The SRB2 Modding Community is Dead.

[MadBox]

I want to start off saying. I get it, modding takes time. People are dedicating their life just so a bunch of people can be entertained. But holy the recent mods we've been getting has been a nothing burger over and over again. It's like when will we get something good. And when we do it's like super rare to see. I just want good mods man. not recolors and all that.

 

[cheeseboi.]

damn, way to discourage people working hard on stuff for free.

 

[El-fire]

why dont YOU create a "good" mod if you think all of this effort and talent sucks like damn that is just plain rude to say. think before you act and especially think before you make a SRB2 discussion post about it.

 

[Bartz]

Your initial post didn't really capture what exactly you were talking about when you said "good mods.". Would you like to give any examples of what these "good mods" look like? Or maybe what classifies as a "good mod" in your eyes?

 

[VØLT]

damn, way to discourage people working hard on stuff for free.

It has always been for free why is worth it being reminded ? People also do it for fun

 

[Jammin']

The community would actually seem to be dying if there were more high quality mods than amateur mods.

The fact that we have so many amateur modders making mods is actually good and signifies a very healthy modding community as it means there’s new people getting into modding the game very often.

If it was high quality all across the board, that would signify stagnation and the lack of new talent taking interest in the game.

 

[Bartz]

The community would actually seem to be dying if there were more high quality mods than amateur mods.

The fact that we have so many amateur modders making mods is actually good and signifies a very healthy modding community as it means there’s new people getting into modding the game very often.

If it was high quality all across the board, that would signify stagnation and the lack of new talent taking interest in the game.

Might wanna rephrase this a bit; having more high-quality mods vs amateur mods would still equal a healthy community if they were made by different people.

If the same 6 or so people were the only ones to make mods that are high-quality, then that would be much worse.

 

[Aquavine]

Some of you are too spoiled to be happy about the fact that anyone even bothers to create anything for this game. And MB isn't the "peak store", if you're looking for this then maybe play games made by people which had decades of experience in the game-dev branch. And not passionate people which are making stuff for fun in their varied free time, and completely for free at that.

And to answer your question in a really amateurish way; You need a lot of experience in multiple factors to create good anything. Sprites? Good understanding of how to draw perspective on a flat image. Level design? How to make a stage fun and fresh to play without it being boring. Lua coding? Do I even have to say anything... All of that takes a lot of time to understand and master, and only maybe 10% of the whole community might have such skills to the degree you might have in mind. And these examples only show off like 10% of all the stuff you need to create good high-quality addons. But everyone can create stuff here, so perhaps the freedom of creation is the reason all the recent addons are "bad" or "boring". Most people here make addons for fun, with some of them just starting up their journey with zero experience in game-dev of any sorts. Is it fair to treat people like this? How can you know if that one bad mapper won't make maps for SRB2 2.3 in few years? Or if that one janky spriter won't recreate your favorite character in SRB2 some time in the future with high-accuracy?

And did you really took the time to play every single new addon that came out recently for you to be able to make such opinion? How you can be so confident that all the recent addons are bad, maybe there's something that you personally might find fun, but you just don't look far enough?

And to quote the peak:

Everyone is welcome to share their art, whether they’re an accomplished creator or just starting out. People’s first projects are rarely masterpieces, and that’s okay. Everyone is here to grow! -Rule 17

Bad or not, everyone is free to create whatever they please with any quality they can realistically deliver, you complaining about it won't cause all the modders to just lock-in and create AAA or even AAAA content. It just makes you look like a spoiled kid which got a rip-off toy. It's meant to be a fun thing to have fun with, not a job. Something I learned and experienced many times before, you can't force quality to just manifest.

(I did my best, I'm sorry if it sounds bad.)

 

[Mr Beagle]

Might wanna rephrase this a bit; having more high-quality mods vs amateur mods would still equal a healthy community if they were made by different people.

And if you want to see major improvement in amateur mods or want to see the newer modders get better at the craft, you give them tips on improving quality and also share your secrets (this is a FOSS game powered completely by passion anyway).

