There was a time when the feet of every player in video games was indistinguishable, but my how things have changed.<\/p>\n
About a month before the official release of NBA LIVE 15, the EA SPORTS team shared a preview of the sneakers incorporated in the video game. The preliminary showing revealed the unmatched intricacy of the shoe designs and showed some of the greatest technology work on a game in quite some time. Ryan Santos, a senior designer of NBA LIVE 15, has been one of the leading men behind this charge ever since he stepped foot on the EA SPORTS game tester in March of 1997.<\/p>\n
Roughly a week after the official release of NBA LIVE 15, we caught up with Santos to discuss his beginnings at EA SPORTS, the evolution of sneakers in the NBA LIVE series, the always-increasing technology behind the game and much more.<\/p>\n
Snkrs Day: When did sneakers become a focal point in the NBA LIVE series?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Ryan Santos: It wasn’t until about 2001 – which was the first NBA LIVE installment on PS2 – that we started bringing in something authentic sneakers and we actually started with Reebok. That was probably the first time we placed a real emphasis on authentic sneakers in a game. We tried to get all of the brands at that time, but Reebok was the official licensor of the NBA at the time so that was the easiest process.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: Can you identify\u00a0an exact breakthrough point as to when sneakers became a thing in the series?<\/strong><\/p>\n Santos: We expanded it to adidas in 2002, but the breakthrough for us came in 2004 because that is when we were able to get Nike and Jordan on board. It was then that we were really\u00a0able to blow out the sneaker integration in LIVE. I remember us putting sneakers on guys like LeBron James; it was his rookie year then so we had the Nike Air Zoom Generation One on his feet. We also had unlock codes for a bunch of the sneakers like that, and we just continued to build on that year after year with each LIVE game, each Street game and even in NCAA Basketball.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: As it pertains to sneakers, the graphics in NBA LIVE 15 are pretty awesome. What is the key to the increased attention to detail over the years?<\/strong><\/p>\n Santos: That, for us, has been a benefit of what the art team did with our player heads first and foremost. We had guys internally build a custom rig and custom software to scan player faces and then we used the same philosophy and process and applied it to the sneakers. We had an artist back in Vancouver named Gary Carlos – who works remotely with us – and he’s a big-time sneakerhead. We literally grabbed a bunch of stuff from his closet and scanned it for the game. Obviously we have a great relationship with the shoe brands, so they give us a lot of product for the game. But that’s how it initially started.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day:\u00a0Is there anything else you’d attribute the graphics to?<\/strong><\/p>\n Santos: I think one half of it is the technology and the scanning process to get that level of detail, and the other half is the guys here who are extremely passionate about sneakers. I think it really helped the process that we had sneakerheads working on that type of stuff. It’s not just the scans; it’s the people behind it who may say, ‘Hey, this Kobe 9 Elite would look amazing if we nail the exact shape of the silhouette, how the Flyknit looks and the pattern and texture right down to the laces. Case in point, if you zoom in on some of those sneakers, you’ll see that some of the laces even have patterns on them. That’s the level of detail we got down to with this stuff.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: In your opinion, what’s the most intricate\u00a0shoe in NBA LIVE 15?<\/strong><\/p>\n Santos: They’re really all great, but I would say the Nike Kobe 9 Elite. It’s such an intricate design and interesting silhouette, so that one probably needed that extra attention to detail to get it right. And obviously, some of the Jordans are killer too. When you look at some of the retros, you can see the buttery leather and the creasing. I think the scans really represent those classics.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Snkrs Day: Describe the evolution of shoes in the NBA LIVE series.<\/strong><\/p>\n Santos: With each passing game, we were able to build on the foundation of shoes that we had year after year. The selection and inventory just gets bigger and bigger and due to the nature of the sport, we have to keep everything in line with what the players are wearing at the start of the season, midway through and All-Star Weekend. \u00a0So we’re really trying to make it a real life and real time thing. After all, our slogan is “It’s in the game” so we want to make it that as much as possible. Looking at how the footwear has blown up over the years, shoes in our game are just as important as getting a players’ tattoos and his haircut scanned correctly. We’ve worked really closely with the brands – we have great relationships with Nike, adidas, Reebok, Jordan and Under Armour – and over the years we’ve gotten access to the new footwear months before their official releases. With the access, we’ve been able to go in there and scan it, photograph it, get it in the game and work with the brands on post-launch content. For example, we did something back on LIVE 2010 where we created a promotion by having the “Concord” Air Jordan 11 serve as downloadable content on NBA LIVE 10 to coincide with\u00a0“Concord” Air Jordan 11 re-release in 2011. We’ve been doing the live updating process for a while now, and I think we’ve been the innovators there in terms of the sports gaming space because we recognize how important these sneakers are to our fans.