Sonic the Hackable

Discussion in 'Showroom' started by CHRdutch, Sep 7, 2017.

  1. CHRdutch

    CHRdutch h Member

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    [​IMG]
    Sonic the Hackable is a Sonic 4/Dimps styled Sonic ROM hack of the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive. It features new layouts, new zones, new moves and a remixed soundtrack by LackofTrack and others.

    This hack is currently still in development. Be in the lookout for new updates in the future.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Crush Dr. Eggman!

    After Dr. Eggman's defeat in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, the Death Egg MK II is left without a power source. Sonic, whose escape pod has landed back onto Mirage Island, is left without Tails, who seems to have landed somewhere else. Knowing Dr. Eggman's resilience, Sonic knows that the evil doctor will stop at nothing to find a new power source to breathe new life into his wicked contraption. With this in mind, Sonic storms off towards the Mad Gear, Eggman's power plant that was powerful enough to refurbish Metal Sonic. Eggman's true plans are unknown, but breaking into his base and destoying his only known source of power sounds like a good start to stop whatever it is.

    Now, Sonic must travel through Mirage Island one final time to put an end to this saga once for all.


    Controls

    A/B/C - jump

    A/B/C (midair) - air dash

    Left/Right - move

    Up - look up

    Down - crouch

    Down + A/B/C - spindash


    Credits

    Original Game: Sonic Team

    Tools used

    Sonic 1 GitHub disassembly: Hivebrain, Stealth, drx & Esreal

    SonLVL: MainMemory

    S1SSEdit: MainMemory

    SonED2: Stealth

    Tilemolester: SnowBro

    Sonic One Music Editor: fuzzbuzz

    Sonic 2 GitHub disassembly: Nemesis, Aurochs & Xenowhirl

    NewNeko Palette Editor: Nineko

    Music Pointer Fixer: Erik JS

    SMPSConv: ValleyBell

    SMPS research pack: ValleyBell

    mid2smps: ValleyBell

    Nineko Midi Event Editor: Nineko

    The Sega Data Compressor: Magus

    SonMapEd: Xenowhirl

    Sonic 4 Episode I midi's rip: evilhamwizard

    SMPS2ASM: flamewing

    Ultimate Sega Hideki sample pack 3.1

    gmv2bin: Mercury

    Flex 2: snkenjoi

    SonPLN: MainMemory

    SMPS Optimiser: Valleybell

    VGM2SMPS: Ivan YO

    GensRR

    XVI32

    Paint.net

    Notepad++

    MidiEditor

    Guides used

    Spindash Guide Part 1: Lightning & kram1024

    Spindash Guide Part 2: Puto

    Spindash Guide Part 3: shobiz

    Spindash Guide Part 4: Mercury

    Different songs per Act: nineko

    Dynamic Palettes: PsychoSk8r

    PAL Music Tempo Guide: Crash

    Walk Jump Bug fix: Cinossu & Mercury

    Spike Bug fix: FraGag

    Fix the SEGA sound: Puto

    Display Press Start Button Text: Quickman & Egor305

    Water Guide: Tornado

    How to make a good custom palette: Mr. Cat

    SMPS Guide: Markeyjester

    Use Dynamic Tilesets in Sonic 1: HPZMan (Only Dynamic Pattern Load Cues were used)

