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Topics - Rolken

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1
News and Updates / Hello TSC
« on: May 04, 2015, 07:09:55 pm »
Did you miss me? :) I'm here takin over ur front page news cause I see a bunch of handwringing about dying, glory days, etc., and I've got a unique vantage point on that.

I founded TSC on the excitement of bringing people together to accomplish new and interesting things. TSC itself has no intrinsic value and never did. It's always been about people and what you accomplish.

In that spirit, I think it's good and right for people to move through cycles, even the community itself. There are wonderful things to learn and experience through a format like TSC, and there comes a time when you've experienced so many of them that it's more interesting to look outward to the next thing.

I don't visit here much anymore. I've been doing a lot of other things. Right now, I help people learn to make software, and more deeply, I help people learn what it means to think about their careers and their lives in a way that leads them to success.

So while I'm not here much anymore, perhaps you can see that I'm still acting in the same spirit that helped create TSC in the first place. This was my first shot at putting those principles into practice - community building, a crucible for achievement, fairness in competition, literal coding - and now I still spend most of my time thinking about those same things. I'm way better at them now. For me it's still glory days, perhaps more than ever.

Some unsolicited advice: go through the process of exploring and discovering what form of improving the world is deeply meaningful to you. This is hard work so don't underestimate it. If you find that what you really deeply want is for this whole sonic speedrunning thing to succeed, ask yourself and others how you can help make that happen. (As you can see, I chose that for awhile.) If you've got other ambitions, spend some time thinking about what those look like and how to pursue them.

And accept change. If you try to reject it, you'll only see the change that inevitably thrusts itself upon you, and that's usually not a nice kind. If you accept it, wonderful things can spring from it.

Do all this stuff, and you can make the glory days wherever you are.

- 2c from the critter formerly known as Rolken

2
Competition Central / ITT THE BEST IDEA TSC HAS HAD IN YEARS
« on: October 13, 2010, 04:37:40 am »
TSC should totally have a Sonic 2 Supersonic Rings division! Consider this and you know it is true!

Check it out. You get 50 rings and then uh oh suddenly you're losing them. So you have to see how many you can get fast enough to outrun the ring-per-second timer. And it becomes not just a tired old "ploddingly collect every ring in the level without getting hurt" snorefest but rather exciting frenetic passionate scavenger hunts!

FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THIS TOPIC YOUR WORDS OF ASTONISHED APPROVAL AND INTENTIONS TO IMPLEMENT POSTHASTE.

3
News and Updates / The future of TSC
« on: June 16, 2009, 03:02:37 am »
I am no longer going to be running TSC. In the interest of preserving some or all of it, I am putting out this inquiry to see whether anyone else is interested in managing some or all of it. As I see it, there are four broad fields of competency in play, which in the past (and in the future if they so indicate) have often been delegated to people like GerbilSoft, mike89 and Zeupar, or sometimes nobody (not a good idea). Here they are:

A programmer who can maintain the code
A referee who can arbitrate the rules, probably with people with knowledge of the games behind him
A community manager who can keep people together harmoniously
A site designer / director / all-around-visionary who can tie the team together and provide common purpose

If you want to handle one or more of these fields, feel free to respond with your vision for and understanding of the site either in this topic or in PM (if you have one). If desired I can outline my ideal philosophy for running the site as well, but I'd like to see what others have to say first. I am quitting because both the site and I have evolved in directions where I do not believe that philosophy is one I can maintain and I am no longer inclined to preserve something less.

If all else fails, I will put archives of all site data up in a giant torrent for posterity and may inquire into getting the rankings transferred to other existing sites.

edit: various clarifications made.

edit2: I am not "leaving TSC forever". I may be around quite a bit less, but for the past few weeks I was absent merely to consider things from the outside, not because I intend to split permanently. I would actually be quite interested in seeing how others run the place.

