Sasaki
Well-known member
So it wasn't enough for these people to screw up the SMBX community & then flee with the tail between their legs, huh?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
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.
SRB2CB - Community Build (Final 1.09.4 Version!)
Who would've known you'd get this far. Nice job, dude.
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.
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.
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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..."
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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.
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.