[ICEknight]

Why not use the old Sonic model from Blitzsonic, in the meantime? Despites its animations looking a bit stiff, it didn't look bad.


Or perhaps Sonic's 3D model from Sonic World. =P

[8-Bit Dragon]

Edit: also, the website and message board links in your signature don't work, Azukara.

As for the site(s), yeah, I know it's not working. We're working on fixing that right now.

I broke the shit out of it this morning while making an announcement a little after 6 am. The message board was overwhelmed with excitement, came, and suffered a heart attack shortly after the announcement we would be releasing an alpha build. WINNING!

But yes, we have decided to release an alpha build to help jump start the interest in Sonic Freerunner. The current menu system will remain intact, which includes the level select. A very convenient thing to have indeed. I have a few bugs to work out, and I need to finish my "Box Canyon Forest" stage. I hope to have these things done by the end of the week. I'll try to post regular updates as these things get completed. I should also point out that we will continue to work on the story, objects, and stages because we intend to create a complete game. This release is by no means a final product, there is a lot more to come!

Edit: Old forum has risen from the dead temporarily: http://sonicfreerunner.proboards.com/index.cgi

This post has been edited by 8-Bit Dragon: 15 March 2011 - 03:43 PM

[Azukara]

The pre-alpha release is out!

The pre-alpha will feature:
. Enhanced movement. Sonic no longer moves like a hovercraft, as in vanilla Blitzsonic. Sonic controls very similarly to Sonic Adventure.
. Spinball mechanics. Sonic can accelerate rapidly down hills in ball form. If holding down the roll button when touching a surface Sonic immediately rolls. Pressing the button while rolling uncurls Sonic.
. SA / 3D Blast Spindash. The one button Spindash has been implemented; however, you can toggle the controls back to "crouch+tap jump" in the options menu.
. Starpost object. Starpost is modeled by SefirothDB. Yes, you can respawn from the post's position after contacting it.
. Particle effects. Sonic now screeches dust whenever he skids or Spindashes. It's also used for something else, but thats best kept a secret..
. Realistic ring loss. Self-explanatory. *
. Underwater physics. (This includes sluggish movement and moon jumping, albeit no drowning mechanics have been added yet.)
. A working menu. It is very WIP, but nevertheless it is a working menu.
. Life loss and 1UP stuff. Ability to lose lives and respawn, and gain 100 rings and/or hit a 1UP box and gain an extra life.**
. Item display. When hitting a monitor it displays what you got temporarily in the HUD.

* - Unlockable through debug mode, which is unlocked through a cheat code. More news on that soon, as 8BD will tell me the debug code soon enough.
** - Not implemented in this build, but the build will be updated tonight.

Also, due to technical difficulties regarding getting stages to run properly in-game, the test stage has been replaced with the standard GHZ stages that come with Blitzsonic. Since this is just a pre-alpha, I hope this isn't considered all too bad because of that.

Links:
Sendspace
Mirror

Tell us what you think.

EDIT: Only one so far that we completely know of, and that is one regarding air momentum. When pressing forward in mid-air and moving at high speeds, Sonic will gradually decelerate almost to a halt in midair. We've known of this problem for quite a while and have been trying to fix it for a good while. Ways to dodge this bug and keep rapid speeds in midair is to do the opposite of Sonic 4, and not hold the direction you are moving when moving quickly while airborne.
EDIT2: Oh snap, forgive me there. I was downloading something and accidentally put the wrong Sendspace link within the SS download. Try it now.

This post has been edited by Azukara: 19 March 2011 - 03:48 PM

[Morph]

** - Not implemented in this build, but the build will be updated tonight.

Just to clarify on this:
The function is there and works, we just forgot to put it in this build.

[BlazeHedgehog]

I'm going to assume I'm not supposed to be editing XML files here, but fullscreen doesn't work, and neither does manually setting the resolution.

None of the options save.

It is super weird that camera controls are divided between the triggers and the right stick - it should all be on the right stick. Rotating the camera with the triggers is a bit too slow, too.

