The Old Development Blog (English)

Update 7-2-07
Wednesday, February 7th, 2007

Features
- HQ2x filter added (i don’t like much , looks blurred .. also VERY slow)
HQ2x :
https://i.imgur.com/2I3IiPL.png
2Xscale :
https://i.imgur.com/rjQznNe.png

- Sor portraits cheat

Features planned
- 2 Joysticks support
- True Scanlines method

BUGS (38/x..)
33. If you are in the exit sequence and lose all of your lives, the timer does NOT stop while the “press 1p start” message is flashing or while you are selecting the character you want to use. I lost 3 or 4 seconds during the battle with Super Shiva because of this and that cost me the game!
(fixed)
34. Btw what about the issue that enemies can go offscreen while you can´t. They even can hide offscreen for quite a while and wait for you to come to the fringe to beat you up – while still offscreen. Was that ever marked as a bug? Anyway, I think that once an enemy is onscreen, his movement range should be limited to the visible area
(changed)
35. Enemies can be blocked by objects out of screen freezing the game (examples : stage5, sor1 boat)
(fixed)
36. When you start a new game, in the first level you earn some points by killing thugs, when the police car run into the stage (and this is weird) but player 2 gains less points!
(fixed)
37. If you lose in Round II and Ash is jumping before the screen fade, he will stay highlighted, even above the “GAME OVER” letters.
(fixed)
38. Some glitchs when grabbing and throwing enemies near a wall
(improved)
39…

Update 14-2-07
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007

Features
- 2 joysticks support
New graphic modes :
- 2xscale without filter
- True scanlines method, better and faster
New :

Old :

Bugs (46/x)
39. SuperShiva voices changed fighting with Shiva robot
(fixed)
40. In level 7 (I think, it’s the one with the barrels falling), at the second barrel-falling part, it looks like some invisible punch kept smacking the barrel to the right. I think it was because there was a lot of fighting going on in the area, and someone smacked a barrel to the right, but it got stuck so now it thinks someone’s hitting it at that same spot every time.
(fixed)
41. Okay, these are some retarded barrels — I’ll lose an entire life getting hit by one and I’m barely near it, but they’ll go RIGHT through the baddies. That and it’s kind of difficult to time a hit so you’ll actually hit the barrel at all.
Those barrels are working for Mr. X.
(fixed)
42. When you enter a new scene, the enemies seem to come out at a predetermined time, giving slow characters like Max the disadvantage of possibly getting hit before he can move.
(fixed)
43. I’m sure everyone has noticed this and don’t really care about it but on Stage 4-3, the harbour level, before the screen loads and after you finish (During the score calculation) you still hear the wave noise being played in the background every few seconds.
(fixed)
44. When you execute the cop special with a “motorcycle thug” on screen, he gets hit, but he doesn’t fall off the bike nor dies.
(fixed)
45. When playing in 2P mode with “damage between players” set to NO:
If the players are close to each other and someone (in most cases, Signal) tries to throw one of the players, the other one freezes, becomes invincible and the enemies cannot notice him! The other player who’s still moving and able to perform all the moves becomes helpless! Also, the stage can’t be continued!
(FIXED : Ysignal,Barbon,Ninja,Bronz,Gold,Silver)
46. I was playing on the bike stage and when donovan and his truck appears I went into the upper right hand corner and It disabled all my movement and I could only walk forward, and not by free will either.
(¿? Anyway checked)
47…

Update 26-2-07
Monday, February 26th, 2007

PROGRAMMING
- Finishing all bugs detected (bugtrack very soon)
- Starting Chars improvements
** IMPROVEMENTS PLANNED **
Axel
1. Replace the current running special with 3 stars SOR3 special
2. The headbutt should be made slightly more damaging
3. Last kick on combo should only come out if button-presses are timed correctly.Blaze
1. Blitz attack should be fixed, as it is now it’s almost impossible to hit anyone with it, and deals very low damage anyway
2. Running special should be more powerful (and maybe replaced with the complete 3 star SOR3 special)
3. In SORR, she moves a bit too fast; she’s faster than Skate, actually. Her walking and running speed should be slowed down a little.

Skate
1. Improve overall damage, he is too weak right now
2. Offensive special is too powerful, to the point of being cheap
3. Give him the SoR 3 3-star blitz as his running special
4. Add the Corkscrew Kick as a new B + A special (… or not)
5. Improve the backwards attack (attack + jump) by making the jump longer and faster. Like it is in BK3.
6. Improve the grab finisher Back + Attack (Roller Uppercut) by making it hit two times.
7. Defensive special drains more life than the damage it inflicts to enemies; this should be fixed.

