1

News and Updates / Re: Project Needlemouse "Midnight" Reveal: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I

« on: February 24, 2010, 07:00:58 pm »

Hey they should totally get Michael Jackson to help work on the sound track aga-....oh right...

Maybe we could teach DsS to dance, bleach his skin, screw up his nose and not say the last thing on this list for decency reasons, then he can write the soundtrack.

2

News and Updates / Re: Project Needlemouse "Midnight" Reveal: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I

« on: February 21, 2010, 05:10:16 pm »

Not just Dimps.

finnaly, good damn news. I love S3&K so much, and if the level design is similar, I can't wait.
I really hope SEGA don't screw it this time, I really do. If it does, I think it will be the end for sonic.

S2 level design > S3&K level design amirite

That said, S3&K has great cohesion and this is indeed good news.

3

Gaming and Grazing / Re: TSC Convention

« on: January 18, 2010, 05:56:50 pm »

I am still up for a convention :o

4

News and Updates / Re: Project Needlemouse Character Countdown Trivia Game

« on: January 16, 2010, 11:48:58 am »

Well for now we'll see where SEGA goes with this. Frankly as long as its just Sonic playable, i might not get disappointed.

Predictions topic win.

Sonic Team will re-release the GeneDrive games at least three more times.  They'll also announce a new Sonic game that claims to be a return to their roots, and at least one noob here will believe it.

5

Wikkity! / Re: Predictions for 2010!!!

« on: December 19, 2009, 11:48:39 am »

Sonic Team will re-release the GeneDrive games at least three more times.  They'll also announce a new Sonic game that claims to be a return to their roots, and at least one noob here will believe it.

RPG will be institutionalised, and there will be much rejoicing.

I will return to competition to try to finally break into the Sitewide top ten.  I will fail miserably and give up within a month.

Contrary to prior scientific analysis, when Mike and I meet the amount of concentrated awesome will not, in fact, end the world.  This is because CF will also be there and his anti-awesome is considerable.

6

Competition Central / Re: The Official Top Tens Topic

« on: October 23, 2009, 02:40:13 am »

inb4 goggles doing nothing

7

Wikkity! / Re: Suggest me some dramas/plays!

« on: October 05, 2009, 03:32:21 am »

I'd also suggest some shakespeare. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is my personal favorite. Macbeth is also good.

Macbeth.  That is all.

8

Leaderboard Disputes / Re: ATTN: HyperSonic7701

« on: September 20, 2009, 03:02:58 pm »

I HAVE NO SENSE OF TACT

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Leaderboard Disputes / Re: ATTN: HyperSonic7701

« on: September 19, 2009, 03:28:31 pm »

Naturally I cannot explain how it works as it would allow cheaters to get around it, but it IS solid and I am not the only one who knows how it works

Come on, this isn't hard.

10

Leaderboard Disputes / Re: ATTN: HyperSonic7701

« on: September 19, 2009, 04:41:13 am »

I'm sure that if any other stats are in question, they would already have been mentioned.

HyperSonic was not banned for the stats he listed there, he was banned because he sent a list of stats that didn't match up with his memory card for SA2, and confirmed that the rest were accurate. However there were still stats he did not correct that were caught by our BS detector, and as such, he was banned. He had several other stats in other games that also set off the BS detector. Naturally I cannot explain how it works as it would allow cheaters to get around it, but it IS solid and I am not the only one who knows how it works. One stat is an anomaly, 15 is a pattern.

11

News and Updates / Re: New HD *2D* Sonic Game in 2010

« on: September 13, 2009, 09:01:44 am »

I would argue that SM64 was more open than any Sonic has ever been...and better than any 3D Sonic in just about every way.

This.

12

Wikkity! / Re: Official Utterly Long and Boring Chatroom Log Segments

« on: September 12, 2009, 05:53:34 pm »

If you missed it, Minus failed as the fake douglas was actually me after all.  Still not that funny tbh <_<

13

News and Updates / Re: New HD *2D* Sonic Game in 2010

« on: September 09, 2009, 06:42:49 pm »

Wow, nothing more than a teaser -- not even a trailer, but a teaser which doesn't show anything about the game other than what's in the first post -- and there's already more skepticism than curiosity. What the hell does Sonic Team have to show you to get some love?

