43 replies to this topic

[Misk]

Ah, I see.

 

Speaking of the GBA version, why was Clear It Out removed?

[southbird]

Ah, I see.

 

Speaking of the GBA version, why was Clear It Out removed?

 

Honestly I don't remember. I know work was started on porting it, and it might even exist in some form in the ROM. I may have hit technical difficulties or I just didn't think it was all that good a level. But it's kind of a shame given that historically it's probably the second oldest level in Epoch after "Triple Sewer Bypass" (originally "Retrieval", "Sewer Patrol") Obviously its graphics are still in use for "base" areas.

 

EDIT: Watching an LP of it to remind myself of things... the SWATBot vehicle (I'm sure there's a proper name for that, you guys can fill me in) boss was moved to the end of Refuse Junk ("The Junkyard") and its mini level was called "One Last Throwaway", a reference to the death of Clear It Out, heh.

[Misk]

I really liked the music to that level. I was sad that it didn't get a GBA rendition.

 

 

...I wonder if the original MIDI files are still floating around somewhere... Metalhead Dance, Final Ascent, and whatever Clear It Out's theme was called were my favorite songs from Epoch.

[Shadow]

I do have to wonder about the game mechanic of exploding robots hurting the player. That goes against all Sonic games. Why did you change that? It seemed like artificial difficulty.

[southbird]

I really liked the music to that level. I was sad that it didn't get a GBA rendition.

 

 

...I wonder if the original MIDI files are still floating around somewhere... Metalhead Dance, Final Ascent, and whatever Clear It Out's theme was called were my favorite songs from Epoch.

 

Could be, I dunno. I know (old community name) Blaze Hedgehog had some MP3 renditions of the whole soundtrack. Not sure if he still has them all uploaded, but they're probably the best sounding versions of all of it.

 

 

I do have to wonder about the game mechanic of exploding robots hurting the player. That goes against all Sonic games. Why did you change that? It seemed like artificial difficulty.

 

Epoch is not my best work. (I mean, it was at the time.) I've done a lot of personal studying of game mechanics and trying to learn what really makes games fun, functional, and fair. Epoch's got lots of screwy issues that cause it to fail those ideals. Why would an exploding enemy hurt you? Because I didn't think about it long enough to decide I shouldn't make that happen.

 

My latest work, Super Mario Bros. 3Mix, shows a tremendous progression in my understanding of games in general. Third party reviews attest to it -- it's not without some minor problems, but those are far, far outshadowed by the overall quality of it. Difficulty is ramped appropriately, the reprogrammed game mechanics are totally playble and fun, without the need of save states. Granted I didn't invent the whole game engine in this case, but what I modified and added to it seems to be universally found by fans of SMB3 to be wonderful and totally fun. And I'm not talking about of my ass, I've seen a handful of written reviews and a few LPs on YouTube that just sing more praises than complaints.

 

I just finished watching that series on Epoch GBA on YouTube... it ended with an introspection that was basically:

- It's weird

- They've "read worse" (so story's ... okay, but off. And I agree.)

- You can play it only with regular use of savestates

- Of the two voices in the video, the one not playing says it's not something he would play

- They did seem to enjoy the "blooper reel" bonus menu, so I'll probably do that again

 

I find that a totally fair summary, because it's pretty much what I think, too. I'm surprised I didn't really try hard to fix some of the larger issues with it. I goof around with the PC and GBA Epoch versions and in both cases I wonder how I ever felt this was good enough for public release. They're clunky to control and difficult for all the wrong reasons.

 

So combined with the extremely amateur nature of the old game engines and the fact that neither managed to cover the entire scope of the story means I need to do Epoch again, but do it right.

 

Like I said earlier, I'm not going to 100% commit to it right now, but it's always on my mind. I may start polling some folks around here against Epoch character quirks because I'm curious what direction some of those things should take. I suppose I could even request community help if I ever get that far to maybe clean up dialog and such. I'm sure there's a few fanfic writers some of you could recommend that seem to be spot-on with language.

 

 

Any forum veterans: Which subsection do you think best fits me querying about Epoch stuff? "The Games" or "General Discussion" seem like the only possible candidates. The former I'm not sure because I don't know if it's limited to only official titles or not. Looks like some hacks wound up in there...

