NBA Jam Designer Diary #2

Brandon Fish
NBA Jam Producer
Acclaim Studios Austin

Introduction
The start of a project can sometimes make or break a game. The decisions you make at the beginning lead you down paths toward game completion. If you choose the wrong direction, you could either waste a lot of time or develop a subpar title. In our first NBA Jam designer diary entry we talked about the history of NBA Jam and some of the features that make the franchise what it is. In this diary entry, we'll reveal how we took those classic elements, combined them with some new ones, and took our first steps toward creating an incredibly fun and exciting addition to the NBA Jam family.

The next entry in the NBA Jam franchise started coming together in May 2002.

Preproduction
The first stage before actually creating a game is preproduction. The purpose of preproduction is to work out all the details of the project, limit the scope of what you will create, identify and solve problems before they arise, and come up with a plan to execute. By the end of preproduction you should have a general game design, a schedule, and a technical design and/or prototype.

Initial Design Ideas
We started the preproduction phase in late May of 2002. Taking what we knew about NBA Jam, we brainstormed as many ideas as we could on different directions to take the game. We had a lot of crazy and not-so-crazy ideas. We toyed with the idea of having arenas from all over the world where you would play ball against people from the host country. We talked about how Jam might translate as an outdoor game. A decision also had to be made about how far away from simulation (arcade) we would go.

When putting together the game, the team brainstormed a variety of ideas.

Licenses
When you work with an outside property, especially with a partner as important as the NBA, there are certain requirements that you must fulfill in order to maintain the license. These requirements can also affect the directions you take in your design. The obvious requirement for NBA Jam is that we must make a basketball game where players shoot the ball into a basket. A not-so-obvious requirement might be that the game must receive an E (Everyone) rating so that all NBA fans can safely enjoy the game. One of the most influential licenses that we decided to pick up was the rights to include certain retired NBA players. When we first obtained the license we knew that we didn't want to do what the other games do and just drop them into the regular game as an afterthought. We wanted to have at least twice as many NBA legends as any other game and create a whole new mode for them. We came up with an NBA Legends tournament that allows you to take a team from today and play against all of the stars from the past by progressing through each era. Everything, from the way the players move and the way the crowd dresses to the style of the commentary, changes as you make your way through each time period to the present. It's really a great addition, and it's a kick to see all of the old stadiums and uniforms.