What Sonic Team should really do...

[NeoV2]

Every single recent sonic game (With an exception to rush) Has had its many and HUGE problems, Mainly because they have been rushed and Sonic Team is apparantly Scraping the bottom of the tank for Ideas. I Suggest to them that they Gather a group of Sonic fans (New and old) who can program a game and with good ideas, Give them all computers to work with and give them a dev kit with the hedgehog engine. Since Sonic Team refuses to hear the community out on what it wants in a game maybe that group could conjure up something that new's and old's can enjoy thats not a poorly put together steaming pile of crud.

Whats your opinion on this?

-Discuss

[SuperLink]

Some of the community are as stubborn and clueless as Sonic Team. The wars would never cease, the elitism would get to a new high.

I myself though of an idea like this one, but it would be a bad idea... The best I can think of is SEGA finding a group of really dedicated and compassionate professional developers.

[SuperStingray]

Every single recent sonic game (With an exception to rush) Has had its many and HUGE problems,

Even Rush has had it's many and huge problems like, you know, playing itself.

I Suggest to them that they Gather a group of Sonic fans (New and old) who can program a game and with good ideas, Give them all computers to work with and give them a dev kit with the hedgehog engine. Since Sonic Team refuses to hear the community out on what it wants in a game maybe that group could conjure up something that new's and old's can enjoy thats not a poorly put together steaming pile of crud.

That's how they made Sonic Unleashed. And community input is how they made Shadow the Hedgehog.

Edited March 19, 2009 by SuperStingray

[Blazey Firekitty]

Yeah, isn't like 70 percent of the current Sonic Team new people?

[NeoV2]

Yeah, isn't like 70 percent of the current Sonic Team new people?

Yes it is

[Blacklightning]

Ooooooor they could just publish a bunch of existing fangames for the XBLA. Fans are extremely unreliable when it comes to making a fangame, but when it actually succeeds it can be enough to closely mirror or even rival previous games in the series. Much better to be safe than sorry, I say.

Also, gathering random suggestions from anonymous fans was what put Sonic in this shithole in the first place if you ask me. Want Sonic Adventure 3? There you go, Sonic '06, it's practically the same game with less content. A game with Sonic only? There you go, Sonic Unleashed, you're forced to play a lycan but it's still technically Sonic. A character spinoff? Okay, if I even have to HINT at this one you probably deserve to be shot. Point is, the development of Sonic games is already too heavily influenced by fans as it is. Personally, I think Sega should make a Sonic game of their OWN bloody whim for once and forget about having to take shit from the fans. All they really do is make matters worse.

Also drop Sonic Team while you're at it. Sega could do a better job if they actually made the fucking games themselves for a change.

[Thirsty Pocket]

A character spinoff? Okay, if I even have to HINT at this one you probably deserve to be shot.

It looks like you already gave us a hint, unintentionally. Or was it?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

A character spinoff? Okay, if I even have to HINT at this one you probably deserve to be shot.

Way ahead of you. *cocks gun*

But these so called problems are only problems to folks who really want to exaggerate. Sonic 06 was practically the only game they rushed, and people continue to say they've been doing it for far longer.

Werehog is a different character? Buddy, what are you smoking? It's a different game style yes, but character? Hahah, sure it is...[/sarcasm]

From what I can see, Sonic Team aren't exactly doing that much wrong, except in listening to folks who love to play flip flop and bitch at what they themselves wanted.

Edited March 19, 2009 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[NeoV2]

Ooooooor they could just publish a bunch of existing fangames for the XBLA. Fans are extremely unreliable when it comes to making a fangame, but when it actually succeeds it can be enough to closely mirror or even rival previous games in the series. Much better to be safe than sorry, I say.

Also, gathering random suggestions from anonymous fans was what put Sonic in this shithole in the first place if you ask me. Want Sonic Adventure 3? There you go, Sonic '06, it's practically the same game with less content. A game with Sonic only? There you go, Sonic Unleashed, you're forced to play a lycan but it's still technically Sonic. A character spinoff? Okay, if I even have to HINT at this one you probably deserve to be shot. Point is, the development of Sonic games is already too heavily influenced by fans as it is. Personally, I think Sega should make a Sonic game of their OWN bloody whim for once and forget about having to take shit from the fans. All they really do is make matters worse.

