State of the Mix Address
Posted 30th April 2016

Introduction

Well, it's that time, I guess. I've got some news to share, and it seems most appropriate to do it now. Sort of a good news/bad news thing, so, I'm going to do the bad news first

Hang in with me until the end; it's not all disappointing

Semper Expunctus

Putting aside my non-fluency in Latin (and Google Translate's singular inappropriate English translation of the phrase), if you're interested in Sonic Megamix, then you probably know about one of the most-"recent" videos I posted about it, which was titled "Never Cancelled". I chose that name due to my frustration with repeated false assumptions that led to actions by members of the public that caused problems for myself, the team, and the project itself, but in the end, it seems to have implied a promise that couldn't be delivered on. Contrary to popular belief and long stretches of no public updates, and disregarding one extremely-short-lived mishap, the project never was cancelled, until now. There is no "I knew this was going to happen"/"I saw this coming"/etc; there was no possible way for the public to actually know what the project's fate would be because there was no truly solid information to indicate one thing or the other. We intended to see it through, we tried, and, incidentally, it eventually became unworkable

Over time, the whole team seemed to just move apart. Lots of stuff has been happening in the lives of each individual member, and the game project Sonic Megamix as it came to be envisioned just sort of crumbled under its own weight. To make the point directly, the team no longer has active graphic artists, level designers, additional programmers, nothing; there's just me. The unfortunate truth is that there is no longer a "Team Megamix"

I won't be looking for any other "members". The essence of what would have been "Sonic Megamix" can't be completely replaced, so to be perfectly honest, I just can't justify holding on to it any longer. That's why the "new game" will never be finished. As much as I would have wanted for it to be, completion of the project was never under my personal control, and it was never a promise that I could keep by myself

From the Ashes

It's not all going to waste. I do, in fact, have plans of my own for what's already been done, provided I have the time to devote to it

First of all, I plan to stick with the cleanup of the original "Sonic 1 Megamix" for a final and not-so-sloppy release. It's not a light task, but it does seem like something I can do by myself

Second, I plan to attempt to make existing new content "presentable" in any way that I can. Some sprites will most likely still be missing, for one, but you should end up with a little something to play with. I don't know in what form this will come, whether some/all of it will be used to augment "Sonic 1 Megamix", presented as bonus content, or released separately altogether

Third, and biggest of all, I plan to continue the engine modification that I described a while back, which restructures the code to run primarily from the SegaCD/MegaCD's SUB-CPU to take better advantage of the platform by using it to improve primary gameplay performance. I will freely release the source code for this engine to the public. This includes some enhanced Megamix core engine code, all Megamix-specific character abilities, and all related debugging and hardware transfer utilities. Anyone who wants to create a game functionally-similar to Megamix will be able to use this to do it. This, however, will not happen until I am prepared to present the engine and its code to the public in its then-current state. It's a project that I have chosen for myself and that I intend to attempt alone until I'm satisfied with what I've done; everyone will have the opportunity to "continue"/expand/modify/use/research it after that point

When is that?

Unfortunately, it's going to be a while. As I've said several times previously, I'm currently occupied with a contract project that's still going to take a good bit of time to complete. None of my personal projects are currently moving ahead, and even if there were still a "Team Megamix", I wouldn't be able to contribute to the project for now anyway

What about Patreon?

As far as my Patreon goes, I need to reiterate that I've clearly stated that I couldn't make any specific guarantees regarding any particular project listed on the campaign page. I hope that no-one was confused about that because, having provided the warning, I can't hold myself responsible for any specific reason that anyone chooses to become a patron. I am sorry that "Sonic Megamix" couldn't be completed as it was envisioned, but I will continue on with my new plans for its material, and I'm still developing HCGE, the project for which the campaign was primarily launched (Sonic Megamix having been noted only as one of a couple of side-projects)

While I'm not actually able to work on any of those projects at the moment, I want to thank those who are still currently contributing to the campaign. Your continued support helps provide me with stability for future progress with my personal projects and creating/acquiring other potential opportunities

Closing

Again, I felt it appropriate to share this information now rather than later, but it's still going to be a while before any of what I have planned surfaces. For now, I'll still be hard at work on the contract project. It's looking like I'll actually be able to reveal (not release) it in the near future, and I feel like many people will be pretty pleased with it if all goes well. Naturally, I'm biased, but I hope you'll agree that it's time well-spent :P

-Stealth


Status
Posted 30th April 2016
Well, I let updates on this website go slack. It's mostly been due to progress being so slow, but without having to mess with it for so long, I think I kinda forgot about it... :/

So, there has been a little progress, but not a whole lot of it is worth mentioning specifically, yet. I have posted a few updates on some of my personal sites, though, so to get you caught up, here are some links:

Technical teaser and announcement of cleaning up and finishing "v4.0" as its own game
Joke teaser video of a bug I came across while working
Teaser image of something I was testing
A post containing an explanation of the teaser image

Since then, I've actually taken on another contract job that I will probably be dealing with for a while to come. This means that it will be practically impossible for me to do any work on projects like this myself until the job is over, similar to when I was working for SEGA on the Sonic 1 and 2 remasters for mobile platforms. After that, however, I can continue with the "completion" of "v4" "Sonic 1 Megamix" and again look toward the future of the still-developing "Sonic Megamix"

In the mean-time, I've also placed a later Genesis build of Sonic 1 Megamix on SEGA's Steam Workshop. It's actually not a true "release" build, but, well, that's all covered in the description

