Sonic: Cybernetic Colony

Discussion in 'Showroom Archive' started by TheBlad768, Dec 31, 2016.

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  1. TheBlad768

    TheBlad768 Well-Known Member Member

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    [​IMG]
    From TheBlad768 and Ladego Team

    My mini-boss hack. I had an idea to improve my the boss from Sonic 1: Master Edition IV. I wanted to make the boss exactly as I had envisioned it from the beginning.


    Title Screen
    [​IMG]

    Options Screen
    [​IMG]

    Modes:

    Without
    - basically, no rings at all, very hard mode.
    Standard - normal mode with rings.
    More... - just like standard mode but bosses also drop rings on hit.

    There's also a sound test, sound effects and credits.

    Technical part

    This hack uses Advanced Z80 Player by Zyrinx. This driver was used in another game you all probably know about and that is The Adventures of Batman & Robin, Sub-Terrania or Red Zone.

    All music and SFX are written using only FM channels! This driver does not support the psg. But surprisingly it supports DAC samples(4-8 kHz). They couldn't play DAC samples continuously like in SMPS z80, because driver worked on YM timers, rather than vertical interruptions. The pace of the music does not differ between PAL and NTSC versions.

    All modulation in Advanced Z80 Player is done in "hardware". In smps is used "software".

    Authors

    [​IMG]

    Hack and idea: TheBlad768
    Graphics: EgorTF, Mr.Cat, Dolphman, SHooTeR, TheBlad768
    Programmer: TheBlad768
    Composer: Jesper Kyd
    Sound driver: Advanced Z80 Player
    Original idea: Sonic 1 Master Edition

    Screenshots
    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Video



    Download

    Download:
    http://www.mediafire.com/file/80nkwxnbim73der/Sonic+Cybernetic+Colony.bin
     
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  2. Narcologer

    Narcologer Hell angel Member

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    Very cool hack, TheBlad! Though it is short, the boss and environment looks really innovative. Well done!
     
  3. TheBlurCafe

    TheBlurCafe Welcome to TheBlurCafe! Member

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    Surprisingly, I managed to survive, I only had to save state 10 times, but it's not terrible.
    I like the use of Jesper Kyd's music (although I wish you would've used level IV from Sub-Terrania :c ), but I encountered a glitch, I was on Robotnik's last phase (and last hit) and he was at the left side of the screen, I hit him and then the cutscene happened, and guess what...
    SONIC WAS FASTER THAN ROBOTNIK
    So I ask, was this supposed to happen, or should the cutscene have played in the traditional way (Robotnik going faster than Sonic) ?
     
  4. Burst

    Burst You call this a connection? Oh, give me a break. Member

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    I finished playing! And this boss was hard but fun. Althrough, it was short. But still, nice job!
    @GF ThePlayer It should play in the traditional way. After the final hit, robotnik was in the right side, he was faster than sonic. I am not sure over the left side...
     
  5. LordXernom

    LordXernom Well-Known Member Member

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    It's good, but too short and attacks of these bosses are very similar to attacks from bosses from S3 Hard Bosses hack - your previous project. It can be repetitive and the lack of rings can make this even frustrating. Anyway, thank you for gift for us in form of this hack for end of year 2016. :)
     
  6. pixelcat

    pixelcat The Holy Cat Jr. Member

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    You can toggle rings in the options...
     
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2016
  7. AURORA☆FIELDS

    AURORA☆FIELDS so uh yes Exiled

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    Ok let me put it straight. The music is not really that good, and the lack of most SFX is not only offputting, but just makes the hack sound boring... The boss itself, is pretty unfair and not good. There was too much of me getting hit because I had a few frames to react to something. This is not difficulty, it is just being a dick. I am not playing the boss anymore, if all I get is just hurt or killed because I couldn't magically avoid something in a couple of frames. That's utter bullshit, and we've been through this before with a few people, I would think you'd take a note from it. It's a cool idea and nice for you to import a foreign sound driver in, but executed very lazily. You need to up your game.
     