4
Information Kiosk / Leave of absence
« on: May 10, 2009, 07:25:54 pm »
I am taking a break from the TSC community. I am confident that the usual crew can handle things in the interim. Server concerns should be directed to GerbilSoft and ranking concerns to Zeupar or mike89 unless they indicate otherwise. I cannot tell you whether it will be days, weeks, or months until I return.

5
Information Kiosk / Translating TSC
« on: May 05, 2009, 03:31:06 pm »
In regards to an awesome Unleashed video from a Japanese player, the idea of having a Japanese translation of TSC was mentioned. If anyone is interested in embarking on such a project (or any other language), this is the file you need. The file is formatted as such:

'text identifier' => 'Actual Language Text',

Just change the second blank to what seems appropriate in light of the original text and the description to the left. Ideally most of it should be pretty self-explanatory. Send it back or attach it or whatever and up it goes.

6
Information Kiosk / Sitewide Rankings Tweakage Poll
« on: May 05, 2009, 02:00:47 pm »
I'm testing a change to the sitewide ranking formula to make it more 'regressive'; games that are played a lot will be worth more, and games that aren't played much will be worth quite a bit less. I've updated the sitewide FAQ page to show you the changes in the weights, with the new weight equal to 1.25 * (oldweight - 1). You can see that SBK as a lesser played game lost almost half of its value, while SA2 as a highly played game gained some value, and the Unleashed DLC with almost no submissions is worth nothing at all until it gets more players.

I've updated the sitewide formula to reflect the experimental values so you can check out the differences. Most players are around the same, but players who emphasize highly competitive games will be a bit higher, and those who play less competitive games will be a bit lower.

So, question: is this a worthwhile change? Do you like the experimental weights on that page, do you feel like it makes a worthwhile difference? Would you feel more or less inclined to compete? Do you think TSC should be encouraging people to play underplayed games, or rewarding people for competing in highly competitive games?

I'm not making this a typical forum poll because I would like to see who is responding. If there is not a consensus in favor of the change, I will be tossing it out.

edit: I reverted the sitewide table changes to the usual formula as people were getting upset about it. The proposed new weights remain on the FAQ page to consider.

7
News and Updates / Lifting faces (and DLC)
« on: May 05, 2009, 08:35:08 am »
If you've been using the rankings the past few days, you've probably noticed that things are starting to change around. If you don't like the menus, you can turn them off in user settings, as well as some other things.

In other news, Week 5 league results are out, and the last week of preliminaries has begun. Also, osg has put his Yesterday's Sega project on hold for now due to IRL business. Tune in later for action thrills.

I am considering adding a site section dealing with competition news in addition to the usual site updates I write. If you would have any interest in writing about what's going on with the competitive scene, let me know. Even though I run the site, I don't follow that stuff much.

As a side note, I am no longer going to be testing new code on Internet Explorer 6, as I can't run it anymore without testing on multiple computers and less than 10% of hits last month were from IE6. If you're still using it, it's time to upgrade to something newer than the GBA. My understanding is that IE8 is now delivered automatically when you run Windows Update on XP. If something breaks the site on IE6 and you let me know I might fix it, but otherwise you're on your own.

UPDATE: Sonic Unleashed DLC rankings have been added for all available DLC content. They are currently separated into their own "game" so that the DLC can have separate leaderships that don't cause the normal SU360 championship to be a contest of who buys the most DLC. Go fill up the charts!

edit: Also translate TSC for great justice.

8
News and Updates / Beautiful TSC
« on: April 21, 2009, 09:53:39 pm »
In flyby's Sonic league the raw results of week 3 have been released and week 4 competition has begun. I'm told that new entrants still have a shot at the finals if they get in and submit some quality stats, though they won't be earning any awards in the preliminaries at this point.

In other news, oldskoolgamer101 is embarking on an experiment in exploring SEGA games of days gone by. His first entry is on the venerable Sega Rally Championship.

Finally, I'm setting out to clean up the creakiest parts of TSC's old codebase, starting with the interface. I'm not sure how much difference you'll actually see rise to the surface level as a TSC member, but if you have any concerns or suggestions about the way the site works (as opposed to the usual ranking chart changes) now would be a good time to get them in, big or small.