My experience in this community shows that people new to modding and mapping will generally improve over time, the rate though heavily depends on your ability to be constructive and provide guidance.

 

[MadBox]

Im sorry coming off mean, It's probably because I've been getting really bored of srb2 as of recently.
And as for good mods I mean stuff like stephchars, gemma, adventure sonic, all of those stuff. I'm not saying I need people to start working like crazy. But there hasn't been any interesting mods to keep me playing for a while. But maybe I just need a break on srb2.

 

[Mr Beagle]

Im sorry coming off mean, It's probably because I've been getting really bored of srb2 as of recently.
And as for good mods I mean stuff like stephchars, gemma, adventure sonic, all of those stuff. I'm not saying I need people to start working like crazy. But there hasn't been any interesting mods to keep me playing for a while. But maybe I just need a break on srb2.

You do not have to stick with one game all the time, even if you stick to Open Source projects you can also check out 0 AD, Super Tux Kart, Luanti, and of course Doctor Robotnik's Ring Racers.

Or perhaps you yourself can take a shot at modding, the tools are not difficult to install and set up (for mapping at least, character creation will also require an art tool).

 

[Bartz]

And as for good mods I mean stuff like stephchars, gemma, adventure sonic, all of those stuff. I'm not saying I need people to start working like crazy. But there hasn't been any interesting mods to keep me playing for a while.

Ah, those are pretty good mods you just listed there. Though you must understand that those types of mods normally require a lot more time and effort. The mods listed were practically made by a team of people, which is why they have good sprites, code, and are generally very polished. An average guy isn't going to be able to produce something like those on a normal basis, which is why these types of mods aren't as common as say, a recolor of Sonic with different abilities.

Even then, the baseline for a "good mod" can vary from person to person; I personally value mods that are fun to play; having good visuals will always be a second to that. There's also different types of mods that also stretch this line, seeing as you only mentioned character mods and considering that they are only a small fraction of the entire mod base.

For example, I quite enjoy the "SkyFox" addon (as seen here) seeing as its very fun to play and its been my goto mod to play if I wanted to just chill and play some srb2 for a bit. Though its techinally a "recolor", so would this mean its subpar when compared to Adventure Sonic or Gemma? I wouldn't like to think so.

I feel like calling the modding community "Dead" is probably an over-exaggeration; I understand your expectations are high and that's fair imo, though I don't feel like calling the modding community "Dead" purely because of it is very fair.

 

[Jammin']

Im sorry coming off mean, It's probably because I've been getting really bored of srb2 as of recently.
And as for good mods I mean stuff like stephchars, gemma, adventure sonic, all of those stuff. I'm not saying I need people to start working like crazy. But there hasn't been any interesting mods to keep me playing for a while. But maybe I just need a break on srb2.

If you get that cynical when you lose interest in something, then yes - maybe it would be best to take a break.

 

[Avalice]

Yeah there's a really cool mod I know about, it's called Zone Builder and SLADE. Make your own.

 

[rocklight124]

Damn bro mods are art and art cannot and should not be rushed.

 

[Avalice]

Damn bro mods are art and art cannot and should not be rushed.

I don't agree with them being "art" but its true that you can't make them fast. People act like mod-makers are working for them 24/7 to make them happy and it's really stupid. People will get so pressed over a mod they don't like, it's insane. Even my level, Doomship Zone Act 2, has been subject to this.

 

[rocklight124]

I don't agree with them being "art" but its true that you can't make them fast. People act like mod-makers are working for them 24/7 to make them happy and it's really stupid. People will get so pressed over a mod they don't like, it's insane. Even my level, Doomship Zone Act 2, has been subject to this.

Even tho I believe it's art I agree with you. And Major respect for disagreeing with me on something but still staying respectful. I really got to stay off reddit.

