I've been waiting for the RSDK to be released for years now, as I'm sure many of you have as well. I read this interview, and it seems to emphasize how powerful the tool is, almost teasing us, but there's still no download link. In addition, I'm surprised they didn't ask when the public release would be. I'm sure so many fangame developers here would greatly benefit from having this software. Has anyone found any information on when it will be publicly released?
Taxman's engine was re-purposed for Sonic CD, there's a good chance you've played it. Needless to say, a public release probably isn't happening anymore.
Where was that announced? Why is it so obvious? I don't see how it being used for Sonic CD makes a public release any less likely. Also, if there isn't going to be a public release, why does that interview seem like a teaser for the RSDK? (If there isn't going to be an official release, what do you think the odds are that someone here will reverse engineer the data format and build a third-party RSDK?)
Sega officially got the license for the engine from Taxman/Christian Whitehead, so he got paid to officially work on that Sonic CD port- thus he had no more time or incentive to make fangames for free in his spare time. He is a member of Retro and has basically clarified this stuff himself. Why would he allow just anybody to publicly use his engine for free when he now has the opportunity to pitch it to any developer who wants to make a 2D game and get paid for the use of his engine? The fact that it's already been used in a commercial game by a big name company has added quite a bit of impressive credentials to his indie game developer resume.
Oh, that makes sense. It's a shame there isn't going to be a public release, but I guess good for him!
I'm pretty sure there was a topic about this earlier this year but essentially it comes down to this: The whole "releasing the RSDK" idea was due to the original planned feature of having a "custom levels" option for the Retro-Sonic fan game. Back then, the game's editor was quite primitive. You could only make new levels for the existing game. By the time I was working on Nexus and XG, the RSDK/Retro Engine had progressed to the point where it was no longer Sonic specific, and by the time I was working on Sonic CD, it had progressed to the point where it was a full on game development environment for my professional work. In all honesty, most people that want to use the RSDK and engine are looking for a "Sonic Worlds" type of base to make their fan games. But the recent iterations were never made with the intention of it being a 'drag and drop' tool for beginners / non-programmers (I guess the difficulty would be somewhat on par with something like Unity or UDK). And while I own the rights to it, you have to also remember that Sonic is Sega's IP so as a working developer, it's a conflict of interest for me to make any Sonic related scripts available. So bottom line, I have no intention to release it currently. I apologize if it's disappointing news, but there's plenty of other faces in the community (Mercury, Damizean etc) stepping up to the plate of creating 2D Sonic frameworks/engines
Is the Retro Engine a tool that you essentially developed for your own personal use, or is it something that developers can come to you and license use of the engine from you for their original IP's? I think I'm struggling to correctly word this question, but if a developer needed an engine to develop their own original 2D platformer, would you license use of the Retro Engine to them for some sort of fee? Or is the engine entirely proprietary to you and the projects you decide to work on? I don't have the technical prowess to even dream of utilizing it, but I just want to get a better understanding of what it is, and who you would make it available to, if anyone
It's a bit difficult to answer this, Nexus/XG was based around what I could achieve in spare time as a fan. There were some aspects to it I liked sure, but If I was ever to work on a brand new game it'd be something more ambitious. It's basically something I intend to use 'in-house' on projects I'm involved with. To make it publicly available would take time away from me that I use to actually make games, since I'd have to worry about issues and requests its users would have, along with legal/licensing logistics. When you look at something like Scirra's Construct 2, the developers are putting all their time into creating the tool as the end product, not the means to an end.