    How to make a good sounding mid2smps conversion: A-S-H

    Remove the speed cap: Tweaker & Puto

    Fix Song Restoration Bugs in Sonic 1's Sound Driver: Markeyjester & Clownacy

    Fix demo playback: FraGagFix the camera follow bug: MarkeyJester

    Fix the HUD blinking: Quickman

    Optimize ring scattering: SpirituInsanum

    How to implement "Dimps ring physics" in Sonic 1: Shockwave

    Fixing the top-right corner reloading glitch in S1: SpirituInsanum

    How to record a demo: Mercury

    Extend ROM Chunks to $FF in Sonic 1: GenesisDoes

    How To: Reversing the Timer in Sonic 2 (ASM): DLloyd

    How to optimize Shield Art loading in Sonic 1: SuperEgg

    Adding Sonic 2's Splash and Skid Dust to Sonic 1: ProjectFM

    Make an Alternative Title Screen: JcFerggy

    (Sonic 1) Sonic CD Roll-Jump & Freeing a Status Bit: Kilo

    Art

    CHRdutch

    Markeyjester

    Sapristi45

    Dolphman

    Sonic Team

    Level Design

    CHRdutch

    SMPS Remixes

    Splash Hill Act 1: LackofTrack

    Splash Hill Act 3: LackofTrack

    Sylvania Castle Act 1: LackofTrack

    Sylvania Castle Act 2: LackofTrack

    Sylvania Castle Act 3: LackofTrack

    Casino Street Act 1: LackofTrack

    Night Carnival Zone: CHRdutch

    Metropolitan Highway: Dv2

    Lost Labyrinth Act 1: LackofTrack

    Lost Labyrinth Act 2: Spanner

    Lost Labyrinth Act 3: LackofTrack

    White Park Act 3: LackofTrack

    Mad Gear Act 1: LackofTrack

    Mad Gear Act 2: LackofTrack

    Mad Gear Act 3: LackofTrack

    Sonic 4 Boss Pinch: LackofTrack

    Sonic 4 Invincibilty: LackofTrack

    Sonic 4 Title Screen: LackofTrack

    Sonic 4 Episode I Cutscene: LackofTrack

    Sonic 4 Episode I Final Boss: LackofTrack

    Sonic 4 Episode I Game clear: LackofTrack

    DualPCM sounddriver by MarkeyJester

    Programming

    CHRdutch

    Markeyjester

    Sonic Team

    Bug fixing support

    Markeyjester

    Natsumi

    MainMemory

    Novedicus

    Pacguy

    LackofTrack

    RandomName

    Playtesting

    R4zZ0r

    Misc.

    Sonic Title Font: SEGA Enterprises

    Meow Mix song (Used in SEGA sound)

    Smosh (Used in SEGA sound)
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Oct 12, 2021
  2. Clownacy

    Clownacy Retired Staff lolololo Member

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  3. CHRdutch

    CHRdutch h Member

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    Oh shit.

    Welp, I changed the game's name back to it's original name. How do I change the thread's title?

    (I'll reupload the ROM tonight, gotta change it's name)

    -----[Edit]-----

    Alright, ROM's back up.
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2017
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  4. CHRdutch

    CHRdutch h Member

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  5. CHRdutch

    CHRdutch h Member

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    Bump: new update.

    Check the opening post for more details.
     
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  6. CHRdutch

    CHRdutch h Member

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    New update bois
     
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  7. Angel X

    Angel X Well-Known Member Member

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    I just read the story of this game and an idea came to me.
    That is another name for the ROM hack:
    Sonic the Hedgehog:The reconstruction of MK II
    For this title I was inspired by this part:'Dr. Eggman has also planned to use the six chaos emeralds (which Sonic apparently lost, again) as a power source to relaunch the Death Egg MK II'.
    What do you think about it?
    Speaking of the hack itself, it has good and challenging mechanics.
    The part that I liked the most was the last part for its speed.
    Another thing to say is that it rewards you for your skill (the less you fall, you spend less time getting to the end), and I like it.:D
     
  8. CHRdutch

    CHRdutch h Member

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    Hmm, I guess it is a more logical title in regards to the story, but I think it makes it sound like the Death Egg Mk II is the main focus of the entire hack, which it is not.
    I mean, the Death Egg Mk II will be the final level, but main focus of this hack is to give Sonic 1 a Sonic 4 themed overhaul.
    There will be some non-Sonic 4 bits to keep the whole thing from feeling like a rehash (like SYZ2), but the whole 'its Sonic 1 again but with a bit more Sonic 4 flair' thing is currently this hack's main focus.


    Now, that being said...
    WHY DOES EVERYBODY KEEP GETTING CONFUSED ABOUT THIS HACK'S NAME!? IT'S A REFERENCE TO "SONIC THE PORTABLE" WHICH WAS SONIC 4'S DEVELOPMENTAL NAME. I KNOW THE REFERENCE IS HELLA OBSCURE BUT W- oh, that's probably what it is. The reference is way too obscure.

    Huh.
     
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  9. Angel X

    Angel X Well-Known Member Member

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    LOL
    I didn't know about this!

    EDIT:In this forum I'm discovering a lot of things I didn't know about Sonic!
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2019
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  10. Spanner

    Spanner The Tool Member

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    Neither did I. Last I thought, it was called Pikachu in a Sombrero.
    [​IMG]
    It was also referred to as Project Needlemouse.
     
