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Sonic ATS - Released


LakeFeperd

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Are those elves? The columns are very nicely shaded. Looks great! The moon looks like it pops out a bit too much. Almost like its not that far away. Maybe it could be less contrasted to the color of the sky/fog . The same way you did the far buildings.

Also the bridge that Sonic stands on falls back just a bit being close to the color of the sky. Maybe it could be purple or gold to match the columns?

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Guest Mr Lange

Got some original musical work done for ATS. I think Falk will be remixing these two keep the musical style consistent across the soundtrack. So far this is my only contribution, the rest is still Falk's original work.

Sugar Splash Act 1 Music:

Sugar Splash Act 2 Music:

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  • 2 months later...

Lake your fangames are the closest things to what i would imagine an actual release would be like. You take the time to design stages and concepts and they all look very interesting to play with.

fuck for all its worth they might as well be. I guess i just admire you for actually USING the concepts we blab about in this forum and actually put them to practical use with results without wasting your time.

This'll be almost two full fangames from you, with custom graphics, completed faster and with more substance than most people ever get out of their "engine tests" before they quit and start over with something else.

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Lake,I'm glad you like my sprites and I'm honored that you're using them on your badass fangame.I like the edits you and Jayden have done to it too.

I have some minor work done on Tails and Eggman too,incase MJ didn't tell you,and you can just ask me if you want them.

Anyway,I've always enjoyed watching videos and the progress on your projects,even if I never actually got to play the original,I'm still pretty hyped for this game.

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@Serephim

"sometimes, if you have an idea you must be the one to decide if it looks good on your game or not, not others" well, that is what i do. =P

i'm probably going to add something like this to the my Sonic Worlds guide at some point.

@Shinbaloonba

thanks

not sure if i'll replace eggman but some new sprites for tails would be awesome.

i'll wait until it's done, he kinda needs some new sprites =P

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What Seraph said, basically. I think that one of the most valueble things you can do as a game developer is to figure out when enough is enough. A solid engine and quality graphics are important, but when the cards are down, it's the gameplay that really shines through. The more you can dedicate yourself to pulling off creative gimmicks and design elements, the more your players will overlook whatever programming and artwork flaws the game has.

Sonic BTS and ATS may not have the technical shine that other Sonic fangames do, and the graphics may be a little inconsistent, but it's still got something that a lot of other fangames are missing: A heart and soul.

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@Serephim

"sometimes, if you have an idea you must be the one to decide if it looks good on your game or not, not others" well, that is what i do. =P

Absolutely. I feel this is a concept that has been completely lost around here for the most part. Everyone has gotten so caught up in pleasing and avoiding critics and that they never complete anything.

Thats why i say this place had alot more energy when we were younger and were just happy seeing our shit move across the screen. This is also why i despise people ripping newcomers apart and then defending themselves with "it's the truth".

Improvement is crucial to growth, but bad work ethic is a malignant cancer. And I do not believe improvement is the same thing as growth either, but rather a crucial component of growth.

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This is also why i despise people ripping newcomers apart and then defending themselves with "it's the truth".

I dunno, call me an elitist asshole but I really do believe the trial-by-fire methodology makes for better long-term personal growth. There's a fine line between constructive criticism and outright pointless farting and it's easy to mistake one for the other.

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This'll be almost two full fangames from you, with custom graphics, completed faster and with more substance than most people ever get out of their "engine tests" before they quit and start over with something else.
I dunno what kind of energy drinks Lake consumes to dish out such a huge amount a content so rapidly, but I sure want it.
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I dunno, call me an elitist asshole but I really do believe the trial-by-fire methodology makes for better long-term personal growth. There's a fine line between constructive criticism and outright pointless farting and it's easy to mistake one for the other.

That statement is very easy to slippery slope from. People believe in "trial-by-fire" because at some point you begin to realize that you could use improvement. It usually takes someone to tell you your best work sucks before you begin to actually look inward.

However anyone can be a critic, and bias is inextinguishable, especially on the internet, double that for a fan forum. Tact is really one of the biggest differences between "constructive criticism" and "farting", and to be frank you guys really tend to suck at it. As important as it is, criticism is not nearly as important as you people are giving weight to it. You do something, come here and post it in the Screenshot forum, and if SOMEONE has issue with it, your progress halts until you please them. Instead of our community recognizing an attempt to try and achieve a concept, you ridicule them for mix-matching sprites to achieve it, limiting them to the choice of custom graphics for approval, which isn't always favorable for some people.

