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Sonic VR

Discussion in 'Engineering & Reverse Engineering' started by ColinC10, Sep 18, 2011.

  1. Mercury

    Mercury

    His Name Is Sonic Tech Member
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    I have just now finished playing this all the way through, and I have to say: WOW. It's brilliant.

    I'm in the middle of packing for a move, so my controllers are packed away, and I played it through with a keyboard (which is less than ideal for me). But even with that, it played great. I had not one moment of frustration, which is highly unusual for me especially with this type of game. I think it's because the length of the levels was perfect.

    I liked it so much I played through without the help of savestates (something I do for hacks I really respect), except for those 2 spots with the double SBZ barrels - at first I couldn't figure out how to pass them by, and I used states to experiment quickly until I caught the trick.

    The layouts are professional grade, no scratch that, better than professional grade. It would have been so easy to just throw in a bunch of stuff and call it "challenge" especially in this type of game, but a huge amount of effort and thought must have gone into them. Your brief descriptions of your thought process while making it suggest - to me, at least - that you've mastered what it takes to make great game design. You should be extremely proud.

    I couldn't pick a favourite level, but I did particularly enjoy Precision Platforming. It was no trouble whatsoever, and could have been much longer and I would have still liked it. My dream game would be a full-fledged Sonic with levels that incorporate clever challenges like these.

    I don't want to sound like I'm having a jab at Sonic 2 Retro Remix here, but I feel I must contrast it with Sonic VR. When playing the former, I feel claustrophobic and powerless, like the Sonic engine isn't really that good after all. But with the latter, it makes me realise that - in expert hands - there's still an incredible amount of life left in it, and plenty more fun to be had.

    When I get everything set back up and my controller out of storage, you can be sure I'll be playing this over and over again. =)
     
  2. steveswede

    steveswede

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    Horses for courses at the end of the day mate. Retro Remix is just not your thing where it is for me because from my perspective puts it into a different gear with it's different game mechanics. With VR with what I noticed is that it pushes the player to think about using the classic physics to their advantage. The classic Sonic games have always been easy for people to pick up but they is so much more to them when you put a deeper look into them. Maybe this approach hits that sweet spot with you because it eases you in while Retro Remix you have to have a knowledge for the original mechanics and expand on them with the new ones plus change your game to emerald hunting rather than completing levels. Some people just don't find that complexity fun, especially if you already have a mindset about how a game should play.
     
  3. Ambil

    Ambil

    I want that heinous hedgehog hammered! Member
    I enjoyed this game very much. Specially loved the level names :v:

    However, I got a suggestion for level 029 (Arrow Escape). If you run too much, the arrows disappear, making the level much easier.

    I remember, many years ago, a post by drx:

    So I guess you can keep all the objects, including the arrows, no matter how far you run from them, by just disabling this autokilling routine. It shouldn't be a big problem, since there's space in RAM for 80 sprites and I'm sure that the number of objects in any level of your hack is far from the limit.
     
  4. nineko

    nineko

    I am the Holy Cat Tech Member
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    I think it's not only a matter of RAM. By not "killing" objects you would keep on executing their code indefinitely, eventually hogging the CPU. Perhaps you can alter the behaviour for the arrows only, though.
     
  5. amphobius

    amphobius

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    Finally beat it without video assistance! All Together Now was some nasty work, but I had fun without any major hitches.

    The Picodrive emulator for PSP fine, though Helix Nebula for the first filesystem worked normally, any other would only play Mermaid, though its a kickass track so I didn't care.

    Great fun this, stunning work as always.
     
  6. Sik

    Sik

    Sik is pronounced as "seek", not as "sick". Tech Member
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    I think that was his intention.

    That said, even then you could argue it's too easy - just spindash like hell right at the beginning and you'll go through like half the level in a couple of seconds, getting a huge advantage. So if he really wants to be evil, he could instead put a distance cap on the arrows. But yeah, that's way unfair =P
     
  7. nineko

    nineko

    I am the Holy Cat Tech Member
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    :colbert:
     
  8. PsychoSk8r

    PsychoSk8r

    PsychedelAnt | Tone Turner Oldbie
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    It can definitely be done, altering code for just one specific object to keep been processed. It's a pretty easy task too.
    Though I will say, I had problems out-running the arrows. :v:

    Overall though, I've had so much fun playing through this in it's entirety, I still love playing it over and over. Good job as always, and I look forward to what next year may bring. =P
     
  9. ColinC10

    ColinC10

    Tech Member
    Wow, controversial - I'd never associate the phrase "claustrophobic and powerless" with Sonic 2 Retro Remix! I'm really glad you enjoyed it though, Mercury, as you were another of the members that I was looking forward to hearing comments from.


    Hooray, somebody else appreciates my daft puns! :v:


    Yes, I'm aware of this. It's not that easy to do though, so if you manage it then I'd say you've probably earned the free pass to the rest of the level. Removing the "kill routine" from the arrows would be very easy, but I deliberately didn't do it because being able to outrun them is a feature from the original game. I decided pretty early on when making the hack that every object would be taken directly from Sonic 1 or 2 without any modification whatsoever, so the player doesn't have to relearn how anything behaves and can concentrate on solving the level. The only "new" objects are the VR-themed collapsing floors, breakable walls and moving blocks, but in reality these are just Sonic 1 objects with new art and the occasional resizing, so it's obvious how they work as soon as you encounter them. I must admit I was very tempted to create something for the "final boss", but I think what I came up with in the end using basic objects makes for a reasonably decent fight!
     
  10. Sik

    Sik

    Sik is pronounced as "seek", not as "sick". Tech Member
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    Spindash right at the beginning (and maybe jump to dodge some obstacle). You'll literally go through like half of the level and the arrows will have been already destroyed.
     
  11. Ambil

    Ambil

    I want that heinous hedgehog hammered! Member
    Also, the song of the filesystem 1 is extremely catchy. It has been stuck in my mind (and still is) for the last four days, and I can't get rid of it. :v
     
  12. Animemaster

    Animemaster

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    I must say I absolutely love this game, how I like a challenge, and this is what its giving me! I haven't had time to finish it yet but trust me I will!
     
  13. TomoAlien

    TomoAlien

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    This hack is really damn awesome. I wonder if it works on real hardware, and also why it doesn't work on Regen?
     
  14. Sik

    Sik

    Sik is pronounced as "seek", not as "sick". Tech Member
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    being an asshole =P
    If you have the mapper and an adequate ROM size (and he didn't accidentally use uneven word access), it should.

    Regen only supports up to 5MB (this hack is 6MB), and it has the mapper hardcoded to run only with SSF2 and nothing else.
     
  15. Mr. Mash

    Mr. Mash

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    Did any officially released games use this method for it's music? Other than SEEEEGAAAAA
     
  16. nineko

    nineko

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    Well, Toy Story features a full blown 4-channels MOD player for the title screen and the ending, but it's not the same thing.
     
  17. Mr. Mash

    Mr. Mash

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    So I've just got this roadkill level to go, and I'm thinking, (if you haven't done it already) it'd be cool if once you finished all the level it told you how many times you'd died.
    Thanks Nineko, I only have a very basic understanding of how it works.