Replicating Real Basketball - Next Gen - jordankobewade7's Blog

jordankobewade7's Blog

Replicating Real Basketball - Next Gen

Posted on May 29, 2013 at 04:20 AM.

(0)

Are We Heading in the Right Direction as we go into Next-Gen?
Two player animations have been the crux of many basketball video games that we remember to be great. Many newer games have attempted to go away from these types of animations, but is this the right move? Lets explore the possibilities.
Replicating Real Basketball
What we see on the court is the process of how players think. Basketball is about the interaction between the player with the ball and the opposition, or the other players who do not have the ball. Each are manipulated by the actions carried out with the ball, whether they are trying to stop it or trying to put it into the bucket, their actions and subsequent movement(s) are dictated by the ball.
Now that we understand this, we can see that the fundemental makeup of basketball is the interaction between two or more players, who either have the ball or don�t. With all this said, two player animations seem inevitable right?
Negatives
The reason many are/were against two player animations was because it made the game feel as if it were on rails, like you were not in control of the player and got sucked into animations. While this feedback is valid, consider an alternative: shorter/smaller animations that can be linked, animations that vary based on the situation (such as height, weight, speed, agility, and athleticism), and animations that are built on a structure that reflects prospective decisions made by players in every situation. Consider this chart below that reflects these prospective decisions:

Every time a player gets the ball they make a decision, they can shoot, dribble, drive, pass, or maybe a combination of these. The defender must react to these, and have equal opportunity to react on any of these actions, given they have the speed, agility, awareness, position, etc. to react.
The goal when going away from 2-player animations was to have free-flowing movement and variable situations with real time physics. The problem with this is to balance random situations that do not relflect real life interaction, and still create the feeling of free-flow.
Positives; The Foundation for the Future
If you were to break down real basketball on every level, you would find that it is all about the interaction between 2 players. The only actions that are independent are movement, passing, dribbling, shooting, and jumping. Players should be free to perform these motions/actions without any problems. Although you can perform these movements independantly, you can also introduce the interaction between 2 or more players; for example a contested shot or congestion in the paint.
When and how animations play out should be determined by the direction player(s) are facing, weight, movement, current position of arms, and center of gravity. There should be animations for every moment within every situation. In the past, developers have created longer animations to cover multiple moments and sometimes multiple situations.
On some plays, players would intiate a drive to the basket, and the cpu would trigger an animation that took the player from the 3pt line to the basket, often resulting in a made basket (90% of the time). Perhaps this particular player could perform such a move in real life, but this fails to account for the other variables in the situation. What if a defender anticipated and stepped over sooner? Or what if another defender stepped into the play?
The answer is to create a system that makes decisions as defenders approach, just as players do in real life using smaller, linked animations. So figuratively speaking, take this situation into account:
Player starts at the top of the key, he is in triple threat position, so he has the option to dribble, shoot, or pass, this represents a decision. He gets by his initial defender, then help defense steps over. When this happens, another decision needs to be made: either continue to the basket and try to beat the defender there, pull up for the jumper, or anything in between.
Based on each decision made, there should be animations for each situation when 2 or more players come in contact with one another. A full basketball game is a combination of linked animations with free-flow in between to connect the action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COHqZoaN4uY

Consider this video of the top plays. Try to interpret the plays in a video game format using 2player animations. Every time 2 or more players come in contact there is an animation that plays out based on the circumstances. These animations vary based on factors such as each player�s position, the speed/trajectory each player is travelling, weight, strength, and center of gravity.
What the Players Want
We as players will be happy as long as we are able to communicate functions to the game and have them play out as closely as possible to our intended input. For every situation and interaction between players there needs to be an initial action and a counter both on offense and defense.
The sheer amount of animations needed to create this type of game would be immense, but it would also be extremely beneficial, because the smaller the animation sequence, the easier it will be to create more realistic/varying situations.
What developers need to consider is that many actions in basketball are universal, and there are certain areas that need more focus as far as animations that can be branched. As you get into complex situations, such as players reaching for the ball on steals as the ball is pushed upcourt after an inbounds. That is when you need specific animations for those situations.
SUGGESTION!
everything on the basketball court must be an object that holds weight and reacts when contact is made, regardless of the situation.the ball, players full bodies including full extremities. with that said, when players hands touch the ball on steal attempts, if their hand touches the ball, it should come free in the direction of the swipe granted that the player dribbling does not have his hand behind the ball. to counter this, swipes at the ball need to be a controlled animation that balances results based on steal ability, dribble speed and height (taller players generally have a higher dribble, which is easier to steal, unless hunched over when dribbling ala KD) WHETHER IT�S A BLOCK OR A STEAL, IF ANYTHING ALIVE IN THE WORLD TOUCHES THE BALL OR A PLAYER AT ANY TIME THERE MUST BE A REACTION. � For every action that occurs there must be a reaction to have a complete game.

