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MOVE STUFF ONTO PUBLIC ARTICLE

THEN MOVE/MERGE WHOLE SECTIONS/ARTICLES IF NECESSARY

MERGE DEV/E3 1996 TO PRERELEASE, MOVE IMAGES

Where do we differentiate between "describing the game" and "the development history"? Does X-treme even need to be split between main/PoV/Condor?

  • Disambig: Consider not a straight disambig page but a general-coverage "Sonic X-treme" page, which covers the project as a whole and links to the individual development periods. This might not be necessary (see first bullet point) but would address the issue of our main X-treme page also serving as the main branch era page (when a main X-treme page should ideologically be defined as the whole project, not just its most recognizable form)
  • Intro: Each page's intro needs to state that this is part of the larger X-treme project in the same style of writing, and provide a clear link to earlier/later iterations (maybe at bottom of introduction in dedicated line). Perhaps this can be done in the infobox, like we do with pages like AM2.
  • Development: History (as in press history, prerelease stuff) and Development (what the developers were doing, technical stuff) need to be more clearly distinguished. Any info not on the Development subpage already needs to be moved there, and vice versa. Determine if the split is even necessary (probably, but check). There will be some overlap here. Earlier iterations might not have enough content to warrant a dedicated subpage.

TO DO

  • Redirects, working names, any necessary categories or image tags, etc.
  • Remove Sonic-16 from X-treme articles entirely, including omni.
  • Merge "isometric concept" with Mars
  • Production credits need splitting for: Sonic Mars, Sonic X-treme, Project Condor, SonicPC, but only for Sega (probably). Sonic gets redirects to a central X-treme.
  • ETHOS: With the exception of what needs to be split for automation, everything should be as centralized as possible?
  • Organize and categorize all media. Host anything we're missing.
  • Add descriptions for all magazine entries. List Red Shoes mistakes.
  • Combine pages of Yasuhara's concept art book into a single .PDF (or multiple, if there are a few books)
  • Find magazine issues for Sonic X-treme/Magazine articles.
  • Who is that unknown STI developer?

To add

  • Everything from dumped ROMs
  • Everything from this thread
  • Everything from the Senntient forums
  • Everything from [http://scp.webulate.com SXC)
  • LEGACY: legacy, legacy, legacy
  • Ofer based his engine on Senn's first two Amiga gameplay demos[1]
  • "Ofer and I were already working at our homes on our own version of the game to present to Nakayama-san [when Stolar was hired]" (he likely means Iri) THIS DATE IS IMPORTANT[1]
Unsorted
  • Note in introduction: Peter Morawiec and STI Burbank being aware of X-treme and confirming they are different projects[2][2][3][4]
  • Mars was expected to be completed by June 1995 (Kosaka proposal ref, May 94)
  • SonicPC development might have continued past cancellation into 1997?
  • Hirokazu Yasuhara was brought onto X-treme to assist, and created extensive Act designs for the project. However, his Acts were designed around the concept of Sonic running around in full 3D, which wasn't entirely compatible with how Ofer's gameplay engine presented its viewpoint. Senn states that, had the game used a different camera (for example, one which could rotate around corners), the team could have seen Yasuhara's gameplay design through, but ultimately these Acts never left his concept art notebooks.[5]
  • While Condors focus was getting the boss engine running smoothly and readying it for its May appearance at E3 1996, the actual gameplay mechanics were largely set aside. As a result, Chris Coffin hardcoded a value of 21 lives was for earlier versions of the engine, alongside an automatically-increasing life counter, making screenshots published by the press appear more dynamic.[6] Additionally, the only Zone known to be ported to Condors engine, Jade Gully, once actually featured enemies[7] (despite the dumped version of the Zone containing none whatsoever).

Sonic X-treme

Story

“ "There were numerous storylines for Sonic X-treme. What motivated the game design ranged from the narrative to some game mechanic or element that seemed the strongest and most interesting. Michael Kosaka’s Sonic Mars story helped direct my enemy character designs for the game. Initially they were very “computer” and “tech” inspired but gradually fit more in line with the classic Sonic enemy style as developed between Sonic 1-3. My Sonic Saturn storyline definitely affected the game design by requiring that Sonic rescue not only his friends but Robotnik, too – from a new threat, the Chaos Elementals. Later on, my Sonic Twist storyline was inspired directly by Ofer Alon’s twisting world concept for the game. It really depended on the storyline and what stage of development the game was in at the time, but rarely did the story and gameplay lack strong ties to one another." „

— Designer Chris Senn[8]

The story of Sonic X-treme went through multiple iterations over the game's many years of development.[9] Above all, the game was always intended to be a radical departure from the main Sonic the Hedgehog games in gameplay, and as such, its story does not appear to have been a continuation of the previous games' plot. Specifically, X-treme would not be titled Sonic the Hedgehog 4 for this very reason.[10]. Additionally, while the addition of elements from the Sonic the Hedgehog television series was once considered (particularly the inclusion of characters like Sally Acorn)[5], this does not seem to have gone anywhere. Likewise, a tie-in comic series produced by Archie was considered near beginning of development[5], but equally not followed up on.

“ "While Sonic is away checking on a security alarm in a remote part of the Great Forest, his pals (Sally, Bunnie, Tails and Knuckles) have discovered a strange message from within one of Robotnik’s super computers. [Dr. Robotnik is trying to take over a computer VR world (Micro Mobius) and the message is a plea for help from its peaceful inhabitants.] Sonic returns to Knothole to discover that Robotnik has captured his friends and taken them into his VR world. Sonic attempts to save his friends and thwart Robotnik’s plan to “reformat” Micro Mobius." „

— Producer Michael Kosaka[11]

In the very beginning, producer and team leader Michael Kosaka penned a basic storyline based on classic Sonic the Hedgehog franchise tropes. EXPAND ON KOSAKA'S SONIC MARS STORY HERE.

“ "The "Rings of Order" was part of a simple story generated for a news article in a magazine at a point when the real game story was in progress. The magazine needed something to print and the team wasn’t ready with a final story. The idea behind it leveraged the concept that there were magical rings, special rings, that coincided with the Chaos Emeralds that provided order to the Universe when kept together. Using this as a setup, any number of things could happen - not the least of which was Robotnik stealing them and Sonic trying to "restore order" by replacing them." „

— Designer Chris Senn[12]

Sometime around Spring 1996, the American video game magazine Game Players visited the team at Sega Technical Institute as part of a promotional series of articles on the game's development, titled Sonic's Red Shoe Diaries. Due to their visit being conducted at such a hectic time in development, and to satisfy marketing's desire for a "story" to accompany the series, a new storyline was invented for the piece. RSD STORY HERE.