9
Gaming and Grazing / MOVED: flyby's league
« on: April 19, 2009, 04:14:52 pm »

10
News and Updates / In the news at TSC
« on: April 16, 2009, 06:49:02 am »
The second week of flyby's Sonic league ended on Monday, and after working for a few days to get the new league system up and running, the results are now in. The third week of competition ends at midnight after Sunday as usual, so get your stats in. It's not too late to jump in; check the official topic for details.

superjupi has provided us a new full set of Sonic CD maps, with a funky interface to boot. Yizzao!

Sega has settled into a pattern of one Sonic Unleashed 360 DLC every two weeks, with Holoska levels coming last week; presumably we'll be getting more content for another zone around Thursday next week. The PS3 has apparently has also gotten a (late) start in, receiving the first DLC for Chun-Nan. Charts will be coming after the league stuff is fixed up (provided somebody makes me a list).

11
News and Updates / Upkeep
« on: April 05, 2009, 12:08:52 pm »
flyby's league thing ends its first week tomorrow. Get submissions in if you have them ok.

I am going to be limiting people with rankings citations to replying to topics in LD only, who should have the label "Accused". The level of BSery in general recently is a bit disappointing. Maintain your dignity; play legit. There's no pride in faking stats.

Also, I'm still soliciting impressions from new TSC members.

Largely I'm making this post to get that gaudy yellow stuff off the front page <_<

12
Information Kiosk / What is the new TSC member experience?
« on: March 26, 2009, 03:52:01 pm »
I haven't been a new member here for awhile. What's it like? What's interesting or confusing or annoying or gratifying about the site and the community in general? Inquiring minds would like to know. I need a view from the outside, as they say. Brutal honesty is appreciated.

13
News and Updates / New Spagonia DLC
« on: March 26, 2009, 11:50:28 am »
Spagonia got the same treatment as Chun-Nan today: 250 MSP, 4 day, 2 night, rinse, lather, repeat. PS3 owners are still left in the cold. If I had to venture a guess, it's looking like we're going to be getting DLC for every zone across the next four months or so.

Spagonia and Chun-Nan DLC will be added to TSC probably once it's back on our normal server with the usual levers, which I think will be within the next couple days. It won't contribute to the game's overall rankings though, just its own leadership.

FKE is putting up some videos of the new DLC again, below Chun-Nan on the playlist.

I also recommend winding down with some old school Sonic. It's good for the soul after a long hard TA session.

14
News and Updates / Only Braum's gives you so much more
« on: March 22, 2009, 05:43:45 pm »
TSC was down Saturday because Gerbil's hard drive is on the fritz after overheating. We're on a different server until things get worked out. Since you can see this, your DNS has updated! Hooray!

Sonic and the Black Knight rankings have been put up by SDM (I think). A lot of levels are missing because of the bug in the game's record saving; there's nothing we can do about that.

Also, after having played SBK myself, if you're thinking about buying it, I strongly advise you to check out the SBK reactions topic first.

15
Leaderboard Disputes / Iceman / Eis the Dragon
« on: March 10, 2009, 12:35:06 pm »
His stats have been suspended until he can come up with proof of the following Sonic Advance times:

Neo Green Hill 1
Sonic - 0:41:63
Knuckles - 0:42:79
Amy - 0:46:46

Exact times only, no substitutes need apply. He says they're his second place times because he didn't want to submit first place times and come under suspicion.


16
News and Updates / Obligatory downtime post
« on: March 09, 2009, 09:06:35 pm »
Yeah, so some new functionality was being tested this morning, and things didn't go as planned. Since we here at TSC have at least a passing idea of what we're doing, a backup was made first - but a comedy of errors resulted in about eight hours instead of eight minutes spent bringing the backup back up. Unless you were one of the three people who made a post on the forum this morning, you won't have any losses to gnash teeth over.

