Gamerdude

I'm not sure if this is me being over paranoid or what, however I've been reading up on a worm that's been recently wreaking havoc all over the place. It uses very tricky tactics to get into your system, spread itself to network drives and removable storage devices, and then use your computer to infect others. Granted I don't read up on internet security all the time, however this seemed noteworthy and I figure it could hurt to let you all know about it. If you guys want more technical information, here's a link: http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/hwaldron/archive/2009/01/15/ms08-067-worm-dangers-new-conficker-variants-manipulate-autorun-inf.aspx F-Secure has released a tool that will scan your computer for the worm, that can be found here: http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001588.html Better be safe than sorry, I suppose. If you're running Windows, I'd recommend getting the latest patches as well as keeping whatever anti-virus software you run up-to-date (figures, I don't use any...haha...never liked it).

Haha, and I never use DVD-RW/+RWs. I can't tell you the last time I got a bad ISO burn. Honestly, -/+Rs are cheaper anyway and they do write and read faster, I do believe.

I'll definitely snag it when it comes out. I'm hoping for the best...really can't wait to see what they have in store. It surprises me how excited I get about a Windows release...>_>

Happy New Year to all!

I am sorry for the inconvenience caused by the wide range of IP bans that were placed on btcentralplus ISP users. The ban on these addresses has been lifted until further notice. If for some reason you're still getting a banned message occasionally and you think I missed something, feel free to PM me or catch me (EmeraldCaladbolg) or Rael on AIM. Sorry again for the trouble.

Too bad you're banned, but yes, that is me from like...5 years ago?

Erm...sorry? I didn't mean to, haha. I've been quite the busy fellow with schoolwork and such recently =/. Anyways. It seems as the years go on, the gifts become less and less original. Fortunately, that's okay because I'm making away with cash =). I've gotten $800 in cash. I bought myself a 24" LCD monitor which should be pretty sweet. It's been a busy day, but finally I am relaxing! Thanks for all the birthdya wishes guys =).

Happy birthday d00d! Have a great one! A Halloween birthday, eh? Nifty :3.

Rael, you're amazing. I remember your showing me little clips here and there as you were learning (I'm sure I still have some of them too, the pack rat I am...haha). Seriously, this is great, I can tell you've really been working on it. As many have said, if I was listening to this and Jun's version, I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. Awesome job man =).

They really aren't that hard to find. You're acting as if it's a treasure hunt. It's simple. Go to clickteam's website and go to the MMF2 downloads section (it's in the Resource drop down menu under Download Center). You can get bonus packs there. There is a bonus pack explicitly labeled "Cellosoft extensions" MMF2 Extensions If you downloaded that you would have solved your problem. It contains the fastloop in it. Honestly, just a little bit of searching on your own sometimes never kills anyone.

This is one of those issues that kind of begs the question on whether or not you have the knowledge to create a game. Not to be harsh, but even if someone did have an engine for you to use, you still have to create models, tiles, etc. You should get a program (whether it be DarkBASIC, Blender, or whatever) and learn how to use it. Knowing how to use the tools at your disposal is so vital. No one is going to hand your game parts to you here.

Happy Birthday, good sir!

Odd...I had mine running for about 2.5 days straight with no crashes at all...I wanted to get from Cell to Space in one go (it's an achievement), so I left it running for the past few days and played it in my free time. The game didn't hiccup once during any of my playing. Regardless though, pretty fun game. I just got to space. I'd agree that most of the game isn't as deep as it could be. It's fun, but just too short. My roommate's been in space for awhile, so I know that'll take time, but I wish some of the other modes were more indepth...

I've done that with some games on occasion. As it's been said, it really gives that authentic feel over just playing the games on the PC. Great stuff though, Blaze =).

I move into college on Sunday. DW and I still need to get our match on...I'm pretty busy getting ready for school...hopefully we can arrange this.

As far as I know it's really not possible to make a patch for a MMF game. Clickteam has a "Patchmaker" program, but the patch ends up being just as big as the executable was originally, which totally defeats the purpose of a patch. That's one of the unfortunate side effects of using MMF2 (or any click product in general), the whole executable basically has to be replaced when an update is made =/.

Crap, no the leaderboards and site are supposed to stay up. I'm investigating the problem right now. Edit: The website is functional again. I made another database last night that's unrelated to the website, however I used a different password and I guess it changed my password for the ET:CF database as well...very odd. Sorry about the down time, we're back online. That aside, the reason why we've opted out of splitscreen type of multiplayer is because it requires people to plan out a match...not saying people aren't capable of doing that, however with the amount of people that will be playing this game (not tons) couple with the fact that it's a hassle to meet up with someone at a certain time made me think it wouldn't be that great of an idea...at least not good enough to spend a ton of time on.

