Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 04, 2007, 10:36:25 pm
So in a single day, using only the game's Debug Mode, I decided to put this together. Now, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you for the time being by only posting a crippled version of it. Sonic is just too popular to risk seeing this being stolen by others, so I won't submit any finished versions unless I've either done the whole game or done a significant portion of it. Although, doing a finished map as nice-looking as this from start to finish in a single day *is* a nice incentive to continue. Debug Mode is certainly much easier than playing, capturing and guessing...
*cue in JonLeung's annoyed comments about me starting too much stuff and neglecting long-delayed maps*
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: Grizzly on March 05, 2007, 03:50:11 am
Too bad that not all games have modes like this. Or at least the codes for debug mode aren't available on the net.
Post by: JonLeung on March 05, 2007, 07:40:17 am
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 05, 2007, 07:57:12 am
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: JonLeung on March 05, 2007, 08:34:41 am
Actually, the lack of key games in a few major series surprise me. Of the Zelda games, A Link To The Past is generally considered the best of the 2D ones and we only have one dungeon mapped out for the Super NES one (and the GBA one is also far from complete). Of the Mario games, it took a combined effort in a project to get Super Mario Bros. 3, which I was surprised wasn't mapped at the time, and the original Super Mario Bros. is still incomplete!
But if Sonic was/is a major video game character, you'd think we'd have a whole Sonic game mapped by now, and yet we don't. I don't think anything is even close. It's like the whole series is ignored. I know there's a clear Nintendo skew here, but you'd think that we'd've gotten a complete Sonic game before many of the other games here on the site, Genesis or otherwise.
Perhaps this so-called "Blast Processing" is intimidating would-be mappers?
I kid.
And even if there was such a thing, I don't think it'd be something we couldn't overcome, so long as the game is in 2D.
Post by: marioman on March 05, 2007, 03:31:25 pm
I would imagine that DarkWolf could whip up some kind of automated something-or-other that would just crank those maps out for you. You may want to talk to him.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 05, 2007, 03:41:28 pm
But seriously, I can understand why the Genesis Sonic games haven't been mapped yet. The levels are huge with lots of animation, parallax scrolling backgrounds and you absolutely need to be able to disable layers to do it right. And honestly, without the Debug Mode, it would be way too hard to capture accurately all those rings and areas that are so far from the main level that it would be impossible to determine the distance between them accurately.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: JonLeung on March 05, 2007, 05:44:15 pm
I'd like to see how much Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was tweaked when played attached to Sonic & Knuckles - this would be done by comparing full maps of Sonic 2, both with and without the Sonic & Knuckles "Lock-On" cartridge. While I understood that the somewhat incomplete Sonic 3 was rectified with Sonic & Knuckles, I didn't think they had the foresight to do anything with Sonic 2, not considering that Sonic & Knuckles was "smart" enough to not only take level data but also modify it.
I remember a friend's birthday party (he was a Sonic fan) a week after the release of Sonic & Knuckles and he was demonstrating it with Sonic 2. I made the assumption that Knuckles was merely added to the game, and that there was no point to climb around since the original game never intended for anyone to do that. I kind of got egg on my face when someone was climbing around in Chemical Plant Zone and found a power-up TV thing on top of a wall that most likely could not have been there before. But of course I know that it's a lot to ask for more Sonic maps. I would lament about Sonic 3D Blast more, otherwise.
(While I like Knuckles, I always thought it was a little awkward to have him here...with Sonic games you were always running speedily past things, and his gliding was not as fun or as fast or as exciting as running, and climbing was slow too.)
On a side note, I hadn't noticed that Tails's name of "Miles Prower" was a play on "miles per hour" until relatively recently. :P
Anyway, back on topic, I didn't play much of the oldschool Sonic games, but of them I played 2 the most, so I'm looking forward to these maps for nostalgia's sake.
Think you can find a way to map the half-pipe bonus areas? o_0
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 05, 2007, 06:09:32 pm
And if I ever get to it, I'll map Sonic 3 & Knuckles instead of both games separately, especially since they were meant to work together.