In other news, a few more Black Knight reviews have joined the fray, if anyone's still paying attention to that. I probably won't be making further updates; just check that metacritic link.

And since there continues to be minor confusion, yes, Zeupar was made an admin, and he's cleaning up the charts, because he cares. 8)

Further bulletins as events warrant.

edit: yes black knight rankings coming soon.

17
News and Updates / Another nail in the coffin of Black Knight
« on: March 06, 2009, 05:09:21 am »
If you were planning on buying Sonic and the Black Knight to compete, you might want to hold off, because Paraxade's busting the game apart, and not in a good way. Not only is there infinite score potential on every enemy and object, thus destroying any score competition and presumably shattering the online leaderboards, but the game generally doesn't save your fastest time. On any level with a score, it saves the time you got with your highest score, no matter whether it's better or worse than your last. And since it doesn't show your time on the status results screen either, times are pretty much sunk. We're left with the eleven (plus three?) missions that track time instead of score and the bosses. (update: bosses have the same time tracking problem)

It's not quite Sonic Blast or Labyrinth levels of dysfunctional unviability... yet. But, yes, those few missions and the bosses will be tracked, barring further revelations.

edit: On the bright side, our nice clean '4000' chart number on the front page may remain intact.

18
News and Updates / It is... inevitable
« on: March 02, 2009, 10:14:15 pm »
I hope you like Sega's game model of a smidgen of Sonic time and a wallop of drudgery, because it isn't changing:

Sonic and the Black Knight director Tetsu Katano tells Videogamer "You will see the Werehog again." That's despite the general shunning of the Werehog version of Sonic by many longtime Sonic the Hedgehog fans and mixed reviews from critics.

"In principle, I think that the users are always right. They're the ones paying the money and playing the games. If they don't enjoy it, they're not going to buy it," Katano tells Videogamer. "I don't think that producing the Werehog was a mistake per se, but there were a lot of things we could have done better if we had more time and resources."


In TSC news, if you are a player who still cares about Sonic R and would like to see some form of nonglitch competition, speak now or forever hold your peace. (but glitch rankings aren't disappearing)

Oh, and Black Knight which comes out tomorrow apparently has online leaderboards, so it's quite possible that TSC won't have charts for it. Or maybe I can wangle into their system again and extract TSC member data straight from Nintendo. Hm...

3/4 update: IGN gave Black Knight a 3.9, their lowest Sonic review yet, lower even than Sonic06's 4.8. I... er... I'm sure they're just biased. That's gotta be it.

Update again: 26/40 (or 6.5 average) from Famitsu, the most popular Japanese gaming magazine, but even that's not as rosy as it appears, since they gave Sonic06 29/40, Secret Rings 32/40 and Unleashed 360 34/40, all well above average. I would guess that this is the lowest score from them too but there's nowhere convenient for me to check that. (edit: it is)

Update yet again: Zeupar has been made a site admin so he can handle some of the stat chart maintenance, since he is quite interested in the status of the rankings. Cheer for him, and then send him all your problems. ;D Why SonicAD is an admin has yet to be determined.

Oh, and it looks like TSC will definitely be having Black Knight charts. Why, you ask? Funny thing, that: though Sega graciously provided leaderboards though NWFC, it turns out... that they track score. Not time. Yes, I'm serious. I'm getting this info from Paraxade and the leaderboard servers appear to be offline to boot, so maybe there's a sliver of hope for sanity in there, but... well, there's a history of violence here.

(Is this TSC's longest news post yet?)

19
News and Updates / What's new in Sonic
« on: February 23, 2009, 05:25:37 pm »
Gametap did a video retrospective on the original Sonic games that includes a lot of interviews with people of Sonic's past. It's around 20 minutes long but it's got some interesting stuff in it.

Sonic 1 Megamix is back in development and, apparently, has always been. Yeah, they said they cancelled it, but they didn't. Here's the Retro topic/drama with some videos.