Zan
1. Offensive special is too powerful, and should be toned down somewhat
2. Running special makes you invincible, thus making it too effective for spamming bosses to death.
3. In SORR, grabbing an enemy and then pressing B causes a single, low powered slap (which is the last hit of his flurry, anyway); grabbing an enemy and pressing ->+ B, B, B causes Zan’s flurry combo. In SOR3, instead, Zan’s flurry combo is done by grabbing the enemy, and then pressing only B, B, B. He has no ->+B attack after having grabbed an enemy. Zan’s SORR frontal grabs should be modified to match the SOR3 ones.

Max
1. Offensive special needs to be more powerful
2. Back throws should be more powerful too (especially the Atomic Drop)
3. He should be able to hit backwards when using a pipe or a katana (as in SOR2)
4. Slide should stun or knock down depending on the distance
5. Grab detection should be fixed, so that his Running Special will become actually useful for stunning enemies and opening up room for grabbing, instead of leaving him vulnerable.
6. When doing his neckbreaker, a lot of enemies almost never attack him. While enemies did receive an aggression reduction in SOR2 when he does the neckbreaker, the amount of reduction in SORR is ridiculous and makes the move very cheap. Part of the disadvantage of the move is supposed to be that you will get hit out of it if another enemy’s close to you.
7. Maybe a slight speed upgrade to make him adapt better to the faster pace of SORR (Alternative: Rework the enemy AI to be more aggressive and less dodgy, thus killing two birds with one stone).
8. The time that there was to deliver his butt-breaker and power-bomb was a lot longer than the time to execute the moves in the remake, you have to virtually press c and b at the same time to get the moves to execute. This needs to be addressed.
9. His Atomic Drop can’t hit other enemies.
10. You can’t move left or right when Max jumps with an enemy in SOR2 jump mode.
11. Possible improvement of the hook punch in his combo? Although it will look better if General #2 is implemented, there is still a hit missing in it (the second one).

Adam
1. Needs a better and more powerful offensive special (or make the current one a lot more damaging, and add special effects to it)
2. Needs a running special (beta Tiger Uppercut seems appropriate)
3. Blitz attack should be slightly more powerful
4. The last kick of his combo should, sometimes, knock enemies far away, as it was in SOR1
5. He needs a more natural running animation.

Shiva
1. Needs more frontal grabs
2. Fireball should be slightly more powerful [don't really agree with this... - by Atro City]
3. The Shoryuken (running special) should be fixed, as it is now it’s hard to get all the hits in, and deals less damage than the Final Crash, making it basically useless
4. The elbow strike should be slightly more powerful (same as Axel’s headbutt)
5. Maybe add a Shiva -> Super Shiva transformation as “police special”, which would temporarily enhance his strenght and abilities (be it either timed, or life-decreasing) [pretty controversial, I personally think it goes against Shiva's character and makes him imbalanced - by Atro City]
6. Change pipe and katana animation, if possible
7. Suggestion for flurry combo: hook punch, hook punch (the ones he has in both SOR2 and SOR3 as CPU enemy), double kick (low -> high, the low one using CPU Super Shiva low kick animation)

Mr. X
1. Needs grab moves.
2. Tone down standing jump kick.
3. Proper regular combo.
4. Gun smack with improved damage, range, and SOR2 sound.
5. (Optional) Punk backup police special, as detailed in this thread:
http://kaleth.net/bombergames_forum/viewtopic.php?t=1055
6. His forward jump kick looks really goofy.

General:
1. Blitz spam limit/recovery time.
2. Pause when you hit something (especially with weapons) to simulate the move connecting like in SOR2. This makes moves, particularly weapons, less spammable (as well as making it seem like you’re not punching paper bags like in SOR3).
3. Restore SOR2 damage levels for the characters’ moves that were in SOR2 (since the multiple lifebars are being added).
4. You should be able to use a defensive special when you’re stunned/getting hit. This removes a LOT of enemy cheapness.
5. Everybody’s Defensive Specials should be slightly stronger (except Zan’s, which already is quite powerful)
6. Implement missing weapon blitzes/specials.
7. Add team throws
8. Make rolling more useful (like in SOR3). Right now the same vertical change in position can be achieved by walking down.
9. Only Shiva, Max and Skate should be able to throw Big Bens.

Weapons:
1. Skate shouldn’t be so good with the heavier weapons (pipe, etc)
2. Add the bottle
3. Guns should be powered up, especially the bazooka. If it’s only one shot, it should do 2/3 of a lifebar or so of damage, and have the explosion of an exploding barrel when it hits, as well as some splash damage.
4. Add a shotgun?
5. Give Blaze her SOR2 pipe/sword swing.