ENTIRE SECTION ON TIARA HERE. Tiara Boobowski[13][14], daughter of Professor Gazebo Boobowski[15][16][17]. Both are ring-keepers[13][14], with Gazebo likely being the Master Ring Smith.[18][16] This whole "making Rings" concept is from Satam/Archie. Both get kidnapped by Robotnik[19][16] Created by Senn as a means to give Sonic a love interest[7], not inspired by Sally[5]

One element notably absent from the project was the character of Dr. Eggman. While reportedly planned for the larger game in some capacity, Chris Senn recalls that no artwork or models were ever made of the character, resigning him exclusively to the game's backstory. If he had been included, he would have been represented in Project Condor.[5] Curiously, Chris Coffin describes Condor's fourth boss fight (the "dumb AI" boss) as resembling a classic boss fight from earlier Mega Drive Sonic games, indicating a possible including of Eggman in a simple Egg Mobile-type fight. (COFFIN FORUM REF)

The story began with Sonic the Hedgehog doing a little surfing[20], when he spots the Bluestreak distress signal in the sky above. Using this signal were two new characters, an old man named Professor Gazebo Boobowski, and his daughter, Tiara Boobowski. These characters were “Keepers of the magical Rings of Order” who practice the ancient art of Ring Smithing[20], and Sonic had been summoned to their castle to foil Robotnik's plans to steal the six Rings of Order.[13][14][20] Somehow, Robotnik manages to steal the Rings, but soon loses them, with players tasked with finding the Rings before the evil Robotnik can use them for his nefarious purposes.[12] According to Wallis, this story was created with combined input from Michael Kosaka, Chris Senn, Rick Wheeler, and Jason Kuo.[12]

SONICPC

“ "Long ago, there was an evil man named Ivo Robotnik. He spent his time building robots that built smoky factories that churned out more robots with one goal: To take over the world. Thank goodness for one courageous creature. Enter Sonic, a fast and furious little hedgehog intent on having fun in the sun. Through the use of his wits and speed, Sonic was able to defeat the evil Robotnik and stop his domination. With help from the creatures of the world, Sonic jettisoned Robotnik to a galaxy far, far away – Hoping the rotund recluse would start his life anew.


For years the world enjoyed peace. The air was clean and the creatures were safe. No more robots. No more terror. But one day, things changed. Creatures began disappearing from their homes without a trace. More and more dark shapes moved soundlessly through the night. A shadow engulfed the world and everyone knew something bad was about to happen...


Sonic, on vacation in the Ice Caps, is snowdashing back to the lodge. Taking turns and jumps at high speeds, the little blue hedgehog is a streak of swiftness. As Sonic drops down the final frozen run, he notices something strange. There is no bridge! “What the--?!” gasps Sonic as he skids, arching to a stop beside a crystal chasm. Sonic wipes his brown in relief.


Suddenly, a huge black spider-like shape rises from the ravine. Sonic leaps in panicked surprise as the scene fades to black...


...Sonic wakes up to find himself captured by this “Space Balloon,” a pod designed by Robotnik to trap life forms for future use. Sonic has been traveling millions of light-years in the Space Balloon returning to Robotnik’s massive Death Egg. Once Sonic realizes what’s going on, he spindashes the heck out of the pod’s computer panels, sending it hurtling toward the Jade Gully jungle planet..."

„

— Designer Chris Senn[21]

RECAP OF SONICPC STORYLINE AND WRAPUP OF ANYTHING ELSE.

Production credits

Sonic Mars (existing credits)
Sonic Mars (new credits)
Sonic X-treme and Project Condor, members not listed below, i.e. "non-core"
Sonic X-treme and Project Condor "Core Team"
Sonic X-treme and Project Condor "Core Team", post-May 95 streamline
Project Condor alone
SonicPC

History

Development

“ "Sonic Xtreme underwent many changes and difficulties that would have tested even the most seasoned game industry veterans. Lack of experience, poor business decisions, ego, politics, over-ambition, bad timing, poor communication... these were some of the ingredients that ultimately spelled disaster for the game. Bringing Sonic into 3D for the first time was a huge challenge - not only for gameplay, but from a technology standpoint as well. This made the job of defining what the game should be more difficult, but doubly so as the technology and platforms changed. In the first year and a half the team went through three programmers, causing the game’s technology to basically restart each time. Problems like this took a toll on the budget and created more pressure for the entire team down the line." „

— Designer Chris Senn[5]

Background
“ "We had artists doing art for levels that hadn't even been concepted out. We had programmers waiting and waiting and waiting until every minute detail had been concepted out, and we had designers doing whatever the hell they wanted. It was a mess and because of the internal politics (the art director had trained his art team to hate the designers and programmers), it was even more difficult to get any work done." „

— Producer Mike Wallis[29]

Sega Technical Institute was founded in 1990 by Mark Cerny as a means to train Western developers in adept game making and support Sega of America's ability to make their own Genesis games, particularly games which could establish new Sonic-like franchises based around mascot characters. His new studio would soon be joined by much of Sonic the Hedgehog's Japanese development team and a slew of other developers from Sega of Japan, who moved to the Bay Area and began working on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 199x. Despite the two teams working closely together, Japanese management reportedly held a distrust of American handling of their flagship franchise[22], and the Japanese side of STI frequently isolated itself to work alone.The two groups also clashed over work ethic, with the Western side of STI already known for its notoriously-slow development environment by 1992 - attributed by designer Peter Morawiec to a generous budget and lack of oversight.[3]

To compound matters, fellow staff member Don Goddard recalls that the studio had very particular rules for its developers, particularly requiring an idea or piece of programming to be fully completed before anything further could be worked on. "Sega is the only place I've been at where you had to program the most optimized version of your code before they would let you move on to a new programming concept."[25] This issue was only exacerbated by STI management, which began favoring style over substance. Stieg Hedlund recalls that the need for constantly presenting projects for check-ins with management slowed down the creative process, as "the atmosphere encouraged presentations that were all surface and no substance, since there was no time or forum to go into depth. We became adept at creating MTV-style smash-cut videos."[30]

STI's lethargic development speed was even something the public was aware of, with the company's official explanation being the result of "approaching the game's design with a spirit of adventure and uncertainty", and that the developers were "leaving the [design of the] project open for as long as possible" until a team member thought of an idea. "Everyone has their own mental image of how the game should come together."[31]

Despite these issues, Sonic the Hedgehog was still considered Sega Technical Institute's central franchise[30], and one that would enjoy nearly limitless company resources behind its development. However, political issues, unexpected setbacks, and even life-threatening illnesses would eventually threatened to derail the Sonic X-treme project as a whole.

