Hate to be the asshole, speacially to a dear fellow "GDKer" (that's a nice word), but TimmiT is right. I've been watching this project from the very first time you've showed it up here and I always liked the idea, but I've always hated these devlogs. I didn't wanted to be insentive about it because I didn't wanted you to get demotivated. But since TimmiT cared to bring it up, I must speak my mind. These devlogs are extremely retarded. Whatever it is that you're trying to say can be said in form of text as I've said once. You're playing with the concept of how Sonic should be in 3D, how to take the 2D world and remake it in 3D without making an automatic type of game and whatever and you're not the first one to have this idea, or have the concept of how should it be layed out in your mind. Honestly we all do. As a matter of fact, the very first "non-official" release (Green Hill Paradise) using SonicGDK was exactly the very same thing. Trust me, it is cool. But it ain't nothing we haven't heard before. You may think that you are, but truely you are not reinventing the wheel here and being quite honestly, any half-dedicated fan probably already know most of the stuff you're talking about and they didn't needed anyone to explain it to 'em. I mean, it is Sonic for fuck's sake, not rocket science. It is not like it can be any more complex or simpler that it already is. It is what it is. And when I see a fangame thread I'm more interested in the game than what the developer thinks how Sonic games should be made. Why make videos talking about exploration or how important is X or how unimportant is Y? Release a demo and let people see it for themselves. Ok, the game is not ready yet, you want it to be more presentable before allowing a hands-on but you still want to make updates. That's completely understandable, so release videos of the game and not videos of you talking about the game. I don't really want know what you think about Sonic games or features in level layout. When I come to your thread, I want to see what you've done with your game, not your ideas of how things should be. If you want to talk about 3D level layout you're more than welcome'd to create a thread for we to discuss what is right or wrong with 3D level design in Sonic games, or if you want to make an study on 3D level design for Sonic games, go ahead and do it. But doing those devlogs are obnoxious and I'm sorry to say, but you're not famous, neither the most interesting or creative or beautiful person on this planet for me to want to sit in for 5~7 minutes watching your face rambling about stuff that I already know with some short clips of the game itself. Want to speak your mind? Cool. Write a text, an essay, an study, whatever. Want to show progress on your game? Make a video or throw in some screenshots of your game, not you. Just speaking my mind here, in the form of text (ha! see what I did in there?), I don't really want you to be offended or demotivated, just giving some criticism. You think about it or you don't, that's up to you.
That's exactly what we're going for. Heck, the inn is being completely remade as I'm typing this. The story is simple, and the landmarks help tell it. Sonic fought Eggman and actually lost. He wakes up on the shores of this island just as Robotnik finishes his invasion. You've gotta catch up to him. That's it.
All right, well, understand this... I'm still new here, and this is unfamiliar territory for me. I joined because I could see that there were others here who understood and shared some of the same level design philosophies an' whatnot, but there's something you need to understand. You guys are the minority... an EXTREME minority. Most of the Sonic fanbase is really dense (not stupid, just clueless) and doesn't have a clue about what makes games like the classics great, or what could make a 3D game shine. They have no idea, and those are the kind of people I have been surrounded by for ages. It IS rocket science for them. So, in a way, I guess you could say these videos are made for THEM, not people who are already so well versed in all this stuff. Sure, you guys find these vids a waste of time, but people on other sites act downright thrilled that someone even thought of making a game like this. I'm not trying to put myself on a pedestal or whatever, I'm just saying... not everyone knows what Sonic about. Not everyone knows about physics and platforming and exploring an' all that, ESPECIALLY ON YOUTUBE, so it needs to be addressed and I'm making vids like this to, in a way, educate them. If these videos aren't for you guys, then fine... but that's all there is to see at the moment. And really, from my view, it just seems like it's one or two guys demanding that I change how I do things simply to accommodate them regardless of what people on other sites and in general think. If this isn't the site to post these videos on, and you just don't want to see them, then fine! I guess I won't post anything like that here anymore. That just means there's isn't going to be as much of the game to see here, it isn't very often that we can release some new trailer showing how we've completely changed the island or whatever. We already post here incredibly sparingly as it is (once a month, now?). I just... I don't even know what to do now. I don't know how to get this stuff out. Well, I guess I could... write text and leave it at that... sigh... One other thing... as I've stated in one of the videos, we don't want this to be like Green Hill Paradise. It's too big and random and empty, and we are trying to give the player some sense of direction in this game. We're just trying to make it the antithesis to the daytime stage gameplay but not go too, too far. We're trying to make it the antithesis to the daytime stage gameplay. That's all I can really say. And no, I won't change my avatar because just one guy asked me too. Well, look guys... I AM going to keep making these videos, because there is an audience for them... just not on THIS site. So fine, I won't post them here anymore. Just gonna have to... find some other way to show you how the game is developing. I mean, sure, there's screenshots and trailers... but you're probably not going to see those very often. Heck, it may be MONTHS before you hear anything about this game again, and the thread would be buried under others. But, whatever. Guess that's just how it's gotta be.
