Perhaps... As I earlier suggested, I may be taking the interactive aspect of my project a bit into overkill territory... just a thought I had today. An idea was mentioned of a slot machine before Casino stages... I actually like that. One idea that I had was have some kind of active scenery that would appear on the title card, next to the name of the zone... something that would look flashy... for a Casino zone, it could be a Slot Machine... this type of graphic could be unique in that it could allow for a chance of rings prior to the start of the zone... as someone suggested earlier... Certain other zones could have similar features if allowed. My project is 2D, and is actually being done directly in the style of the Genesis trilogy games... hence the trilogy title. (I put a couple early screenshots and a mockup on the Fangaming Project Screenshot forum... it's all very early WIP) Right now I'm in a bit of a brainstorm mode since the engine is giving me trouble... and I'm rage-quitting on it for now, and working on other stuff... that and I feel too unmotivated to put this kind of effort into my real job. LOL
Another idea is for the obligatory tropical themed Zone would be to have a volleyball mini-game; with one player on the left, one on the right and net in the middle. It's small and simple and in the likes of Pong, and that's a good thing.
I used to do my own drawing of titles cards when I was bored in class YEARS ago. I still have them somewhere. They are original, yet are inspired by the Genesis and Adventure games. Somehow with each new game, I haven't seen anything like mine used yet.....they're good when they come up with these. Sonic Advance 2 is my favorite, mostly because all the stuff moving on the screen. Sonic Heroes is a disaster because the swirling circles always ended up being CHOPPY!
I would love to see any if you care to find them. One idea I was thinking of was doing a more future style font (similar to one I saw in the Lost Land 2 hack) and having it placed over an image of the zone landscape... another would be for a lower-third kind of deal, colored to the theme of the zone and containing an image relevant to the zone. BTW sorry if this topic classifies as too old to continue... if I necro-posted.
The one title card that has had the best effect on me is the one used in Sonic Advance 1. This is especially true when you start the first act, and the music fades in, as well as when you beat the gold record in time attack. It is very effective when the text is wrapping on a ribbon at a constant speed, while the ribbon itself is acting as a title card, moving quickly over the screen. However, the zig-zag Sonic 2 styles size banner with copy paste character logos are just blah! Sonic 1, 2, and 3(&K) are just perfect, and are equally valued to me. I could love Sonic 1's title cards all day long, even after seeing Sonic 3's for a whole year. Sonic 1's title cards have a very special thing that happens at the end of Scrap Brain Act 2. Once you get to that level, you have seen 16 end title cards (not including the Special Stage's one), and you are ready to accept just the standard one, but all of a sudden the screen doesn't fade down and instead they go away in a completely new way and the Final Zone music starts playing. That's game design at its best! When I saw that at the first time, I was blown away! Sonic & Knuckles has something simular going on at Lava Reef, when the lava is cooling down (Lava Reef has everything cool in my opinion, from beginning to end, it is just perfect).
Lava Reef definitely contained the pinnacle of one act variation in the series....I don't care if the boss was really Lava Reef Act 3 (Who knew that this was the first of many boss acts to come? Although its practically seemless playing the actual game).
I personally wouldn't call it seamless, just a transition minus the title card. But it is nice looking nonetheless... I was considering to get rid of this kind of thing in favor of being able to have score tallies. I think I will change my stance on this, somewhat. I will keep these kinds of transitions in for the Story Mode. BUT I will take them out in favor of Score Tallies in Free Play Mode. I think that is a good solution.
