The SRB2/Nu-STJR critique thread

Dreamer said:
Sure, here are some forum posts to back it up:

1) SSNTails was planning to permanently remove OpenGL from the game

SRB2CB - Community Build (Final 1.09.4 Version!)

Who would've known you'd get this far. Nice job, dude.
mb.srb2.org mb.srb2.org

SSNTails "It was my intention with 2.0 to phase out the GL renderer though, so I didn't bother."

This is why Kalaron added slopes to OpenGL - to increase the chance of SRB2 and OpenGL being saved.

Kalaron was successful, but there was no good community for him to be welcome among other developers and programmers.

2) The rest of the staff SSNTails included - was bizarrely dismissive and negative to Kalaron

SRB2CB - Community Build (Final 1.09.4 Version!)

Who would've known you'd get this far. Nice job, dude.
mb.srb2.org mb.srb2.org

SRB2CB - Community Build (Final 1.09.4 Version!)

Who would've known you'd get this far. Nice job, dude.
mb.srb2.org mb.srb2.org

SSNTails was negative toward Kalaron for some reason. There wasn't any love. Just sarcasm and negativity.

So much wasted potential here - shouldn't the staff of a kids game *encourage* kids to aspire to greater things?

3) SSNTails told Kalaron to stop using SRB2 and start from scratch

[Open Assets] - SRB2 - Community Build! - Full color Edition! (PNG)

D00D, everything dies at some point. That's a reason to not do anything? Nope. It will get it's glory or whatever while it still exists, and then move on. That's the fate of everything.
mb.srb2.org mb.srb2.org

This was where Kalaron took it seriously and started making a whole new game engine.

4) Retroactive appreciation

The slope and OpenGL fixes made it into the official game and (Kart Krew's opengl code).

Kalaron is in the credits, and Kalaron's slope code and OpenGL fixes ended up giving official SRB2 a lot of extra life since now it looks more like a real platformer with slopes and all.

Looking back, only some staff members responded positively

https://mb.srb2.org/threads/big-switch-to-opengl-exclusive.19612/page-4#post-401317

> Kalaron has a right to talk about community productivity and say it'll do things. He saw a problem that he wanted solved and instead of going onto the forums and posting the five-hundredth thread about how awesome slopes would be in SRB2, he went and put the blood, sweat and tears into actually making it a reality. While I think he's too optimistic on what the community can actually put out, he's clearly put in the investment necessary to talk big about community involvement because he is a textbook case of it.

---

Insider sources:

So that's the background on the public record.

What's not currently on the public record(yet), is the engine Kalaron was making.

It was a very difficult time for Kalaron, because Jeck Jims wanted results faster than was physically possible.

Kalaron wasn't even 18 yet, but Jeck Jims expected Kalaron to produce multiple fully programmed builds and consult with Jeck each time.

It wasn't like Kalaron could come and go as he pleased,
Jeck basically hated Kalaron for leaving,
as if Kalaron and the project had to be entirely controlled by Jeck Jims.

It was totally NOT a normal "Hey I made some models for you, good luck, make a game if you want, no pressure"

It turned into "Where is my 13th build? How dare you not consult with me before showing other people? I will threaten to revoke permission unless XYZ..."

---

Kalaron wrote his own engine entirely from scratch, but Jeck Jims wants full control over both Kalaron and the engine Kalaron made.
Jeck said Kalaron does not have permission to show off Kalaron's own engine until Kalaron reanimates (and rewrites) the entire thing again. Why? Because Jeck said so.
It's pretty messed up.

Jeck Jims gave animated characters to Kalaron as a donation, but Jeck is acting like it's an excuse to basically censor Kalaron's entire personal project.

Besides these posts - There's no public record of Kalaron's side of the story, because nu-STJR censored anything remotely close to being supportive of Kalaron.

And again - this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Click to expand...
So it wasn't enough for these people to screw up the SMBX community & then flee with the tail between their legs, huh?

Context here, apparently various members of Kart Krew are EX-SMBX community members. Long story short, these guys were messing with this guy you might know named Redigit AKA Andrew Spinks back in the day, screwed up that community and then fled after another group known as Codehaus took over the SMBX community, mirroring the Mystic situation this community had.

