For my tasks related to AXSX and project 2.5D, microbursts of progress here and there, mostly continuing to take some time off to catch up on other things that I missed while almost only working on AXSX for so many years non stop.
Oh, this is still being worked on? I was browsing through some Sonic X-Treme stuff after running into fanart of the red legs Metal Sonic on Twitter (+ the ever adorable Sonic 2 8bit Mecha Sonic but details) and got reminded of this. Found a Sonic Xtreme forum where someone was like "post-cancellation plans" wrt this fangame, and I found it odd, so I sought out more info. Sending you best wishes to getting more of it done sometime, you must lead a busy life. I'm glad you haven't cancelled it, but please don't burn yourself out. <3
Thanks man! when I get back to it, I’ll make sure to post updates here first, XD. There is some engine stuff being worked on though, it’s not by me or anything but it’s for the project. I can’t go into detail about it yet. But hopefully later towards the summer.
I'm not sure how faithful to X-Treme your old demo wanted to be, but, when I played it during the last SAGE, I thought "This is the route 3D should have taken!". Seriously, spinning the map when going up the ramps and dealing with the same layout in a totally different way thanks to how the tables and everything else had turned was the best. I also laked stuff from SXU that wasn't present on your demo, but the spinning surreal world was the most important thing for me, followed by the fish-eye lense toying with perception.
EDIT: Last SAGE?! We didn't have AXSX at the last SAGE! lol i think the last time it was playable was in 2012 or 2011? been so long i forgot already! Heya! Actually we were almost always attempting to be as accurate to xtreme as we could have been (except the first few years, 2006 and 2007) After we got a bit further into the project, we scrapped the idea to make a kind of 64 bit styled HD version of Xtreme, we decided to go for making it as close to 1:1 as we could, And while doing that, also add our own original Levels with mostly new custom graphics using the same tools and techniques the original team used. to stay true to the original intended aesthetics. ( Basically that means, Recreated levels+ New custom levels) As for the winter demo’s world rotations, We were basing the idea off of the E3 Video Builds, (not the Chris Senn videos,) In regards to the E3 video, it was very hard to make out detail. and without actually holding a controller in our hand, We really didn’t know how the rotation system functioned, and Chris Senn’s vague memory on the rotation feature didn’t help much because he had kind of forgotten. So we just came up with how we thought that it may have felt like on our own. Also keep in mind that what the winter demo showcased was a recreation of the what we had seen in the E3 Jade Gully video segments. At first it was recreated with the green textures. And but for the winter demo which was meant to be a teaser of sorts, l overhauled the green texture set to make everything appear to be covered in ice including the plants and trees. Also added a few extra sections for Sonic to run around on in the level, like the giant Christmas tree to fill in places we couldn’t replicate due to them not being shown in screens or videos. Also to note: before the Winter demo was released or even made several years ago, we also rebuilt all of the levels seen in Chris Senn’s videos like Jade Gully, Crystal Frost, Galaxy fortress, Red Sands and New Worlds, (the same levels shown off in Project SXU) But the thing was , that we were not ready to release them, they were finished, but wanted to make a much larger game before releasing anything. The winter demo was meant as a way for ppl to play-test our game and give feedback for bugs and gameplay mechanics without releasing the main levels. there were 3 versions , first being made in game maker. And later 2 demos made with udk. First UDK Demo, Sonic ran way too fast. And the second udk demo was released after we tweaked the physics in ghz 2.5D (if you are familiar with that) There were further fixes and improvements after the second demo of course. ( but never released the fixed build) Everything was perfect except a rotation related bug , which wasn’t a bug but a limit of udk. Aside from the levels mentioned above, AXSX has over 100 recreated levels from the original prototypes. And they are all 1:1 spot on accurate to boot including things that no one has ever seen before. Just need to get the game engine finished...waiting on programmer... Anyways, I’ve always held back showing off so many things threwout the project's many years because , I just want people to be surprised when they finally get to play the game! But yeah some of my plans to surprise ppl, have kind of been ruined by Project SXU. SXU showed off the same stuff that I had worked on rebuilding many years before, It kind of hurt seeing that they did the same exact thing and released it before AXSX. Aside from that i dont have anything really Against SXU. (I'm friends with some of the XSU Guys) Please Don't kill me guys ! But yeah I’m not upset about it or anything.( maybe i was a little at first) Afterall I don’t blame anyone for wanting to play the levels sooner than waiting for A very delayed AXSX later. If only the UDK rotation bug’s only possible Fix was something that did not require full unreal 3 engine source to fix. We wouldn’t have had to move to unreal 4, and We could have made a real release 4 years ago with lots of content. After moving to Unreal 4, It took a few years just to re-setup all the materials, models and other assets the same as in udk, all this while waiting for programming progress... that never really seemed to happen. But at least during that time , a lot of new assets had been made! P.S. In regards to Rotations in AXSX, you can play with or without them depending on the gameplay mode type. Feel free to check out some of the videos on my Youtube Channel. (16) Project AXSX - YouTube I was actually holding back a lot of content from the channel from the old UDK builds, there is sooo much more to see! But yeah If whenever we get the programming done, youll be able to see it all eventually but in the new engine.
