Flare, on 20 July 2015 - 10:21 AM, said:
Oh yes! I do forget that if we are not replicating the feeling of the Japanese box art for Sonic 1 then it is all sacrilegious tripe that people are spending their free hours making for us. :P
You mean like Sonic 4? Anyway, this thread sure got hostile quick. I see no reason for Fang not to have an expanded move set. He only has had 3 main appearances, but all of those were several years ago. Other characters have seen drastic changes to their move pool in the past, so why does this prevent Fang?
Though with this said, I'd like to stress that whatever move set that Fang ends up with actually flow well with the levels and gimmicks of the game. Let me make an example by comparing Sonic 3K to the Sonic Advance series.
In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the three characters played differently enough to be broken down into Easy (Tails), Normal (Sonic), and Hard (Knuckles). Since Sonic and Tails have the same base stats, they both travel through the same route, but Tails flight allows him to back track on missed power ups or alternate routes that usually give the player something extra. Sonic can be seen as the default experience, with elemental shields allowing for a temporary special move, and a final exclusive level. Knuckles on the other hand has a tweaked jump height and the ability to break open new paths, allowing for his experience to feel vastly different, and with his layouts focusing on technical platforming over hazards combined with some different boss experiences, I would easily say to a new player, Knuckles can be seen as more difficult.
Now looking at the Advance series, there is little change in difficulty between the main cast with the difficulty being broken down to Very Easy (Cream), Easy (Tails), Normal (Knuckles), Slightly Harder (Sonic), and Hard/Team Chaotix (Amy). I list Cream as Very Easy as she can basically hit any enemy that is on screen with Cheese, but with the added mobility of Tails. On the other end of the scale I have Amy who is the hardest, and borders on gimmicky in the same way I view Team Chaotix in Heroes. Her lack of spin jump and spin dash makes enemies slightly harder to deal with. I think even Sega/Dimps noticed this as both these moves were given to her in Sonic Advance 2 (Though to say something good about her would be that her in air hammer attack allowed players to still attack in a similar manner, just making them do an extra action for the kill). Even with all of this said, all of the characters basically play the same. Baybe its just because I haven't played them in a while, but at no point do I remember going through any alternate paths. The only exception that I can think of is SA3 when you were hunting down Chao.
One more example I want to mention are the character hacks by E-122-Psi. Looking at Sally in Sonic 1, Sally has a weapon similar to how your idea to Fang weapons is. When she jumps she is vulnerable, and she can only kill by shooting. I feel this really dampens the flow of the levels, as the player has to shift down a gear and take the levels at a slower pace. Maybe most of us here can get through the game with little issue, but we are looking at the hack with our prior knowledge of the levels layouts. I would make the assumption that if a new Sonic players first experience was this hack, they might find the game frustrating with the controls, and get hit more by enemies in the same way we bash enemy placement in Sonic Rush or Sonic 4. Basically what I am saying is that it is hard to move fast and fluidly when a character has to either stop and shoot to kill an enemy, or try to make a mid air shot while moving toward the enemy which might end in damage towards you.
With all of this said, I'd like to make some suggestions. Instead of Fang being always exposed when he jumps, what if his first jump was in a ball with a height similar to Knuckles, with a double jump/flutter jump that brings him out of the ball, balancing being exposed for the extra move-ability. I don't really have any suggestion for his weapon, but do try to find a way to incorporate him in the story. Maybe have him reach a split path similar to Angel Island, where Sonic and Tails would be able to move upward, Knuckles able to break open a path, and Fang with a 3rd route that is opened up through shooting a switch object that can only be activated by him. Maybe even make his bullets bounce once to allow them into tighter spaces? Either way at the end of the day it is your project, and I'm sure you would not put out content that you didn't feel worked. I look forward to hearing more news in the future.
This post has been edited by JcFerggy: 20 July 2015 - 11:40 AM
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