Sonic 1: Stardust Gear Edition

Why not take your own advice once in a while? While I will agree this was honest, your tone towards other members is hardly fair and your criticism was actually pretty much worthless. At no point did you point out specifics, you basically just said "The hack's shit, start again". How is that helpful? He'll start again and make the same mistakes because people like you think you're the big cool guy to just rip fuck out of them without actually helping them learn anything. How about you come and do my job for a day at work, and every time you can't do something, or you do something wrong, I'll tell you what a useless fucking cunt you are. Forget training, no point in helping you learn how to do it, I'll just subject you to a torrent of abuse whenever you struggle. That's the exact attitude you have towards other members, and frankly I'm fucking sick of it.

Your attacks on Thomas clearly originate back with his previous stint here, but he has improved dramatically. You on the other hand continue to be a complete cunt despite being told about it multiple times, so clearly you're not intelligent as you try to come across, seeing as you have failed to understand a basic instruction multiple times. I'd rather have people around here who, although may start off slowly, are willing to learn, than an idiot like you who refuses to let even a simple concept such as politeness sink into their head.

Three different members have all brought his post to my attention, all three of them being respected and long standing member of SSRG (and no, I will not be naming any of them). The fact that they all reiterated the same thing, that your post offered nothing constructive, and was just an attack on members and a perceived decline in your attitude here, has reassured me that it's not just me that is getting sick of it.

I usually wouldn't say this, but this post has been referred to the staff lounge by a member of these boards, and I will leave the other staff to act as they see fit on this one. You clearly never listened to anything I said, you're just going the same way Oerg did, posting with arrogance with absolutely nothing worthwhile in your posts. Whatever they decide, I will go along with.

 

Out of curiosity, I decided to sit down and play through this thing. Keep in mind, I was running Kega, as I'm too lazy to find the power adapter for my Nomad and play the ROM on that.

First zone was a mixed bag of things. Palette wasn't terrible in acts 1 and 3 (act 2, on the other hand, just doesn't work), and the art change looks decent (but unfinished). Act 1's music was fine, but act 2's had a lot of issues between missing inner parts and a warbling voice in the FM channels that just ruined the quality. Act 3's was mostly fine aside from missing an inner part. Act 1's layout wasn't terrible until the launch of faith section. Never do that in a layout. Causes more problems than solutions. Act 3, I want to know why you have a bridge floating in mid-air with a solid wall on one end and a non-solid wall on the other, and why you chose to make the boss easier. Also, why are you playing a "SEGA!" sample during the score screen? Sounds terrible and out of place. Then came... act 4? Overly elongated transition over to the next zone. I'd say ditch it or give it a better purpose.

Now for the second zone. Act 1's palette was nice, but basically everything else from that point could be tossed out the window. Layouts were downright confusing at times, to the point of more than a bit of frustration. The amount of issues just keeps going, so it would be better to either talk with someone and learn how to make better layouts, or get someone to make better layouts for you. The change to the boss was a bit of a challenge increase, though activating the boss event took a bit of leap of faith'ing, which you don't want. Music on all three acts had issues, though act 3's particularly stuck out to me as really broken. All in all, second zone was not something I'd come back for.

Third zone was meh. Layouts were not improving. Having to bounce on bumpers precisely to get to a platform? Yeah, no. Having bumpers that you hit once to make disappear? More likely to just throw the player in a loop the first time they see them. And then there was a lovely sound bug that popped in about halfway through the act that made movement and jumping actions play the distorted "SEGA!" sample that also plays on the score screen. No idea what activated it, it was just not pleasant to deal with. Act 2, there's a very long list of things I'd rather do than replay that level again. That whole layout needs to be introduced to the trash can. Art changes don't line up well in places, and serve to further convolute the layout, and you went for another leap of faith, only this time guided by rings to a platform and a button. Press the button, and the platform goes up after a short pause. Problem? If the player doesn't realize that the button makes the platform go up, they're hosed out of a life, as there's just a bottomless pit to look forward to for options. Also, more bumper overuse. And spikeball walls. Act 3, I thought your layout was improving up until that bumper and spring mess. Red spring over bottomless pit to more red springs didn't help matters. Then, to tie things off, fighting the boss with bumpers in the way. If you manage to keep a balanced bounce on one, they're great. If not, the boss battle is miserable. Also, blue rings. Not the first palette edit that screwed with ring colors, but that was definitely the most noticeable.

