[Black Squirrel]

So this is what I had in mind:

I think the idea is the vines holding this platform are supposed to be a bit weak and flimsy, hence why sometimes the platform falls off.

[Meph]

That's a good point. Try making the vines thinner.

Also, maybe the vines could crack as the cart gets further and further down the slope?

[RedStripedShoes]

I think the idea is the vines holding this platform are supposed to be a bit weak and flimsy, hence why sometimes always the platform falls off.

This. Of course, if you're willing to make enough frames to show the vines quickly unraveling before snapping, your design could probably work.

[Hamneggs]

I think the idea is the vines holding this platform are supposed to be a bit weak and flimsy, hence why sometimes always the platform falls off.

This. Of course, if you're willing to make enough frames to show the vines quickly unraveling before snapping, your design could probably work.

Howabout just having where they connect to the platform really weak, so that they only break there? It would be simpler than that idea.

[MaximusDM]

Is it supposed to have an animation? Because if it does I think it would be really awesome if the vines snapped up after the platform fell. Kind of like a rubber band being stretched and then returning to its original shape. You just gotta make sure that it does look like it is something that could damage Sonic because an animation like that could give that impression.

[The Growler]

how many vines are twisted round on there? It looks like 3 of them; so perhaps if there were just 2 together (and as the others said, if it was thinner) it might not look too strong to break.

[zemulii]

Hmm, looks like a fair bit more work . Although perhaps not so much if it's just two wrapping around each other rather than three (which, as has been pointed out, would make more sense anyway). I have to admit, I was wondering if there was anything I could do with that part of the vines. A single straight line looks a bit dull. If I have time I might do two versions. One with one vine, one with two.

I just want to explain that the reason I thought (still think) the checkered idea for the trunk worked, is because the tree (what with all it's sharp angles, symmetry, repeated shapes) was hardly organic itself. Matched up with the more realistic trunk it just seemed to clash for me. I couldn't figure out what it was trying to be (as a whole). Did it want to be organic? Or did it want to be artificial and geometric? The checkered trunk, being very artificial and geometric like the tree itself, made immediate sense. Suddenly the tree looks consistent top to bottom (to me anyway) It even reflects the styling of the zone. Whenever I see the realistic trunk, I always feel it needs something a little more natural on top of it. But in the style of Sonic 2, it's hard to fit that in...

This post has been edited by zemulii: 31 May 2010 - 09:12 PM

[Gambit]

My issue with his concept at the moment is that it looks like something you would see in a dense jungle. I'd like to see each vine thinner so it looks like more of a rope instead of some overgrowth. I do think I like where it's going, though. ME's idea about having a chain with some overgrowth instead of an actual vine was kinda neat as well, but we'll see where this takes us first.

[ICEknight]

I also think those vines were never supposed to look like that kind of strong jungle vines, but rather like those you'd see growing over a building's wall.

[subsubstantive]

Just a thought...If you choose to have the vines disconnect at the top, then you will probably have to create an animation of the vines flailing in the air as the stand falls, and also of them catching up to the stand when it makes contact with the ground. May be better to have them unravel where they meet the stand instead.

[MaximusDM]

I came across Sonic 4 the other day and I thought that their vine looked similar to the one I just created. And I honestly didn't even know about it. But now it kind of looks like I copied them.

[The Growler]

I came across Sonic 4 the other day and I thought that their vine looked similar to the one I just created. And I honestly didn't even know about it. But now it kind of looks like I copied them.

Thinking along those same lines, I was wondering how the vines of S2 compared to Sonic 3's vines of AIZ.

Although it's the wrong colour, it could give us a better idea with how to do this:

This post has been edited by The Growler: 01 June 2010 - 11:33 AM

[McGuirk]

I always thought those Sonic 3 swings and so on were rope. They look like old rope that has been out against the elements too long and are starting to fray.

[ICEknight]

Guys, if you make the vines like those, they're going to look like these:


Which, again, brings up the point that the original designers could have made the Hill Top vines look like that, had they wanted to, but they didn't for whatever reasons they had (in this case, adding more variety, in other cases, asthetical reasons).

They knew what they were doing when designing appealing and varied stuff (at least, judging by the game's sales and the common oppinion on this game's graphics), so I think we should keep sticking to the original designs as much as we can.


The original vines can be improved in other ways that don't mean replacing them, like adding an animation then they snap, making some better looking leaves with more volume, etc.

This post has been edited by ICEknight: 01 June 2010 - 01:10 PM

[test-object]

Here's a quick little fix-up of how I think you think the thing has to look like... minus the knot...