Interested in hockey game frontend development?

Apocalypse · Post by **Apocalypse** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:38 pm

Reynaldo posted a thread about rebuilt NHL 2004 here.

As you can see there are many people who consider it the best PC hockey game ever... that's why we're modifying it... and most of us prefer it over their next-gen hockey because of many unique features. I think it's safe to say that we have gotten it to very good shape. Yes, the AI has shortcomings... but so do all other sports games for PC and consoles. Right now the addons get around 3000-4000 downloads in Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and US/Canada... the popularity of this mod has increased virtually every week.

WATCH VIDEO

You can change the graphics, sounds, AI settings, everything... but there's always the limit what you can achieve... and I guess we are close to those limits now...

The really fascinating thing about 2004 is the html/JavaScript frontend, which we have managed to rebuild almost from the scratch. There are virtually NO limits what we could add to the game because of its unique frontend (it's pure html/javascript).

Here's a few excerpts of what we have already done:

As you can see we have added full boxscores, all kinds of team reports, videos and even GameCast (unfinished) in the game. I think it's not exaggeration to say that it our rebuilt game has the best and most deepest interface for any sports game ever (save the manager games of course). The only thing that keeps us from adding more stuff is that my skills are very limited.

I'm looking for someone who can code html/javascript to co-operate with me. I still have very big plans for the NHL 2004 frontend and based on what I've read from this forum there might be people who could help.

If you're interested, send me a pm. If you don't have the base game, I might be able to help with that too.

Regards

Post by **getzlaf15** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:57 pm

This looks really good. I'll check it out when i get the time.

Post by **dabo** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:02 pm

Looks awesome, unfortunately I cannot help you.

Apocalypse · Post by **Apocalypse** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:09 pm

Here is the main NHL 2004 forum. Everyone from the EHM community is warmly welcome to join... doesn't matter whether you're interested in the game development or not...

PS: The validation of your account takes about 24 hours as the admin does it manually.

Post by **Jypfan92** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:13 am

Where i can download this updated version? Or should i install those updates to NHL 04?

dave1927p · Post by **dave1927p** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:40 am

looks like alot of work has gone into this. I may have to go to a buy n' sell and purchase this game! It will be a nice break from EHM.

Jypfan92, you need to extract each of the updated/changed files to the appropriate folder(s) in NHL 2004. http://z6.invisionfree.com/flyermania/i ... topic=1864

Apocalypse · Post by **Apocalypse** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:41 am

Jypfan92 wrote:Where i can download this updated version? Or should i install those updates to NHL 04?

1. Install the base, unmodded NHL 04 game.
2. Follow the 11 steps in this guide. ("Required files & actions"). You basically just overwrite the modded game over the raw install.

Then you're done. Let me know if you have any problems.

PS: Since you're from Finland you can use the Finnish instructions. It's extremely popular mod at FHR (Finnish Hockey Revolution).

Post by **Jypfan92** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:24 am

Ok, thaks for very fast and good answers!

Reynaldo28 · Post by **Reynaldo28** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 12:02 pm

Can I just say I recommend this game to everyone! The varied difficulty from match to match makes it so playable for me. And now that I have found online play, there is nothing I want to do more than play/mod NHL 2004!

Post by **Jypfan92** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 1:01 pm

How good is it? I mean skating, is it smooth or awkward like in every other NHL game i've played in my pc (i've played 99, 06 and 09 and skating is the biggest problem in pc)?

Reynaldo28 · Post by **Reynaldo28** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 4:19 pm

It's like the real thing, they can't do 360 turns instantly, it takes them time like in real life

Post by **Jypfan92** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 4:54 pm

Reynaldo28 wrote:It's like the real thing, they can't do 360 turns instantly, it takes them time like in real life

Good, i'm sure everyone has played any other NHL game on pc and skating is horrible

Reynaldo28 · Post by **Reynaldo28** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 4:55 pm

NHL 08 & 09, hated them. Then I found NHL 2004 and haven't even though about going back just because of a newer title

Post by **archibalduk** » Mon Jan 04, 2010 9:36 pm

What are you looking at in terms of HTML expertise? I'm currently redesigning TBL using php and HTML. I'd certainly be very interested in another project once I've completed TBL (maybe the summer at the latest).