  11. CHRdutch

    CHRdutch h Member

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    New update.

    The whole Sonic 4 inspiration thingy has gotten a bit out of hand in this one.
     
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  12. CHRdutch

    CHRdutch h Member

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    Hey, uhh... I'm thinking about writing an update post regarding the current direction the project is taking in order to better communicate what I'm trying to achieve (and to help formulate my thoughts). But first, I want to know what I've been communicating so far how people view this project currently.
    So, I have three questions:

    1. What are your views on this project?

    2. What do you think the project is trying to achieve?

    3. What do you expect of this project going forward?

    Thanks in advance for answering.
     
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  13. Chron Dafter

    Chron Dafter Newcomer Member

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    1. This project resparked my interest for Sonic fan projects and prompted me to try my hand at it. I love it.
    2. I think it's trying to show what could have been, had Dimps taken a different approach, or maybe paying homage to the games referenced (S4, Advance, etc).
    3. I think after the last demo, the Splash Hill one, I'm thinking of seeing more Sonic 4 art, like Sylvania Castle for Marble, or Casino Street for Spring Yard, etc.
     
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  14. Giovanni

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

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    Me personally, I really like this project! From a pure gameplay standpoint, it's one of my favorites.

    The most familiarity I've had with the ROM hack is with the 2019 and the 2021 versions, and, as you said yourself, there's clear inspiration taken from Dimps' works, so I'd say that this hack is trying to be a sort of love letter/improvement to what is already good of those works.

    As far as expectations from this project? I'm blindsided. I genuinely am not sure what to expect, outside from the Sonic 4 inspired content you've already showcased in the past. Maybe you could string together something with other Dimps works, like the Advance series, or Rush. While I do spot things that remind of entries in these games, the Sonic 4 inspiration is a whole lot more prominent, and, while it is nice, I'd love to see more from pretty much anything in those games. There's good concepts you can grab from there, and I'd love to see those. Maybe this could become a sort of "Mania" equivalent of Dimps' works!
     
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  15. CHRdutch

    CHRdutch h Member

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    Thanks for the responses, now I have a bit of insight about how the project is currently viewed. Although, that's only the views of the audience that is interested enough to both look at and post in the main development thread.

    Anyway, at this current moment, the hack describes itself as a 'Sonic 4/Dimps styled ROM hack'. Before that, it was mainly a hack focused on level design. As evident from the current description, the Sonic 4 inspiration in this hack has kept escalating more and more. Now, at this point in development, the Sonic 4 inspiration has escalated so much that I've decided to rework the hack into something closer to a demake.
    The reason why I'm doing this is because I currently feel like the current levels no longer represent the hack's current direction well. If I were to finish Lost Labyrinth Zone and not change anything with Splash Hill Zone, then the two zones would not feel like they're part of the same hack. Imagine going from a zone that's basically just reskinned Green Hill Zone with water and speedboosters, to a zone that suddenly has the original Sonic 4 gimmicks and plays nothing like the original zone at all. Splash Hill Zone would feel unfinished and unrefined next to that.
    So, in order to make the hack feel more consistent, I will be reworking Splash Hill Zone and implement the original Sonic 4 gimmicks. Not every zone will be fully intact with the original Sonic 4 gimmicks, since I think some gimmicks would not work as well without a homing attack, or they just straight up suck and I want to replace them. I'll still try to keep the Dimps theme for the replacement acts though. The zone that was planned for Star Light Zone (Sunset City) will also probably be scrapped in favour of White Park Zone.

    Alright, that being said, now that the hack is essentially a demake, you're probably wondering how a generic Sonic 1 ROM hack could spiral into becoming a Sonic 4 demake. So, in order to answer that question and also because I want to self reflect on this journey, I'll be going over this hack's development history. I'll try to categorize it in SHC releases. Okay, let's do it!

