NBA Playgrounds

[CarolusXCI]

Fantastic!

[nesa24]

thanks
features will be revealed soon [ including option to disable trail when running ] and other tweaks

[arden_05]

thanks
features will be revealed soon [ including option to disable trail when running ] and other tweaks

Nice!

[CarolusXCI]

Patch 1.1.0 is out:

Many thanks for the continued support! We have the best players in the world and we are privileged to serve you.

Update 1.1.0 for PC/Steam brings the heat! Challenge your friends, enemies and other players online. Game on! Friends matchmaking is here. With the new Challenge feature, you’ll be able to directly challenge another player to a game on the Playgrounds. All you have to do is agree on a code, open the online mode, switch to Challenges, enter that code and face each other.

Other additions include a new connection manager, which monitors the connection of players during ranked matches and penalizes disconnections from games that are made to avoid losing. Quitters never prosper on the Playground.

In response to great feedback, we’ve also tweaked the entire shooting system from jump shots, to threes, to dunks, layups, and everything in-between. We’ve redone the timing, added a meter, and clarified the entire system. Keep those comments coming!

As a big thank you to our rabid fans, we’ve also added 15 new players, including Isaiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman! Those two all-stars and 13 others can be unlocked regularly through player packs, earned during the tournament or when leveling up your profile.

Thanks again for all your great feedback and support. Update 1.1.0 is the beginning. We’re only days from launch and we’re already making the game better thanks to your feedback. You rock!

New Features:
Added: The Challenge Mode feature, which allows you to challenge other players to online matches
You can now switch between unranked challenges and ranked games in the online mode
To challenge another player, you must switch to the challenge mode in the online menu and define a challenge code. By default, your challenge code is your nickname, but you can change it to your own, personal code. The person you are challenging must enter your code.
If you have been challenged, please enter your challenger’s code and press “Accept”.
All challenges are unranked and your ranking/ELO will be unaffected by the results of the challenge.
Added: Toxicity system/Disconnection Manager, which penalizes players who abandon matches in any other way than surrendering
Added: 5 new versions of Shaquille O´Neal in various teams from his career (Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic)
Added: 15 new players join the roster
The following players were added: Dennis Rodman, Isaiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Giannis Antetokoumnpo, Kenny Smith, Gary Payton, Klay Thompson, Devin Booker, Tony Parker, Kemba Walker, Seth Curry, Tiny Archibald, John Starks, Tracy McGrady, Pete Maravich
Added: A shot-meter was added to help finding the perfect timing for shots, dunks etc.
Added: Steam Cloud Save support
Added: Steam Big Picture keyboard management

Notable Changes:
Adjusted: Shots were adjusted to make the system more accessible and unified throughout all variations
Adjusted: The steal action was adjusted further to better fit the intended gameplay
It is now possible to perform a steal action when behind an opponent
Changed: 3 pointers no longer fill lottery pick bar
Increased: The difficulty of 3 pointers was increased
Reduced: The number of steals required for the Las Vegas Challenge #2 was reduced to 10 (was 15)
Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Paris Challenge #4 was reduced to 6 (was 7)
Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the London Challenge #1 was reduced to 6 (was 10)
Reduced: The number of 3-pointers needed for the Las Vegas Challenge #3 was reduced to 8 (was 12)
Reduced: The inbound time was reduced to adjust it to the overall style of the game

Notable Fixes:
Fixed: Issues related to the strength of the force feedback effects were addressed

[zzcoolj21]

♫One of these things is not like the other♫

[CarolusXCI]

This game is getting really good. Layups are easy now, and very enjoyable. The hardest part though is to avoid turnovers, which is fun. It's not possible to carry the ball with a big guy without getting the ball poked loose. Momentum shots also are effective now. Rebounds are still a bit off, but I can live with it. I'm in love with that 12 seconds thing, where the shot-clock is cut short. Overall, this game is much better now, in my opinion.

[Murat]

This game made a nice debut. Sure, it wouldn't be amazing at first step.

I think this game will improve day by day, and with modding support it would be insane.

[Andrew]

Very solid patch there. Here's hoping it hits all platforms ASAP.

[nesa24]

Sneak peak


http://nesa24game.blogspot.com/2017/05/ ... kpeak.html


BTW anyone has modding files progress?

[Andrew]

Very interesting.