Apocalypse · Post by **Apocalypse** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:34 am

archibalduk wrote:What are you looking at in terms of HTML expertise? I'm currently redesigning TBL using php and HTML. I'd certainly be very interested in another project once I've completed TBL (maybe the summer at the latest).

Hi Archibald,

I'm just looking for basic expertise, really. I have done plenty of things... I virtually created the whole boxscore addon... but since I lack the basic "bread and butter" coding ability my coding is pretty much "trial and error" stuff... and adding some simplest of things can take a lot of time. Most of the advanced stuff in rebuild NHL 2004 has been programmed by others.

I actually programmed some Assembler back in Commodore 64 days (yeah I'm in my mid-30's) but until last year I had ZERO experience with Java.

But there is nothing that we "have" to add... the interface is deep and very advanced already... I'm just fascinated of the limitless possibilities that we have with it... we could program all kinds of cool stuff there... like NHL player of the month/week, game previews, this kind of statistical leaders section, some kind of advanced team reports... anything. You know what's so amazing about the manager games... the interface is so deep... there's everything because the game is one big interface.

Look at NHL 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 & 10 interfaces... they're laughable, you can't even follow how the rest of the games go... there are no boxscores, nothing. How can you get an authentic "feel" of an ongoing NHL season when there's ZERO info about the simmed games? When you have advanced frontend features it's like a "game within a game"... you know what I mean?

We can't quite duplicate what EHM does but at least we can have SOME of these features (we already do).

Of course there are some limits that the game hardcode allows us to do... you can't extract everything but what we haven't been able to extract (like THREE STARS boxscore code) but we had a guy who used a random seed that creates it.

Apocalypse · Post by **Apocalypse** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:42 am

Jypfan92 wrote:How good is it? I mean skating, is it smooth or awkward like in every other NHL game i've played in my pc (i've played 99, 06 and 09 and skating is the biggest problem in pc)?

I have all next-gen hockey games and the biggest thing where NHL 2004 shows its age is the eyecandy in animations and replays. The movements don't look as smooth in slow motion and the player animations are awkward (compared to NHL 2k10 and NHL 10).

But the skating itself is the best in any hockey game... just like Reynaldo says we have managed to get the player moves on the ice at least somewhat realistic. Stopping the skating from full speed creates "slide" and making 360 degree turns on the ice is slow (just like in real hockey). If you look at ANY hockey game, the players can perform all kinds of superhuman moves... like turn 360 degrees in a millisecond, while maintaining 100% full possession of the puck at the same time (it's like glued to the stick)... and pass the puck behind their back in full speed... with 100% accuracy. This kind of laughable arcade stuff is not possible in our mod. Just look at the video clip that I posted... there's plenty of "sloppy" neutral zone play and the puck possession has been dramatically reduced.

Some people have claimed that the player control is "unresponsive" in our mod. Yes it is, if you compare it to "fun arcade hockey"... but we wanted to create a gameplay that mimics an actual hockey game broadcast in game speed and player movements on the ice.

Is it perfect? Of course not... the ai in 2004 has many shortcomings... but for us it's the best option of the available hockey games.

Post by **archibalduk** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:12 pm

Apocalypse wrote:
archibalduk wrote:What are you looking at in terms of HTML expertise? I'm currently redesigning TBL using php and HTML. I'd certainly be very interested in another project once I've completed TBL (maybe the summer at the latest).
Hi Archibald,

I'm just looking for basic expertise, really. I have done plenty of things... I virtually created the whole boxscore addon... but since I lack the basic "bread and butter" coding ability my coding is pretty much "trial and error" stuff... and adding some simplest of things can take a lot of time. Most of the advanced stuff in rebuild NHL 2004 has been programmed by others.

I actually programmed some Assembler back in Commodore 64 days (yeah I'm in my mid-30's) but until last year I had ZERO experience with Java.

