In Progress Streets of Rage 2X By Kratus 2.3.1

[pepodmc]

I feel like asking first would result in less heartbreak and controversy. Also, what if the characters had victory poses? Does anyone want to try and downscale the SOR4 characters into original 16-bit style, too?

Yeah i agree, but as i posted before, i send him messages in diffent pages where he is an user (the first message was in may this year) and he never answer.


I dont understand what are you refering to with the victory poses

 

[Miru]

It's an animation added to more recent versions of the engine, an animation that will play upon stage completion.

 

[pepodmc]

It's an animation added to more recent versions of the engine, an animation that will play upon stage completion.

sorr had victory poses for the characters when you beat mr.X

But its sorr content.

 

[kimono]

pepodmc: SORR is great but SORX can bring a different content too; I plan to make complete Syndicate characters (recolored and with a large panel of moves), drawing some prototype characters, adding some new SOR stories (like Street of Nightmare for example)...
Kratus will work on SOR route and bike stages too, we've got something to realize with that for the following years

 

[pepodmc]

pepodmc: SORR is great but SORX can bring a different content too; I plan to make complete Syndicate characters (recolored and with a large panel of moves), drawing some prototype characters, adding some new SOR stories (like Street of Nightmare for example)...
Kratus will work on SOR route and bike stages too, we've got something to realize with that for the following years

Thats great!

Its only that i dont understand why some authors dont want others users to use their content.

I mean, in this case, as streets of rage fans, the more logic way of thinking would be that one should be happy that more new projects appears along the years, improving an old one or making something with a twist like sor 2x is doing because first of all, you are a fan, and new projects mean that you will have new things to play of something you like, and your assets (sprites,etc) can help to make bigger projects.
But instead, a lot of people doesnt like to share assets (even if you credit them about those assets). And you had a lot of good content but all separated in a lot of projects.


For example bomberlink.
First, the Sorr.dat file was compressed, the users had to make a script to unpack it.
Then when you unpacked it, a lot of the sprites of the stages had strange dots everywhere, and users had to make a "denoiser" to fix the stages sprites.
The thing is that, if you unpack a Sormaker mod "FPGs" , you dont have the "dots" issue on the sprites.
What i mean is that, bomberlink took an extra step so people doesnt use the SORR sprites in other projects.

And with what porpuse? Why deny content that could help other users in future projects to make them bigger and more complete?

I know that a person can feel mixed feelings if they see their content in other projects, but perhaps its an ego  problem too.

I mean, if i were capable of making sprites, and a lot of years later i see that a guy like kratus is making a great project like sor 2x and there is some of my content in it  (credited) i would be very happy.
If the guy making the new project credits me about my content, there would not even be the need to waste time asking my permission.

But that is not the way how things work for a lot of people on the internet.

 

[kimono]

pepodmc: Historically, the SORR sprites were ripped without asking permission and some bad copies (made at a low quality) have appeared.
That's why the Bombergames team has protected their sprites SORR v5 with a noiser (the dots that your are speaking about).
I have some contacts with a few SORRmaker, Don Vecta for example is making now an excellent job in Streets of Kamurocho mod:
You can follow his progress on his youtube channel.

What I wish to have, is better relationships between Openbor and SORR users, they are some talented persons on both sides.
SORR represent 8 years of work, and I respect the great job they have done here.
I hope these precisions will respond a bit at your questions .

 

[DCurrent]

What I wish to have, is better relationships between Openbor and SORR users, they are some talented persons on both sides.
SORR represent 8 years of work, and I respect the great job they have done here.
I hope these precisions will respond a bit at your questions .

I do recall we had a rogue creator who spammed up the Bombergames forum telling them he would take all their stuff and nobody could stop him (that creator was banned from our community and from theirs too IIRC). But to be fair, I was a lurker and very occasional poster in Bombergames, and long before that quite a few members there made a point to disrespect the OpenBOR engine and our community without any provocation from this side. Lots of statements about how most creators here were fools and the engine was a kiddie toy compared to SORR.

