Graphic Work for NHL 2004

So, as I said in the first post, I create addon's for the video game NHL 2004. There are tons of reasons why I use an 8-year-old game;
- The game's interface is written completely in HTML, thus easily modifiable
- The game's AI (artificial intelligence) is, to date, one of the best in any game produced by EA Sports
- The presentation is magnificent; full 3D crowd, realistic cut-scenes, fans leaving their seats and returning during intermissions, etc.

I could go on and on, but let me show you what I do;

This is what's called a "texture", made with Photoshop CS5. Once I import this into the game, the game sort of wraps it around the player model, and whabam, you have your jersey. As for the pants and socks, its some sort of EA "black magic". When it comes to these textures, there are tons of templates, with different kinds of mesh styles, lighting styles (you can see the outline of a players shoulder pads), and branding you can apply to jerseys. I make these, along with the letters and numbers;

I import them one at a time, but this is to show what they look like. And thanks to EA's "black magic", they're added to a certain area of the jersey. This has its limitations though; letters, numbers, and captain/assistant patches can't be moved. For example, the Detroit Red Wings have their captain and assistant letters on the left side, as apposed to the traditional right side. This is almost impossible to achieve in-game ("almost" meaning if you were to HEX-edit the position of them, which no one would have the time nor patience to do). As well, with many European teams having the names of the players below the numbers instead of above, this can't be done either. But some blame EA's lack of authenticity and laziness.

Here are what the letters look like side-by-side (these are for a Los Angeles Kings concept);

Regardless, I enjoy making these types of addon's because it gives more variety into the game. More jerseys to select for the user to play with, wearing throwback uniforms like some teams did for select games. As well, people download them and give me nice comments, which is always nice.

Over time, I'll post some updates as to what I do next.
If you have NHL 2004 for PC, and want to learn more, you can visit the NHL04Rebuilt forum, and visit my jersey/addon thread here. My screen name is nick_thecheese.