Staff Attack! Act I

After summing up the history of the project, we thought another good way to look inside S2HD would be getting to know the staff members themselves. In Act I, we'll take a look at the longest veterans of the project.


Vincent
S2HD Project Leader & Character Artist

A hardcore Sonic fan, Vincent is motivated by his dream of seeing Sonic the Hedgehog's legend brought back in its full glory from the golden era of franchise’s original games. He firmly believes that Sonic’s world has very unique and precise rules to follow in order to feel original next to the classics.

Vincent has long considered that the most faithful way to bring Sonic into the HD era will be in a 2D format. Hand-drawing each animation frame, while time consuming, is the only way he feels will properly express the cartoon-like nature Sonic's motions and attitude; since he started work on the project, he has been responsible for the recreation of over 200 of Sonic’s individual frames. His ultimate goal is to translate the original artwork into a playable showcase of the designers’ vision during development.

In his role as the project leader, Vincent has been guiding the game’s progress and actively drawing character and level assets since the very beginning. He believes in a hands-on approach to promote teamwork, dedication and cooperation of staff members by taking active part in the project’s needs. Critical and sincere on the art feedback, and focused on the best result, he prefers to show improvements directly using file sources or visual mockups over explaining his ideas in words.

Vincent’s programs of choice are Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, which he uses extensively for advanced vector drawing, raster background painting and per pixel anti-alias control. Vincent is also knowledgeable with Adobe Premiere and After Effects.


Canned Karma
S2HD Project Manager, 3D Artist, Writer

A long time fan of classic platformers, ‘CK’ was drawn to Sonic 2 HD when he first heard about its existence on a gaming forum in the summer of 2008. Once he saw that the effort was more than just the typical fan game, he began offering suggestions to streamline the contribution process. Shortly after the project's tech demo release that September, he joined the staff as the Community Contributions Manager, and stepped into the Project Manager role soon afterward.

A 3D modeler by trade, CK is versed in the Autodesk 3Ds Max and Softimage content creation packages and is responsible for all the character models seen in the game's Special Stages. To better assist the sprite artists, he has also worked to create 3D concept art when basic forms could not do the project's vision justice or needed accurate perspective reference.

Beyond his digital work, CK is the staff’s chief writer, and has drafted the majority of the public announcements issued by the project. When he is not actively creating 3D assets for the S2HD, he is coordinating staff activity; in his role as the Project Manager, he acts as the public relations officer for the project, and works closely with the staff leaders to plan the game's direction.

LOst

S2HD Engine Programmer

Although he would not personally claim it, LOst is the very definition of a living encyclopedia of Sonic knowledge. Having spent countless hours analyzing all facets of the franchise, he can readily explain at length details that would be lost on all but the most astute players. This keen grasp of all things Sonic related has allowed the project a familiarity with the game's roots that would not have been possible otherwise.

LOst's passion for the franchise is equaled only by his expertise in programming. The engine used for S2HD was built from the ground up by him alone, and the credit for S2HD's remarkably accurate physics can also be attributed to his coding skill. He claims his inspiration comes from Sonic's original programmer, Yuji Naka. LOst considers Naka to be a personal trainer of his, the man who showed him how to "look beyond the pixels" to understand how all areas of the game work in unison.

Since joining the project in the summer of 2008, LOst has been a wealth of information to the team and a cornerstone of optimism

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Keep watching for the the next Staff Attack! In Act II we'll be introducing the team's core artists.