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Sonic ERaZor

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by Selbi, Jan 17, 2010.

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  1. Selbi

    Selbi

    The Euphonic Mess Member
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    Sonic ERaZor
    Update (release 2):

    After another couple of months I tried hard to get a new release finished and here it is! I tried to get rid of some problems and added a lot of new random, totally crazy ideas, that just don't fit into the any game, to tell the truth.
    Of course I'd like to get some opinions on it. I especially want to hear how hard the hack is for you, and how much shit doesn't make any sense to you. =P

    There isn't really much to show off when it comes to screenshots, but you might wanna look at this:
    [​IMG]
    If you played the first version, you probably remember these. They're back, and in the waterfall area of the first level they still aren't destroyable (later on they are though). You will see why once you touch one. =P

    Oh, I also want to advise you, this is a DAMN hard hack. I want you to see everything you should see in the normal play, so if you fail at one level, you can always use the "Air Move on B" function. Or if you don't want that, you can use level select. The level order is:
    • GHZ 2 (Intro Level)
    • GHZ 1
    • GHZ 3
    • MZ 1 (for the hyper sonic like section you can also press A B C to skip it immediately, because it appears to be the hardest part of all.
    • LZ 2
    • FZ
    Don't ask why it's such a weird order, I had my reasons. :v:
    I'm also asking you to play Special Stage 1, even if that requires millions of save states.
    But other than that, nothing to tell you, so here's the download:

    DOWNLOAD

    PS: Thanks a LOT to:
    - DalekSam
    - SOTI
    - Eduardo Knuckles
    For pretty much anything that has to do with music in here. For more credits, watch the ingame credits.
     
  2. Hanoch

    Hanoch

    Also known as TheKnock, Birashot Member
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    I played it a bit (cant pass a shit because does crazy buzzbombers) but this game looks good, ill play it on another time.
     
  3. amphobius

    amphobius

    doing more important things with my life Member
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    Why do I feel bad about being able to play beta versions?

    Either way, that cutscene is fantastic, as well as the intro to GHZ 1.
     
  4. Tweaker

    Tweaker

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    This is the most bizarre thing I've ever played.

    The layouts flow pretty badly and I find it hard to control myself due to the various nuances littered throughout. The cutscene and new bits to the game are rather interesting, though—they add a fair bit of original flair to what would otherwise be a very strange hack with no direction in particular. I didn't work out the double jump controls or anything at first; I'd suggest you try and make its execution a bit more obvious so the player doesn't flail around to their death not knowing where to go. The only time I'd made it past the second pit in the first level was entirely by luck, and I simply died later due to another bottomless pit. It's quite frustrating.

    The music is kind of boring. Have you considered more original choices? Custom imports are practically trivial at this point, and you could at least port music from more obscure games to see what would fit each level well outside of the same 10 or so odd music choices people have used in Sonic 1 hacks up to this point. I always thought it was pointless to edit the music unless you have a clear direction with it that makes it stand out from the other dozens of odd hacks out there.

    There's not much I can say about this hack, honestly. Lots of cool stuff littered about, but I'm really not seeing what it's supposed to be. Still, there's been some solid work put into this, so nice work. :)
     
  5. Iceguy

    Iceguy

    グー! Member
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    Hell. It's in my head.
    Internal system recovery
    This is insane.

    I HEAPS LOVE THIS THING.
    Though I've gotta agree with Tweaker, the pit near the end of GHZ is frustrating. Also, what the hell is with the boss? He just goes higher and higher, eventually so high I can't reach him! Fix pl0x. owo
    But yeah, I heaps love this thing cause it's insane as hell. Gotta love the badniks. :v:
     
  6. iojnekns

    iojnekns

    trouble keeps you runnin' faster Member
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    Let me say, I just love this hack. What demented mind produced this wonderful oddity?

    First off the obvious things that I imagine most people will get hung up on and complain about over and over in this thread - the layouts are exceptionally, outrageously terrible and they actively impede you from experimenting with the treasure trove of weird, unexpected originality, which is a shame. But I'm glad I persevered and experimented because it's clear that without any direction, you are free from bothering with the conventions that the vast majority of hackers are a slave to.