Sonic and the Black Knight still has a couple weeks to go, but Nintendo Power has already reviewed it and given it 8.0. For comparison, some past NP scores: SADX - 7.4, SA2B - 8.4, Sonic Heroes - 8.4, Shadow - 8.0, Secret Rings - 8.5, Unleashed - 8.0. So, uh, I guess that score doesn't tell you much.

20
News and Updates / What's new around TSC
« on: February 03, 2009, 02:36:53 pm »
Upthorn has been methodically replacing all of Stealth's orphaned SonED maps with brand spanking new ones. Now Sonic 1 & 2 have fancypants collision shaded maps, and I think he's planning on making "virgin" maps when he gets through his mapping project.
Sonic Unleashed Wii/PS2 has ring competition.
All game record sheets now have an extra box at the top reporting the total of all records in that category.
Our clunky old cgi chat client has been supplemented with a newfangled ajax mibbit client.
Sonic06 is still a bad game. How is it nobody has submitted for STT in half a year? :(

21
Leaderboard Disputes / Chaos.Control
« on: January 21, 2009, 02:37:38 pm »
Chaos.Control submitted ring records for all S1 stats, including an untied 253 on SL1, 239 on SL2, and 163 on SB3. Given that SL1 only has 223 rings in the entire level, I think we're going to be requiring proof or a strat here. Strats can be sent to me personally without fear of them getting out to actual competitors.

edit: Apparently my SL1 sources were erroneous, but I still have to require some kind of evidence just because of the rate of bad submissions we've been getting lately :(

22
News and Updates / Werehog is blown to pieces
« on: January 08, 2009, 01:55:07 pm »
DsS has found a glitch that allows you to walk through any sufficiently thin wall and fall though any floor (nothing new there lolol), and another glitch that allows you to use the uppercut as a superjump to grab poles and such things. His summary from YouTube:

Quote
In order to be able to grab a ledge after performing an uppercut, all you have to do is one of these 2 combos in the air:

For 360, XXY or YYX followed by the jump button
For ps3, square-square-triangle or triangle-triangle-square followed by the jump button

In order to go through walls or the floor, you must perform the follwing combo, followed by guarding...

For 360, XYY followed by guarding
For ps3, square-triangle-triangle followed by guarding

The timing of your guard depends on what will happen. You want to guard when werehog finishes the spinning part of his breakdance like attack. If you time it correctly, you can go through most any wall. If you time it too late, you'll go through the floor (which can be useful in some places, but usually you just fall to your doom). Enjoy!^_^

Shamar night in 69 seconds. That's the most dramatic showpiece, but there's shortcuts and various interesting stuff in tons of levels.

edit: DsS has put the video up for the Adabat hidden area. It's primarily a round chamber with platforms that rise with the water level as you reach each new platform and turn the switch, similar to Lost Temple or various Zelda puzzles, with the level's actual original goal ring chamber at the end - since he's actually in the ghost mission, activating the ring results in a failure message. The reason they cut it is pretty obvious once you watch it: while the platforms and the kill plane rise, the actual water graphics don't. My guess would be that it got left on the cutting room floor when time was short. It's a shame, as the concept is much more interesting than the rest of the level and the ring chamber is quite a bit more impressive than how they ended up leaving it in front of a barred door. Given that the engine capabilities for handling the area don't appear to have been implemented, I'd say that's fairly solid evidence against these hidden areas simply being reserved for DLC.

23
Leaderboard Disputes / PoT
« on: January 01, 2009, 06:05:00 pm »
Your statistics have been called into question, specifically SA2 times. You will need to supply some form of proof for some stats, for example some of the following, after which your submission privileges will be restored:

City Escape 2
Mission Street 3
Pyramid Cave 1/4

Thanks.