32X
“ "Michael was studying the previous Sonic games and creating the design document for the game…I seem to remember making some 2D side-view animations of Sonic at that early stage. My first real artwork consisted of two animations demonstrating the game concept. They were flat-shaded and looked like actual games in action. I even made ring-counters that incremented when Sonic picked them up. These animations were to be used to sell the concept to the executives." „

— Designer Chris Senn[22]

A Western-developed Sega Technical Institute Sonic game had been planned by the division for some time. SONIC-16 RECAP HERE. While this project was unrelated to any later Sonic games, the idea would stick around and still be fresh in the memory of a couple of STI developers.

Tasked by SoA management sometime around mid 1994[22] to begin development on a Sonic the Hedgehog title for the upcoming 32X, the project was intended as a launch game for the system, leaving the small team scrambling to work as fast as possible by Christmas 1994.[22] STI was very much inspired to move to 3D after the release of Virtua Fighter[30], with Sonic intended to be a 3D model early in development.[5] Unfortunately, the game design during this early stage wasn't fully formed enough to determine if the 32X hardware could even run the game they were planning.[23]

The development team (sometimes identified by Roger Hector as "Sonic Team"[32]) was being lead by Michael Kosaka, who created a design document for the game by studying previous titles in the Sonic franchise, and also penned the earliest known story for the game.[8] Designer Chris Senn was also brought onto the team at this time[8], working as a character designer[32] and animator, as was artist and 3D modeler Ross Harris (who created the game's 3D models in Softimage 3D and later digitized into pre-rendered sprites[4]). The team soon realized the 32X would only be able to reasonably render a few hundred polygons at once (nowhere near what they would need for a fun game world), so programmer Don Goddard created a 3D Doom-like engine which could smoothly rotate 90 degrees in any direction (including up and down) allowing for "loops". He says the team came up with a single concept for a "rail-style" game around this technology (likely referring to linear, Crash Bandicoot-like gameplay), but as the original intention was a free-roaming 3D game, this experiment was scrapped.[25]

Goddard later programmed a "blazingly fast scaled/rotated sprite routine" which could display thousands of sprites at once, and created a demo where Sonic runs around on a black background with about a thousand Rings bouncing around the screen. Running at 60fps, it was playable at Sega of America's Daddys and Daughters Day 1994. Shinobu Toyoda, company executive and one of the project's few supporters outside of Roger Hector[25], brought his daughter to work that day, and they both played and enjoyed the brief demo - despite Goddard admitting it to be a very basic one.[25][29]

Following the success of Goddard's demo, the development team began creating new concepts entirely out of multiple sprites, including Senn designing multiple monsters constructed out of Rings. Goddard recalls they were possibly going to design a specific zone or two populated with these Ring creatures, which would appear as either a stack of rings or a giant one, and would slink around the playfield. When hit, they would explode into smaller rings which could be collected as a unique gameplay mechanic.[25]

Senn would not only begin creating new characters during this time (like Tiara Boobowski, seen during the October 1994 airing of the MTV television special Rock the Rock), but also produced a number of key early test animations for the project. Produced in his Amiga 500 computer in PROGRAMHERE, he created a total of three demos for the project. The first two are potential gameplay concepts, featuring Sonic running around small gamefields suspended in the sky and demonstrating how the new 3D gameplay could possibly work. The third was a bonus stage conceptualized by Michael Kosaka, in which Sonic would roll through a hollow circuit of tube attempting to collect as many Rings as possible.[5]

Despite being in development for the 32X, Sega of America management was reportedly already considering moving the game to the company's following console (what would become the Saturn). Because the team didn't have a solid answer on the choice of platform (nor any choice in the matter [33]), Senn's Amiga demos were rendered on the conservative side, with flat-shaded graphics more comparable to the 32X.[22]

These early tests were used to pitch the gameplay concept to company executives Tom Kalinske, Shinobu Toyoda, Yuji Naka, and a small group of others, who said that the graphics would have a hard time competing with games like Donkey Kong Country.[22] The executives insisted on a stronger focus around classic franchise staples like loops and Rings, disregarding the team's attempts to design a new game concept specifically for a 3D environment - and nearly bringing Senn to tears during the meeting. According to Goddard, Sega's management was asking the team for a game more similar to what would be seen in the later Sonic Adventure, but years earlier by a smaller team on less powerful hardware.[25] To make matters worse, Yuji Naka himself simply shook his head, turned to Chris Senn, and said "good luck."[22] Regardless, the team was able to argue that the graphics could improve, the videos showed the early gameplay concept clearly enough[22], and further Sonic staples could always be added down the line, and the project continued without issue. Sometime during this era, the game gained its working title of Sonic Mars: a reference to the Mars codename of the 32X hardware. Later in development, this name would evolve into a sort-of premise for the game's story, at one point becoming Sonic on Mars.

“ "Sonic Xtreme underwent many changes and difficulties that would have tested even the most seasoned game industry veterans. Lack of experience, poor business decisions, ego, politics, over-ambition, bad timing, poor communication... these were some of the ingredients that ultimately spelled disaster for the game. Bringing Sonic into 3D for the first time was a huge challenge - not only for gameplay, but from a technology standpoint as well. This made the job of defining what the game should be more difficult, but doubly so as the technology and platforms changed. In the first year and a half the team went through three programmers, causing the game’s technology to basically restart each time. Problems like this took a toll on the budget and created more pressure for the entire team down the line." „

— Designer Chris Senn[5]