Problems with the Current System
As for 2k13, there are many bright spots to the game. However, with time we are starting to see consistent errors and omissions with the game that hopefully are addressed with 2k14. Up and unders and generally any shot in the post that comes after a fake are unrealistically successful. Defense has no affect on the shot attempt no matter how close they are to touching the ball for the block.
When players drive to the basket and defenders attempt to jump to block the shot, they often make no attempt to make a play on the ball, and just jump straight up in the air. Players should have an awareness of which hand would yield the most successful contest or chance for the block. When jumping to contest shots around the basket particularly, players often do not jump towards the ball when attempting to block the shot, which often results in jumping straight up and having no affect on the shot attempt.
There needs to be an attribute for extra effort, such as extra jumps for rebounds or to contest shots. Some players are incapable of contesting multiple attempts after offensive rebounds, while others thrive in these situations.
When taking shots inside, players left alone under the basket often shoot to avoid getting their shot blocked, when there is nobody near them, which then opens the door for a recovery for the defense. Animations inside should be triggered by the distance of the nearest defender(s).
The spin move has been rendered useless in many situations because every time it is used it seems like it results in a turnover, unless you perform the spin with the left-stick, which then is harder to perform when needed, but works a little better. This is unrealistic, because the spin move is great for putting defenders out of position, and often catching them by surprise.
There should be levels of jumping ability, variable arm lengths, and variable heights for defensive stances. We should be able to tell whether players are great on-ball defenders simply by where their center of gravity is when in a defensive stance. The lower you are, the better chance you have of staying in front of the ball handler, and the lower the ball handler is to the ground when dribbling often is the difference in getting by a defender, this should be reflected in game.
In game shots and shot rhythms are very sporadic and inconsistant; they do not reflect the way players can get into a rhythm and make shots, despite defensive presence.
Shooters operate on the premise of their ability to get their shot off, and their ability to get a good view of the basket, or the net. The higher probability a defender has to block the shot, the more hesitant the shooter becomes. Only the best shooters can maintain focus and operate with little space to release a jumpshot. Shooters like Steph Curry have proven that when in a rhythm, no shot is impossible if given the right view of the basket while in a rhythm. In contrast, players that are not known shooters often have to worry about getting the shot off, let alone access how to make the shot. Only when players are wide open should absolute shot rating come into play. When players that are not shooters are under duress, their shot rating drops drastically unless they can get to a sweet spot and/or at least take a shot that they are comfortable taking (given the circumstances) such as a floater or step back jumper, who�s success would be dictated by the ratings in those categories. Under any other circumstance their shot should be very low percentage; varying depending on the position of the defense upon shot release.
Players making shots that they shouldn�t has riddled 2k12 and is still a problem in 2k13. Making the defense take shots that they are not comfortable taking should result in defensive stops most of the time, with extremely difficult shots going in based on a luck percentage that varies based on the player.
Players were able to get steals as if they knew where the ball was heading even before you threw it, facing the opposite direction of the entire play. There needs to be a field of vision ala metal gear that allows players to react within it, and not outside it. There would be a main field of vision, and preriferal vision as well that allows for different levels of reaction based on how clear the player�s view is, which can be obstructed by other players, including the player�s own teammates.
Closing Arguments
Overall, all I want is the best playing basketball game that can be created. I want to play something close to what I watch in the NBA, NCAA, and even in my front yard playing. Basketball is a sport that has fundementals that are universal on every level, obviously varying by ability. So these fundementals should be reflected in basketball games in the form of basic fundemental animations.
Once we create the basic animations, we can then turn to the different reactions that occur, such as contact when dribbling, rebounding, shooting on the perimiter/inside, dunk/layups that are contested, and so forth. Players should attempt to reach for the ball when its within their view, and not when it isn�t.
When slicing and dicing through the defense, animations trigger based upon player ability of the offense and defense and the input of the gamer based on these situations. Should the gamer choose the right input commands, the player has the chance to complete the play based on the defensive presence and actual player ability. Should the play result in an open shot or layup, the result would be determined by the player�s ability to complete this play. If the end result is a layup, the result would be determined by player stamina and focus. Every player in the NBA can make an uncontested layup, but if the focus is not there, or they are tired, any player can miss a layup too; this should be reflected in-game.
Lastly , there should be a focus rating that reflects a player�s ability to remain focused when changing their shot, performing when tired, or even shooting a contested jumper out on the perimeter. Or on defense it could be focus to stay with the shooter rather than help on defense, or to make the correct rotations on defense, keeping your eyes on the ball when a shot is changed midair to contest/block, controlled closeouts on the perimeter, boxing out, or contesting shots without fouling � all of these things are again even more taxing as stamina depletes.
All of these ideas are just a few that I have floating around in my head, because I often ponder on how to enhance my experience playing basketball video games. I love basketball; I love playing it, watching it, and basketball video games. This fuels my passion to contribute in every way that I can to the creation of a basketball game most closely resembling the game I love to play.
I invite you all as my peers to contribute to this so that we can all help each other to contribute to the creation of the game we will all love to play. I have seen ideas of mine integrated into 2k exactly as I envisioned it with the shotstick being switched to a toggle function based on the left trigger. I wrote a blog detailing how we don�t need the shot stick and to see that in 2k gives me hope that my ideas can again be realized in the future.
I look forward to feedback from everyone! Keep it positive! Can�t wait for 2k14!!! More ideas to come!!!

-JordanKobeWade7