24
News and Updates / Penultimate Unleashed news topic
« on: November 22, 2008, 09:07:10 am »
The Wii and 360 Unleashed are now both out in America. Judging from various reactions and reviews, the framework is the same old 3D Sonic story, with speedy Sonic levels that are inexplicably paired with unSonic levels that take up the majority of the game and an assortment of hub world questing and minigame action. It's pretty clear at this point that, for better or worse, SEGA management doesn't want to mess with the formula they've established. But notably, a lot of fans seem to be happy with the 360 speed level design; the Wii/PS2 versions are truncated and redesigned to fit within the technical constraints of the console.

I haven't yet played any version so I can't offer any personal opinions, but I figured a new game warrants a space on the front page. I'm hoping the speed levels will be good enough to justify slogging through the rest of it. <_<

To offer a rough estimate, competition charts will probably go up within a week or two. How fast or slow it goes largely depends on how easily the community can reach a consensus on how things ought to be ranked, and I don't have any knowledge on that front.

Update: A clarification on the HD-gimp distinction. There is -drastically- less speed Sonic content in the PS2/Wii version; only one speed level per continent (zone) instead of two, and they are quite a bit shorter as well. Basically, if you have both options available, all signs point towards the 360/PS3 version with the exception of the PS2 version being $20 cheaper. The framerate issues that come up now and again in conversation have not been eradicated completely, but are sufficiently tamped down that it should not be a serious factor in a purchase decision.

Gerbil Update: Charts for both the Wii/PS2 and 360/PS3 versions are up. Submit your stats! :D

25
News and Updates / TSC Birthday
« on: October 23, 2008, 09:57:27 pm »
TSC is now old enough to enter first grade! Feel free to celebrate its impending loss of innocence with your beverage of choice.

Also, Gerbil would like me to point out that the site was down most of today because his server is totally noobish. Linux what.

And I don't think it ever got a topic, but we now have over 100,000 submissions. Note that that is a large number.

In related news, the top 10s march on, the latest entry being the top 10 comments. Don't look at me, blame douglas. <___<

26
News and Updates / A followup on Unleashed
« on: October 15, 2008, 02:59:19 pm »
Awhile ago I wrote about some severe framerate troubles with Unleashed and their potential to sink the game. Well, we're within a month of release now, which means the game is pretty much in its final form, and the verdict is in:

"The PlayStation 3 version's appalling framerate [is] a shame, because the Xbox 360 version boasts a brisk framerate that compliments the game's arresting and vivid graphics"

So, 360 Sonic fans can break out the champagne, and PS3 owners have yet another reason to regret their purchase.

Meanwhile, Douglas and genus's merry parade staggers onward, with the Top Ten Catchphrases next to come.

update: Shadow Jacky's put comparison videos later in the topic if you want to check it out for yourself.

27
News and Updates / Top Tens
« on: October 14, 2008, 05:53:02 pm »
It's that time of year again; douglas and genus are presenting the top ten ... noobs. Um, check it out <_<

28
Ban List / sonichero500 [BANNED]
« on: October 04, 2008, 07:14:07 pm »
Date of ban: 10/4/08
IP: N/A
Related users: N/A
Reason for banning: Posting a suspicious time, offering a nonsensical explanation, accusing the accuser of fake times, and ragequitting
Other evidence: N/A
Forum permission status: Active
Ban duration: Permanent

29
News and Updates / Items of interest
« on: October 02, 2008, 01:30:35 am »
So this Sonic Chronicles DS RPG came out in America a few days ago, and so far the consensus both on TSC and Metacritic appears to be that it's pretty fun if you're a Sonic fan but flawed nonetheless. Take that as you will. Here's the Chronicles thread.

Also, tonight a new "DSi" was announced. It's much the same as the last, plus camera/music/storage/dlc and minus GBA, for a somewhat large $180 in Japan.

30
Ban List / yandao [BANNED]
« on: September 21, 2008, 07:45:25 pm »
Date of ban: 12/21/08 err 9/21/08
IP: N/A
Related users: Unknown former account
Reason for banning: Ban evasion as stated by himself in stat comment, posting more fake advance 2 times
Other evidence: N/A
Forum permission status: Active
Ban duration: Permanent

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