Sonic ROMhacking trends

Discussion in 'Discussion and Q&A Archive' started by Bluestreak, Jan 14, 2017.

  1. Bluestreak

    Bluestreak Lady in red, living in dread. Member

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    Any trends you have noticed in Sonic hacks as of late, and wonder why people are suddenly doing a certain thing?

    One trend I notice is the removal of the 1-up jingle, with a random sound effect, such as a jump sound, score tally sound, signpost noise, or even just a ring sound. I wonder why so many people are doing this lately?

    Any other trends you notice and wonder about?
     
  2. AbyssalLeopard

    AbyssalLeopard Well-Known Member Member

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    The only tendency I can think of currently is having lots of Sonic Mania elements, but I do understand that it's just like when people used to implement the homing attack and all of that. It's just that they are attractive elements because they are fun to use, to watch, to listen to... Therefore, ROM hackers and fangame developers believe that by having those elements the game will feel more appealing to the player as a result. People have to be careful with this though, because those elements may end up overused and people may get bored of them no matter how good they look or feel, I guess.
     
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  3. Painto

    Painto Arthurus Paintus Erinaceus Member

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    Not sure if that's it, but there's a tendency I noticed - changing the level names, sometimes to extremely nonsensical and unfitting ones. This happens even if the art wasn't changed at all. I think it's because of need for originality but... nah, it doesn't work that well.
     
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  4. TheFieldWarrior

    TheFieldWarrior Warrior of the Fields Member

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    When it comes to common hacks you'll often find the following features:

    "New" moves (i.e. Spin Dash, Homing Attack, Double Jump, Super Peel-Out)
    Altered Palettes
    Changed zone names
    Knuckles as a playable character (mainly in Sonic 2 hacks)
    New level layouts
    Changed music

    Considering most of those common hacks are made by beginners the best they can do at their stage of ASM hacking is to put these features to good use rather than implement them because "Why Not"? They could create layouts that complement Sonic's newly implemented jump dash or create pathways that only Knuckles can access with his glide and climbing abilities.
     
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  5. Bluestreak

    Bluestreak Lady in red, living in dread. Member

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    I have noticed that as of late people love to add in Checker-Wrecker Balls in the Green Hill-based levels, and underground sections being added in GHZ-based levels, a la the SMS version.

    As for abilities mentioned earlier, I find the homing attack/jumpdash to be rather annoying and tedious to use. If the homing attack worked more like Sonic Advance 2 or Painto's own Sonic 2D Blast: Westside Island, I would be more into it. I rather love the addition of the Insta-shield and Super Peel-out though. Insta-shield is great for the widening of the attack radius and ability to attack certain enemies like Orbinauts and Yadrins without issues, as well as being able to deflect projectiles in certain hacks.

    The Super Peel-Out is cool for the massive blast of speed it gives, surpassing even the Spin Dash, being great for levels based on Star Light Zone, Chemical Plant, and Launch Base.
     
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  6. Selbi

    Selbi The Euphonic Mess Member

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    All of these are things I've seen in 2010 already, so I don't really know what this "as of late" is you speak of.

    Anyway, a common trend that doesn't get recognized a lot is cold-opening hacks. These skip any Sega screen or title screens, and instead immediately throw you into a level as soon as you open the ROM. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but you did ask for trends of any kind.
     
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  7. โบวี่

    โบวี่ Tsingtao Enjoyer Member

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    Yeah, that type of thing interests me. The game just throws you into the action on startup. I'm pretty sure people got the idea for this from X-Men 2 on the Mega Drive, since that is an actual MD game that came out that does this.
     
  8. TheStoneBanana

    TheStoneBanana banana Member

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    ROM hacks that specialize in boss rushes are something that I've been noticing more and more lately.
    I don't mind them, but they're not my cup of tea so to speak. Especially boss rush hacks that try to be as ridiculously difficult as possible.
     
  9. Unlimited Trees

    Unlimited Trees Banned for being a fucking cockwomble Exiled

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    For everytime someone does an orange "sunset" Green Hill Zone, a cat dies.

    Same goes for the wannabe night Blue Hill Zones. They've been done to death and most of the time the palettes look ugly. If you want to do a sunset/nighttime palette, actually look up what a sunset or nighttime looks like, or better yet, go outside.

    Edit: Oh, and I forgot: Stop it with the Eggman monitors. k thax bye <3
     
  10. Bluestreak

    Bluestreak Lady in red, living in dread. Member

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    I don't mind ridiculously hard bosses, as long as they are winnable, and you have rings. I am perfectly fine if they cannot be won without being hit, for Rings CAN be recollected no matter how many times you are hit. But boss rushes? Nah, rather have at least two acts of actual levels before the boss.