Okay fine. Change your avatar. Now there's two people. It's impossible to take you seriously when you ask stupid shit like if 7zip is safe, and it makes you look like you're simply out to troll.
Holy shit... Falk? You too? I... sigh.... Okay, about the 7zip thing... I'd never used something like that before. I didn't even know what it was. I've also gotten really bad viruses from seemingly harmless things in the past, so maybe you can understand why I was being a little cautious about this strange program I didn't know anything about. Sorry if I offended you by being stupid. As for my avatar... Okay, guys, sorry. I was making faces in the mirror one day, decided to see if I could pull off a real life trollface, and took a picture of it. Har-har, yeah, I look like an idiot. Fine. I'll change it later.
Frankly Nick, do whatever you want, your videos are fine, you can't please everyone. There is no need to announce a new video several days before though, just post it here when it's ready. And I liked your avatar btw.
Yeah, well.... It seems more like I'm pissing off everyone. Thanks for your kind words, but they're probably just gonna say you're being a fanboy or whatever. Thanks again, really. All right guys, look.... I know this isn't the place to post these devlogs, but the only reason I'm posting this one is because there's more actual gameplay footage in it than usual... at least later on. If you wanna see a bit of how the island is shaping up (there are little changes here and there), well, just skip ahead a few minutes in and mute my voice if my rambling really bugs you that much. I can't believe I'm having to say all that... Well, whatever. Here it is. Enjoy.
Well, it's just been my experience on other forums an' whatnot than any time someone comes under some flak and there's that one guy who's clearly on their side, the others more often than not brush that person off as a suckup, fanboy, white knight, whatever. That's just experience talking. If this isn't the kind of forum where that typically happens, well, then I'm sorry for misjudging anyone's character. Anyway, look.... let's get back on topic, okay? We've been derailing this enough, and I don't want to see this thread locked because I was bickering with people or whatever. This is, like, my dream project.
I like your style of Devblogging, but I can see where it comes across as annoying, but I can't blame you for that either. I know your intentions are to inform your ambitions of what you want this game to be like, but I think you can show that without vlogging about it. Although now that you've started these devblog videos, I'd say continue, but what I suggest that you can do is that maybe Leave the vlogging for Youtube, and when a new one comes out, post it here. Although, leave your main focus of screenshots of the level development and telling us progress of what is going on in the level; videos should show gameplay as well, a lot of people here like to see gameplay more than commentary. One thing I've also noticed with fangame threads is that you shouldn't post a lot with each and every addition you make. I'd like to note that I've been following your videos for a while now, and I respect your style for vlogging and game review and I really enjoyed your Sonic ATS playthrough. So I'm hoping you don't take this as insult, I'm just hoping to help your current situation. I think this game has potential, keep up the work and these are merely suggestions. If they come off as rude or dick-ish, I apologize.