STUFF
- Replacing stages in better places, adding more stages, different paths :

- Adding new songs for the new stages, also Baseball song has changed

Stages 5-3-07
Monday, March 5th, 2007

Revised ninja temple proof-of-concept

Update 24-4-07
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

BUGS (58/x.. probably not much more)
47. When you bring a weapon you can’t do the “combo attack” (hold attack button then release) obviously, this was permitted in sor2 & 3
(fixed)
48. bug with secret character shiva, he can’t throw or slam the 2nd player even with damage on, the other player is just stunned for a moment in the grabbed animation state before reacting like they’ve been knocked over.
(fixed)
49. fix the invicibility problem of enemies when they get up (or maybe its a feature of the remake?).
(fixed)
50. Stage 8: CPU friend isn´t able to walk through the door to Mr X´s room.
(fixed)
51. To take Northern routes you sometimes first have to go to the bottom of the screen (Nightclub) or lose the opportunity if you just take a few steps forward when fighting the Garnet standing up from the park bench in level 3. (You also have to walk toward the fence instead of the exit to enter the route.)
(fixed)
52. Sometimes when Zan does his grapple move where he lifts an enemy up and then slams him down in front of him, the enemy gets stuck in a hunched over position. Only “police call” does resolve the situation then.
(fixed)
53. In the cutscene in stage 1 after you defeat Jet, Blaze’s sprite is shown in front of the fallen body instead of behind it.
(fixed)
54. When fighting SOR2 Shiva (stage , there are moments where he moves even when he is in his stance, making it look like he is ‘sliding’. It happens fairly often, usually when he decides to finish a walking session (i.e. goes back to his stance).
(fixed)
55. AGAIN Signal throw me but my character remain on the floor frozen and my partner get thrown
(err fixed)
56. Skate’s double kick grab (grab an enemy and press backward plus attack button) hits only one time producing low damage(& becoming a useless grab)
(fixed)
57. the cpu partner (max-agressive) would not advance to the next area because they were walking into a wall(time runs out)
(fixed)
58. the cpu partener (skate-balanced) appears facing both directions at the same time when i was selecting the path in the bar
(fixed)

CHAR IMPROVEMENTS
- No completed yet

NEW STUFF

- 7 new stages added
- 6 new wip songs

Scans of Restaurant & Outside the train concept :



NEW STUFF PLANNED
1. Remake some sor1 enemies
2. Full sor2 route like a new way
3. New stages
4. New songs for the new stages
5. Some new enemies from Adrimus
6. New moves for the chars

SorMaker ! (11-5-07)
Friday, May 11th, 2007

Truth be told, this tool would have served me good before starting to script every one of my stages.

The new feature:

- It’s a new game mode, where we’d totally be the main characters. Don’t you like the main plot? Do you think you could fight against 3 versions of Shiva at the same time and win?
No problem. After so many ideas on how to make a SoR game, the new mode will let us do it using a visual interface and independently from the main plot. Let’s see a work-in-progress shot of the editor:


Concept: To create a mini SorR as an independent game mode, without affecting the original game, and be able to share ir. This idea comes basically from creating the new tool for designing new stages.

It will use the same engine, everything will be done, the game options would affect this mode as well… only you would assemble the jigsaw the way you like it.

–

0. Support for cutscenes through events, both between stages and in-game. In a few words, a different plot from start to end.

1. The way of loading maps is external, using PNG files. The tool will transform them into game-compatible tiles, the only restriction being that the map width has to be a multiple of 64 and height has to be either 240, 260 or 480, with 320×240 being the smallest map possible. You will be able to load the music for that map as well in OGG format, choose music continuity between maps, and assign it as an intro + loop music as well.

2. Possibility of loading extra layers, both over and under the main layer, maybe animated.

3. Possibility of choosing scene properties, for example choosing it as a boat scenery it will have the classical rolling, as well as being able to create motorbike scenes, right-to-left scenes et al.

4. The full enemy roster will be there for you to put in from the very beginning without having to adhere to any pre-established order, so you can decide if Galsia is the big boss.

5. Freely put in any objects and choose what do they contain, or put in items directly.

6. Events support, so you can decide when does it rain, when does a lightning strike, when something explodes or a cutscene happens. Those are some examples of the events you will be able to put in.

This is basically the whole game script but having a visual interface editing tool. It’s currently in progress so I can’t say much more about it.

Stages 2-6-07
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007


This is a shot of one of the planned new stages that Bomberlink mentioned in the previous post. This particular scenery is currently planned to have 4 scroll layers (the building itself is two layers apart from the “walking layer” so no wonder the door and windows look little compared to dear Galsia) and a nifty graphical effect.

As you can guess, it’s the yard of a prison… How and why will you go there? Will you have to enter the proper prison building?
More in v5!

