Sonic Boom Thread

[Saturn Memories]

I was unaware of any child when I was growing up wanting to be firefighters or police officers, perhaps sports players or scientists but hardly came across anyone hoping to be a police officer/firefighter.

But it's merely anecdotal evidence from me.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/26/starting-second-career-leadership-careers_dream_jobs.html

Wish I could find where exactly firefighter ranked in their survey, but the top spot, "superhero," accounted for seven out of 33 (weird way of measuring based on a survey of several hundred) while firefighter was at five out of 33. Couldn't find a more authoritative source than Forbes, but similar surveys on other sites usually have firefighter or "emergency services" within the top 10.

This has nothing to do with creativity, Sonic Team had major issues besides just mere creativity. A disaster like Sonic 06 or NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams was more than just working on the same game again and again, it was down to the fact they became horribly inept.

To be fair, JoD's production schedule was basically halved when Sega did an about-face midway through production and ordered development to shift from the PS3 and 360 to the Wii. The game itself isn't terrible either. It just pales in comparison to NiD and a lot of that has to do with Wii itself.

As for Sonic '06, it's so broken and unfinished-feeling that there had to be more going on there than just Sonic Team being "horribly inept."  Seeing as how it came out in November, I'm inclined to believe Sega wanted a Sonic title on the shelves in time for Christmas, and the result was an incomplete game being dumped onto the market.

Compare them to either Nintendo's inhouse studios who work on the same IP year in year out with continued excellence or even SEGA's own Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio who worked on only one new IP since 2005 but continue to add more and more to the Yakuza franchise.

Mario may not be as trouble-racked as Sonic, but you'll still find critics out there who believe the franchise is stale.

Now we're talking! Pretty nice recap video SEGA of America made. New characters they said, wonder if they'll sneak in classic Sonic characters we haven't seen in awhile. I think Fang would fit perfectly for the show as long as they keep the pop gun.

Yippee... Sonic gets even more friends...

[Nameless 24]

I was unaware of any child when I was growing up wanting to be firefighters or police officers, perhaps sports players or scientists but hardly came across anyone hoping to be a police officer/firefighter.

Don't we say Fireman and Policemen? Sorry. It just sounds odd when someone uses the American terms when they're not from America.

As for kids growing up to be something, I know two people who wanted to be Policemen growing up (family and Family friend), but one of them now wants to be a Nurse and the other's okay being an Assistant Manager.

Of course, many want to be Football players since it makes the most money!

I still don't know what I want to be, I just accepted that I will be a Graphics Designer all my life.

Yippee... Sonic gets even more friends...

This made me laugh because it's very sadly true.

However, Mario's "friends" don't get the same critique as Sonic's "friends" do, and I never understood why.

[Radrappy]

However, Mario's "friends" don't get the same critique as Sonic's "friends" do, and I never understood why.

It has a lot to do with the horrid dialogue that comes out of Sonic's friends' mouths.  Mario's friends are usually tastefully silent apart from a few catch phrases.  Charmy is just. . .repulsive. 

[nuckles87]

This made me laugh because it's very sadly true.

However, Mario's "friends" don't get the same critique as Sonic's "friends" do, and I never understood why.

That's because Sonic's friends were never the problem with the franchise. They just became  scapegoat in place of greater problems, such as the simple fact that the alternate game play segments were not all that good. They could have given Sonic fishing mini games instead of Big, and it still wouldn't have made Sonic Adventure a better game.

There's nothing wrong with giving a universe more characters. That was never the problem with any of the games in the franchise. Virtually every new entry in any franchise introduces additional characters to the universe.

[Nameless 24]

It has a lot to do with the horrid dialogue that comes out of Sonic's friends' mouths.  Mario's friends are usually tastefully silent apart from a few catch phrases.  Charmy is just. . .repulsive. 

I think personally that talking gives the characters a reason to exist, and Nintendo's got a few characters people love to hate, such as Daisy's awful lines. Not that I mind Daisy myself!

That's because Sonic's friends were never the problem with the franchise. They just became  scapegoat in place of greater problems, such as the simple fact that the alternate game play segments were not all that good. They could have given Sonic fishing mini games instead of Big, and it still wouldn't have made Sonic Adventure a better game.

