Additional Notes
There’s so much to talk about here, and I feel like I’m only scratching the surface, so let me just throw out a few more notes on things I didn’t get a chance to cover in-depth before I finish up:
- Remember, how you play on the court and what you do off the court MATTER. In fact, one of the very first big story branches occurs in the Prelude. Play well enough there, and you’ll get story elements less successful players won’t.
- You have already, and will continue to hear from our gameplay team on all the changes they made to gameplay, but I have to say they really outdid themselves this time. The changes to shooting and physicality make such a big difference, and playing as a big man in MyCAREER has never been more fun.
- On that note, listen to your Coach! Team Practices, in particular, are important not just for making your MyPLAYER better, but also in keeping your standing in the rotation. And our new Smart Coach system is constantly watching and evaluating both you and your team, so use the nuggets of information it’s dropping, and work hard on those drills in practice to make your play on the court that much stronger.
- We did our best to make every system in the mode as intelligent and relevant as possible. Pay attention to what’s going on around you, and think carefully about the decisions you make. Occasionally, they will have long-term ramifications that you won’t realize until later on down the road.
- Context is important too. While certain players or endorsement companies might be more interested in a specific style of play, where and when you do things makes a difference. For example, a posterizing dunk on LeBron James in the 4th quarter of a tied game that’s on national TV (yes, those are concepts we track) will count a lot more in your favor than a posterizing dunk on a player from the end of the bench on a small market team in a game that’s a total blowout. So if you have a penchant for coming up clutch in key moments, that’ll put you on the fast track to bigger and better things.
- Don’t ignore your text messages! Not only will they offer you opportunities to build relationships with other NBA players, but they are your direct avenue to endorsement contracts, and some of the conversations you have will directly impact the story unfolding around you.
- I can’t say enough how cool it is the way you get immersed in the story. As mentioned, having scenes that take place in your MyCOURT makes a big difference, but you’ll also find a lot of content in the Practice Gym (go to practice!), as well as regular post-game reactions from MyPLAYER and Justice as you follow them seamlessly off the court, down the tunnel, and into the locker room. From sideline interviews with David Aldridge, to remote interviews post-game with Shaq and Kenny back in the studio, there’s always something going on to keep the world around you feeling alive and aware. Hats off to both our presentation team and our MyCAREER engineers and designers. They did an unbelievable job making all of this happen.
- Lastly, I know I used this word a lot here, but one of the biggest themes in MyCAREER is that we want you to have fun. 2K16’s story was definitely slanted towards the more dramatic and emotional moments a young NBA player might face, so for NBA 2K17, we wanted to be closer to the other end of the spectrum. And hopefully we’re able to give you a little bit of an idea of what being on the path to stardom in the NBA might be like.
There really is an unbelievable amount of content in MyCAREER this year – certainly more than we’ve ever done before. While you will generally always have the opportunity to do things like team up with Justice, learn how to survive and adjust to the long NBA season, and sign endorsement deals, the how, when, and why will be different, and there will be plenty of other things you won’t experience at all in just a single playthrough.
One of our favorite things here at the office is to see all the YouTube videos and reactions from people on social media and message boards as they play through the mode, and this year should offer the widest variety of experiences yet. Everything from the overarching story, to choosing different archetypes, to dual player controls and all the huge changes to gameplay, to forging your own path via the multitude of off-court decisions and finding out which endorsement deals best suit your MyPLAYER, will make for completely unique stories from each person who plays the game. And we can’t wait for you all to try it out and let us know what you think. Thanks for reading!
