Site cleanup and additions

Site cleanup and additions!

  During the week of 09/20/15-09/26/15, I cleanup up the site and add a few pending items. I converted the leftover, hard-coded URL links to soft-links that will update as pages/content is moved around with our web host provider tools. Most importantly, I added a few pending items, including an update to the music page, now including YM2612 Genesis tunes and YM3812/YMF262 tunes for OPL2/OPL, an unofficial WIP music pack release of the YM2612 and OPL2/3 tunes for StarEagle (with VGM Play) and an official updated release of the YM2612 tunes for Ultra Air Hockey (Retro). Also updated is the main page with the internship project and an addition of an EET page for electronics and a page for Microsoft Office Macros.

Enjoy the new updates and content, and stay tuned for more EagleSoft Ltd development!

-Tamkis

Sonic CD Breakout: Special Stages & Future Dev

Sonic CD Breakout: Special Stages & Future Dev

 

    Way back in 2014, we showed a preview of what was in the works for Demo #3 release of the Sonic CD Breakout fangame, including Desert Dazzle Zone, Quartz Quadrant Zone, and the training special stage. Although in that post we predicted having a release of Demo #3 for Act 2 of SAGE 2014, that did not happen, since we decided to hold off on doing so after we completed both of those zones and of the special stages. Not only did we do that, but we also added dynamic background images depending on each level's time zone. Since that post, we have finished Desert Dazzle Zone, Quartz Quadrant Zone, and also the Special Stages for all of the existing zones! (Desert Dazzle Zone does not have a special stage, as that would create 8 Time Stones, and is not exactly a "cannon" level in Sonic CD.)

Special Stages

   All of the special stages (except Quartz Quadrant Zone and Desert Dazzle Zone) are completed now. The special stage levels are accessible by hitting a silver ring monitor. In the special stages, the players must traverse various level layers (similar to the fan game's Time Zone system) by either moving up or down between by hitting certain up/down arrow blocks (instantaneously, instead of with a wait delay as with the time signposts), in order to find and collect the Time Stone. Certain blocks can be destroyed after up to 4 hits, some cannot be destroyed, and there is a slot machine system which could earn you rings and other prizes. The player must also avoid spike balls, which can cause damage. The layer system is intelligent, graying out and shrinking sprites as layer blocks appear in up to 3 farther layers. However, there are more to just these levels than these features; the players have only 4 "attempts" to get the time stone, as their ring count is set to 90 rings and counts down to zero (no overflow of rings with reset back to zero occurs). If the ring count reaches zero, the player dies, the rings reset to 90 rings, and an attempt is removed. Collecting rings in the stage naturally counteracts the ring countdown. After all attempts are removed, the player is kicked out of the level without the Time Stone! Collecting all 7 Time Stones will allow the player to fight the Final Boss in Final Fever Zone at the end of the game.

Video

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Future development

    However, in the process of making these levels and these further edits, a development roadblock was discovered; apparently, the BreakGOLD Level Editor seems to have some type of maximum, hard, internal limit of producing .bgl level packs upto 3.87 MB. Attempting to make any level pack greater than this (by adding more content) causes the saving of the level pack to fail. We are using the BreakGOLD Level Editor v2.0 that came with the full version of the v2.0 BreakGOLD game, which was acquired on an Breakout collection of games from an eGames Software CD-ROM called "Break!" from Big n' Small Lots (now Big Lots) back in 2004. It is unknown whether the latest, paid, PC, full version of the game has an updated Level Editor that fixes these (and other) known bugs with the v2.0 editor.

  If this bug is not fixed in a possible newer version of the Level Editor, we shall either try to create a small, personal assembly patch for the Level Editor to fix the issue, or just simply breakup the fan game into two parts: Part 1 (up to Quartz Quadrant Zone), and Part 2 (Quartz Quadrant Zone Special Stage up to end of game). If this split needs to occur, Part 2 shall start the player with a "perfect game" from Part 1 (5 Good futures, 3 Time Stones), and start the player with Quartz Quadrant Zone's special stage (it could not fit in the current level pack, due to the hard 3.87 MB limit). We have pushed the engine to its limits with this total conversion for the fan game!

  Regardless of which direction the Sonic CD Breakout fan game will be going with regards to possibly splitting up the project, before we make an executive decision, we are going to release a Demo #3 of what we have "very soon", with a potential patch to transplant the game to the Android port of the BreakGOLD engine!

Stay tuned!

Sonic CD Breakout: Quartz Quadrant Zone (Full)

Sonic CD Breakout: Quartz Quadrant Zone (Full)

    It's been exactly one year (Sept 2014) since any major progress was made on Sonic CD Breakout! However, we have finally put some effort and finally finished Quartz Quadrant Zone! Both main level acts involve finding the goal sign, which requires traveling through the Time Zones in order to hit a switch to reverse the direction of conveyor blocks, which are preventing access to the goal sign. Various enemies are in this zone, including a Caterkiller (with various destroyable parts), a jumping spider (which deals damage if you hit them when jumping), a Skorp (which shoots deadly lasers), and a moving snail (which can deal damage if you hit them when they unleash their spikes). The zone ends with a simple boss, which shoots bombs, which you must repel back towards Eggman in order to defeat him.

    Overall, the levels have plenty of gimmicks, different gameplay, and are challenging.

Check out the gameplay video below!