Camera tracking speed could be faster/better. At speed, Sonic can turn a lot faster than the camera can, eventually leading to moments where I have to manually adjust its position to keep up (if you can't tell already, I am using a gamepad).

Beyond that, I'm impressed. This is the most polished edit of BlitzSonic I've played. I'd complain about some of the animation for Sonic's model (his head twitches during his run anim), but since you've said it's temporary it's probably not worth it.

Keep up the good work, guys.

[Azukara]

I'm going to assume I'm not supposed to be editing XML files here, but fullscreen doesn't work, and neither does manually setting the resolution.

None of the options save.

Still messing with fullscreen stuff, which partially messes up due to menu things. Same issue with the resolution. We're working on that.

It is super weird that camera controls are divided between the triggers and the right stick - it should all be on the right stick. Rotating the camera with the triggers is a bit too slow, too.

Hmm, we shall fix that as well. The idea was to have both left and right triggers and left and right movement of the right stick would do the same thing, but I guess the controls for that somehow quacked up.

Camera tracking speed could be faster/better. At speed, Sonic can turn a lot faster than the camera can, eventually leading to moments where I have to manually adjust its position to keep up (if you can't tell already, I am using a gamepad).

That's due to not having a camera system implemented yet. When we learn how to handle it (and/or get more programmers to help out) we will get to that issue.

Beyond that, I'm impressed. This is the most polished edit of BlitzSonic I've played. I'd complain about some of the animation for Sonic's model (his head twitches during his run anim), but since you've said it's temporary it's probably not worth it.

Keep up the good work, guys.

Thank you! And yes, the model is only temporary.

We are keeping all issues addressed and remembered at all times. Thanks for the critique. =)

[Tweaker]

Gonna be up-front—legitimately surprised and pleased by what I played. It's concerning to me that after all this time there's still little more going on than a couple of test levels, but the handling of the player, the included elements and the very cool music really impressed me. The substance to the game will be really challenged when you have to design complete levels, but for the moment this is showing promise that's actually worth batting an eye at. Hopefully you guys can get an actual game going on soon, cause the engine test schtick doesn't really say a lot about games these days.

Here's a question—will you guys have graphical options that can be changed by the player? The second test level is nice and smooth for me while the first one is pretty laggy. I assume this has to do with draw distance or something to that effect, so I'd like to be able to turn it down so I can play it more smoothly and get a more accurate idea of how the player moves and interacts with the environment.

[Chimpo]

(Do not increase the volume)

A majority of these seem to be based around the default test level you used here. I'm not exactly sure if this was the case with the original Blitz.

Sonic flies off the ground if you're going too fast on certain inclines.

I hope you avoid bridges like that.

The rolling down hills seems a little too strong, and rolling up hills is a little inconsistent as I'll either hit a dead stop or go as expected. I added the wrong examples to the video though and can't be bothered to correct it.

I ended up getting stuck in between a gap that I could not get out.

What's up with the lighting in the small level? Probably just related to that level, but I thought I'd mention it anyways.

I have no idea what's going on on that last clip.

One thing not in the video, if I'm holding roll on a cliff, I will roll for a second and screech to a halt. The crawl move also seems to get in the way of rolling. I don't know why you don't just have roll as its own button and why you have to attach it to spin dashing or crawl.

The camera is far too close. If you have to have it that close for whatever reason, at least have it zoom out when you start going faster. It's hard to see sharp turns or obstacles ahead of you when you're running around.

Overall it's nice, but nothing to get excited about until some real content starts popping up.

[8-Bit Dragon]

Sonic Freerunner Pre-Alpha 1.1 cheats!
Cheats are entered during play.