    On the million Blue Night Hill Zones, and Sunset Green Hill Zones, I agree with you completely Unlimited Trees. If you are able, try giving the sunset and nighttimes a slightly different background. For sunset, use more reddish hues for the ground, orangey pink sky, pinkish clouds, and the sun be large, and look like it is halfway into the water. For the night, give it a darker colour green grass (almost pine green), no clouds, a moon or two in the sky, maybe some planets, and as many stars and constellations as possible. Take a look at Isolated Island from Knuckles Chaotix's graphics for more examples.
     
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  11. LordXernom

    LordXernom Well-Known Member Member

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    I noticed a trend of changing SEGA screen jingle into noise/scream weird samples for example Mobius Evolution, Atomic Sonic or Pantufa The Cat etc.
     
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  12. AURORA☆FIELDS

    AURORA☆FIELDS so uh yes Exiled

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    Why do you say this, might I ask? To me, bosses that basically force you into being hit are not designed well. A well designed boss will be challenging, but if you are good enough, you can play it without getting a hit. The idea of a boss is to test your skills, not to wreck your arse.

    As far as trends go, I would say something that has been the case for god knows how long; Laziness. There are tons of skilled people here, which could do awesome things, but instead we get unfinished, low quality garbage hacks all over, and very few ones with any actual thought put behind them. I mean come on, I know a lot of people here who could do shit better than certain infamous people here, but they are just too lazy to do shit, or not do shit right, and then the few people get all the praise by the community or by any random folks. Of course we do get good hacks from time to time, but they usually rot in the corner after the first release...
     
  13. ProjectFM

    ProjectFM Optimistic and self-dependent Member

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    On to this, it seems that projects that have a ton of work in them are being abandoned too often. I understand that there are tons of reasons to stop working on a hack such as loss of motivation or personal life getting in the way. With hacks that take tons of hours of every week to work on and several years to finish, I can see how likely it is for a project to be abandoned by the original developers. However, it just seems too rare to me that final releases are made that make something playable from what has been completed so far or the passing on of a project onto a different developer. It's even worse when no demos of the project are released whatsoever despite a large amount of progress being made on it. Not doing anything with what you've completed seems to be a waste of effort aside from the acquired skill of working on the project.

    I'm not saying you should release something barely-playable and buggy if you're done with a project, I'm recommending that something should be done with the assets that could benefit others either in giving them something to play, helping out someone with their project, or giving someone a project to work on. It's so frustrating to see wasted potential.

    If anyone would like me to finish their abondoned hack, I'd be happy to help!

    If I come across as too whiny or something, I'm sorry. It's 1AM and I'm tired.
     
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  14. Bluestreak

    Bluestreak Lady in red, living in dread. Member

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    Honestly, if I ever were to abandon a project, ProjectFM, I would fully authorize you to take over. Just try to ask before making any HUGE changes lol.

    A trend I find rather amazing is the extent that joke hacks can go with modification of art, physics, coding, and more, adding in effects we would never think of seeing on the Mega Drive back in the day.

    Also, single level hacks are another thing I see, which makes me rather sad when they are incredibly well made. Some, like Egg Factory, I desperately wish were more than one level, and seemed to be intended as only one level. Others, like Pana Der Hejhog and Sonic Brother Trouble, and Sonic: The Next Level, I would have sold my soul to have them finished, or at least levels and assets from the first two mentioned get added to and/or remade for Sonic: The Next Level.
     
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  15. pixelcat

    pixelcat The Holy Cat Jr. Member

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    @Trees, does that mean I killed myself?

    rlly, i don't understand how is orange ≠ sunset
     
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  16. nineko

    nineko I am the Holy Cat Member

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    How about some Azure Lake music in Green Hill Zone?
    Also the Sonic CD jump sound, which I still hate with all of myself. Or the extended camera, another thing I hate.

    Speaking of things I like, instead, many hacks add centiseconds to the time, which can be as overused as it can be, but it actually makes sense in a speedrun-oriented game.
     
  17. Selbi

    Selbi The Euphonic Mess Member

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    On the topic of abandoned projects, you simply cannot turn any turd into gold. If you've created a hack that has a concept or gimmick that was doomed from the start, putting the effort into it to finishing the hack is just as much of a wasted effort in my opinion.

    If you've released a demo and almost nobody cared, why finish the hack?
     
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  18. MainMemory

    MainMemory Well-Known Member Member

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    Maybe because you really like the idea, and what anyone else thinks is secondary.
     
  19. Trinitronity

    Trinitronity Well-Known Member Member

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    Seconded! I mean, I am still working on Pikachu the Mouse.
     
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  20. Bluestreak

    Bluestreak Lady in red, living in dread. Member

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    Trinitronity, I want to see you finish Pikachu the Mouse. From what I have played of the last version, it was pretty likeable. I feel Pikachu needs a heavily different sprite though that looks like the old fat Pikachu (there is an old NES pirate that has a pretty good Pikachu sprite to use as a basis).