[Attribute Guide]

Yeah, all my attribute changes were done to the CPU team. For instance, on Buffalo, Hawerchuk and Lafontaine have a 25 and Mogilny has a 65. I put Mogilny at 100 and saw no change, so then I put Mogilny at 25 and Lafontaine at 100, and I still saw no change. The same for Mogilny, Lafontaine at 25 and Hawerchuk at 100, all of them at 100, and all of them at 25. I'm going to keep testing it because I want it to be something, so maybe it'll show up in more data.

[Attribute Guide]

For Genesis (and I assume SNES, but could be wrong), weight doesn't make a player slower, it makes him accelerate slower. Top speed remains the same, but it takes him longer to reach it.

Oh really? I never would have thought to test it like that. I'll change it for now, and add that to the test list. Thanks!

[Attribute Guide]

this is the heart of what we do, so I hope to read input from anybody that has some to offer. endurance isn't obvious, so I think you should expound, but you seem to have a solid grip on most of this. passing has speed, too, huh? I never considered that. thank you for giving bias the testing it needs. any theory on what it is, then? great thread and great job, so far.

Okay, I'll fill in endurance. Passing speed is mostly qualitative but there did seem to be a difference. That's still in testing, and I will continue to test pass/shot bias. The reasoning makes sense (it does closely correlate to assist/goal ratios from the seasons before the game's release), but I just can't make it show in statistics. Right now, the stats say it does nothing (nothing changes in the stats, whether it's maxed, or bottomed up, or any combination of the two between players), but I don't have enough data to be as confident as I'd like to be.

[Attribute Guide]

So since I joined a week or two ago, I've been hard at work developing my first rom (a proper and complete international rom). It's being done almost completely within statto's editor, which makes things pretty easy, but by far the most frustrating thing has been slogging through a million threads trying to find the relevant opinions on one topic: the attributes that are not immediately obvious. Namely: Off Awareness, Def Awareness, Checking, Stick Handling, ???????, and Aggression. Some of these I've found to have pretty easy answers, others I still have nothing conclusive. I'd like to develop one guide, preferably a pinned thread, devoted solely to the function of attributes in gameplay of NHL 94 ONLY, on SNES in particular. I will share my 2 cents, and would love to get responses on these simple questions from the productive SNES editors, like Stefan and trudatman, along with the local sages, like smoz. If people do play along, I will edit this post to include new data as it is posted.

**** In your own words, please describe your understanding of how each of the follow attributes work, along with any relevant information on how you've reached your conclusions. There will be a chance at the end to describe any other relevant information, related ONLY to the effects of attributes on gameplay. *****

Weight:

BJTaylor04: Weight is essentially a modifier. A high weight will make a more successful checker (combined in some way with speed and position at time of impact.) A heavier player will accelerate slower, and a lighter player will accelerate quicker.

Agility:

BJTaylor04: The ability to change directions and turn, including deke-ing.

Speed:

BJTaylor04: Um... The speed of a player.

Offensive Awareness:

BJTaylor04: Put simply, the offensive decision-making of the player. A low rating indicates a player that will not get forward quickly in a attack, and will not find their position easily in the offensive zone, possibly including not getting in position for one-timers. A player with a high rating will play aggressive when his team has the puck and find good positions to receive passes. I also noticed in my testing that a team with minimum Off Awareness will have a much lower passing % (probably hindered by the poor position of teammates), which may indicate a decreased ability to pick out "the open man". Also, breakaway conversion % seemed to drop by almost half, and players seemed to shoot too early/late and be less adept at dekeing. Needs more research to be conclusive.

Defensive Awareness:

BJTaylor04: Most obvious in player positioning. Players with low defensive awareness will hang wide of the net when the puck is pushed into their defensive end, and will sometimes even move out of the way of an approaching player, leaving an open shot on net. When the puck is kept in the neutral zone by the opposition, this player will play higher in the defensive zone, which allows him to be beat by a pass to a streaking player and gives away breakaway chances.

Shot Power:

BJTaylor04: Obvious. Affects slap shots and wrist shots, backhands and forehands.

Checking:

BJTaylor04: This is old news, but checking seems to have little to no impact on a player's ability to actually complete a check. Instead, it's a preference rating, affecting how often a player attempts to check. A high rating makes a player much more aggressive in closing down the puck in all areas of the ice, therefore when used smartly with forwards can create a strong or weak forechecking "personality".

Stick Handling:

BJTaylor04: The ability of a player to maintain possession of the puck when being poke-checked, or held/hooked. Also, the ability of a player to receive a pass.

Shot Accuracy:

BJTaylor04: Self-explanatory. Like shot power, affects all types of shots.

Endurance:

BJTaylor04: With line changes on/automatic, this effects how quickly a player gets fatigued. A tired player will be significantly slower and less agile. Other versions of NHL have an editable value for recovery, but I don't know how this is handled by the SNES in 94. Possibly there is a fixed value, or possibly this endurance value also handles recovery.

Pass/Shot Bias:

BJTaylor04: I'll defer to some other people on this, as I still have my doubts and have not been able to recreate it. Presumably a low rating means a player more likely to pass, and get assists, while a high rating goes to a scorer, who is less likely to pass. I tested this myself over 350-400 in-game minutes with these settings varied wildly, and all other attributes controlled, and got similar data no matter what the setting with regards to total passes, total shots, goals, assists, and individual player shots.

Passing:

BJTaylor04: The accuracy and speed of a pass.

Aggression:

BJTaylor04: The frequency with which a player will take penalties. It's possible that because of that, it may increase pokechecking(tripping), holding, and injuring opponents (roughing). Needs testing for conclusiveness.

Other

[Ahoy]

So I'm new, not planning to be super active in posting on the forum, because I tend to find less than enough time to keep up with all of that. I am looking to get the hang of online games for both the SNES and GENS (better on SNES, grew up on it), and **have a special AIM name (BJTaylorNHL94)** for it, so if I'm online, I'm likely willing to play. I also have some ideas for basic modwork I'd like to do, so when I do post, it'll likely be in regards to that.

Thanks for all the mods and such that people have posted on here and I have already been enjoying. This place is great!