Also drop Sonic Team while you're at it. Sega could do a better job if they actually made the fucking games themselves for a change.

You know I agree totally, but if those games were based on the ideas of the "fans" then they must have been reading the posts on forums with 7 year old boys (no offence to anyoone) too long and not enough time on good ol =TSS=.

[Blazey Firekitty]

Yes it is

Oh, okay, cool.

I guess I could see why other wouldn't, but I personally trust the new restructured Sonic Team. They seem to be trying to get away from whatever went wrong with Sonic 06, at least.;;

[NeoV2]

The legend of Amy:Sonic's awa-*shotkilled*

[Blacklightning]

You know I agree totally, but if those games were based on the ideas of the "fans" then they must have been reading the posts on forums with 7 year old boys (no offence to anyoone) too long and not enough time on good ol =TSS=.

I WISH you were right, I really do. But no, you're wrong. Grown men resort to this kind of bickering just as much as the little kiddies do. It's a really sad state of affairs as far as fandoms are concerned.

[DMNBT]

As much as I think that Sonic Team is not doing a spectacular job, I feel that giving the reins to the community would be an even worse move, as this "community" is in reality a bunch of different groups, each one with different desires and dislikes about the franchise, who only stay together because Sonic is a constant in each of them. Supposing that ST does hypotetically choose some community members to develop a game, there's 2 distinct scenarios that could happen:

-They choose everyone from the same group of sonic fans: In this case, they'll develop a game that mostly caters to the fans subset they belong to, which would mean that the subsets closest to the one doing the developing would like the game, while those farthest from them would probably hate the game, which would mean that the community as a whole would be divided over the game, and we would be in a situation similar to the actual one. Therefore, giving development duties to the community would be no better than ST developing the game themselves, so it would be pointless.

-They choose each one from a different group of fans: In this case, they'll have internal discussions about the direction the game should go, due to the different likes/dislikes of each member of the dev team. This would probably lead (assuming that the discussions ended in a consensus, otherwise is development hell time) to a game that, while having things liked by several groups, wouldn't be great for any group as it'll be missing some details that each group in particular would've liked the game to have. So, we would end with a game considered average by the community at large, which was similar to the situation after SatSR launched. Therefore, giving development duties to the community would be no better than ST developing the game themselves, so it would be pointless.

Any other configuration of the fan dev team would fall between these 2 extremes, and therefore the resultant games would fall in between being highly divisive, with a part of the fandom defending it furiously and another bashing it constantly; or being merely average for everyone in the fandom. The point I'm trying to make is that no matter what type of game this fan dev team could make, ST is perfectly capable of doing one that generates the same response from the fandom, so it's ultimately pointless to gather this dev team in the first place.

EDIT: Whoa, when I started typing this reply, only SuperLink had replied to this topic.

Edited March 19, 2009 by DMNBT

[123654]

The legend of Amy:Sonic's awa-*shotkilled*

More like The Legend of Elise. *shudder*

But no, bad idea... the fandom is a broken base. Them making a game would be catastrophic.

[Ryan Brown]

I'm not gonna have to plug my fandom page again, am I?

Edited March 19, 2009 by Ryan the Game Master

[Badnik Mechanic]

I Suggest to them that they Gather a group of Sonic fans (New and old) who can program a game and with good ideas, Give them all computers to work with and give them a dev kit with the hedgehog engine.

I insist to be on this team and I would like the job of the man with the hammer who puts the final nail into the coffin when that game is released.

Since Sonic Team refuses to hear the community out on what it wants

The Sonic community can't decide what it wants from Pizza Hut let alone a sonic game. Which is evidenced from the first TSS meet up video.

in a game maybe that group could conjure up something that new's and old's can enjoy thats not a poorly put together steaming pile of crud.

Eh? Since when is it a steaming pile of crud? It's hardly that and you know full well it isn't. A problem that this comunity has is that theres very few people in it that don't like to admit that they like something, or don't have the pressence of a big hairy brawlers fist to back up what they say without sounding too much like a lunatic.

