Dan

Yep, it worked. Cool, all good.

Oh. Awesome!! Ty. Edit - Woops, the board is visible but it's still asking for a password.

Being refreshed is exactly what I'm missing. Ideas are my favourite "currency" of the whole fangaming concept; I'm kicking myself for not copying the whole CS when I had the chance. I do believe there was more content there than one could call too little to be worth knowing. I see one idea as an inspiration and that place was at least a few handfuls of them. Heck, I'll picture someone throwing a wheelbarrow in my mind and ask "Ok what can I get from that?" Anything that can inspire, I value. So I'd love to see it come back, if only just to have those archived refreshers available again. Further functionality would be a bonus but would probably take a bit of proactive promotion.

With respect, "We're not allowed to talk about stuff" was not the problem I was raising. We're not allowed to read stuff.

Is there a reason all the original Concept Storm ideas have been hidden away, again? Why can't they just be left in a read-only archive for everyone to view? The whole stated purpose of the Concept Storm was that anyone could use the ideas. But since it is likely that the posts were concealed, not deleted, it means a choice was made to let only some people still view them. As in, they were considered valuable enough to not delete, but without any acknowledgement that some members might think that too. All that's left are barely viable memories such as that quote of LH the Hedgehog, when the whole thing could simply still be viewable to everyone.

I'm about to test this myself on a decent desktop PC. Visually it runs nicely on my laptop, but input lag is still there. My question is whether this slight lag is actually due to the engine not performing as well as it could because of my machine, or really just a case of the game itself including the lag as a consistent part of the package even with all cylinders firing. I'm thinking the latter tbh. Edit - Ok I think it's a bit of both. I'm sure I could feel a difference between desktop and laptop, but not with enough certainty to avoid having to use the word "sure" to describe it. Anyhoo, yeah even at its best SFR isn't as tight as a classic, or even Nexus. That difference is clear. I was surprised to see just what real input lag is. When I cranked the desktop up to settings I really expected it to handle, it was literally hard to stop between trees. Core 2 Duo E7700 @ 2.93Ghz Nvidia GT9500 1024M.

I'm still trying to work out if the lag I feel is my machine or the engine, because visually it runs very well. Not perfect but completely fine. But while I'm playing I still feel that things aren't responding fast enough. The level design though... what are people's thoughts? Especially of act 2, since that's the only original design in the game. Act 3 I just can't get into. I can't make sense of it, can't seem to find a reason to go anywhere or really enjoy it. Obviously most problems that one could highlight can probably be blamed on its cut and paste design. It might be because I'm unconsciously expecting other parts of the level to appear, that don't. Or it might be because it has no real direction - and I don't even think I know enough to say that. I certainly can't remember how act 3 maps out. But does anyone feel like act 3 knows what it's trying to provide? Or do people agree that it really is just a blob of pieces without a general aim? Or am I reading too much into it heh. Back to act 2, I love it for its aesthetics and its curves near the very start and very end. I dislike that it is just mind-bogglingly short, which isn't helped by the fact that its 2-and-a-half paths are pretty much straight lines. There actually isn't anything very playful in act 2. The top path contains practically zero options short of dropping off it, and the bottom path... I guess instead of making you play and choose between options, it only asks you to keep going and if you want an alternative you have to deliberately decide to aim for it. And that's pretty much "find a way to go straight up".

As a suggestion, how about a creative-idea-of-the-month award too? Perhaps it could just be a mod-edited stamp added to the post in particular, or another medal the author/s carries for the rest of the next month, or maybe some better idea. Perhaps that could be like a wildcard in awarding the medals that are normally awarded - you might only have 1 post of participation, but that post earns you fame and temporary glory. It would be cool to see someone's avatar with this little award, and to know that that person has written something considered by others to be a bit special, then to go and hunt down that special thing. Hmm... I don't know if it's possible but perhaps clicking that award could link straight to the particular post.

That trailer's music would have been much better to have in the level itself.