I'm done with the Chemical Plant background and starting the main level. I'm planning to map the first act of every zones and then move to second and third. The variety will help me retain interest.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on March 05, 2007, 08:13:11 pm
Post by: JonLeung on March 05, 2007, 08:28:14 pm
Post by: marioman on March 06, 2007, 06:10:13 am
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 06, 2007, 08:07:28 am
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: Grizzly on March 06, 2007, 05:23:18 pm
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 08, 2007, 02:24:47 pm
Seeing good maps of Sonic CD would be a dream come true, especially seeing every possible version of each one (Past, Present, Good & Bad Future). Plus, even though the stages aren't very fun to play, I really like the graphics.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: JonLeung on March 08, 2007, 04:02:14 pm
Is that the expression I'm looking for?
I'd like to see what you can accomplish if you had a solar-powered laptop (with nothing but all that you need to map, and that never breaks down) while stranded on a desert island, alone for years but with a supply of food that would last you long enough until you got rescued. Back in civilization a few years later, assuming VGMaps.com is still around, what wondrous complete map sets would be uploaded from your very laptop? Or would you still start too many things and have more incomplete projects than complete ones? :P
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 08, 2007, 04:46:25 pm
You'll notice that I prefer not to announce that I'll fully map games anymore because I know how tiresome it can be that I never deliver :(
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: JonLeung on March 08, 2007, 07:13:56 pm
I have no right to complain anyway, I keep putting things off myself. Revned's always bugging me to map things too, since I haven't done a real map in so long. Other than some involvement in the projects so far, I can't remember mapping anything all on my own after Maniac Mansion, which was what, two years ago? o_0
And I hope no one is actually clamoring for Simon The Sorceror or Totally Rad, both of which I guess I've technically given up on...so I know what you mean about disinterest.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 08, 2007, 10:17:56 pm
*First post updated with Sonic The Hedgehog - Green Hill Zone, Act 1*
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 12, 2007, 10:28:45 am
Unlike Sonic 1, you can have both Debug Mode and Stage Select at the same time (which is essential) but I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to make a savestate with both codes activated since savestates for Sega CD are only partly implemented. But Gens had no problem saving on that simple Stages Select screen so Sonic CD, here I come :)
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on March 12, 2007, 05:49:51 pm
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 12, 2007, 07:53:57 pm
And about Labyrinth Zone Act 3, I can't remember what's different about it, except that the water level rises quickly near the end.
*checks a map online*
Oh right, it wraps around vertically. I'm undecided about that. The first half I'll probably keep as is, since you can just keep sliding endlessly if you want to. However I might do something different for the last part where you run after Robotnik. Keeping that part continuous might look better even if it makes the map taller. I guess I'll see when I'm there.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 12, 2007, 11:54:59 pm
*First post updated with Sonic CD - Palmtree Panic Zone, Act 1 (Present)*
Now, I know you're all going to say that the background looks weird, being repeated upside down and then upright again, but that's the way it appears in the game, for Act 1 at least. It's supposed to give the illusion to the player that he's going through one of those big loop he always go through from Sonic's point of view, while in reality he's just running up a big ramp. But, I needed something to fill all that empty space, and it's doesn't look that bad anyway. At worst, you can just assume it's part of what makes the Little Planet unique ;)
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on March 13, 2007, 06:55:32 am
Post by: JonLeung on March 13, 2007, 12:51:00 pm
Nice DarkWolf, I had no idea a soft reset would keep the code in effect :)
Not sure if it's related, but I wonder if it's something about the Genesis. In the early days of GamePro magazine (I'm talking early '90s) there were several "codes" for the Genesis (but not for NES or Super NES) that involved inserting a certain game, then ripping it out (power still on) and inserting another game and resetting. I distinctly remember a game that involved Batman for the Genesis...either yanking that out, or putting that in, I don't remember, but the result was infinite lives. o_0 I wonder if that is in GameFAQs anywhere...it's kinda specific and involves another game...
