iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

It is now 9 years since Sonic Mania came out 😱... another trivia nugget: at one point we had a screen that showed you the animals that were inside the Heavies giving them their personalities! It didn't make the cut (maybe didn't comply with brand guidelines or there wasn't enough time IDK)

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

No worries, glad you enjoyed them! I feel like classic Sonic is similar to Doom in that as the years go by there will always more ports haha. It's inevitable that things will change, but my goal was always to try and do something that would make the RSDK versions have something new over emulation

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Thanks Fred! Plenty of fun memories of that period of time in the early 2010s within the mobile and indie game scene 🙂

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

You can get it shootin' lasers from ya hand, you can get it callin' star command...

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

The most practical solution would probably be to generate LOD textures of the tilemaps and render those at a distance, but it will require changing the game logic that draws the special stage. Anyway this port looks cool! You can tell I've thought about how to port the game a lot already lol

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

The more annoying task is implementing the 3D "mode-7 esque" floors in a way that is friendly to the fixed function GPU. 16x16 tiles add up to a load of polygons in the distance, and where the Saturn could do it easily in VDP2, there's no such convenience on the DC 😢

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

I think the easier path would be to change the Scene3D code to work with native floats, and just convert the incoming fixed point matrix from game logic when commands are issued. Most of the heavy code is transforming all the mesh verts, and they could be loaded as floats from disc.

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Reposted by Christian Whitehead

Director E @hendricks266.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

The source code of the SlaveDriver Engine, powering the 1996 game PowerSlave for the Sega Saturn, is now published under the GPLv3. github.com/Lobotomy-Sof... archive.org/details/slav...

github.com

GitHub - Lobotomy-Software/SlaveDriver-Engine: SlaveDriver Engine for Sega Saturn GPL Source Code

SlaveDriver Engine for Sega Saturn GPL Source Code - Lobotomy-Software/SlaveDriver-Engine

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

I can definitely attest to how deceptively simple it be to optimise for Switch! Lots of minor things that can absolutely tank the perf so good job✨ @lottemakesstuff.pink

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

It is now the 8th anniversary of Mania so time to dig up some Sonic trivia... This year, it's Kanga Clanga! (aka the Kangus). This lovable robo-roo originally lived in the outback but now entertains us all in Pinball Carnival Zone!

Kanga Clanga Badnik from Sonic Superstars. He is cute and orange, with a lovable blank eyed expression.

Kanga Clanga Badnik, as it appears in a 2.5D prototype Evening Star worked on after Sonic Mania. It is balancing on its tail and kicking forward with its springy roo feet! Sonic is knocked to the left with significant kinetic force.

A wider shot of Kanga Clanga hopping in pursuit of Sonic in the outback.

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Ah man you love to see it! Congrats and hats off to you all 👏

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Following up, we also have a Level Designer position we're canvasing for, if you're eager to apply your talent and skills to a 3D project we'd love to hear from you!

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

From what I've seen, the bin file is an encrypted archive and contains 7 different ROMs (maybe one per localized language?). It can defo be extracted and run on real hardware but it goes without saying people should buy this with money!

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Reposted by Christian Whitehead

古代祐三 (Yuzo Koshiro) @yuzokoshiro.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Earthion is finally about to launch! First up, the Steam version will be released tomorrow. We’ve poured our hearts into this side-scrolling shmup — we hope you’ll give it a try and see what it means to us. Please play it and enjoy! Wishlist here: buff.ly/1DrYi7m

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Friends and colleagues, we're looking to add a senior 3D Character Artist to our current project! If this is you, please read the details and apply through our LinkedIn page. We are specifically looking for candidates who are proficient with anime-stylized visuals. Thanks ❤️

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

I'd argue that Sonic 3 Air is a decomp of sorts as well. The game's 68k code was reversed into the engine's lemon script files, cleaned up and modified from there.

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

They do exist, github.com/snesrev/zelda3 for example. But overall there is less of need since emulation for those platforms are very mature, accurate and performant, so you're not really gaining a whole lot by recompiling the code for the target processor.

github.com

GitHub - snesrev/zelda3

Contribute to snesrev/zelda3 development by creating an account on GitHub.

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Reposted by Christian Whitehead

Brandon Sheffield @brandon.insertcredit.com · 05/02/2025

If you want to hear @cfwhitehead.bsky.social, @pietepiet.com, and @hunty.biz interviewed at the loudest party imaginable, @dylancuthbert.bsky.social interivewed on a train, and me ramble about showa era entertainment spots while traipsing through the Suwa countryside, this is the episode for you.

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Wow, will absolutely implement this on any new pixel art project I do!

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

That said, there are some stereotypes that have not aged well and people may find off putting, (blaxploitation, gay men as predators etc). And the English dub does defo makes the whole thing come off a bit more 'try hard edgy' IMO.

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

I'd say it's great fun if you acknowledge it from the angle of "famous anime studio lets off steam making a madcap homage to western cartoons and pop culture". Great OST, and strong visuals that play around with 2D, 3D and even some live action...

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Christian Whitehead @cfwhitehead.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

The game code is compiled for the SH2! It was likely converted to C with the aid of a tool then touched up by hand as needed. Sonic & Knuckles collection on PC is the same. What's interesting is they didn't use the Saturn's monster sound chip to do FM synthesis for the music, missed opportunity!

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