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March 18, 2015   3DS, Wii U   14 Comments

Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric Producer Stephen Frost Comes out of Hiding to Address the game’s Issues

Sonic BOOM Rise of Lyric

You guys know how I feel about Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric. More than 4 months later, Sega’s Stephen Frost finally comes out of hiding to discuss the game’s missteps. 

“Suggestion that Sonic had to re-invent itself because the fanbase was getting smaller. Gives Call of Duty as an example/comparison.

Boom was made to appeal to non Sonic fans. — This is stated multiple times.

Suggestion that people/retailers are bored of Classic – Dreamcast era Sonic. States you can only do so much with these eras/characters. He does go on to suggest this is from a retailer standpoint.

Claims multiple times that Boom (franchise) is a big success.

Admits Boom (franchise) could have been better.

“Could the games have been better… yes, any game can be made better.”

Suggestion that part of the reason why Boom (game) isn’t that good is because the team didn’t know what Sonic was about/lack of experience.

“In focus tests, we heard all the time, people were sick of speed, Sonic was too fast, they wanted to slow down.”

“People really liked the Co-Op” — Hopes Sonic Team will do that in the future.

“The biggest mistake in Boom (gaame) was adding too many features to it.

“It was too much to ask of the/any development team” — In terms of different characters, combat, features etc.

“I was tasked (by Sega) with creating an experience that appeals to an audience which doesn’t play Sonic.”

“If I could do it again, I would remove features and speed would be the main focus from the start.”

“Speed was shelved because we were under the impression people didn’t want it.”

“Speed is always a Sonic thing, we didn’t focus on that.”

“The goal of Boom was to reach new people.”

“As a branch of Sonic, Boom is a success in many ways.”

Suggests that due to how much content you need to make for a Sonic alone game, it’s too much work. You need additional characters to spread the burden of content.

“Multiple characters resonate well with people”

“Solo Sonic games, I don’t know how long that can last there isn’t enough variety to sustain it.”

“The future of Sonic games needs to be Co-Op, it worked really well in Sonic Boom, community and online play, that sustains it.”

Say’s he’d love to see a Sonic level design game.

“In general, you need to do multiplayer and add online multiplayer aspects, that will sustain and keep the franchise alive.”

Says that the reason for the change in release date was likely a number of reasons, cartoon air date, Nintendo release dates, Sega release dates.

When the decision was made to change Boom’s release date, Sega did not know when Smash was coming out.”

Via: GoNintendo, Source: SonicStadium

Author: Francis@PE (19255 Posts)


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  • Robert Andrew

    The main problem with it was that it looked very rushed. They took what would have been perhaps an average game and made it horrendously bad.

  • blackbond Jr

    Damage control

  • Travis Touchdown

    A real creator would have known that he made massive mistakes with the project. Look at Sakurai. He still stands by the decisions he made with Brawl, but he understood that people had real issues with it, and worked those ideas into the next game without compromising his original vision.

  • ednice

    Sega’s way out of it, those Dreamcast games are still the best Sonic games, and you don’t need online stuff nor Co-Op, just multiple playable characters that all play somewhat differently.
    Just make Sonic Adventure 3.

  • Hardin Twentyfive

    A Sonic Maker…GET TO IT, SEGA!

  • http://fonichedge.devianart.com TripleMMM

    As a Sonic fan, I’m really appalled by most (maybe half, but still massively jarring) of what he said. Foremost the reaching to non-Sonic fans.., you do know that you can still reach them without changing the feel and the original look of the franchise, right???

    And this piece of sentence doesn’t make any sense to me: “Says that the reason for the change in release date was…”

    I mean I know the release date was changed once, but clearly it needed several delays!

    And no freaking time on researching the franchise’s history??? Sega and LRB.., take a bloody page from Nintendo with Retro Studios! -_-‘

    • Espeonic

      This is going to be a bit of a rant, but here goes. A consistent formula for the Sonic brand is something that SEGA seems to have struggled with since, well, always. Even during the classic era. I mean, think about this, during that time, there were not 1, not 2, but 3 different cartoon series for Sonic the Hedgehog. Adventures of the Sonic the Hedgehog, which is very lighthearted and goofy, there’s SatAM which is a lot darker and more intense. And there’s even Sonic Underground, which is a little later, but I don’t even know how that is.

      My point is even from the conception of Sonic the Hedgehog, SEGA’s goal was to make him the “cool” character, the anti-Mario or sorts, and by doing that, they given him a bunch of different interpretations and universes so he’s considered cool not only for that time, but for different areas of the world. There are those 3 different cartoons, there are Archie Comics, there are the Sonic the Comic series, each having their own fans for their own reasons, and this was all back during the 90’s. Since the 2000’s onward, they’ve continued doing this. First person shooters have become popular? Let’s have Shadow the Hedgehog use guns and swear. God of War is all the rage? Let’s have Sonic turn into a Werehog so he can fight like Kratos. People don’t want Sonic to be fast? Let’s slow him down for a slower paced, open world action adventure game because that’s popular. It’s a design concept that Sonic has ALWAYS had, to follow the trends of what is cool, and that’s one of the biggest flaws of the franchise. Because of that, people have very different visions of their ideal Sonic. Some want it to be just like the classics, some want Sonic Adventure style, some want it to be daytime Sonic Unleashed style, some want them to continue to improve the Sonic Lost World style, and appealing to all of these types of fans is practically impossible.

      Mario has had the opposite design philosophy. Nintendo purposefully kept his character simple, so he can be placed in a bunch of different genre’s and gameplay styles. That’s why people don’t cry foul on Mario having puzzle games or sports games, and how he’s easily can have different gameplays styles for the platformers. There’s the classic 2D style with the old-school games and New Super Mario Bros., there’s the traditional 3D games like 64, Sunshine and the Galaxy games (even then, 64/Sunshine is often considered to be a different style from the Galaxy games), then there’s the 3D Land/3D World Style which combines classic 2D with 3D. People may have preferences on which ones they like the most, and some might say the 3D Land style isn’t “true 3D Mario” but honestly, all of these work for Mario.

      I’m saying this as someone who is actually more of a Modern Sonic fan. I’ll admit straight up I love some of the post Genesis games. But at the same time, I’m really beginning to understand why the Classic Sonic fans are so upset about what’s happened to this series over the years.

      • http://fonichedge.devianart.com TripleMMM

        I consider myself an ol’skool fan myself and I actually like the modern games that were actually done well.., for the most part.

        But you summed up all of my sentiments word by word, lad! XD
        It’s something that me and Matthew were questioning Sega’s designing abilities…
        I just wish they pull their heads out of their moonshine before they get stuck in their, but I feel like that time has passed long ago. :/

  • uPadWatcher

    I prefer watching it on CN instead of playing it.

    • chris

      I hear good things about the show

      • SoccerStar9001

        Funniest show I seen for a long time.
        Great if you are a Sonic fan.

        See for yourself.
        http://animeflavor.com/cartoon/sonic-boom

        • uPadWatcher

          Malicious website confirmed.

      • Hardin Twentyfive

        Very funny, but too short. Then again, it’s 2 episodes in a 30 minute time slot.

  • CilverKid520_Youtube_Twitch

    Just release another patch so I can do a damn let’s play because I’m not doing a let’s on Sonic Doom: Rise of Glitches