hi
been lurking around a bit and would like to clarify some things for the sake of it, also i just like to talk about my thought process a lot
I know you probably mean well but I always hate it when my characters are boiled down to "a copy of [X]" or "literally just [X] character" because its just reductive as hell to the work behind it all. It is true that most of my characters' movesets are indeed similar or directly lifted off other existing characters, but they're almost* never 1:1 and they are instead adapted into SRB2. They're inspirations, they are adapted into the game.
*the exception is jana, who is arguably the worse designed and balanced out of the current 4 in my honest opinion lol. definitely needs a rework
Take Skip, for instance, who is "a copy of Hat Kid" - I can say that the diving and shield abilities were indeed heavily inspired by the game, however even those have its own differences. The dives work somewhat differently (If you've played A Hat In Time, you'll know how restrictive the dive is in comparison to Skip), and Skip's crafting is basically unique to him, any comparisons to Hat Kid at that point are a massive stretch (Using wool to craft new hats, i guess?? but that's like, a permanent upgrade instead of a resource you keep using and the abilities are WILDLY different). Then there's the smug dance which is the most direct reference to the game, but that's just a taunt. It means nothing in the grand scheme of things, its just there for flavor.
TL;DR no one is ""meant"" to be a copy of anyone. they are inspirations, and I work heavily to adapt them into SRB2 to make a unique gameplay experience, or at least a fun one
This is also a misunderstanding of my wording - As far as I can recall, I've never said that.
What I did say, in that very sentence, was in the context of Kart, not SRB2 - that I would update that thread with future characters. When I first wrote that sentence, Skip was the only character released for Kart, so I was pointing out the rest of his friends were gonna join him eventually. I did plan on making Echoes for Kart (see how she's the only one missing out of the full group), but I never got around to it as I really wanted to give her a unique kart, possibly Abyss himself. And then Ring Racers came out, so...
Funnily enough, that old idea kind of ended up happening with her SRB2 release with the rushchars boat.
In short - I don't like to make promises on projects I'll make. I just work on what I want to work at the moment and chip away at it. If I'm planning to make more characters, you'll hear it from me when I release them.
This actually gives me the opportunity to point out how much I regret having added unreleased characters to the Mindscape dialogue.
Back then, I was under the impression that I wouldn't be able to add dialogue through my own characters and exclusively needed to have them on the Silverhorn release, prompting me to add and write dialogue for all the projects I currently had either lined up, or planned to work on at some point in the future, just in case.
The biggest mistake there was not expecting people to datamine them and showcase them publicly, and start speculating about what comes next. It all but convinced me to never talk about my projects openly again. Worst part is that back then, I was convinced Kou was about to release and Echoes would begin development soon there after, only for literal years to go by.
So yeah. That's why TUSK is there. Back then, I was certain I'd work on him at some point - but now, I'm not so sure if I can or want to.
As a final addendum, I want to talk about the future of StephChars. Truth be told, I'm not sure how things are gonna go.
My interest in SRB2 fluctuates a lot nowadays, and seeing multiple people wonder what's next almost immediately after the latest release, it definitely makes it tough to want to work on anything SRB2 related. Despite being hard at work for a long time, it always seems to be about what's next, and not enjoying what's currently here. It's always about who the next character is going to be, what their gameplay is gonna be, so on and so forth. Some people outright telling me what they should be, what game it should rip off this time, as if they knew better. It was disappointing to see, to the point I actively deleted comments like that in Echoes' release trailer because they were just plain demoralizing.
It felt as if I was a souless machine that pumped out content and not a real person with hopes and dreams. I've been asked "where's [X] character" more times than I can count, one time someone was CONVINCED I was gonna make Sans when I had never expressed the interest in doing so, and they had the gall to be annoyed about it.
It's all so frustrating to deal with.
I will say though, that through the gloom and doom the actually nice comments usually outweigh the bad, and I thank you all so much for it. But everyone has a breaking point. I'm not saying this is it, of course, but it sure as hell ain't tempting to keep chugging along like nothing's wrong. And what with the recent mod leaks situation, I'm not sure I want to be part of a community that houses so many people who have no respect towards artists and their craft, and just see them as toys to play with and reassemble at their leisure.
I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but Echoes' trailer is the longest one I've made, one with a little story to itself, tying up my loose ends and including everyone from V4, as well as featuring a pretty lengthy ending sequence with credits and no teaser for what comes next. I set out to make it have a sense of finality. If she ended up being the last character I worked on, it would have at least ended nice and tidy, with nothing left to say. As of writing this, I'm not sure if I'll work on StephChars again. I still believe there's a chance I will, after all, I do want to have the gang reunite in its entirety (and give jana her gf back lol), but I cannot in good faith promise that I will. I guess you'll find out if and when I shadowdrop the next goober on the list.
Thanks for reading.
Didn't mean to make it an essay but this mod is really special to me.
It's very personal, and I hope that my work managed to lift up your spirits even if for a little bit.
