Refining Strategy and the Chess Game

For the most part, sports games still need lots of work on their strategy aspects. Rarely has something so pivotal that has so large an impact in reality, been reflected so minutely in gameplay. In sports gaming we act as the players and coaching staff simultaneously, but we rarely get to make the sideline decisions that can determine a game's outcome.

It was interesting to watch the NBA Finals where the Spurs were determined not to let Wade or Lebron hurt them by constantly getting into the lane. Instead they committed to stop drives to the basket by sagging off and willingly gave up three-pointers and mid-range jump-shots and decided to let the chips fall where they may. Sports games have never done a great job allowing users to limit certain behaviors and they have also historically done a poor job of limiting transparent gameplans. The result is an environment where users never have to vary their playbooks or fool their opponent. They can succeed with a basic gameplan centered around high percentage "money" plays or highly rated players they can force into the paint and trust to simply "play to their ratings".

We aim to change that.


Why? Because knowing what the opponent intends to do provides an advantage and we should see this in our sports games. Are we asking for a 100% failure rate by the offense if we guess right? Certainly not. Our stance is simple, being prepared for what the opponent intends to do should make it lower percentage and more difficult. A mechanic like this could also provide balance to parts of the game that are too high percentage (the previously mentioned "money plays") by increasing the difficulty of anything the defense is prepared for. Sports games have too often rewarded people who fool the AI and take advantage of loopholes in gameplay instead of out-thinking the other user, and that needs fixing. "Don't trick the AI you worthless maggots, trick ME."

At the same time this opens up more of the metagame. It would provide the opportunity for users to trick their opponent into biting a Rip Hamilton curl after he converts several when we're really setting up a dump-down to Andre Drummond, setting up an open shot for Steve Blake by using Kobe as a decoy, or playing Melo tight in the mid-range area and forcing him to beat you another way.

Ok, so how would it work? Well that's the easy part. Using the D-Pad in combination with the buttons. Using an input when on defense (L1 perhaps?) announces your intent to Commit and then allows you to choose from several options. Commits could go as follows: Down (post ups, drives to the rim) Left (misdirection like pick and roll, pick and pop) Up (attempts from beyond the three point line) and Right (mid range offense) Savvy users could take it a step further if they're convinced they have the opponent completely figured out. Know Kobe's coming off another screen for a 18 footer? Press right and then his icon and the defender may shadow him more effectively, stay with him step-for-step and make him take a more difficult shot (you may even see the occasional block). Maybe you're sure Houston is running pick-and-rolls to hit Dwight Howard on sprints to the basket. Commit to pick and roll and then his icon and now defenders that are more aware deflect or steal a higher amount of the passes intended for the big man. Maybe they'll cut off his rolls to the basket with positioning, the possibilities are endless. Maybe we're mirroring the Spurs and are willing to sag off jump shooters so that we can keep slashers out of the lane. SIMPLE. Press Down without a specific player icon and instead all of our defenders now will give up jumpshots and go under screens in an effort to cut off drives. And of course, the more specific your Commit the greater your benefits. Simply prepping for shots at the rim could yield some solid results, but knowing your opponent is feeding Andrew Bynum in the post would yield better ones. Most important, however, is that a Commit feature can't deal in absolutes. No guaranteed misses, blocks, automatic steals, deflections or turnovers. We're only asking for the opportunity to make offense more difficult. We'd like to see effective close-outs, defenders shadowing the offensive player, deflections, catches under duress and even instances where the offense still converts (though at a lower percentage) we don't want to introduce anything game-breaking, we'd simply like to see users that counter their opponent achieve a greater chance for success.

On the flipside, guessing wrong must have consequences for the system to work. 2K has a nasty habit of neglecting balance sometimes and for rewarding failure (missed steals still disrupting the passer for instance). We don't want to see easy scores or automatic dunks but simply good shots or opportunities for the offense. Perhaps my PG with low defensive awareness decides to leave his man and shade over to help disrupt a Kobe shot from the elbow...can you say open 3pt attempt? Maybe my defender playing Melo for his jumper is now easier to beat of the dribble, giving Lebron room to shoot can have disastrous consequences if he gets hot. Playing Dirk for the roll equals an open shot if he "pops" out to the elbow, especially if defensive recovery is fixed. If users are savvy enough to fool the defense they have to be rewarded. In the end we think incorporating a Commit feature will do wonders for strategy in 2K and for this reason, we hope to see it in future versions of the game.