree to an extent.
Only drawback is this-If the user has complete control of every slider imaginable, the end result will be the loss of randomness, thus making AI useless.

thast the beauty of these games regardless of slider set, the AI in these games keep users interested longer. There was atime that games would get burn out after 2 months of use. now titles actually keep users interested for an entire season of that's said real sport.

2k offers just enough for sliders. In addition isnt that VIP user after a while in 2k tailored to a users style of play.

# 19 rudyjuly2 @ Aug 27

I'm big on customization and options. I want sliders for everything. I want a bunch of camera angles. I want all those things and yet some games fail in these areas.

MLB 2K10 has a ton of great pitching and batting cameras but only one fielding camera. They also need many more sliders.

The Show 10 has a lot of sliders but only a 10 point scale and some are global rather than user vs. cpu (Madden stuck to their stupid global special teams sliders again for unknown reasons to the hardcore). The Show has some nice fielding camera options but they don't even have the straight angle behind the pitcher camera that many stadiums use.

NCAA Football only has one camera angle still. I like this year's version but what about options?

But let's also look further than basic options. What about true customization like the ability to tune how crazy jukes and spin moves are in a football game? How about making the deep ball easier or harder to complete? Those could be an arcade vs. sim style option.

# 20 GaryT531 @ Aug 27

ESPN NFL 2K5 is a perfect example. Look at what some of the guys over in those forums are doing with the Finn's Editor in order to keep the game alive.

I understand that Chris probably means that we shouldn't have to rely on editors, and modding in order to customize a game, that custom options should available within the game on any system. As a fan of making and using classic rosters, I can only wish..

« Previous 12Next »

RaychelSnr

Create Your Card Flip Card Over