Great to see everything back.. now I can stop worrying about forgotten ideas. I agree with both sides of the issue with locking/opening old topics, but I think the problem comes down to trying to direct when creativity can flow. In the end, if people are still coming up with ideas for last month's topic, shutting out those ideas is a loss. If last month's topic is still bubbling in people's minds while this month's topic is a bit dry, being a month old isn't a good reason to block people from writing anything that's cool or inspiring when there actually is a topic on the board that it could go in. The issue of distraction is not one of readability, but one of having a freer mind, no? If everyone's still hung up on waterfalls in the city a new month's concept will receive less attention. But I think forbidding older discussions is not the best way to help that. People who want to keep adding to the older topics, but can't, at best will not feel an increased level of interest in the new subject. At worst, they'll feel stifled. Free thought can't be forced on, old ideas shouldn't be forced off, but if everything was unlocked and all the old stuff put in a different forum, that forum would receive more attention than the new concepts. If everything was unlocked and kept in the same forum, new topics could drown under the old topics. We need a way to encourage each month's new concept so everyone doesn't just hunker down in the older brainstorms. In my opinion, everything should stay open always. I think we should discuss ways to encourage the new topics in the interest of keeping new ideas flowing, but not ways to lock the older ones. After all that, the only real idea I have is deliberately involving the whole community more. I'm sure many members have poked their heads into this corner of the board, but not often and not for long. If this whole thing was more visible to all members there would probably be a greater flood of ideas. We'd see people just posting the thoughts that automatically popped into their heads as soon as they read the topic for the first time, just because the topic was there to be read. With that in mind, my suggestion is to use that extra attention for each month's new concept. Put the Monthly Concept Storm board more in the "public" eye by using a single clone thread in either the General or General Fangame boards to bring attention to it. I'm thinking that each month you could basically have the topic banter thread running on both boards at once, if that's possible. At the end of the month, the copy that appeared on the General/Fangame board can disappear entirely and the new month's banter topic takes its place. Within that banter topic, each time a sub-topic is generated, a link is simply displayed or an announcement made that the Monthly Concept Storm board has a new thread for that particular idea.. This brings more minds to the topics, encourages each new concept since everyone's ideas will be more visible to everyone else, and doesn't encourage the older topics to drown things out. The cost is basically one more mirrored thread somewhere. A different approach would be a kind of banner on the site, showing this month's current topic and linking to the banter thread. To further add to the "in fashion" encouragement of the current concept storm, those reward ideas you're considering... simply let them only apply to this month's concepts only. The older concepts can then stay open to receive new ideas that need a place because there is now a clear spotlight and they aren't in it. And really, if the older topics still get more attention than the new concepts visible to all, I think that's a pretty solid sign that the older subjects are deserving of it.

Can you bring back all the topics please? I'd rather be my own judge on which ideas twigged something in my mind. If you're worried about visibility you can take them down in a few days, so I can just copy them. Or can you PM me a location.. or something. It was a good system with the general banter topic then the numbered specific topics; it would just be good if they were all still there. What's useless to one might inspire another. In future they could all even be bumped/locked in the right order so that it forms a sort of index as one looks down the board. I'd very much like a discussion on new moves for the classic formula.

Just as little popularity of deleting the topics, I'd say. I had ideas bookmarked on those threads. :/ With such low popularity acknowledged in the first place, I wouldn't say visibility is a worthwhile payoff.

What happened to just locking them? That was fine for letting people browse past ideas. So how do I find them now?

Why were the other topics removed? Can they be found anywhere?

It's not about what I want, I was just pointing out a control that was missed unintentionally.

Oh, it means to make weaker. It's a kind of internet culture word I think. If English isn't your first language, avoid "nerf" in real-life conversation, or outside a gaming context really.

I can see you're not making a perfect clone and I'm completely behind the change, for instance, to Knuckles' jumping height. But you also got his stalled landings after gliding near perfect. The direction you took with all the controls makes it look like that insta-shield omission was an oversight. I was just picking it up. If it wasn't an oversight, well fair enough and call me wrong. But that would mean you deliberately took that functionality out of only that move. Both other characters can regain control with their secondary moves; Sonic was the only one who could do so without slowing down. Did you really choose to nerf Sonic's insta-shield?

I see you're not really asking about physics here, but you seem to be trying to clone the Sonic 3 moves perfectly so I thought I'd point out that the insta-shield is not returning control to a rolling jump as it should.

