[Kharen]

...Wow.



I've really got to hurry up and buy a new computer. Guess I'll just wait and see if somebody puts up a video of it in action. Still fun to read when you put up updates, though. I'm still interested in this project.
-----
Seriously, though. That's amazingly complex. All of that is all to make one of those platforms that drops when you land on it? There has got to be a less-complex 3D engine out there. Not saying that using GDK is a bad idea, I'm just amazed that you have to go through all of that for something so seemingly simple. Funny how this is more complicated when it's made to look like the Genesis game than it does for a more modern-looking game.

[Andrew75]

This demo will go public in the coming weeks
videos will be sure to follow. ^__^

[Andrew75]

As the project stands,,,,,I feel this may be the most complete 2.5D sonic fan experience to date.
Lots of effort has been put into the level geometry to help aid Xak in the programming of the physics to try and capture the Genesis gameplay feeling,
its not perfect, but its damed close.
Also 95% of the level props and background objects have been animated with pixel perfect timings to that of the original Genesis game. From the flowers to the springs.
(the remaining 5% are falling objects, as these could not be exactly replicated due to UDK's limited physics system)

I had no online pre-made references to look at except the Genesis game and years worth of research, visual reverse engineering and documenting each and and every object,
I have made 100s of illustrated charts showing timings and pixel locations that could be used to make pages of wiki articles.

Here are some of the more simple references. some of the more complex setups took sometimes over a day to put together, because of checking and quadrupole checking. (especially sonic physics stuff)

Later when I start to go full swing on CD remix, many of the systems will be set up already thinks to this green hill zone,
all that would need to be done is to replace the models, and make some shaders.





speaking about shaders,,,,, check out the glass effects here,, note how the colors separate towards the edges with the refraction, (this is called Chromatic Abrasion)
Lets just call this screen my shader Development canvas, to work on bits and pieces of shader effects, (they are not meant to be complete in this screen )
after the shader segments are made, they will be put togeather to form some nice looking eye candy.

This post has been edited by Andrew75: 19 July 2012 - 09:43 AM

[gummyworm]

Good gravy - that pic is amazing!

were you shooting for a clay-ish look? that's kind of how the ground/plants look to me - it's very nice looking :D

This post has been edited by gummyworm: 24 July 2012 - 04:26 PM

[Andrew75]

gummyworm, on 24 July 2012 - 04:23 PM, said:

Good gravy - that pic is amazing!

were you shooting for a clay-ish look? that's kind of how the ground/plants look to me - it's very nice looking :D

Yeah, I'll be going for the clay like look and feel,
Although these textures are just very old experiments I did a few years back,
I tossed them in to help with setting up some shaders.
The grey one is just the normal and spec map, no real color map had been set up yet in the screen,
( was dinking around with a few idea for modernizing green hill zone) and the other textures on the right were for Sonic CD remix, again paying with ideas.)
as for the crystal, it will get some depth fog effects within its interior as well as a few textures.
by the way the crystal and Collision Chaos plants uses more complex realtime refractions/reflections than what ships with UDK. ( well the reflections are turned off in this screen anyways)
its all custom. the result visually is very close to raytracing.

This post has been edited by Andrew75: 24 July 2012 - 10:24 PM

[Andrew75]

Hey guys, I'm sharing links to my 2 Sage booths, not much to look at,

There are a few issues with my booths, ( I know they must have been busy with being hacked and all this morning)

Anyhow even with that, I feel its no excuse, and I'm a bit on the angry disgruntled sonic fan side right now.

I took option 1: SAGE team would construct a Booth page for me. thats all fine and dandy and everything.
As I really had no time to do so on my own working day and night trying to get rid of Kismet bugs, modeling and setting up animations as accurately as I could.

First issue:
It seems that there really was no effort in putting the booths together, kind of sloppily done.

Second issue:
The AXSX (sonic Xtreme) Booth page does not even have the correct credits listed,
seems they are from someone Else's Booth submission.

Third Issue:
The latest demo that I submitted was not included on the booth for Green Hill Zone 2.5D
I was informed it would be there if I submitted by the 6th, I submitted it on the 5th. and than again today on the 6th.

Fourth Issue:
The main booth page, does not even have pictures for all the games. ( Just small text at the bottom)

I spent every day for the past 3 months working really hard, just to get them ready for Sage. ( like everyone else)
Most days only getting 4 hours sleep.
I pushed myself to the limits, even becoming sick on multiple occasions, Just to meet the lackluster event of Sage,
Always Assumed it would be An event with High quality standards, boy was I wrong..