[Misk]

 

I really liked the music to that level. I was sad that it didn't get a GBA rendition.

 

 

...I wonder if the original MIDI files are still floating around somewhere... Metalhead Dance, Final Ascent, and whatever Clear It Out's theme was called were my favorite songs from Epoch.

 

Could be, I dunno. I know (old community name) Blaze Hedgehog had some MP3 renditions of the whole soundtrack. Not sure if he still has them all uploaded, but they're probably the best sounding versions of all of it.

 

I just checked his channel (pretty sure it's the same guy. He had the Time Attacked intro on it and said he was the one who animated it) and they aren't there.

 

 

Is it possible to extract the MIDIs from the PC release somehow?

[southbird]

"Somehow" certainly, but it uses a proprietary data format that I invented, so there's no natural utility for it. I remember once hearing of a utility that could seek out WAV files internal to the data file, so maybe something like that exists for the MIDIs as well. But maybe I should just find out if Blaze still has his MP3s about.

[Misk]

I wouldn't want to burden you...

[Uncle Ben]

Never tried Epoch....

 

Is it Mac Compatible?

[southbird]

Never tried Epoch....

 

Is it Mac Compatible?

 

The GBA version would be, assuming there's a solid GBA emulator out there for Mac. I can't imagine there isn't, but then, I'm not a Mac user. The old, incomplete PC version is sort of retrofitted to run in DOSBox, which I also assume is available for Mac.

 

Fair warning though, as I've mentioned, either one is kinda crap to play. (Although at least you would presumably have savestates on the GBA one.) I'm planning on taking someone who did a playthrough of the GBA version on YouTube and clipping it down to all the cutscenes / boss fights so people can experience that version of the story without having to go through the drudge of actually playing it. But I won't stop you, downloads are here. Just don't come back and complain when I've already acknowledged it's difficult and tedious.

[Prince ByTor]

There is a visual boy advance emulator for the mac, just Google it.

 

Sorry, didn't know.

[RedAuthar]

Linking to emulators is a no-no.

[furrykef]

I can't imagine why. Emulators don't infringe upon copyright.

[southbird]

I wouldn't want to burden you...

 

I sent Blaze a PM on another forum asking if he still had them uploaded. If not, I'll upload what I have.

[RedAuthar]

There is a visual boy advance emulator for the mac, just Google it.

 

Sorry, didn't know.

Yeah, the Board Rules say you can't directly link to them.  

 

 

I can't imagine why. Emulators don't infringe upon copyright.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or serious....Plucky doesn't help either. 

[southbird]

 

I can't imagine why. Emulators don't infringe upon copyright.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or serious....Plucky doesn't help either. 

 

 

I won't argue forum rules here; rules say no links, fine. But my understanding is that an emulator itself is generally legal. Now, ROMs, ISOs, or BIOS files related to the system are generally definitely infringing, assuming the IP owner still exists and maintains their copyrights. For the most part, an emulator is original work. Of course, emulators can (and usually do) promote piracy and other legally-challenged scenarios, so a company may still claim they are damaging to their bottom line.

 

But I digress... I'd prefer my little thread doesn't get hijacked into an ethical discussion of emulation. We can start another thread for that or something.

[furrykef]

I can't imagine why. Emulators don't infringe upon copyright.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or serious....Plucky doesn't help either.

Serious. Emulators do not contain copyrighted content. You can use them to infringe upon copyright, but you can also use them to play homebrew software (such as Sonic Epoch), and doing so is entirely legal.

Also, the board rules do not mention emulators anywhere.

[furrykef]

chief just told me linking to emulators is A-OK, just not illegal ROMs.

[RedAuthar]

K

[wildfire]

Wow man, it's been quite some time.  I still lurk around from time to time, but I remember when you and Epoch were the bottom line in SatAM fan games.  I've played both versions, and while I liked the DOS version better for various reasons, it was cool to have a version you could put on an actual flash cart for GBA and play around town.  Either way, welcome back to FUS and I look forward to seeing more from you good sir.