Scroller v4 (Sv4) - Sonic Epoch Advance

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• published: 10 Sep 2015
• views: 247

Recommend you watch the "Scroller v3 - Sonic Epoch" video and read its description first! So with the newly unveiled "Scroller v4" (popularly known as "Sv4" and later briefly as "Retro Game Smith"), which ran on native Gameboy Advance hardware, I decided the best way to prove its effectiveness was to port, fix, and finish Sonic Epoch from my previous PC project. The date of the ROM I used to make this video was 2004, so I was about 21 at the time this was made. Anyway, basically the same story is still in place. Sonic and Sally get wind of a plot by Dr. Robotnik, Sonic shows up to the teleporter prototypes, and a power ring causes an overload that transports him a decade into the future. There were some rewrites of the basic script such that Sally was present for the event, and our "oblique Metal Sonic" Sonic-2 was pushed out further into the story as a side effect of Sonic's return rather than something there from the beginning. Honestly I think it flowed a lot better this way. There are NUMEROUS notable improvements in the Sv4 edition. The sprites are largely drawn direct as pixel art, rather than being modified poor video captures. They're a lot cleaner, a lot more animated, and a lot more expressive. The dialog, while still not perfect writing, matches the show's dialect a lot more, and references are made to canon as appropriate. Honestly, the project started out excellently. PC assets were reused as they could be, the plot was shaping up a lot better than before (and certainly didn't read as awkwardly as the teenage writing from before), and it looked like Sonic Epoch could be done satisfactorily. Alas, it wasn't to be. Once again, I gave into social pressures -- this time by letting myself feel overwhelmed by people who called it out as the dorky project that it was -- and decided to wrap it rapidly. I wasn't going to let it be "unfinished", but the quality clearly veers off towards the end. Open plot threads are hastily tied together and there's just not enough time taken to really convey everything that was supposed to be going on. Partially finished levels are sucked out of the incomplete PC version with a goal slapped onto them and shipped. The entire subplot of the fate of the other Freedom Fighters is more or less forgotten. In hindsight, as I've gotten older, I realize it was ridiculous to give in to social pressures that I was seeing on the Internet. The Internet loves you or hates you, and a lot of times it's completely arbitrary and biased which one is the case. I'd still love to someday do Sonic Epoch again and do it right. But, for now, I'm choosing to focus my efforts on something that will actually make me an income, which of course this never can. For today, here is Sonic Epoch, as good as it can get.

Scroller v4 (Sv4) - Sonic Epoch Advance

• Report rights infringement
• published: 10 Sep 2015
• views: 247

Recommend you watch the "Scroller v3 - Sonic Epoch" video and read its description first! So with the newly unveiled "Scroller v4" (popularly known as "Sv4" and later briefly as "Retro Game Smith"), which ran on native Gameboy Advance hardware, I decided the best way to prove its effectiveness was to port, fix, and finish Sonic Epoch from my previous PC project. The date of the ROM I used to make this video was 2004, so I was about 21 at the time this was made. Anyway, basically the same story is still in place. Sonic and Sally get wind of a plot by Dr. Robotnik, Sonic shows up to the teleporter prototypes, and a power ring causes an overload that transports him a decade into the future. There were some rewrites of the basic script such that Sally was present for the event, and our "oblique Metal Sonic" Sonic-2 was pushed out further into the story as a side effect of Sonic's return rather than something there from the beginning. Honestly I think it flowed a lot better this way. There are NUMEROUS notable improvements in the Sv4 edition. The sprites are largely drawn direct as pixel art, rather than being modified poor video captures. They're a lot cleaner, a lot more animated, and a lot more expressive. The dialog, while still not perfect writing, matches the show's dialect a lot more, and references are made to canon as appropriate. Honestly, the project started out excellently. PC assets were reused as they could be, the plot was shaping up a lot better than before (and certainly didn't read as awkwardly as the teenage writing from before), and it looked like Sonic Epoch could be done satisfactorily. Alas, it wasn't to be. Once again, I gave into social pressures -- this time by letting myself feel overwhelmed by people who called it out as the dorky project that it was -- and decided to wrap it rapidly. I wasn't going to let it be "unfinished", but the quality clearly veers off towards the end. Open plot threads are hastily tied together and there's just not enough time taken to really convey everything that was supposed to be going on. Partially finished levels are sucked out of the incomplete PC version with a goal slapped onto them and shipped. The entire subplot of the fate of the other Freedom Fighters is more or less forgotten. In hindsight, as I've gotten older, I realize it was ridiculous to give in to social pressures that I was seeing on the Internet. The Internet loves you or hates you, and a lot of times it's completely arbitrary and biased which one is the case. I'd still love to someday do Sonic Epoch again and do it right. But, for now, I'm choosing to focus my efforts on something that will actually make me an income, which of course this never can. For today, here is Sonic Epoch, as good as it can get.