don't click here

Sonic the Hedgehog Remix

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by OrdosAlpha, Aug 24, 2007.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. OrdosAlpha

    OrdosAlpha

    Who's next!? Oldbie
  2. 87th

    87th

    FOX HOUNDER Member
    Hmm... this shows incredible potential, but the first release almost seems disappointing after reading such great ideas. I look forward to a more complete version, but this release doesn't show off many of the great things about this hack.
     
  3. Hez

    Hez

    Oldbie
    I wasn't to disappointed...the music remix was far past amazing.
     
  4. Covarr

    Covarr

    Sentient Cash Register Member
    4,233
    3
    18
    Trapped in my own thoughts.
    Two stageplays, a screenplay, and an album
    It would be more enjoyable if the Sega logo sound wasn't destroyed.

    This music is awesome; it's nice to hear something that I haven't already heard twenty million times either in an original Sonic game or in a hack.
     
  5. ICEknight

    ICEknight

    Researcher Researcher
    Do you know what exactly causes it to hang in Kega Fusion? Just curious.
     
  6. Tweaker

    Tweaker

    Banned
    12,387
    2
    0
    Fusion generally hangs with odd address errors - in this particular case, it might be due to word references on odd addresses. This is easily corrected. In the case that art or something may be uneven, this is also easily fixed. Gens doesn't seem to care all too much about odd address errors, so things will generally run fine in it and not in others.
     
  7. Upthorn

    Upthorn

    TAS Tech Member
    239
    0
    0
    This isn't entirely true. Because gens runs everything byteswapped in RAM (because Starscream is little endian), word reads at odd addresses will result in reading totally incorrect data. Gens generally won't care too much about this, but if your ROM data isn't aligned properly, a jump to an odd address will result in illegal instructions freezing your ROM, whereas fusion will play it fine from there.

    (they're sort of like the reverse of each other. Fusion can't deal with word data access at odd addresses, Gens can't deal with word instruction access at odd addresses.)
     
  8. SMTP

    SMTP

    Tech Member
    Only the title screen crashes Kega though. If you take a savestate from gens, and then play it in Kega the game will work fine.
     
  9. SMTP

    SMTP

    Tech Member
    Ok, I have a question. Why does the uncompressed animated art take so long to load..?
     
  10. ICEknight

    ICEknight

    Researcher Researcher
    Those are some sweet music ports in there.

    Are you going to port the 8-bit levels or make new levels based on them? Having the unchanged originals in 16-bit form would be godly, including the different Green Hill, Labyrinth and Scrap Brain zones (either making them acts 4, 5 and 6 or just replacing the MD levels we've played thousands of times already).

    EDIT: Oops, I've just read there will be major alterations. Oh well, I'm sure it will turn out quite nice either way.
     
  11. StephenUK

    StephenUK

    Liquor in the front, poker in the rear Tech Member
    1,678
    0
    16
    Manchester, UK
    Quackshot Disassembly
    So, hallowe'en is upon us, so it seems appropriate to bring up something else from the dead - this topic.

    Having restarted the project using MarkeyJester's S1 128 hack as a base, the project has been moving a lot quicker than it ever has. As a result, significant progress has been made on the first of the new zones, Bridge Zone. Although it's still a WIP, it seems to be coming together quite nicely.

    [​IMG]

    What I would like to know, is if there are any alterations that could be made to increase the quality of the art, and what people feel should be added, whether it be basic art or gimmicks, to make Bridge Zone come alive. There are already plans to add the SMS gimmicks, but I feel there is room for more to make this zone special. What do you think?

    EDIT: By the way, the screen does have the TV filter applied on it. I did it to get an idea of how things would look on hardware, such as the reflection, and I couldn't be bothered to take another pic with no filter applied.
     
  12. Banoon

    Banoon

    yes Member
    577
    0
    16
    Auckland, New Zealand
    Yeth (hack)
    WOW, that is incredibly pretty. Background looks really fantastic. The top of the screen looks a bit plain compared to the rest, though.
     
  13. MarkeyJester

    MarkeyJester

    Original, No substitute Resident Jester
    2,192
    404
    63
    Japan
    If you are looking for suggestions on this particular image, then the tree's brown log/stump (whatever it's called, I forget) seems a bit cartoony compared to the rest of the design which looks more realistic, I would also suggest making the fence more wood like too, but that's just my opinion, I'm not one who's always good for knowing what the best look is in a colour sense. So besides those two minor differences the rest is fantastic and very real looking, not much complaining here really =)
     
  14. Random Number

    Random Number

    Member
    14
    0
    0
    Finally, this project is back! I wondered what happened to it. Now I have something else to look forward to. I can't wait to see what's to come with this hack. As for suggestions, I agree with Markeyjester, but I don't really see anything else besides that, that would really need to be changed.
     