Well, they could show the game.

Just saying.

Quite so.  I really can't be doing with all this viral-hype-marketing teased out over a year or longer.  Want my attention?  Blow me away with an awesome demo, preferably that I can get my hands on myself.

14

Gaming and Grazing / Re: Gens/GS r7 S2HD Edition

« on: September 06, 2009, 12:33:05 pm »

Running 64-bit Win7.  Appears repeatedly then segfaults, regardless of privileges and compatibility mode.  Damn it GS, this looks teh secks but I really can't be bothered to boot Ubuntu just now >_>

If I can help, just shout.

15

Wikkity! / Re: itt MIKE'S WHIRLWIND TOUR OF AMERICA AND ENGLAND 2010

« on: August 28, 2009, 06:58:14 am »

All plans for that period have now been cancelled, and I am ready and able to receive my dose of mike-based awesome at any time.  I am concerned that we won't be able to stay in the same room too long though, not sure any walls can contain that amount of win :)

You've got enough time, get a few of your buddies at Google to make a Google Awesome tool which automatically protects the room you're standing in from being overloaded with awesome.

...yeah, unintended consequences, shut up ok.

Would've done it yesterday, but we were too busy being on fire :o

16

Wikkity! / Re: itt MIKE'S WHIRLWIND TOUR OF AMERICA AND ENGLAND 2010

« on: August 27, 2009, 01:36:33 pm »

All plans for that period have now been cancelled, and I am ready and able to receive my dose of mike-based awesome at any time.  I am concerned that we won't be able to stay in the same room too long though, not sure any walls can contain that amount of win :)

17

General Sonic / Re: TSC Race Night

« on: August 09, 2009, 03:02:47 pm »

Shut up mike.

18

Information Kiosk / Re: Constitution is outdated, needs an update

« on: August 07, 2009, 08:38:17 am »

Rules of the forum

16. All topics have been won by User douglas, even if he hasn't yet posted in them.  The only exceptions are topics containing Cruizer attempting to be funny, which are disowned by douglas on account of their Epic Fail.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . . what <_<

19

News and Updates / Re: Rules Revisions, & Marathon 2

« on: July 29, 2009, 01:20:47 pm »

Furthermore, charts for night level scores will be eliminated as soon as possible due to infinite score potential in the majority of stages.

How is that a reason for removing charts?  It doesn't matter how few charts are left.  If there are charts that don't have infinite score potential, they should stay up (regardless of how many).

Suggestion in that case: when viewing a game's charts, there should be a link at the bottom that says "Why are some levels missing?" or similar that takes you to a page that lists, for that game, which levels have been excluded and why.

20

News and Updates / Re: New Management

« on: July 22, 2009, 06:46:25 am »

Sad though it is to see Rolken go, I'm glad at this excellent choice of successor.  I'm sure you'll do a great job SonicAD.

21

Wikkity! / Re: ITT Luxxy Got Them All!!

« on: July 17, 2009, 04:44:00 am »

Well according to sonic 1 i do D:

Yeah well you can't go super can you.

22

Gaming and Grazing / Re: ZELDA TIMELINE DISCUSSION

« on: July 15, 2009, 06:44:31 pm »

I demand this be moved to Sonic 06 Appreciation Land. Right now.

I demand Ring Rush be moved to Sonic 06 Appreciation Land. Right now.

23

Hiya Folks / Re: Hello.

« on: July 01, 2009, 01:05:04 pm »

TOO BAD FOR YOU I AM A SOLID BLOCK OF METAL

So it's not just that you have one between the ears?

24

Hiya Folks / Re: Hello.

« on: July 01, 2009, 03:59:33 am »

$100 says he's a furry of some sort. >_>

Not a furry.

Oh get lost :( Your name says otherwise to me.

Welcome to TSC then.

