What you are most looking forward to in SRB2 2.1

[VelocitOni]

Although I agree SRB2's spriteset are pretty average by today's standards, with a lot of room for improvement, the developers just aren't concerned with them. As they do their job alright of portraying what they should, and are good enough for use. They would have been changed by now if they were as bad as you exaggerate. I mean, it's a pretty dumb assumption that the most thought-out build in the game's lifespan that is taking 4 YEARS TO COMPLETE would be crummy because of sprites they haven't minded for ages.

In fact, that's a bit downright insulting.

 

[Mystic]

The sprites were intentionally based on the Sonic XTreme sprites. In fact, very early versions of SRB2 used the Sonic XTreme sprites themselves. While some minor changes to the sprites may occur to fix quirks or other issues, the core design of the sprites isn't going to change. "Modern" Sonic can stay in the hell he belongs in.

The Crawlas don't use their cannons because they're enemies for the first level and they're supposed to be trivial. Gameplay is far more important than logic. This is a game about a superfast blue hedgehog fighting a fat man in a hovering chair, after all.

The sprites for SRB1 remake suck because...well, have you SEEN SRB1? It was drawn entirely in MS Paint by a 12 year old. With some of those sprites, even the original author doesn't have a clue what it was supposed to be.

 

[CasualNick]

The sprites were intentionally based on the Sonic XTreme sprites. In fact, very early versions of SRB2 used the Sonic XTreme sprites themselves. While some minor changes to the sprites may occur to fix quirks or other issues, the core design of the sprites isn't going to change. "Modern" Sonic can stay in the hell he belongs in.

I don't want it to be modern sonic I wan't the sprites to be less tight on the base of Sonic Extreme. I don't really like modern sonic's design. Sonic with a sonic extreme base is great, but if you base it on newer yet old version then it would be even better.

 

[WellDoneSnake]

I don't want it to be modern sonic I wan't the sprites to be less tight on the base of Sonic Extreme. I don't really like modern sonic's design. Sonic with a sonic extreme base is great, but if you base it on newer yet old version then it would be even better.

OFFTOPIC: Why do you keep calling it "Extreme", the game itself is called Sonic Xtreme?

ONTOPIC: I was also a bit confused when I first played this game by why the crawlas were made to not shoot. But then I thought maybe it was because GFZ is supposed to be easy for people who didn't fully understand the gameplay; it would act as an introduction to how the game is styled and how you the player could adapt to the gameplay, even dying in that level would be hard (unless you're a bad player).

Another thing, there is no newer version of Sonic Xtreme. Unless you mean this, but it's not the original game yet it seems like an updated version.

 

[CasualNick]

Another thing, there is no newer version of Sonic Xtreme. Unless you mean this, but it's not the original game yet it seems like an updated version.

Newer yet old sonic games not the new sonic extreme.

 

[Mystic]

I know that at this point Sonic Adventure 1 was made 14 years ago, but do remember that SRB2 is ALSO that old. SA1 IS modern Sonic from SRB2's perspective. SRB2 is intended, visually, to be something you could imagine SEGA releasing during the Saturn era. Obviously, as the years have gone on, the game has gotten far more visually complicated than anything the Saturn or rival systems at the time could have handled, but the basic concept remains.

A lot of the people who play SRB2 nowadays are young, but do realize that there is an entire generational gap at work here. I am 28 and both AJ and Sonikku are even older than I am. When I was 8 years old, my parents purchased a Genesis with Sonic 2 as a pack-in as my first video game system. When I think fondly about playing Sonic as a kid, I think of playing Sonic 3K with the kid across the street swapping off who was Player 1 and 2. I very distinctly remember being in college and being extremely disappointed with Sonic Heroes to the point of giving up on the franchise. Sonic Heroes is almost a decade old at this point itself, and there are people on the dev team nowadays that have fond childhood memories of playing it as I do of the classic Genesis series. It's all a matter of perspective.

Hence, realize that SA1 was the most recent Sonic game in existence when SRB2 was being designed. If you think about it from that perspective, basing our designs off of the Xtreme sprites makes an awful lot of sense, as they're the only older official 3D Sonic design and also happen to be in the same angles we'd need for a Doom modification. Fourteen years later, I think they've held up a lot better than many of our other graphics, and considering how long this project has been running, I'd say that's an impressive accomplishment.

 

[Seelkadoom]

Well, the image itself is quite a joke, yet that's what he wants to see. Anyone would think it's real, if there weren't some small differences of how a real announcement will be.

A release date.

He may be an admin, but he also may be just waiting until something like the image above really happens, (maybe not by Mystic, who knows?) as he can only be seeing the development of 2.1 from "an outside view", like everyone else.

 

[Shadow Hog]

He may be an admin, but he also may be just waiting until something like the image above really happens, (maybe not by Mystic, who knows?) as he can only be seeing the development of 2.1 from "an outside view", like everyone else.

Uh, no, I'm actually one of the programmers. I just don't know when the hell we intend to ship.

 

[SSNTails]

If you are going to make a fake post, at least make it look like Mystic is posting it. I don't think he would use the (about time!) part :P.

Maybe Nev3r wants to see Mystic say, "about time!". :P

Blah blah blah sprites

Only the oldest sprites are based on Xtreme animation patterns (stand, walking, ouch). Everything else is pretty much home-rolled. Some of the later stuff especially (hanging).
I do think it would be cute if Sonic looked like my avatar, though. =^_^=

 

[Rob]

I do think it would be cute if Sonic looked like my avatar, though. =^_^=

I'd actually like that too. Especially the sharper shading style and nicer coloring all-around. The problem is that is way more effort in doing that than doing something else, such as finishing the game. :P

 

[Liliam]

It's not even to do with a sharper shading style, it's more to do with a stronger, more well-defined outline at the resolution the sprites are at.