I guess the NES would be tricky to do something like that even if it could work, and the early Super NES games had that lock-slot thing on the front of the cartridge that made that physically difficult. It probably isn't a very nice thing to do with the hardware and you know how Nintendo is. Won't give us more of an opportunity to break things. :P
That has very little to do with this topic, sorry. :P
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 13, 2007, 10:54:16 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on March 14, 2007, 06:36:29 am
Also I remember the cart swap tricks, but I never attempted them. It's probably safe but most of those codes can be replicated with Game Genie.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 14, 2007, 07:46:53 am
As for the backgrounds, I'm trying to achieve a happy middle since the limited color palette of the Genesis often ends up with both foreground and background having "loud" colors that can make separating the two difficult at first glance so I'm not hell-bent on filling the background with patterns at all cost unlike with other games I've mapped.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 16, 2007, 03:42:29 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: JonLeung on March 17, 2007, 03:22:42 pm
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 17, 2007, 04:06:52 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on March 17, 2007, 08:14:35 pm
By the way, will you be able to rip the Mode 7 maps from the bonus levels? Those levels are my favorite bonus levels from any Sonic game! I do not know if there would be a way to incorporate the absolutely stunning backgrounds in the bonus level maps, but it would be great if you could.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 17, 2007, 10:52:39 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 21, 2007, 07:51:32 pm
This one took much longer than expected because there are two distinct color cycling throughout the stage so I had to go back and adjust those colors in every screen capture I took. Also, because the background is a bit messy, it makes the main map harder to look at.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: JonLeung on March 21, 2007, 10:02:42 pm
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 21, 2007, 11:15:57 pm
Also, I wanted to establish visual continuity across all the maps by placing the horizon at the same level, and doing that with the Present maps meant I'd have to fill that huge area where you start. So I basically put the background "as is", loop and all.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on March 23, 2007, 07:31:42 pm
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 23, 2007, 10:48:57 pm
So JonLeung, how about renaming this thread as "Sonic The Hedgehog 1, 2 and CD" like I mentionned earlier?
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on March 24, 2007, 06:22:07 am
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 25, 2007, 10:23:55 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 26, 2007, 11:26:50 pm
I don't like the water color on this map; it makes the waterfalls almost impossible to see because they blend with the colors of the background water >:(
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: Grizzly on March 28, 2007, 02:20:45 pm
Post by: TerraEsperZ on March 29, 2007, 11:03:13 pm
By now, I've realized that by essentially mapping every stage 4 times each, I'm getting to the point where I get to know them by heart... I can't wait to move on to Collision Chaos for some diversity.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 04, 2007, 10:45:40 pm
Two more maps to go until Palmtree Panic is finished and I'll be sending them to the site.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on April 09, 2007, 08:01:54 pm
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 09, 2007, 10:08:27 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on April 10, 2007, 05:53:52 am
Post by: DarkWolf on April 10, 2007, 06:39:19 am
The hardest thing so far is matching the palette, since it seems to be somewhere in the executable rather than in the graphics file. Fortunately the floor tiles for the levels only use 16 color graphics, so it's easy enough to match them manually.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 10, 2007, 09:58:32 am
Personally, with Sonic CD I've had the most problems with the CD tracks; saving while a track is playing or loading a game while a track is already playing usually freezes emulation and I have to reset the system. That's why I've only saved at the stage select screen because there's no music there. Also, the Special Stages use a special "Mode 7" graphics mode exclusive to the Sega CD so saving/loading there is likely to fail.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on April 11, 2007, 07:34:24 pm
Special Stage 1
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 11, 2007, 08:15:17 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on April 11, 2007, 08:37:55 pm
Post by: marioman on April 12, 2007, 05:22:46 am
I haven't found the horizon images in the files, but then again I haven't looked very hard either.