Granted those were statements made by members - never AFAIK from any Bombergames staff, and in no case does it justify disrespectful behavior from our side at all, but I can understand where some of the bad blood comes from. Like kimono said, hopefully as time passes some of that will go away and we can see some cooperation.

DC

 

[Kratus]

Holger

Will this SoR1 update be the possibility to choose the path as we have at the beginning of the game or will it be an additional bonus between the multiple paths?

Yes, I will add an option to choose the path from the beginning of the game.

pepodmc

Man, an epic find:
ALL the sprites of SORR V5 (stages, characters, objects, ALL)  without those shitty dots everywhere:

Wow, really an epic find!! Thanks for that buddy.
I downloaded and made a quick check, I think this file really has everything about SORR. However there's a little problem, is the black color present in all images. Some cheracters will use this color in your sprites and will be hard to fill it with the pink color.

Nice work with the cutscenes 

Its only that i dont understand why some authors dont want others users to use their content

Bro, I understand you and some years ago I thought the same. But some things happened to me and I changed my mind, I will explain why.
As you already know, I have made a lot of SOR2 hacks since 2011 and I always start creating from a fresh rom, I never started from another author's hack.

In 2017 I saw some other hacks who were made using my hacks as base, as you already know I have no problem sharing my content, it's ok for me. But the author said that he made EVERYTHING in the hack over the internet. I got frustrated a little and decided to start making my own SOR project in OpenBOR.

In 2019 I saw other hacks using my as base again, but a youtube streamer from my own country played it and said that this new author is in fact the original CREATOR of the hack... I got very frustrated this time, and I kindly invited this youtube streamer to take a look in my hacks and sent him a video showing a quick demonstration, made in 2014.

This streamer ignored the invite and continued to show more SOR hacks of this modder over all internet, and always saying that he is the original creator.
So, I decided to ignore it and continue working in SOR2X. But after all this I will always respect other authors content because I felt how bad it can be when you dedicate a lot of time and work to a project and other people took it and don't even thank you or mention your name.

Miru

On a side note, separating the stages into further layers for parallax scrolling would be great. ELECTR0 did this for his open-source Barbon's Alley stage

I didn't used it in all stages but I made a little test in the bike stage, really it makes a good effect. Thanks for the suggestion.

kimono

What I wish to have, is better relationships between Openbor and SORR users, they are some talented persons on both sides.
SORR represent 8 years of work, and I respect the great job they have done here.

Yes, I totally agree with it.

Damon Caskey

I do recall we had a rogue creator who spammed up the Bombergames forum telling them he would take all their stuff and nobody could stop him (that creator was banned from our community and from theirs too IIRC). But to be fair, I was a lurker and very occasional poster in Bombergames, and long before that quite a few members there made a point to disrespect the OpenBOR engine and our community without any provocation from this side. Lots of statements about how most creators here were fools and the engine was a kiddie toy compared to SORR.

Granted those were statements made by members - never AFAIK from any Bombergames staff, and in no case does it justify disrespectful behavior from our side at all, but I can understand where some of the bad blood comes from

I never knew this before, it's good to know. Now I understand better some things about the relationship between both SORR and OpenBOR communities.

 

[pepodmc]

Its only that i dont understand why some authors dont want others users to use their content

Bro, I understand you and some years ago I thought the same. But some things happened to me and I changed my mind, I will explain why.
As you already know, I have made a lot of SOR2 hacks since 2011 and I always start creating from a fresh rom, I never started from another author's hack.

In 2017 I saw some other hacks who were made using my hacks as base, as you already know I have no problem sharing my content, it's ok for me. But the author said that he made EVERYTHING in the hack over the internet. I got frustrated a little and decided to start making my own SOR project in OpenBOR.