This year was the 20th anniversary of SAGE and they had a museum with old demos from previous years. AXSX demo was marked as a 2014 entry. And honestly, if the levels from SXU were fully recreated (with no meaningful custom additions, I mean), then I wouldn't mind a bit of liberty in improving them: There was no conveyance at the beginning of Jade Gully; Crystal frost felt really hard thanks to those slippy blocks over the icy water of instant death; the other levels were supposed to happen later in the game, yet they were a lot easier. But, as I've said, X-treme looked a lot more like what 3D Sonic should have been: even more surreal, with the curves and loops transforming the level without changing its geometry, and the 3rd dimension adding something to the gameplay without strying away to what Sonic had been until then or sacrificing anything in the process (honestly, X-Treme feels more 3D than most official 3D games that managed to be released). Finally, while I know programming, I'm afraid I don't know game programming or else I would help, or else I would be helping if only for it to finally release. I wish you luck in resuming the project in its entirety.
I think the date for that demo got mixed up by someone , for sage 2014 we did a live stream only that year, whatever’s posted must be 2011 or 2012. I hadn’t looked at it myself to confirm. anyways it’s ok, I’m regards to the programming ! P.s. In speaking with Chris Senn, he had confirmed every single level shown off in his videos were just showcase pieces to pitch to the pc division. None of the levels shown would have been featured in the final game. Perhaps the textures and level names would have been used , but not the layouts! P.P.S !! there are other maps that we have yet to see from the pc version of the game, but they were not leaked with the POV builds. Some levels both newer and older. I’m a afraid that some might be lost forever!!
Hope you're doing well @Andrew75 , and I agree with xiao hayes. That demo's amazing. Love the moment and how the world rotates.
XD yeah I’m doing fine, thx for asking And you ? I’m going to sound like a broken record here probably. I’m not sure if ill be coming back to AXSX as it’s director and artist. Just not feeling inspired these days , mainly watching anime in free time. Still can’t seem to find any unreal 4 programmers who have a deep understanding of Sonic and his physics. Although I’m guilty of not looking for one as of late. Again more Andrew broken record stuff: I like to credit a lot of that demo’s work to a few friends who contributed to the project over the years, without them it would never have made it as far as it had gone at least with the udk version. (Thats the version you played) I carried on as far as I could in unreal 4 fighting to get programmers. I’m sorry we never released any more demos from Later udk builds, or the later unreal 4 version for that matter, because it just never caught up in terms of gameplay to udk builds. custom engine update: There is still one programmer working on a 100% custom engine from scratch, but it’s just coming along so very slow. And updates are very rare and intermittent. No one can really do anything with the engine in the state that it’s in currently. Pretty much unusable because it’s so very early in terms of UI. anyways, I’m sorry about everything being stuck in limbo. Wish I could say something to the contrary. I do tinker in making new AXSX assets once in awhile for relaxation.
Hey @Andrew75 why did you private so much old AXSX stuff on your YouTube? I know it's all likely super outdated and stuff but I loved returning to them as it really showed the best how Sonic Xtreme could have worked and inspiring for a game idea of my own. You think you could put them unlisted in a separate playlist?
Yeah, they just too old and outdated, Will be replacing them with new content someday. In the meantime, You should check out Project SXU. Great project! and Voxel's Saturn Xtreme project, as well as XL2's Project Z-treme also on saturn.
Yeah I've checked them out. But I really liked your older vids. I really loved the 4 minute Sage demonstration and playground of ideas videos. Just seems like too much history removed. Can you unprivate them and put them in a separate playlist?
Heya, yeah I had imported some generations assets into UDK several years ago to see how they would look in that engine. I recreated some of the shaders too. Also to note UDK was the free version of unreal 3 just in case you’re wondering.
While yes, it would be awesome to have a 1:1 remake developed, (Especially since you've occasionally contacted Chris Senn IIRC) a reimagining of Sonic X-Treme could be great too! I would recommend working on one then making the other, but that doesn't account for burnout. What I would've done personally is keep going with the reimagined style as it's quite reasonable to expect more people will try to make 1:1 remakes instead of using actual builds and footage more as guidelines and still doing something kinda original that also stands out in the surprisingly sized pool of X-Treme remakes. (I'm also not trying to be mean or say you made the wrong decision. I'm just providing my take on the matter.) Also, I second this.
When we first started in 2006 there were a few 1:1 styled projects, like Doberman’s xtreme fangame, although I wouldn’t call that 1:1 since it had custom layouts and such. We were the only 1:1 remake for many many years. For me personally, that was a kind of driver for us to keep going since no one else was doing it. There wasn’t a huge pool of 1:1 remakes until the past few years. AXSX is still going mind you. And this may sound a bit selfish and snooty but I’d like to say given the pool of other such projects, things going on over here have kinda been kept quiet on the public end of the spectrum. That being said, I’d like to clarify that even though we have 1:1 levels, AXSX isn’t a 100% 1:1 remake. There are a lot of other aspects that the project has to offer which helps it differentiate itself from the original xtreme prototypes. On another note, I’m only really familiar with Project SXU, Sonic Z-treme and Voxel’s Saturn project. I think there were a few others, can’t recall what they were about. I hadn’t really been active within the X-treme community for quite some time so I’m not sure what other projects there are going on these days besides the above.