My point is, you guys push people to improve, but in the end your teaching model is doing nothing but severely crippling them in the long run by forcing their progress to be ran by the pace and preference of others instead of their own intuition. Fangames don't get finished anymore because you people have developed some unofficial quality standard that doesn't even exist and is frankly quite impossible to maintain. You think it helps you become more professional, when i personally just think it's your biggest obstacle.

I think the Sonic Retro community and its failure to make any progress with Sonic 2 HD are such perfect examples of this, i'd almost say they confirm my opinions as fact. They have more than enough talent and a verbatim blueprint, yet are incapable of achieving any progress. In fact, i'd almost say they're incompatible with progress.

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Wall of text regarding quality standards and whatnot:

I agree with Serephim here.

Most people now only care about reactions - worrying about what others think, completely disregarding one's own feelings.

I can see that Lake's projects are honestly HIS projects. Not games that were made by peer-approved bullet lists of elements.

I'm not saying every project is like that - but several developers were surely scared and ended up quitting after getting receptions that don't always turn out well.

I agree that retro is the most prominent case - it's beyond chronic level. But I don't give a shit about them nor their doomed projects, in any case. So bleh.

Remember those wacky games? Sonic MAdventure, for example - it has so many fucking bugs, and odd graphic mishmashes... But still, it's a game I always replay every now and then. It's quirky and entertaining. Same goes with other DragonXVI games for me: Thirdscape is another of my favs.

Or what about Magicgrafx? Aytaç Aksu and his Sonichaos series, solid entries despite using "recycled graphics" and MIDI music.

I'm currently in the... 12th? iteration if my ill-fated RPG engine. Long ago, I posted a very basic version of the first iteration (I think Sereph tried that one). I received some pointers and implemented improvements. A while after, I decided to do some major changes and add new things that came out of my mind (usually when I was about to sleep, potentially forgetting everything later in the morning, fffffff).

Since the changes were substantial, I decided to start from scratch. Same process applies for all other iterations. After that playable one I posted, I never managed to finish another - new ideas everywhere, and laziness didn't help.

My project is now at a completely different place - for starters, it's not a fangame anymore. It has grown from a "for the hell of it" game into a substantial project that I'm putting a lot of effort on. I wish I could've released a few more playable versions, but the thing is that most of my progress is in paper and crude sketches, not in the computer.

What I can be 100% sure of, is that this project of mine is a true reflection of my wishes - not others'. There's a difference between the helpful tips and pointers I received back then, and the almost order-like demands to do X and Y that we see around today.

We can see the effects of this. How many finished fangames did we see recently?

Back then, there was a lot more. And don't try to use the "they're lower quality fangames" card - in that period, there were fangames that pleased many, despite that they can look primitive and clunky now.

Strife is another developer I'm rooting for - his project Freedom Planet clearly has a soul of its own, and I frankly don't care how "sonic-y" the characters look. I'm going to play the shit out of that game.

Devs were a bit more "brave" before. Not scared to try radically new stuff, mix things and see what comes out.

I don't know about you, but when I develop my project, I see it as my game. Not the reviewers'.

Goddamn, Lake. You're freaking awesome.

Mr Lange: Nice work with the music. It has a nice industrial/ruins feel. Are Falk's remixes for these available to listen?

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Off topic: I have no idea why people keep linking S2HD to retro when they have had marginal association at the very best.

On topic: Nope, I've not touched ATS at all in terms of music; commited to wrapping up BTS'12 for SAGE.

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S2HD failed because of a lack of comunication between tean members. And the "people always complains about this and that" is something everyone that is working on any project have to deal with, sometimes the best thing to do is just ignore and keep moving and i'm sure the guys working on S2HD had this in mind

and, hey, guys, wake up, we had 3 finished fan games last year

and those 3 had quite a lot of content.

anyway, look who is back

OLhc3.png

wow, just looking back now, i've finished 6 zones and with this one 7

2 more to go... not counting the special stages and bosses, of course

@Sparks

there is no magic, you just gotta like doing level design

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