Devlog 4 Real

For my sports video game I’m going to break down NBA 2k. Unlike in real life, in 2k you are an NBA player that aspires to be the greatest of all time. However, like in real life there are challenges and skills to develop along the way. 2K may be virtual basketball, but some of the same skills carry over from real life to the game. For instance, when playing competitively against others teamwork is imperative to your teams’ success. Players must have vision to see their teammates open for passes or know when to go for the shot. This might not come as a surprise, but as an experienced basketball player I can say for a fact that these qualities are also extremely favorable to find in real life as well. Players must also master their jump shot if they plan on being the greatest of all time. 2K gives you thousands of ways you can change your jump shot, giving the players the option to be unique. Mastering this task is probably the hardest of the skills it takes players to be the goat. Just like in real life, your release timing is going to be different whether you are shooting a running shot, a fadeaway, a hook shot, and the list goes on. It could take countless hours to master all these shots in real life. If you look at shooters in real life today, they are some of the most prolific of all time because they’ve spent decades mastering their shot. While it might not take decades for you to get your shot down in 2K, it could definitely take you about 300 hours or so.

 This week was imperative for our games progress. Playtesting was exactly what we needed; we were able to sniff out problems much more easily when we actually put our idea to practice. We realized the game was missing the feeling of “jumping” over hurdles. That’s when we hatched a sort of skill test for the hurdles. In its primitive stages we used a makeshift paper cup and turned the skill test into a beer pong style game where you have to make the ping pong ball into the cup. This was revolutionary for our game because it finally, if only a little bit, it felt like we you were actually “jumping” over a hurdle by bouncing the ball and getting the timing right.