While the game would miss the 32X's November 1994 release date, the team did gain an additional member during this time, with programmer Don Goddard being brought on in September.[34][24] Unfortunately, this was soon followed by the departure of the team's leader, Michael Kosaka, in March 1995[35], who quit Sega Technical Institute over political tensions between him and STI director Dean Lester - leaving the project with no one in charge. As a response, Senn became the game's temporary producer while management looked for another to replace him. Ultimately, both Roger Hector and Dean Lester decided he should remain in this role, increasing the number of Senn's already-considerable responsibilities. However, this allowed him to take Kosaka's former gameplay design in a direction which excited him more. As Senn describes it, Kosaka's design was solidly-constructed and more in-line with traditional Sonic the Hedgehog games, but he wanted to explore the potential of approaching these established concepts in new ways.[5]

Following this shakeup, Dean Lester also left the company around August or September of that year, being replaced as director by Manny Granillo.[22] Sega Technical Institute did eventually move Michael Wallis onto the project in late 1995 to serve as the game's primary producer from then forward, in an attempt to save the project from slipping into further stagnation.[29] Still, this was not enough to develop the kind of game management was looking for, and the team's leader, Don Goddard, knew that they would need more hands on the project: specifically, the team would need a second programmer. Gary McTaggart, an outside programmer experienced in 3D engines recommended by STI tools developer Mark Kupper, reportedly had a great interview with the company. Despite being cheap to acquire, management dragged their feet and he was never hired.[25] Later, Goddard made his own recommendation, Midway's John Morgan (of Super Off-Road fame). He also had a very positive interview and was equally qualified for the project, but was never called back either.[25]

Following this, a third attempt to acquire a programmer was made. Dean Lester told management he'd found a software engineer from the Middle East by the name of Ofer Alon, who'd previously worked on Astro Chase 3D for the Macintosh. Alon was flown into company headquarters, and while he reportedly interviewed well, Goddard felt Alon had a superior attitude in regards to knowing what was best for the game. Additionally, he was also very expensive to hire. To the team's surprise, Alon was soon brought onboard, and began working at STI 3 weeks later.[25] This would not come without issues, as while innately talented, Alon was not the easiest to work with. According to Goddard, he would reportedly agree to gameplay designs when speaking to fellow staff, but would later ignore these requests and perform his own work - only really ever getting along with designer Chris Senn).[25]

Sometime in 1995, Goddard's team were introduced to early specifications for what would eventually become the Sega Saturn were extremely turned off, seeing it as a complicated mess to develop for. Still, they began running technical evaluations and familiarizing themselves with the hardware, with programmer Hirokazu Yasuhara suggesting development be moved to this new system outright.[5] Programmer Christina Coffin was also brought on board, described by Goddard as being a passionate developer and fun to work with, despite her tendency to work alone unwittingly coming off as paranoia to others - and resulting in her making a few enemies among the staff, particularly Ofer Alon. Senn recalls Coffin being "a wild stallion" who had difficulty taking direction, "but when unleashed did great stuff."[25] During this time, Goddard was still attempting to get Alon to cooperate or listen to any of their requests. He continued to refuse, and began locking himself inside his office for the entirety of the business day (reportedly creeping Goddard out, who worked in the office next to Alon's).[25]

As 1995 progressed, the slow and uncoordinated nature of development was taking its toll. Tensions arose between team members and Dean Lester[25], and artist Dean Ruggles was also disliked by the staff for leaving work early every day (and once walking out in the middle of a team meeting).[5][25] Alon was continuing to be uncooperative, Coffin was isolating herself from others, and some staff were working at a notably slow pace; programmer Chris Ebert reportedly spent ten months coding a 32X demo in which a camera would fly over a single line of ten polygons.[25] To compound matters, when the team put in requests to management for development resources, these requests would often go unanswered or unfulfilled for months at a time.[25]

Making things worse was the 32X itself. It was difficult to program for even before release, but now that it was on sale, it was performing notoriously poorly, and Sega of America was less than enthusiastic about releasing a flagship Sonic game for such a platform. Per Wallis, due to the relatively short development time spend working on the platform, "releasing X-treme for the 32X wasn't even a consideration".[23] As a result, management ordered the project moved off the 32X entirely around Fall of 1995[22][2], wasting months of development for the system.[7] Initially, the chosen target platform was the Sega Saturn they had previously experimented with, and development was briefly moved to the upcoming CD-based system. This would not last long, however, as Sega of America quickly pulled an about-face and changed the platform once again; this time, presenting the team with something entirely different.

COVERAGE OF THE NAME SONIC MARS AND TRANSITION TO V08

Saturn V08

A key component of Sega of America's then-dispute with Sega of Japan was over the upcoming Sega Saturn, as Western management had voiced a strong dislike of the console for some time, particularly in regards to its ability to stand up to the 3D capabilities of the Sony PlayStation.[25] This dislike was so strong that the company management had partnered with (and reportedly acquired a third of) Nvidia, an American technology company specializing in graphics cards, for the development of an entirely new 32-bit system. Confusingly named the Saturn V08 (also known by the name Riva TNT[22][7] to distinguish it from the Japanese-developed Saturn[25]), management supported the platform move with both an increase in Sega Technical Institute's on-hand staff and development resources. With the move off the 32X came a new working title for the game, this time signifying everything the new hardware power offered: Sonic X-treme.[7]

The system was first introduced to STI's tech director Robert Morgan for initial evaluations[36], and then presented as a potential "Saturn-killer" to the team by Roger Hector and a group of other executives. Unfortunately, the decision was made to first introduce the system to Ofer Alon alone. This conversation was accidentally overheard by Don Goddard, who was bothered that he and his team were being left out of these initial discussions; something which directly led to his later departure from the company.[25]

Regardless, the system was described as being extremely capable at the kind of 3D rendering expected in the 32-bit era. Particularly, the technology featured the unique ability to morph polygon vertexes in-hardware for performance gains (meaning curved surfaces required less polygons to display), and even boasted built-in hardware colored lighting.[25] Ofer was very briefly tasked with evaluating the technical specifics of the system, and Goddard was developing experimental game prototypes for it (particularly the extensively-developed UFO demo), but integrating the technology's unique curved polygon capabilities into the existing graphics pipeline was reportedly a nightmare. During this time, the team never actually received any V08 documentation, solid technical specifications, or development hardware[29], resulting in challenges for those working with the proposed hardware, and a majority of the staff having little to work on in the interim.[23] Despite this, management had supposed intentions of using the game as a launch title for the system.[7]

This period only lasted for about three months[29], as other elements within Sega of America's management ultimately decided to decline in investing further in the platform. Nvidia did apparently manufacture a physical test version of the V08, but was significantly rushed. This was shipped to Sega of America in mid 1995, who installed the hardware and powered it on, only for it to instantly fail and display nothing more than a black screen. This failure, compounded with Sega of Japan's orders to halt the project[7] , resulted in management reportedly dropping the V08 on the spot[25] (despite this, the chip would continue to be developed into the commercially-released NV1 graphics card). Additionally, Goddard recalls that the video game industry industry was simply too used to rendering with standard triangles, and preferred more established techniques of building 3D shapes with standard polygons. This sentiment was mirrored by SegaSoft (STI's largest internal competitor who, as described by Goddard, was jealous of the division's unlimited funding).[25] Despite this, the final Saturn would utilize a complex rendering system not using triangles whatsoever.