You didn't come off as rude at all. Anyway..... again, like I've said before, most Sonic fans just don't have any concrete idea of how a Sonic game should be, so even if YOU guys already understand (in which case posting devblogs here may be redundant), there are many, many more Sonicfans elsewhere who just don't. I started the devblogs because there were many misconceptions about what the game would be like, and I felt a need to clear that up..... so I made these videos which, for all intents and purposes, HAVE gotten the point across, so I'd say they were a success. Since I've already addressed the platforming, exploring an' all that important, there aren't going to be too many more of these devblogs anyway. Most future updates in the long run will be snippets of gameplay, new screenshots an' whatnot.
holy shit I can't believe this is happening, really guys\?? come on this is fucking sonic RETRO, be civil for fuck sake, this is the GENUINE SONIC "WEB" SOURCE. WE HAVE A REPUTATIONT TO KEEP "someone please "trash" this"
You don't get it, do you? You're not pissing off anyone. You can do whatever the fuck you want with your game and your thread. I cannot speak for others but at least for me, all I was trying to do was give you criticism of how you are running things. Stop acting like we just finger-banged your cat or something, dude. You either have to suck it up, be a man and learn to deal with criticism or stop developing games (and quite possible get out of the internet for good), because you're going to get crticized, that is like, 60% of the gig even when it comes down to fangames (specially with the ones with such a "hardcore" fanbase), and it is up to you of how much you are going to listen to and use it or how much you are going to ignore for the good of your project. Now, please don't kill yourself just because I do not concour with your attitude, ok?
All right, all right. Look, I don't mind anyone criticizing the game itself and pointing out how it could be improved. THAT would be great. I WANT people to discuss the game. It just seems like the last coupla' pages have been all about how stupid it is for me to upload devblogs, which until recently, I had no idea... bothered you guys so much. Anyway, please, let's just stop and focus on the game itself from now on, okay? Someone just called for this thread to be trashed.
Now I'm just worried I've made this project as a whole look bad. The whole reason I've posted anything to do with the game here is in an effort to attract new programmers to help out with the game because, well, at the moment, we just don't have enough manpower to feasibly finish anything past this first stage. Sure, I'd like to make a few others, but I just can't ask that of my current team. If I could get new programmers on board, though, it would be a different story... but they have to be interested in the project, and I'd hoped that explaining what the game is about through the devblogs would "click" with like minded people who share the same gameplay philosophies an' whatnot and would be drawn to the project for that. Now, anyone who sees the last twenty posts or so and sees how I've acted and what's been going on is not going to want anything to do with the project, at this rate. If showing the game's progress through devblogs was really such a big deal, well, I'd hate to think I've killed the project just by posting them and being defensive about it.
The only thing that can make your project look bad is the actual project itself not looking so good. You talking in front of a camera isn't going to make it look any worse, it just isn't likely to get you much attention. It's why I told you it's better to do a voice over over gameplay, screenshots and/or concept art. It'll give the viewer something interesting to look at while you are talking, when you just show yourself talking the viewer will more likely switch to another tab or skip to the gameplay parts. It also has advantages besides being attention-grabbing. It's easier to get what you are talking about when there is some kind of visual reference. I'm sorry if I got you down with my posts. I'm not trying to say that your game or videos suck, but rather I'm trying to tell you what can be improved.
Now that I'm done being a high idiot let's get right back to this I wasn't calling for the thread to be trashed. Not that it matters. So man, let me level with you. I like your game. The focus on exploration and landmarks and level paths that are there just for the sake of exploring is great to me, I love that sort of world building in games. Reminds me of when I was a kid and I would just run around in Ocarina of Time and Banjo Tooie and stuff and just explore for the sake of exploring. Now, the reason people are getting all snippy is because of your presentation. It looks very egotistical and pretentious to put yourself out there the way you do, having yourself as your (former) avatar, doing these devlogs where you talk on and on to the camera. That's just the vibe I get and I kind of get a little twinge of secondhand embarrassment from it. HOWEVER, it doesn't really matter because if there are people who are watching these and genuinely enjoying them, then, y'know, whatever. You've got your audience. I really don't know where I'm going with this but I guess you should just keep doing your game because it looks good and don't be so thin-skinned, but don't be annoying either. Holy shit I can't believe we cause so much drama over a fucking Sonic fangame. Jesus.
Sorry there haven't been any updates lately, guys. I haven't been able to reach Dashtube, the in-game developer, through skype, steam or retro in about two weeks. I think he's having computer troubles, so things are slow right now. THIS JUST IN- Dashtube is just fine.