In 2019 I saw other hacks using my as base again, but a youtube streamer from my own country played it and said that this new author is in fact the original CREATOR of the hack... I got very frustrated this time, and I kindly invited this youtube streamer to take a look in my hacks and sent him a video showing a quick demonstration, made in 2014.

This streamer ignored the invite and continued to show more SOR hacks of this modder over all internet, and always saying that he is the original creator.
So, I decided to ignore it and continue working in SOR2X. But after all this I will always respect other authors content because I felt how bad it can be when you dedicate a lot of time and work to a project and other people took it and don't even thank you or mention your name.



pepodmc

Man, an epic find:
ALL the sprites of SORR V5 (stages, characters, objects, ALL)  without those shitty dots everywhere:

Wow, really an epic find!! Thanks for that buddy.
I downloaded and made a quick check, I think this file really has everything about SORR. However there's a little problem, is the black color present in all images. Some cheracters will use this color in your sprites and will be hard to fill it with the pink color.

Nice work with the cutscenes 

Thanks!

Well that happens. I made a spanish translation for the game "Captain Tsubasa Vol. II: Super Striker" for the Nes.
It took like two years because i had to learn how to do it.
Plus i had to make some investigations about the changes in the name of some characters (for example in latin american the characters had different names compared to europe and japan). I had to add new combined letters to the "vocabulary" in the game, because some names were too large so i had to add two letters in one space so i could insert the complete name of some characters.
I changed the title screen, the introduction logo.
I expanded the script a lot in some cutscenes.
I changed the hair of some characters too, because, the nes can use a very little array of colors, so, to diferentiate some characters, the authors of the game made some really strange changes like making andy johnson with pink color XD.
I even added the "drive shot" to andy johnson because in "captain tsubasa J" he made that shot against thailand, but in the game he didnt had that shot, so i added it.

To resume, a LOT of changes

https://www.romhacking.net/translations/2072/

And this year, i found that an user made a walktrough of the game saying that he made the translation/hack.

He even modified the videos to put the original title screen so the people cant see my name in the modified title screen i made XD.
And when people ask him for a download link, he gives them other worse spanish translation made by other user, so they dont see the truth.



I dont care because in romhacking, my translation was uploaded before he started the videos.


But always there will be morons that takes credit of your work. Its what it is.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit 2:

If you plan to use the sprites in the future (if you get the OK and all that) ,i can start filling all the sprites with the pink color.

After i finish the cutscene im making, i will start with this.

With gimp its easy, it will take some time but its not complicated at least:

So you can archive them to use someday.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit 3:


New cutscene. This one is a remade version of the Sor 3 intro


Original:




Remade: (re uploaded, had some errors in the previous version)




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Edit 4:


SORR 5.2 released:

https://mega.nz/file/008wiBCb#q_4ZhtVnPwTYhKJiSXggaTA-DQlMsiVOBwp6g2AOfKY


perhaps you want to check it out.


There's a brand new intro and everything is now in 16:9 widescreen.
The menu layout has been updated and stuff is easier to find.
Checking out the Sorr route, this has that new Water Fountain stage shown in the video.

There are new sprites in some stages too (sor 2 route stage 1-1 and 1-2 floor)
There are new sprites that i dont like (the new floor in stage 3) the 5.1 version sprite looked better

The thing is that, after you got used to Sor 2x new gameplay mechanics, SORR feels monotone XD.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

pepodmc...

Kimono, i want to ask your opinnion:


Im filling with pink color some of the SORR sprites (i got them but with a black background) but i cant tell how much of the black lines i need to fill with pink, sometimes i feel that i going to far, sometimes dont.

Check this two (the legs) , i must override with pink the black lines always as possible, or i need to keep a black outline on the characters?

 

[kimono]

pepodmc: Keep the black outline. The characters needs to be recolored nonetheless (the agreement of Bombergames is required too ).
A example with Max:

 

[pepodmc]

pepodmc: Keep the black outline. The characters needs to be recolored nonetheless (the agreement of Bombergames is required too ).
A example with Max:

When you give new sprites to Kratus, you recolored them?