I found a site that has most of the backgrounds for the Bonus Stages:
http://www.themysticalforestzone.com/Sprite_Archives/Sonic_Backgrounds.htm
The site layout absolutely stinks, but if you scroll down to the Sonic CD section, the Bonus Level backgrounds are the last little box in the section. The above set is missing the Robotnik background. It can be found here:
http://dioxaz.free.fr/sonicbackgrounds.htm#decors_soniccd
I hope that this is a help.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 15, 2007, 09:04:07 pm
Been a little while since I've worked on this, but Easter vacation and work has been keeping me busy. I'm eager to start mapping Collision Chaos, as I'm really tired of "Green Hill"-style zones ;)
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on April 16, 2007, 07:53:09 pm
I am really liking these maps. Keep it up!
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 16, 2007, 08:35:14 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on April 17, 2007, 03:02:12 pm
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 19, 2007, 10:24:29 pm
The trick is that since I have no hacking skills whatsoever, I could not get clean images of the planet so I rotated it as close to 'no rotation' as possible and took screenshots while zoomed in, assembled them and then spent hours reducing them by hand to recover the original images (yeah, it was a bit obsessive but it was worth it). I've always wanted to see them since knowing they existed ;)
So, in order, here is the Little Planet in the Present, Good Future and Bad Future:
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 23, 2007, 11:29:11 pm
Yes, the background loops in this one too (you can see water and mountains at the top of the map) but it appears to be intentional this time as there is nothing in this level that would require the illusion of turning upside down, unless it's supposed to suggest that at some points you are so high that you no longer know which side is up.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on April 24, 2007, 05:59:19 am
Post by: marioman on April 24, 2007, 06:24:50 am
@DarkWolf: All right! Another Special Stage! Please post it as soon as you can.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 24, 2007, 07:09:54 am
That menu is really cool, as each planet will slowly go through a day/dusk/night/dawn cycle (you also get all sorts of distracting sprites like flying Robotniks, UFOs and annoying things like that too). I'm hoping to do some animated GIFs of that and the intro/ending videos too when I have the time.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on April 25, 2007, 02:18:32 pm
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 8
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 25, 2007, 03:36:24 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on April 25, 2007, 06:42:48 pm
I have said it before, I absolutely LOVE the graphical style of Sonic CD. Although the gameplay may be lacking a little, the immersing atmosphere completely masks the shortcomings in the gameplay. I am not usually one to rant about graphics, but Sonic CD is something special.
The Special Stages do get much harder. DarkWolf hasn't put up stage 7 yet, but I would say that it is 80% water. Very hard stuff.
Terra, I would like to get my hands on those HQ Special Stage backgrounds when you get around to ripping them. Just to let you know that there is actually interest in them.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 25, 2007, 07:57:03 pm
I agree with you MarioMan (hope you don't mind the capitalization, but I like to put emphasis when writing names/alias) about Sonic CD's style. The more I map it, the more I get the sense of the Little Planet as a real world with a history. You can watch the evolution of each zone over the time periods and it's a wonder to behold in a way. Graphically, none of the Genesis Sonic games come even close to matching it. In fact, only Knuckles' Chaotix on the 32X comes close, and it's a much more boring game anyway.
As for those backgrounds, I might do it in the coming weeks in-between maps, so stay tuned.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on April 26, 2007, 03:36:41 pm
(hope you don't mind the capitalization, but I like to put emphasis when writing names/alias)
Sure. Call me what you want...provided its clean. :)
As for those backgrounds, I might do it in the coming weeks in-between maps, so stay tuned.
I will keep an eye out for them. Thanks.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on April 27, 2007, 12:41:15 am
I love the graphics of this game. They suggest such a rich world, especially these special stages:
1: Seems to be in orbit of either Mobius/Earth or the Little Planet
2: In orbit of a Jupiter-like planet!?
3: Underwater complex
4: On an island near a huge city featuring waterfalls and floating buildings
5: A huge domed-city, either underground or in space
6: A city lost in the twilight zone?
7: Yet another city/base most likely at night, unless the green sky indicates yet another moon/planet
8: Robotnik/Eggman's cup of tea?
