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Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame

srb2.org

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Re: Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame

#11

Post by bitwize »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #10
bitwize wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This project has been going on for over 25 years. It used a Sonic Doom wad I made in the 90s as a starting point. If Sega really objected to it, they would have dropped the hammer by now.

Wow! How did your WAD start? What were your goals? What do you think of how others have done?

It was just Sonic music, SFX, and some sprites in a WAD. I was just messing around, no real goals in mind. I think SRB2 is a phenomenal project that's really pushed the limits of what the Doom engine and Sonic community can do and showcases, better than Sega has ever done until fairly recently, how well the classic Sonic formula can work in 3D.

One of the key factors in the history of Sonic that I didn't know until recently was that he was a total flop in Japan. In fact the Mega Drive struggled to gain traction there. That's why they kept trying to reinvent the formula into the 2000s and beyond; from Sega (of Japan)'s perspective, unlike Mario, they hadn't established a gameplay template that they knew would be a worldwide hit, only a character they knew was popular in the USA and Europe.

But the SRB developers got it. They knew what made classic Sonic work, and sought to replicate that with the strengths—and limitations—of the Doom engine and produced an absolute banger of a project.

Re: Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame

#12

Post by lawrencejgd »

kevinfiol wrote: post #9

I LOVE Sonic Robo Blast 2. Please also check out the amazing kart racer spinoff, SRB2Kart! It is one of my favorite kart racers. https://hyuu.cc/ https://wiki.srb2.org/wiki/SRB2Kart

And don't forget its sequel, Dr. Robotnik Ring Racers! Since I discovered it became one of my favorite video games, it's pretty technical and hard to dominate, but it's so exciting each time that I play it that I can't stop recommending it to everyone.

https://kartkrew.org/

Re: Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame

#13

Post by dleslie »

robrtsql wrote: post #4
treesknees wrote: post #3

This looks fantastic, but I can’t help but wonder how long before SEGA or the owners of the Sonic intellectual property take legal action against the game.

I’m not saying it could never happen, but SEGA appears to be much more tolerant of fangames than Nintendo. A cease and desist is a given for any Mario fangame of renown, but Sonic games appear to attract no attention from SEGA. Also, it’s been 25 years..

On the contrary, Sega has hired notable Sonic community members and published Sonic games they've made.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Mania#Development

Re: Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame

#15

Post by dmonitor »

chromehearts wrote: post #14

I found the game & it's spin-off "Robo Blast Kart" like 6 years ago? The Kart game is SUPER fun & honestly better than official Mario Kart games. I didn't know the original game is 25 years old?? Incredible

SRB2K is very frustrating to me for a few reasons

- it is very nearly perfect, but has some minor issues especially in regards to the strength of frontrunning (early leads tend to become unbeatable) - the development team has mostly abandoned it in favor of the sequel, which completely abandons the brilliant simplicity of SRB2K - the development team kind of take a rude approach to the GPL. They don't really accept PRs from the community, and work in secrecy rather than out in the open. They still publish their work, so they comply with the license, but it's a bit lame - The modding community is super weird about reusing other people's code and will pitch a fit if you get caught reusing someone's lua script without their permission.

Re: Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame

#16

Post by chromehearts »

dmonitor wrote: post #15
chromehearts wrote: post #14

I found the game & it's spin-off "Robo Blast Kart" like 6 years ago? The Kart game is SUPER fun & honestly better than official Mario Kart games. I didn't know the original game is 25 years old?? Incredible

SRB2K is very frustrating to me for a few reasons - it is very nearly perfect, but has some minor issues especially in regards to the strength of frontrunning (early leads tend to become unbeatable) - the development team has mostly abandoned it in favor of the sequel, which completely abandons the brilliant simplicity of SRB2K - the development team kind of take a rude approach to the GPL. They don't really accept P…

Interesting really, I was never really in the community that much it was mostly me & my siblings playing the game for fun! But that's unfortunate to hear .. never heard of the sequel as well will check it out soon.