I mean, is to keep aesthetics or something like that?

 

[kimono]

Yes, all my sprites are recolored. You can check them in this topic:
http://www.chronocrash.com/forum/index.php?topic=3895.150

 

[Kratus]

pepodmc

SORR 5.2 released:

perhaps you want to check it out.

There's a brand new intro and everything is now in 16:9 widescreen.
The menu layout has been updated and stuff is easier to find.
Checking out the Sorr route, this has that new Water Fountain stage shown in the video.

There are new sprites in some stages too (sor 2 route stage 1-1 and 1-2 floor)
There are new sprites that i dont like (the new floor in stage 3) the 5.1 version sprite looked better

The thing is that, after you got used to Sor 2x new gameplay mechanics, SORR feels monotone XD.

I was looking at SORR Community page and played the V5.2. I don't know if the author is a random modder or some Bombergames member (maybe Bomberlink itself using another nick?) but it seems that he has a good knowledge about SORR coding and has full access to the source code.

Looking at the new options in the menu, I can say that the author visited Chrono Crash a few times.

I unpacked the SoR.dat file and now it has no protection, the content is fully accessible. And I discovered a way to remove the black color using the Irfanview app. A lot of sprites have the black color (0, 0, 0) as the first color to make it a transparent color, like in OpenBOR. So, you can change the value to pink (255,0,255) because the character's black color used on sprite designs is not full black (0, 0, 7). If you use the Irfanview batch manipulation, you can change the entire game's content at once to pink.

Another thing that I'm thinking is about the sprites for SOR1 content. Everyone knows that I'm always avoiding to use SORR content, but I'm always giving a lot of credits and special thanks to them in the entire game (intro, press start, endings, etc). Currently I'm using all Bombergames's music in SOR2X and MAYBE I can apply the same exception for a few more assets, only in some situations:

- for some missing sprites, like SOR2 Axel "running". Even if I draw it myself, it will not be too much different from Bombergames's version because both will use the original as base
- for SOR1 levels only, they are better than the original resized ones I have. I will not use any other level asset
- for any content that is the same as the Bare Knuckle Mobile, like SOR1 characters. Except for the black borders on Mobile version, they are very close
- any other exclusive/original Bombergame's creation will NOT be added. We have very talented spriters here in the forum like kimono and 16-bit Fighter, I prefer to use your content
- and if they request me to remove all content, I will do it INSTANTLY. This rule is fixed in the SOR2X at the logo scene, everyone can see that and I will respect it forever

However, I will continue trying to talk with Bomberlink to obtain your authorization. As I said before, if he allows us to use SORR content, it is nor problem for me to add everything to SOR2X.

The thing is that, after you got used to Sor 2x new gameplay mechanics, SORR feels monotone XD

I'm glad to read that. I need to admit that I never thought SORR will be updated one day... This is exactly why I worked a lot in SOR2X.
But I think it's too early to think anything, let's see what will happen

 

[Miru]

About the Bombergames originals, some of the earlier fangames derived from Streets of Rage Z used some of the exclusive enemies and the burning animations, likely without authorization, which might have been one of the reasons why Bombergames may have been so rattled with OpenBOR early on. Later stuff from V5 onward was never used in these, and creators like Antyguf created their own new attacks and such. 

Still, it’s disappointing that the remake-exclusive stuff won’t get in.  The P-1 enemy was in one of the Master System/Gam Gear ports prior to being added to remake, but I think its sprites could be done better than what Bombergames did.

 

[Kratus]

About the Bombergames originals, some of the earlier fangames derived from Streets of Rage Z used some of the exclusive enemies and the burning animations, likely without authorization, which might have been one of the reasons why Bombergames may have been so rattled with OpenBOR early on. Later stuff from V5 onward was never used in these, and creators like Antyguf created their own new attacks and such. 