  8. breakthetargets

    breakthetargets Well-Known Member Member

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    I have to agree with Natsumi on some parts. If the boss is too hard, you might have to reconsider changing the difficulty, because this is just ridiculously hard even with the rings option and it isn't fun to play, losing it's replay-ability. Actually, if you needed an options for the rings, why not just implement them anyway as standard? It's not like people would enjoy the standard option of the hack having no rings..

    I disagree about what Natsumi said about the music though, but that's mainly opinionated. Jesper Kyd's work on the MD is actually pretty well done on a technical level especially since his tracks are FM only and doesn't use the PSG nor DAC. His tracks has plenty of modulation which makes it distinct from plenty of MD soundtracks. In this case, with the songs being from Adventures of Batman & Robin, he used the YM2612's advantages with his own tunes instead of arranging the cartoon's music (orchestral, which the SNES version did). I find it very similar to Vectorman but much more technical in comparison.

    SFX is a must need. Without them, the game just doesn't feel right and sounds empty.

    EDIT: I realized that my second paragraph can cause some confusion. I didn't really mean to say that the music should be good because it was technical, I meant to say whether or not you liked the composition, I personally think you should at least appreciate it for how technical it was. Sorry for any confusion.
     
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2017
  9. pixelcat

    pixelcat The Holy Cat Jr. Member

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    What? I found that boss enjoyable. There's only one attack that can give you trouble, and others can be avoided with a single spindash or a jump... If you want, I can provide a video. This boss is challenging, but it's not as hard as you're describing it.

    Really. I don't know what you're talking about.


    Oh and there IS sfx, it's just different than usual.
     
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  10. LordXernom

    LordXernom Well-Known Member Member

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    But SFX is too noisy for me. Reminds me of Sonic Spinball stuff I didn't like. It's not enjoyable for my ears. Maybe it's just my opinion.
     
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  11. Giovanni

    Giovanni It's Joe-vanni, not Geo-vanni. Member

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    Alright, I gave a shot to the hack.
    So, I already did play Sonic 1: Master Edition IV in the past, and I expected something fresh and new from the name, but...

    The boss is just annoying, no matter which rings option you choose. Especially when you have to fight against Eggman's ball. I hate the fact it can be hit ONLY in specific moments.
    Luckily, I could get through the "More..." rings option without using save states.
    Now, music... On a technical side, it's interesting, but I can't enjoy listening to the music. It also seems like that most of Sonic's SFX aren't present, or it's just me that can't hear them.
    Finally, graphics. I do like the graphics in there. I also enjoy the "space" ambience that you've put into it. You've made a good job there.
    Now, a single oversight...
    Before the ending cutscene, I spin dashed, and what happened then? I saw Sonic and Eggman slow down, until Sonic became so slow that Eggman escaped. I won't expect it to be fixed, since a similiar bug happens even in Sonic 2. (If you spin dash at the end of the final boss, Sonic will reach a so low speed that will cause explosions to reach Sonic)

    Shortly, it's Sonic 1: Master Edition IV's final boss, but with bad music, a different sound driver, good graphics and a new ending cutscene.
     
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  12. Unlimited Trees

    Unlimited Trees Banned for being a fucking cockwomble Exiled

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    I've been wanting to do a post about this earlier, but I felt I was gonna come off a bit dickish, but I decided, fuck it I'm gonna talk about this hack anyways.

    So... Let's get the obvious out of the way: the name. I'm surprised no one has complained about it yet. Could you really have not picked a more original name? Besides, I see nothing involving any cybernetic colonies, so the name makes no sense anyways.

    Anyways, let's stop talking about names. After all, they're merely insignificant compared to the game itself. This could just be called "Da Boss" and it wouldn't make much a difference. Let's talk about the hack itself. So this is just a really short boss hack. Why isn't it considered a mini hack since it only contains about 4 minutes of gameplay is beyond me. We have one boss, some art stuff, and some music. Besides that we have the generic Sonic 3 Sonic sprite swap (which I absolutely despise by the way. Why do people keep using this sprite), an edit of some Sonic CD art for the foreground, the bland lol space background, and the boss itself. The Eggmobile's art is ok, but besides that there really is nothing to talk about. On the music side, however, you ported an inferior sound driver... for some reason. There's already another hack which has that Batman and Robin track, and I think it doesn't use the sound driver from that game, so why bother? Because of this sound driver, there is an absense of sound effects, which is really bad. I honestly thought Sonic had no sounds for him when I first played. The sound effects that are there aren't that good. What even is that jump sound? Who choose these sounds?