Update 12-6-07
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

– There will be a shop instead of the points system used to unlock secrets.
Now, when you complete the game, the amount of cash (as in money bag or coin items) you get through your game will be taken apart and added to a separate total; that money will be used to buy the unlockable features. New things will be available to buy there (the SorMaker being one of them) while other ones will come initially unlocked.

- SORR v4.x savegames WILL NOT be compatible, due to the game being different.

- Some game modes will have new options, Survival and Palette Editor modes being two of them.

- The current stages will be overhauled in terms of enemy placement.

Stages 9-8-07
Thursday, August 9th, 2007

SORR v5 will include a revised version of the train scene (no more oversized Final Fight carriages). As always, comments and critics are welcome.

24-10-07
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

Project/Web
As you might have noticed, neither the download nor the main download page are nowhere in the website anymore, with the latter having been swapped with a simple gallery. I haven’t even posted about the game progress for a long time.Truth be told, since April we have a copyright problem with some association which isn’t even related to SEGA. We know that our game is freeware, non-profit making and a homage to the SOR saga, so while we clear this issue, here’s some more news:

Protection
- A “freeware game” message has been added so we can keep the game from being sold, and a Windows version installation might be added.

- The game material will be both packed and encrypted*.
- It won’t be possible to edit the game directly, but character/enemy mods will be appendable using SorMaker.

Progress

- Shadows code rewritten. The memory footprint will be the same for either the round and the reflected shadows.
- Visual correction. Shadows won’t mix up between them. An example on how they should not be:


- Particles added; on the lift gearworks, on some explosions, on metals clashing, et al:

- SOR2 stars added to bosses. Both the star count and the energy will vary depending on the difficulty level and the number of players:


- New scroll engine. The one I made in 2003 was obsolete and quite limited, so I have included the last I made.

Specs:

* Parallax scroll, free 8-way movement with possibility to go back to take an alternate route, free camera following for the Flag mode.
* Unlimited number of layers.
* Unlimited map size without need for tiles, which eases map creation in SorMaker.
* FX: Rotation (pirate ship), resizing, deforming, background destruction, lighting, scroll with transparencies.

Official note about the game ports

On many forums I’ve found a lot of confusion about this subject. I’d like to say that ports won’t be worked on until version 5x is out. The ports are:

GP2X, There’s already a very early test. The FPS count shown does not match the speed. Due to the state of the GP2X Fenix version we can’t use the 64MB total nor the second core to accelerate graphics, so a lot of stages don’t work.

XBOX. Version 4.01b does have a port created by A600 from Eol, but it will stay unreleased until version 5x is out. The game works flawlessly at 60fps with the 2xSai filter applied.

The planned ports are:
PSP Slim. Since this version enables the full 333Mhz speed and features 64MB of RAM it’s perfectly portable, although means to reduce RAM usage are being worked on. The previous PSP model is not planned to be supported.

Linux, Same game version. There will be a PowerPC version so it should run on a PS3 with Linux installed.

SOR1 enemies come back

With a new look. Here’s 2 edits thanks to Sonic:

Souther


Bongo

And, of course, the rest will come back as well

3-11-07
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

DEVELOPMENT

- Optimized the back alley lightning, it could slow the game down when using an old computer.
- Adam’s offensive special sound works now, it only did so on the first stage before.

MEMORY MANAGEMENT
- Real-time generated shadows so there are no preprocessed shadows anymore, resulting in a good memory saving.
- Palettes are managed on a per-sprite basis in real-time, there are no preprocessed files anymore.
* Moderate memory saving.
* Reduced load times, specially in slow environments.
* Unlimited number of palettes per sprite, removing the old limit of 4 (original + 2 per-level custom ones + shadow).
- Character loading/unloading fixed, both graphics and sound were not unloaded until finishing a stage, staying in memory if another character was chosen when using a continue.
- Memory saving example on the most memory intensive stage, Mr.X’s penthouse:

v4.01 Mr.X stage memory footprint – 59.866 KB -

* Shadows (- 8,8 MB)
* Palettes (- 3,4 MB)
* Sound optimization ( – 110 KB)
* File optimization ( – 1,2 MB )
—
Total saving: 13,51 MB

v5.x Mr.X stage memory footprint – 46.356 KB -

I will still continue on reducing the memory footprint further.

New info on SORMAKER :
The program/editor is currently another executable in the same folder, though I’ve not decided yet if the games created with it will work as a separate program or as a new game modes inside SorR.

Well let me explain some specs about SorMaker. These would be the instructions on how to begin a mod:

- Start screen, mod title (using a PNG file, max =320×240)
The menu screen will be shown as a single image with two selectable options:
1 player
2 players
* Extra options might be added, showing a minimal configuration interface like in the original SOR games.

To create a level you have to provide some parameters.
1st parameter: Level type.

