General Project Thread & Feedback

A question to those who work on this project. Or mayhaps. And Idea?

What about TAS features? Such as Re-Recording and all that?

 

While liking the idea in Sonic and The Secret Ring, I honestly think it's not really going to work in the game.

As I already said, mainly the high speed nature of the game, which would constantly call in this function, thus blurring all the level and the gameplay experience.

Second, it could only be applied for "speed peaks" during a maximum of 0.30 second, or those fast sections will be difficult to control with all the blurring.


I remain open to this conceptual "blur effects" discussion, but I think there are much more functional and cool effects to reproduce the high speed FX, like new frames with some sort of afterimage "a la Hyper-Sonic".

 

Although I'm surprised you're entertaining the idea of something not originally in Sonic 2, I like Elratauru's pause screen.

As for the implementation, I'm surprised nobody has suggested this: A completely clean screen, and pressing any button except to unpause it beings up the menu.

 

I don't know everyone, but I find this kind of ever-fag-joking attitude quite childish and irritating.

If some good suggestion is coming out, please remove this type of "intro".


This feature obviously needs to be included, or you want to hit ALT+F4 to access menu screen?

 

Well, out of all the pause screen mock-ups I've seen, I have to say I agree with Jay that Elratauru's is pretty much the best.

Oh and Vincent, you're only fuelling the fire with that attitude there. Take it with a pinch of salt. It's a joke, and it's also there to encourage people to actually broaden their horizons. It's also called Tough Love.

 

No, it doesn't. The original game didn't have a menu screen and neither does this. There doesn't even need to be a menu screen; if you feel like you need one so much, though, you can integrate it through the Windows API and that will suffice just fine (ala S3K PC).

What you don't seem to get is that adding all these extra features is, quite frankly, retarded. This is Sonic 2 HD, not super awesome Sonic 15 fangame with 20000000 new features and millions of characters. All the features you need are already in the original game. If you can't handle dealing with that, then perhaps you didn't want Sonic 2 HD—you wanted some shitty fangame that will remain as unmemorable as a large majority of them out there.

This project is something different. If you want it to be shit, then by all means be my guest. But of course if you see no problem with your attitude in regards to quite a few things on this project—namely, the very valid point behind the "originalpixelfags" reference—then maybe I shouldn't expect much out of this after all.

My interest has slowly waned in this project as I have gradually seen great deterioration in both quality and aesthetic decisions made for the project. It no longer interests me as it should, and the idea of a breathtaking artistic recreation of Sonic 2 at a higher resolution is clearly beyond the scope of this project. All it is is a manual filter—and if you wanted a pimped up hq4x, then maybe you should have used just that.

 

Can't we just stick to a normal menu? No extra button presses, no special rules, just a normal and stupid menu =/

It would restart the level (and yes, ignoring any checkpoints). In exchange you lose a life.

EDIT:

If that was the case, then I would just go and play the original Sonic game. I don't even need a console because there are emulators (and good ones) for a lot of platforms. We aren't making new layouts, adding new zones and enemies and such, it's just a stupid menu! And a menubar would simply look out of the feel of the game =/

 

I like how everyone completely ignored what I said.

Thanks for proving my point!

 

A small pause menu would make the game all the more functional and intuitive - I see no harm in that whatsoever.

I find it somewhat paradoxical Tweaker, that you state the "originalpixelfag" comment is a valid criticism.

Yet you then argue against a pause screen on the very same grounds that the original Sonic 2 didn't have one.

I think that type of accusation is a somewhat large leap from a mere acknowledgement of a useful feature. I completely agree with Aquaslash's comment that there is "needless baaawing" over this issue.

 

There is a large difference between artistic interpretation and adding new features. You can try and stretch it all you like, but it is not the same type of situation. You do not need to follow every single pixel exactly to reinvent the art within the game; however, if you're making Sonic 2 HD, as in a game that is exactly the same as the original game, only difference being that you have updated graphics and music, then that is how it must be done. Period.

