von Ozbourne

I've been more of an eliteprospects kind of guy, but then they tend to be better than any of those other sites at having non-NHL player data. Although admittedly, they aren't a one-stop-shop as some of their data is not always as complete as one would like. Also, if pardon may be begged, this isn't really my wheelhouse, but this was the first thing that came to my mind today. The Caps bought Cap Friendly and are putting it behind a paywall? Seems those Caps... aren't being very friendly.

Clearly you didn't mean to forget about the last active player to have been featured in the game in one Magnus Eliasson. Who after one season with Huskvarna/Vätterstads IF, who coincidentally was the previous season's champion, went on to a meandering career which ultimately took him to his final team in Lidingö where he hung them up after the 1999/2000 season. Only to take them back off the hook in 2011/12 to play in five games for a newer Lidingö team, in the Swedish 4th Division, netting two and adding a helper and six PIMs before retiring again. Only to unretire again just this past season of 2023/24 at the age of 55 to again lace them up for five games as his Lidingö Islanders were by now, relegated to Div 5, this time getting on a score sheet with one minor penalty. Who knows if his skates will again be called upon next season, or left hanging in the garage for another extended rest, but... just a though, if ol' Magnus doesn't mind dusting them off now and then, and he and Lidingö can work together on this, in just six years, he could lace them up one more time and get into the history books alongside none other than Mr. Gordie Howe as the only players to have played professional hockey in six different decades. Assuming Jagr doesn't do it too.

Oh? I'll be honest. I haven't tried this out yet, but I tend to concentrate on iterating and testing a bunch of things individually. I will say that I have settled on a naming convention of naming photos using the player's name as it appears in the game. That way I can copy the names out of NOSE and paste them in the import option in TM. And if they get traded, I can just copy/paste in the new spot without having to worry about the file needing to be renamed. That said, for the high turnover tournaments like the Olympics and World Championships, I did raid the IIHF website and name the photo files in the format like "CAN16.png". The reference point being that the image is of the player on Team Canada who wore #16. Rather than the player for Canada occupying the 16th or 23rd roster spot. I am kind of curious if the tool can use that as a reference to pull from in these cases. [I am reminded of how I had Sebastian Aho and Sebastian Aho<invisible underscore character> in the game in order to differentiate them because having just names runs into the odd issue like this] I will say that when I was trying out EARE more for the photos, I learned how each photo corresponds to an offset that can be put in anywhere in the order of rosters in the main menu/player cards. In theory, one could just put all of the photos in one big batch in alphabetical order, and then simply rearrange the order of offset link references [or whatever words be good] I did forget about this option eventually because it seemed like it could get fiddly once bubble players start getting called up and sent down. The colour palettes and logos part is intriguing to me though. [even if I had already made a version of a ROM that shifted the teams around to leave the blank space under the "U"]

Ah. Yeah I've actually looked into a couple Game Gear hockey games just out of curiosity. Had more luck with SEGA's NHL All-Star Hockey than EA's '94 or '95 entry since most of EA's graphics appear to be compressed. Only issue with SEGA Sports' NHL game is that, while I figured out that the graphics use the 4bpp planar rather than linear codec, I can't figure out where the colour palette data is. At that point though, it was quickly looking like a project that would take a lot of time to figure out, for something that would be of very limited interest, and I've got enough of those under my belt already.

Unfortunately, I would have to say that the industry knows exactly what they are doing. While your idea would make the most sense for a whole bunch of reasons, The problem is that it relinquishes a bit of that control that the publishers cling to like Gollum to the ring. And similar to the NHL's issue these days, their standard operating procedure is to grab the quick buck now, even at the expense of more money later. [At least the NHL hasn't figured out how to make a terms of service for jerseys so you are not allowed to own the one you bought, but merely pay for a limited term licence. Although, they are switching to Fanatics next year...] The other part of it is that they need the hype. And pre-orders. And embargoes on reviews. And limited run FOMO. That way they get your money before you have any idea whether or not they even deserve it. And keep the buying public in the dark until it is too late to do anything about it. Basically, this is why I'm glad I never really got out of my childhood habit of being very frugal with my allowance and would wait for games to go on sale or at least until the reviews were out and I knew if I would still find a game worth buying. That said, I would totally be okay with your "double dip" model if it meant that physical editions would not just be code-in-a-box, occasionally with a decorative coaster included.

