Star Odyssey - Official Thread

[Melf]

Nobody is asking you to revamp the entire game here. There was a suggestions that, if possible, the random encounter rate be lowered...IF POSSIBLE. I think most of us assume that since you're working with the original devs at StarFish, you could easily ask them to make this change, but then again we don't know all of the background stuff, so if you say it's not possible, so be it.

Where did they say they were working with the original developers? As far as I know, they worked directly with the publishers who owned the rights, not the actual programmers.

[D--]

Starfish couldn't change anything even if it wanted to. This is the same thing we went through with Beggar Prince and every other game.

Game developers put no value at all in keeping their own source code. I know first hand from friends working in Square-Enix that on multiple occasions, when the company decided to remake a game, it had to hack its own last binary to get all the monster/weapon stats and graphics, then programmed a new engine to use this data.

When a game ships, unless there is already a localization agreement in place, code ends up in a trash can. The only way it survives is if some developer makes a copy of it for himself and takes it out of the office in violation of his contract (as was the case in Sango Fighter).

So, this puts us squarely in the same are as Working Designs in many of it's projects where binary hacking is the only way to go.

My main job, if you want to call it "lead programmer," was to isolate all the different kinds of data in the binary – be they graphics, text or otherwise – and write a series of small applications for Brandon that would let him pull this all out so he could edit the pieces in standard software packages. A second tool rebuilt a new game combining the existing binary code and new data.

The only code I saw besides what I wrote was the numbers flying by in a Genesis debugger.

That's how we would change the battle rate. It would not be significantly difficult to watch a debugger as it steps through the 68000 opcodes and figure out how it's deciding when it's time to fight. I'm sure either myself or the other programmer could figure this out, if that was what Brandon wanted.

It has been a while since he posted in this thread, but here is my own suspicion: the battle rate is this high for a reason. If you were to dial it down and fight only half as often, you would probably end up severely under-leveled in the course of the game and spend hours walking in circles to get enough fights to progress. Maybe we could make all the monsters award more EXP than in the Japanese version, but now you're talking about a significant balancing act.

And maybe after balancing, it would be too short. I really can't say because I have not played the full game. Brandon is the guy who has spent hundreds if not thousands of hours playtesting Star Odyssey.

Super Fighter Team tweaked all of that stuff in Wukong because, as I understand it, the game was basically unplayable before it did. Maybe Brandon thinks Star Odyssey is good as it is and would like to keep it close to the Japanese version.

[The Coop]

Game developers put no value at all in keeping their own source code. I know first hand from friends working in Square-Enix that on multiple occasions, when the company decided to remake a game, it had to hack its own last binary to get all the monster/weapon stats and graphics, then programmed a new engine to use this data.

When a game ships, unless there is already a localization agreement in place, code ends up in a trash can. The only way it survives is if some developer makes a copy of it for himself and takes it out of the office in violation of his contract (as was the case in Sango Fighter).

It does make your head spin to think of a company being so moronic with something that not only took its employees months/years to create, but made the company money (in theory), doesn't it?

[Melf]

Didn't Sega "lose" the source code to Panzer Dragoon Saga? What does that tell you about how much importance companies place on their developer's efforts?

[tomaitheous]

Wow, what a bunch of whiny-ass-pricks and arrogant-self-appointed-experts in this thread. You'd think they're on the payroll or something. Or maybe some homebrew-watch-committee council members

Hey D. I heard that you did some stuff for SFT. But I was surprised to see you posting here. Sorry to see you getting such a hard time, too

[CMA Death Adder]

Hello, everyone.

As I have been busier than usual over the past few days, I've been unable to swing by the forum and field your questions. Pardon that. I hope to have the proper time to catch up on them either tomorrow or Monday. If, when doing so, I mistakenly overlook any of your questions, please feel free to contact me directly so that I may remedy the error. Thanks.

In the meantime, however:

To those of you who came to this forum thread to read detailed, factual information about Star Odyssey, ask insightful questions, or offer your assistance to this or future projects of ours, I would like to thank you for your interest and support. We wouldn't be able to continue enjoying success as a classic video game publisher without it.

As for those who appear to be here solely for the purposes of acting as would-be detractors, your actions both confuse and sadden me, and they accomplish little but to aid in marking this particular community as a den of dissuation rather than a fortress of support. If this is how you decide to treat everyone who makes their best effort to bring new life to the game machines we all enjoy, then I pity those who, as a result of your barbs, decide to turn their backs on such noble pursuits.

Lastly, if any of you happen to take personal offense to anything I have said, done or insinuated here, please consider contacting me directly via e-mail or private message. While I am always happy to address such concerns, this particular forum thread is about our company's newest video game product, not about me. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Have a nice day.

[Joe Redifer]

"Noble"? I wouldn't have an issue if someone else used that word to describe Super Fighter Team and its work, but to use it to describe oneself? Tacky.

[Zz Badnusty]

He didn't call himself noble. It is used in reference to anyone trying to publish for retro systems.

I look forward to Star Odyssey, Pier Solar, and Fast Striker, and any and all future retro releases.
Thanks for all your work and dedication Brandon. I'm eager to see what the future holds in store for Super Fighter Team and other retro publishers.

[Zebbe]

Extremely great date yesterday - ennobled today. Life rules!

[Joe Redifer]

He didn't call himself noble. It is used in reference to anyone trying to publish for retro systems.

Which includes himself. But I'll drop it at that so the thread doesn't stray once again.

[Waterfaller]

SFT didn't HAVE to go the extra mile to give us an awesome looking case with an actual instruction booklet. They didn't HAVE to retranslate the game from scratch. No one asked them to, yet they are.

Just my two cents.

[enix2093]

Didn't Sega "lose" the source code to Panzer Dragoon Saga? What does that tell you about how much importance companies place on their developer's efforts?

If you count losing it in a fire, then I suppose you could call that "careless"

[retrospiel]

There's few things as noble as releasing a new Mega Drive game.

[djshok]

Here's my custom cover for the game that I will use. It's an approximation of the style of Beggar Prince and LOW.


http://www.box.net/shared/p8z23eekhd

This isn't meant to be a criticism of SFT or their cover, so I hope no one gets offended, it's just a product my excitement for this game and my OCD tendencies to organize my games in a matching fashion.

I did the best with the materials I had, if I had a better scan of the artwork I would've used it. Though this is just for personal use and I'm happy with it. If anyone wants to do stuff to it go ahead, I'll send you the psd file if you want it.

[djshok]

Just a few things I'm wondering about regarding Star Odyssey: How many endings does it have? Are there alternate storyline paths, or is more linear? Also, this seems like a much darker and more serious rpg, are there any more mature themes in it ie: death, etc.?