[SanchezAmaro]

Based on the changes Playgrounds have made in the latest update (they even released a newer update 1.1.1), I think it might be a good idea to translate them some of the improvements/additions you would like to see in NBA Playgrounds. They have a forum in their website, and they reply frequently with their official account. Here is the link

https://playgroundsgame.com/support/

I do hope they can add MJ, Kobe and some prime versions of players like DWade, Rose or VCarter

[Andrew]

I'm pretty sure MJ has an exclusive contract with 2K.

[[Q]]

Based on the changes Playgrounds have made in the latest update (they even released a newer update 1.1.1), I think it might be a good idea to translate them some of the improvements/additions you would like to see in NBA Playgrounds. They have a forum in their website, and they reply frequently with their official account. Here is the link

https://playgroundsgame.com/support/

I do hope they can add MJ, Kobe and some prime versions of players like DWade, Rose or VCarter

Yeah I saw Vince Carter in the game and figured there'd be a version of him in his prime. Webber on the kings would be cool too

[R4zoR]

A whole new batch of players are prepared to be released for the game

Earl Monroe, Elvin Hayes, Joe Dumars, John Havlicek, Julius Erving,

Kevin Mchale, Manute Bol, Muggsy Bogues, Steve Nash, Yao Ming (For Jon Of Course ),

Joakim Noah, Joe Johnson, Andrew Bogut, Norris Cole, Andre Iguoudala,

D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Justice Winslow, Kyle Korver,

Manu Ginobili, Nick Young, Robin Lopez, Serge Ibaka,

Tyler Johnson, Adrian Dantley, Arvydas Sabonis,

Bob Cousy, David Thompson, Larry Nance, Mark Price,

Detlef Schrempf, Wes Unseld, Louis Williams.

[Andrew]

It feels like dunks are missing more post-patch, and with the Shot Meter, I can see that my timing is in the perfect window. Also, despite being in the optimum release window, perfect shots seem to happen less. Feels like one step forward, ten steps back, sadly. A lot of the previous issues remain, and with the patch tweaks, I'm starting not to enjoy the game again.

[Andrew]

Further thoughts: ten steps backwards was probably a bit harsh. However, it does seem that ratings below 8 are too ineffective, and too many dunks miss for an arcade-oriented game, especially with a good release. The shoot button is still very touchy on pump fakes with too many of them turning into shots, and leaners seem to be guaranteed misses, even with good releases. On the plus side, layups and post shots are much more viable options now, and steals from behind are a nice addition, though they are arguably a bit overpowering and nerf the effectiveness of crossovers a little too much.

The "Halve Opponent's Shot Clock" Lottery Pick runs for way too long though, and considering it's already halved to 12 seconds, it's a bit overpowered when you get it. With the sprint meter draining so quickly, it's a big effort just to get the ball across court to get in position for a shot. I still feel the Lottery Picks have too much influence on the game, which negates skill. Some more tweaking is required for balance.

[Andrew]

Kenny and I tried the newly added play with friends functionality. It's a bit clunky and outdated, but it does actually work. By default, the challenge code is your username, but we found it works better if you set a custom one. It's pretty smooth online too, no real lag at all.

[CarolusXCI]

Kenny and I tried the newly added play with friends functionality. It's a bit clunky and outdated, but it does actually work. By default, the challenge code is your username, but we found it works better if you set a custom one. It's pretty smooth online too, no real lag at all.

Good to know. I'm trying to convince my brother to buy the game since Saber added the possibility of playing with someone you know. But I was unsure about how well that functionality would work.

[Andrew]

It definitely needs to be better, but it does work and there's no added frustration with lag. The connection's usually made within 10-15 seconds.

Just had a frustrating loss where I missed a wide open dunk with Shaq, right in the middle of the high percentage window. Again, that really needs to be adjusted; a player with a dunk rating of 8 shouldn't be missing. It felt very contrived seeing as how it would've given me a late lead in a tournament game, too. The rubberband AI feels old school in a bad way.

[nesa24]

i am having a feeling that game has its point to be complicated the more you play and thats a

is this arcade or simulation or arcade done bad

it gets complicated for no reason and that AI...

for most of matches i have played it looks like "stats" arent realy important..