Ah, yeah sorry. I may have leaned in a bit to hard on the world building on this one.

Huh. I never would have thought of it that way. I wonder if that type of process is related to the prevalence of "Live service" these days. Although to be honest, other than DLC and patches for games on my Switch, I tend to prefer to deal with "final versions" to avoid messing with updates. [and I rarely get games when they are new these days anyway] At least with a ROM, it should theoretically be easier as there is no updating to worry about, just a new standalone file.

I found myself getting hung up on this as the idea seemed so foreign. But then I had to remind myself that I grew up in an era when every computer game came on a shiny disc with a hole in the center and the initials "CD-ROM" prominently emblazoned on it somewhere. Now, with physical media being less prominent [with gamers as opposed to collectors] and many game playing experiences beginning simply with "Open Steam account or home screen on device of choice and click an icon", has what used to be considered general knowledge become a barrier to entry?

Hmm. Good point. I mean, my thought process is that the addendums get added to the end...um, but when our esteemed competitor is using a completely opposing methodology, possibly in an attempt to breed confusion and distrust in our efforts, I suppose one can only respond with additional clarity. I guess one could respond with like vitriol and contempt, but there is enough of that in this world as it is, and unlike our esteemed competition, I do not wish to contribute to that narrative or environment, so I mean that one should only respond with additional clarity. I did however add some text to make clearer the chronology of updates in the original post.

Wilkes-Barre This was a tough one. Feel free to improve it anyway you see fit. -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 192 192 192 160 160 160 128 128 128 064 064 064 032 032 032 160 000 000 064 000 000 224 192 032 160 128 000

San Diego Lots of thin lines and fine detail on this one. Kind of bulked up and shaded the gist of it. Hopefully it still works. -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 192 192 192 160 160 160 128 128 128 064 064 064 224 096 000 224 128 032 224 160 096 032 064 128 000 128 192

Alright. not exactly pleased with this one, but the compulsiveness is realizing that it's past my bedtime. San Jose -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 032 032 128 128 128 128 160 160 160 160 192 128 096 032 224 128 032 064 096 096 000 128 160 064 160 192

Lehigh Valley -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 032 064 064 064 096 128 128 128 160 160 160 192 192 192 192 128 032 128 064 032 224 160 128 032 032 000

Syracuse -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 000 032 096 032 064 128 064 096 128 064 096 160 096 128 160 128 160 192 160 192 224 192 192 224 192 224 224

Glad you took that one. Looks good. Henderson -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 032 032 064 064 064 096 096 096 128 128 128 160 160 160 192 192 192 128 096 032 160 128 032 000 224 000 [unused] Springfield -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 128 128 128 192 192 192 190 032 032 224 192 032 160 128 000 000 000 032 000 032 064 000 064 128 000 096 160

Ontario [not the province, but the city that was named after the province] -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 032 032 064 064 064 096 096 096 128 128 128 160 160 160 192 192 192 224 000 000 [unnecessary] 000 224 000 [unnecessary] 000 000 224 [unnecessary] Providence -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 032 032 064 064 064 160 160 160 096 064 000 160 128 000 224 192 000 224 192 064 224 224 064 224 224 128

Is that an older or alternate one? I got this directly from the AHL website.

Well now, I was looking at the version of their logo that was just the pig head, but I will say that the detail on the text looks really good here even with the limited resolution.