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on April 27, 2007, 06:07:58 am
Post by: DarkWolf on April 29, 2007, 01:16:58 pm
Stage 5
Stage 6
Stage 7
Post by: marioman on April 29, 2007, 06:57:05 pm
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 13, 2007, 07:08:46 pm
Collision Chaos is coming along slowly because of all the palette changes I have to make, so I went ahead and did a Tidal Tempest map instead to see the kind of problems I'd have with the water and its associated palette change. You'll notice that I've put the water level at two different heights but it was unavoidable as it changes when you pass a certain point, and since the water isn't a simple transparent layer like on a SNES or GBA, I had to capture it "as is".
Zone 2 should be interesting considering the map loops vertically for part of it and the water level changes like, 4 times.
I've also corrected my first post since in Sonic CD, Acts are known as Zones (unlike all the other Sonic games). Zones themselves are known as Rounds, but that just doesn't sound right so I'm not using it. Palmtree Panic Round sounds just awful anyway.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 14, 2007, 06:38:58 pm
Fairly boring level actually. It was a bitch to map though since once removed, the background is replaced by black and about 60% of the main map is also black...
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: Grizzly on May 14, 2007, 10:59:29 pm
Your result looks great though. :)
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 14, 2007, 11:32:49 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: DarkWolf on May 16, 2007, 07:53:23 pm
However, I've e-mailed the creator of Kmod to see if I can get the source to play with. I'm not a great C or C++ programmer, so I can't promise anything, but I may be able to pull something off.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 16, 2007, 08:00:56 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 17, 2007, 07:18:11 pm
In the various Tidal Tempest stages, the water level tends to go up and down at very specific points; once you reach specific points horizontally, the water level changes and if you go back a single pixel, it will return to its previous level.
Anyway, so far, on the two maps I've completed, the water level was either static or changed right in the middle of a wall so the water surface doesn't look broken.
However, in other maps it changes right in the open, meaning that if I show the different water levels where they are exactly, it would mean showing two water surfaces right next to one another and it kinda looks stupid, as if the water was just hanging there in the air like a wall of water.
Should I still go for accuracy (and thus a stupid look) or should I look for a nearby physical separation like a wall and use that to "buffer" the disconnection? I know it's a question of choice, but maybe someone will have an argument I haven't thought of.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 17, 2007, 10:22:38 pm
I decided to go ahead and used a nearby wall to separate the water levels near the "Goal" sign post, since normally the water changes just as you go over the hole to the left of it. I'll see if that method works as well in future maps.
Enjoy this level, as mapping it was a gruesome and frustrating process. I had to assemble all the screenshots with the black removed (which was replacing the background) but in the same move eliminating the black from every tile in the foreground and all the sprites. Then, through various methods (manual editing, masking, color replacement), I manage to re-add all the black that was needlessly removed. At least I think I did, but I'm bound to have missed a tile here or there; I can't even tell anymore after combing over every inch of that map for the last 3 days.
The worst thing is that the background is so busy that it's hard to tell what's in front and what's in the back. Anyway, enjoy it and feel free to point out any mistake.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: MagnetiC on May 18, 2007, 07:05:21 am
You did a great job with that black-on-black problem, that's exactly what stopped me from finishing Pocky & Rocky. I ran into the same problem with King Arthur's World once I reached the underground levels and even VSnes couldn't help me this time. Luckily I was able to hack the rom with a snes palette editor and can now change the background color. I don't know a lot about hacking though and couldn't find any tools specific for the Sega CD, so lets hope DarkWolf is successful.
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Ignorance is bliss.
Post by: marioman on May 18, 2007, 07:18:13 am
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 24, 2007, 07:10:39 am
Had I not taken the habit of always saving two copies of the file I'm working on, I would have been forced to pretty much restart this map from scratch. At least it explains why my computer kept slowing down without any reason over the last few months, though it sucks since I'll have to buy some new RAM tonight; Win XP doesn't run for shit with only 256 MB.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 24, 2007, 06:41:30 pm
There are so many things that I never even bothered to backup it's not even funny! Various games, movies, comics, ROMs and music albums... There's also the personal stuff that I'll never get back like all the pictures I took with my digital camera. Ah crap this sucks so much I feel like crying :( ...