Normal (map size examples : 320×240, 32768×240, “x”x240)
Dir. 1 : Left to right
Dir. 2 : Right to left
Events : earthquake (to simulate a moving truck, train, etc)

Diagonal (map size needed : “>320″x480)
Dir. 1 : Left to right
Dir. 2 : Right to left

Elevator (map size needed : 320x”>240″)
Dir. 1 : Upwards
Dir. 2 : Downwards
Dir. 3 : Diagonal
Events : Stop/start, change speed, some other unspecified things.

Jetski / motorcycle
Dir. 1 : Left to right
Dir. 2 : Right to left

Boat (map size needed : “>320″x260)
Dir. 1 : Left to right
Dir. 2 : Right to left

2nd parameter : Main layer (PNG file). You might load multiple maps to create an animated layer.

3rd parameter : Background layers (not mandatory). Load a bunch of multiple maps, define scroll speed and define animation.

4th parameter : Level collisions. Define the space where the chars can move.

5th parameter : SFX (provided by SorR) (not mandatory).
- Fire, deformation.
- Red alert.
- Rain.
- Palette roll.
- Atmosphere.
- et al.

6th parameter : Music (OGG format).
Type 1 : loop (single OGG file).
Type 2 : intro + loop (2 files needed).

7th parameter : Cutscene (not mandatory).
- Separated into steps. Every step can contain:
* PNG image or animation (Size limit : 320×200).
* Text (2 lines, 30 characters per line).
* Portrait.

8th parameter : Stage number (unlimited).

** STAGE ADDED **

This one is the next section :


Tools :
- Add objects, enemies, items and events.
- Camera steps, where the camera stops.
- Load / save progress.
- Undo / redo step.

Some limits here are decided by the user, but some are managed by the program :

Max. on-screen enemies : 10 being managed, who wants play with 50 enemies on screen ? This limit will help to you to make a playable game Very Happy .
Max. on-screen items : 10
Max. destructible objects : 10
Max. harmful elements : 20
Max. per-enemy-type different palettes on screen : Now unlimited
Events : 999 per stage.

The most important step to make a non-repetitive game are events :


This is a WIP menu from a stage selected as normal, the events are changed to increase the exclusive options.

* The stages are named from 1 to infinite instead of stage1a, stage2c, et al. So if you want a “stage 1 clear, stage 2 start” screen after defeating a boss you’ll have to do it using an event.

Limits :
- 1 mode : 1 or 2 players.
- You can’t make unlockable stuff.

This is all for the meantime.

Blog’s opening (11-23-07)
Friday, November 23rd, 2007

Welcome! This will be the new format for news about Streets of Rage Remake. As you might have noticed, the old development news have been added to the blog as well. I hope you like it!

NEW GAME MODE
Until today, we have been always «reading» the story from a single point of view, the good player characters’. We wanted to give it a twist and created the Villains mode.
It’s a game mode where we’ll have 4 enemy characters to choose from, 2 of them completely new; on a related note, Mr.X will be only playable in this mode, so the normal story mode will have a new allied character.

Villains will be a short game mode comprised of several stages sporting new material. Take a look at this:


As a novelty, Mr.X will fight without his trustworthy typewriter through the first part of it.

DEVELOPMENT

- Different versions of some characters were added:

Axel
- Current : SOR2/Beta customized
- New : BKIII

Blaze
- Current : BKIII
- New : SOR1 remade
- New : BKII (uncensored)

Skate
- Current : BKIII
- New : SOR2

Shiva
- New : Custom SOR2
- New : Custom BKIII
* Super Shiva will not be playable anymore

New versions won’t be a simple skin-swap; voices, hits’ SFX and some moves will be different between versions.

News for 11-29-2007
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

Even though new material is an important part of the project it’s useless if there’s no good engine to use it, so that’s why I’m working now on two significative issues: optimizing it and make the formula more playable, varied and fun.

MEMORY MANAGEMENT
- Summary of improvements based on the most memory-taxing scene, Mr.X’s :
- Before: 46.356 KB -

* Sound loading optimization ( – 3,1 MB )
* File loading optimization ( – 1,1 MB )

—-
42.188 KB

ENGINE
1. Music glitches when looping a track using the new SDL libraries. (code-patched)
2. Objects may hit walls so they don’t look like going through them. (added)
3. Music sounds even having the volume set to zero when the game is paused. The volume drop when pausing is not proportional with the music volume setting. (fixed)
4. Picking up an item while there’s scrolling makes the characters slide. (fixed)
5. Mr.X’s penthouse carts don’t look too right when running. (improved)
6. Leaves falling from plants don’t scroll correctly. (fixed)
7. Police bombing ends knocking the enemies down. (added)
8. You can’t execute the combo finisher when holding a weapon. (added)