[Andrew]

As I've said before, ratings below 8 seem to be a bit underpowered, and there's kind of an odd mix of sim elements in with an arcade-oriented approach. Seeing how the Shot Meter works with the percentages, maybe it's just something that needs to be tweaked further. I realise they're trying to be a bit different from previous arcade basketball games, but it does feel like they're missing the mark on what makes arcade games fun. As it stands, I'm missing more dunks than I do in sim games, which definitely shouldn't happen.

They've got a group on Facebook where they're taking feedback on the game though, so they're definitely listening.

[[Q]]

Like I said, there's some parts of the game that are different from Jam/Street which I can appreciate but they are definitely confusing elements of a sim and arcade game which is preventing people from having fun playing the game

[[Q]]

So I fired up this game again to heck out the patch and to finish up the impossible challenges. Worked my ass off to finish all but 1 challenge and I can't get even get 1 steal off pippen and big o let alone 6. I'm using Rondo at rating 10 and mo cheeks at 9. I don't know what more I can do. I barely managed to get the required 4 in the earlier challenge.

Also I managed to get 2 more packs and my god that pissed me off. I barely have any players unlocked (probably less than 50%) and in each pack I only got 1 new player. At that rate, you'd have to get hundreds of packs to unlock a good chunk of players or to get the one you want.

Not sure how I feel about the meter. It is easier to hit shots from the back court and layups aren't automatic bricks but it does get frustrating when you are wide open and hit the green on a layup and miss. I also seem to be missing more dunks even in the green which is ridiculous, especially using LeBron at rating 10.

There's still issues with shot clock resetting when cpu bricks and hits backboard only (no rim)

[Andrew]

Yeah, the percentages indicated on the loading screens don't seem to line up with the results of the Shot Meter, especially on dunks. It's also still unclear what a Perfect Release is with the Shot Meter, as I've made shots with the meter right in the middle of the green zone, yet they haven't been considered perfect. Something needs to be tweaked and cleared up there.

[[Q]]

Oh yeah I've hit the middle and not gotten the perfect release but shaqs hitting fadeaway 3s on me lol

Also, 3 point shooting was a brick fest with mo cheeks rated 7.

[Andrew]

It's been nerfed a little too much...sort of, and not so much for the AI. Ratings of 5 or more should be generally effective, with 7 or higher being very dependable, especially 9s and 10s.

[[Q]]

I was still pretty money with the Curry/Mullin lineup with ratings 10 and 9 respectively. I was able to complete the 3 point shooting challenges with them

[Andrew]

9s and 10s are still pretty effective, except when the AI decides it wants to win. Like I said, the comeback logic does feel old school, and not in a good way. That's a part of old basketball games (especially the early arcade titles) that doesn't hold up very well.

[CarolusXCI]

NBA Playgrounds‏
@nba_playgrounds
New tournaments are on the way. 3v3 has a good chance 5v5 - I think that is best left for the masters at 2K

[Andrew]

If Acclaim's NBA Jam games of the late 90s (after they pried the name away from Midway) have taught us anything, it's that 5v5 isn't really suited to the arcade style. It's best when it's 2v2 or 3v3.

[nesa24]

gonna push first version of mod tool within next 10 days but it looks like am going away from this game
the fun is gone somehow and rate of players is going down so i am not the only one

[[Q]]

Hopefully they'll add new tournaments to help freshen things up. No point in adding new players, you'll never get them. Duplicates are the worst

[Andrew]

They're handy for levelling up players without having to grind with them. I have read that they will be adding new tournaments, though.

[[Q]]

Well I'm interested in playing with a lot of players that I don't have so it's pretty disappointing to be only getting one new player in a pack

[Andrew]

No question, repeats are annoying in that regard. I've been reasonably lucky so far, but I am getting to the point in my collection where I'm probably going to see it happen more often.

