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Sonic for SegaCD

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by Stealth, Nov 29, 2005.

  1. Stealth

    Stealth

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    Sonic Mania, HCGE, Sonic Megamix, SonED2, [...]
    *********
    Edit:
    The outcome of this can be found starting with This post. Do not click this link with high hopes

    The original first-post of this thread is left in-tact below
    *********

    No, it's not Sonic CD. It's Sonic (1 and 2) for SegaCD, the port job for which information was leaked and a rant was started. I put some more thought into the major problems, and ultimately worked out some solutions. That's not to say that I'm "finished", or have even removed all of the bugs, but I'm considering uploading a playable "proof-of-concept" build. From the player's perspective, though, it's just plain old Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 (and just the first levels at that), which it's meant to be, but which may also be disappointing to the eye because the effort and technical aspects are not readily apparant except for the fact that you pop it in your SegaCD or run it from an ISO. For that reason, I've decided to hold a sort of "contest" geared toward adding a little more content to the "proof-of-concept" release and giving some lucky person the opportunity to be the first (without a "backup unit", of course) to see some of their work run on a real Genesis, and to let others see the same (assuming all involved parties have a SegaCD, of course). It's a two part contest:

    PHASE 1 - Nomination

    If you would like the opportunity to have some of your "hacking" work appear on the SegaCD, the first thing you have to do is nominate yourself. The reason for this is that I want permission to be given up-front for the use of anyone's content, rather than people telling me what to do with OTHER people's content and having me crack and steal things from Work-in-Progress or recent "hacks". By nominating your "hack", you are agreeing to send me all necessary source materials and information related to the aspect of your "hack" that you would like featured in the ISO, so understand this point and that it is strictly your decision as to whether or not you submit anything for conversion.

    I will not be converting entire "hacks"; I will only be implementing an individual level and/or an individual programming feature, or somewhat more depending on the content of the level/feature. You can submit only the defining level/feature of your "hack", or you can make multiple separate submissions and see which one comes out on top

    I reserve the right to reject any submisions based on content, complexity, etc, meaning that if a submission is too ugly or unsubstantial, or will be too time-consuming to be implemented, it may not be put to vote. This will be decided on a case-by-case basis, and may not actually have any affect at all, we'll just have to see which extremeties are met. I also will not guarantee that a winning submission will be met with success, but implementation will be attempted to the fullest of my ability and the limitations within which I have to work

    Each submission will be analyzed and possibly discussed with the author to discern exactly what it would take to implement them, and they will be listed accordingly for phase 2

    PHASE 2 - Vote

    Once I close Phase 1, Phase 2 will begin, in which the rest of the members will vote for the submission they would most like to see on SegaCD. Obviously, you cannot vote for your own submission, but you CAN vote for another submission if for any reason you feel inclined to ("If not my hack, this one..", etc).

    I'm considering a points system if there are enough submissions.. Instead of a single vote, members would list their top ? favorites from greatest to least, each recieving a number of points depending on it's rank in the list. This way, if any one person's most favorite submission doesn't win, they can have also helped their second, third, etc. If this proves to be an unpopular method before phase 2 starts, we'll stick to a single entry vote.

    When phase 2 ends, the author of the winning submission will then be asked to arrange a method for sending me copies of the source data/code/info if they haven't done so for some reason already, and implementation will begin, to be concluded after however long it takes.




    I don't know how well this "Contest" is going to go over, but I hope it gets a sufficient turnout rather than just a couple of replies that don't really lead to much.

    I was once asked for a "teaser shot", but unfortunately I can't prove beyond doubt that I have this running on a SegaCD with a still image, so if anyone thinks that I would be the kind of person to lie about something like this, that's just their own problem. For this reason, though, the author of the winning submission CAN be sent a working build before they send their source data if they so desire

    To any entrants and anyone hoping to see their favorite part of their favorite hack run on SegaCD, good luck!