I was going to just peek at this thread and then move on, but the moment I read about the sheer level of abuse this gifted kid went through for a suspected sociopathic abusive individual, I began to tremble with the same fervent fury I hold towards the very society that left kids like Kalaron to rot in places like the psychiatric ward and then expected empty pity to be sufficient compensation for the sheer indifferent coldness inflicted towards them.

This burning memory that has scarred me for life is a reminder of that sin and a promise to never forget I made all those decades ago when I awaited death within those white walls like them only to be given life, even if that promise would leave me to grieve their fates alone in the end. It is my calling, my expression of humanity, my refusal to yield to a cynical world.
 
Dreamer said:
Finally. I need to say this here, full-strength, because nu-STJR always tries to censor the story on their site/Discord.

They need to be held accountable for how they treat kids, since Sonic Robo Blast 2 is obviously marketed toward kids.

A 12 year old kid added slopes to SRB2
Kalaron made SRB2CB which added slopes to SRB2. SSNTails and the rest of the staff couldn't figure out how to add slopes at the time, but some kid from the early 2000s, Kalaron, was the only one that was able to give a working slope implementation that eventually became used in the official game.

p_slopes.c, p_slopes.h, and anything that uses pslope_t, f_slope, or c_slope - is originally in SRB2 because of Kalaron
Kalaron did the OpenGL rendering for slopes too.

He was just 12 years old.

Kalaron did it because he genuinely loved the game.

So if anyone on staff complains why Kalaron or the slope code, consider:
1. He was a 12 year old kid and wanted to live his own life
2. Open source is a volunteer job, there is no contract about having to work for someone forever.
3. Even when Kalaron was there, SSNTails and most of the staff was dismissive. No one taught Kalaron C or anything.

...

A new game engine

Kalaron completely looked up to SSNTails and was very interested in how SSN made a game engine, Kalaron was inspired and wanted to do the same.

Around 2009, Kalaron wanted to be on Sonic Team Jr.'s dev team, but that never happened.
So Kalaron started making his own new game engine.

Eventually, a 3D modeler Jeck Jims, took an interest in the new game engine and made some character models for it,
while Kalaron did the level editor, engine, levels, programming, scripting and everything else.

To be clear, with the original DooM engine by John Carmack - there was a separate team of level designers and artists,
it's not typical to make a full 3D game *and* engine entirely from scratch like Kalaron was doing.

Kalaron spent his life wanting to program fun things for people, that people would enjoy.

The engine was customized entirely around the taste of Jeck Jims, even down to influences from Legend of Zelda's Windwaker.

...

Power imbalance

Jeck wanted full control over the project, and wanted every detail to be consulted with him,
but it took a toll on Kalaron's life.
Jeck Jims and Kalaron were in on & off contact from 2012 to 2019.

Kalaron's job was to make technology and a lighting system that could compete with SEGA's official Hedgehog Engine (1 and 2).
To get everything working on time, would frankly require a full team of paid developers, due to the programming & research costs.

It got surprisingly far.

Kalaron had a lot of health problems and kept leaving the project abruptly.
Jeck became frustrated that Kalaron was taking so long.

Jeck's models were already complete,
but Kalaron still had to study C, C++, scientific papers, and computer science topics to finish making an engine, level editor, lighting system;
and *then* make a full game too.

Jeck comparatively just had fun animating, which was just fun with no technical barrier to entry.

The scope of the engine was more than what 1 independent developer could be reasonably expected to finish with zero programming help.

Kalaron's engine was designed to be feature-equivalent to Hedgehog Engine 1 & 2, with better physics and a built in level editor.
And the end product intended to be as graphically polished as Mario Kart 8 - But with all technology built from scratch.

The engine-project started in 2012.
It took 5 years to get the technology and animation to where it was in 2018.

The lockdown
In 2019 Jeck told Kalaron to take all the models out and redo them entirely. On his own.
Effectively canceling the project.

Kalaron's been fully hospitalized multiple times for mental health problems trying to make a complete game & game engine entirely by himself, because no one he asked bothered to help.

The models were the one bit of encouragement that kept Kalaron going, not just with the project, but with life in general.

Jeck Jims already has Kart Krew; and Jeck's friends took over Sonic Team Jr.
which is now effectively controlled by Kart Krew staff (new Sonic Team Jr.).