During this time, Goddard and Alon had also been courted by another American technology company, 3Dfx, who promised a chip with the unique ability for development emulators to perform 1:1 with the final product, although nothing became of this.[25] Unfortunately, this only increased the amount of time the project wasted on alternative technology. Ultimately, with the cancellation of the V08 and Sega of Japan's order to transition to the actual Saturn, Goddard was informed that all his work would again be going to waste. Upon hearing this, he quit the project, and a few months later in June 1995 quit Sega entirely.[25] This once again left the project without a team leader, and this time facing a 32-bit system more complex than any they had programmed for.

Saturn

Following management moving the project to the Saturn in Fall 1995, the team was split into two groups: one group which would develop the "main branch" of the game, consisting of Chris Senn and Ofer Alon, and a second solely dedicated to developing the game's boss rounds, lead by Christina Coffin.[29] A number of notable staff joined the project around this time, such as associate producer Rick Wheeler[5] and 3D artist and animator Alan Ackerman.[26] Despite previous claims, Sega of Japan did support the project in some capacity, as around this time, Hirokazu Yasuhara and Kunitake Aoki were enlisted to aid in development.[8] Management also attempted to foster a sense of camaraderie among the team by creating a series of promotional Sonic X-treme pins, which were awarded to the game's developers.[25]

Unfortunately, the team was still struggling with design difficulties related to size and perspective in 3D environments[9], and struggling with the concept of early 3D gameplay in general.[37] While the game's Zones were coming together, how Sonic would actually play in those Zones was still up in the air. In particular, the limited camera view in 3D games was a serious hindrance to gameplay, as it was difficult to maintain Sonic-like speeds while still being able to see upcoming obstacles and enemies. To solve this, Ofer Alon created the concept of the reflex lens[28][16]: gameplay would be presented with a "fisheye" perspective, distorting the screen to allow the camera to expand the visible play area.[5][31] While this did somewhat alleviate the issue of limited reaction time at high speeds, Goddard speculates the feature was a means to cover up the lack of true curved environments.[25] Regardless, the addition of the reflex lens sparked a much-needed sense of inspiration amongst the development team.[31]

Christina Coffin served as lead programmer and designer of X-treme's boss rounds, which were created in an entirely new engine developed separately from the various iterations of the main game. As they were still learning how to program for the Saturn (compounded by the platform being notoriously hard to code for), development of the boss engine took longer than expected.[25] Still, much like Chris Senn, Coffin's tenacity help keep the team's head above water, with her pulling double-duty as both programmer and designer. She worked alongside Jason Kuo, who designed the layout of the boss stages.[7] According to Peter Morawiec, Coffin and her boss engine team were largely tasked with "hacking together some quick demos" to appease company executives's expectations for its E3 1996 appearance.[38]

To create X-treme's boss arenas, Coffin drew inspiration from her passion playing Sega games. In particular, the engine's distinctive circular boss arenas were directly inspired by the Core Guard System fight in Treasure's 1993 Mega Drive game Gunstar Heroes, which features a similar circular layout. Coffin also took inspiration from the rendering engine used in NiGHTS into Dreams in her contrasting-colored backlights to keep Sonic from looking too flat[39], and the use of similar horizon-fogging techniques to mask uneven horizon lines.[40] She attributes rumors of X-treme using Sonic Team's actual engine to these similarities, definitively stating that she never used the NiGHTS engine, and clarifying that her and Yuji Naka did not see eye to eye during development.[39]

Coffin had intended her engine's Sonic to be represented by a fully 3D model. Models of the character were created by Kunitake Aoki during his work on Dynamite Deka[41], and were implemented by Coffin to take advantage of what she calls a quad bug, "where if you collapse opposite points of a saturn quad you get a triangle with one edge that's collapsed in and smoothly concave in screenspace at the pixel level."[39] Coffin would utilize this "bug" to demonstrate how enemies can only be safely attacked from certain angles, and for rendering terrain hazards like spike pits.[42]

It was during this phase of development (once X-treme became "real" on the Saturn) that Sega of America began its marketing push for the game. Among these was a largely Sega-authored series of three promotional articles in Game Players magazines titled Sonic's Red Shoe Diaries. While the series did provide some valuable insight into the game's development (including photographs of STI's studio and team members), Senn recalls the articles were written before the team even had much to show, and had the unintended effect of increasing the cycle of marketing hype and added to the team's already-mounting E3 1996 stresses.[38]Media:ElectronicGamingMonthlyUnknownIssue2.gif[43]

Thankfully, Alon's gameplay engine (which the main branch team was using to construct its worlds) was extensively programmed and well-considered. Originally developed for Macintosh computers[38] over the course of about a year (with extensive input from Senn) and then ported to Windows 95 for use by other STI developers, the editor soon found itself being used by a great number of the team's staff. It also boasted an extensive feature list, such as the reflex lens, the ability to rotate the world at specific points in the stage, and "dynamic spline paths" which would locks players into a winding, high-speed path (a means of maintaining traditional 2D Sonic the Hedgehog speed with the limited 3D camera).[12] However, as it was being frequently updated, it was sometimes difficult to teach, with only Alon, Senn, and Rick Wheeler knowing the program in its entirety.[5] Reportedly, Alon's engine was built with so much consideration that it was designed to be used in future projects.[5] Game Players magazine claimed Alon's tools were considered for use in a potential X-treme follow-up[44], but this never came to pass.