Anyhow Here is the latest GHZ 2.5D Tech Demo. Build 11 ( not build 7 from the booth page)
Both Rar Files are required BTW.

Part 1
http://www.mediafire...866gx6241ibt6w5
Part 2
http://www.mediafire...x8f3xdeciju719m

Anyhow I'm not trying to sound like an ass or anything,
but come on...If the booths weren't finished why even post links to them....
Also there was no quality check sent over like was communicated before a booth went up.
Anyhow, I'm sure I'm blowing everything out of proportion, as I know the members trying to run Sage must be working hard, and are swamped.
Just blowing off steam is all.

And here are my booths.
http://sagexpo.org/g...zone-2-5d-beta/
http://sagexpo.org/g...x-sonic-xtreme/

Excuse my Jaded Sage review, its only the first day after all, lets see if things are fixed.

[Polygon Jim]

Out of curiosity why didn't you just have a level select in the GHZ demo seeing as it has a perfectly working version of the Xtreme map in it anyway. That would have been better than needing 2 different 200mb downloads.

[Andrew75]

Polygon Jim, on 07 August 2012 - 12:09 AM, said:

Out of curiosity why didn't you just have a level select in the GHZ demo seeing as it has a perfectly working version of the Xtreme map in it anyway.
That would have been better than needing 2 different 200mb downloads.

They Ran on Seperate Custom SGDK builds , no time to see if they could be built as a single game.
I was so busy doing last minute fixes,
what you see there was pure man hours with no time to do anything else for the past few months.

I think that even if I could put them in the same EXE.
It would have been a 500 meg download, there are alot of assets for both projects.
they are masive beasts, containing over 100s of assets, even more than sonic Generations contains in its green hill zone.
believe me I've looked.
where they need a few textures, I needed 100s for green hill zone alone, due to the way that it is set up to look classic.

All the wire frames you see , (blue are for triggering events) (Purple are for the depth changing systems)



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This post has been edited by Andrew75: 07 August 2012 - 09:24 AM

[Polygon Jim]

Changing

//Map=Public_test_06.udk
//LocalMap=Public_test_06.udk
Map=GREEN_HILL_ZONE_Demo.udk
LocalMap=GREEN_HILL_ZONE_Demo.udk

to

Map=Public_test_06.udk
LocalMap=Public_test_06.udk
//Map=GREEN_HILL_ZONE_Demo.udk
//LocalMap=GREEN_HILL_ZONE_Demo.udk

gave me a perfectly playable version of the Xtreme demo. All of the music, level art, and engine seem to work fine.

[Andrew75]

Polygon Jim, on 07 August 2012 - 12:19 AM, said:

Changing

//Map=Public_test_06.udk
//LocalMap=Public_test_06.udk
Map=GREEN_HILL_ZONE_Demo.udk
LocalMap=GREEN_HILL_ZONE_Demo.udk

to

Map=Public_test_06.udk
LocalMap=Public_test_06.udk
//Map=GREEN_HILL_ZONE_Demo.udk
//LocalMap=GREEN_HILL_ZONE_Demo.udk

gave me a perfectly playable version of the Xtreme demo. All of the music, level art, and engine seem to work fine.

ahh thats good to know thanks,
Had no time to dig into finding out, perhaps if I had a proper dedicated team to work with, which frees up some time,
I think we would have another story.

This post has been edited by Andrew75: 07 August 2012 - 12:26 AM

[Andrew75]

Anyone have any major issues with the demo?
like platforms spawning in the wrong places or anything like that ?
enemies showing up as cubes?
let me know , please.
this is still an early beta and any reports will help fix the issues.

[Andrew75]

I'm not really a speed run kind of guy,
But I thought, what the hey !
What better way to enjoy what we've done than do a speed run or 2.

Can anyone top this speedrun?
(Better view it in youtube, seems the incorrect video plays here on retro)


also a slower walk-threw of the zone


So yeah imagine our little demo with HD Next Gen graphics, as that is whats next on the agenda,
SONIC CD Remix Here we come ! ( well after some more tweaks of course)

This post has been edited by Andrew75: 07 August 2012 - 08:34 PM

[Falk]

FWIW the embed gets confused when a playlist is part of the URL.

[Andrew75]

Thanks , fixed it

[Aerosol]

That certainly looks impressive. Are you thinking about giving the person making a level the ability to make paths that go in different directions? It's difficult for me to explain, but Sonic Generations does this.