Quote:

Quote:It has been two years and until we see a development blog to indicate their progress in more detail we have to assume (on our outdated information) that the team has the alpha-engine almost complete (given they stated they almost made the alpha release date) and from recalling some notes from the team members on the boards two zones (out of a total of eleven) are almost complete. At this speed we're looking at (using calculations based on the game's progress over the last two years) a projected, optimistic release date of January 2020.

I've seen something along these lines posted a few times, and I feel it should be addressed. It is understandable that you would think that this game won't be released by 2020, I thought the same thing before I joined staff. I was drawn to the project with hopes that I could help speed the production along, because it seemed like little to no progress was being made from the outside perspective. That was a year ago, and while that concern was valid back then, I can tell you that production has exponentially increased since then. You could almost say this project was reborn in the year 2010, because every single asset has been redone for the better. You may see it as a waste of time, but all of the art assets from many different artists put together just didn't fit as a whole. I think we can all agree that we want this game to be the best it can be, and we want the art to look completely amazing and blow people away, so in the end the small wait will be beneficial to all.

That's why we made it a priority to finalize an art style, one that gelled together well while keeping in spirit with the Official Art at the same time. After we finalized that art style, we flew through the rest of the assets, and will continue to do so. Sonic's whole frameset was done in a matter of months, all while adding extended animations (hundreds of frames). HillTop Zone was completely redone from scratch in under a month, compared to Who Knows How Long it Took Zone, aka Emerald Hill Zone. This trend will continue on into all further work we produce as the staff members get even more comfortable with the new art style. We have found our groove, production is going faster than ever, there were just a few speed bumps along the way that have been ironed out.

Most of the staff devote practically all of their free time to the project, all while living our real lives on the side. This project has become a second life for us, and we are trying to please as many people as possible. I genuinely appreciate you voicing your concerns, and I hope I've helped you to understand that things aren't coming along as slowly as they might first appear.

Iceman404 Wrote:The whole thing was delayed because their idiotic programmer, LOst, decided to intentionally delay the ENTIRE RELEASE TO UNKNOWINGLY PUT DMR (or something, it deals with liscensing security to prevent hacking, which also sets of trojan alerts constantly without harm) INTO THE GAME.

(03-29-2012, 10:26 AM).Luke Wrote: Oh God I left a long and angry rant on the release's comment's section. My bickering about the art probably wasn't necessary now that I know they were aiming for the coloring style in the game's manual, but I am still very pissed at the devs for throwing a broken alpha out there. No, not a demo, not even a beta, an alpha!

The compatibility is laughable, the DRM sets most anti-virus software off, and it won't even load on half the PCs that try to run it. I've been waiting for a playable demo since the project's beginning for crying out loud, and they should have waited a bit longer too, when their latest build was actually stable; even if LOst is going on an all out feature-panic with the engine's development from the sound of it. They were way too eager to get this into the public's hands. Pretty much anyone else in the fan community would get roasted on-site for pulling crap like that, what makes them the exception?

Iceman404 Wrote:The whole thing was delayed because their idiotic programmer, LOst, decided to intentionally delay the ENTIRE RELEASE TO UNKNOWINGLY PUT DMR (or something, it deals with liscensing security to prevent hacking, which also sets of trojan alerts constantly without harm) INTO THE GAME.

To be honest, I could understand why they would want DRM packed in there. Think about, a near-professional recreation of Sonic 2 might just tempt a few pirates into removing the disclaimer screens, burning it onto a stack of discs and selling it for loads of cash on Ebay. Now while the fan community wouldn't dare do this, someone else would. Even SEGA, who may or may not be tolerant of fan games, might feel the need to give Sonic 2 HD a cease-and-desist well before the project's completion for that reason, I think. Something of this magnitude could use a little protection.

Not that it really matters any more, pirates crack right past DRM and laugh at it very rapidly these days, so stemming the whole project's development to implement something that can be so easily ripped out by hackers later on is just a waste of time and turns off the player-base. I find it both stupid and pointless; that guy is just wasting their time.

Iceman404 Wrote:Late April Fools.
Put in the Sonic the Hedgehog level select code on the Sonic Retro Forums page.
http://forums.sonicretro.org/

(04-02-2012, 10:28 PM)Iceman404 Wrote: Late April Fools.
Put in the Sonic the Hedgehog level select code on the Sonic Retro Forums page.
http://forums.sonicretro.org/
LOst is now the laughing stock of the whole Sonic community.