I strongly recommend this: http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/ ...But not for the beginner level. Once you start getting the basic hang of things, multiple files, pointers, a class or two, etc, then keep it on hand. For now I encourage bookmarking it. It has a lot of correct and healthy advice that is well explained and encourages good habits.

I haven't played much of PSU, only the offline story, but I've wasted a lifetime on PSO. From what I saw PSU did some things very well and some not. I preferred the looser fighting - holding/releasing targets, strafing, firing while running etc - but really missed the strict combo system of PSO. That's an example of how I saw much of the game; many changes had some good and some bad. The music; really good action tunes imo but missing the sound of the isolating, unknown dungeon that the original PSO's areas had. I enjoyed it but I was really missing the tighter comboing. I wanted the best of both worlds.

The inertia issues are hard to ignore, but this has to be the best looking fangame I've seen. You've made such an attractive level, allowing the player to have that oldschool comfort with all visuals being something we know and trust from other Sonics, yet it also looks fantastic and feels fresh. Shows an excellent understanding of how to apply your visual content. Just being in that zone feels good. I really look forward to seeing what you do with another trope.

Construction. We mentioned destruction, but construction holds ideas too. Long term game-changing stuff is one idea, like a building or complex that grows a little more each time you play, but I'm not too fond of that one. I'm thinking more like non-passive, easy on-the-fly construction. Things you do dynamically (and somehow, quickly) contribute to a building in the works. It's hard to think of a way this can happen that doesn't look cheap. I can't even think of a good example to describe really... so I'm just throwing it out there I guess.

I've been checking this month's theme in and out and basically, I got zip. I've never been a fan of the industrial/city tropes and struggle to find my own ideas for my own game. But that last idea of yours is good I think. It's something finally different with a bit of wonder. Fitting too.. a tree or mushroom that lifts off doesn't relate as well to the player as a bus stop that mysteriously starts to hover. Futuristic is nice, but again, not majorly fresh. So, I like the random flying idea, but what to do with it... ? Run really fast and stuff around you starts to levitate? Only a bit showy really, not practical much. Hmm. Grind rails.. that rise and sway depending on your speed or angle of contact? I dunno, I'm not coming up with much here but something about your idea works for me. Street lights that tear themselves out of the ground just after you run past them, then launch themselves forward, flying past you as you run, and suddenly attaching themselves to one of the many walls you're running past. As you approach, they light up and do.. something. Either fire at you or something more imaginative, such as shooting beams of light down to the ground at different angles, creating a makeshift curve to run up and connect onto that wall to start running up it. And then the whole building lifts off, rotates with you running up/along it until you're running upside down, the wrong way, and the building is slowly sinking. From there, create some options for the character to get out of that small space and actually inside that sinking/hovering building. And those flying lamps do I don't know what. Hmm. Some big impact... say, a building that was flying and has just crashed down. Debris jumps, and pieces of pavement stay hovering in the air, very floaty to stand on (just like real life floating pavement you see), creating bizarre, difficult new path options. You could set up a good run between sinking floating pieces of cement. *shrug* That's all I've got for now.

Raining rings. Raining badniks, powerups... can we do anything with that?

A few months ago I would have said Sonic 3 & Knuckles easily, but then I finally started to enjoy Sonic CD's different style. Now I look at S3&K levels and things appear quite directed. As the Megadrive series went on and the zones got bigger, opportunities to change path also got further and further apart. Not saying that's a bad thing - it probably makes the game easier to get into, and with plenty of little secrets I rarely felt directed while playing anyway. Meanwhile in Sonic CD I was maybe too distracted all the time by the options. Having said all that, now I do enjoy the Sonic 2 zones more, because there the direction usually isn't as extreme as S3&K. So now that I like the CD style as well as the Megadrive style, its a tough call. Sonic 3 & Knuckles also has the advantage of the smoothest control and nicest visuals so that's where I would feel most comfortable playing, but if I try to consider only the layouts themselves... hmm. I would probably still give it to Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Not because its style is clearly better, but because this is an overall vote. The style it does have is the most well done, despite losing the open feel of CD. Honestly Sonic 2 is nipping at its heels as I think it might have a better balance between the two extremes, but S3&K gets over the line because of a few excellent zones that just stand out among the whole series, while Sonic 2 designs still had room to grow.