-Stealth


"5.0"
Posted 21st August 2014
If you use or have used this and end up regretting it, don't blame us. That's not meant to be funny, and I genuinely mean it. If you don't know why, then continue reading first and find out, and see how I was made to have to waste time doing this instead of further developing the game

http://www.teammegamix.com/builds/Sonic_Megamix_June_28_2011_Unstable_Leaked_Early_Alpha_Build_('5.0',_broken,_incomplete,_not_a_legitimate_release,_extreme_spoilers).rar

The above-linked archive contains an in-progress build from mid-2011. It was never intended for release, but shortly after it was built and uploaded in private by one member to show the rest of the team, someone found an exploitable script that was installed by someone else somewhere on the webserver that we use, which was in a place that actually had absolutely nothing to do with us yet made us vulnerable anyway. While exploiting it, they invaded our private folders, saw and downloaded this build, and then released it in an open and explicit attempt to spite "Sonic Retro" even though Megamix is not a "Sonic Retro" project, and several dev team members have little-to-nothing to do with Retro politics. When this person backed down, another person who downloaded it from the then-public links took it upon himself to do nothing more than openly and explicity defy authority and common decency by plastering his name all over it and further distributing it himself. When this left the spotlight, this build was relegated to back-water sites and eventually random youtube videos, which quickly moved up in search ranking and started becoming listed as "suggested videos" on legitimate Megamix teaser and playthrough videos. Slowly, the number of videos containing footage from and links to the leak grew, exponentially increasing the likelihood that anyone would see it, until it finally forced its way into open waters again. It's being incorrectly passed off as "Current Version", "5.0", and "Final", to name the most prominent

We can't afford to care about this anymore, so rather than let people continue spreading misinformation and swelling their egos over doing nothing, we're making it available ourselves with this statement. This is not "a release" in the traditional sense, and we honestly would prefer that you do not download and play it. Do not call it "a release" because the implication is thoroughly misleading. It's unstable in general, it probably doesn't work very well on hardware, and the majority of the new content is unfinished and unpolished, even in cases where it might appear otherwise (Ex: COZ3 appears "complete" because I intended to use it in a private demonstration), yet there are still extreme spoilers. If we intended a release, it would have been polished and stable, so, if for some reason you decide to subject yourself to this build in any way, then it is you who have made the choice to both frustrate yourself and diminish the impact that the final product will have on you by means of spoiling newer content either through extended unofficial viewing materials or especially by experiencing gameplay, some of which will not change much, if at all. This was not our intent, we did not make the decision, we are trying to warn you, and we can not be held responsible

This has become so rampant that we apparently have no choice but to forego calling the next version "5.0" because we do not want this causing confusion with the in-progress build and the future release. Do not call it "Final"; it is far from "Final". If you see any variation of "5.0", it is this build. If you see "Final", check http://www.teammegamix.com, http://www.headcannon.com/hchc/Megamix, and http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Megamix. If it does not appear in all three locations, you are being lied to. If you see it being called "Beta", then that's just plain ignorant, because "Beta" does not occur until after the main gameplay mode is playable from start to finish and its content is considered almost final, thus placing this build firmly in early "Alpha" stage. If you absolutely must call this anything other than "2011 leak", call it "5.0a", and include both the build date of June 28th, 2011 and the fact that it is not a true release somewhere prominent

This is extremely outdated and, again, was never intended for actual release. We are not looking for comments; it is not in a presentable state, nor is anything finished. We are not looking for bug reports; we were in the middle of things and already knew about most issues when this build was taken from us, and current builds are much more stable. We are not looking for suggestions; this is unfinished, unstable, and outdated. We want to make our own decisions and not be told to do what we've already done or would probably have done anyway

The only differences between this distribution and others are the inclusion of this text file both in the package and on the iso image, and the use of the soundtrack that we were using in-development as opposed to broken and/or completely random sets. Tracks 5, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 24, and 25 are placeholders and are not intended for the final game. Track 5 was a WIP track borrowed from Dioxaz's "ArmEggeddon Project", and 25 is an OCRemix by analoq. If you must hear the soundtrack that accompanies the most prominent illegitimate distribution, get it here, but know that it is not sanctioned by us and we are not responsible for its content. The initial leak was not accompanied by a CD soundtrack, and many people posting videos have been filling it in with whatever random thing they wanted

If you have to distribute this build, distribute this complete package, unmodified. If you have to showcase this build or any portion of it, include this complete text, unmodified. If you have to cross-post any of the music tracks, include this complete text, unmodified

Do not assume that Megamix has been "cancelled". After the multitude of times that we've said that it won't be, you must think very poorly of us to believe that we rank among the people who make those claims and then silently give up without admitting to it. Having to constantly say this is getting to be too much



-Stealth


STILL ALIVE
Posted 9th March 2013
A lot is happening in the lives of Team Megamix. Each member is dealing with their own personal circumstances, including but not limited to moves and major job opportunities. This has put Megamix on hiatus, but we're far from finished. Be patient; we want this as much as you do


SITE LAUNCH
Posted 30th January 2012
Welcome to the Team Megamix website, the new home of Sonic the Hedgehog Megamix. We decided to launch this website after all the confusion as to who Sonic the Hedgehog Megamix should be credited to. This will hopefully clear things up a bit, and prevent confusion in the future.

Please bear with us a bit as things aren't exactly complete on this website yet, but rest assured once it is done it'll contain all the information about Team Megamix, Sonic the Hedgehog Megamix and any future projects we decide to do that you could ever want!