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: JonLeung on May 24, 2007, 07:24:47 pm
We paid $60 to a computer store for a recovery, but they couldn't fully restore the files. Now there are thousands of file fragments in our "Old files" folder, sorted by file extenstion but not with any of their old filenames intact - they just have numbered names - some work, some are corrupted, and some don't seem like anything at all. There are 100 MB images that when viewed look the same as when they were 68 kB.
It's a sad thing, but every now and then I sift through the so-called "digital wasteland" and find some gems that I can salvage. Still-usable images or MP3s, etc.
Good thing I'd backed up a lot of stuff before that, but there is still lots I haven't been able to get back at all. So I know how it feels.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 24, 2007, 09:18:19 pm
Thankfully, I happened to make a backup of my map folders about a week ago, but it still means I'll have to re-do between one and three maps... In addition to all the other stuff I'll need to track down again; hopefully, not too much of it will too rare as to be lost forever :(
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 27, 2007, 10:31:16 pm
Consequently, I'll most likely be finishing existing maps that JonLeung has been asking for for over a year ;)
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on May 28, 2007, 07:07:02 am
Post by: DarkWolf on May 28, 2007, 07:24:24 am
Post by: TerraEsperZ on May 28, 2007, 10:55:34 am
Anyway, since I'll be redoing the two (well, one and a half) maps I lost as soon as I find the ISO again, I shouldn't have a new map until the end of next week at the most.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on July 20, 2007, 08:54:51 pm
I finally started mapping this game again, and with Maxim's modification to GensKMod which replaces the black in the background with a unique shade of purple, it's so much *easier*! No more masking and separating black by hand :)
So I redid (and finished) Tidal Tempest 1 (Bad Future) which was lost in my HD crash; I redid the Past map as well since the masking I did by hand wasn't perfect and finally, I updated Palmtree Panic 1 (Present) because I had missed a couple of invisible platforms (because they were invisible, duh).
I'll be redoing Tidal Temptest 1 (Good Future) to correct my masking mistakes and I'll finally be going foward with new maps :)
Oh yeah, and considering how much work I've done so far, I'll most likely finish the map headers this weekend and post the original maps here instead of half-size, color-reduced previews.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on July 21, 2007, 12:29:13 am
Post by: TerraEsperZ on July 22, 2007, 06:10:38 pm
Finally a new zone after a few months! This one was a bit harder since the leftmost part of the map loops vertically and strange things happen to the water level when going through thin walls in Debug Mode when it shouldn't be possible.
Also, said water level is constantly changing during the level depending on crossing certain points or, in one occasion, stepping on a floating platform. I tried to compromised as best as possible, using walls to separate dry and wet areas like I did for Zone 1.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: marioman on July 22, 2007, 09:15:10 pm
Post by: TerraEsperZ on July 23, 2007, 07:34:50 pm
Another murky map thanks to the overdetailed yet murky colors. This one was easy since the water level stays constant throughout the whole level.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on July 25, 2007, 05:13:23 pm
Oh yeah, and new maps from now on will be the same way too, of course.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on July 27, 2007, 06:16:34 pm
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on July 29, 2007, 05:36:48 pm
As you can see, the Good Future of Tidal Tempest has a pretty busy background with bright colors, so it's hard to separate the stage from it, doubly so underwater where everything's either green or blue.
Oh, and I re-uploaded Tidal Tempest, Zone 2 (Bad Future) since I forgot a couple of rings and some platforms.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on July 29, 2007, 10:14:32 pm
In this level where you fight Robotnik, you first have to chase him around in a vertically-looping area until you've hit him a couple of times, after which he flies off to the right. You then reach an underwater area where you have to breath all the air bubble circling him while avoiding his shots until manage to hit him once (yes, only once!).
Anyway, I know the water level looks weird like this, being high in Robotnik's room and low right afterward for no reason, but there's simply no natural separation this time. You fight him underwater and right aftermoving right, the water drops imediately to the ground so it's impossible to see the last section underwater while playing anyway.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on July 30, 2007, 09:49:38 pm
And with this, I have two worlds completely mapped :)
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on August 02, 2007, 05:54:08 am
I'm finally going back and filling in the blanks, i.e. maps I had skipped when jumping ahead to Tidal Tempest. This one took quite a bit of manual editing because of those big light panels who have two colors constantly rotating that need to be 'harmonized'.
