Hello everybody! If you do not already know me, my name is Erick Boenisch and I am a senior producer of NBA 2K17. But many of you might know me under my online handle SimBaller. I'm honored to be the first to welcome you to NBA 2K17! The team here at Visual Concepts has really worked with all their might on this year's game and I am extremely proud to show you one of many new features that will surely bring you great fun
NBA 2K17 includes a simplified menu system that not only looks good, but can also be used more effectively. All modes in My GM / My LIGA follow an elegant setup flow that guides you step by step through creating your completely individualized league.
If you know my previous blogs, you know that My GM and My LIGA are very close to my heart. I am fortunate enough to work with a team that absolutely shares this passion. We have MUCH improved on these modes this year. One feature that I absolutely must tell you about is the ... league expansion. I want to tell you a little bit more about this completely new feature in NBA 2K17 today. A league expansion will allow you to increase the NBA beyond the standard 30 teams.
When you create a new My GM or My LIGA game, there are some options for configuring your new league.
- Start the current NBA with 30 teams.
- Start with an expansion so you can increase the league instantly from 30 to up to 36 teams (all with designs of your choice).
- Start with an individual league (which can also include up to 36 teams), with rearranged divisions, expansion teams, classic teams, custom NBA teams, Euroleague teams, and more.
The league expansion allows you to create a league of up to 36 teams (including 6 expansion teams). If you want more freedom, create an Individual League with a combination of current NBA teams, classic NBA teams, expansion teams and Euroleague teams.
You can put together any configuration you can imagine. And I have even more features to offer that will make your league expansion easier. If it's too much work for you to design all the designs for the team logo, the arena and the jerseys, I have two alternatives for you. On the one hand, we have 10 ready-made fictional franchises (including complete audio and comment support) packed into the game. Just pick your favorite and get started. Second, you can now download full team designs from the community in NBA 2K17. For example, if you know that your expansion team should be a Seattle Supersonics franchise, you can browse the team designs uploaded by the community and immediately download a Sonics design into your new My GM / My LIGA game. It's that easy.
Of course, all the franchise fans out there know that a true league expansion is more than a new design for the logo, jerseys, and arena. The whole gaming experience must support the extension. We've put all the details of a real league expansion into play - there's an expansion force, you can protect players, and more. We've spent a lot of time this year developing a NBA game planing tool that dynamically creates balanced game plans for your 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, or 36 team leagues. Then we created dynamic menus for every menu in the game - including the Draft Lottery and the Draft - depending on how many teams the league consists of. For example, if you have a league with 32 teams, there are now 16 teams in the lottery (instead of the previous 14), and the mathematical odds of receiving the 1st pick will be adjusted to the new Drawer lottery format. In a nutshell - we've pulled out all the stops, so you have as much fun as possible with the feature. In this sense ... have fun!
Expansion teams have the following options: 1) Design new team logos, jerseys and arenas.
2) Fill your league with a selection of fictitious expansion teams we've created (including full audio and commentary support).
3) Rummage in team designs uploaded by members of the community. You can download these team designs at the touch of a button and insert them directly into your league.
The league expansion is not only in the creation of a league available. You can also expand your league dynamically in the offseason after the mode starts. In addition, the league will sooner or later independently approve of expansion franchises during the game. Then she will face the difficult decision of which players to protect her and which will remain unprotected in the upcoming expansion force. That will not happen very often, but IF it happens, the league will be in a jumble!
If you enjoy playing My LIGA, you can sign up for expanding expansion teams if you want. In My GM / My LIGA there are MANY great innovations this year. Of course, I'll tell you more details as we approach the release date. Promised. We're always looking for innovative ideas for the franchise modes, and after the team move feature in NBA 2K16, the league expansion for NBA 2K17 was the natural progression. Tell me below how you want to use the league expansion feature. I am looking forward to your ideas!
Stay tuned, we're just starting the news blogs on NBA 2K17 ...
Erick Boenisch aka SimBaller