  15. E-122-Psi

    E-122-Psi

    Member
    2,470
    612
    93
    Made another grass scheme then. Has a clump style that beckons to the original a bit.

    The tree is an interesting addition. Admitedly makes the landscape look less empty. Looks okay to me, though the TV quality screen makes it hard to judge.
     
  16. Alphaman

    Alphaman

    Member
    17
    0
    0
    Bridge looks great, especially the background. If I were to nitpick, I'd say the fense is a tad too big and broad.

    I'm not sure how much the music had to do with it, but I've always loved Bridge Zone. So for stuff I liked in the original / stuff I think would be great to do with that theme...

    -The autoscroll-segment actually didn't bother me, although I can understand how it's kind of weird to force Sonic to such a slow pace. I'm not sure how you're gonna deal with that segment of the level with the Sonic 2 Engine, but just making certain segments of the levels autoscrolling (maybe with a "logical" reasoning like collapsing bridges - see below) would offer some nice surprises and mix things up. It would need to be "announced", though, so players don't rush off and hit the edge of the screen when trying to jump over a gap, unaware of the now (slower) autoscrolling.

    -It may seem trivial, but keeping the "collapsing bridges"-sections makes for some hectic segments, and it's also possible without having to deal with an autoscrolling screen. The first of these bridges could be "announced" with a "!"-sign, but once the gimmick has been introduced, players should be able to pay attention to the bridges by themselves. Just make not all bridges collapse and players will be on their toes with every bridge (bonus idea: Make more bridges collapse on higher difficulties, and give every collapsing bridge a "!" sign on easy) An alternative way to safely introduce the collapsing bridges would be to have the first one contain solid ground underneath (you'll just miss a ring monitor atop the bridge).

    -The "bouncing up weights to make certain jumps"-segments of the original had a nice gimmick, but it slowed down the stage without any action going on at all, and the only challenge that came from that laid in the autoscrolling of doom in act 2. One solution to make these sections more interesting, even with no autoscrolling going on, would be to have some enemies attacking while you are waiting for the weight you shoot up to drop down again and bounce you into the sky. Of course, it has to be considered that when sent up into the sky by that leverage, you're not in ball-form. If you drop into a respawned enemy (you usually had to launch the weight twice, since the first take didn't sent you up high enough) when launching the weight again, drop off the seesaw and into a bottomless pit, rage will rightfully ensue. So for these segments either make one jump suffice (no need to launch the weight twice) or use no respawning enemies but ones you will just have to destroy first / that won't respawn that fast. If you have a better idea, use that one. The alternative solution would be to mainly use these parts in autoscrolling segments (maybe introduce it in a non-autoscrolling part, so players know how it works).

    -Using enemies as platforms to reach certain (secret) areas (or straight up as platforms since they cannot be destroyed) is also pretty much obvious. Same for falling logs - both ideas are from Super Mario Bros 2 (US version), but I think they'd work nicely with Sonic. Of course, falling platforms don't mix with autoscrolling very well (the screen may hinder you from reaching the next platform if you're too fast), but this combination of course also allows some nice challanging sections. Also, travelling on some sort of boat-substitute (a log again? a friendly fish?) while evading attacking enemies is typical for this kind of zones, but again, these segments should be short, since they're clashing with the faster-paced gameplay elements of Sonic.

    -Crossing a waterfall would be a very cool idea, maybe on said falling logs? Or fighting the boss while trying to not fall down the waterfall, jumping from log to log (one of Advance 3's bosses is like that, also one mid-boss of MegaMan 8 sort of falls into that category, but you are constantly falling down and cannot die from this, you only need the logs to reach the midboss, not to prevent falling to your death). Since the SA3 version was bottomless pit-galore, it'd hardly be a fitting boss for a second zone. Still, waterfalls are cool and it's fucking Bridge Zone - SOME sort of waterfall would certainly be appropiate. Maybe hide something nice behind the waterfall as well.
     
  17. dsrb

    dsrb

    Member
    3,149
    0
    16
    Looks nice, but the tree (while also nice) looks very blocky, as though it's been upscaled 2x?
     
  18. StephenUK

    StephenUK

    Liquor in the front, poker in the rear Tech Member
    1,678
    0
    16
    Manchester, UK
    Quackshot Disassembly
    Yeah I took the pic before I'd smoothed it out, that was pretty much the outline. I've done some work on it since but I've not took a screen of it since.
     
  19. dsrb

    dsrb

    Member
    3,149
    0
    16
    Cool, looking forward to more updates!
     
  20. StephenUK

    StephenUK

    Liquor in the front, poker in the rear Tech Member
    1,678
    0
    16
    Manchester, UK
    Quackshot Disassembly
    [​IMG]

    Updated the tree, adding dithering and smoothing it out a bit. Any thoughts?
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.