I've also re-uploaded the Past and Present versions after correcting a few omissions (missing rings in both cases). Since almost all the sprites like rings, monitors and platforms stay constant across all time periods, I open up all the maps of a particular zone I've done in Firefox and rapidly browse across all tabs, checking for anything that's missing in any one map. After that, I scroll an equal amount in each and repeat, nothing anything suspiscious. I then go in the game to check all those spots. Sometimes I notice rings I had missed in particular time period; at other time, I find something missing that *should* have been there but was probably forgotten by the programmers ;)
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: JonLeung on August 02, 2007, 07:37:51 am
Post by: TerraEsperZ on August 02, 2007, 10:07:24 am
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Post by: TerraEsperZ on February 26, 2008, 05:53:06 pm
YES!!! I'M BACK!!!
*ahem* Sorry, but it's been what, almost 6 months since I've worked on this? Well, in my defense, losing first a hard drive (along with two maps) and then a computer, in addition to the now classic problem of removing a background only to have it replaced by a color shared with the foreground, really put me off continuing this for a while.
Well, I feel about ready to continue this, mostly thanks to Maxim's latest Gens KMod modifications which now allow me to replace the background with a (100% sure to be) unique color. As you can see, I've already finished one map, with two others only missing the background (Collision Chaos Zone 3, Good and Bad Future) but I'll need to finish Zone 2, Good and Bad Future before I can finish them.
Anyway, I'll keep you guys posted.
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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Current projects: Mega Man V (GB), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Sonic CD (Sega CD)
Post by: marioman on February 27, 2008, 05:45:27 am
Post by: JonLeung on March 08, 2008, 07:23:14 am
Always looking to have more Sonic maps, I really noticed the lack of maps again recently. When I was looking for what games were complete for the "Super Smash Bros. Brawl: The Oldschool Emissary" front page feature link, the only complete Sonic game that I am aware of on this site so far is Sonic The Hedgehog (Master System version, not Genesis).
Post by: marioman on July 11, 2009, 07:00:06 pm
Sonic Extractor
Hope that this helps.
Post by: TerraEsperZ on July 13, 2009, 12:25:53 am
There's also the fact that with such a program out, it's only a matter of weeks before someone makes perfect maps for the entire game with little effort that will make all my previous efforts go to waste.
I actually found out about this program several months back, but it didn't handle the backgrounds at the time. I also noticed back then that although it places the sprites in their correct position, the priority was messed up compared to the maps I did while playing (some sprites appeared over the foreground while in-game, they were behind for example).
A small part of me, of the childish and whiny kind, is actually really frustrated that so many competent people have been working on Sonic maps lately after ignoring the series for so freaking long that I actually thought I'd never have any competition in putting out maps. I mean, for years it felt like nobody would ever bother, so I'd have all the time in the world to do my thing, even considering how I take up and drop map projects on a whim. Of course, saying that out loud would make me look like a selfish baby right :)?
So I guess this is yet another project I'll have to shelve. There's no way I'll use someone else's work to easily make maps that I'd then claim to be my own, and it's doubtful that I'd spend more time doing it by hand only to see full maps being submitted by someone else the moment I make any significant progress.
That's life I guess...
"Life? Don't talk to me about life."
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Current project: Not sure yet
Upcoming project: Not sure yet either
Post by: Maxim on July 13, 2009, 12:36:19 am
Post by: DarkWolf on July 13, 2009, 04:32:57 am
Post by: marioman on July 21, 2009, 12:09:21 pm
In other news, Zone:0 has apparently uploaded DarkWolf's Sonic CD maps. They did credit VGMaps, but I am not sure what the rule is around here about merely taking maps from here and uploading them somewhere else.
I figured that I would just give a heads up on this. Zone:0 is a good site with a lot of (annotated) maps for Sonic 1, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD, so maybe it would be a good idea to let them link to our maps if we can link to theirs?