zircon

Thanks Brad! We're going to be making an official thread for this tonight or tomorrow since the "real" release date is actually Valentine's. Neblix, this actually does NOT truly work in the free Kontakt Player. The Player will load 3rd-party samples for 30 minutes at a time but that's it. You ideally need the full version of Kontakt which is well-worth it (you can get an educational version for <$300 I'm sure, and it is probably the single best piece of music software I could recommend.) That being said we do intend on doing a DirectWave (FL) version too sometime, but I can't guarantee when it will be released.

This is exactly like the discussion we had in #ocremix with naysayers Upthorn and Starblast. You guys are all assuming that if we got a gig like this, we'd just throw something together with no thought or planning. With a talent pool like the one here it would be no problem to get people who can all write in a similar style and use the same exact tools. Happens all the time in games like Mass Effect 2, for example.

That's quite a lot of stuff... what kind of budget do you have? Those sort of instruments are pretty hard to sample so you'll need to shell out money for anything good.

Yes, it's Kenji Ito's own arrangement (afaik) in the remake of Romancing SaGa for PS2, Romancing SaGa Minstrel.

If you like that arrange, check out this version; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH3IILEplu0

At the moment I'm on a diet and trying to improve my overall physical health. Last summer after my honeymoon, I weighed in at about 205 lbs (I'm 5'9), with clothes on. Nobody would have pegged me at that because I do have some muscle on me, but still, it was embarrassing. So, I signed up for a membership ($64/mo) at a gym about 10 minutes away. After going to the gym from about.. August through January, maybe 2-3 times a week, I had only gone down to 197. So, I decided to try to rework my routine with the help of the trainers there to focus on building more lean muscle, and also try the South Beach Diet, which is intended to be a long-term, sustainable set of eating habits. The first two weeks consist of NO starch at all, no fruits and basically all protein and vegetables. It was brutal and I lost around 10 pounds, going down to 186.4 (at one point 184.8 but that must have just been a particular low.) Over the next week, where the dietary restrictions are lifted a bit, I didn't go to the gym (inclement weather, business) and ended up gaining a few pounds. Since then I've lost a pound or two and I think I'm around 187, but not lower than when I started this second phase. The hard part for me is going to the gym. It sounds pathetic but it's a hassle for me, since Jill needs the car to work, and I'm often too tired in the morning (working late) to go before she goes to work. I also feel like I'm just wasting time since my sessions are usually 45-60 minutes and its 30 minutes round trip driving time sometimes. Plus with bad weather it's impossible to get there. On the other hand, I get NO exercise at home. My job is 100% sedentary. Days will go by without me needing to even leave the apartment, except maybe to go to the grocery store. It sounds sad but I LOVE what I do and I can't change that primary aspect of my life. I know some basic exercises that don't use weights and can be done at home. I used to take martial arts so I can do them by memory. Problem is they all seem too intense, eg. heavy cardio where I get exhausted within 5-10 minutes, or they are push-ups/situps which don't really work out my arms (at the moment, that's what I really want to improve on.) I need something I can do at home that will give me a ROUNDED workout for days when I can't get to the gym. The diet is definitely an improvement on what I've typically eaten, and I feel like I CAN sustain it, but it's not going to work if my metabolism isn't getting started.

Spam, but relevant spam.

By the way, Harkon's Puppet with Doombringer is hilarious.

Congrats Jimmy! You really deserved this one. Here's my Q to Brian regarding music implementation, though someone else on the team could chime in. Did you basically do all of the editing and implementation work, using a tool like FMOD or Wwise? Or did the composers themselves do some of that work too, to prepare their audio assets before handing them over? In other words, how separated was your role from theirs?

The Shaman we played against earlier was SICK with it. He saved himself and his teammates over and over, the high point being a chase between 3 of us vs him and Witch Slayer running away. Witch was running past Legion ancients and about to die with me close behind him, but DSham (running down the lane itself) hit him with the tablet and sent him OVER THE LEDGE! It was awesome. Well, for them.

Blue Dragon?

Well, yes. A mod or a big expansion pack, whatever you prefer. I wouldn't call it that if the graphical assets were completely overhauled but it seems like they weren't here at all.

I'm not surprised, my guess is that this is basically a mod. Same graphics, same engine, different story + setting, maybe some different perks and a new mechanic or two.