    It's funny really, that the act of hacking gives such a wide scope of possibility, yet all that anyone ever does with it is recreate the original over and over, like a Sonic 1 cover band. This hack clearly doesn't give a shit about that, unsurprising considering you never had a goal in mind, but I think that's why I find it refreshing and entertaining.

    For example, I realise that when inhuman (bouncing along a bottomless pit spinning haplessly is awesome by the way,) not only can I fire projectiles, but after a little experimentation, that I can fire them in different directions. And that I can propel myself upwards by firing them downwards. And fly around! Despite grumbling to myself about the lack of a moveslist, I'm now glad for the moment when I figured that out.

    To conclude, I like this hack because it is truly, totally original, unafraid to break conventions, it is actually very funny (the SELBI PRESENTS screen, "Night Hill Place," the crabmeats that fire infinite explosions, just the total randomness of it all) and it is also undeniably technically very interesting. There are some very cool experiments going on here and I enjoyed playing it a lot. Also, to echo what Tweaker said pretty unimaginatively, it is one of the most bizarre things I've ever played. Seriously, WTF?! Great job! I'm almost positive I haven't uncovered all thats on offer here, so I will be replaying this over the coming week.

    EDIT: TIL you can advance time whilst paused using the buttons in S1,2,3&K!
     
  7. Andlabs

    Andlabs

    「いっきまーす」 Wiki Sysop
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    Writing my own MD/Genesis sound driver :D
    Because he left control mode on. Control mode is debug mode without the object adding mode.

    This is an interesting piece of work here. I agree with Tweaker that there should at least be hints as to what to do at least in the Night stage (or whatever it's called), as it took me until reading this thread again to realize I had to double jump... which doesn't seem to work for me. It's UP and JUMP at the same time in mid-air, right? That does nothing with the B button; with the C button it works perfectly.

    The flashing red when pausing and unpausing is annoying and really serves no purpose other than as a plug to hide and show the HUD, which isn't even a good idea to begin with. In many games, pausing shows more of the HUD, which can be used to provide useful information. This is counterintuitive.

    But still yes, thanks for being creative!
     
  8. Selbi

    Selbi

    The Euphonic Mess Member
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    Sonic ERaZor
    To all, I agree, the layouts are pretty odd, due being WAY too hard. When you play this hack every day, you'll get used to the double jump that much, you can't even imagine playing without it. I'll gotta redo them soon. And about the buzz bomber, I'm not sure how to make them well, because I WANT them to be undestroyable. Maybe you guys have an idea.

    That said, thanks so far. :)

    Protip: Die to see the hidden springs. ;)
     
  9. First of all, you still haven't fixed the confusing act 1 layout? And the boss bug? Don't protip people, fix the damn bugs >: (



    I did enjoy the boss though =P. Very lovely.
     
  10. Hez

    Hez

    Oldbie
    I...don't know how else to put this, but I didn't like this hack so far. The "Super Sonic" type character was ugly as sin, layouts were to hard, and palletes were just plane...meh. The HUD also seemed very random.

    I loved the crab meat boss. It was a very good idea. As for everything else, I'd suggest reviewing the old games and other successful hacks and seeing what made them great and enjoyable.
     
  11. c1owd

    c1owd

    Previously 'CarrascoZX0' Member
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    Haha, this game was nuts! The layouts were terrible and the music sucked as well... And yet I liked it for some reason...? ^^'

    Especially, the death sprites! lol! I cracked up so bad when I saw that!
    (Though remember you and I tried to do those death sprites on S1HZX but failed... I see you finally found a way to fix it lol!)

    I was also suprised but liked the little GHZ scene too. =P

    But yea this game was really funny and crazy! It just needs more improvment... Anyway, great job Selbi!

    But, what the fuck was up with the spikes with blood on them?! That kinda freaked me out lol! It reminded me of Mortal Kombat... :ohdear:
     
  12. roxahris

    roxahris

    Everyone's a hypocrite. Take my word for it. Member
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    ...heh.