“ "Somewhere between six and eight months prior to the project’s cancellation, management had investigated outside options to help insure completion of the game. They chose a company called ‘POV’. The effort was led by the Technical Director Robert Morgan, one of the original founders of POV, without the knowledge of Ofer Alon (or Christian Senn). When ready, management brought both Ofer and Senn into an office and unveiled their new plan to finish the game. The plan included removing Ofer as technical lead of the project and shifting technical control over to Robert Morgan, who would lead POV. Management presented POV’s efforts on-screen which included a computer monitor with an animating Sonic sprite fixed on-screen, a ground plane with a checkerboard texture on it, and a shaded sphere floating in the sky - without interaction of any kind." „

— Designer Chris Senn[5]

Around early 1996, STI tech director Robert Morgan took Ofer Alon's engine and tools to Point of View Software, a company co-founded in 199x by Morgan, in an attempt to get the engine's Saturn output to render at a playable framerate. Unfortunately, this was done entirely without either Alon or Chris Senn's knowledge. Senn remembers the two being called into a meeting in Morgan's office, where they learned of these efforts for the first time. A company security guard was posted outside the meeting, with someone in management considering the possibility that Alon would grow violent upon hearing he was being replaced as lead programmer; Morgan would now be assuming that role, with Alon demoted to a regular programmer. Senn considered this both backstabbing and drastic. To make things worse, their "hope" for the project's success was demonstrated to the two as a demonstration ROM provided by Point of View. "They showed us the Sonic sprite we were already using floating in the upper-right of the screen, a checkerboard ground, a rotating shaded polygonal shape floating in the air and maybe a ring sprite animating." Sensing the pair's astonishment, a Sega of America representative attempted to frame the unimpressive demo as the start of something larger, saying "we're on a mission [to]...", at which point they were interrupted by Alon, who said "have a nice trip" and walked out of the meeting.[5]

All of this deeply insulted an already-overworked Alon, who was dedicating incredible hours on getting his engine to where it was, only for it to be disregarded so easily. While management tried to justify the plan by framing it as simply utilizing Point of View to port Ofer's work to the Saturn, Senn feels this "trivialized the complexity of Ofer's technology and proved there was a very different understanding of what was involved to port the existing technology." Adding insult to injury was management's insistence on referring to Alon as "just another programmer", despite him having created X-treme's engine, level editor, reflex lens, and world rotation features, among others. Senn believes Ofer was held to unfair expectations, being hyped up by Roger Hector (as an apparent MENSA genius) and being expensive to hire, alongside choosing to work from home later in the project; he attributes this to Alon's preference of isolating himself as a programmer to avoid distractions. Despite maintaining a consistent 16 hours a day, 7 day a week workweek dedicated solely to coding for the game, Senn thinks management likely viewed his absence from STI's offices as either laziness or vacationing - a treatment which would directly lead to Alon's later departure from Sega.[5] It was even rumored that Morgan withheld a development kit Ofer needed to translate his PC work to the Saturn, so that Ofer would "fail", and Robert could use a company that he co-founded to become the "savior" of the project[5]

As a result of Morgan and Point of View's intervention, Alon and Senn made the decision to get together and continue development of Ofer's work, intending to show up Morgan's version of the game and prove management's error firsthand.[5] This led Alon to work feverishly on expanding his editor, but only on his iteration: both Sega Technical Institute and Point of View were stuck using an older, simpler version of both the gameplay engine and level editor programs, with STI in particular continuing to build stages with "a very rudimentary version ... based on an old version of Ofer's editor".[5][12] This is particularly notable in Point of View's version, as the company was unable to achieve the game's trademark reflex lens.[5] Alon and Senn would continue working on this PC-based version alongside their main work within STI.[5]

MAKE IT A LITTLE CLEARER THAT POV WAS REALLY ONLY WORKING WITH THE SATURN OUTPUT OF ALON'S PC ENGINE. AND WRITE A BETTER TRANSITION.

In March 1996, Shoichiro Irimajiri (a head Sega of Japan executive) visited Sega Technical Institute, where Wallis and the team demonstrate their progress on the game's Point of View Software branch.[5] Unfortunately, he is very disappointed with the state X-treme is in, reportedly "outraged to see how much was left to be done."[12] However, before he leaves, he is also shown Project Condor, which he likes, requesting the entire game be remade in Coffin's engine.[29] Alon/Senn's SonicPC was reportedly in a demonstrable state by Iri's visit, but because he was already so disappointed, Senn got cold feet and failed to bring it up before Irimajiri's departure.[5] By the time Alon had caught up with the group, PC motherboard slung under his arm, Irimajiri had already left.[5] With this, Point of View's was dropped from the project[5], and all official development on the game was moved over to Project Condor and Coffin's boss engine.

INCORPORATE ABOVE: Following Irimajiri's visit and the cancellation of Point of View's involvement, all future development was moved solely to the boss engine, with any content already produced on Point of View's technology requiring migration to Coffin's engine.

“ "I went to the exec producer and VP and told them the only way we had any semblance of hope of finishing this game for Christmas was to give me the reins, get rid of the political crap, isolate a core team, and give us the tools necessary to get the job done. SOA/STI management agreed, we pulled a core group of 4 artists, 2 programmers (+ 1 contractor), and 3 designers into the old STI location and we get to work." „

— Producer Mike Wallis[29]

The project appears to have gained its official nickname during this time: Project Condor. While seemingly always known under that name, artist Ross Harris also decided to create a placeholder title screen by the name Sonic Saturn. Chris Coffin clarifies this was purely done on a whim, and was not a working title for the game; only meant to represent Sonic's appearance on the Saturn[4] (and equally unrelated to STI Burbank's Sonic Saturn). Still, even with the project's talent consolidated on a single task, the Christmas deadline was about half a year away. As a result, Coffin was often left to work alone on her programming for long times, dedicating herself to making that deadline. During her experimentation with Condor, she tested the game with the 3D Analog Pad, and it reportedly played "so much better." She pushed for the game to require the controller, but this idea does not seem to have panned out.[45] She also recalls never seriously looking into RAM Cartridge support due to the project's already-tight schedule.

Four bosses were programmed for Condor: Fang the Sniper, Mecha Sonic (actually Metal Sonic), an "evil Sonic clone", and an unnamed fourth boss. These first three had reasonably-polished AI before the game's cancellation with Fang's stage even featuring mushroom Springs from Mushroom Hill Zone.Media:SonicXtreme Condor SAT Fang1.png[46] The fourth, described by Coffin as a "dumb" AI which operated similar to simple boss fights from earlier Sonic the Hedgehog games, required fewer resources and ran more smoothly.[45] This boss appears to have taken the form of the green gemstone fight playable at E3 1996. These bosses all all notably larger than Sonic, particularly in regard to Mecha Sonic; this was done not only because seeing such large characters was considered impressive, but that the increased size made the bosses easier to hit for players potentially inexperienced with 3D gameplay.[5]

REWORK BELOW TWO PARAS INTO: 1st: Continued development and 2nd: Conclusion of E3 buildup.

