Er, that was a typo on my part. I have Feb 2013 - it was the second one on the list here. Edit: Also, minutes? What? It never took that long before.
"The first time that you open the test map, it will compile all the material shaders and take a really long time." Map is getting bigger with each release, so it may increase the compilation times. I recommend you patience; if you want to know if it crashed, check your CPU usage.
I see. I know it's not the same, but when it was loading the other maps, it was obvious my computer was doing something. The HDD access light came on, so and so forth, but with the Test Map that never happened. I let it sit on the loading screen for more than a minute twice. I guess I'll try it again and see what happens. Edit: Yeah, wow, after was probably 3-5 minutes, it finally loaded in. My mistake.
Impudence! Audacity! Intolerable! Nope, no plans for both of them... it would be so easy to add grinding... but who wants it, muhahahaaa.
Eh, we'll see grinding in GDK as soon as it's implemented in A:DR... oh wait. Parkour, I really wouldn't hold my breath for. If Lost World says anything about Sonic and parkour, it's that it'll be hard to match. On the other hand, the game's level design made parkour a novelty really (I say this, relying on Melpontro's LW videos as the example) when it's obvious a parkour system can be made, improved upon, emphasized, and built directly into the level, not just as gimmicky ways to not die, but as a way to actually improve your times and even, dare I say, abuse it like the quickstep mechanics of Unleashed and Generations. Though, parkour is a difficult thing to push when your game isn't built around it at all. This is GDK's case. tl;dr Grinding is nope because lazy, parkour can work, but it's more from-ground-up to get right.
It was awkward, but it was awkward in ways that were later fixed. Safe rail jumping was a huge issue that Shadow the Hedgehog (?) totally fixed. The skittishness of how much moving the control stick controlled balance was another big problem that is totally avoidable now, too. The 2P Pyramid Cave race holds a lot of good memories for me. Going faster than the other player meant being more precise, and I absolutely loved that. It's a shame hardly anyone else seems to like it.
Grind rails are fine and are no more or less invalid than, say, ziplines or moving platforms Just, you know, everything in moderation.
Grind rails are great when used correctly. Games like SA2 overused them, but it was like the game "newest thing", so it's understandable. But as games progressed in the series grind rails became actually nice and were used many times corectly to expand level design instead of simply just making Sonic go from A to B. They also provide a good and most of the time safe way to navigate Sonic in the 3D environment. They're not much different than using splines (which I believe everyone using GDK or modding Generations have an idea of what they're), only difference is that they allow the player to feel like he is on charge at all times. Plus, they're cool to look at.
You spelled Sonic Heroes wrong. I was really impressed with the use of grind rails in Sonic Generations. They were largely optional ways of accessing alternate paths, and easy to miss if you were going to fast and didn't have the reflexes to catch 'em. Grind rails as shortcuts make for an interesting mechanic and allow for more intricate level design than other forms of shortcuts (since they can pretty much put you anywhere). The key here, however, is that the challenge and fun comes from hopping onto rails and switching between rails, not in the grinding itself. Just understanding that (something which the Heroes team kinda didn't) can go a long way to making them work as part of a level.
New 1.20.000 version is up! Source Code (requires UDK July 2013): 1F / BS / BU / Cr / FS / GF / UB / UI / ZS This is a major revision! What's new? In short: Split SonicGDKPackage.upk file into several files for easier modification and distribution. Fixed problems related to the generation of installer files to distribute fangames. Created a new badnik: Orbinaut. Added a new obstacle: giant spiked balls. Completed Hyper Sonic with the addition of the hyper flash. Added underwater sound mode, with muffled sounds, ala Generations. Created optimal movable variants of bumpers, dash rings and speed boosters. Removed all DecalComponents; if you're using a pawn template for Sonic in your map, delete it and re-add it. Added more configurable options to simple destroyables. Added the possibility of using custom loading movies per map. Created the "Extreme" graphics quality setting. Fixed pain causing water volumes. Added collision options to cameras. Fixed the GenericProjectile, it lagged the game when exploding. Added optional flash of lights to rings, used when picked up. Redone some visual particle effects for Sonic's special moves. Added lights to flame shield, magnetic shield and invincibility powerup. More bug fixes. Special thanks go to Andrew75 for his Orbinaut and spiked ball models, and Tee Lopes for the background music for menus.
Play a tech demo of the most complete and flexible game engine for 3D Sonic games! Give it a try, you can lower the graphics quality this time. Uploaded a standalone .exe for Windows (Packaged Release 7; requires nothing to work): 1F / BU / Cr / GF / UB New since Packaged Release 6: 3D runways with QuickStep. Improved Sonic Physics. Graphics quality presets. Red star rings. Saving/loading system. Opening cinematic. Main menu & pause menu. Loading movies. Hyper Sonic. 14 special stages. Orbinaut badnik. Spiked ball obstacle. Underwater sound mode. Better visual effects.
I always enjoy installing a new update and seeing what has been added! Looking forward to using the new additions, great work.
Damn, that's nice Xaklse! Looking forward to people making use of this wonderful engine and more fangames to jump to 2D with this! 8D
Here is the Orbinaut that I did for Xak some months back before he simplified its material (for what im guessing) is file size resons and to match current level aesthetics. Its Material originally was set up so that when it detected Sonic, its eye shape would change from round to pissed along with body color just like it does in Sonic 1. You could also change starting and ending colors on the fly to any color if needed.
I nearly requested a Kismet variable for the elemental shields, and then I discover you've put it in with this update! I'v been playing about a little bit with the additions and it's very, very nice. One question, is there a way to get a score when you destroy a SGDKSimpledestroyable?
