NHL 2K2 Q&A
We speak with the producer of NHL 2K2 for the Dreamcast to learn more about the improvements to the game and future installments in the franchise.
Sega recently invited us over to its North American headquarters to speak with Randy Hauser, producer of NHL 2K2 for the Dreamcast. Houser was more than happy to share his design philosophies for the game and the concepts behind its development. Houser was also willing to share some of the advancements to come in future installments of the franchise including online and franchise modes.
GameSpot: What were the primary goals you had when designing NHL 2K2?
Randy Hauser: We wanted to make a game that reflected real hockey. The biggest thing we want to do at Sega Sports is make sure that the vast differences between the players is reflected. There are a lot of different reasons why different players are in the league. Some are very fast but not much better at anything else, and some are checkers. We have to make sure that they all have value even though they can't score or do some of those things.
GS: As far as the NFL 2K series is concerned, it takes more of an arcade approach instead of being a rigid simulation. Does NHL 2K2 take that same approach, or are you going for more of a straight sim with the game?
RH: It's not really a straight sim because you can be better than the player you're using in the game. If there's a player who doesn't check a lot, like Pavel Bure, you can use him to check if you like. So it's not a real simulation, but it is reflective of real hockey in that you have to slow it down and set up plays. For example, take players like John LeClair. He's not fast or nimble, but he's huge and he's got great hands. So if he's on the ice, you wait until he's in position and then you throw the puck at the net. The real aim is to show off the different values that these guys have. LeClair has a high value, but in other things besides skating.
GS: What sort of visual enhancements have you made to the game for this year?
RH: There are all-new models with more polygons and [they're] a little bit smoother. We have all the arenas and third jerseys. The game runs at 60 frames per second, so the animation [appears] smoother. The animation flow is different. We're using inverse kinematics, so a lot of things, like the goalie's glove meeting the puck, are more exact. In some other games the goalie makes the save but the animation doesn't quite match up, so we're able to mathematically move his glove.
GS: Why are there no online or franchise modes in NHL 2K2, and do you look to have these features in future installments in the franchise?
RH: As for online, it's up to the hardware manufacturers to come up with a model.
GS: Do you have an ETA? Do you think that next season it might happen?
RH: Microsoft is supposed to have something going on, but they haven't really let us know what they're doing. Rumors are that the GameCube has something, but we haven't seen any sort of online matching service or anything like that. But yes, we're building the game in such a way that will make it easy to transfer the information online. As for franchise mode, we're planning a very in-depth franchise mode. The first glimpse of our new franchise mode at Sega Sports will be in our baseball products. We're really happy with the new franchise mode, and hockey, football, and basketball will be deepening the franchise mode. But really, the focus this time was to improve everything on the ice--the AI, the models--and to make the gameplay experience the best we could. And the stuff that's not actually the game, like broadcasting, we'll add to.
GS: I know you took the season off last year, but how long has this game really been in development? Have you worked on it the entire time?
RH: No, there was some time before I got here that had to do with deciding if we were going to do it and what was going on with the Dreamcast. And then the decision was made to show that we could make a really great hockey game. We used the Dreamcast first because we have that basis. So it's been about a year or 13 months from start to finish. We're using a lot of the existing code, so we redid a lot of the graphics and used a lot of the season and simulation stuff.
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