Since 2005, one of the most debated topic in the sports gaming community is whether or not 2K Sports should make a professional football game again, albeit without the NFL licensing. This problem has been discussed to death, but this article will outline a potential solution to that problem, just in case anyone out there is listening…

Community Involvement

Game customization is nothing new, and community involvement is necessary for a game such as this to work to its full potential.

Let's look at the Steam Workshop and the activity for a sports game comparable in popularity to that of American-style football games, the Football Manager series by Sports Interactive.
 

Football Manager 2016, released on November 13, already has close to 7,000 community-created items that can be shared between purchasers of the game.

While the 2016 edition of Football Manager is still relatively new, the game has already racked up close to 7,000 entries in their Steam Workshop. Entries are shareable items (rosters, jersey sets, logos, game behavior, etc.) built almost exclusively by the particular game's community of players and then made shareable within the Steam Workshop. Owners of the game can download and install -- with just a few simple clicks -- these items to be used in their software, and even subscribe to items to be notified of any future updates.
 

Football Manager 2015 has over 14,000 community-created items.

When we look back at the 2015 edition of Football Manager, which has had an entire year of community activity, the numbers are even more impressive at over 14,000 items.

It seems evident that gaming communities are capable of pushing the envelope of creativity to enhance the games they love. What these communities need is that same level of innovation from the game developers themselves. Let's explore how that might happen.

Technical Requirements

Although the Steam Workshop is a computer-gaming interface, today's gaming consoles are already sharing files in a similar fashion. Examining 2K's own servers, we can see that their 2K Share system is in place for their NBA game, including an option to share rosters.
 

For 2K Sports, it may be as easy as setting up a similar server for a football game, similar to what they already have in place for their NBA game franchise.

There is a community ready to contribute to this project, and the system is already in place to house these contributions, so now let's examine how 2K should create the game itself.

Graphics, Visuals and Game Behavior

Perhaps the hardest part of game development, the actual framework for such a game, is already halfway done. Between previous versions of 2K's football series -- most recently All-Pro Football 2K8 -- there is enough for 2K Sports to build upon to produce a serviceable game much sooner than a fresh development would require.

Customization

Open customization is the most integral part of a game like this becoming a true success story, and with a few templates for users to start with, it's entirely possible. Users would be given the option to either start a fictional universe (a whole other gaming demographic 2K could tap into), or to use one of the pre-made templates as a base to edit from. Some example templates are shown below.

Template Concepts

Text Editing

Any sort of naming conventions -- such as league names, team and city names, division names, award names, championship trophy, etc. -- would need to be editable, and even allow for images to be uploaded to represent each corresponding piece.

Roster Generator

The game would ship with a generator that could create the initial roster, based on the settings above. Even a high school "league" could be created if the template frame was large enough to hold it.

Users could either stick with a fictional roster, or edit the entire roster to share with the community. Each team could be exported one-by-one so that multiple people could work on the project simultaneously, similarly to how the OS community has completed OSFM rosters for MLB the Show.

Special Request: Have regional names included and linked geographically so that players from Hawaii are better represented, for example.

Stadium Creator

A stadium creator would be an enormous undertaking. However, even a handful of generic stadiums to choose from for each team would suffice for this first go-round because football stadiums are not as intricate to the gaming environment as baseball and their stadiums are, for example.

Combining Leagues

The ability to link leagues together, such as a college league running simultaneously alongside the NFL model, would be a revolutionary addition and great for immersion.

Community Sharing

Once a template has been created, the entire universe could be shared on 2K Share in one package, or even as individual pieces for the user to customize to their liking.


So what do you think? What other ideas do you feel would need to be in a first edition such as this? What could you live without to make the project more manageable? Perhaps if we drum up enough interest with our discussion, someone will hear us.