NBA 2K13 Interview with Producer, Rob Jones

[Plush oNe]

The hop step button is back? Ok so then what's the post button? Or is the hop step button not the triangle anymore but another button?

[xMoJox]

Yeah the 5 lane system sounds like it's going to be work out really well! I hated how on 2K12 guys like DeRozen, who are great dunkers but bad shooters, would run to the 3 pt line on the break instead of running towards the rim!

[vannwolfhawk]

Quote: Originally Posted by Plush oNe

The hop step button is back? Ok so then what's the post button? Or is the hop step button not the triangle anymore but another button?

Hop step is B button...

[STLRams]

I will say with all the new additions on the offense and defense side of the ball, 2K is making sure there trying to keep this game going into NBA realism and SIM gameplay direction. Shaping up nicely....

[silverskier]

Nice interview, good job

[clipperfan811]

Lots of interesting little bits of info, it really can be fun trying to piece together a solid picture of what sort of differences/improvements we can expect.

Quote:

Will the AI read and look for back door cuts on offense and defense? What about flares and curls off screens? Yes. Let me give you an example. I play against a colleague that truly loves his Celtics. Ever since they got Jason Terry, he loves to run these double screens to get him and Pierce open for three point shots. One thing the new AI does quite well is deciding where to square up based on how I navigate the screen. So, for example, I usually attempt to follow him around the baseline screen, and Terry will generally pop out to the wing for his shot. Every once in a while, I will try to cheat and go over the screen. In these cases, Terry pops out to the corner, effectively negating my cheat. This is definitely new behavior in the play system, whereas instead of just running through a script, the AI can adjust its movements based on how the defender chooses to approach the play development.

I think this is going to be huge if it's been implemented as he says. The more adaptive the AI becomes the longer we'll be able to see the game as fresh and engaging.

Quote:

Are there any new sliders, tendencies and ratings this year? There is a new tendency for post shooting, but otherwise the work done on sliders and tendencies was meant to yield more predictable results from the way the AI plays the game. We spent a lot of time tuning the tendencies in the roster to really perform the way we expected each player to play and, more importantly, revisiting how those tendencies are used within the game in the AI’s decision making. We also worked on each slider to make sure that it provided a desired and consistent effect when adjusted in game. Seems like a minor revision, but as this game has grown over the past few years, some of the innards of the game needed to be readjusted to achieve expected results.

It's nice to know that they're refining how effective the sliders are; the more clearly and consistently that the sliders work, obviously the finer degree of customization we'll be able to have.

Quote:

How have charge/blocking fouls been improved? Well, for once they work reliably! Getting a charge actually feels good in the game this year. You can control the defender’s position while holding the charge button too. Mostly, getting the rule right was made a priority by the AI team.

I've been waiting for this for a few years. I feel this is key to limiting all sorts of cheese from both ai and human opponents. One major gripe for me with 2k12 was how the offensive player slid off of the defender when driving and especially when doing up and under moves. I can't wait to see how this implementation feels like on the virtual court.

Quote:

How well does the new physics integration effect screens and players moving without the ball, through traffic? When running plays, will players still get hung up or will they take more realistic angles to come free? The offball player interaction has been improved dramatically. We really lightened up on those collisions, relying more on single player collision avoidance animations and/or collision reactions. It makes for a much more enjoyable experience, especially in player lock situations and in play timing.

This almost sounds too good to be true but if this plays out as stated this could be THE game changer of this year's game. The over reaction to slight bumps and the inability to maneuver through traffic without the ball almost seems inverse to the slippery D seen when trying to defend. When it happened it would reduce intricate play calls to a demolition derby style mess.

Quote:

Are there any collisions between players if the ball handler is under the rim? Yes, players under the rim collide. We’ve made the ball handler pretty sensitive to contact under there in order to balance the game out.

I hope that this serves to differentiate excellent ball handlers from mediocre and poor ones. A guy like Chris Paul or Steve Nash can at times dribble through extreme traffic and make it out or find an open teammate however for most guys going into a crowd should result in having to pick up your dribble or lose the ball (mediocre/poor respectively). A lot of times in 2k12 the offensive player would do some Mario running and then eventually either slide by or finally react according to the contact.

Definitely some nice tidbits of info and its funny cause it seems like we're really starving for any bit of info, trying to piece together the puzzle. It's sounding good so far as we approach the stretch run til launch.

[blues rocker]

Quote: Originally Posted by SouthBeach

Darn. I was hoping the passing would be pressure-sensitive. But more responsive passing is a big plus. I hated the lag at critical times. I'm glad they addressed it.

yeah, more control is good, but not if it comes at the expense of responsiveness. responsiveness should always be first priority. by adding pressure sensitive passing, the delay before the animation would counteract any benefit from the pass being faster. hopefully 2k can just continue to work on their pass speed so the game will just make better passes on its own...eventually they will perfect it.

anyway, good interview. it's good that they SEEM to have addressed the uninterruptible nature of the hop step, but we'll see how well it actually works in game. from the wording Rob used, it doesn't sound like there will be automatic physics-based charges on hop steps like i wanted, but hopefully what they do have will be good enough to deter reckless hop stepping. adding automatic physics-based charges on hop steps would really punish people for trying to ram into defenders, but maybe 2k didn't want to anger casuals by making hop steps too unforgiving or too realistic. one thing i didn't like about what he said is that hop stepping in the wrong situation will result in a hard contact shot...this implies that the player will automatically shoot after a hop step in certain situations, which will get very annoying from the user's standpoint...this was already an issue in 2k12 (the game forcing you into an "auto-shot" after certain hop steps). hopefully he meant that the shot FOLLOWING the hop step will have more contact....but i'd rather the hop step animation itself be interrupted by contact. i have my doubts that they have found a way to consistently determine the failure or success of hop steps. i have a feeling the results may be somewhat random and inconsistent...and random success is not something i like in video games.

[RyanFitzmagic]

When creating Signature dunk packages in the past, we’d assign a player anywhere from 5 to 30 signature dunks. Whenever a player stopped doing a dunk or stopped being able to do a specific one, the system wasn’t flexible enough to allow us to remove it without forcing that player to a completely different package.

Now, our packages per player can be adjusted by removing a mini-pack and adding another, or removing multiple ones. A player’s arsenal can therefore be modified much more easily than we ever could before.

I swear on everything I love they got this from me.

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...post2043790809

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...post2043556439

Quote: Originally Posted by RyanFitzmagic

-Instead of dunk/layup packages, let us choose like 10 or 15 different layup/dunk animations a given player can do. For example, if I see a package I like for a player, but it has one dunk in it that wouldn't fit that player at all, I can't use that package at all now. Letting us choose the individual dunks and layups would make almost every player's package unique and more realistic. Also, perhaps there should be separate sections for selecting half-court dunks and solo-break dunks. This way, the windmills, 360s and through-the-legs dunks in the half court will be a thing of the past.