[corneliab]

Haha, what a load of shit. I'm not even sure why the alpha was released with such pomp and fanfare- by doing so, it pretty much gave the impression that the project would actually be getting off the ground again. Even if a competent and sane programmer was around, this thing would still be equally doomed thanks to the key art guys jumping ship.

What a waste of time this has been. Good riddance!

[Gambit]

I'm going to second what CN said about this all being a great experience. I learned a ton about a lot of things during my time working on it, and I actually just got home from giving a presentation where I specifically mentioned this project and how much I grew from it and how much others can grow from group experiences.

I will also say that there isn't really a ton of desire to work on it at the moment on my end as well, and I haven't actually created any new assets for it since 2010. Anything I did last year was just management of art and preparing it to be used in the engine, and that couldn't have taken more than 24 hours of my time in total. I have a lot of really cool ideas for the game that I know would make everyone fall in love with it all over again, but at the same time I also have life going on. I'm getting ready to be done with school so my future at the moment is kinda up in the air, and making games isn't even my major.

[Metal Man88]

To be honest, I knew the project was doomed when it took more than a year between announcements, and had assumed it was already dead when the demo came out. Playing the demo only confirmed my suspicions (hence my "At this rate, it'll come out when I'm 50" post.)

In my years in and out of the Sonic scene, I have learned one simple thing which governs these projects. If the wrong people get involved, if things backslide, if just the wrong thing falls apart, it's gonna crumble. My condolences to the Sonic 2 HD team, well, the ones who aren't L0st. It sucks to lose a project, but, I hope we all take notes from this, so it doesn't happen again.

...

Not that I expect that to happen, rather I expect for more projects to pop up and die in the next 2-3 years as well. The cycle of creating and dying projects started eons ago, including such things like SET ARK, and isn't going to end any time soon.

It's just a shame.

[W.A.C.]

Honestly, this is quite a shocker to me. I seriously thought this project would get completed someday even if it took a decade. While there were other factors, it was clearly LOst who was the main culprit behind the project's destruction. Maybe the project wouldn't have been finished because of those other reasons, but it's hard to say. As far as I'm concerned, LOst killed the project.

With Sonic Fan Remix being in hiatus and Sonic 2 HD cancelled, the two biggest projects to gain Retro massive media coverage seems like they're pretty much done (unless Sonic Fan Remix goes back into production). While there are some fantastic rom hack projects on this site, they don't get much attention from the gaming media at all nor do the other fangames on the site. Makes me wonder what will be the next big thing to hit Retro that goes viral.

[Retroman]

Seems like it's a witch-hunt for Lost to give up his engine code. Highly unlikely since this guy apparently has a huge ego. Pretty please lost?

And that's why you force everyone to open-source your project in-case shit like this happens. So much for closed-source. I would honestly feel that 3D side-scrolling aka Sonic Fan Remix might be a perfect medium for a Sonic 2 HD remaster.
That is, if modelling is easier than drawing in vector and lining up frames to properly animate the character. Then there's rigging. Well that will be possible some day down the track in the Mobius Engine after a few submissions etc.

This post has been edited by Retroman: 19 April 2012 - 01:04 AM

[kazade]

That's a terrible shame, I can't say I'm surprised though - it's been apparent for some time that there were ongoing issues behind the scenes.

I don't suppose you guys could release the assets that you've created? It seems such a waste to see all that work disappear unused.

[jaz]

Hinchy, on 18 April 2012 - 11:05 PM, said:

My only question:

is Tee Lopes going to release the soundtrack? Please god let him release the soundtrack. It's likely already mostly finished, if the Sonic 2 Musical Trip video is any indication... I'm a huge fan of Tee's work and the worst thing about this for me is that we might never get to hear it in its full glory.

Came here to say pretty much this. The music was one of the best things in the alpha.

[Energy]

This is a terrible shame to have ended this way, and while I agree all the mistakes are not the pure fault of LOst, he does seem to be a major player in the projects downfall. I hope he realises he could have come across as a fan super-star, with interest from many companies and general good prospects but instead he's now seen as the opposite.

However - here's my thought, why not show Sega the alpha or any other builds you have, the assets. Then show them they hype that the alpha's rise and fall commanded. The threads, the blogs, the international news sites that reported about your game. Surely that proves that there is huge interest in this for them, offer the assests and say this is what we achieved, here's our names, please credit us if you use our art.

Then see if Sega wants to do this commerically. You've proven there is a market if done right - I know if I had been working in sega watching that demo I'd be kicking myself and saying why aren't we releasing this? I think their only issue would be the name (can't exactly use Sonic 2 HD anymore as that brand has been used).

Unless LOst finally swallows his pride and releases his source, and the rest of the team their assets and the community can pick this up (very unlikely to happen) I see this as the only possibility and it's such a long shot.

