wikizade
2007.03.25, 08:18 PM
Hello everyone,
I am designing a Basketball Manager Simulation with the simple and lovely title "Basketball Manager". At the core of the game lies a simple principle: giving the player broad options to interfere the flow of an ongoing match. I want to place a tactical play scheme editor (TPSE) at the heart of the design, enabling players to create tactical plays on the fly and watching their players applying them. This would enhance the gameplay and give a stronger feel of participation, reducing the "watching from the bench" element in this genre. For instance a player could use his last time-out to create a tactical solution for a dramatical situation such as scoring a last-second basket that will bring his team the win.
Currently I am only thinking of creating a minimal playable prototype. However, the game has a potential to expand beyond this scope. Complex games like Football Manager with multiple leagues and an extensive database come in mind. However, for now, my goal is to design the core systems and mechanims to simulate the environment for a mini-tournament of up to four teams.
I have specified and roughly outlined the following core systems:
The Match - a flow of events guided and manipulated through pre-set rules. These include many of the rules of official basketball competitions: Timers, foul-limits, free-throws etc.
Tactical gameplay - offensive plays can be created via the TPSE, a drag-and-drop editing tool that allows to create (or edit already provided) tactical solutions on the fly, as the match is continuing. However, new tactical plays can only be intoduced during time-outs, end-of-quarters or half-time breaks. On the other hand, defensive play is based on a simple point-and-click menu with some checkboxes and drop-down menues that allow to define individual or team defense settings. The overall design idea here is that defensive play adjusts (or reacts) to offensive play. In other words, most of the events in the game are driven by offensive actions, while defensive actions are basicly frequent attempts to interfere and reverse the flow: Offense loses ball to defense, and roles are changed.
As a side note, the editor will be a stand-alone tool that is connected to the match-flow via the game engine. Meaning, the player can use the editor outside the context of an ongoing game. Later at any time, the player can select any of the stored tactic files during a match and decide which ones should be used by the playmaker and at which intervals/frequency/repetition rate. The editor will also allow for testing. The player can modify stats of "dummy" teams provided in the editor to watch the outcomes of the offensive plays he created.
Player Stats - data that will be used and manipulated in order to calculate the outcomes of the offense vs defense struggle. This requires an appropriate database design.
Rival Manager - the core of the AI. The guys who make life difficult for us. For an extensive version of the game that allows for a career and which covers several national and international competitions, I want the rival managers to be capable of learning from their mistakes and posing new challenges as our player's career evolves. For now it's enough if they can make some logical decisions regarding defense and throw in some tough offensive sequences. Rival Managers use ready-made tactic files that come with the game, however, they should at least have the ability to tell which ones work against a particular human player, thus selecting the appropriate plays that will bring the win.
Minor systems are a competition scheduler, a stadia/audience profiler and a club template that displays name, color and maybe some historical background.
The playable prototype will offer only up to four clubs and a "Final Four" tournament setting a la Euroleague/NBA Semis as the most extensive playing option. This will also allow to put minimum research into player stats and the like.
An optional subsystems is the implementation of officials, who would manipulate the game engines reactions to events, for instance the official's decision would overwrite a decision of the game engine: giving the ball to team A even though the last player who touched the ball before it went out was from team A.
All the bigger stuff like fully implemented leagues, transfers etc will hopefully come later. The prototype will be build towards such possible expansions.
If you want to know more about this project or if you are a fan of this particular genre, please visit my wiki (http://wikizade.pbwiki.com) and forums (http://80.freebb.com/bmgame). I'd be glad to meet people that could share some ideas on the technical aspect of this project as well.
Thanks for reading this long thread!
wikizade
I am designing a Basketball Manager Simulation with the simple and lovely title "Basketball Manager". At the core of the game lies a simple principle: giving the player broad options to interfere the flow of an ongoing match. I want to place a tactical play scheme editor (TPSE) at the heart of the design, enabling players to create tactical plays on the fly and watching their players applying them. This would enhance the gameplay and give a stronger feel of participation, reducing the "watching from the bench" element in this genre. For instance a player could use his last time-out to create a tactical solution for a dramatical situation such as scoring a last-second basket that will bring his team the win.
Currently I am only thinking of creating a minimal playable prototype. However, the game has a potential to expand beyond this scope. Complex games like Football Manager with multiple leagues and an extensive database come in mind. However, for now, my goal is to design the core systems and mechanims to simulate the environment for a mini-tournament of up to four teams.
I have specified and roughly outlined the following core systems:
The Match - a flow of events guided and manipulated through pre-set rules. These include many of the rules of official basketball competitions: Timers, foul-limits, free-throws etc.
Tactical gameplay - offensive plays can be created via the TPSE, a drag-and-drop editing tool that allows to create (or edit already provided) tactical solutions on the fly, as the match is continuing. However, new tactical plays can only be intoduced during time-outs, end-of-quarters or half-time breaks. On the other hand, defensive play is based on a simple point-and-click menu with some checkboxes and drop-down menues that allow to define individual or team defense settings. The overall design idea here is that defensive play adjusts (or reacts) to offensive play. In other words, most of the events in the game are driven by offensive actions, while defensive actions are basicly frequent attempts to interfere and reverse the flow: Offense loses ball to defense, and roles are changed.
As a side note, the editor will be a stand-alone tool that is connected to the match-flow via the game engine. Meaning, the player can use the editor outside the context of an ongoing game. Later at any time, the player can select any of the stored tactic files during a match and decide which ones should be used by the playmaker and at which intervals/frequency/repetition rate. The editor will also allow for testing. The player can modify stats of "dummy" teams provided in the editor to watch the outcomes of the offensive plays he created.
Player Stats - data that will be used and manipulated in order to calculate the outcomes of the offense vs defense struggle. This requires an appropriate database design.
Rival Manager - the core of the AI. The guys who make life difficult for us. For an extensive version of the game that allows for a career and which covers several national and international competitions, I want the rival managers to be capable of learning from their mistakes and posing new challenges as our player's career evolves. For now it's enough if they can make some logical decisions regarding defense and throw in some tough offensive sequences. Rival Managers use ready-made tactic files that come with the game, however, they should at least have the ability to tell which ones work against a particular human player, thus selecting the appropriate plays that will bring the win.
Minor systems are a competition scheduler, a stadia/audience profiler and a club template that displays name, color and maybe some historical background.
The playable prototype will offer only up to four clubs and a "Final Four" tournament setting a la Euroleague/NBA Semis as the most extensive playing option. This will also allow to put minimum research into player stats and the like.
An optional subsystems is the implementation of officials, who would manipulate the game engines reactions to events, for instance the official's decision would overwrite a decision of the game engine: giving the ball to team A even though the last player who touched the ball before it went out was from team A.
All the bigger stuff like fully implemented leagues, transfers etc will hopefully come later. The prototype will be build towards such possible expansions.
If you want to know more about this project or if you are a fan of this particular genre, please visit my wiki (http://wikizade.pbwiki.com) and forums (http://80.freebb.com/bmgame). I'd be glad to meet people that could share some ideas on the technical aspect of this project as well.
Thanks for reading this long thread!
wikizade