CHARACTERS’ IMPROVEMENTS

AXEL
1. The headbutt should be made slightly more damaging
(fixed)

BLAZE
1. In SORR, she moves a bit too fast; she’s faster than Skate, actually. Her walking and running speed should be slowed down a little.
(fixed)
2. Blitz attack should be fixed, as it is now it’s almost impossible to hit anyone with it, and deals very low damage anyway
(fixed)

SKATE
1. Improve overall damage, he is too weak right now
(improved)
2. Offensive special is too powerful, to the point of being cheap
(improved)
3. Defensive special drains more life than the damage it inflicts to enemies; this should be fixed.
(fixed)

SHIVA
1. The elbow strike should be slightly more powerful
(fixed)

ZAN
1. Offensive special is too powerful, and should be toned down somewhat
(improved)

GENERAL
1. You should be able to use a defensive special when you’re stunned/getting hit. This removes a LOT of enemy cheapness.
(fixed)
2. Everybody’s Defensive Specials should be slightly stronger (except Zan’s, which already is quite powerful)
(improved)
3. Pause when you hit something (especially with weapons) to simulate the move connecting like in SOR2. This makes moves, particularly weapons, less spammable (as well as making it seem like you’re not punching paper bags like in SOR3).
(added)

News for 11-30-2007
Friday, November 30th, 2007

By popular demand, a confirmation dialog has been added to the Quit option in the in-game pause menu.


SPRITE FIXING
This is a complex issue and one of the worse setbacks, since it happens due to several individuals ripping sprites each one their own way.

- Currently fixing bike-riding characters palette errors.
- Currently fixing jetski-riding characters palette errors.
- Skate and Zan particular attacks palette errors fixed.
- Dirt bike palette errors fixed.

An image of the outcome.

Some current enemy characters will sport visual improvement:
- SOR3 Bruce and Mona/Lisa have to be ripped out again so they don’t have a black outline anymore.
- Robot X has to be ripped out again since its current sprite set is weirdly resized. o_O
Still checking for more visual inconsistencies.

ENEMY LIST (to be added)
- SOR2 Big Ben.
- SOR3 Y.Signal.
- SOR2 Ninja.
- SOR3 Storm.
- The new police characters.

IMPROVEMENTS
1. When throwing a weapon, the combo finisher action (holding the attack button down) sometimes cancels, specially when using Skate. (fixed)
2. Enemies don’t hit a player character while he/she is hitting with a weapon at the same time. (fixed)
3. Enemies don’t attack a player character using their basic moves while he/she is hitting with a weapon. (fixed)
4. The pepper shaker will break on hitting the floor if the player character gets hit and drops it. (added)
5. The path routes for leaving characters is vague, with them sometimes going down for going up later. (improved)
6. The moment of picking up a weapon a player character can attack executing the weapon-specific move without actually holding the object yet. (fixed)
7. Memory error when using Battle mode many times, specifically when selecting player again or exiting the revenge menu. (fixed)
8. The rolling barrels at the construction site would disappear if they were hit by a thrown enemy. (fixed)
9. The rolling barrels at the construction site would reflect differently depending on which side were they hit. (fixed)

Custom soundtracks (12-01-2007)
Saturday, December 1st, 2007

Due to encryption and packaging the game’s content won’t be modifiable anymore, but the possibility of custom soundtracks will be kept.



The process is simple: if you want to substitute any track, first you’ll have to create a subfolder named mod into your current SorR folder to store them into, always using the OGG file format. Say, for example, that you want to subtitute the song number 17 in the audio options menu. You’d have to name your custom track 17.ogg and then move it into the new mod subfolder for it to be automatically recognized by the game on the next restart. If the song number 17 happened to have an intro as well as a main loop, the intro file should be named 17a.ogg.

So, in essence…
- Create mod subfolder.
- Store custom tracks in OGG format in there, conveniently named as their number in the audio options menu (i.e. 17.ogg for main loop, 17a.ogg for intro if the song has any).
- Restart the game if it was running.
… to have your custom tracks playing in SorR.

Stage shading/reflection (12-03-07)
Monday, December 3rd, 2007

Until today we’ve had characters and objects casting shadows in the game, but we lacked the shadows cast by the scenery layer.

Normal stage :

Shaded stage :


This kind of shadow can change its direction, contrast and/or size in real time depending on scenery conditions, which is interesting for using it on stages where the time of the day varies, for example. This feature can be used to create a reflection (instead of a shadow) on the floor as well, for simulating very polished surfaces. All of this will be available in SORMaker.

Since this feature is a task requiring extra CPU process and RAM it will be switchable from the options menu.