    Anyways, let's get to the actual meat of the hack, which is the one boss you have. And it's the same bland boss we've seen in every other boss hack ever. You have the "drop le bombs of death" taken from Scorched Quest and Egg Factory. You have the "Oh noes he has a bunch of small balls surrounding him and after hovering around he throws them!" move from Cybernetic Outbreak, you even have the "oh no he's a ball and he does a really quick unpredictable homing attack!" move. There's maybe a few new moves thrown in, but it's the same bland boss seen from every other hack. Can we have something a little more exciting for once? Besides that, this boss is only somewhat hard. It only required like 20 save states or something.

    Anyways, I don't like this hack. It's just a very short boss hack which contains a boss which is the same thing we've seen a few times before. It's technical I guess. But there isn't anything I can say that I liked about this (besides the music ports I guess). This hack isn't bad, it's just eh. I'm not interested.

    Yes there is sound effects, it's just that there's a small amount and what's there makes no sense (reminder of whatever the hell that jump is. Also the fact that there is no spindash charging sound is weird)
     
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2017
  13. JoenickROS

    JoenickROS ROS (bug fixing in progress) Member

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    Alright so everyone else pretty much said what I wanted to, but there was one part in the second phase that pissed me off and was total bullshit. The part where it goes back in fourth while all the spike balls are spinning, expanding and contracting and it shooting one every couple seconds and that whole time you cant hit him was an awful idea (Id get rid of it). It takes about 3 minutes to go through that part and I shouldn't have to wait that long for an opportunity to hit a boss.I did manage to beat it without save states, which is possible if you know how to take advantage of the spindash. Like most people I am disappointed, since you still dont seem to understand how to make bosses fair (I know a lot of people have talked to you about that in the past already).
     
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2017
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  14. Bluestreak

    Bluestreak Lady in red, living in dread. Member

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    I love the sadistic and ridiculously hard bosses you guys create, but without savestates, it seems pretty unbeatable for me outside of the "More..." difficulty, and that is a good thing, since Sonic games make me feel unchallenged often.

    Now on fairness... I think as long as you have the ability to have rings, it is all good. The option for "No rings" should not be the default, but rather a "Master" mode, with the "More..." mode being "Normal" (default), and the "Rings" mode being "Hard".

    I agree on the sound though. The SFX are AWFUL, and see no reason for the change, and I do agree with UnlimitedTrees on the Sonic 3 sprite, even if rather trivial, I always hated it, with the more washed out look and weird eyes.

    I won't lie, when I saw the "Cybernetic Colony" name, I expected Mecha Sonic to be the pilot tbh.
     
  15. D.A. Garden

    D.A. Garden Sonic CD's Sound Test Member

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    I have given this hack a go and I left with a sour taste in my mouth. I don't want to compare this to your other hacks, but I feel it's warranted as it's incredibly similar, and (unfortunately) it suffers from the same issues, so...

    This hack is difficult. But not in a fair, forgiving way. I feel like rote memorisation and quick reflexes aren't the best way to make something difficult, but this hack does just that and, like your previous endeavours, leaves me walking away with one sentiment: It just wasn't fun. The graphics look rather nice (love the new Egg Mobile graphics), the programming and technicality is on point and the sound engine port (while inferior in my opinion) is implemented and it works accordingly. But, the gameplay just didn't match it and it's a shame, because I really wanted to have an enjoyable experience with this hack and I didn't.

    The thing is, it's not like this hack is lacking potential. Far from it. But, just like your previous efforts, there's so much that can be expanded on to make an incredible hack that sticks with you. But this, again, sticks with me for the wrong reasons. It feels cheap and unfair, and not something I would willingly come back to.
     
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