[[Q]]

Yeah I have 90 players to unlock and the 3 last packs I've gotten had only 1 new player in each. I'd hate to have to grind for 90 more packs

[nesa24]

First version of the game had some fine and polished [ most of it ] gameplay but as game gets changes it just looses its feel
I am sharing DATA for MOD so you guys [ that will go on with game ] could mod it with cheat engine or other memory tool


DATA FOR MOD

How to use?
Scan for AOB location and add that address as FLOAT to address list than change value
Or make a tool that does it for you

SCREEN BRIGTHNESS
value = -1.0
darker = -1.1
brighter = -0.9

AOB SCAN = 00 00 80 BF DB 0F C9 BF 00 00 00 C0 DB 0F 49 C0 00 00 48 C3 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 3F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 3F

CAMERA ZOOM
default = 0.1666666716
zoom in 0.18
zoom out 0.12

AOB SCAN = AB AA 2A 3E CD CC 4C 3E 9A 99 99 3E 00 00 00 3F 33 33 33 3F CD CC 8C 3F 00 00 A0 3F 33 33 B3 3F DB 0F C9 3F 00 00 00 40 DB 0F 49 40

CAMERA HEIGHT
default = 0.2145988047
higher = 0.4
lower = -1

AOB SCAN = CA BF 5B 3E 16 82 A2 3E 83 F9 A2 3E FA 7E AA 3E 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B0 3E 00 00 C0 3E 55 55 D5 3E 1E 82 BD 9C EC 79 F1 3E

TRAIL [ when running ]

float 30.0
disabled 45.0

AOB SCAN = 00 00 F0 41 81 F8 00 00 00 40 74 0D 41 81 F8 00 00 00 10 0F 85 F2 00 00

TRAIL BOOST
float 3.0
to boost it set it to 9.0

AOB SCAN = 00 00 40 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 8F 40 00 00 A0 40 00 00 20 41 00 00 00 00 00 00 70 41

PLAYER SIZE [ if you change during match players will change size during attack-def ]
value is stored in 3 locations
first is start of AOB
second is AOB+0x04
third is AOB+0x08
default = 1.0
smaller = 0.6
bigger = 1.5

AOB SCAN = 00 00 80 3F 00 00 80 3F 00 00 80 3F 00 00 00 00 55 00 4D 00 47 00 00 00 50 49 45 00 00 00 00 00


SOUND

BOOST LOCATION = AOB SCAN - 0x31A0
value [ingame max is 1 but you can boost it above 1]
AOB SCAN = 44 00 75 00 6E 00 6B 00 20 00 6F 00 72 00 20 00 61 00 6E 00 20 00 41 00 6C 00 6C 00 65 00 79 00 2D 00 4F 00 6F 00 70 00 2E 00 00 00 73 00 65 00 74 00 00 00

AMBIENT =BOOST LOCATION + 0x300

COMMENTARY =AMBIENT + 0x300 [ setting it to 0.0 disables COMMENTARY ]

All should be static but SOUND
Anyhow i am removing game and going away from it
Its a shame that it had BIG POTENTIAL but it failed SO BAD

During research of game i have found that thay [devs] are calling it NBA JAM... So far from it..

Tool [ and all my modding of NBAPG ] has stopped

[Andrew]

Sorry to hear that nesa, but understandable.

On the subject of constructive feedback, it's something I felt I had to write about in this week's Monday Tip-Off. It does feel like it gets shut down a bit too readily in the Facebook group.

[nesa24]

game is 1 month old and it has about 100-150 players ingame for 2-3 weeks?!
i did what my mates did
uninstall game and download 1st version [ there is no option in steam to revert game patch so had to use non steam one ]

and guess what
its so better than a patched one

it was a realy good game and a fun one but now its
trust me this free game is 15 times better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3ocRSwcJnI

[Andrew]

New patch has come through on Steam:

New Features:

• Added: 35 new players join the roster
  
  • The following players were added: Ben Wallace, Bernard King, Earl Monroe, Elvin Hayes, Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, John Havlicek, Julius Erving, Kevin McHale, Manute Bol, Muggsy Bogues, Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Joakim Noah, Joe Johnson, Andre Iguodala, Bismack Biyombo, D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Justise Winslow, Kyle Korver, Manu Ginobili, Nick Young, Robin Lopez, Serge Ibaka, Tyler Johnson, Adrian Dantley, Arvydas Sabonis, Bob Cousy, David Thompson, Larry Nance, Mark Price, Detlef Schrempf, Wes Unseld, Lou Williams
  • The following players can now be played on a second team, in which they played during their career: Lebron James (Miami Heat), Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat), James Harden (Oklahoma City), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City), Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls), Gary Payton (Seattle Sonics), Shawn Kemp (Seattle Sonics), Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics), Alex English (Dallas Mavericks), Walt Frazier (Cleveland Cavaliers), Clyde Drexler (Houston Rockets), Alonzo Mourning (Charlotte Hornets), Jason Kidd (New Jersey Nets)
• Added: The Seattle SuperSonics and Playgrounders were added to the team selection
• Added: 5 Playgrounders, this time famous YouTubers, join the roster as “The Playgrounders” in red card packs
  