 

[time gear]

There doesn't always need to be something new to make playing an old game worthwhile. Modding communities are great and I hope they don't go anywhere any time soon, but I generally get the impression that they have spoiled us to the point that many people start thinking games aren't worth replaying if there's not new content to experience with them.

Engage with the content that already exists; play through your favorite stages, play as your favorite characters, maybe even come up with your own challenge run ideas to spice things up. If you're really so bored with the game as for this to not be enough, you're probably experiencing burnout and need to stimulate yourself with another game for a while. Alternatively, you could look into learning how to mod the game yourself and make some new content that appeals to your personal tastes. You could make a new hobby out of it, and maybe even inspire others to do the same. The biggest hurdle is always working up the resolve to learn, and most people find themselves unwilling to do even that much and default to expecting others to do it for them. If more people go ahead and start doing it for themselves, it might dispel some of the "I can't do it" mindset that a lot of people default to, and cause people to realize "Wait a minute, if these guys can do it maybe I can too?".

 

[DinnerSonic]

I just wanna bring up, even if you stick with the vibe of only really being into the really really cool/high tier mods, there's at least a few that are being made and are showing active progress(rather than either being demoed outside of the forum, or going silent and then suddenly showing up on release) that make me feel like "Nah, it's not dead yet".

There's SONIcsez1234's Emerl character mod, which I actually had quietly dismissed at first, I mean, who's gonna code AND sprite pretty much every Special attack from Sonic Battle? Surely this is someone's random fantasy dream mod idea that doesn't take off beyond a few sprites and a list, right? But that one's going at a rather healthy pace and has previews for abilities and for sprites going on quite regularly!

It's not as much in the way of custom sprites, but I.-p's NES Mega Man mod is also looking quite fantastic, lots of subtle details that make it feel on brand and Mega Man in general should make for a very different SRB2 playthrough, even ignoring the fact there's custom bosses in the mix somehow.

All this is ignoring other stage and character mods I've not kept up with, be it the super fancy ones or the up and coming ones, I'm just biased towards these two robotic faves. (one of my favorite Sonic characters and one of my favorite non-Sonic franchises)

Of course, "SRB2 Modding is not dead, in my opinion" is different from "SRB2 Modding hasn't put out much fresh that I'm into" so I get that this doesn't quite help your issue there. Don't let yourself get burnt out, you can either mix up how you're playing, or just go onto something else til you get that twinge of wanting to do SRB2 again, then the old stuff feels fresher and new stuff may have popped up!

 

[SONIcsez1234]

I just wanna bring up, even if you stick with the vibe of only really being into the really really cool/high tier mods, there's at least a few that are being made and are showing active progress(rather than either being demoed outside of the forum, or going silent and then suddenly showing up on release) that make me feel like "Nah, it's not dead yet".

There's SONIcsez1234's Emerl character mod, which I actually had quietly dismissed at first, I mean, who's gonna code AND sprite pretty much every Special attack from Sonic Battle? Surely this is someone's random fantasy dream mod idea that doesn't take off beyond a few sprites and a list, right? But that one's going at a rather healthy pace and has previews for abilities and for sprites going on quite regularly!

It's not as much in the way of custom sprites, but I.-p's NES Mega Man mod is also looking quite fantastic, lots of subtle details that make it feel on brand and Mega Man in general should make for a very different SRB2 playthrough, even ignoring the fact there's custom bosses in the mix somehow.

All this is ignoring other stage and character mods I've not kept up with, be it the super fancy ones or the up and coming ones, I'm just biased towards these two robotic faves. (one of my favorite Sonic characters and one of my favorite non-Sonic franchises)

Of course, "SRB2 Modding is not dead, in my opinion" is different from "SRB2 Modding hasn't put out much fresh that I'm into" so I get that this doesn't quite help your issue there. Don't let yourself get burnt out, you can either mix up how you're playing, or just go onto something else til you get that twinge of wanting to do SRB2 again, then the old stuff feels fresher and new stuff may have popped up!

Do NOT recommend me to dis dude