4.18.2012

Sonic 2 HD officially discontinued.

Last month we proudly showed off a demo of what we've accomplished with S2HD.
Needless to say, more work has been done on the game; unfortunately, the odds of this work every seeing the light of day is slim to none. We gave the project's Lead Programmer, LOst, a week to provide us with a DRM free build of S2HD.
We've heard as much from him as you have, so it's safe to assume that's not going to happen. Given his complete lack of communication and cooperation, it falls upon to LOst to assume full responsibility for his actions as, up until the demo was released, the project's leadership was unaware of both the DRM and the now infamous DirectInput bug. This was the last straw for us. He had ignored direct requests for the past two years, effectively holding the project ransom by refusing additional help or review on his private engine. If he didn't think a piece of artwork matched his vision for the game, it was not included, or worse, was replaced by assets of his own creation. The same thing happened with the excellent multi-format sound engine our Tools Programmer Saxman created. Ultimately, LOst is no longer a part of the project.

That's the good news. The bad news for the project far outweighs it unfortunately. We cannot replace our lead programmer as LOst kept the source code for himself, making it impossible to the coded source material to be updated or used as a base for newer builds.
Additionally, two key staff members, scanline99 and Cerulean Nights (both of whom were chiefly responsible for the many animations, spritework, and overall polish seen in the demo) have resigned from the project to concentrate on independent works and careers. While we wish them the best in their endeavours, what this means to the project is that they will no longer be producing any artwork for it. Without them we are not able to guarantee the same level of quality seen in the alpha. At the moment, with ongoing careers and kids to look after, both myself and Canned Karma don't anticipate that we'll have a great deal of time to devote to S2HD either, which means we're forced to announce that

Sonic 2 HD is officially discontinued.

Certainly the DirectInput bug and the blogosphere fallout over it didn't help matters, but by the time that had taken place we had already made the decision to discontinue the project almost two months ago, well ahead of the demo's release. Internal conflicts between the project leadership and its main programmer which reached critical mass, and the only thing holding it together was the collective determination to put our frustrations aside and get a playable build into the hands of everyone who waited years for it.

Hopefully, another group in the Sonic community will pick up the torch and go forward with the vision we had over a year ago -- not just creating a Sonic 2 remake, but creating entirely original content.

Thanks to everyone who supported the project, especially to the passionate classic Sonic fanbase.
The appreciation thousands of fans expressed to S2HD as a game made "by fans for fans", represents a landmark where SEGA has to look at for a profitable use of the -highly demanded and beloved Classic franchise.

-Vincent

Team S2HD
Project Leader

45 comments:

  1. Wow...this is really sad. I've been following this since the beginning and really thought it would actually complete. I understand why you had to do this but that doesn't make it any less disappointing.

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  2. Fucking Sad man!! This problems of missing members is very hard!!! =(

    But you guys, all the Team of S2HD, are epic! Contratulations for the good work!! Every single fan of this game called Sonic 2 is proud of this remake demo

    Success in the the career of all of you!!

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  3. I feel like a friend has died :C

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  4. lets find where L0st lives and kick his ass for driving this project into the ground.
    what an ass-hat

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  5. This is really sad!
    I still don't understand why you let this LOst guy carry on with his childish behaviour for so long. Keeping the project binaries in ransom and totally disrespecting the artists' work is something that would get you kicked out of any professional games studio right away.

    I just hope, you put all of your assets on freely available location (a cloud repository like github or bitbucket would be best) and under a permissive licence (e.g. CC-BY-NC (Creative Commons with Attribution and Non-Commercial clauses)), so other programmers can start where you left off.
    I'm pretty sure, such kind of move will enable other teams to create new Sonic games using your assets, while also pissing the person responsible for this whole situation.

    Cheers!

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  6. yeah, Cerulean Nights and others should release all assets that have been created/finished under creative commons so that way the community has a snowballs chance in hell. The other sonic hd fan projects would sure benefit from that too.

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  7. I feel like a friend has died, too. Or some part of my body removed.

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  8. is the end of world...now I know that...

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  9. Guys, you can disponibilize the raw art's used in this game? This work is perfect.

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  10. This cant be.....I know it sucks but I just cant believe it....I had such high hopes for this. I can say that from an undying sonic fan this was the best thing EVER. I'll keep this demo and screenshots for as long as I can so I can make sure that the world knows about the greatness of you guys, your hard work and SONIC 2 HD!!
    T_T

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  11. Sonic2HD Team,

    I am an experienced programmer that is willing to take this on. I can put this project on Windows, OS X and Android with no problem. I have a privately assembled platformer engine that could easily help to get this project rolling again.

    Reply to this post if interested, and I will provide you with methods of contact.

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  12. Sounds like I need you (Will) to re-make Kid Chameleon in the same fashion Sonic2HD was redone. Anyway about the discontinuation of Sonic2HD it's such a shame because I was excited about this game in ways that I've never been excited about any other game before, once I played the demo. Seriously I would gladly pay at least $100 to have a completed game. Surely $100 doesn't seem that much but think of all the fans and how many others would do the same. It'll all add up ;o). But then again whether it's $100 or $1,000,000,000 it seems as if it's over for good :o(. Unless of course Will can do something about it :o) :o) :o).