Don't mind Cruizer, he just wants company.  Welcome to TSC!

25

Wikkity! / Re: Marathon Zone Act Two

« on: June 22, 2009, 01:13:22 pm »

Depending on the date, I'm in.

26

Wikkity! / Re: What to do for Sonic's Birthday?

« on: June 21, 2009, 12:30:36 pm »

I'm going to inflict MOAR BUS on this topic if it carries on >:o

27

News and Updates / Re: The future of TSC

« on: June 19, 2009, 01:19:55 pm »

But yeah I'm always willing to learn stuff. But I'd rather support porting it to Python. Java doesn't have the capabilities that TSC could really use IMO. But PHP is fine. (I just know Python.)

WUT?  What can python do that Java can't?  I'll grant you, web dev in an interpreted language can be quicker (at least if you're working in a small team with a small codebase; I maintain static typing is the only sane path for large teams/codebases), but as languages they're equally capable.  If we're talking what frontend libraries are available then sure python has web-oriented stuff like django, but java's no slouch - webwork, gwt and so forth; if we're talking productionisation (servers, containers, request handling, ...), then again they're really damn similar in terms of what's available.

PHP's a different kettle of fish - its major benefit is that the core libs are targeted at web developers and that it's installed like everywhere; the downside is that it has fugly syntax, a frankly lacking development community (and I say this as a former semi-active member of said community), and quite often a disregard for good OO design paradigms.

Now look, you've made me derail this thread with a programming language Holy War >:o  Someone get us back on topic, or failing that post a funny image <_<

28

News and Updates / Re: The future of TSC

« on: June 17, 2009, 02:32:31 pm »

With regards to programming, I think most of us that are volunteering are smart enough to learn, at the very least. I just can't say "o hi I know some 68k ASM, can I help design your website?":P If Gerbil wants help, I hope he's prepared to give free lessons, because I don't know anybody here who's familiar with PHP.

I can teach PHP and OO coding in general; when I said I was rusty, what I meant was I have a couple of years of solid experience (I've written a forum from scratch, high-performance caching for a 500K hits/month site, and been paid to mod osCommerce amongst other things) but I haven't touched it in maybe 3 years, aside from a couple of small pet projects (lolnoobometer).  It'll take me a bit to get fully up to speed (plus I'd have to learn the codebase which will be non-trivial).  The same goes for CSS, although my javascript-fu is pretty good.

That said, PHP's lack of static typing might cause me to have a nervous breakdown.  Duck Typing makes the baby Jesus cry :(

Oooh oooh new project - port TSC to Java!

* douglas shot

29

News and Updates / Re: The future of TSC

« on: June 16, 2009, 05:32:35 pm »

If we're delving into philosophies, I shall outline mine.

TSC was at it's best when there's been some sort of sitewide focus on something.  Remember the buzz about the place when the Emerald Challenges were on, or the Olympics, or for the marathons?  I'm betting there was a definite uptick in both membership and submissions when they were happening (particularly the ECs through SCD's involvement).  I can't speak to how effective the leagues have been, having been a fail and not participated, but the same thing applies.  The tricky thing is keeping them fresh, but we should have one every couple of months, and we should pimp it all over the intarwebs.

Another thing that makes TSC teh awesomes that you don't see so much any more is rivalries - when two or more players are going at a level or even a whole game hammer-and-tongs.  I'd like to do something to stimulate this, and my plan is a Rivalries feature, whereby you and your rival can create a goal with a deadline - say "Douglas vs SpinballWizard, Sadv2 Ice Paradise 2 (Sonic), Best Time at 02/08/2009 00:00UTC" - then the winner gets a trophy in a section similar to 'Awards' (you could also have a Random Rivalry on the front page).  If people wanted, you could extend this to setting personal challenges for yourself or others, but rivalries would be the priority.