The hypocrisy of new Sonic Team Jr. acting like they are morally sacrosanct, when in private they sent a kid and now young adult to a mental health institution and act like they never did anything wrong and have no accountability whatsoever.

There's more to life than law, we're talking about deeper social issues and the lack of love.
...

Why this matters

If men cared more about fostering the youth, the entire world wouldn't be the dark place it currently is.
Too many men abandon and forsake the responsibility of being a man, and they forgot how to be a good male role model to kids.

The amount of censorship that happened with Sonic Robo Blast 2's staff is unreasonable considering it's a fangame marketed toward kids.

The fact that a 12 year old got interested in a Sonic game is completely normal.
But the drama and vitriol and refusal to make peace is what needs to be addressed.

---

Jeck Jims already owns everything
Jeck and his friends already took over Sonic Robo Blast 2, and own Kart Krew.

Kalaron owns literally nothing. Online or offline.

---

Jeck Jims doesn't care that Kalaron was some 12 year old kid who spent more than half his life trying to make an entire game engine customized specifically for Jeck Jims.

Jeck Jims expected Kalaron to stay silent about this, but more people know this story now, and the whole thing has gotten out of hand.

Like why is it "ok" for Kalaron to be put in a mental hospital multiple times in a desperate attempt to win the love of an internet stranger named Jeck Jims?
As far as I know - Kalaron spent weeks without eating or sleeping just for the chance that maybe he could get a chance at some community.

Dear Jeck Jims, Kart Krew, Nu-STJR - you really don't know the full story, and I highly suggest you make peace instead of censoring people.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Click to expand...
.. no way... i remember myself bored for days that i began to look if there was more builds aside of SRB2JTE... finding that SRB2CB had slopes made my mind explode and think "WHY THIS BUILD HAS SLOPES?! WE HAD SLOPES BEFORE 2.2?!"

Reading all of this... how cruel is that person Jeck Jims is... poor Kalaron, he went throught hell... i hope he is okay... i just REALLY hope Karma does it's job... :(
Sasaki said:
So it wasn't enough for these people to screw up the SMBX community & then flee with the tail between their legs, huh?

Context here, apparently various members of Kart Krew are EX-SMBX community members. Long story short, these guys were messing with this guy you might know named Redigit AKA Andrew Spinks back in the day, screwed up that community and then fled after another group known as Codehaus took over the SMBX community, mirroring the Mystic situation this community had.

I was going to just peek at this thread and then move on, but the moment I read about the sheer level of abuse this gifted kid went through for a suspected sociopathic abusive individual, I began to tremble with the same fervent fury I hold towards the very society that left kids like Kalaron to rot in places like the psychiatric ward and then expected empty pity to be sufficient compensation for the sheer indifferent coldness inflicted towards them.

This burning memory that has scarred me for life is a reminder of that sin and a promise to never forget I made all those decades ago when I awaited death within those white walls like them only to be given life, even if that promise would leave me to grieve their fates alone in the end. It is my calling, my expression of humanity, my refusal to yield to a cynical world.
Click to expand...
Nah, no shit- knew Kart Krew were no-good people when i was looking how things were going while i was in the silence... but yeah, poor Kalaron had throught manipulation from that asshole...


How horrible... fuck Official SRB2 Message Board and love SRB2Workshop! All honesty, i feel secure talking here and give my opinion... thought i don't talk too much lol


Being there, on the Official one: i am always feeling anxious about talking(I never even introduced myself there LOL! They don't know who i am: i'm using different names here and in that damned page, only using to download their addons and that's all, heheh >:]), not wanting to be thrown into their toxic sarcasm and irony shit, so yeeeaaaah...

Also @Dreamer ... only the tip of the iceberg? D-does that mean... it goes more deeper of the dark waters? :ohnosilver:

Welp, left me somewhat surprised because i know some dark stuff... but huh, it makes me curious about it... thought i may get scared lol
 
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Steel Bluer said:
How horrible... fuck Official SRB2 Message Board and love SRB2Workshop! All honesty, i feel secure talking here and give my opinion... thought i don't talk too much lol
Click to expand...
welcome to srb2 heaven, we'll gladly welcome you in :D
 
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