But there is nothing that we "have" to add... the interface is deep and very advanced already... I'm just fascinated of the limitless possibilities that we have with it... we could program all kinds of cool stuff there... like NHL player of the month/week, game previews, this kind of statistical leaders section, some kind of advanced team reports... anything. You know what's so amazing about the manager games... the interface is so deep... there's everything because the game is one big interface.

Look at NHL 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 & 10 interfaces... they're laughable, you can't even follow how the rest of the games go... there are no boxscores, nothing. How can you get an authentic "feel" of an ongoing NHL season when there's ZERO info about the simmed games? When you have advanced frontend features it's like a "game within a game"... you know what I mean?

We can't quite duplicate what EHM does but at least we can have SOME of these features (we already do).

Of course there are some limits that the game hardcode allows us to do... you can't extract everything but what we haven't been able to extract (like THREE STARS boxscore code) but we had a guy who used a random seed that creates it.

Ohh you've got me very interested indeed. Having almost completed redesigning our entire site from scratch, I feel fairly confident when it comes to laying out pages and html design. I've also taugjt myself basic sql/php coding by looking at examples online, etc. I don't see why this couldn't be transferred over to NHL 2004. I'll drop you a message once I've completed the new site design and features (probably in appox 4-6 months) and I'll take a look at the sort of potential we can harness from NHL 04.

May I ask, are you the webmaster of NHL 2004?

Reynaldo28 · Post by **Reynaldo28** » Tue Jan 05, 2010 10:57 pm

This is exciting news

Apocalypse · Post by **Apocalypse** » Wed Jan 06, 2010 12:38 am

archibalduk wrote: May I ask, are you the webmaster of NHL 2004?

No Randy (Flyermania) is the site owner... I'm just the "project organizer"... I maintain the mod and downloads and keep everything organized.

Sent you a pm.

Apocalypse · Post by **Apocalypse** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:46 am

Bump for this.

Still looking for Javascript/html assistance.

Apocalypse · Post by **Apocalypse** » Sat May 22, 2010 5:59 pm

We managed to add completely new feature... now the game extracts all stats leaders from the dynasty/season. You can access them by one click only. This is brand new feature in the game. Another example that html/JS based interface has no modding limits.

Ogilthorpe · Post by **Ogilthorpe** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:49 pm

This looks great!

I've got NHL 2004 tucked away on a shelf and will have to dust the box off and install it when I get a chance and add all your new features.
I remember having joystick control problems such as trying to click on the continuously scrolling menu choices was almost impossible. Any chance you guys have a work-around for that?
Anyways, I definitely be looking into this when I get home in a few hours.

Apocalypse · Post by **Apocalypse** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 1:31 am

The latest revolutionary interface addon from Egorgiy stores all gamedays correctly for each season game, each season date. Oldest bug in the calendar has been fixed.

Playerstats, goaliestats and scoring summaries are now accurate for every date, and the calendar is not showing screwed up boxscores for the old games any more...

Then we have a new GameCast with new graphics and Flash-like loading effect... this one randomizes correct amount of shots to the shooting chart.

Genuine counterpart from the ESPN NHL site... we tried to emulate the Flash effect and behavior.

LINK.

Post by **archibalduk** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 7:25 pm

Looks brilliant!

I still don't understand how you get this data. Is it a modified EXE which allows you connect somehow using HTML???

Apocalypse · Post by **Apocalypse** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:36 pm

archibalduk wrote:Looks brilliant!

I still don't understand how you get this data. Is it a modified EXE which allows you connect somehow using HTML???

Hmm... are you referring to the shooting chart or the interface in general? The shooting chart is partly randomized... the shot positions are impossible to extract from the simulated games. Only the shot amounts are correct. But who would know... all simulated games are "fantasy" anyway.

The whole interface code is in \nhl 2004\js and \nhl2004\html folders... it's directly accessible with any HTML editor... or even Notepad... they're just html and JS files. This allows us to add additional EXE files to the game... like the one that allows all teams have individual musics. It simply moves the files between different folders before the game loads up.

Simulated game boxscores (all 29 ai teams') are possible to extract from the season roster (another EXE) and the boxscore extractor EXE (which extracts even more info, like TOI, FOT, etc.) reads the data straight from your computers memory. We simply add the loading routine to the Javascript.