Still, it’s disappointing that the remake-exclusive stuff won’t get in.  The P-1 enemy was in one of the Master System/Gam Gear ports prior to being added to remake, but I think its sprites could be done better than what Bombergames did.

Miru
Don't worry buddy, some things can change until SOR1 content is finished, there's a long time ahead. About Master System or Game Gear content, I can use the same exception as the Bare Knuckle Mobile content and add them in SOR2X.

 

[pepodmc]

The thing is that, after you got used to Sor 2x new gameplay mechanics, SORR feels monotone XD

I'm glad to read that. I need to admit that I never thought SORR will be updated one day... This is exactly why I worked a lot in SOR2X.
But I think it's too early to think anything, let's see what will happen

Dont give up man. For me and i think for more people here this SORR update doesnt change anything.
SORR V5.2 has fixes and some new content, but gameplay wise it doesnt evolve one inch.

One thing i didnt liked about sorr is that the sor 3 route is a disaster, it start in a different stage and the route itself its very different in a bad way , at least is what happened to me. After i played the Sor 2 route i was expecting the same treatment for the Sor 3 route and the dissapoinment was big. I know that there are sormaker mods adding the original sor 3 route, but i simply prefered playing a modified Bare Knuckle 3 rom i had  (part modified by other users and a little modified by miself) instead of playing SORR.


But SOR 2X made me stop playing the genesis version of Bare Knuckle 3. SOR 2X feels better to play , thing that i didnt feel with SORR for some reasons. SORR its not perfect as a lot of fans tend to say, the thing that make it good is the high ammount of new sprites.

SORR already reached its peak, it can only be ´polished more.
But SOR2X has more potential.

 

[Doctrine Gamer]

One thing i didnt liked about sorr is that the sor 3 route is a disaster, it start in a different stage and the route itself its very different in a bad way , at least is what happened to me. After i played the Sor 2 route i was expecting the same treatment for the Sor 3 route and the dissapoinment was big. I know that there are sormaker mods adding the original sor 3 route, but i simply prefered playing a modified Bare Knuckle 3 rom i had  (part modified by other users and a little modified by miself) instead of playing SORR.

I had this same feeling playing SORR, the SOR 3 route is a patch of other different ways, I felt frustrated in this sense just like pepodmc.

 

[YMB 9 Shinzou]

Kratus

Hey man.

Played through it again with a friend and thought it would maybe be an idea to add some kind of vocal tell to the enemies before they activate their rage? As it is now it feels very random and in some instances impossible to react to. Maybe even like a fighting game "activation freeze" before the super comes out? Maybe even a bar beneath the boss to show when their rage is full?

Would make it feel like there is more strategy involved in fighting a boss. Right now a no death run can potentially be ruined without having a way to react or strategize.

Cheers.

 

[pepodmc]

Kratus

Hey man.

Played through it again with a friend and thought it would maybe be an idea to add some kind of vocal tell to the enemies before they activate their rage? As it is now it feels very random and in some instances impossible to react to. Maybe even like a fighting game "activation freeze" before the super comes out? Maybe even a bar beneath the boss to show when their rage is full?

Would make it feel like there is more strategy involved in fighting a boss. Right now a no death run can potentially be ruined without having a way to react or strategize.

Cheers.

I like the way the game its now, but if an "activation freeze" or a vocal sign is added before the bosses do their rage attack, it should be a toggeable option in Extra menu.

 

[dafamily]

Here's me getting my ass handed to me is the latest version of the game 2.1 on the SOR2 route bro:

I shouldn't have add Skate as the CPU partner lol!! I noticed enemies can hit you off screen is there any chance you could make them stay on screen as most of the time the CPU player as attacking the enemies when they were off screen, I just had to wait until they were done until I could progress!!

Other than that, great work man!! Looking forward to the next version!!