Enable debugging controls + player info screen
HOME, RIGHT, LEFT, DOWN, UP, RIGHT, LEFT, UP

While the debug controls are active, the following controls and codes can be entered:

Press F1 to warp back to beginning, or last checkpoint activated.
Press F5 to loose rings (test function)
Press o to fart... Its exactly what it sounds like. (o key is part of player 2's controls and can be changed)

Show player info
UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, UP, UP, UP, UP

Show object info
UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, DOWN

Super Jump
UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN

Norris Jump
UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, UP, UP

Moon physics
UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT

Super Speed
UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT

Acid Trip (only works with mesh stages)
LEFT, RIGHT, UP, LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN, DOWN

Giant Sonic (pretty broken, useless other than for lulz)
UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT

[Azukara]

(Do not increase the volume)

A majority of these seem to be based around the default test level you used here. I'm not exactly sure if this was the case with the original Blitz.

What you said before is true. We really weren't planning to use these stages until the last second, since our test stage suddenly went nuts on us. So, I'll answer the problems that would be there even without the test stages.

Sonic flies off the ground if you're going too fast on certain inclines.

This is an issue that's been here since the vanilla Blitzsonic. We'll try our best to fix that problem.

The rolling down hills seems a little too strong, and rolling up hills is a little inconsistent as I'll either hit a dead stop or go as expected. I added the wrong examples to the video though and can't be bothered to correct it.

One thing not in the video, if I'm holding roll on a cliff, I will roll for a second and screech to a halt. The crawl move also seems to get in the way of rolling. I don't know why you don't just have roll as its own button and why you have to attach it to spin dashing or crawl.

Rolling will send you back down the hill if you land on it somewhat sideways. Also, I basically just kept the roll on the same button as the Spindash because it felt best suited there. The crawl is still there because crouching is still able to be done; although the move itself is pretty useless.

We will work on these especially. These specific ones have been bugging me the most (besides the air momentum problem).

The camera is far too close. If you have to have it that close for whatever reason, at least have it zoom out when you start going faster. It's hard to see sharp turns or obstacles ahead of you when you're running around.

Using the bumpers (on a 360 controller) or the scroll wheel on the mouse will make it zoom in and out to your liking. However I agree that it is too close. As for the "zoom out faster you go" thing, as said, we are still working on a dynamic camera.

Overall it's nice, but nothing to get excited about until some real content starts popping up.

Good to see you liked it.

Would this also be a great time to ask for contributors to join in so we can get this further off the ground?

[Xaklse]

This is a solid step forward from the last BlitzSonic engine I have played; now I'm not afraid of moving Sonic to where I want it to move.

I see there is a lot to be done, coding wise I mean, I wish you the best of luck.

[Chimpo]

Rolling will send you back down the hill if you land on it somewhat sideways.

So was stopping an intentional design or what?




Basically, what I'm saying is I'm holding the roll button with the idea that I'll be sent back down the hill. I come to a complete stop. I just figured that if I'm on a hill and I go into ball form, then the obvious rolling down the hill will occur.

Although this wouldn't be much of a problem if it weren't for that crawl move. That blasted move is what's cutting my enjoyment of rolling down anything.

Using the bumpers (on a 360 controller) or the scroll wheel on the mouse will make it zoom in and out to your liking.

That was my first thought, but it seemed to have no effect when I tried it.

I'll await for the free runner test demo. Most of my complaints will probably be gone by then, but its nice to see Sonic controlling decently.

[Azukara]

Gonna be up-front—legitimately surprised and pleased by what I played. It's concerning to me that after all this time there's still little more going on than a couple of test levels, but the handling of the player, the included elements and the very cool music really impressed me. The substance to the game will be really challenged when you have to design complete levels, but for the moment this is showing promise that's actually worth batting an eye at. Hopefully you guys can get an actual game going on soon, cause the engine test schtick doesn't really say a lot about games these days.

Here's a question—will you guys have graphical options that can be changed by the player? The second test level is nice and smooth for me while the first one is pretty laggy. I assume this has to do with draw distance or something to that effect, so I'd like to be able to turn it down so I can play it more smoothly and get a more accurate idea of how the player moves and interacts with the environment.

Music is quite nice, no? That's the handy work of DJ MaxieDaMan and Ritz190. Got to applaud them because they are doing pretty good, if I say so myself.

