NBA 2K15's Mike Wang Answers Your Questions (Interview)
Submitted on: 10/30/2014 by
James Kerti
NBA 2K15 Gameplay Director Mike Wang took to the Operation Sports forums this month to answer questions about this year's game.
Because that forum thread now contains hundreds of posts, I extracted the most interesting and important questions and answers for this piece.
I broke it down based on topics, including dribbling, player movement, game controls, and more.
Thanks to Mike for taking the time, jersez for starting the conversation, and all the Operation Sports Forums users who participated in the discussion.
Because that forum thread now contains hundreds of posts, I extracted the most interesting and important questions and answers for this piece.
I broke it down based on topics, including dribbling, player movement, game controls, and more.
Thanks to Mike for taking the time, jersez for starting the conversation, and all the Operation Sports Forums users who participated in the discussion.
Dribbling
Q: What improvements were made outside of signature sizeups for the dribbling system?
A: This hasn't been talked about too much, but quite a bit has changed with the dribbling system for 2K15. For one, all of the core movement was refreshed (first steps, cuts, autocrosses, etc.) I tried to bring back some of the fundamental feel that 2K11 had with its dribbling. 2K13-14 saw a lot of "flavor" injected into the dribbler, sometimes at the cost of responsiveness. I did my best to trim a lot of that fat out of the movement.
Q: How can I get explosive launches out of signature size ups?
A: The launches you get will vary based on when you try to branch out of any given size up. I'd advise going into practice with your favorite players and experimenting with breaking out of the size ups at different points in the animation. You'll find that launching out at some points will be more explosive than others.
To explode out of the sig size ups, hold Turbo+Left Stick left or right toward the hoop.
Q: How do I get past a CPU defender?
A: There are a number of suggestions I can make here. At a basic level, you should try to get your defender moving or biting in one direction and then take what he gives you. Bait him, make him make a decision, and then take advantage. Here's a "script" that I often use with a quick ball handler:
1. From the top of the arc, back out to the half court line.
2. Drive hard at a 45 deg. angle toward the free throw line extended
3. Hit the defender with a hard stepback move (Turbo+RS away)
4. At this point, if the defender has dropped too far back to take away your drive, you might have a nice look at a jumper. If he closes on your stepback, you can yo yo your defender by driving or doing a hard cross launch out of your stepback. Usually, the defender's momentum will give you just enough cushion to get by him.
Q: Is there anything in the patch that helps with the way PG's bring the ball up court?
A: I'm working on making it easier to walk the ball upcourt if that's what you're asking.
Q: What improvements were made outside of signature sizeups for the dribbling system?
A: This hasn't been talked about too much, but quite a bit has changed with the dribbling system for 2K15. For one, all of the core movement was refreshed (first steps, cuts, autocrosses, etc.) I tried to bring back some of the fundamental feel that 2K11 had with its dribbling. 2K13-14 saw a lot of "flavor" injected into the dribbler, sometimes at the cost of responsiveness. I did my best to trim a lot of that fat out of the movement.
Q: How can I get explosive launches out of signature size ups?
A: The launches you get will vary based on when you try to branch out of any given size up. I'd advise going into practice with your favorite players and experimenting with breaking out of the size ups at different points in the animation. You'll find that launching out at some points will be more explosive than others.
To explode out of the sig size ups, hold Turbo+Left Stick left or right toward the hoop.
Q: How do I get past a CPU defender?
A: There are a number of suggestions I can make here. At a basic level, you should try to get your defender moving or biting in one direction and then take what he gives you. Bait him, make him make a decision, and then take advantage. Here's a "script" that I often use with a quick ball handler:
1. From the top of the arc, back out to the half court line.
2. Drive hard at a 45 deg. angle toward the free throw line extended
3. Hit the defender with a hard stepback move (Turbo+RS away)
4. At this point, if the defender has dropped too far back to take away your drive, you might have a nice look at a jumper. If he closes on your stepback, you can yo yo your defender by driving or doing a hard cross launch out of your stepback. Usually, the defender's momentum will give you just enough cushion to get by him.