If you add extra features, it is no longer Sonic 2 in HD. It's a shitty fan service. If you can't handle, for some inane reason, not making a pause menu and accepting the original game as the quality product it is, then maybe you weren't the right person to lead this project in the first place. You obviously can't handle the concept of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." You obviously can't handle saying no to a bunch of faggots who suggest utterly useless features. You obviously can't accurately judge what made the original games great. You obviously can't do a LOT of things right.

I'm tired of sitting idly by and watching this shit go down the drain. It's time somebody finally calls this project out for what it is—a load of shit.

 

I'm not going to argue with you Tweaker, let's agree to disagree and get back on topic.

 

Yes, that would be easier, wouldn't it? Completely ignore the concerns that you don't have an argument for. Completely ignore anyone who doesn't speak with sunshine and butterflies surrounding their words. If we "agree to disagree" then this feeling of animosity will remain in the air indefinitely, and you're doing nothing to solve some serious issues that need to be worked out. If you don't mind leading this to failure, then be my guest. It was just my assumption that you wanted this project so succeed. I could be wrong, though.

 

What I'm saying is there DOES NOT NEED TO BE A MENU. FULL STOP. Sonic Jam was different because it was a compilation that included other games—Sonic 2 as a standalone game does not need a menu, or it would have had one.

 

Why implement a Windows API instead of a pretty, yet functional menu bar? (appearing only if pressing a button or any other key combination)

And I can't understand why those people don't get it's only 3-4 people doing the hard work in art.
It's extremely DIFFICULT to reproduce it with different hands and styles, if we don't get a BASIC HD environment completed.
We've seen so many different conceptual art sketches, but every of them was partial and with different styles.

That's why the only available decision to do was a "same" guideline for each artists to follow, before going wild with shadings or light effects: original pixels.

Wrong.
We are getting a basic HD stuff done, it's the first phase.
And we cannot skip it.


And ultimately, Tweaker, please don't trash people hard work and efforts because something you don't like is not going to be officially marked as SHIT.
Ideas will never harm us, especially because if any will be included, they will just function as "extras".

 

Are you seriously saying that not having a pause menu is what made Sonic 2 great? That's one of the things that made Sonic 2 great? The lack of a pause menu?

What else are you talking about? What features? The possibility of a motion blur (which if did exist would be very subtly done, and also an art choice)? The possibility of new frames not in the original game (again an art choice)? Those are the only three features I've seen come up that might possibly make it into Sonic 2 HD.

But yet you drone on and on, insulting people who are doing the grunt work here. Acting like you're the only one who know what makes Sonic "great". Here's my question, if you don't like the direction Sonic 2 HD is taking, how about trying to shape it instead of just insulting it? Infact, that goes for a lot of people. You're not powerless to do something. If you're an expert on what Sonic 2 HD should look like, how about you take Athelstone's job and direct the project? Why don't you give us good examples to work from? Why don't you backup your opinions and criticisms with more than "YOOOUU are not AWARE of the TRUE power OF SONIC 2! YOU ARE NOT READY FOR THE POOOOWARRR!" type elitist bullshit that you bring with you every time you see an idea or piece of art that doesn't fit your hand sanded and polished sensibilities?

 

I am a big fan of TASs, so when the time comes I will make a pitch for rerecording support to be added. If the game turns out well, perhaps Upthorn or Nitsuja would be interested in doing it. They have lots of experience reprogramming Gens and TASing Sonic games. Whether it'll get published on Bisqwit's site remains to be seen; there isn't much support for TASing fan creations and gameplay-wise this project doesn't really offer anything that Sonic 2 doesn't already have.

 

Computers don't have reset buttons like the Mega Drive, ergo a pause menu would indeed be something that'd make sense. And it's not such a terrible betrayal of the original, is it?

 

I agree with this. And if you don't want a Pause menu, how about just set some button combination in the game to reset the game like Alt+R or some random combination.

Either way this game needs some form of a restart not involving quitting and starting everything back up again.

Also Tweaker I don't think adding a pause menu changes this game from Sonic 2 HD to LULZ SHITTY FAN GAME. It's just for convenience sake.