    This hack is crazy, wacky, and all those other things that people say about such things, usually culminating in something like "and it's on drugs, too". It shamelessly defies the expected conventions from a Sonic game, giving people a unique experience that feels fresh, and confusing. While some would liken this hack to various other things via metaphors, I would prefer to say something straight and to the point. However, in this case, I have, more-or-less, lost my point in a barrel of white cheese.

    So, I'll just point out a few things. The menu at the start is very odd. It's made from the original game's level select, and it shows - why do you have 'buttons' where you have to scroll from each individual line making up said button to reach the next button? Why not just have it go immediately down to the next selection?
    Secondly, the level designs. That shit is whack, so to speak. You can speed along from one point to the next in a manner that makes me want to make all sorts of lame puns involving bodily functions, anger, and bridges. And the special stages... crazy hard. Argh.
    The music is meh, with some overdone ports, some okay ports, some re-voiced ports, and music $91's drums are broken.

    In conclusion, I would very much like to recite a Chinese proverb relating to this hack, but I don't know any. So, uh, yeah.
     
  13. Selbi

    Selbi

    The Euphonic Mess Member
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    Sonic ERaZor
    Dammit, I forgot to tell something to you guys: If you have problems, you can cheat. Press B on the title screen, to activate my custom in-air moving system. It was originally just for testing purposes, but on request by snkenjoi and iojnekns, I kept it in. =P

    Also, I don't think I need to make a full video anymore. Someone was able to pass the first 2 stages, as well as the special stage. So it's not impossible. =P

    But anyway, I hope I can make the layouts easier and generally better. I also finally made a decision on how to defeat those buzz bombers. I will do hard work on it today, so I might be able to bring out a "fixed" version of it today or within this week (I don't like half-assed public stuff). Edit: Fuck, I released it and it's fine the way it is. Cheat if you keep failing or wait a few weeks/months till the enxt release.

    Edit: Video of MZ1 uploaded.
     
  14. Mr. Mash

    Mr. Mash

    All fanbases are awful Member
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    Fuck yeah, explosions!
    anyway I kinda enjoyed it, it was pretty difficult but entertaining, and the boss can get too high to reach even with the springs.
    Also I only lasted about 3 seconds in the special stage.
     
  15. Hez

    Hez

    Oldbie
  16. Selbi

    Selbi

    The Euphonic Mess Member
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    Sonic ERaZor
    Ok, finally fixed. At a certain point eggman stops moving upwards, so you can still reach him with the springs.

    No lie, I wish I were as good at drawing as you :/
     
  17. ColinC10

    ColinC10

    Tech Member
    I'm not laughing.

    I mean, come on. I've never actually designed a level from scratch before, but how hard can it be? Oh well, I guess I can't criticise until I've actually tried it myself, so I'll move on to the ASM stuff.

    This hack plays a bit like an episode of Monty Python. It's a series of totally random ideas, some of them good, some of them just plain bizarre, none of them make any sense or form any coherent "plan", but yet, there's flashes of genius. I really enjoyed seeing some of the stuff you've come up with: explosions blasting out rings everywhere and the opening cutscene being two of the many highlights. Definitely keep experimenting!
     
  18. Skyler

    Skyler

    Neonネオン Cowgirlカウガール Site Staff
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    The next audtion
    This is one of the most most fucked up things I've ever played, and for all the right reasons. This is awesome.
     
  19. The Game Collector

    The Game Collector

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    Being Ted Narcotic's bass player; working on Kelly Kristjanson's tape archive; collecting video games
    This first level was fun but savestates really came in handy on that special stage. I'll quote Ted Narcotic's song lyrics for "Cleopatra" to describe how I feel about this hack:

    "She's kind of sweet, she's kind of quirky
    she's kind of tough, like beef jerky"

    It's sweet because it has a lot of original aspects, it's quirky because of all the graphical bugs in it and the strange maneuvers, and it's tough, well because of certain parts of the level layouts.
     
  20. Amethyst

    Amethyst

    Member
    I get this after using the dash and hitting a enemy near the beggining of the level.

    [​IMG]

    Other than that, it's insane O_O
     
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