There's nothing wrong with giving a universe more characters. That was never the problem with any of the games in the franchise. Virtually every new entry in any franchise introduces additional characters to the universe.

Nintendo's given their characters games too (although they are likely better than most of Sonic's friends' output), but I don't really see the point of Toads (at least playable ones). Yoshi is more relevant when he has his own game rather than an extra "item" to use, in terms of riding on, and Wario's not really a part of the Mario Universe really (given how the team who made Mario Land 2 didn't really make Mario games prior to that).

Mario side characters probably have more charm than Sonic side characters, but I still think that people give Sonic's side more grief simply because of their own gameplay mechanics in games rather than their personality or relevance to Sonic himself.

[Chaosmaster8753]

Wait, this game was really in development since 2011?

[Radrappy]

Wait, this game was really in development since 2011?

apparently.  But this being the studio's first game, I would keep my expectations on the low side.  I'm sure a lot of that time was ironing out production kinks as opposed to making the actual game. 

[TimmiT]

apparently.  But this being the studio's first game, I would keep my expectations on the low side.  I'm sure a lot of that time was ironing out production kinks as opposed to making the actual game. 

Well, it's not the first game by the people who work there. They all have experience working at Naughty Dog, Insomniac, High Impact etc.

They're also using a pre-existing engine, rather than one that was built from the ground up. And while a lot of time was spent making sure everything works and stuff, that is always the case with game development. But they're doing that at the same time as making the actual game, remember that it's not just one guy making this. :V

[Aki-at]

 

http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/26/starting-second-career-leadership-careers_dream_jobs.html

Wish I could find where exactly firefighter ranked in their survey, but the top spot, "superhero," accounted for seven out of 33 (weird way of measuring based on a survey of several hundred) while firefighter was at five out of 33. Couldn't find a more authoritative source than Forbes, but similar surveys on other sites usually have firefighter or "emergency services" within the top 10.

I never realised that it was so popular in America but an interesting tad bit. But the Japanese sales were below 133,917, so I'm not sure if it's just because it was released in the last year of the consoles.

To be fair, JoD's production schedule was basically halved when Sega did an about-face midway through production and ordered development to shift from the PS3 and 360 to the Wii. The game itself isn't terrible either. It just pales in comparison to NiD and a lot of that has to do with Wii itself.

The problem was the game was already getting bad press from all the media outlets which forced SEGA to change it into a Wii only title. And whilst I did enjoy the sequels, the changes in the basic gameplay told me Iizuka just didn't get what made the original NiGHTS great, something he continues to struggle with Sonic too.

As for Sonic '06, it's so broken and unfinished-feeling that there had to be more going on there than just Sonic Team being "horribly inept."  Seeing as how it came out in November, I'm inclined to believe Sega wanted a Sonic title on the shelves in time for Christmas, and the result was an incomplete game being dumped onto the market.

Even with the bugs the game is terrible. Unimaginative boss fights, poor level designs, auto-sections all over the place, the game had very basic problems and giving it an extended development time would not solve the issues unless scraping the entire game was part of the plan.

Mario may not be as trouble-racked as Sonic, but you'll still find critics out there who believe the franchise is stale.

But the number of critics who do are few and far between, most seem to be of the opinion the series is the pinnacle of gaming. I've never been keen on Mario but I cannot say Nintendo's platformer series is not one of the most polished in the industry so working on the same IP again and again should not force the sloppy mistakes Sonic Team kept making from 2003 - 2009.

[Aki-at]

Well, it's not the first game by the people who work there. They all have experience working at Naughty Dog, Insomniac, High Impact etc.

They're also using a pre-existing engine, rather than one that was built from the ground up. And while a lot of time was spent making sure everything works and stuff, that is always the case with game development. But they're doing that at the same time as making the actual game, remember that it's not just one guy making this. :V

Yep they probably are an experienced bunch so I doubt it's due to inexperience. Two things to keep in mind was that the game was meant to be cross generational which should mean we were going to get Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 (Possibly Vita version?) and probably existed as late as January 2013 after which SEGA probably pulled the plug after entering the exclusive agreement with Nintendo.

