[hxc]

Hey guys, I just got a reply from Peter and Adrian, who are both happy to answer our questions, although please not to many, and nothing we don't need, they are both busy at *GAMECOMPANY*.

Adrian was in the S&K rock the rock video as Technical Director of S&K, yet he was never credited so.

Peter we have already contacted, but a few more answers can never hurt.

Both were at STI until its closure, when they together formed Luxoflux.

Also: May I request one of the oldbie sonic researcher to go over questions to be included, as I am not so up on everything that is known as people such as Rika or ICE.

Cheers guys.

[Vangar]

I don't know if this has been answered or not, but how did the Sonic Xtreme sprites get on the net? You don't have to ask him if someone here knows.

[LOst]

Questions for Adrian:
1. How was it to work with Yuji Naka personally? How did both of you handle new challenges? Something specially you remember and can tell us?

2. Do you know Motorola 68000 assembler? Did you help programming stuff for Sonic & Knuckles, and if so, what did you do? We like to hear specific details on your work.

3. In the MTV Sonic & Knuckles contest video back in 1994, you explained some of the physics of Knuckles, such as slopes and gravity and stuff. We have seen the source code to Sonic and none of the stuff you said were actually possible on the Genesis hardware. Still, how much of that physics stuff did you do, or helped Naka to do?

4. Do you have any stuff such as programming notes, documents, or guidelines left from the time you worked on S&K? If so, can you scan them, or help us to understand more about how things were done?

5. You were not credited in Sonic 3, or Sonic & Knuckles. The staff roll at the end of the games did not include your name. How does that feel?

6. Roger Hector told us that you were sometimes "a stronger technical designer than Naka". I (the interviewer) have followed how Sonic has developed from Sonic 1 (year 1991) up to Sonic & Knuckles (year 1994), and I can find stuff in Sonic & Knuckles that was groundbreaking and at a higher math level than the previous games, such as the scorpion robot's attacking tail when aiming at Sonic, and a floating boss device that uses a shield to prevent attacks from Sonic, that will always be in the way no matter what angle Sonic comes from. I believe you must have been involved in those math routines since they are new stuff never used by Naka before. If you remember anything specific, please tell us!

Thank you for answers!

This post has been edited by LOst: 01 November 2005 - 07:58 AM

[Qjimbo]

Question for both:

"Do you remember any levels that were taken out of the games you worked on, and any of their names?"

[ICEknight]

LOst, on Nov 1 2005, 07:57 AM, said:

We have seen the source code to Sonic and none of the stuff you said were actually possible on the Genesis hardware.

Can you please elaborate on that? What source code do you mean?

[hxc]

I am unsure whether I should really ask about source code related matters, as it is going straight though a company address :/

[ICEknight]

They both founded the company, and I've asked Peter about that stuff a million times.

In other words, you must.

[hxc]

Alright, I'll go for it. How many more questions do we need?

[Heran Bago]

I'm always curious about this one.

"What tools, hardware, and software did you use? Did you have any special techniques?"
Even if it's somewhat known, you never know, they could have some new infos.


On an unrelated note, didn't someone rip sprites from Sonic's Schoolhouse?

[LOst]

ICEknight, on Nov 1 2005, 06:49 PM, said:

LOst, on Nov 1 2005, 07:57 AM, said:

We have seen the source code to Sonic and none of the stuff you said were actually possible on the Genesis hardware.

Can you please elaborate on that? What source code do you mean?

Sonic & Knuckles source code of course. All the questions are for Sonic & Knuckles development.


Edit:
More question for Adrian:

7: What development tools (compilators) did Naka and you use to compile the game into final binary ROM image? Do you remember any official names?

8: Do you remember what the data compression format names were? Art and map data were compressed in Sonic & Knuckles to save as much ROM space as possible, and we know how to compress/decompress it, but we don't know the official names of the compression formulas. In case you need a hint, there are 3 main compression algorithms in S&K, - One of them were a form of LZ compression probably really expensive for Sega to develop. I can tell it is not LZ77 which is used in Gameboy Advance games. This LZ compress even better than LZ77.

This post has been edited by LOst: 01 November 2005 - 12:56 PM

[hxc]

I'm sorry but do you seriously expect him to know compression names after all these years? that seems over the top to me, but eh...

[Qjimbo]

Yeah, does it really matter what they were called? Seems a waste of a question.

[ICEknight]

LOst, on Nov 1 2005, 12:46 PM, said:

ICEknight, on Nov 1 2005, 06:49 PM, said:

LOst, on Nov 1 2005, 07:57 AM, said:

We have seen the source code to Sonic and none of the stuff you said were actually possible on the Genesis hardware.

Can you please elaborate on that? What source code do you mean?

Sonic & Knuckles source code of course.

We have seen the source code? If we tell him that, which as far as I know is not true, he won't even try to look for any real source code he might have lying somewhere.

EDIT:

QJimbo, on Nov 1 2005, 01:41 PM, said:

Yeah, does it really matter what they were called? Seems a waste of a question.

"Waste of a question"? It's not like we have a limited number of questions to ask. The more we know about this technical stuff, the more possibilities we'll have to find more info by looking for the correct terms.

This post has been edited by ICEknight: 01 November 2005 - 01:52 PM

[hxc]

We indeed don't have a limit, but I don't want to feel we are wasting their time, they live on a much tighter schedule than Hector for example.

[Rika Chou]

ICEknight, on Nov 1 2005, 11:49 AM, said:

LOst, on Nov 1 2005, 12:46 PM, said:

ICEknight, on Nov 1 2005, 06:49 PM, said:

LOst, on Nov 1 2005, 07:57 AM, said:

We have seen the source code to Sonic and none of the stuff you said were actually possible on the Genesis hardware.

Can you please elaborate on that? What source code do you mean?

Sonic & Knuckles source code of course.

We have seen the source code? If we tell him that, which as far as I know is not true, he won't even try to look for any real source code he might have lying somewhere.

Lost has the "real" source code. Remember?

Although he has yet to share it with us...I just hope I'm still around by the time he does.


As for a question...

Do you have any art, or anything left from the games development? We would love to see anything that you might have.

This post has been edited by Rika Chou: 01 November 2005 - 02:27 PM