[Athelstone]

My sincere thanks to the whole Sonic 2 HD team for having brought the project this far. You've all learned a lot and proven to everyone what can be achieved with passion and hard work. I'm very pleased for you all that change and new beginnings are upon you. That's what life is all about! Greater freedom, greater adventure and greater joy. Vincent, you're going to make a great father! LOst, my heart is with you my friend - thank you all for your efforts.


TOOT TOOT SONIC WARRIOR!!!!!!!!!

[Whackjood]

What a shame.

Jokes aside, it really is a shame to see what happened here. I did have a lot of fun with the demo, and I appreciate the tremendous amount of effort the team as a whole put into releasing it. I sincerely hope that the team goes on to do some great things with what they learned while making this project, and that this mysterious new project some of the members are working on comes to fruition as well.

Although, I would be quite happy if the art and music resources were made public for use in other projects. But that's just wishful thinking on my part, wanting to see a HD Drill Car in every fangame.

[Caniad Bach]

It's a shame that it had to come to this. I hope that something good can come of all the time that was put into this, even if it was just the release of the alpha on a new engine. I'd love to see the alpha ported, as I couldn't get past the black screen.

[zemulii]

What's going to happen with all the art assets etc.? There must be at least some work on Hill Top for example (along with quite a bit of concept art). I'd be interested in just browsing through some of that stuff... And I'm sure myself and others could learn a lot. They need not go completely to waste and could help the community. Any chance they'll be released?

[Andrew75]

Wow , everyone (sarcasm) ignore the post I made a few pages ago about returning the project back over to the community as a community project.

I know lots of work went into this project and its assets.
It'd be a real shame to see all that work go to wast.
Why does it have to end because key members are gone? Id really like to see the assets released to the community so the project could continue.

Myself? I've been working on 2 fan games since 2006 (I'm the only Art guy) and it almost came to an end because I lost my only programmer,
Than I found a new programmer who had an engine already mostly complete. the switch to the new engine was a huge improvement over the old one in performance and what could be done.
I was up and running in a few weeks, learning the work-flow went by quickly.

Also my life has been very busy working on house renovations,
With all that, I never felt that I wanted to quit the 2 fangame that I've have been working on, sure they have been put on hold , never seeing progress for sometimes a month at a time.
If I were to cancel AXSX and CD remix, I'd turn all the assets over to the community so that the 6 years work I've put into my projects wasn't wasted.

I cant see why you guys would quit something so easily, over something so small as loosing your lead programmer (who sounds like an ass anyways).
and why not take small breaks here and there if your lives are busy? the project is not going anywhere.
Suck it up, and push on !
You guys started the project, and put your hearts into it for the past few years, wheres the Passion you first started off with?!
I've still got my passion after 6 years ! if I can do it, I'm sure you can as well.

This post has been edited by Andrew75: 19 April 2012 - 11:53 AM

[Jayextee]

I was there, right at the very beginning. Sometime about a quarter into 2008, one kickass wallpaper image made for fun started a whole glorious thread of 'what if'. And it really was glorious. Excited fervour spread and talks were had amongst Retro with one thing in mind, one question:

"How do we make this happen?"

A custom emulator fork, repurposed to display high-resolution assets instead of the contents of the Genesis'/Megadrive's graphics memory; that was amongst one of the initial ideas. But, it seemed the only way was to code a new engine which would take the original physics and upscale them with the graphics. You all know this.

There was the beginnings of a project, but no leader and no direction. I was considered, yes me. I'd have turned the thing into a goddamn cartoon, well before Rayman Origins made the idea acceptable. But I lacked the vision that Vincent did; and he was possibly the best thing to happen to the project for a while. But for a while, there was turbulence; assets, often conflicting in direction and style were being submitted and edited, left and right. Egos clashed, and words were had. Bad decisions were made, and backlashes resulted. Tracing from the original sprites and arguing over what a single pixel actually represented saw the term 'originalpixelfag' bandied around like a bad trend. Laughs were had, and semi-raids were made on the subform criticising the latest dozen of entire pages dedicated to what should display when the game is paused. I heard on the grapevine that most of the members had even blocked myself, a very vocal detractor, but within the scorn and mockery was a point that nobody would listen to -- the team couldn't agree. Everybody submitted ideas, and wanted theirs to be accepted. Hardly anyone would back down. Vincent held his own, as best he could. Project needed direction, above all.

And then it went quiet for a while.

When Sonic 2 HD started reupdating, many shouted and ranted about the now-closed nature of what once was a 'community' project. They'd found a programmer for the engine, and an actually cohesive set of assets (if I recall, Scanline and Cerulean Nights barged in and showed people how to do this motherfucker) and you know what? I thought "this is it, they've nailed it". Although still 'lacking character' and a bit too clean-cut for my tastes, the art started to work. Holy fuck, the closed system works!

We see now that it doesn't. I'm very sorry to see it end like this, and hope the best for whatever you guys do next. I mean it, your dedication is and has been awe-inspiring.

[Black Squirrel]

The assets could easily be released onto the internet and a new team of people could take over. The work will only go to waste if you let it.