Fourth zone, I'm really wanting to just pull the plug. Art changes aren't terrible. Layouts make me hate water levels even more than I already do. There are sections where the water will disappear suddenly, leaving you in a patch of land that's somehow above water despite being below water. Shows up very prominently in act 3. Don't let that crap happen. As for the music, act 1's music was fine, but the ports for acts 2 and 3 were just bad. Broken voices, bad voice selection, and more. The boss is bugged, as you seem to be going the opposite direction of where Eggman's flying. In general, you made a crap zone be even more miserable and frustrating. Also, your transition act is really, really irritating for this one.

Fifth zone. The new art is not pleasing to the eye at all, and makes badnik visibility in some areas even worse. Layout's not thought-out (though a slight improvement from the past two zones) and makes you feel lost at times. The music for acts 1, 2, and 3 (which seem to be the same) isn't a bad port from Chaotix, so that's a good point. Boss is completely unchanged, so no complaints there (though the lack of rings right after the lamp post just before is a bit concerning). By this point, I'm pretty much tired of this hack, but I'll keep going anyway and try to finish the last zone.

Speaking of the sixth and final zone, the entire layout of the first act is just a series of dick moves, starting with the red spring and rotating platform path over a bottomless pit. Unless the timing's perfect, you're dead. The saw blades running through the floor in the narrow hallway not much later are likewise more than mildly annoying. Art replacement is incomplete as expected. Act 2's layout had some odd collision issues regarding surfaces that looked like floors. The ported song also had a few issues. Final Zone, which you just go right into after act 2, is mostly unchanged. Other than the really dark palettes, not much else to say about the end, except that it couldn't have come soon enough.

There's also various miscellaneous issues to be found, including the incomplete spindash, blinking signposts on the fifth zone, and tile corruption at the end of each act. There's probably plenty I've also forgotten, both in the zones and overall. All in all, though, the hack just was not fun at all. About halfway through, I just stopped wanting to play, and that's not good at all. There's a lot of reasons why that could be, but what you need to take away from this is that your ultimate goal is to make something that people enjoy playing and replaying. As this hack currently stands, I do not want to play this again. Take a fine-tooth comb to the entire hack, clean up all the various bugs, rethink your layouts, clean up and finish off the art changes (in the case of the fifth zone, replace with something more pleasing to the eye), avoid making dick moves, and make the hack fun. There's no rush, so don't go running off and trying to kick out another build with a few more fixes in a couple of hours. Get the hack up to snuff before making another release. Aim for high quality releases, not rapid hotfixes.

Now, with all that over, may as well also make at least a light weigh-in on Eggy's asinine post. Eggy, I know you're far better than this. I've told you this many times in the past, but it's more pertinent now than ever before: Think before you speak. You've been on a pretty bad streak of just lashing out with what you're immediately thinking rather than stopping for a moment and considering the consequences of what you're thinking of saying. Stop coming off as the prick you're currently projecting and start being a helpful, reasonable, respectable member of the board. You have that orange tag for a reason, so show that you deserve it.

 

And that ladies and gentlemen, is how you provide constructive criticism while not having to resort to insults.

 

I have uploaded a new version:

https://www.mediafire.com/?undefined

Features:

1.Jumpdash

2.Removed Speed Cap

3.SBZ1 layout tweaked.

4.Signpost Corrected.

5.Sky Shores boss has a corrected screen position.

And for Regen, the cause of crash is some bugs in the sound driver. Maybe some SMPS commands in ported songs corrupts the driver.

And you may meet a nice freeze in SBZ1.

Bouncy Blast, Tidal Tank Act 3 and Scrap Brain are currently very incomplete. Use level select (A+Start without the cheat).

P.S I don't know what is a "dick move"...

 

Dick moves are the ones that players don't like to see, like the red spring and rotating platform Evanescence said.  I'll lay this as an example:  If you put in a shitstorm of dick moves in one level, I'll just lay down my controller (keyboard in this case) and walk away.

SuperEgg.  You're gonna have to try and win back your Pro User status.  That's all I have to say.

 

That still doesn't describe or give an example of what a 'Dick Move' is. 'Dick Moves' (as I would describe them, at least) are unfair moments in the level design, that pointlessly punish the player for falling for a trap that is near impossible to avoid. An example would be things like placing horizontal spikes after a red spring and a series of ramp/loops. In this example, the player is convinced that he/she is about experience a moment of speed, only to be smacked in the face with spikes unexpectedly. Sure, the trap was 'technically' avoidable, but only if you already know the layout, and play the stage as the creator does (which is unfair to assume that the player has this information). As a form of 'fake difficulty' in my eyes, this seems to happen when people attempt to make a more 'difficult' hack.