Condor uses the Sega Graphics Library, which the game was running on for its playable appearance at E3 1996[47][48] Its appearance at the show used baked-in[49] gourad light-sourcing[39][50], something considered quite an achievement for the time. This effect is most notable when boss characters throw a projectile (such as [[Fang the Sniper]'s grenade)[49], and as pointed out by Coffin herself, is a feature notably absent from the earliest versions of the engine shown to the press.

Coffin designed her engine to be largely modular and tweakable on the fly, specifically to combat the slow speed of traditionally using a CD emulator. As a result, much of the project's testing was not done on CD (instead run directly from development hardware), and the version of Condor publicly dumped in 2016 is a "very old tester app" described nothing more as a sandbox for Sonic to run around in.[40]

Around April 1996, Bernie Stolar was hired by the company and becomes CEO of Sega of America. Learning of the troubled X-treme project, he met with Roger Hector and requested that he isolate the best of Sega Technical Institute, provide them with all the resources they need, and have them focus on nothing but completing the game. As part of this process, he visited STI and spoke directly with Wallis, who told him the only semblance of hope for finishing X-treme by Christmas was to give Wallis the control he previously lacked as a producer and eliminate the political issues restraining development. Management agreed, and together, a core group of staff was chosen and moved into Sega Technical Institute's former offices at 275 (255?) Redwood Shores[29] (NEEDS EXACT ADDRESS), where they were provided food and sleeping material in preparation for their daily 15-16 hour shifts.[7]

During Stolar's initial exchange with STI, Wallis consulted with the development team for possible ideas to improve development, and it is determined that the gameplay engine from Sonic Team's NiGHTS into Dreams would be extremely beneficial to completing the game by Christmas, particularly in the time saved by not having to create their own development tools.[7] Following this, the team received "some editors", and shortly after, "the engine code" for NiGHTS. After two weeks of the team familiarizing themselves with the tools, Stolar returns to STI and informs Wallis that Sega of Japan (specifically Yuji Naka) forbade them from using Sonic Team's code, with Naka threatening to quit if they were allowed to proceed. Left without a choice, the team acquiesces to this request, and an additional two to three weeks of development are wasted.[29]

Curiously, several sources indicate the development team did not actually receive the NiGHTS engine after all. The primary source for this claim, Mike Wallis, has recalled a different explanation in each of his three interviews on the subject, with one even claiming that Yuji Naka only threatened to quit IF they received his engine.[7] Another statement of his claims Sega of Japan did promise to actually deliver the requested tools, but later pulled the request. Naka himself has chimed in on this, recalling he does not remember such a request, and even if it had been made, the extreme complexity of the NiGHTS engine would have made it nearly impossible to port by a team inexperienced with the code. This confusion likely stemmed from magazine articles comparing the similarity of the game to Project Condor[47]Media:SonicXtremeUnknownFrenchArticle.jpg[51], and the fact that both are running on the same underlying Sega Graphics Library code.[50] Both Coffin[39] and Senn have definitively refuted the claim, with the latter clarifying "No. This was discussed at one point, but never became a reality. The Boss engine Christina Coffin created provided a similar look, albeit simpified, to the NiGHTS engine, but the actual engine was never shared or used." (SENN XTREME FAQ REF)

[29] Regardless, the team did not get access to the development tools they were seeking, and began developing their own tools from scratch.[7] Further, May 1996 saw the team streamlined once again, removing 1/3 of the staff and placing even more responsibilities on Chris Senn's shoulders.[12]

SENN'S BELOW LOCATION AND DATE NEEDS DOUBLE-CHECKING, HE WAS LIKELY WORKING FROM HOME AT THIS POINT.

SHOULD A "DECLINE" HEADER BE INSERTED HERE?

Around this time, work on Alon and Senn's private PC version of the game, SonicPC, was being readied for demonstration. The pair cleaned up four levels, placed enemies and obstacles, and pitched the concept to SegaSoft head Greg Suarez. Unfortunately, he refused to invest money in the project, as the division was usually only comfortable with ports of existing games[7], with Senn speculating that Iri's request to see everything moved to Project Condor may have played a motivating factor as well.[5] With this, SonicPC was officially canned, leaving Senn's levels 60% complete at best, with the designer estimating it would have taken the pair about six months to produce a completed game.[5] Due to this, and because of frustration suffered from his frequent mistreatment by management, Alon left the company around July or August 1996, leaving Senn as one of few core developers left on the project.

To handle the new workload resulting from Alon's departure, Senn permanently moved out of his apartment, stored all his belongings in a company storeroom, and physically moved into the old STI offices directly besides Condor (located at 255 Redwood Shores[7]), all in an attempt to migrate older work into Coffin's engine by Christmas.[29] While officially working separately from the Condor team, Senn was literally working next door to their office, and was able to visit them in-person whenever necessary. Around this time, the main game's Acts were nearing 80% completion.[29]

Unfortunately, the overburdening of X-treme's lead developers had finally caught up with the project. Condors lead programmer, Christina Coffin, grew desperately ill from overwork and was forced to duck out of the project late in development. Even worse, Chris Senn developed a terrible pneumonia, but continued to work as much as he possibly could until informed that his health was literally failing. "I took on far more than was healthy... and after 2 years I became extremely ill... a nurse told me he thought I had 6 months to live, actually. I lost 25 pounds, was sick all the time, had cramps... and still went in to work... all due to too much stress." During this era, he recalls spending much of his non-working time vomiting or incapacitated, and a Spring 1996 photograph (taken for Game Players Red Shoe Diaries) reveals his limbs had grown nearly emaciated by the end of development.[5] Shocked at how badly and how quickly their conditions worsened, Wallis informed management that the project could not continue, and the game would not make Christmas. With this, Sonic X-treme was officially cancelled.[5]

The following August, Stolar reveals that he has been working on an enhanced Saturn port of Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island as a backup strategy should X-treme fail[7], and offers to make Wallis a producer on the game. This offer is accepted, and Wallis went on to manage development teams in the United States, Japan, and Europe to release the Saturn version later that October.[29] However, a later Wallis interview contradicts this, instead claiming the Saturn version of Flickies' Island was always in development and is unrelated.[23]

Following X-treme's cancellation, Coffin returned to Developer Technical Assistance, where the discoveries she made during the development of Condor were passed onto the division and implemented in the development of a number of later Saturn games, such as Burning Rangers.[52] A Sega of America representative also claimed that certain design ideas and art went on to inspire elements of Sonic R, but did not clarify which.Media:GameProUnknownIssuePage42.jpg[53]

MOVE ABOVE TWO PARAGRAPHS TO LEGACY?