Second and more important point to remember was this was a new studio. Not in the point they need to learn how to iron out problems or whatever, but hiring the right people and slowly building up the best possible staff. Alien: Isolation has been in development since sometime 2009 - 2010 but that wasn't because they were inexperienced in developing console games but they just need to hire the right staff members.

[Barry the Nomad]

Our interview with Stephen Frost is live!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE4mF9D--d0

[Radrappy]

Well, it's not the first game by the people who work there. They all have experience working at Naughty Dog, Insomniac, High Impact etc.

They're also using a pre-existing engine, rather than one that was built from the ground up. And while a lot of time was spent making sure everything works and stuff, that is always the case with game development. But they're doing that at the same time as making the actual game, remember that it's not just one guy making this. :V

It doesn't matter.  A company's first game will always be a production nightmare.  No matter how much experience they brought to the table, they're still making a pipeline entirely from scratch.  Besides, these things usually only come together in the last year of development anyway. 

Second and more important point to remember was this was a new studio. Not in the point they need to learn how to iron out problems or whatever, but hiring the right people and slowly building up the best possible staff. Alien: Isolation has been in development since sometime 2009 - 2010 but that wasn't because they were inexperienced in developing console games but they just need to hire the right staff members.

Exactly this.  It doesn't mean that the game won't be good/great/whatever but that you shouldn't raise your expectations due to a longer development cycle.


also, edit but

the game was meant to be cross generational which should mean we were going to get Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 (Possibly Vita version?) and probably existed as late as January 2013 after which SEGA probably pulled the plug after entering the exclusive agreement with Nintendo.

buuwaaaa?  Is this just you logically coming to this conclusion or is there a source?  The Stephen Frost interview seemed not to hint at any last minute platform switches. 

[TimmiT]

buuwaaaa?  Is this just you logically coming to this conclusion or is there a source?  The Stephen Frost interview seemed not to hint at any last minute platform switches. 

He's taking that away from the CVG interview, in which this was said:

Sega came to you in around 2011, which was before the three-game deal with Nintendo. Was Sonic Boom ever planned for other platforms?

SF: We always evaluate platforms, and Nintendo has always been an important partner for us. There was never really any doubt that we're going to support them - we have a really good relationship.

As with every Sonic title, we evaluate early on which platforms it should be on, but it just made sense eventually for this product to be on Wii U and 3DS.

So yeah, it was probably multi-platform at first. There was never any indication of which platforms it was originally going to be on though, so the platforms Aki mentions are just pure speculation.

[CrazyT]

I really liked this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK6uQyteDOU

[Aki-at]

buuwaaaa?  Is this just you logically coming to this conclusion or is there a source?  The Stephen Frost interview seemed not to hint at any last minute platform switches. 

As of mid-2010, Big Red Button was pitching IP "to publishers such as Sony, Konami, and Activision." By spring of the following year, Big Red Button landed an "unannounced major project with third-party publisher," which seems to be the title they are presently working on.
 
 Big Red Button's recruitment copy describes the project as a "next-gen landmark AAA console project," and job openings hint at a cross-generation "character driven, 3rd person action" title with co-op gameplay and some sort of mobile integration. The Big Red Button copy also mentions the company is keen on "delivering authentic gaming experiences that are as fun to watch as they are to play," so perhaps the game is not too far removed from a cinematic action-adventure title like Uncharted?
 
 Finally, a producer at the studio says the project has a "$19.9 million budget" with an estimated "34-month" production cycle and a present studio headcount of 28 people. Also, the domains itsasnowday.com and monstersurgeon.com—both registered in fall 2011—redirect to Big Red Button's site, though neither of those quite sounds like a name of a AAA action title

http://kotaku.com/5989192/amazons-potential-jump-into-cloud-gaming-and-other-secrets-from-the-world-of-video-games

Couple that with Sonic: Lost World having a port to one of the Xbox 360/Playstation 3 in January 2013 and we know that they had a tech demo ready for March 2013 so Sonic Boom having the other versions up and running was a real possibility.