Replay value was the main intention of adding the competitive time attack mode. I know it's certainly not for everyone, and because of that it will obviously not be the only thing that will keep people playing. =)

Way old post, haha. I edited it slightly to make note that this topic was really only relevant for MMF 1.5, not MMF 2.

In case you find this helpful, JSonic, WMP (at least v11) seems to store it's playlists in an HTML/XML styled format (dunno what the correct term is). So if you load a playlist using let's say the String Parser 2 plugin, you should be able to grab the data properly. I know you can find all this out by opening a playlist in notepad, but I figured I'd save you some hunting: Example: <media src="I:\Downloads\Music\M\Machinae Supremacy\Overworld [2008]\01 - Overworld.mp3" cid="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}" tid="{B44B3B5B-A064-4AB3-8B97-A7B3B56B724E}"/> <media src="I:\Downloads\Music\M\Machinae Supremacy\Overworld [2008]\02 - Need for Steve.mp3" cid="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}" tid="{E6653F3F-4ADE-4167-A586-AFDF482BF076}"/> <media src="I:\Downloads\Music\M\Machinae Supremacy\Overworld [2008]\03 - Edge and Pearl.mp3" cid="{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}" tid="{95D9F41A-E55A-4592-AB1E-B41EBC30C83B}"/> I'm not sure what cid and tid do exactly, however, you're probably more interested in the source location (src). With that knowledge, it shouldn't be too hard to implement.

Yeah, I know what you mean JEV3. I initially had it so you could choose what record you wanted to submit. So, let's say you got an awesome score and the time was crap, you could opt to just submit the score instead of time and rings. However with the way things are currently set up, we came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be possible to tell what records were gotten in the same run. If everyone had a run for 45 seconds with scores and rings through the roof, it'd look odd. As such, we just changed it so all records were submitted, so it was an all or nothing. Adding a different mode would fix that problem. As for making the cutscenes not occur in time attack...I actually did that for the Seaside act 2...why I didn't do it in Relic Retreat, I don't know...probably because it skipped over to another frame and I didn't have the time to edit it. Regardless of how I do it, there will still have to be a change of frames, so there's not much of a way for me to make it completely seamless. At the least, I could make it jump over to the second half of the act, but the title cards would still be displayed.

Your score is submitted along with the time and whatnot, but a different mode could be added. It would take a little bit of effort, but I suppose it could be done. As for that pit at the end of RR act 2...it still eludes me. It isn't a problem anywhere else, but I'll keep looking into it. Thanks again =).

Thanks Blaze. Hey, no hard feelings, alright? I understand your circumstances better now. At any rate, I hope to see your times up there eventually =P. Resume discussion of the demo in 3, 2, 1, go!

Yeah, you do have a point. Genesis like games do definitely have a spot in fangaming. Sorry if I sounded like I thought Genesis-clones sucked, because I don't think that. I mean, if every game does it, I think that's a little much, but having a few games that do it doesn't hurt anything. They have their own place just like games such as Mecha Madness do.

In all fairness, you do have a point that seeing the same thing of games trying to clone a Genesis game obviously gets repetitive. And I 100% agree that fan games should try to deviate from using just strictly the gameplay elements found in the Genesis Sonic games. That's specifically why when people complain to me that ET:CF's physics don't properly mimic those found in Sonic 3, for example, I tell them that I'm not trying to make a straight up clone (not saying that's enough to make a game not a clone). If I wanted to do that, I'd make a rom hack. Part of making a Genesis-inspired game is following the formula already set, but making it feel different and adding some new elements to the gameplay. That could mean different powerups, abilities, or ways to interact with the level etc. What you've seen in ET:CF so far is two levels. The first level that has been around for quite some time, and a newer one. The first level in most games are designed so they are not overly complex purely because I want the player to get accomedated with how the game plays and how Sonic interacts with certain objects. Call it a playground if you will. It's going to be a little ho-hum. The second level I felt had a lot of variations in the level design itself. It wasn't a "hold right and win" there were a lot of areas where you had to stop and jump, change directions, dodge obstacles, etc. The boulder chase at the end of act 2 was certainly something that interesting I thought. Regarding comparing fan games to retail games. I think that point is somewhat irrelevant since you really only compared it to XG. You made a mention to Sonic being attracted to ancient ruins and that being a common theme, but as long as the Chaos Emeralds exist, it's hard to escape that theme. The emeralds revolve around an ancient civilization. Then of course if you deviate from the Chaos Emeralds and get into too many fan-created characters, items, etc then you have people crying foul that it is too different than a normal Sonic game. As far as comparing ET:CF to other fan games, I still think comparing fan games to each other is pointless because it should be fun more for fun and not a competition. Lastly, you used TFH as an example to the types of games that are becoming hard to come by. If you're going to give examples like you did in your last post, I wouldn't use your own game as an example because that doesn't make you look particularly good, even if you're game was the absolute crème de la crème of fangames.