12:38 PM - August 12, 2010 by Young Murder
I’m going to talk about post play and what it entails this year. I’ll start off by informing you all that Brady Chen (our Software Engineer who owned post play) myself and the rest of the development team heard all of your requests and suggestions for post play. Your feedback drove a good portion of the design this year. However we also had some firm design goals which had to be incorporated in to the post play design.
We’ve been talking about Hands-On Control™ for months now and we’ll continue to do so because we truly believe that this innovation is a game changer. Countless reviewers, community members, NBA players, entertainers and play testers have been hands-on with NBA ELITE for the last 4 months – they all absolutely love the feel and control. Making it feel great has been top priority. I repeat, making it feel great has been top priority. No more canned sequences (which get repetitive and have limited outcomes). No long, drawn out multi-player scenarios in which players slide into (or out of) position in order for a great looking sequence or moment to happen. We don’t want to create the awesome looking sequences for you through any sort of player manipulation. We want you guys to create the sequences with the tools we give you and the new physics technology which we have incorporated into NBA ELITE. All in all, the control is great and it looks and feels fantastic.
With that in mind, here are some of the details about post play which have people impressed and excited about it:
Intuitive Controls – Basketball is a complex sport but a basketball video game does not need to be. From day 1, we’ve been communicating that the left side of the controller controls your feet, the right side your hands and the face buttons your CPU teammates. We’ve heard beginners say time and time again, “NBA ELITE is so easy to pick up and play”. Simultaneously, we’ve had the hardcore/advanced users say the exact same thing along with (and I paraphrase), “but there’s still a lot of depth (to the feature set)”. Hearing these comments reassured us that we were doing the right things. When in the post with your back to the basket (which you do manually by pressing the back-down/face-up button), you guys can do your typical post moves: up and unders, sky hooks, jump hooks, spins, fake spins, shot fakes, fade-aways, drop steps, pro-hops, runners, shimmy shakes, face ups, face up and goes – the great thing about all of these, is that with a bit of practice you can easily execute them.
Off ball Post Battles – Brady spent considerable time with the actual post battle, ensuring that you guys have the tools needed to battle down low prior to receiving the ball. One of my old coaches used to say, “If you’re not fighting for ground your losing ground”. In other words, offensively you want to be sealing and pushing your man back toward the hoop (a la Shaq). Defensively, you want to be doing the exact opposite. Post defense starts before the low post player gets the ball. Defensively, you can now push your man away from the basket and also deny him the ball. Again, physics and player attributes will help determine who wins the off ball post battle.
Footwork – Footwork is arguably the most important element in terms of being successful on the hardwood. The best players have always had great footwork. Look at MVPer’s, Kobe, Jordan and Nash for example. They make tough shots because they have impeccable footwork. For the purposes of this discussion, think back to low post specialists like Olajuwon, McHale and Adrian Dantley (I’m not sure why he came to mind but it was amazing that at 6’5, he could do the things he could against bigger guys in the post) to name a few. Again, they were successful because they knew the importance of footwork. We’ve also realized this and have given you absolute control of your feet. If you want to perform two foot power moves you can or if you want to do a 1 foot take off/runner, you can. There are benefits to using one over the other and ultimately the control is in your hands to decide, which to use and when.
Hand selection – being ambidextrous is arguably the 2nd most important factor in being a successful basketball player. We realize this and have provided you with the option of finishing a jump hook or lay-up with your left or right (remember…. Hands On Control ™). When back to basket, rolling up left or right to 12 o’clock will perform a left or right handed jump-hook respectively. Skill based shooting extends to jump hooks as well, so make sure that you stop at 12 o’clock. There are advantages to finishing with one hand over the other and we urge you to keep this in mind while you’re playing NBA ELITE 11 and especially when in the paint. This will be the difference between you getting your shot blocked versus getting a shot off.
Player Differentiation – Player ratings will also influence your players’ success in the post. I mentioned earlier that bigger, stronger players will win the off ball battles. Well offensively, big and fast players will be quicker and tougher to defend post moves. The contrast between different players is noticeable and is a great differentiator, when it comes to low post potential to score.
On-Ball Defensive Controls – Last and definitely not least, we have on-ball post defense. Having defensive mechanics to help you defend in the post is a given. Of course you can block, attempt steals, take a charge or call a double team but this year you can also: choose to be more physical and body up the offense; raise both hands up to deter shots and lower the shooters chance at making the basket; or for those of you who are really aggressive, use the defensive hop mechanic in the post (my personal favorite). Defensive hops in the post will re-position you so that you are no longer behind the offense but to his side, where you can then attempt the steal. Balancing post play with a strong defensive offering was a must this year.
When it comes to an offensive attack, we’ve all heard the phrase, “establish an inside game first”. Well, this definitely holds true in NBA ELITE 11. Mastering the low post will get you high percentage shots and that’s pretty important in a game in which the more high percentage shots, the better chance at winning. All of these tools will be crucial to your post player’s success in our highly anticipated single player mode as well (details to come later about this). So in the meantime, I urge you guys to get the demo or better yet, a copy of NBA ELITE 11 when it comes out and spend some time down in the low post. Being able to score in the low post and stop the opposition in the low post will be crucial to your success.
