NBA Jam 2k14 -- My NBA Jam Update Project

Hey guys, figure this was a good place to post about this and get some CAG input on the project.

I've been inspired by the NHL '14 mod (Sega Genesis NHL 94 update), Tecmo Super Bowl 2014 mod (NES Tecmo Super Bowl update), and RBI Baseball 2013 mod (NES RBI Baseball update). After days of googling, I found that there was no such thing as an NBA Jam '14 update, but there was indeed enough information out there for me to make one myself.

So far, I'm about 1/3 the way through the project. I'm currently working on adding the player portraits into the game, which isn't too challenging, but a bit of a time consuming process. After that, I'll need to edit player models and ratings, which may prove to be a bit more difficult.

In the final release, I hope to have...

• 130 modern players on 27 teams (at least 4 per team)
• 31 classic players from the original game (these players have compressed data, almost impossible to edit, at least for me, so I'll keep them in as unlockables)
• 9 secret characters, similar to the original release (Bill Clinton = Barack Obama, Frank Thomas = David Ortiz, etc)

Would love to hear what you guys think. Is this something you guys would be interested in? I know there's NBA Jam / On Fire Edition for the modern day consoles, but sometimes you just can't top the originals. I'll attach some screens in the thread, for your viewing pleasure. It's not 100% perfect, but I love the way things are coming so far. Look forward to hearing from CAGs! Cheers!

  

Doesn't look like there's much interest in this thread, but I'm going to use this to keep track of my progress and what not.

Got a decent amount of work done this weekend, found the offsets for most player portraits and color palettes. Imported almost 70 player portraits, but about 20 to 30 had issues with certain pixels showing up the wrong colors. I think I know what I did wrong so hopefully I can get that fixed and it won't be an issue in the future.

Also think I've decided how to go about the secret characters - popular athletes. The original game featured Larry Bird, Randal Cunningham, and Frank Thomas, so I figured I'd throw some other sports stars into the mix. Went with Lionel Messi, Jon Bones Jones, Tiger Woods, Novak Djokovic, Colin Kaepernick, and Brian Scalabrine (THE WHITE MAMBA, my favorite player lol) and I think I'm missing one or two.

Overall things are coming along, but I'm really looking forward to getting done with the portraits and moving on to the player data.

For whatever reason, I keep getting these weird graphical issues when I try to import a picture. It's usually fine the 2nd time I import it, but adding pictures to the game is a pain in the ass, and the fact that I have to do it twice makes it really hard to want to keep going with this project. But, I'm almost completely done with the Western conference, so persistence is key. Maybe I'll work on the ratings for a little bit and come back to the portraits some other time.

Looks pretty cool man. I wish I had the technical know-how to do something like this. What do you plan to do with the game once it's done? 

This is cool. NBA Jam is my favorite sports title of all time.

That's pretty sweet. Stay with it and keep us posted. I'd like to try the finished product. Old-school NBA Jam was killer.

Awesome. Allen Iverson secret character !!!!!   just a thought.

Nice!! Just saw this thread. Im not a fan of the new HD NBA Jam. The classics is where its at.

I'll keep an eye on this thread

Hey guys! I didn't notice this thread get any replies so I kind of stopped keeping up on it. I have a topic on the NLSC (NBA Live Series Center) forums, and I'm glad to say that this project is about to hit a beta phase. There are some things I have left to do, but as of right now, all the portraits, name tags, and ratings are added into the game (some of the portraits are have some minor bugs though so I'll have to redo them). I'm really hoping tomorrow I'll get the data such as heights / weights inputted, it shouldn't take too long. After that I'll just have some little things to do here and there, like work on the menus / credits, and get the secret players configured. I'm really hoping to release a final version in March when the trade deadline hits, that way I can release one finished product without worrying about trades. Glad to see that there is some interest in this. I'll definitely keep you guys posted with what's going on.

rocko562 said:

Nice!! Just saw this thread. Im not a fan of the new HD NBA Jam. The classics is where its at.

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Growing up NBA Jam TE for the Genesis was definitely one of my favorite games ever. I absolutely LOVED the remake, but I think the original still holds up well and is a little bit more fun to play, but they're both great. I'm also going to enjoy having this on my modded Xbox and PSP, something I couldn't do with the new one.

str8gamer23 said:

Awesome. Allen Iverson secret character !!!!! just a thought.

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I was thinking about going with all legendary basketball players with the secret characters. There's only like 8-10 slots available, but I definitely could go down this road. Something like MJ, Magic, Bird, AI, Shaq.. Or maybe just the players who would be best for JAM, like some of the best dunkers or 3 point shooters in NBA history would be cool. Still contemplating what direction to go in with this, but I've got a while before I make a decision.

I just stumbled on this thread, MT, and it looks awesome.  Love the Twitter handle ad - nice touch!