The reason we don't have much going for us besides some test levels is because of, well, lets put it bluntly: there's little amount of people out there that are good with 3D (or better yet anything at all) and willing to do work for a Sonic fangame, and the (majority of) the people that do just plain suck, are too lazy, or have a ton of rocks shoved into their bumholes. I'd like to be corrected by that and get some good workers, but otherwise work is going to be really slow for this game, regarding aesthetics and level layouts. We've thrown away lots of stuff because of the lack of quality and so-forth. Now I'm not mad, but I'm just trying to make my point known. If people want Freerunner to be a good game, then they need to help. This isn't directed at you, of course, but I'm just throwing that out there for everyone.

As for graphical options? Yes, we are planning on putting that in at some point soon. It'll be set up from "fastest" to "beautiful", sort of like Unity games are. We'll also throw in resolution, full screen, and other settings like that.

Rolling will send you back down the hill if you land on it somewhat sideways.

So was stopping an intentional design or what?




Basically, what I'm saying is I'm holding the roll button with the idea that I'll be sent back down the hill. I come to a complete stop. I just figured that if I'm on a hill and I go into ball form, then the obvious rolling down the hill will occur.

Although this wouldn't be much of a problem if it weren't for that crawl move. That blasted move is what's cutting my enjoyment of rolling down anything.

Nah, the stopping was nowhere near intentional; I was just listing a way to get to go back down. If crawling is causing the issue then I'll tell you. In the meantime, I'll get back to you on that.

Using the bumpers (on a 360 controller) or the scroll wheel on the mouse will make it zoom in and out to your liking.

That was my first thought, but it seemed to have no effect when I tried it.

I'll await for the free runner test demo. Most of my complaints will probably be gone by then, but its nice to see Sonic controlling decently.

That seems to be something accidentally placed in the debug mode. Gonna have that fixed by tonight.

This is a solid step forward from the last BlitzSonic engine I have played; now I'm not afraid of moving Sonic to where I want it to move.

I see there is a lot to be done, coding wise I mean, I wish you the best of luck.

Thank you, and good luck with getting A:DR running good as well.

This post has been edited by Azukara: 19 March 2011 - 07:47 PM

[Morph]

Although this wouldn't be much of a problem if it weren't for that crawl move. That blasted move is what's cutting my enjoyment of rolling down anything.

I think the reason that's happening is because the speed at which he's allowed to crouch/crawl is set too high. I'll mess with it and see if I can get it working better.

This post has been edited by Morph: 19 March 2011 - 07:47 PM

[BlazeHedgehog]

If anybody wants more environments to play around in, I have these old things. You may remember them from that old old "Sonic in Mario's World" video I did. They needed to be updated a bit so they worked right in Freerunner (Stage.XML is a little different) so I sort of sloppily hacked them in. I don't take any credit for porting these levels, they were given to me by Damizean ages ago with an old old build of BlitzSonic.

http://blazemp3.sepwich.com/FreeRunner-BiancoHills.rar
http://blazemp3.sepwich.com/FreeRunner-CastleTown.rar
http://blazemp3.sepwich.com/FreeRunner-Plaza.rar

To add these, extract the folders (BiancoHills, CastleTown, Plaza) to the Stages folder. You'll need to edit Stages.XML so they show up in the menu. Just open it in a text editor like Notepad. An example of how to format Stages.XML:

<stage3 location="BiancoHills" icon="BiancoHills/icon.png"></stage3>
<stage4 location="CastleTown" icon="CastleTown/icon.png"></stage4>
<stage5 location="Plaza" icon="Plaza/icon.png"></stage7>

None of them come with background music even though their Stage.XML files reference custom music. If you want background music in these levels, you'll have to create your own BiancoHills.mp3, CastleTown.mp3, and Plaza.mp3 in the Music folder of Freerunner.

These probably work in other versions of BlitzSonic besides Freerunner, but I haven't tested them.

This post has been edited by BlazeHedgehog: 20 March 2011 - 01:36 AM