News for 12-05-07
Thursday, December 6th, 2007

I’ve been polishing up the weapon system and adding some new moves to characters who didn’t have specific weapon specials:

- New move for Max (with sword)


- 2 new moves for Zan (with pipe, with knife)



OTHER CHANGES
1. Enemies having a breathing animation don’t execute their police alert animation. (fixed)
2. The helicopter should not pass behind the stage sprites. (fixed)
3. If players execute a special the moment an enemy is going to throw them, the character freezes. (fixed)
4. The grab range has been improved, players can grab enemies by just walking vertically towards them. (added)
5. Pistol bullets only stun, don’t knock out, so players can use all of the ammo on a single enemy. (added)
6. The machinegun will work in bursts until running out of ammo. (added)
7. The construction site barrels pass over the police alert dialog. (fixed)
8. Explosions will damage the stage. (added)

News for 12-10-07
Monday, December 10th, 2007

The remade Souther sprite is complete.


He executes 3 types of attack. As in SOR1 he doesn’t like to be jump-kicked and will keep a diagonal distance from players to execute an attack whenever possible. He can counter some grabs as well.


Characters can burn when suffering some kinds of attacks as they do on the burning pub scenario. It was something to be present in v4 but was taken out hours before the release since it was quite buggy then.

IMPROVEMENTS
1. It is difficult, when being too close to enemies, to hit them using either firearms shots, grenades or pepper shakers; therefore player characters will execute their normal combo or use the proper weapon depending on the gap between them and the closest enemy. (added)
2. Player characters wouldn’t die, even when having no energy, if being hit by friendly fire. (fixed)
3. Jets should not be hit by sword slashes when charging. (fixed)
4. Zamza would stay flying if, while executing his spinning attack, a player character called the police. (fixed)
5. If Zamza was hit when executing his spinning attack he’d fly higher than normal. (fixed)
6. Thrown enemies colliding with a explosion would get their variables messed until executing an attack, resulting in invisible hits to other enemies walking through the explosion area later. (fixed)
7. There would be some invisible hit boxes for Max throws and specific situations. (fixed)

News for 12-14-07
Thursday, December 13th, 2007

Haku-Oh 100 % done


Another SOR1 enemy redone. His behaviour is more advanced than the average thug; he keeps his trademark kick burst, between jumps he can change directions to hit players better, has new short range attacks and dodging moves.

Other improvements
1. Code cleaning, deleting 73 unnecesary variables.
2. New game icon for the executable file.

News for 12-20-07
Thursday, December 20th, 2007

Is this ship sinking!?


(not really, it’s just a rotation test)

Like I said some months ago I was building a new scroll engine for the game, and while I do really use it on a new project already I hadn’t put it into SorR.
The stage rotation will be used to make explosions more intense and very possibly for a ship stage, but not a sinking one… can you imagine a stage where everything goes up and down like that?

Stage improvements:


It basically is the carpet and tiled floor that Kaleth drew for v4.
On a related note, I could initially only rip some of the stages due to time constraints and maybe improve their scroll or colours, so I wish to include some more details in them.

OPTIMIZATION
- Scroll is 33% faster with the new engine.
- Several processes’ inheritance fixes, which could lead to slowdowns before.
- Small performance improvement on the pub’s burning 1st floor scenario.

MEMORY MANAGEMENT
(Mr.X penthouse, initial : 59,866 KB, last : 42,188 KB)

File load optimization. ( – 600 KB )
Sound optimization. ( – 100 KB )
New scroll engine feature: 4/8/24 bits maps are useable now. ( – 1 MB )
Background load/unload of enemies in real time. ( – 4/8 MB ) *

* This makes sure that the enemies on screen are the only ones loaded into memory (this will be a configuration option since it can be intensive on old machines).

—
36,488 KB (approximate data, depending on the number of enemies on screen)

MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES
1. *While playing* If playing in window mode, the game will be paused if minimized. (added)
2. *While playing* If the Windows key is pressed, the game will be paused. (added)
3. If clicking on the window title bar X button the game will be closed. (added)

Happy new year 2008!
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

Just a year ago, in this very same day the first version of the game that was deemed “complete” (since it could be played from start to end) was released. The reception was really good, overloading the server and going beyond 500,000 downloads in a short time.
I am grateful for all the people who has respected the work done and has contributed their thoughts in a constructive way on the forums, specially those who still support the project.

–

News for Jan. 1st, 2008 :

Railways stage from SOR3 completed :


- Added 5 scroll layers to give more depth to the scene.

FIXES

Improvements in the deformation routines :
- Zigzag movement corrected (as in the burning bar). Now it’s how it should be.
- Better performance.

Other performance improvements :
- No out-of-screen objects’ code is executed now.