Re: Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame

#17

Post by kokada »

robrtsql wrote: post #4
treesknees wrote: post #3

This looks fantastic, but I can’t help but wonder how long before SEGA or the owners of the Sonic intellectual property take legal action against the game.

I’m not saying it could never happen, but SEGA appears to be much more tolerant of fangames than Nintendo. A cease and desist is a given for any Mario fangame of renown, but Sonic games appear to attract no attention from SEGA. Also, it’s been 25 years..

Yes, there are other examples like the recent Sonic Unleashed recomp. I never heard of a SEGA/Sonic game receiving a cease-and-desist letter or anything similar.

Re: Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame

#18

Post by Wowfunhappy »

dleslie wrote: post #13
robrtsql wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not saying it could never happen, but SEGA appears to be much more tolerant of fangames than Nintendo. A cease and desist is a given for any Mario fangame of renown, but Sonic games appear to attract no attention from SEGA. Also, it’s been 25 years..

On the contrary, Sega has hired notable Sonic community members and published Sonic games they've made. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Mania#Development

Sonic Mania is great, but fewer people seem to know the team also went on to create Penny's Big Breakaway independently of SEGA, and I actually liked that game even more!

Re: Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame

#19

Post by amiga386 »

dmonitor wrote: post #15
chromehearts wrote: post #14

I found the game & it's spin-off "Robo Blast Kart" like 6 years ago? The Kart game is SUPER fun & honestly better than official Mario Kart games. I didn't know the original game is 25 years old?? Incredible

SRB2K is very frustrating to me for a few reasons - it is very nearly perfect, but has some minor issues especially in regards to the strength of frontrunning (early leads tend to become unbeatable) - the development team has mostly abandoned it in favor of the sequel, which completely abandons the brilliant simplicity of SRB2K - the development team kind of take a rude approach to the GPL. They don't really accept P…

It's not rude to the GPL, it's just not collaborative in a way you want them to be?

The four freedoms allow you to share your enhancements with the community, they don't say the original author has to accept them. They pursue their own vision for the software, they give you all the sources and license you need to pursue a different direction.

Stallman has also talked about how "works of art" (pictures, stories, music) are different from "functional" works (software, recipes, typefaces, etc.). He thinks that nonfree "functional" works are unethical, but is ok with a modest copyright time limit before being permitted to remix/modify art:

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/copyright-versus-community.ht...

> But eventually I realized that modifying a work of art can be a contribution to art, but it's not desperately urgent in most cases. If you had to wait ten years for the copyright to expire, you could wait that long

With that in mind, he'd want game code to be published under a free software license, but would be ok if the "art" of the game remained briefly copyrighted. Probably not what modders want to hear!

Re: Sonic Robo Blast 2: 25 year old continuously developed DOOM engine-based fangame

#20

Post by popcar2 »

lawrencejgd wrote: post #12
kevinfiol wrote: post #9

I LOVE Sonic Robo Blast 2. Please also check out the amazing kart racer spinoff, SRB2Kart! It is one of my favorite kart racers. https://hyuu.cc/ https://wiki.srb2.org/wiki/SRB2Kart

And don't forget its sequel, Dr. Robotnik Ring Racers! Since I discovered it became one of my favorite video games, it's pretty technical and hard to dominate, but it's so exciting each time that I play it that I can't stop recommending it to everyone. https://kartkrew.org/

I absolutely love SRB2K but I think they overcooked Ring Racers. It's bloated with so many mechanics that the tutorial for how to play the game is literally almost an hour long. The controls are also harsher than the previous game, especially when it comes to slopes.

Version 2.4 which is almost out doubles down on it being a high skill racing game with even more mechanics... Gaining "amps" when dealing damage, going into overdrive, "ring bail" which is dropping all your coins for a boost and can cancel spinning out, "neutral drift" where you lose less speed when drifting without steering...

I don't know what's going on at this point. I just want to hold forward and drift.

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