With the Sonic Amateur Games Expo closing up this week, we decided to take a look at some of our favourite (and least favourite) games from the event. Continue reading The Opinion Zone: SAGE 2016 Special
Try Out the Classic-Inspired “Sonic Utopia,” One of SAGE 2016’s Biggest Surprises
After a week-long run, the 2016 edition of the Sonic Amateur Games Expo finally unveiled its biggest surprise from the online fan game festival. An early demo has gone live for a project called Sonic Utopia, which seeks to recapture “the best of Sonic’s style and tie it together in a cohesive [and intuitive] experience” in 3D. Continue reading Try Out the Classic-Inspired “Sonic Utopia,” One of SAGE 2016’s Biggest Surprises
The Sonic Amateur Games Expo Returns Next Saturday
The Sonic Amateur Games Expo—or SAGE—is finally returning for another round this year, as novice and aspiring developers from all over the web come together and share their efforts with the Sonic community at large. It is at SAGE where people enjoyed a wide variety of fan-made games and ROM hacks, such as Sonic: Before the Sequel, Sonic Time Twisted, and Sonic 2: Dimps Edition, or some intentionally awful and crudely put-together monstrosities at RAGE (Really Amateur Games Expo), which is also hinted to return.
Among this year’s lineup is the open-world 3D fan-game Green Hill Paradise which took the Internet by storm over the past summer, a 2.5D sidescroller with Sonic Incursion, and a Smash Bros. clone with a Sonic Boom coat of paint called Sonic Boom and the Smash Crew. There are too many promising gems to namedrop all at once, but you can check out the SAGE 2016 trailer below to see more fan-games in action!
Continue reading The Sonic Amateur Games Expo Returns Next Saturday
Sonics From Around the World
Just in time for the Olympics!
When I was the director of the 2007 Sonic Amateur Gaming Expo, I had a lot of objectives to meet. The year prior, the show was a bust. The layout was the same as it was in 2005 and only a couple games garnered the attention of everybody, one of them including the debut demo of my fangame, Sonic Nexus.
I had to attract a new audience and fangame creators to return the show to prominence. I went balls out on advertising, found every fangame creator at SFGHQ, Sonic Cage Dome, and YouTube, and told them to get their ass in the show.
With that ready, I needed a layout. I went with a simple idea that changed every day. It would be “Sonics From Around the World.” Sonic would change costumes on the site to suit the worldly theme of the day. I found them while cleaning out my huge “My Documents” folder and I wanted to bring them back and share them with everybody.
The art was drawn by Steven M and colored by Phoenix Gamma.
Seven worldly Sonics for seven days of community fun. Memories…
I hope you enjoyed these, everybody. I’ll leave you with an alternate Caesar Sonic. Et tu Shadow?!
Sonic Amateur Games Expo 2009 Now Open!
The 2009 Sonic Amateur Games Expo is celebrating its 14th showing and does not disappoint yet again with 40+ fangames for you to play. InstantSonic, KTZ, and the members of Sonic Fan Games HQ have been working for months to put this annual event on for all of you, so head on over there and have some fun!
Aside from the fangames, there are many cool events to check out. The SAGE chat room is always happenin’ and ridiculous. An awesome chat client is provided on the site, but can be accessed through programs like mIRC (irc.rizon.net, #sagexpo). In the chat room, you will be able to talk to Mike Pollock, the voice of Doctor Eggman, and Tom Payne, the level artist for Sonic 2. Check the “Events” tab to see when they pop in the chat room.
Also, the ever-entertaining SAGEcasts are broadcast from a flash player on the site. Sonic community members from all over will be broadcasting their music, thoughts, and sketches throughout the week.
The biggest online Sonic community event is waiting for you to come on over and enjoy yourself! It runs from July 25th through the 31st.
ENTER SAGE 2009
Summer Fun With SAGE This Weekend
It’s a strange time to be in the Sonic community at the moment, particularly if you run a fansite. For years, we’ve been able to post – as webmasters on TSS, Retro, SFGHQ, CulT or any other site – our thoughts and feelings of being Sonic fans, and not have to worry about possible tabloid ramifications in doing so. Running a website such as this is a hobby, nothing more, so personal feelings are surely going to be thrown into the mix. But these days there’s less of a feeling of community due to nobody talking to one another – perhaps as a result of such prejudicial fear.
It’s been harder for the poor guys behind the Sonic Amateur Games Expo this year, who are now the new targets of such unwanted gossip. With festivities kicking off tomorrow, there have been fangame creators who have had some trouble in getting demos online, or in other cases pulling out of the show entirely. Such activity isn’t new; as a dedicated (and at times, official) coverage-provider of the SAGE event, I know that such bad situations are part and parcel of a hobby activity that dedicated fans undertake in their spare time. Sometimes work gets you down, you have a kid, money’s tight, or some social event happens in your life, and you just need to put your fan project on hold for a bit. With such trivial matters being highlighted as headline news though, it’s even less fun for those fangame creators involved.