Q: Is there anything in the patch that helps with the way PG's bring the ball up court?
A: I'm working on making it easier to walk the ball upcourt if that's what you're asking.
Player Movement & Contact
Q: Player movements have a lot of momentum this year. How do I gain full control over [a player]?
A: This was one of the biggest changes to gameplay overall this year, and it will continue to see significant improvement as we continue to refine it. My best advice is to try and read the ball handler, anticipate, and don't over commit. It's also important to manage use of Turbo, understand how feathering the stick works, and also make use of the Right Stick Quick Steps. Another big mistake I see people routinely make on defense is continually hugging up too much on the ball handler. When you're guarding a good ball handler, I suggest gapping off more often than not. Sometimes that's all you need in order to have enough time to react and cut him off.
That being said, we still need to do a better job at tightening up movement on both ends of the floor. That's something you can expect from us going forward.
Q: Will something be done to 2K15 to improve contact recognition on gameplay animations? We all know the current issue with the low amount of foul calls during gameplay.
A: I'm working on this right now for the next patch. For now, crank your shooting foul sliders to the max.
Q: One thing that has bothered me on various installments of NBA 2k basketball games and is very present in 2k15 is the CPU ability to recover from contact, forcing it's way into the paint creating contact and then able to go up for a perfect released shot, should there not be a mili-second of recovery to gather then go up for the shot or just more of forced release animation.
A: Yes. This bothers me too. Bad news is, we can't do much about this in a patch as it's quite a widespread issue. Good news is that it's a big focus for 2K16. The main issue is that our dribbler and body up systems don't do a good job passing information to our shot systems. We're looking at solutions for this now.
Q: Player movements have a lot of momentum this year. How do I gain full control over [a player]?
A: This was one of the biggest changes to gameplay overall this year, and it will continue to see significant improvement as we continue to refine it. My best advice is to try and read the ball handler, anticipate, and don't over commit. It's also important to manage use of Turbo, understand how feathering the stick works, and also make use of the Right Stick Quick Steps. Another big mistake I see people routinely make on defense is continually hugging up too much on the ball handler. When you're guarding a good ball handler, I suggest gapping off more often than not. Sometimes that's all you need in order to have enough time to react and cut him off.
That being said, we still need to do a better job at tightening up movement on both ends of the floor. That's something you can expect from us going forward.
Q: Will something be done to 2K15 to improve contact recognition on gameplay animations? We all know the current issue with the low amount of foul calls during gameplay.
A: I'm working on this right now for the next patch. For now, crank your shooting foul sliders to the max.
Q: One thing that has bothered me on various installments of NBA 2k basketball games and is very present in 2k15 is the CPU ability to recover from contact, forcing it's way into the paint creating contact and then able to go up for a perfect released shot, should there not be a mili-second of recovery to gather then go up for the shot or just more of forced release animation.
A: Yes. This bothers me too. Bad news is, we can't do much about this in a patch as it's quite a widespread issue. Good news is that it's a big focus for 2K16. The main issue is that our dribbler and body up systems don't do a good job passing information to our shot systems. We're looking at solutions for this now.
MyCAREER AI
Q: [In MyCAREER, there] seems to be a disparity between players when they are your AI teammates and when they are your AI opponents. Is there some regulating factor that causes AI teammates to go against their own tendencies like passing up shots or not having their defense be effective?