Couldn't decide on this one so I took a multiple choice page as well. All use the same 11 colours. emulating the gold border on the word mark. no gold border. just grey and white hybrid. gold border on the larger "Eagles" but not on the tiny "Colorado" Colorado -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 192 192 192 160 160 160 064 064 032 224 192 064 224 224 096 000 032 128 096 128 160 192 000 032 224 128 160

I originally started reading this as a list of things that you were looking to implement for the next build, and was intrigued by your mentioning of this change. Mainly because I've worked on a few games where I used the 0-15 scale, but have slowly stated reverting back. Actually changing a couple of unfinished projects to 0-6. Mainly I just found that I wished the increments were more like how '93 handled percentages and that an RNG mod I'm testing out had a habit of pushing half of the guys into 99 Overall territory [even when half of the individual stats were showing "HOT" in the low 80's]. Eventually I had to change it back to 0-6 and the numbers became more predictable. Curious if you'd encountered anything like this or if your rating system was able to account for that [l think I remember you mentioning that you tone down RNG so maybe not this exact issue] I will say that on the goalie front, I tend to prefer "better" goalies so as not to just rack up a score. I also like the option to hold onto the puck until I can get a clear pass, so the range and time are nice for cutting down stoppages. Goalies going into the corners is also nice to nullify dump and chase tactics, even if they do go into the stupid "Brodeur no-zone"

Took a stab at a couple more tonight. Abbotsford and Tucson weren't bad. But then I figured I should get a word mark one out of the way. Can't say I like the results so far. Ended up spending about an hour on this one. Even going as far as to start redrawing the text, but halfway through the spacing of that awkward font was becoming a problem, so a new tact is in order. Basically looks like it's a question of what will be the least ugly/most legible. Getting late though so that will have to wait for tomorrow.

Calgary -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black unused] 224 224 224 [white] 192 000 032 224 096 128 224 160 192 224 192 192 224 224 160 224 192 032 224 160 064 224 096 032 192 064 032 Chicago -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 192 000 032 096 032 032 128 160 032 192 192 192 160 160 160 128 128 128 096 096 096 064 064 064 032 032 032 Coachella Valley -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 192 000 032 128 000 032 064 032 032 224 096 032 160 064 032 224 032 032 192 192 192 160 160 160 032 032 032 Iowa -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black unused] 224 224 224 [white] 000 064 032 000 096 032 032 096 064 032 128 064 064 128 096 128 160 128 096 128 128 160 192 160 192 192 192 Laval -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black unused] 224 224 224 [white] 000 032 096 032 032 128 128 128 160 160 160 192 192 192 224 [#13 - #16 unused] Rochester -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black unused] 224 224 224 [white] 000 000 064 032 032 096 064 064 128 128 128 160 160 160 192 192 000 000 224 064 064 224 128 128 192 192 192 Texas -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black] 224 224 224 [white] 032 064 032 064 128 096 096 160 128 128 192 160 160 192 160 192 192 192 160 160 160 096 096 096 064 064 064 Toronto -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black unused] 224 224 224 [white] 000 032 128 032 064 128 096 128 160 224 160 192 064 032 064 032 096 064 224 192 032 224 064 032 192 192 192

Well shoot guys. I did up a few last night, but something wasn't feeling right. Slept on it and realized the problem. I was using the wrong number of colours. I remembered that the bottom 9-16 and the #8 spot are used for logo colours and #6 & #7 are for white and black and #2 & #3 are the Home team banner, #4 & #5 are the Away team banner, but that leave #1, which is, like many other assets, still for transparency. Shouldn't be too much of an issue to remove the one more tone. Some of these didn't even need the full allotment of colours. I edited the Moose entry already and will post the rest a bit later.

I guess I'll post this here as a general note. My trick is to use photoshop to create an index colour image with about three times the allowable colours and the then use the colour table option to decide which colours to round up or down in order to adhere to the SEGA palette, but also maintain some sort of contrast when reducing to twelve including the default white and black. Still requires some manual drawing, but at least this way it's 90-95% of the way there. The other reason[s] for posting is that I used the version of the logo without the word mark. Is there a preference to which to use? I figure in the case of the Moose, Phantoms, Admirals, Ice Hogs, Thunderbirds and Roadrunners, at least they have versions of their logos that don't contain text and that would drastically improve how well they translate in 48x48 pixels, never mind tacking on the twelve colour restriction on top of that. Colours: -R- -G- -B- 000 000 000 [black unused] 224 224 224 [white] 000 000 032 000 032 064 032 032 064 000 064 128 000 096 160 064 064 064 096 096 096 128 128 128 160 160 160 192 192 192

Damn. No Mercy was so fun back in the day.