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: What goes into the process of your prep work with these footwear brands before the game releases to the public?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Santos: It starts with some early meetings as we get into the pre-production of the game. The meetings consist of us discussing how we can make the integration of their shoes into our game special. For example in NBA LIVE 04, we had unlock codes for specific shoes. Usually when we’re in production mode of the game in mid-Spring, we’ll go to the different brands’ campuses and actually photograph a lot of the footwear on campus. Sometimes, the brands will just send us the footwear to scan, and we’ll send it back.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Snkrs Day: How was the response towards the detail of the sneakers in NBA LIVE 15 \u00a0from NBA players and brand representatives?<\/strong><\/p>\n Santos: They were blown away. Before we started production on LIVE 15, we showed them some earlier prototypes of the shoes we scanned. When they saw the level of detail we got down to, those guys were completely shocked. Back in the day, the silhouette would be off or have no shoelaces and all of the silhouettes looked the same sometimes. So these guys were really pumped and geeked about it the details of NBA LIVE 15. After we started releasing screenshots of the game, we started getting emails and calls from a lot of friends over at the brands, and they absolutely loved it. I think it got a lot of those brands excited for the opportunity to really represent their footwear in the most authentic possible.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: In addition to the shoes already incorporated, what are some shoes you’re looking to add in the near future? <\/strong><\/p>\n Santos: We’re working on getting the new Nike LeBron 12 in the game right now. There is a possibility that we’ll get the new Nike Kobe X in the game as well whenever that releases. Obviously the major releases will garner interest, so be on the lookout for those shoes to be incorporated in our game as the season unfolds. We got a sneak peek of Damian Lillard’s new shoes from the man himself. He’s our cover boy, so we have to keep him laced up with the right kicks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Learn more about Ryan Santos, his extensive career at EA SPORTS and his significant work on the NBA LIVE series over the years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Santos: I’ve been doing a lot of different things on NBA LIVE since 1997. I started as a game tester back in March of 97, and I tested NBA LIVE 98 on the Sega Saturn, and NBA LIVE 99 on N64 with Antoine Walker on the cover. After that, I joined the development team because I was really interested in the art of the game. They allowed me to take on an internship type of position and while I was a tester, I got the chance to work on NBA LIVE 2000, the Tim Duncan cover, as an artist by creating all of the faces. I then transitioned to becoming the lead 3D character modeler for NBA LIVE 2001 with Kevin Garnett on the cover, which was our first year on PS2. As a character lead, I was in charge of the players from head to toe, which included sneakers, so that allowed me the opportunity to really focus on authenticity. I knew that intricate detail to their faces, tattoos and footwear was important, and it was my goal\u00a0to bring that virtuality to the game. I worked in that position\u00a0all the way up to NBA LIVE 2005, which, I think, was a great game because we implemented a bunch of new stuff, like a dunk contest. After NBA LIVE 05, I\u00a0ended up working on NBA Street Volume\u00a03 and Home Court,\u00a0which was on PS3 and XBox 360. Then, I moved into an associate art direction before transitioning into a designer role because I really wanted to get more into the vision of the game and the design of how the game would play. So I joined NBA LIVE \u00a010 – that was my first year back on LIVE as a game designer – and then I took a break from EA SPORTS. I worked in Digital Marketing as a senior copywriter at this place called Blast Radius. There, I worked on all of the digital marketing campaigns for Jordan Brand for about two years, which was an awesome experience because, again, I got to work on something basketball-related and sneaker-related; two things that I’ve been very passionate about forever. That experience really helped me grow creatively and when\u00a0I came back to EA to work on NBA LIVE 14, I was able to take a lot of that experience and help build our game back up. I’ve been back at EA for about a year and a half now and have done a lot of different things, but it’s all been related to basketball, sneakers and all of the other things that I love. It really keeps me going.<\/p>\n