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  13. Team Sonic2HD, Make the project Open-Source!

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    Replies
    1. The source code is in the hands of LOst who is a childish dick that never shared it with the other devs.

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  14. Easy solution. Just make the project open-source. I'm sure a lot of skilled people out there would love to help out.

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    Replies
    1. The source code is in the hands of LOst who is a childish dick that never shared it with the other devs.

      Delete
  15. It's a sad thing. :( Seeing a project with so much work put into it just die. Seems like a wasted effort if the source isn't released. R.I.P Sonic 2 HD

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  16. http://www.zophar.net/linux/genesis/gens-gs.html

    http://segaretro.org/Gens/GS?rdfrom=http%3A%2F%2Finfo.sonicretro.org%2Findex.php%3Ftitle%3DGens%2FGS%26redirect%3Dno

    ..

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  17. How regrettable. You guys as a whole made great work. If willing, someone may continue where you left off, but in the meantime, I bow to you for making what was Sonic 2 HD.

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  18. What of all the game resources? Do you still have them? I got nothing to do and know how to program in C/C++.. What language was LOst using for his engine? Wait I'll just reverse engineer the demo :) brb

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like you're on to something. If you can get the required resources, you may be able to revive the game.

      Delete
  19. I feel as if a part of me died... I been here since day One..
    wtf we all need to Kill LOst...

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  20. thats really sad.iam late to hear that since i know Sonic 2 HD.first,i download Tech Demo 1,then i skipped to download Alpha Release because i forget this at long time..... and last,i look this blog.very sad.... i wish i can continued this project but,i dont know where i start first :(

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    Replies
    1. if you want visit my blog,go to www.gamerz1-neogames.blogspot.com (but in Indonesian)

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  21. My god... and this is why project managers need to have dedicated FTP or online storage areas for project files. And regardless, you're an asset to the project if your contributions heavily dictate where the project will go. Meaning it's absolutely IMPERATIVE that you share your work willingly with project managers.

    Otherwise you doom your contribution and else the project to utter failure. And by "you" I mean LOst. Damn you.

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  22. Has someone tried to decompile the alpha? If that works, we got the source code and the open source community can continue the work. I, myself, am a litle bit skilled in C++ in Java and will try it myself, but im sure there are a LOT of skilled and knowledged devlopers out here to get this runnning again.
    Once the source code is there, release it on github.

    Ill reply to my comment once i have results, 'till then bye.
    (Also, please forgive my bad english, im from germany)

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    Replies
    1. OK I made some progress, i deasembled it which is not a big deal but at least something!
      I also tried decompiling it, but didnt get a 100% functional code. Some of the code is replaced by "GOTO XXXX" commands.
      BUT i think a skilled devloper should try to reverse engeneer the game and fill the gaps. If someone has interest in this corrupted source code i will upload it to somewhere.

      Delete
  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  24. To the Sonic 2 HD staff :Please don´t stop the Sonic 2 HD Project,i know it´s hard to take care of your life and your family and make the game,and us,the Sonic 2 HD fans,we doesn´t want take this from you,only know that the project is running and will be finished someday,but we doesn´t care about when it´s gonna be finished .Look,i´m Brazilian and although there´s not many people that know about this Project,the ones that know it are cheering very much for all of you to keep going here in Brazil.And for LOst:I know it´s hard to be regonized by your team comrads,but remember that many fans are cheering for you to keep going on in this project.Wish the best of luck to the entire Sonic 2 HD staff in life and friendship between all of you. Well good luck.

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  25. :YUNO:finish sonic 2 hd by just getting a reverse enginering software then getting the source code that way

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  26. This should not discontinue, the game completly loooks like a work of art and is beautiful! If I had the cash I would buy a NVIDIA Tegra powered computer and finish the entire game!... That's if I had enough cash:(

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  27. Go to L0st's house and beat the source code out of him. One little douchebag shouldn't stop you from making the game. Plus, just like dillan cain said, you could simply reverse-engineer the game to get the code anyway.

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    Replies
    1. Seconded. Or at least release the assets you have so far so someone else can continue where you left off. Seriously.

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  28. guy please fix s2hd normal exe , i and many other people cant play (run) 64bits version and normal is crashed

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  30. This is Doomsday zone all over again D:

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    Replies
    1. Lol, nice reference. But the project is back! I'm happy for this!

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  31. You'd think with all the death threats going out against LOst that he'd take the hint.

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  32. oh.. que mal .. yo que ya queria saber si habia un avance del juego :(

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  33. If i had the recources i could make a game like this, like i need some questions answerd
    1. are you making the game like, with adobe flash?
    2. if the answer to number 1 is correct, could you give me the source code?
    3. if the answer to number 1 is wrong, what software is it being made in?
    4. You REALLY need to work on the knux sprites, just sayin.
    Answer these questions plz

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  34. Oh, and for number 5,
    5. if the you tell me what the software is, what is the source code?

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  35. W-e-e-eeeel!
    Look how times have changed, the BIGGEST version yet is about to release and just to think that this was once a LOst hope, Haha!

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  36. Supongo que el papa frita ese de LOst le arderan las entrañas ahora.

    Sinvergüenza, eso es lo que eres. ¿Como se llama el LOst ese? ¿nadie lo sabe?

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