I know that I should not post this just yet as its not finished, and I know purists are going to bitch moan and complain that the chrome reflections are not accurate, and the spikes themselves may be a bit thick , yada yada yada. Still need to tweak that, just wanted to show what I have so far. the blue ball itself wont be rendered when its time to make the sprites. the spikes will be composited over the original sonic ball sprite in photoshop.
By now, wouldn't it be actually easier to remake the model, animate it and us it as it is? With the correct settings, you could make it looks like a flat, rendered spriteset, but it would look good on whatever resolution you throw it at. Not only that, but I would actually feel like I need to upgrade my computer. Right now, the game still looks like a Saturn game I SHOULD be able to play on this PC. :P As for the spikes, they look kind of on spot to me. I still don't understand why they went with such a ridiculous design back when they worked on this game though.
It was the 90s, and the spikes still kick so much ass even today! Man, I bet they could tear a whole in anything Robotnic has to offer! ( hint at what I'll be using the move for) I really would love to make some HD spritesets and I think that they would look wonderful, but the thing is that it would take one hell of a lot of time to set up all the animations for sonic and the rest of the badnics. It would take away from working on the rest of the project. its slow enough as is lol. I'm shooting for a major release by next Sage (whenever that is.)
Regarding Spinslash.... I'm not really sure what the original actual function and purpose was, or how it was animated (position and behavior wise threw the environment ) or what it was used for, but I have some interesting ideas for its use. 1: Being able to smash threw walls that are unbreakable by normal means. 2: Damage badnicks and bosses that normally can not be damaged by normal means. 3: The move will be initiated 2 ways. one: Run Full speed, double jump, ( second jump can only be triggered while sonic is Ascending) At which point he will dash forward threw the air about the same distance as equal to Sonic's jump height. two: This will be revealed during an actual release 4: I'm not sure yet but Spinslash may not be performed repetitively due to time restraint after its been performed. Ooooor..... by some kind of charge up bar that would work similar to sonic CD's time travel move where sonic would have to run max speed for a set amount of time. ( instead of a bar may have a visual flash or sound effect chime when its ready to use) Does this sound fun ? also a side by side: ( wanted to see if the concept worked from start to finish , its a quick sloppy overlay job with the sprite, ( spikes size is a little large because of render size) Currently remodeling again from scratch since I made a few mistakes initially.
Hey Guys, I been speaking with Chris Senn about programs that were used to make Sonic Xtreme, I found out that Ross Harris used either 3D studio max R4 from 1994 or the later version from 1995. Anyways I tracked down R4 on e-bay, and low and behold after it was installed, I noticed something pretty interesting. 3D studio Max offers some of the original textures before they were edited and re-used in some of sonic Xtreme's E3 video sections as well as seen in the leaked x-treme's texture packs. I'm asking him to confirm this before we get all excited. Not just that, but if there is a possibility that some retro clipart CDs from the 90s could contain even more base material textures. Just one comparison here Edit: Quote from Senn: Anything Ross used, were either textures he made, got from a texture pack of some kind, or that he got from the internet... Edit 2: Anyone willing to help in tracking down some texture packs used by commercial graphics companies in the 90s ? I found one here on Ebay, although I have no clue what's on it...... http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Print-Shop-Photo-Folios-Backgrounds-Textures-/310239036530?pt=US_Other_Software&hash=item483bb00472
New sprites are in ! We can now do loops facing to and away from the screen properly! ( Err almost, We still got a few bugs to work out)
Possibly a stupid question, but how are you making the sprites? Are you doing them by hand or something? If I were to make an assumption, I would guess that the original sprites were made by taking pictures of a three-dimensional model, and using those. If you were to do the same thing, and use the original sprites as a basis to put together a Sonic model, you could just rotate and pose the model and then just take a picture of it if needed. That's how the sprites in Iji were made, and they're even more simplistic than these are.
Man, this sounds like something I would say... :P Seriously though, that looks pretty good. The pipes however...
Oh I didn't make the sprites, they are original from sonic Xtreme, I just meant that they are new for AXSX since we never used them before. And also yeah I will be making a 3D version of sonic based on his wireframe screenshots that I have available to make additional sprites in the future. You talking about the pipes ending abruptly on the left ? that was in the original game, I have been thinking of adding an end cap there for awhile now. However Keeping them as is gives more retro feeling to the game, So I'm not sure if they will changed.
The more I see this game the more I want to upgrade my computer to be able to play it... Want to get a bit creative with the pipes? Make the first two continue inside the lava and the third one inside the wall. It would make no sense at all, but would at least look something out of an old game.
I have pipes that go inside the wall already made actually, ( check earlier screens) but they didn't look very nice for areas that go into the background because of the way fisheye stretches the level. As for the tube into the magma , I may just do that. (not sure though as the cave walls already have over 30 textures alone, a lot are needed since the level is initially built of cubes) I rotated the tube sideways to test Sonic's F-Loop Sprite in Action, I have other pipe textures with a different perspective which are for areas that run side ways like in the screen, I didn't apply them for the sprite test was all) (F-Loop stands for forward loop btw) Off topic , here is a test level used to do other gameplay tests . ( this is not an actual level that will be released publicly, its just for building the gameplay and toying with ideas)
Added a topic poll. Just trying to see where We sit with people interested in this project. This will affect the future of the project. Come on don't be lazy, scroll up to the top and cast your vote.
I've been pretty lazy on commenting on recent updates, I'll admit, but what you've been showing off is looking bloody brilliant as always. = ) Definitely count me and as someone who'd be interested in playing this!
I finally picked up a graphics card capable of playing the old demo of this, and I loved everything I saw. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to seeing more from you. I've been following this thread silently for a while, I would love this to become a finished product.
^ I wouldn't be surprised if far more people are following this project than actively posting about it. I know in my own case, I rarely post about the things I follow unless I have some sort of constructive criticism. Non-constructive criticism is useless, and "keep up the great work" can fill up a thread too quickly, especially with a project as awesome as this.
Thanks guys but no need to comment or anything like that. Hoping to get a head count for people looking forwards is all. anyways, I'm trying to decide if its worth releasing a demo sooner than the next sage expo.
I'm one of those who doesn't respond much, but I'm pretty excited for this myself. The poll mentions the HD thing, but honestly the sort of Sega Saturn style mixed in with both all the hard work you're putting in to it and the possibility of running said Saturn style in HD resolution like you might an emulator interests me myself. I'd be fine waiting for SAGE for a better demo if need be, though.
Prototype bubble shield idea,, what do you guys think so far ? Shield is a sprite , with refractions and chromatic abrasion ( splitting light colors around edges ) The texture used to deform the refraction is incorrect here so the distortion shape is incorrect at the moment.