A: The biggest difference between your AI teammates and your AI opponents is there are certain bonuses and influences in place to make your teammates "cooperate" with you, and in the case of MyCareer, involve you more than they normally might another AI teammate of the same caliber. This is done in an attempt to make playing MyCareer more interesting for the average user. So AI teammates might shoot shots they'd normally pass up because you're telling them to shoot or because they're trying to help you get assists. Also most people in MyCareer aren't running plays or any kind of structured offense. This can throw off the AI behaviors as well. Their defense shouldn't be any less effective when they're your teammates vs. Opposing you. But again, the user can throw off the AI's help and rotations by being in unexpected places which could make them seem dumb at times. I guess I'm saying that there are a ton of factors that might distort the AI but there's nothing artificial put in place to handicap your teammates.
Game Controls
Q: Does contesting a shot manually drop the percentage of the shot more than letting the CPU contest it?
A: Yes. All factors being equal, a user-controlled defender will affect the shot more than the AI.
Q: Is there any way to pick who you want to set a pick on a pick and [roll]?
A: Tap the pick control button and you'll see player icons show up. Press and hold the action button corresponding to the player you want to set the screen and he'll come over instead of the auto selected guy.
Q: Can you explain shot fatigue? When does it kick in?
A: There are two types of shot fatigue, jump shot and collision. The jump shot fatigue looks at the player's real life FGA stat and as soon as the player has exceeded the avg. number of FGAs, the %'s start to drop. The penalties can be pretty severe if you go way over the player's real life stats so be careful.
Collision fatigue is a cumulative fatigue that drains with each successive collision in the paint (both body ups and contact shots.) The contact shot %'s drop a little bit each time there's a collision and it adds up over the course of the game.
For both types of shot fatigue, the badges and ratings you'd expect to matter obviously do, so the penalties are applied according to a player's real life abilities.
Q: [In MyCAREER, there] seems to be a disparity between players when they are your AI teammates and when they are your AI opponents. Is there some regulating factor that causes AI teammates to go against their own tendencies like passing up shots or not having their defense be effective?
A: The biggest difference between your AI teammates and your AI opponents is there are certain bonuses and influences in place to make your teammates "cooperate" with you, and in the case of MyCareer, involve you more than they normally might another AI teammate of the same caliber. This is done in an attempt to make playing MyCareer more interesting for the average user. So AI teammates might shoot shots they'd normally pass up because you're telling them to shoot or because they're trying to help you get assists. Also most people in MyCareer aren't running plays or any kind of structured offense. This can throw off the AI behaviors as well. Their defense shouldn't be any less effective when they're your teammates vs. Opposing you. But again, the user can throw off the AI's help and rotations by being in unexpected places which could make them seem dumb at times. I guess I'm saying that there are a ton of factors that might distort the AI but there's nothing artificial put in place to handicap your teammates.
Game Controls
Q: Does contesting a shot manually drop the percentage of the shot more than letting the CPU contest it?
A: Yes. All factors being equal, a user-controlled defender will affect the shot more than the AI.
Q: Is there any way to pick who you want to set a pick on a pick and [roll]?
A: Tap the pick control button and you'll see player icons show up. Press and hold the action button corresponding to the player you want to set the screen and he'll come over instead of the auto selected guy.
Q: Can you explain shot fatigue? When does it kick in?
A: There are two types of shot fatigue, jump shot and collision. The jump shot fatigue looks at the player's real life FGA stat and as soon as the player has exceeded the avg. number of FGAs, the %'s start to drop. The penalties can be pretty severe if you go way over the player's real life stats so be careful.
Collision fatigue is a cumulative fatigue that drains with each successive collision in the paint (both body ups and contact shots.) The contact shot %'s drop a little bit each time there's a collision and it adds up over the course of the game.
For both types of shot fatigue, the badges and ratings you'd expect to matter obviously do, so the penalties are applied according to a player's real life abilities.
Wrapping Up
So there you have it. Mike mentioned some helpful gameplay tips, particularly involving the controls and dribbling.
What was your big takeaway from the Q&A? Share your answer in the comments below!
So there you have it. Mike mentioned some helpful gameplay tips, particularly involving the controls and dribbling.
What was your big takeaway from the Q&A? Share your answer in the comments below!
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