    Phase 1 begins now...
     
  2. LocalH

    LocalH

    roxoring your soxors Tech Member
    I like this idea.

    Pinned.
     
  3. Heran Bago

    Heran Bago

    Ah! It's Puyo battle then. Tech Member
    Guess I'll be the first.
    I'd like to nominate that time I ported the tiles of Isolated Island (Chaotix) to Sonic 2.I didn't finish the layout or collision, and still needed to work out a couple bugs. But just porting IIZ to Sonix 2, maybe even based off what I have, I nominate that.
    It's not much, but pretty cool IMO.
     
  4. Varion Icaria

    Varion Icaria

    He's waiting.... Tech Member
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    I have a question, If I nominate myself and present an idea for a level [including a boss and probably an event] would I have to just provide Art or something or code as well? [I'm not nominating myself yet but I just want to know the answer to my question]
     
  5. Stealth

    Stealth

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    Sonic Mania, HCGE, Sonic Megamix, SonED2, [...]
    Well, right now I don't really think I'll be taking any requests for me to do any coding of fresh ideas simply due to the fact that it'd end up taking longer, and this is only one of several things I'm involved in right now. Feel free to present your ideas and collaborate with other people to come up with a physical submission, though. That's certainly not against the rules, and neither is someone whipping up something new of their own to submit. If you have something that you think you might be able to create or have created before the close of the contest (which is currently undecided), you can go ahead and try submitting the proposed work. Just don't get in over your head :P
     
  6. Varion Icaria

    Varion Icaria

    He's waiting.... Tech Member
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    Ah I see, I'll think about Nominating myself once I know the close of contest cause I could then whip up my own schedule for whatever I decide to try out.
     
  7. Rika Chou

    Rika Chou

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    Wouldn't it be easier just to release the ported S1 and S2 ROMS (after completed of coarse) then people can port their work in themselves? Or would it be more complicated than that?

    I ask because there are a lot of hacks (mine included) that have so much changed, it is so hard to keep track of everything. This could cause a bit of confusion.
     
  8. Tweaker

    Tweaker

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    This seems like a good idea to me. I have a lot of stuff that I've got mapped out, so I could easily reapply my changes.

    Hmm... In theory, wouldn't these be compatible with SonED 2? That would rock. =P
     
  9. Stealth

    Stealth

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    Sonic Mania, HCGE, Sonic Megamix, SonED2, [...]
    That's why it's sort of limited right now. At the moment I'm only going for "simple" things, in that they're either relatively small or well documented, but at the same time, not something piddly like a blocky level made up of nothing but a single new 8x8 tile or poorly constructed from original tiles and/or bad palettes, or program mods that anyone could've come up with in about 5 seconds.

    The build I upload this time will pretty much just be to get the point across, not really suited for anyone's use. That, and the fact that I want it's potential to be apparant right from the time I unleash it to the public are why I'm holding the contest and will be implementing the winning submission personally

    What was it, in specific, about your hack that required so many changes? I'll repeat myself to say that right now I'm only doing individual levels/features, if you thought differently.. Otherwise, as I also said, there may just be some features too complex for me to take the time to implement right now, though I'm not exactly sure what they might be if they were pre-coded
     
  10. Rika Chou

    Rika Chou

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    I see, that makes perfect sense. Good Idea.
     
  11. ICEknight

    ICEknight

    Researcher Researcher
    I was wondering, will everybody be getting credit for each feature/level in the ending credits?


    Would the Mecha Flicky qualify?
    [​IMG]
     
  12. Cinossu

    Cinossu

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    Sonic the Hedgehog Extended Edition
    Hm.. not sure if this is acceptable, but it's worth a shot. It's not completely finished yet, but..

    http://hapisan.sepwich.com/music/Sonic%202/ (ignore the ones beginning with s2sms :P)

    I was gonna be using these in conjunction with a version of the S2MP3 tool. The reason I'm nominating these? Well, it's for the Mega/SegaCD, therefore CD Audio! :P

    EDIT: d'oh, reread the post, and this isn't really a simple thing.. ah well..
     