In terms of rules enforcement, I think maybe we're a bit too quick to jump down new players' throats, and sometimes BS calls can get a bit personal.  Personally, I think the only people allowed to call BS should be the Rules Committee, and if you had a suspicion, it could go through them - that way they can explain the situation (emphasising that it's not a witch hunt, just that we want clean charts so everyone can enjoy competing) and what kind of proof is required without it descending into a snark-fest.  The idea would be that only RC members could start Leadership Disputes topics (with accompanying PM) and only they and the accused should post in them.

As for admin apathy, I'd cure that with more involvement from the RC or Community Leaders as detailled in my other post.

Right, that's probably enough to digest for one post.   Next time I shall have a shiny graphics like SkyLights!  Only without Tikal.  Ever.






As an aside, this kind of discussion is exactly what I had in mind when I suggested an election (rather than some banal personality content which I'd win easily on account of my awesome <_<).  We should totally have one - my guess is SonicAD and Thorn would contest it, with SkyLights (Tikal Appreciation Party) and possibly RPG (Getting Drunk And Playing WoW Party) as comedy entries.

30

News and Updates / Re: The future of TSC

« on: June 16, 2009, 01:40:14 pm »

Okay, so  here are my thoughts on the roles, as well as on candidates (will update as the topic goes on, or others can start their own):

Programmers
Clearly need to be both trustworthy and technically skilled.  Gerbil will be able to answer better than anyone how many bodies are needed here, and how much is/can be exposed to others (eg creation of new charts).
Candidates:
GerbilSoft: obviously.  Quite apart from being teh awesomes, he owns and operates the TSC server (by the way, the offer of monies towards that stands).
Douglas: zomg presumption!  I can code (rusty in PHP/SQL, but will pick it up again quickly), and am trustworthy when sober.
Minus: needs something to do this summer (<_<), keen to learn.



Referees
My take here would be to give all members of the Rules Committee the power of banhammer (as well as editorship over LD and of course the rules page).  This is a pretty big jump in trust, and would rely on members both taking this seriously and having excellent knowledge of the games they're presiding over (so eg if I was on, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to ban a player for offences in SA:DX).  It's also important that such actions are recorded so they're transparent and it becomes obvious if anyone's taking the piss.  With all that in mind, I'd propose quite a large committee, drawing on the Spaceship Users, and with a chair who has the job of herding cats keeping things organised (the chair may be the same person as the Grand Overseer, see below).
Candidates:
DarkspinesSonic: probably unrivalled knowledge of many, many games (particularly in the sordid land of 3D).
Zeupar: again, excellent knowledge across a number of games, plus is the most fair and anal thorough researcher you could ask for.
Thorn: see his post.
Douglas: on previous RC, know my way around the GeneDrive and GBA titles, OCD on consistent basis for rules rather than case-by-case considerations.
SpinballWizard: http://www.soniccenter.org/forum/index.php?topic=4302.0 - 'nuff said.
Stefan: similar reasons to Zeupar.



Community Leaders
I see this as essentially a combination of forum admin and newbie helper - kind of the role that Spaceship Users should be fulfilling, only with power over forum privileges.  I'm ambivalent over this; on one hand I think SUs can be trusted to pitch in more on this (eg being able to delete posts), but on the other I think it's worth this being distinct from SUs because some of us can be something of an acquired taste (read: Doug is an asshole <_<), and it probably helps to have people who've a mindset to help new users.  Should also get edit privileges over stuff like the FAQ, Visitor Orientation, etc.  We should have as many of these as Referees members if at all possible.
Candidates:
Thorn: again, see his post (note in particular a track record at this kind of thing).
flyby: pretty much a shoe-in.  Most nicest person ever.



Grand Overseer
In my view, in order to have a coordinated approach this person should automatically be both on the Rules Committee and a Community Leader, as in terms of the member experience they're two sides of the same coin (stick and carrot).  This person needs to have the support and respect of the TSC community, but also be accountable to it.  I therefore have a proposal - TSC General Election.  I don't think the other positions require this (though could be persuaded otherwise), nor do I think being elected should give you absolute control over the site (the Rules Committee and the Community Leaders are your checks and balances, as it were).  I also think the election process (as a series of debates about the direction in which we should take TSC) could be a worthwhile exercise.




Thoughts?