Theres also this notion that all what we have to do to save the series is get a bunch of people together, slap some PC's in front of them, and say "Go create!" and we'll have a masterpiece! Say what!? Don't most games these days have teams that sometimes go into the hundreds? Don't they spend a large bulk of the time planning? Don't they tend to do a lot of work away from the development tool kits? Goodness me, we've even seen Sonic Team travel to remote parts of the world for inspiration.

If I could give Sonic Team two directions, the first would be "Hire me as head writer and the voice for Doctor Robotnik" the second would be "Make a ruddy Sonic game that makes me feel as much like a child as possible without treating me like one." I don't need tutorials every 5 seconds, I don't need this "Must explain everything" dialogue.

What I do need however is the thought that I had when I used to fire up Sonic CD and play it over and over again for months despite completing it many many times. I watched those openning and endings in full, and even though I knew it was impossible... the child in me wanted to find a way to make Sonic act like he did in those clips when he's mocking the badniks and looking so amazingly cool. If a developer can capture my wonder like they did in those days, when I knew it was impossible but would endevour to try, you have yourself a classic.

[SuperStingray]

The Sonic community can't decide what it wants from Pizza Hut let alone a sonic game. Which is evidenced from the first TSS meet up video.

This reminds me of an old story I posted before the server wipe. Fortunately, I still have it.

A Tale of Two Sandwiches AKA Why Won't Everyone Stop Bickering Over Whether or not Unleashed is a Good Game?

By SuperStingray

Act 1: 1991-1999:

Mr. McClassicfan goes into a restaurant.

Sega: Hi, welcome to Sandwich Town, my name is Sega, can I take your order?

Mr. McClassicfan: Hi, I'll have a ham sandwich on wholewheat.

Sega: Thank you very much, have a nice day.

-----

Act 2: 2000-2004:

Mr. McClassicfan returns to the restaurant with his friend Mr. McModernfan. This is Mr. McModernfan's first time at the restaurant.

Sega: Hi, welcome to Sandwich Town, my name is Sega, can I take your order?

Mr. McClassicfan: I'll have a ham sandwich on wholewheat please.

Sega: Sorry sir, we don't serve wholewheat anymore. We only have sourdough bread.

Mr. McClassicfan: Aw, but I love the wholewheat. Whatever, I guess we'll try the sourdough.

Mr. McModernfan: Mmm! This sandwich is delicious! I'm glad you recommended this restaurant!

Mr. McClassicfan: Yeah, whatever. Wish they still had wholewheat; it's way better than this stuff. If they bring it back by next time, I'm not coming back.

-----

Act 3: 2005-2009:

Mr. McClassicfan and Mr. McModernfan return to the restaurant.

Sega: Hi, welcome to Sandwich Town, my name is Sega, can I take your order?

Mr. McClassicfan: Hi, can I have a ham sandwich on wholewheat?

Sega: Sorry sir, we still don't serve that anymore.

Mr. McClassicfan: Goddamnit. That's it, I'm out of here.

Mr. McModernfan: Why are you so upset? These sandwiches are fantastic!

Mr. McClassicfan: You mean to tell me you LIKE this garbage?

Mr. McModernfan: Hey, I've tried wholewheat before, it's pretty good, but it's really nothing compared to sourdough.

Mr. McClassicfan: Oh, shut up. Sourdough is sour, thick, and way too chewy.

Mr. McModernfan: That's exactly what makes it so scrumptious! It just makes the sandwich so flavorful, none to delicate and well, just overall delicious! Wholewheat is dry, thin, and bland.

Mr. McClassicfan: You take that back. Not only does wholewheat's texture feel good on the tongue, it's flavor doesn't take away from that of the sandwich itself and it's far healthier than that crap.

Mr. McModernfan: Bull. Shit.

Mr. McClassicfan: It's people like you that made this sandwich shop stop selling wholewheat. Have at thee!

They fight.

The moral of the story: Sure, we can all agree that mouldy bread tastes bad, but regardless of whatever came first, there will always be some people who like sourdough and some who like wholewheat, and even some who love or hate both. But that doesn't make one any better than the other. Perhaps Sega can make a sandwich made with a slice of each, or better yet, sell both kinds of sandwiches, but even if they don't, trying to make out one sandwich as "better" than the other is just going to make a pointless Catch-22 war over two slices of bread. Or a hedgehog as the case may be.