  13. Hivebrain

    Hivebrain

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    Having the music run from CD audio would be brilliant.

    There are a few features in S1 Plus that could be used, such as the new objects I programmed which would be very easy to copy into another hack.
     
  14. Heran Bago

    Heran Bago

    Ah! It's Puyo battle then. Tech Member
    Yeah! CD audio plz. It would be like having high quality music in Sonic 2 hacks, without the pain of it not working on the real hardware!
     
  15. Stealth

    Stealth

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    Sonic Mania, HCGE, Sonic Megamix, SonED2, [...]
    It doesn't go as far as to have "Ending Credits" or anything, it's basically just going to be Sonic 1 title screen with Green Hill, Sonic 2 title screen with Emerald Hill, the very small SonED2 example level, and something based on the outcome of this thread, which I honestly can't even set in stone because I don't know EXACTLY how many and what type of submissions I'll end up with. I'll have to wait and see what everyone comes up with and go from there in creating options for people to vote for that could consist of one person's work, or a few people's smaller submissions combined. It'll be far from a comlete game or anything, basically just enough to show the submission(s) in action, but hopefully enough to still prove interesting and/or fun

    I will include a text within the ISO giving the name(s) or any other info for the people responsible for anything that gets included, though

    Yeah, it would

    CD music is very simple to add. As I think I said before, I had Sonic 2 using CD audio for a while, and it wouldn't be very hard to allow for it. I don't really know about using them, though.. the programs for the original games will use the original sound, and I will include a CD track for the SonED2 example, but, I guess I could add a second program for Emerald Hill that calls on the CD track, or one of them could be used in combination with something else. Also, if anyone does want to submit some CD music, I'll probably be asking you to host it separately if it'll be used. The audio tracks stay in separate files from the ISO anyway, and are either called that way by the emulator, or can be added to a CD by setting up a cue sheet (which I can probably provide)

    If there're any in specific you'd like to add, feel free to list them here or send them to me by PM or something. If you want me to pick and choose, I can go through and see what's available, and let you know what I've decided on based on what's there and what else is coming in (based on the fact that I may be combining some entries, pending each author's approval, of course)


    I also never actually responded to this one:
    That could fly as a submission too, just work on completing it as much as you can since this is about seeing something YOU've done, and I should be spending more time making it complete and working in general than working out other people's ideas myself :P
     
  16. SGR

    SGR

    Give me the gams. Member
    Just out of curiosity, is there going to be a title for this? Or is it simply Sonic 1 + 2 or something of the like?
     
  17. The Mighty Boosh

    The Mighty Boosh

    Stupid like a FOX! Member
    Stealth, how about you port Knuckles in S1 to Sonic CD?

    I'd love to see that on real hardware. Just a suggestion.
     
  18. Cinossu

    Cinossu

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    Sonic the Hedgehog Extended Edition
    .. you call that simple? :P
    Whilst it would be awesome, I don't think enough is known about Sonic CD right now to be able to do this (or if anyone has disassembled it/if it's even possible to be fully disassembled properly)
     
  19. The Mighty Boosh

    The Mighty Boosh

    Stupid like a FOX! Member
    Well, I never said it was simple, but Stealth knows his own work better than anyone elses.

    Was just a suggestion anyway. I'd nominate my own hack but it's WAY too far from completion to even consider it. :P
     
  20. Varion Icaria

    Varion Icaria

    He's waiting.... Tech Member
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    Cino, to have a Genesis rom on a Sega CD you don't need to understand Sonic CD but ingeneral how the Sega CD works and uses it's own processor as it's a second 68K processor. There are different Ram regions as well as some CD specific instructions as well so it'd take quite the understanding and research to program for the Sega CD alone.