1. The PRESS 1UP/2UP START text is drawn behind the alarm effect after dying. (fixed)
2. Bad timing on some objects movement in the ship stage. (fixed)
3. The GO! indication now appears instantly, just when the scroll is unlocked. (added)

News for 01-04-2008
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

SOR3 Stage 3 Scene 2


The next railroads section has been completed. These scenarios will be set in a new alternate route. Unlike in 4.01b, the alternate routes will be bigger, being a full stage or even more in length.

JOYSTICK
I started working on the 2 gamepads problem some months ago. Now it’s finished.

Automatic detection and registering when the game is executed for the first time.
Detects any kind of gamepad, even the ones that didn’t work before (PS2 / X360).
Having both players’ controls set to gamepads, in case one of those gamepads is disconnected Player 2 will automatically be set to use the first gamepad if Player 1′s controls are set to keyboard.
Having both players’ controls set to gamepads and only a physical gamepad connected will make that gamepad work for Player 1.
The second gamepad can’t control any game menu but the pause one and its specific ones.

BUGS
Their numbers decreases, fixing them is my main priority.

1. A black line appears when the baseball elevator stops. (fixed)
2. The baseball elevator isn’t as fast as in SOR2. (added)
3. One of the crowd layers in the underground arena is empty at the end. (fixed)
4. Player characters leave the baseball elevator walking diagonally now. (added)
5. The screen shakes the exact moment of taking some routes, like the train or helicopter ones. (fixed)
6. Oddity. Vertical scroll in the selection screen after quitting the game. (fixed)
7. When killing Yamato in the helicopter, the scenery randomly disappears before the Stage Clear sign is shown. (fixed)
8. When a character is thrown and hits an object/enemy there’ll be a little pause to emphasize the hit. (added)
9. Pausing the game continuously can make errors appear on the temporal enemy bars. (fixed)
10. When changing from window to fullscreen mode the scenery can possibly be drawn incorrectly because of dirty recs. (fixed)
11. When using the speed cheat and getting the Game Over screen, the game locks up at the ranking and intro. (fixed)
12. When testing the speed cheat the player character was standing up with zero energy. (seems to be fixed, in any case it’s nothing that happens when playing normally)
13. When quitting by pressing ALT+X or clicking the window close button the configuration is saved. (added)
14. If ESC was pressed while assigning controls, the Start button would be restored wrong. (fixed)
15. Max keeps executing the 5-hit hold even when the other player character falls to the ground. (fixed)
16. Between player characters, the previous bug has been globally fixed (15)
(+)

News for Jan. 14th, 2008
Sunday, January 13th, 2008

SOR3 shrine outer part completed :


Unlike in SOR3, the rest of the scenario goes after the shrine.

Kaleth improved his restaurant version (right-click on it and choose View Image from the context menu to see it with the proper aspect ratio) :


CHARACTER FIXES

AXEL
1. The last kick on the combo is now executed pressing the attack button at the proper time (like in SOR2/3). (added)
2. Kicks are conditional. If the attack button is pressed at the proper time a double kick will be performed, otherwise the first kick will knock enemies down (like in SOR2/3). (+)

SKATE
1. Improve the back attack (attack + jump) making the jump longer and faster. (improved)

ZAN
1. When holding an enemy and pressing the attack button a single hit is executed, in SOR3 you can execute a combo without having to press forward as well as the attack button. (modified)
2. The defensive special’s duration is now the same as in SOR3. (modified)

GENERAL
1. Walking vertically was almost the same as rolling. (Rolling improved. There is very little difference but is now as long as in SOR3).

BUGS (fixes / additions)
1. Games in duel and flag modes can end in a draw now. The counter froze and waited for an advantage before. (added)
2. Zan’s energy ball doesn’t explode or sound the same when hitting a player character. (fixed)
3. Error on the player characters when falling, specially while being hit by a knife-Galsia on the rolling ship. (checked, corrected)

News for Jan. 24th, 2008
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008

Enemies can suffer electrocution now:


Whether it’s caused by specific attacks or some traps, every enemy will have its customized electrocution frames.

New stages added, like an overhauled SOR2 beach :


The sky and sand texture have been improved and a new foremost layer with palm trees has been added.

The Villains mode will finally be a Sormaker mod, an independent add-on that will be distributed with the game as an example for what kind of game can be done with the tool.

FIXES
1. When executing some throws the player character overlaps the thrown enemy.
(fixed)
2. When some enemies are thrown their shadows might end badly positioned.
(fixed)

News for Feb. 3rd, 2008
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008

New intro screen :


This will be the reference image for v5 (some things shall be worked on later).

Replaced scenes :

This is the remade SOR2 bridge. Built on 6 scroll layers, it can be played walking (like in SOR2) or riding a bike depending on the route the player had previously taken. Unlike in v4 you’ll find an in-construction bridge this time, filled with obstacles and pits.