 

I can already imagine SSRG members waking up every morning saying "Is it time already to ruin SuperEgg's day?" Geez, I know he has a habit of saying harsh things, but come on. Hasn't he already put up with enough crap in his life already? Dwhite had NO excuse to say what he said.

 

Ok, I'm only going to say this once. Drop the subject. This is a topic about a hack, and whatever action was taken against a member for their behaviour is not for regular members to discuss. Back on topic from this post onwards, or other people will be looking at punishments themselves.

 

I've always thought that SuperEgg was a little harsh, but he always gave at least some help. This mess should probably be split from Stardust's hack thread, though.

 

Hey guys, I decided to leave SSRG and my S1 hack for a long time,

And to move into something that I have not touched it for much time: Sonic Fan Game Develpment Kit.

More info about this project can be seen in this link:

http://sonicunited.org/forums/index.php?/topic/7468-starting-project-sonic-fan-game-development-kit/

Reason: Sonic Hacking is now boring and too limited for me, and it's hard to keep compatibility with real hardware.

Although, Sonic 1 will have a project in Sonic Fan Game Dev. Kit that can be edited.

Sonic 2, CD, Chaotix and S3&K may have also projects.

 

Are you cancelling it, or putting it on hiatus?

 

It will be currently postponed for a long time.

SFGDK has more benefit to people than playing sonic hacks on emulators.

 

Stardust Gear, I respect your decision to move to the GDK engine, but I strongly disagree with your stance that's it's better than hacks. Let's compare the two:

Hacks:


-Spot-on physics with the MegaDrive games


-There's quite a bit of great hacks lying around


-People have taken the old Sonic games, and made some of the best Sonic games to date


Now The GDK engine:


-Physics can get really wonky while playing, especially when moving at high speeds


-Not a lot of good fan games lying around


-Nobody has made anything truly outstanding with the GDK engine


These are the big ones that I focus on. Can games on the GDK engine be fun? Absolutely. Has anyone puy out anything on the GDK engine that surprises hacks like Sonic Winter Adventures or Sonic Brother Trouble? In my opinion, no.


I don't even think the GDK engine games compare to the amazing Sonic Adventure and Sonic Generations hacks. Dude has done some outstanding stuff with both games, especially the stuff he's done with Sonic Adventure, stuff people who work with the GDK engine simply haven't done yet.


Edit: I also can't view the link you provided without making an account with the website first, which is something I have no intent on doing.

 

Speedy, I don't mean the GDK Engine.

I make an ultimate program that makes 2D sonic games easily.

It's called Sonic Fan Game Development Kit, or SFGDK.

When it will be complete, you will be able to open the Sonic 1/2/3K project and edit it entriely.

And its games will be cross-platform. I don't know about Gens for iOS/Android.

 

...That sounds exactly a disassembly, with SonED2 included in the package. Am I missing something? Because I don't see how that's better than hacking.

 

Yeah, why even consider abandoning an accurate engine? Hacking isn't as limited as you think; you just have to think outside of the box sometimes.

 

Original Sonic Engine is accurate, but it is buggy, has color limit and sprite limit, and also object limit.

The SFGDK engine will be like Retro Engine of Taxman, and you did see the accurate restoration of Sonic 1 for iOS.

I am not going to make a bad engine like Sonic Dash and Super Ring Engine.

I am going to read carefuly the Sonic Physics Guide from Sonic Retro, and implement the guide on OpenGL application.

If you want to play with tracks and soundfonts like in FM Synthesis, I will support XM, Midi and similar formats in SFGDK.

SFGDK will also support palettes (and the limit is 16777216 RGB Colors) to made light spots and underwater effects.

And if you wondered how to edit parallaxes in 68k, the engine will have built-in parallax and distortion support.

Although I will try to continue S1:SGE and port the S3K sound driver.

(The reason for the random crashes in Regen is the broken SMPS ports)

I will also try to add a new zone, Popsicle Peaks Zone. It will resemble somewhat Ice Scream from Ristar.

 

The engines existing prebuilt limits can be worked around if you know enough about the engine. Their are many ways to optimize and speed up many of the original genesis games, so sprite and object limits could be worked around. As for the color limits, they really aren't that limiting, and can be worked around by porting to the 32x.

 

And the Sega CD. And I'm not just talking about Sonic 1 Megamix.

 

I consider moving my hack to Sega CD, because it supports MP3, less buggy and easier to manage,

The only difficulty is to build the ROM, but it worth it.