    Sonic the Hackable development history (up to this point)

    pre-development:

    Honestly, this entire ROM hacking thing just kind of happened at random. One day, I was just kind of chilling on the couch and I remembered those MegaGWolf Sonic ROM hack videos I used to watch. Then, I wondered if someone had ever remade Sonic 1 for the Master System in 16-bit. After lots of searching, I found at that such a project did not exist. Being a little pissed about that, since I really wanted such a ROM hack to exist, I had a bit of a "fine, I'll do it myself" moment. How hard can it be, right?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yNpxNzmzo8
    SSRG only allows 5 pieces of media, so this is a link now. h

    Turns out, Sonic ROM hacking is actually really hard. I managed to recreate the title screen and Green Hill Zone Act 1, but that's it. I had no idea how to recreate the water pools seen in Act 2, I had no idea how to draw and implement pixel art, I had no idea how to reprogram bosses and I definitely did not have any idea how to program a map screen. I needed a different project that I could use to hone my skills. I needed something I couldn't care less about and something I could just haphazardly prototype with to figure out how ROM hacking worked. So because of that reason, I started...

    A generic Sonic 1 ROM hack (SHC 2017)

    Ah, yes. I'll just do what everyone else is doing, make a sloppy Sonic 1 hack without any direction. I'm not even going to change the zone name, that's how little I care. I'm so nihilistic and cool. Act 1, I just slapped together with a level editor without a care in the world. I didn't know a thing about Sonic level design, so I just brute forced a layout by haphazardly placing chunks in SonED2. Then when I started Act 2, I wanted to do something different. Hmmm, that Sonic 4 Episode II game I played this year has a water level as the second act, you know what, I'll just do that. As for Act 3, hmmm, that Sonic 4 Episode I game I like so much has a cool, speedy, sunset level. I'll just do that then, I'll even reuse parts of the layout (all of these levels are made out of haphazardly placed chunks, by the way). I took the Splash Hill Act 3 from the free assets thread. The result:


    This is an old version released to the 2020 SHC expo, but it's modified to have a Splash Hill teaser at the end. The old layouts are still intact however.

    You know, I tried asking people to beta test this hack while tearing it apart in the same sentence.

    [​IMG]

    Unsurprisingly, nobody responded. Not even this image worked. So, in order to make this hack better, I decided to rework Act 1 and Act 2, by haphazardly placing chunks again WHAT. So, I posted the reworked hack on SSRG under a new name "Sonic's Return to South Island". Oh, oops, I guess there already is a hack with a similar name. A generic Sonic 1 ROM hack it is then. I posted the same hack on Sonic Retro as well.
    After getting some feedback, I fixed some bugs (with help), did Marble Zone Act 1's layout by haphazardly placing chunks and decided to submit to SHC 2017.


    Surprisingly, the feedback was actually kind of positive (from what I can remember at least, I can no longer find the SHC 2017 judge evaluations). So, I continued working on this project.


    Sonic the Hackable (SHC 2018)

    At this point it's not called "a generic Sonic 1 ROM hack" anymore, so I guess I did care a little. This release continues the design principles that were present in the SHC 2017 release: Act 1 is a standard act that has the original zone gimmicks, while Act 2 and 3 change something about the level, similar to Sonic 4. Marble Zone Act 2 was supposed to be a Lost Labyrinth Zone Act 2 style level, but I had no idea how to program that, so I messed with the water palette effect and just made the level really dark. I had no idea how to make a good SMPS either, so I just changed around a midi and used the default mid2smps intruments. Marble Zone Act 3 is a water level at night, similar to Sylvania Castle Act 3. The SMPS was made the same way. I submitted this to both SAGE 2018 and SHC 2018, the only differences between them being some polish and Spring Yard Act 1 being present. At this point, it should be pretty obvious how these level layouts were made. The result:


    Again, surprisingly, the response was mostly positive, but there was some (well warranted) negative feedback. Some really, really didn't like this release though. It was getting obvious that the lack of quality control was being a detriment to this project. I needed to ditch the haphazard prototyping mindset. Still won the Lava Reef trophy though, somehow.


