BuzzerBeater Forums

Hello, today I bring to you all a suggestion that would make live watching a lot more enjoyable.

I've thought this one out for a while. So, here goes nothing.

Because BB probably cant handle something crazy like 3D Spectacular graphics like NBA2k14 (because of the number of games played, bot games DO count), I've been trying to think of something lots more enjoyable to watch than the typical X and O live watching system. Lets face it. We know nothing about what the offense is trying to do, all we know is when the offense shoots, we wait a second, it goes in or out, wait another second and someone rebounds. Although it is fun to play a guessing game, it can be hard to watch for about 90 minutes, and it even makes lots of players just check the end box score, or maybe watch the last few minutes. If Buzzerbeater could incorporate some kind of 2D basketball game, it would just look better. Why?
1. We would know where the ball is. Example: there is a turnover. Will the offense push and try to get a breakaway or will it slow down?
2. We know where the defense is. If we know this, we know what "in their face is" or, maybe they leave a player wide open.
3. Rebounds! You can actually see who gets the rebound right away. It may be just me, but I want to see how the opposition and my team get so many offensive rebounds, I want to see where the ball bounces.
4. The "Who touched it last". This is kind of different, but I REALLY think that "Player A tried to get the rebound, but It went out of bounds" should be removed. Why cant my defense simply grab the ball, or maybe just let it go out of bounds? Id be fine it was changed to something like "Player A and Player B go for the rebound, and it was touched last by player a before it went out of bounds " and have this occur less frequently.
5. Overall better experience. A better feel for the game watching the ball move would be a lot more interesting and entertaining to watch especially in the last few seconds. At the end of the game, I really want to know where the ball is, so I can get mad if my player takes a stupud shot instead of passing (and then list the kid on the TL!).

That's not all to the suggestion. I have more to it.
So, I suggest the viewing to change. I also suggest this - ever go to "ESPN's Gamecast"? Sure you have. Buzzerbeater has their own "Gamecast" but I think it could be improved dramatically. I think it should have tabs. There could be a tab for a gameflow chart, a chart that shows the score of the game as a line chart. This would be useful since you cant go back to see the score at a certain time until the game is over. Secondly, I think it should have an easy to use scores area (Supporter). Similar to the out of town scoreboard, this section has a configurable area to set up to 16 games to have updates on during your game. You can even click on the game you're interested in and it will take you right to that game's Gamecast. 3rd, I think there should be a stats tab as well. The stats tab isn't bad right now, I just feel it could be a lot more user friendly. I also think it could have stats like "Team A when trailing at half this season, 1-4." You know, The cool facts that you're too lazy to figure out yourself. Lastly I would like a "Key plays" area. This would show momentum shifting plays, or big plays. For example, it could say 1st Quarter : 7:42 - Player A hits 3 pointer that gives Team A their first lead of the game. This would be useful to users logging on late during a game wanting to see what they missed.

That's all of my suggestions for now, these are all subject to change and I would love to hear your ideas and critism on this! I'll reserve the spot below since I'm running low on characters now. Thanks so much for reading this, cant wait to hear your feedback.

Poll:  Do you like these ideas?

(Reserved for future use)

i like ur suggestions.

and there is always a but haha.

The game engine doesn't work like a 2D/3D basketball sim. As far as I understand it, the GE doesn't really know of every single players position at every single moment in time.

Think of Buzzerbeater as more of a 'Dungeons and Dragons' style of setup, whereby stats are rolled, and positions are picked based on time and offense selection, and randomness (random number table woot!).

so whilst i like ur suggestions, if you knew the above information to be true, some of them become null and void.

In saying all that, i do think the gamecast stuff would be nice, or just basically some more interesting stats - a quick way to solve this would be perhaps a facility which would allow exporting in bulk, box scores as csv data, or something like that. Then people could build useful tools and their own 'gamecast' like experiences. (although this wouldn't be live).

in general though i agree that the live game (or even replay), play-by-play needs a bit of an overhaul.



Last edited by Coach Regan at 8/25/2014 9:25:51 AM

I feel like a big part of the game is playing your games (obviously).

Some people see the way the games are simmed and leave the site. That's the bigger reason I think it needs an overhaul.

Hmm, Very compelling.

I agree 100% with all your statements. It will not only bring more users, but also bring more excitement/ high motivational spirits.

I hope this overhaul is underway. P:

Thanks,
LPG

Just something that makes watching the games more enjoyable, because if there are no games Buzzerbeater doesn't exist. So games are extremely important, and should be a priority.

#4 is a must! as discussed here: http://www.buzzerbeater.com/community/forum/read.aspx?thread=261941

Seriously. Free TO for no reason. You see this in real life once in a blue moon.

I doubt that's the case. I can't think of any free online manager game that has some kind of live 2D game view.

I doubt that's the case. I can't think of any free online manager game that has some kind of live 2D game view.

I know that a couple of (American) football simulators have had that - I know for a fact goal line blitz did, for example, as well as another one that actually allowed you to even create plays. The problem (in my opinion) is that the game was sort of founded based on Hattrick, which doesn't actually simulate anything even remotely similar to (the rest of the world) football, instead just coming up with random numbers to check against a possession break down, and then random numbers to check attack vs. defense in a specific sector, with other random checks for special events. The engine itself could probably be repurposed easily to simulate fencing, with the input of left/center/right attack and defense replaced with high/low/center (or something appropriate), midfield replaced with perception or some such, and so on. BB's engine is much better than that just because a mismatch can actually be exploited (see a big men that can shoot some from outside in an outside offense guarded by a 1 OD tree), but it's not to the level you'd see in Football Manager, for example, where all player movements are simulated.

It would be nice if it could get to that level, of course, but it'd be an amazingly large amount of work and resources invested into that, and I doubt it's likely to ever happen here.

I don't think that making such engine requires amazingly large amount of work. You don't have to come up with Football Manager like simulation from the start. Just make some crappy optional one, and update it gradually. That's still better than what most games have.

By the way, there was Football Manager Live with both 2D and 3D engines. Game was pay-to-play and despite the popularity of the whole game series, this one still died.