Programming a video game like 2K15

[JWL3]

I think I speak for most everyone here when I say that, despite all our gripes and complaints, even with re: to big issues like lag or crashing to desktop - it's amazing that the end product is so fantastic. I'm in awe of your programming skills and the sheer amount of man hours it takes to produce animations, coding, statistics, networking, marketing the game, hiring celebrity announcers. But mostly the programming part. I have some rudimentary skill in Visual Basic programming (mostly for Excel) so it is even more amazing for me to play this game and realize how much work goes into it. Something simple like when I post up and the defender extends his forearm. Or programming the physics of a 200 lb player crashing into a 260 lb player and determining which way he falls and how hard. How many man hours did that take to do? And there are a million of those instances. A billion statistics and variables come together to determine the probability of the shot going in or not and then the computer rolls the dice and applies that probability. For most of us who have no idea how to program a video game, it's like alchemy. And here we are complaining when the sneaker doesn't look exactly the same as the real life version.

What I'm trying to say is that most of the world's population are users and there are but a few creators. You guys are creators. Sure, a game is not like a cure for cancer, but you better the world and enrich the lives of millions of us who'd otherwise be out mugging old ladies on a Saturday night. And for that, the world thanks you guys and gals.

[jiplatino]

Fairly true, I am currently on my last year of my game dev degree, and I have to say programming from scratch is a pain in the ass. But game engines makes hard coding easier because of reusing codes.
But then again, kudos to 2k team for making this awesome game. <3

[KnicksEagles]

I think I speak for most everyone here when I say that, despite all our gripes and complaints, even with re: to big issues like lag or crashing to desktop - it's amazing that the end product is so fantastic. I'm in awe of your programming skills and the sheer amount of man hours it takes to produce animations, coding, statistics, networking, marketing the game, hiring celebrity announcers. But mostly the programming part. I have some rudimentary skill in Visual Basic programming (mostly for Excel) so it is even more amazing for me to play this game and realize how much work goes into it. Something simple like when I post up and the defender extends his forearm. Or programming the physics of a 200 lb player crashing into a 260 lb player and determining which way he falls and how hard. How many man hours did that take to do? And there are a million of those instances. A billion statistics and variables come together to determine the probability of the shot going in or not and then the computer rolls the dice and applies that probability. For most of us who have no idea how to program a video game, it's like alchemy. And here we are complaining when the sneaker doesn't look exactly the same as the real life version.

What I'm trying to say is that most of the world's population are users and there are but a few creators. You guys are creators. Sure, a game is not like a cure for cancer, but you better the world and enrich the lives of millions of us who'd otherwise be out mugging old ladies on a Saturday night. And for that, the world thanks you guys and gals.

So you would be mugging old ladies if it wasn't for NBA 2K15?

[shadowgrin]

You guys haven't already? It's what I like to do while waiting for a patch release.

[mynameisgerd]

I'm always inclined to one-inch punch people on the throat when they say things like:

"It still looks the same shit!"
"How is this different from last year's! So disappointed!"
"They didn't even change this or that! I'm passing on NBA 2K-nth" (but still end up buying)

Doesn't even know how much work devs put in to incorporate the little changes. Of course it won't look brand new. As jiplatino says, it's a pain in the ass never mind starting off from scratch.

Ungrateful MF.

[Andrew]

I think it comes down to people not having an appreciation or empathy for those who attempt to be creative, work in customer service, or are doing something for public consumption. A lot of people are quite happy to be rude, unpleasant, or even threatening towards people just because they're behind a counter, waiting tables, or whatever. The anonymity and disconnect of the Internet certainly doesn't make people any politer if they're dissatisfied.

In all fairness, we have a right to expect value for money, and to express our disappointment if we're unhappy with a product or service. I think there's a right way and a wrong way to go about that though, and the right way requires cooler heads to prevail, a certain sense of maturity, understanding, perspective. The wrong way involves tantrums, childish insults, making things nasty and personal. We all have a right to speak our minds and exercise free speech, but if we're exercising it in a way that we'd never tolerate if we were the ones who have to deal with the complaints or feedback, then we're misusing, even abusing our freedom of speech.

At the end of the day, it's about remembering that there are real people behind the games, people who put their time and effort into making them happen, and they're probably even more disappointed than we are when issues arise. No one wants to work that hard and not have things pan out. If achieving perfection were that simple, it would have happened by now.

[Call_M3_Mr-T]

I think it comes down to people not having an appreciation or empathy for those who attempt to be creative, work in customer service, or are doing something for public consumption. A lot of people are quite happy to be rude, unpleasant, or even threatening towards people just because they're behind a counter, waiting tables, or whatever. The anonymity and disconnect of the Internet certainly doesn't make people any politer if they're dissatisfied.

In all fairness, we have a right to expect value for money, and to express our disappointment if we're unhappy with a product or service. I think there's a right way and a wrong way to go about that though, and the right way requires cooler heads to prevail, a certain sense of maturity, understanding, perspective. The wrong way involves tantrums, childish insults, making things nasty and personal. We all have a right to speak our minds and exercise free speech, but if we're exercising it in a way that we'd never tolerate if we were the ones who have to deal with the complaints or feedback, then we're misusing, even abusing our freedom of speech.

At the end of the day, it's about remembering that there are real people behind the games, people who put their time and effort into making them happen, and they're probably even more disappointed than we are when issues arise. No one wants to work that hard and not have things pan out. If achieving perfection were that simple, it would have happened by now.

Couldnt have said it any better..

[landrol]

I agree. Though I may be disappointed about some things, the game is great overall.

Now, that being said......WHY THE HELL CAN'T I CHANGE MY MYPLAYERS SOCK LENGTH?!?!??!?!/ lol

[fjccommish]

I agree the product is great. However, I think too much time is spent on look and commentary. I'd take stick figures that played a more accurate to NBA style of basketball.

That isn't to say the game play hasn't improved. It has improved. But there's still too much dribbling around running into people, then taking last second bail out shots.

[JWL3]

I'd take stick figures that played a more accurate to NBA style of basketball.

I wouldn't. Gameplay was pretty good in Lakers v Celtics. Who among us wants to go back to those graphics. I remember I absolutely loved the Wing Commander series from Origin Games. Tried playing it the other day. Max resolution was 640 x 480. Unplayable. I tried to but just could not get into it. Awesome gameplay, crap graphics.

[JWL3]

Maybe I'm marveling at small things but the devil is in the details. In MyCareer, after a 50 pt game, just got a "social" post saying " MyPlayer is officially the greatest Kings Player of all time. And he isn't even finished yet!"

Now, think about the programming for such a simple statement. If team = Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Knicks, etc., then you can't make that statement cause it wouldn't make sense.

A million other little things like this. Just the level of detail in this game is staggering and a lot of it gets lost on us.