Sonic 2 HD

Yes well, while L0st wasn't the entire issue, he damn sure was a large chunk of the issue.

In fact, from the post, I gathered that with L0st taking the source code for himself, that does kinda send all future plans and keeping in with the same quality assurance well down the drain.

 

I'm willing to bet this news will be on the front page of Retro tomorrow.

 

So just being curious, if the source code is unable to be released, what about the art assets used for the game?

 

I'm not personally saying that LOst had absolutely everything to do with the demise of Sonic 2 HD, but he DID play a huge role in it, and probably sped up its death.

In fact, I'd daresay his actions are partly why two of the art members resigned. I say "partially" because I do not have enough hubris to suggest that he is THE reason they left. What with contributing to the destruction of Sonic 2 HD's image in the eyes of the public with DRM, and generally being an ass to his teammates and keeping the source code to himself.... A lot of the blame for Sonic 2 HD's failure CAN be pinned on LOst.

Although, again, I'm not going to say he had everything to do with it. Vincent and Canned Karma's real life obligations are likely very separate from the drama that's unfolded in front of us over these past few months.

 

Well, saw this coming. Hopefully the folks behind Sonic Fan Remix can get that back on track eventually.

 

Scarred Sun, I won't speak for the whole team, but the reason I left the team is almost completely directly to LOst. I went from putting my all into the project every single day in the beginning to practically not caring about it in the slightest after it didn't release last Jan 15th. Why would I put so much of my effort into something I honestly was beginning to believe would never come out? Once I had that realization, I knew it was time to move on with life. We could have found another programmer, sure (and don't think for a second we didn't talk to many other people about it, including Taxman about using the Retro Engine), but I was so burnt out with the whole ordeal I just didn't care anymore. I know I'm not alone in feeling that way.

S2HD was a great experience for me, it taught me a good deal about game design (both what to do and not to do) and I met some extremely talented people who have become close friends. Even though it didn't turn it to the dream project I felt it could have, it actually helped put me in a position where I was able to follow a different dream! That said, had LOst not been the lead programmer, you can bet that S2HD would have flourished as something truly amazing. There was some more minor drama going with another artist a few years back, but after that got sorted out we as a team were working in perfect sync. All except for one person that is.

So Scarred Sun, I ask you to think very hard about what you post, because chances are anything you've learnt was through hearsay or the odd message from Vince or Canned Karma. I'd hate to see a second rumor about our project stated as fact and posted to Retro's frontpage, the first one stung bad enough.

 

What happened with those other programmers you asked? Just no one was interested?

 

He is all the artists would be still working on this if lost wasn't a dick. LOst's actions created a domino effect where two of the main artists got fed up and left that resulted in a quality drop that both Vincent and Canned Karma didn't want to pursue. Can't blame them for getting fed up considering Vincent mentioned that he'd been doing what the fuck he wanted for the past two years.

 

Taxman was very interested! Unfortunately by the time we found that out I had already pretty much fully moved on in life (moved across the country, started a business, etc) and simply didn't have the time to devote to S2HD anymore. I stayed on staff as a sort of 'board of directors' but didn't do any work beyond that. Like I said in another post, absolutely no work was done after Jan 15, as we weren't going to waste even more time if the game was never going to come out. I'm actually still a little bit in shock that it ever came out, I was just beginning to accept it never would.

 

My condolences to the team, sorry things ended on a sour note.

I hope at least people took some good things away from the project, if it has helped some of you to go into more original and viable ventures, then at least something was gained. Obviously would be nice if this could have been seen to completion, but I don't blame people wanting to go off and do different things. Possibly if team relations had been better, the project would have been further along at least, it sounds like a year was wasted just waiting for the coding to come through anyway. You can only twiddle thumbs for so long before you realize your just wasting time (so to speak) and there are better things to be doing with less roadblocks.

Best of luck to everyone, well done for getting the project as far as you did.

 

Well that's just a damned shame. It's too bad that Taxman wasn't in on it from the beginning. Well, best of luck to everyone going forward.

 

No worries, I just want to make sure all the facts get out. Also, I don't want to act like LOst is a bad person, he's just terribly misguided and needs to take a look at how he treats people, especially when working as part of a team (hoping he reads this as he went AWOL from our forums). The main reason I even brought him up in the first place is to ensure that no other fangame ever has to deal with this from him or anyone like him again. My advise - if a programmer even so much as threatens to not release a product until you meet his demands -- RUN (or find a replacement)!

 

@Cerulean Nights

I hope you and the rest of team stay in contact with each other and hopefully you all will decide to maybe do a brand new project one day, one that's actually original. It would be something I feel could be quite amazing. All of you are amazing at what you can do.

 

Hey thanks, that means a lot! As for doing a brand new project...way ahead of you .

 

I know there are pros and cons to this, and it might have been asked before, but is there any chance you would be willing to post all of the art assets you made for this in an archive? It would be a great resource for anyone looking to create a high-quality engine to have good resources to work with and yours are excellent. Maybe some day if you have a working engine first, others would want to continue what you started?

 

Don't worry! Sonic 2 HD will live on in the hearts of everyone for many years to come, even if it's as the butt of a Duke Nukem Forever-style joke. It would HARDLY be as memorable if it had come out with nothing bad happening and just sort of died there.

 

....Well.

Um.

I wasn't exactly expecting someone to say they left ENTIRELY because of LOst after I implied he may have been partially responsible for people's resignations!

That being said, though, I don't think ANYONE here holds it against you for losing your passion for the project, considering what (or more specifically, who) you had to work with.

Hoping your future projects go much more smoothly than this did!

 

Welp, now there's the surprise of the century. It does give quite a bit of hope towards future HD projects, remake or original content although obviously getting the required talent under one umbrella then herding them cats into a singular direction to doesn't happen every single day.