Cross post from the Project Announcements topic:
Sonic Retro Community Progress Report After the overhaul of the S2HD subforum, very specific goals were created with the promise that the staff would be readily available to guide work done by the community. Two and a half months was set as the timeframe, with extremely reasonable goals to achieve. The overall goal was to give the community an opportunity to create key segments of Hill Top Zone from the ground up for inclusion in the alpha release.
Here's what we've seen, here's what we haven't:
Character art—good submissions and revision work has been done on the Eagle. Although it wasn't assigned as a goal, the work done on the Chicken has also been impressive.
Badnik art—one attempt was made on the Rexon and nothing since despite directed feedback from Cerulean Nights; one attempt has also been made on the Spiker, with the same result as the Rexon. There have also been no submissions for the Zone boss. There has been more discussion over the Nebula, which is -not- one of the current goals, than for any of the other HTZ enemy art combined. Work on the Ghora's flames was going well up until the overhaul, and then came to an abrupt halt.
Level art—Work was started on the level objects, including the rock, the lift platform, the seesaw, the door, and the tree during March. In the past few weeks there have been no updates for any of them. The existing quality on the submissions so far, aside from the rock and the seesaw, leaves a lot to be desired. The tree has also generated its fair share of debate, but the top section of it is still very unpolished. Actual ground tiles, such as the S tunnel listed in the goals, have seen zero attempts.
Music—Mesmonium has created an excellent submission and is in the process of revising it. I would still like to see steveswede polish his piece some more as well.
You wanted this to be an open community project, but there's been very little actual doing on that front. Early on, when the excitement with the topics overhaul was fresh, this was not the case and we saw plenty of activity. Since mid-April, however, this has not been the case; with the exception of a few contributors who have provided pieces on a consistent basis, it's unfair to the staff for you to tell us you want to participate and then leave us as the ones to do all the work. Because make no mistake: we certainly can, and we will one way or another. But don't expect to get credit for work you haven't done.
We've given you goals that are appropriate and fit with the current level of progress toward the alpha release. That said, if you can't make these goals, let us know; we are open to re-evaluating some things if it will really make a difference in the community's progress. But, the staff is not about to just let this devolve into a 'do whatever you want on your own timetable' sort of deal.
Because of outside events delaying this progress report by two weeks, I am extending the original deadline of June 1st to June 15th. That said, whether HTZ makes it into the alpha or not is very much in your hands. I know the talent exists here to make that happen. I hope the community here uses the next few weeks well toward that end. As always, the staff will be on hand to field questions and provide direction around this.
This post has been edited by Canned Karma: 16 May 2010 - 07:48 PM
. I mean I was a lurker for about a year before I finally decided to actually do something... and why? Because there was so much going on at the time and I just had to be involved!