This next week is all about celebrating Sonic fangames, and the people behind those projects who put their free time into it all. They don’t owe us anything. They’re hardly obligated to even finish their games (and many who set out to make a fangame seldom do). SAGE was created to be a structured exposition on the year’s best fangames, but again it’s not an obligation to show your game. Fangames aren’t a business, it’s a hobby. Some of can forget that we’re only in this community to have some fun.
So when SAGE opens, people should all just kick back and enjoy that hobby, whether those people be the creators showing off screens, videos and demos of their labours of love; or the visitors that play, watch and get impressed with the work that one or two people at home are capable of achieving.
Tomorrow, TSS will be covering SAGE, and we’ll be in it to have some fun. Come and join us, or play the games yourself when the site opens at http://www.sagexpo.org/
SAGE ’09: Submit Awful Sonic Fanfics for Musical
Last year, during a SAGE radio broadcast (SAGEcast), video game music man, DOM (in his “Andross” voice filter), and other expo goers teamed up to do a dramatic performance of one of the worst Sonic fan-fictions ever, “Jurassic Park and the Sonic Crew.” This year, they’re doing it again and they need your help. Find or write an awful Sonic fan-fiction and submit it to InstantSonic, the director of SAGE ’09.
This show is hilarious and it will be again. Trust me. If you have a terrible idea, write it down and submit.
Submit an abomination of fiction to “sageradiomania AT gmail DOT com.”
Listen to last year’s “Jurassic Park and the Sonic Crew” recording.
Exclusive: 14th Annual Sonic Amateur Games Expo DATED!
A long-standing community tradition run by Sonic Fan Games HQ, the Sonic Amateur Games Expo is an online showcase of the dozens of Sonic fan projects in the works. This year’s event will be run by community oldbie, InstantSonic, along with KTZ. The show will be a week-long celebration from July 25th through the 31st. With the show a little over three months away, that gives prospective participators enough time to whip up a project and a booth (website).
Submit all booth registrations to sageboothmania@gmail.com, along with a game demo to be displayed in a SAGE Attraction video.
Submit all SAGEcast radio show concepts to sageradiomania@gmail.com. If you DO NOT send InstantSonic a concept of what your show will be called and what it will be about, you will not be able to broadcast. Also, try to limit all broadcasts to 30 minutes to an hour.
The show will feature regulars like Sonic: The Fated Hour, Sonic Nexus, Emerald Ties: Crossing Fates, Sonic Nebulous, and much more! I am truly optimistic for this year’s show.
Read up on the last few years of the expo at Sonic Retro’s Wiki. Ah, 2007… so many memories for me as director…
Sonic Stadium is your place for all kinds of positive, community happenings. Stick with us and you’ll find more fun things to do with that blue hedgehog who happens to run fast.
SAGE 2008 IS NOW OPEN!
IT’S FINALLY HERE! THE 2008 SONIC AMATEUR GAMES EXPO IS HERE!
We invite any and all Sonic fans to come to the 13th iteration of this long-standing, Sonic community tradition, hosted by one of the community’s original sites, Sonic Fan Games HQ. Play the latest and greatest fan projects all in one place for one glorious week of celebrating not only Sonic the Hedgehog, but our community as well.
Please, hop right into the chat room, look at the schedule, and just read everything there is to read about the show! It’s going to be great!
A word of warning about certain booths: Sunday is usually the slowest day for the booths section, as dead links will be weeded out and some people will be putting up their demos throughout the day, due to time zone differences. Bear with that fact, because it happens every year. Come Monday, everybody should be ready to roll.
Be sure to check here for TSS Staff’s input on all the fangaming action!
With that said…
Sonic Amateur Games Expo Kicks off Second Show of 2001
The Sonic Amateur Games Expo has opened once again for a 2001 showing. This is the place where all kinds of Sonic the Hedgehog fan games come together and show the community what they’re made of. This is the third SAGE to ever take place; the first happened last year, which we missed, but we were able to report on SAGE 2 back in March – you can read that here. Check out the new show by going to the SAGE website.
SAGE 2: Complete Coverage
It’s time for the opening of the second ever Sonic Amateur Games Expo. I felt a bit silly for missing the show six months ago, so I thought I’d give you full coverage this time around. And, to tell the truth, I’m glad. SAGE 2 was a lot more successful than its predecessor – although a technical hitch did occur during this year’s show, by and large it was a barnstorming success.
So, what can we expect from all the budding Sonic Fan Game developers then? It’s a good job we’re here – take a look after the jump. Continue reading SAGE 2: Complete Coverage
Sonic Amateur Games Expo Opens For A Second Show
Last year, a bunch of cool fan game community guys organised an online event called the Sonic Amateur Games Expo. It was a showcase of upcoming projects that put Sonic into various fan-created gaming scenarios. Well, it was so popular that it’s coming back for a second run this year! Continue reading Sonic Amateur Games Expo Opens For A Second Show