  • iMAV3RIQ, iPodKingCarter, QJB, Troydan, and DenkOps
• Added: The playgrounds Madrid and Chicago are now available
• Added: You can now play tournaments in Venice Beach, Seattle, Madrid and Chicago
• Added: New Dunk, Crossover and Finger Roll animations were added
• Added: New Ball styles can be unlocked in the tournaments

Notable Changes:

• Adjusted: Now when the time of the match reaches zero and the ball is still in the air the match won't end until the shot is resolved (either by scoring or failing).
• Adjusted: the penalization received from disconnecting from matches has been increased. Now the user loses more ELO points and the progression grows faster.
• Changed: Actions from teammates count now towards finishing the tournament challenges
• Improved: The patch system for Steam to support smaller patches
• Improved: The execution time for throws was reduced
• Reduced: The probability of receiving duplicates in card packages

Notable Fixes:

• Fixed: The visual effect when leveling up was corrected
• Fixed: Some miscalculations in shot attempts with long animations regarding their success chance were corrected
• Fixed: Some issues in the matchmaking were fixed which caused that players were unable to join the matchmaking when a former online session was not closed properly
• Fixed: An issue that prevents the user from canceling a match made via Challenge Code by using the ESC key
• Fixed: An issue that froze the input, when the application focus was changed with Alt+Tab while the exit message from the game was shown
• Fixed: An issue that prevented the user from using a controller to modify the challenge code
• Fixed: Some issues related to the random selection of players and the rule that prevents the picking of the same players twice for the same team.
• Fixed: Some Legendary and Epic players didn’t have the correct background.
• Fixed: The loading screens with the control scheme and the explanation of the shot meter were not rotating as intended
• Fixed: Some commentator lines were triggered at the wrong moment
• Fixed: Some issues related to the audience and its appearance were addressed

[[Q]]

Random question: who the hell is EJ the mayor? Sounds like a former player, but I don't recall Eddie Johnson, Ervin Johnson, or Eddie Jordan having that nickname.

And how was Payton not already on the sonics? Was he on the heat roster?

[Andrew]

He's the MC/host at Rucker Park.

[Andrew]

Got a couple of awesome packs last night.

[[Q]]

After whatever the last update was, the packs have been more forgiving. I've only been getting one or two duplicates at most. I'm still hoping to get sonics Payton and Larry Johnson.

[Andrew]

Yeah I saw in the patch notes that they reduced the probability of repeats, which is excellent news. It's also good to hear that when you get repeats of a player you've already upgraded to Gold, the XP goes to your overall level XP, and thus progress towards another pack. That's a good way of handling it.

Before the patch, I did have a pack full of repeats, which is annoying when I still have a lot of players to collect. Hats off to Saber for addressing that annoyance.

[[Q]]

So I finished up all of the new tournaments. I do like the challenges, as they keep things interesting and it forces me to strategize for the game. However, some are impossible like the steals one. Even with Rondo with a steal rating of 10 you could hit square the whole game and not get one steal but they are virtually automatic for the cpu. It doesn't matter how high your steal rating is, you won't get them

Also, this time around the shot meter got on my nerves at times. Missing wide open shots and dunks. Coming from behind or in a close game and worried about missing dunks with 9 rated dunkers.

I really do think the meter has to go. All these missed dunks and layups are killing this game. Hell, I'm even missing wide open shots with 10 rated Ben Simmons. There are a lot of low scoring games where the final score is like 10-6. Why should an arcade game feel like a struggle? And again like the steals, the cpu is hitting all kinds of ridiculous shots and are not missing any layups or gimmes. Whenever they shoot an uncontested shot, it never misses

[Andrew]

Kenny brought this up on the Podcast, but it seems like when you're going for one of the achievements, the CPU actively plays keep away, to the point where it'll even sabotage its own comeback attempt.

I find I very rarely miss layups since the meter was added (it can always be switched off in the options). I was having issues with dunks missing, but now that I'm doing a better job of not overusing sprint to get up the court, I have enough of the bar left to finish with good dunkers way more often than not. Perfect releases are still a bit ambiguous, though.