So he didn't outright say he was the creator (assuming he is; perhaps he's just a fan, or a friend.) Even if that were the case, there's no need for any outrage. Remember we have countless hundreds if not thousands of LEGIT cases where people plagiarize OCR music and call it their own, or use it without accreditation. Please don't try to be internet police about posts like these, where people are just sharing their work, which they've properly credited.

Yeah, but even with BlazBlue, the art took forever. SirNuts You can argue with me all you want about how it's not actually hard but I was involved in HDR's development and there are public posts by Dave Sirlin talking about how they went WAY over budget largely due to art.

Dude, it's a free YouTube video using an OC ReMix. Calling the OP a "shill" doesn't even make sense; he's not selling anything. The majority of YT vids don't give OCR any credit at all, and the creators rarely if ever bother telling the community about what they've done. Stop trying to be the forum police for harmless posts like this.

I don't understand what the problem was with Fallout 3. It had the same kind of character building as the earlier games, the same sort of humor, same kind of plot, same kind of atmosphere. It's just presented at a different angle. Gecko, you once criticized JRPGs because they're sticking to a turn-based system that was only used because there was nothing better. You should applaud Fallout 3 for moving forward instead of just sticking to a primitive, turn-based, grid combat system.

The MIDI Out channel corresponds to the channels you set within PLAY. However, the PORT is set in FL. You need to click on the Gear icon in the upper left to set the MIDI input port. Any one VST only has one MIDI input port.

Expression control is basically just volume automation. MIDI CC #11 (map it in a MIDI Out channel) is by default linked to volume control so people use that for expression rather than automating their mixer tracks or whatever, which is a lot messier. You can just draw in the automation but some people use pedals, knobs or sliders to control CC#11.

Well, the Wii doesn't really support HD as I understand it, so Sonic 4 won't be HD. I believe HD is defined as outputting at 720p or higher resolution, which the Wii doesn't do. Standard DVDs are... 480, I think, and HD Remix was drawn for 1080p. Short answer: you can have a high-definition 2D game without sprites, it would just use 3D models instead.

Those titles aren't pure 2D, nor are they HD. The developers for BlazBlue and SSF2T HD Remix have both said how unbelievably time-consuming and expensive it is to produce HD sprites. Now factor in that Sonic would require exponentially more sprites than a fighting game given the size and scope of the levels. My point is that it's not "oh I'd pay $5 more for HD sprites", it's on a completely different scale entirely in terms of difficulty and cost.

Sprite work is so expensive that I'd say doing an HD version of Sonic would probably make it more like $100 a copy, if they priced it based on what they paid to create it.

Geometer's isn't bad, but my opinion of it has soured because against an AOE team (notice Deadwood, Magmus, Puppet splash) the illusions will die very fast. Also Magebane has amazing chasing naturally, and the illusions don't warp with him. Critting for 840 on a character like that is hilarious though.

As Schwaltzvald said, drawing sprites is just incredibly time-consuming. Thus you have to pay artists way more. The process for 3D models is much simpler and more flexible. After you construct the model with however much polygon detail that you want, it is given a skeleton via "rigging", then textured (the skin, clothes, etc.) After that, you can animate it by simply moving around the skeleton. With a sprite, every time you want it to do ANYTHING else, it needs to be redrawn frame by frame. So, a smooth, 20-frame attack requires 20 different drawings. A 20-frame 3D animation requires nothing more than clicking and dragging a point on the skeleton. 3D models also give you way more flexibility which ultimately saves money. Maybe the developers decide halfway through that Sonic's head is too big. With sprites, you're screwed. All of the original sprites are basically unusable. You have to redraw every single frame of every single animation, at every single angle and with every palette. With 3D models, it's no problem. A few tweaks and the changes are done, and they impact all animations too.

Well, what some people are asking for isn't "3D 2D" or "2.5D" as some call it, but true HD sprites in 2D. The problem is, as has been stated earlier, drawing high-res sprites is incredibly expensive and time-consuming. In fact, drawing regular sprites is expensive, too. There are FAR more advantages to going 3D (for example, being able to use any kind of camera rotation, particle or lighting effect, to name a few), and games like Valkyria Chronicles and Tales of Symphonia have proven that you can achieve a very stylized feel while doing that.