Sonic Amateur Games Expo

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Sonic Amateur Games Expo (SAGE) is a yearly online event for Sonic the Hedgehog fangame developers to chat online and to demonstrate finished and unfinished games they are developing. Started in 2000 by community enigma BlazeHedgehog, the premise of the event was to expand the appeal of fangaming, which is still even today viewed as a sort of taboo given inherent copyright problems. There have been 13 SAGE's to date, which originally took place biannually until the 10th iteration, where the format changed to the annual SAGE we know today

2005

SAGE 2005, sometimes jokingly refered to as SAGE "X", marked the first annual SAGE, breaking the previously set tradition of SAGE being held biannually. Directed by Gamerdude and Smidge204, SAGE 2005 sported a nifty, slick layout and had a host of wonderful projects on display.

SAGE 2005 also marked the event's first guest interview, Ben Hurst, one of the writers for the Sonic The Hedgehog (SATAM) cartoon show, which took place under proctured settings in SAGE's IRC chatroom.

2006

SAGE 2006 almost didn't happen. The director, Koray, had been suffering RL issues that resulted in him disappearing without a word months leading up to the event. Smidge204, also the administrator of SFGHQ, took up the mantle of quickly throwing together an event after it became apparent that Koray wasn't going to show. The event itself rehashed the minimalistic, slick layout from SAGE 2005 and did a decent job of holding up to it's predecessor.

Ben Hurst returned for another chitchat with the community, and joining him was the current writer for the Archie Comics, Ian Flynn.

Interest in revamping the SAGEcast was introduced this year when DimensionWarped, Slingerland, and Shadix attempted to broadcast a prerecorded multicast via Skype. Due to technical difficulties Shadix did not appear in the final broadcast, however the broadcast went to show that SAGEcasts could have more meaningful content.

2007

SAGE 2007, directed by Slingerland, renewed interest in the event. His SAGE went with a simple and quirky thematic layout that would change on each day of the event. Slingerland's dashing charisma and publicity attempts brought about a huge boost in audience.

Ryan Drummond became the first guest appearance in relation to the official games, and his appearance garnered a huge amount of attention from Sonic Communities all around. Ian Flynn also reappeared to discuss more regarding the Archie Series.

SAGE 2007 introduced a more entertaining side of SAGE, with cool events like Slingerland's epic skit "Saturday Nights' Main Event", as well as live multicasts, a karaoke show, a level design competition, a video submission contest, and more.

2008

SAGE 2008 basically set out to expand on the new standard set in 2007, with a trend towards more entertainment. Hosted by Shadix and MarkEchidna, the idea was to draw the casual audience in via tons of entertainment, interviews, etc. to promote the booths. It was held from August 17th-24th, 8 days to commemorate it being 2008. The SAGE 08 site was over-the-top and flashy, featuring detailed informative pages and a coverflow-esque booths page. SAGE 2008 made a huge leap forward in that most of the booths worked from Day 1, a feat that hasn't happened in a long time.

SAGE 2008 had a huge special guest lineup, including the likes of Christian Senn, Richard Wheeler, Howard Drossin, Richard Jacques, Jun Senoue, Lee Brotherton, Ryan Drummond, Mike Pollock, and Eric Iwasaki of ND Games.

In addition, SAGE 2008 had a number of new events of varying effect. Shadowgoten & Duckboy's Opening Extravaganza, SAGE Idol, the SAGE Trivia Gameshow featuring Mike Pollock, DOM's Live Videogame Music Show, Dramatic Fanfic Readings with ANDROSS, OCRemix Interview with Special ORMGAS\BEATDROP FM Combo block.

External Links

• SAGE Expo Link