New Tom Payne interview

Along with his sanity

 

"CHECK OUT MY LAVA REEF ZONE REMIX AT THIS WEBSITE WITH SHITTY TECHNO MIXES BECAUSE 95% OF THE MEMBER BASE ACTUALLY THINKS THEY HAVE TALENT!"

Too bad they didn't kick those idiots out.

 

Wow, I missed this the first time around. I'm willing to bet that the winter zone's name was probably something simple...Snow Hill. Sounds like a boring name for a Sonic 1 Level, but they probably hadn't thought up "Ice Cap" yet. I'm really excited about this information.

 

Sent another follow-up and got a response relatively quickly. Seems he's still interested in scanning things and is apparently working on it right now. I'll let you know if anything comes out of it this time around.

 

I'm glad someone brought this up again, as I'd more or less forgotten about it. I was so excited when he announced that he still had all that delicious Sonic 2 stuff. I can't wait to see what's in store for us...or rather, I hope there's something in store for us.

 

Got another speedy reply from Tom! This time we've actually got some material—level maps of various stages of development for Metropolis Zone!

Metropolis Act 1
Metropolis Act 2
Metropolis Act 3 - A, B, C

According to Payne, Metropolis as a level was far shorter before Genocide City was scrapped. Once the level was canned, several level elements initially intended to be in the level were recycled in Metropolis Zone, widening the scope of the level drastically.

The grid paper they used for level design is very cool to look at! Glad to finally get some solid insight on how levels were designed in the preliminary stages of development.

More materials are on their way as Tom gets around to them.

 

I love these sketches because it seriously gives me a warm connection with the developers, but what's with the creepy sticky note in Metropolis 3C?

 

Very, very nice. This is really cool getting to look at this sort of stuff for the first time, I can't wait to see more. So parts of Genocide City were reused in Metropolis Zone? That is interesting, I wonder how much of it was recycled?

EDIT: Oh my god that sticky note on part C, that's hilarious.

 

Hm, the level designs for Metropolis 1 sure is spartan. That must be a really early version of it.

 

• "SEGA MK5" <3
• Diagonally oriented rotating drums o_o;
• Giant crusher of doom in Mz2 (x_X)
• The diagonally moving elevator is in Mz3
• They actually used the "cell-block-chunk" terminology

OMG o_o;

 

This stuff is kind of amazing.

 

More things:

• The piston crushers come in a completely new layout in Mz3
• The horizontal moving spikey things from Marble zone are back! :O

 

Wow I cannot believe my eyes, this is fantastic stuff. But may I ask why is there Japanese writing on his concept art when he's American I mean it is his concept art after all.

 

Wow thats actually awesome :v:

 

Incredible stuff there - the various designs for Metropolis 3 in particular, as they really give a feel not just of early concepts for the layout but of the evolution of the level; the designs presented here seem to gradually build toward something like the layout as of the Simon Wai prototype, but even the latest of the three is still very different. For example (correct me if I'm wrong), I don't remember the diagonal moving platform making more than one appearence, wheras on these maps there's another section at the top which uses three of them, showing they were intended to move in different patterns to suit their location. Also, the use of sideways, Marble-Zone-esque crushers in the layout is interesting.

All in all, brilliant stuff - good to know Mr. Payne is still willing to take time out to share some of his stuff with us! = ) Please make sure to let him know how much everyone appreciates this!

EDIT: Yowch, just took a look at a level map of the final to refresh my memory, and damn! Metropolis 1 and 2 sure are different. If the smaller and more spartan level design didn't give it away, comparing to a map from the final version shows how much change this level went through - for example, in Metropolis 2, aside from the immediate starting area and an area with a half-loop leading to a ramp in the top-left, almost nothing recognisable remains from the early design! An inexplicable and pointless shaft that seems to cover some of the first teleporter may be the remains of a shaft with bumpers on the sides, as one was supposed to go roughly there in the early design. But Metropolis 1 is the real gem - only two things seem to survive; the general positioning of the starting area, and the short downward ramp leading to a flat area with the end sign. Even then, both are executed slightly differently.

This level sure went through a LOT of changes in development...!

 

Awesome stuff. Been looking forward to seeing these since I met him, it's great to see they weren't lost after all.

 

wow.. it's amazing some of those early gimmicks that were taken out. Spikes on pistons, obstacles dropping on conveyor belts. This is some of the best stuff I've seen in ages.

 

Check the Sonic 2 credits list and you'll answer your own question. Only a few developers could speak both languages.

 

Sorry for double posting, but eh, more things I noticed:

• There's some kind of pipe above the rotating drums in Mz1 that Sonic can run through, with an angle at the end sending him to the drums.
• The rotating drums have some half-pipe sections. WTF?
• In Mz2 there are some set of platforms that alternate their positions in an interleaved-like way.
• The horizontal spikey crushers actually seem to alternate as well.

Also still trying to understand this:

What does that mean?