Source - NBA Elite 11 Blog
We’ve been talking about Hands-On Control™ for months now and we’ll continue to do so because we truly believe that this innovation is a game changer. Countless reviewers, community members, NBA players, entertainers and play testers have been hands-on with NBA ELITE for the last 4 months – they all absolutely love the feel and control. Making it feel great has been top priority. I repeat, making it feel great has been top priority. No more canned sequences (which get repetitive and have limited outcomes). No long, drawn out multi-player scenarios in which players slide into (or out of) position in order for a great looking sequence or moment to happen. We don’t want to create the awesome looking sequences for you through any sort of player manipulation. We want you guys to create the sequences with the tools we give you and the new physics technology which we have incorporated into NBA ELITE. All in all, the control is great and it looks and feels fantastic.
With that in mind, here are some of the details about post play which have people impressed and excited about it:
Intuitive Controls – Basketball is a complex sport but a basketball video game does not need to be. From day 1, we’ve been communicating that the left side of the controller controls your feet, the right side your hands and the face buttons your CPU teammates. We’ve heard beginners say time and time again, “NBA ELITE is so easy to pick up and play”. Simultaneously, we’ve had the hardcore/advanced users say the exact same thing along with (and I paraphrase), “but there’s still a lot of depth (to the feature set)”. Hearing these comments reassured us that we were doing the right things. When in the post with your back to the basket (which you do manually by pressing the back-down/face-up button), you guys can do your typical post moves: up and unders, sky hooks, jump hooks, spins, fake spins, shot fakes, fade-aways, drop steps, pro-hops, runners, shimmy shakes, face ups, face up and goes – the great thing about all of these, is that with a bit of practice you can easily execute them.
Off ball Post Battles – Brady spent considerable time with the actual post battle, ensuring that you guys have the tools needed to battle down low prior to receiving the ball. One of my old coaches used to say, “If you’re not fighting for ground your losing ground”. In other words, offensively you want to be sealing and pushing your man back toward the hoop (a la Shaq). Defensively, you want to be doing the exact opposite. Post defense starts before the low post player gets the ball. Defensively, you can now push your man away from the basket and also deny him the ball. Again, physics and player attributes will help determine who wins the off ball post battle.
Footwork – Footwork is arguably the most important element in terms of being successful on the hardwood. The best players have always had great footwork. Look at MVPer’s, Kobe, Jordan and Nash for example. They make tough shots because they have impeccable footwork. For the purposes of this discussion, think back to low post specialists like Olajuwon, McHale and Adrian Dantley (I’m not sure why he came to mind but it was amazing that at 6’5, he could do the things he could against bigger guys in the post) to name a few. Again, they were successful because they knew the importance of footwork. We’ve also realized this and have given you absolute control of your feet. If you want to perform two foot power moves you can or if you want to do a 1 foot take off/runner, you can. There are benefits to using one over the other and ultimately the control is in your hands to decide, which to use and when.
Hand selection – being ambidextrous is arguably the 2nd most important factor in being a successful basketball player. We realize this and have provided you with the option of finishing a jump hook or lay-up with your left or right (remember…. Hands On Control ™). When back to basket, rolling up left or right to 12 o’clock will perform a left or right handed jump-hook respectively. Skill based shooting extends to jump hooks as well, so make sure that you stop at 12 o’clock. There are advantages to finishing with one hand over the other and we urge you to keep this in mind while you’re playing NBA ELITE 11 and especially when in the paint. This will be the difference between you getting your shot blocked versus getting a shot off.
Player Differentiation – Player ratings will also influence your players’ success in the post. I mentioned earlier that bigger, stronger players will win the off ball battles. Well offensively, big and fast players will be quicker and tougher to defend post moves. The contrast between different players is noticeable and is a great differentiator, when it comes to low post potential to score.
On-Ball Defensive Controls – Last and definitely not least, we have on-ball post defense. Having defensive mechanics to help you defend in the post is a given. Of course you can block, attempt steals, take a charge or call a double team but this year you can also: choose to be more physical and body up the offense; raise both hands up to deter shots and lower the shooters chance at making the basket; or for those of you who are really aggressive, use the defensive hop mechanic in the post (my personal favorite). Defensive hops in the post will re-position you so that you are no longer behind the offense but to his side, where you can then attempt the steal. Balancing post play with a strong defensive offering was a must this year.
When it comes to an offensive attack, we’ve all heard the phrase, “establish an inside game first”. Well, this definitely holds true in NBA ELITE 11. Mastering the low post will get you high percentage shots and that’s pretty important in a game in which the more high percentage shots, the better chance at winning. All of these tools will be crucial to your post player’s success in our highly anticipated single player mode as well (details to come later about this). So in the meantime, I urge you guys to get the demo or better yet, a copy of NBA ELITE 11 when it comes out and spend some time down in the low post. Being able to score in the low post and stop the opposition in the low post will be crucial to your success.
Source - NBA Elite 11 Blog
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