    SHC 2019

    Another year, another SHC. At this point in development, I was not quite satisfied with how the hack was going. I wanted it to be like Sonic 4 (idk why lol), but it still felt like a generic Sonic 1 ROM hack that has a ton of Sonic 4 stuff in it for some reason. So, I changed the title screen sprite to modern Sonic's render from Sonic 4 to make it more obvious that the hack is like Sonic 4. In terms of gameplay, there was also something missing. Eventually I realised that there's a move present in Sonic 4 that changes up the gameplay a lot, which was not present in the hack. So, I programmed an air dash move.
    This marks a pretty substantial change in this hack's development. The hack was taking a departure from the classic Sonic gameplay style in favour of something in which you're more in control of Sonic's speed and less dependent on gaining speed through momentum. Spring Yard Zone Act 2 also reflects this change: the level is filled with speed boosters and dash rings. The intention was to create a level that played like Sonic Rush, which is not exactly "classic" Sonic. This level was also first sketched on paper and then recreated in SonLVL, instead of being created by haphazardly placing chunks.
    Anyway, back to the air dash. While the move did work similarly to Sonic 4, the animations were missing. I had no idea how to sprite or how to recreate that dash ring effect, so I asked for help.
    Apparently I posted that when all of the stars were aligned, because Markeyjester decided to help out with the animations. I also noticed that someone called LackofTrack made some pretty impressively accurate Sonic 4 remixes, so I contacted them to ask for permission to use their remixes. Surprisingly, they offered to make more remixes (thank fuck, I can't make remixes for shit. That's a huge weight off of my chest. Still really appreciate this xdddd). Spanner also offered his old Sonic 4 remixes. This year's release was shaping up to be a lot more polished.


    The hack managed to get 3rd place in the judged retro category, looks like polishing the hack did pay off. IIRC, plenty of feedback was regarding the lack of new art (I can't find the SHC 2019 evaluations to check).


    SHC 2021

    I considered just normally making new acts as I did previously, but I was really getting tired of seeing Green Hill Zone. I was also getting tired of the first reaction to the hack always being "oh, it's just a basic Sonic 1 hack", so I needed to change something again. I decided to listen to the feedback and create new art, this time I'd do the art myself.
    Now, take a big guess what I did? Hmmmm... That's right, I made it more like Sonic 4. Whaaaaat.
    I had to skip a SHC release because Splash Hill's art wasn't finished yet at the time. Heck, I barely made the SHC 2021 deadline. All I was able to do within the time was finish and implent Splash Hill's art. I didn't really think of the repercussions the new art would have. I was just tired of seeing Green Hill Zone and wanted the hack to not be treated like a generic Sonic 1 ROM hack anymore. Anyway, I did manage to crunch in a SHC 2021 release, but it was only Splash Hill. This release was mostly to show the new direction the hack was taking.


    Post SHC 2021 - Current (as of 15.05.2023)

    Hey, wait a second. What "new" direction exactly? I know I'm going to replace the other zones' art with something out of Sonic 4 and I'm going to change Sonic's sprites to modern Sonic, but what exactly is the path from here? Am I just going to change the art while keeping the same slapdash layouts? Am I going to put Lost Labyrinth Zone Act 2's gimmicks in what is now planned to be Sylvania Castle? This project is now so similar to Sonic 4 that the original concepts that were planned are starting to seem out of place. Splash Hill Act 2 already seems out of place. You know, this hack looks like Sonic 4, it sounds like Sonic 4, it kind of plays like Sonic 4, I might as well go all in and make it Sonic 4.
    Everyone also seems to be complaining constantly about what is the """real""" Sonic 4. Sonic Mania is the real Sonic 4, Sonic Advance is the real Sonic 4, some random fangame is the real Sonic 4.
    At this point I've put so much effort into making Sonic 1 like Sonic 4 and LackofTrack has remixed most of the Sonic 4 tracks (thanks, by the way xdd) that I'm like, screw it, I'll rework this into a Sonic 4 demake with some other Dimps stuff here and there.
    So, yeah, right now the hack is basically a Sonic 4 demake as well as a general homage to the Dimps era 2D Sonic games. I'm going to try to have this hack be more planned out, rather than haphazardly prototyped together. Sadly, this means that the next release will probably just be Splash Hill again, since I'll be making big changes to it and because the engine will have to be reworked for the larger layouts. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this project so far and I hope you'll like the next release.

    tl;dr This project's current aim is not to be a Sonic 4/Dimps styled hack of Sonic 1, but rather a Sonic 4 demake and a general Dimps 2D Sonic homage built on top of Sonic 1. Here is some WIP art. I'd like to have more to show but I was a bit busy having an identity crisis, so that slowed things down a bit.
    LLZ WIP.PNG

    fallingnewbig.png

    s1built020.jpg
    New background deformation effects are courtesy of Deltawooloo.

    Idk why I felt the need to do such a large infodump, but here we are. :)
     
  16. Giovanni

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

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    Thank you for sharing this! This has been one of my favourite ROM hacks since the 2019 build. I look forward to watching this hack's new direction, and wish you good luck with all of your present and future projects!