I've always wanted to have a try at redoing the character sprites to sort out the outlines and get rid of the foreign pixels all around, as well as fix some of the more annoying inconsistencies (like the feet size between the springing and falling animations) but never bothered to because it would kinda make more sense to start from the original high-res drawings again, which I don't have access to. (But have seen random bits of?)

 

[Blitz-T]

Well the thing I'd definitely like to literally see is how that new slime works in-game. I'm still really curious about it. =3

 

[Dr Ivo Robotnik]

Behold, leaks from behind scenes. Check them out before this post is deleted and the Mystic secret police come to take me away.

SRB2 2.1 changelog

Greenflower Zone
We have decided that GFZ1 is too difficult for a starting zone and as such it has been simplified and shortened. GFZ1 now consists of a single path, with no branch-offs to avoid confusing a new player and has been shortened. The level now ends just before the row of spikes.

Techno Hill Zone
In light of the many complaints we have received about THZ1’s level design, we have expanded upon the strengths of the levels theme. Expect more long corridors with buzzes hovering above you decorating the sky!

The new slime functions like a space countdown block when the player is submerged in it and is used in several places in act 2 as a replacement for death pits.

Deep Sea Zone
We realised that a lot of the charm of SRB2 is the high difficulty of the game, so the entire zone has been replaced with two acts of Azure Temple. We want the players to experience something revolutionary, dying from taking damage with no rings!

Castle Eggman Zone
We tried so hard, but in the end it didn’t even matter. It’s still rubbish.

On the plus side the boss is now finished.

Arid Canyon Zone
Act 2 is completed, many thanks to the dev team for listening to my suggestions and creating a series of even larger unavoidable rooms of rope pulleys hanging over death pits.

Red Volcano Zone
We ran out of ideas for lava related gimmicks and we refuse to implement Blue Mountain, so I hope you enjoy running away from rising lava for all of act 2.

Dark City Zone
Sorry, there are currently no plans to make Dark City Zone right now. As such, Brak Eggman will remain firmly seated in Egg Rock Zone as the penultimate boss until 2.2, to be released 2023.

Egg Rock Zone
Due to the overwhelming success of the fan room in ERZ2, ERZ1 has been expanded and the fan room has been introduced as a dramatic climax to the level. Enjoy!

Final boss confirmed

Lift Zone
The cult classic from SRB1 is back! A truly challenging final level for the players who manage to collect all of the chaos emeralds, good luck, you’ll need it!

Special Stages
Holy shit Special Stage 7 is hard, I mean, REALLY hard. Have fun.

Miscellaneous changes
Because SRB2 is a project focusing on Sonic’s golden classic days, we have taken this to heart and returned to our classic old 1.09.4 Knuckles sprites.

In order to avoid players making broken character wads, we have further reduced the customisability when creating character wads. Socs are now disabled for character wads and may only use the abilities provided with the base game.

As a response to overwhelming demand, we have also chosen to include fully voiced animated cutscenes between each zone with 2.1. With riveting storytelling equal to that of Sonic Adventure 2 as you journey with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Chris Thorndyke to stop Eggman’s time travel evil doppelganger ancient prophecy plan aboard the Egg Rock!

The orderpizza command is now fully functional. Upon installing SRB2 you will be asked to create an account by inputting your address and credit card details so the command can function. Ideal for your late night netgame sessions!

Using the accounts mentioned above, always Online DRM has been implemented for SRB2, as a form of permenant SMS protection. Further details on how this works is classified. SRB2 will automatically close if the player is not connected to the internet.

 

[Zap610]

always Online DRM has been implemented for SRB2, as a form of permenant SMS protection.

That might be the most evil thing you have ever done.

 

[VelocitOni]

Using the accounts mentioned above, always Online DRM has been implemented for SRB2, as a form of permenant SMS protection. Further details on how this works is classified. SRB2 will automatically close if the player is not connected to the internet.

 

[Shadow Hog]

In order to avoid players making broken character wads, we have further reduced the customisability when creating character wads. Socs are now disabled for character wads and may only use the abilities provided with the base game.

It goes further than that. Socks have been disabled. All custom characters must either wear sandals or be barefoot.

I mean, I suppose you could wear shoes without socks, but that's kinda grody.

 

[Daywalker]

Playing through the new version of Castle Eggman Zone and the new Special Stages are both on the top of my list. I am also looking forward to seeing the first of the Super levels, Sweet Tooth Zone, as well as what else is going to be done to Aerial Garden Zone. Record Attack is another thing I am looking forward to.

 

[kyllian1212]

EXACTLY what i was thinking.

Now even the forums needs DRM.

..ah.

 

[Bbop800]

A playable multiplayer.

Having to always rely on hosting servers to prevent terrible input lag is the one reason I decided to stop playing SRB2 until 2.1 comes out. It just doesn't make sense to me to use input lag to compensate for a high latency in a game that sometimes requires very precise aim. Being a really fast-paced, quick-reaction shooter doesn't really help it, either. If you have a decent enough aim and are the host of a server, you can just annihilate everyone (especially newer players) with the rail ring.

But hey, if you want to keep it the way it is, then I'm okay with that. But a reasonable explanation as to why you don't just go with the more traditional method of lag compensation would be nice.

A release date.

Hahahahaha

Now that's NOT funny. :(

 

[Terra]

I'm expecting to be able to have the option in the S_SKIN of characters to be able to jump like how the Next Gen Sonic wad and the Super Mystic Sonic wad did back in the 1.09.4 days or something...