Preservation

  • Everything missing here. This is its own history project.
  • 2006 "auction"[38]
  • Senn doesn't/never had protos.[5] Goddard thinks he has "code for a demo or two" from the 32X era of X-treme, as well as a promotional "billboard".[25] Coffin doesn't have any protos, or already contributed what she has. Is she the source for one of the dumps?[40]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 [ ]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Interview: Peter Morawiec (2000-12-27) by ICEknight
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Interview: Peter Morawiec (2007-04-20) by Sega-16
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/presenting.7325/page-4#post-128889
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 5.22 5.23 5.24 5.25 5.26 5.27 5.28 5.29 5.30 5.31 5.32 5.33 5.34 5.35 5.36 5.37 5.38 5.39 5.40 5.41 5.42 5.43 5.44 5.45 5.46 5.47 5.48 5.49 http://www.senntient.com:80/projects/xtreme/FAQ.html (Wayback Machine: 2011-03-17 06:48)
  6. ↑ https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/presenting.7325/page-4#post-128853
  7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19 7.20 7.21 7.22 7.23 7.24 7.25 7.26 Interview: Mike Wallis by Pachuka
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Interview: Chris Senn (2013-09-12) by Sega Addicts
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Interview: Mike Wallis (1996-05-04) by Game Players
  10. ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 10.14 10.15 10.16 10.17 10.18 10.19 10.20 [gameplayers, issue 0906, page 38 gameplayers, issue 0906, page 38]
  11. ↑ http://xtreme.projectsonic.com/story/story_0sonicmars.html (Wayback Machine: 2008-02-01 05:55)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 http://www.lostlevels.org/200403/200403-xtreme.shtml
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 [gameplayers, issue 0906, page 40 gameplayers, issue 0906, page 40]
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 [nextgeneration, issue 19, page 67 nextgeneration, issue 19, page 67]
  15. ↑ [ssm, issue 9, page 33 ssm, issue 9, page 33]
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 [segamagazin, issue 32, page 6 segamagazin, issue 32, page 6]
  17. ↑ [hobbyconsolas, issue 57, page 16 hobbyconsolas, issue 57, page 16]
  18. ↑ [gamepro, issue 95, page 44 gamepro, issue 95, page 44]
  19. ↑ [egm, issue 84, page 74 egm, issue 84, page 74]
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 [segapower, issue 81, page 42 segapower, issue 81, page 42]
  21. ↑ http://www.senntient.com/projects/xtreme/sxc/story/story_16sonicpc.html (Wayback Machine: 2015-06-23 14:42)
  22. ↑ 22.00 22.01 22.02 22.03 22.04 22.05 22.06 22.07 22.08 22.09 22.10 22.11 22.12 22.13 22.14 22.15 22.16 22.17 22.18 22.19 http://www.lostlevels.org/200403/200403-xtreme.shtml (Wayback Machine: 2023-09-01 08:21)
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 Interview: Mike Wallis (2007-06-19) by Sega-16
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Interview: Don Goddard (2011-11) by Torentsu
  25. ↑ 25.00 25.01 25.02 25.03 25.04 25.05 25.06 25.07 25.08 25.09 25.10 25.11 25.12 25.13 25.14 25.15 25.16 25.17 25.18 25.19 25.20 25.21 25.22 25.23 25.24 25.25 25.26 25.27 25.28 25.29 Interview: Don Goddard (2008-05) by hxc
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 http://alanackerman.blogspot.com/2012/01/alans-resume.html (Wayback Machine: 2023-10-01 04:48)
  27. ↑ http://www.flyinggoat.com/Resume/resume.html (Wayback Machine: 2023-10-12 05:49)
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 [mms, issue 45, page 26 mms, issue 45, page 26]
  29. ↑ 29.00 29.01 29.02 29.03 29.04 29.05 29.06 29.07 29.08 29.09 29.10 29.11 29.12 29.13 http://www.lostlevels.org/200403/timeline.shtml (Wayback Machine: 2023-06-21 01:35)
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Interview: Stieg Hedlund (2006-12-15) by Sega-16
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 [gameplayers, issue 0907, page 43 gameplayers, issue 0907, page 43]
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Roger Hector interview by hxc (October 2005)
  33. ↑ Mike Wallis, Playing at the Next Level, 2015-01-07 email interview by Ken Horowitz
  34. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/don-goddard-37b15b/details/experience/
  35. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-kosaka-99312b1/details/experience/
  36. ↑ Mike Wallis, Playing at the Next Level, 2015-01-07 email interview by Ken Horowitz
  37. ↑ [gameplayers, issue 0906, page 39 gameplayers, issue 0906, page 39]
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 Interview: Peter Morawiec (2006-01-11) by hxc
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 39.3 39.4 https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/presenting.7325/page-3#post-128745
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/presenting.7325/page-3#post-128838
  41. ↑ https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/presenting.7325/page-3#post-128836
  42. ↑ https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/presenting.7325/page-5#post-128926
  43. ↑ File:ElectronicGamingMonthlyUnknownIssue2.gif
  44. ↑ [gameplayers, issue 0909, page 54 gameplayers, issue 0909, page 54]
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/presenting.7325/page-4#post-128847
  46. ↑ File:SonicXtreme Condor SAT Fang1.png
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Interview: Mike Wallis (1996-06-20) by Sega Saturn Magazine (UK)
  48. ↑ [maximum, issue 7, page 73 maximum, issue 7, page 73]
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/presenting.7325/page-5#post-130552
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 [gameplayers, issue 0909, page 55 gameplayers, issue 0909, page 55]
  51. ↑ File:SonicXtremeUnknownFrenchArticle.jpg
  52. ↑ https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/presenting.7325/page-3#post-128797
  53. ↑ File:GameProUnknownIssuePage42.jpg
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