Sonic Central > TSC Race Night

Race Night feedback for 2014!

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flying fox:
Since Race Nights recently had its first birthday, and as we approach 2014, now seems like the time to open up this topic to allow any suggestions and improvements to the current way we organize and operate Race Nights. A lot of our ideas were implemented a while ago, and the race group has definitely changed in a year's time. We would like to hear any thoughts, criticisms, or suggestions that you might have to help improve Race Nights. Some thoughts have already come up amongst myself and Hyper, as well as from other racers, such as this very topic, suggested by TimpZ, as well as the following:

1) A new layout change?
Recently, I had noticed that the hacks/fangames have been getting more interest, which led to an idea of a new layout which will incorporate hacks and fangames more often then they appear currently, the layout looking like this: Week 1 would be a 2D game, then Week 2 a 3D game, then Week 3, a hack/fangame, and cycling through this every time (or something similar).

However, Hyper brings up a critical question that had me thinking: Are hacks popular because there were some good ones picked, or is it because people are increasingly yearning for something different?

2) Sorting out the games list:
We've been thinking about sorting out the 2D games; at minimum, splitting this into 2 subdivisions of about 10 games each, since the ratio of 2D to 3D is roughly 2:1 at the moment. This may help encourage a variety of 2D games to appear a bit more often than they do currently.

We would also like to sort out the hacks/fangames, potentially adding new ones and taking out some old ones with the general goal of having a list of hacks/fangames that have new level layouts as opposed to "<character> in Sonic 1" hacks.

---------

For reference only:

Likely:
- Revote for games to be raced list to attempt to shrink the list

Possible:
- "Miscellaneous night" - this concept has potential, but can it work?
- An extension of RN, racing more popular/easier to obtain and play Sonic games (on a different day of the week?/once per month?)
- Perhaps some sort of RN tourney that can involve the more popular Sonic games? Would best be an all-rounded sort of event.

Meh/Not highest priority:
- Possibly getting a more dedicated SRL voice+? (Time has not been too much of an issue in recent days imo...)

Not likely:
- Earlier vote cut-off (practice is not our issue :P - even so, more likely than not, the votes point towards one option anyway)
- Another vote for RN start time (not until at least mid 2014, or if a serious issue arises)

dwhitethegamer:
You've brought up a good point.  The hacks are getting more popular, and if it keeps up we might be able to see the Sonic hacks in this very site.  Not that it matters because more Sonic games are being made by you-know-who.  Though I don't have any hacked Sonic games, they're starting to get my interest as well.

Kirbymon30:

--- Quote from: dwhitethegamer on November 25, 2013, 10:55:34 am ---You've brought up a good point.  The hacks are getting more popular, and if it keeps up we might be able to see the Sonic hacks in this very site.  Not that it matters because more Sonic games are being made by you-know-who.  Though I don't have any hacked Sonic games, they're starting to get my interest as well.

--- End quote ---

There used to be an unofficial TSC from what I heard, which included both hacks and fangames. If fangames/hacks were to have leaderboards again, that board would probably get revived as well.

As for improvements to the current RN system, I can't really think of anything. The only problem I have is with the times, but that's more of a personal issue because I keep being busy on Saturday nights and/or dinner makes me lose time. Not sure what more can be done with the time considering that I'm not the only person here, though.

I think the hacks are in fact popular because they're unique and different, sort of like what Hyper said. Hacks are popular all over the web because a lot of people like the different ideas within them. If you'd like some advice, hacks that implement entirely new mechanics prove to be more popular than hacks that add level layouts, characters, or even combinations of the two. I'd recommend checking out hacks Sonic VR or Jester's Challenge, for example, as those are very interesting hacks. Not sure that all of them are easy to race, but it's an idea.

Thorn:
^ We already discussed Jester's Challenge, and the fact that it lacks checkpoints and ends in a boss means that it's not very raceable. Sonic VR does not add any new mechanics and is in fact only new layouts, so that seems to lessen your point a bit...? In any case, hacks that re-use the same old level layouts are indeed more popular than hacks with new ones, as people tend to forgive any level design mistakes in the original games but are critical of new layouts. That said, I can't bring myself to race "X in Sonic 1" over and over again if I were to re-enter Race Nights. There needs to be something fresh. I've already linked flying fox to a bunch of layout hacks, and while most of them are incomplete, they can easily be put together to make one race.

sonikkusama:
going to start by saying i personally hate the hack nights. i do them when i can because i like racing with you guys, but the hacks tend to annoy me more often than not, especially the buggier ones. that said, there have been a few that i enjoyed, but the vast majority of them annoy me to the point where i'm just spaced out at the end trying to complete it because i don't want to forfeit. also to note, if the 2d to 3d ratio is giving us too much 2d, then more hack nights will just further that problem.

i would also like to see a miscellaneous night implemented. one where games like the racing games and quirkier games like the isometrics and the storybook games fall into place. i personally think these races should be more rare though, since there's not that many and they might not be that fun to race. games like that could also probably just be removed from the schedule to save bloat. they also tend to take away from a 3d slot, since a lot of them are 3d, and removing/giving them their own night would help make 3d nights feel more prevalent.

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