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So with all the negativity surrounding Sega and their recent restructuring plans resulting in the scaling back of their console operations I thought this was thread worthy because for once it's actually some good news regarding the future of the Sonic franchise. Takashi Iizuka was interviewed recently presumably for the recent release of Sonic Runners and was asked directly about the future of Sonic games on consoles. The interview was with 4gamer and is in Japanese but we have a translation of the key question he was asked courtesy of Woun:

Quote

I cleaned up the translation somewhat to add clarification. You can see Woun's original translation on either SSMB or the site that we're not supposed to link to as there is a recent news post on there. The general gist however is an outright refutation to the idea that Sonic will only appear on mobile from now on and that Sonic games for home consoles will continue in the near and distant future. So as I said actual good news for once. I want to thank Woun for the original translation and TimmiT for pointing this out to me just now via posting it on NeoGAF.

So finally some good news. Sonic on consoles will continue. A collective sigh of relief?

So someone on the Sega forums decided to contact former Sonic 4 brand manager Ken Balough on Facebook and posted the results of their conversation on the Sega forums. Ken stated that although the series was initially planned to be a trilogy of games Sonic 4: Episode III was planned and then scrapped at an unknown point in development. Ken is vague regarding the specific reasons that he "cannot disclose" though as we all know whilst Episode I was a modest success that green-lit the sequel both were critical failures and Episode II specifically fell short of commercial expectations.

Unexpected though to be honest unsurprising news. Sega have been quiet on the future of the Sonic episodic series for years now and all of their recent announcements and movements have demonstrated them taking Sonic in a new direction. Sonic Generations was in many ways a response to the failure of the Sonic 4 series so it's not the most shocking of news to hear that Episode III will never see the light of day. As we've all probably assumed for a while now it seems Sega/Sonic Team have indeed abandoned the Sonic 4 project for now. I thought it was thread worthy to post the news given I've seen posts on here hoping for a Sonic 4 Episode III announcement this year so at least we know for definite now not to expect one. So what do you guys think? Surprised? Disappointed?

Personally whilst Episode II was a vast improvement over the original I was profoundly disappointed in the project overall. Perhaps it's for the best that Sega moves on.

Source: http://forums.sega.c...HAPPENING-Maybe

So it appears that Sonic Runners rumour from a while back was correct and true. Sonic Runners is a Sonic Team developed mobile game due for release in 2015. Not much is known about the game at the moment but we're supposed to be getting more information in January of 2015 as the original rumour also indicated. At least this confirms Sonic Team is still active in developing Sonic games though only mobile for now.

Given the game is called Sonic Runners it's highly probable this is a Sonic Dash-style endless runner. It'll be interesting to see whether this game is superior to Sonic Dash given that Sonic Team is at the helm. From what I can recall Sonic Dash was hugely popular and successful for Sega so I suppose another Sonic mobile game should be expected. The surprise here is that Sonic Team are developing it so the game has the potential to be decent.

Hopefully next year that other rumour of a Sonic Team developed next generation Sonic game for 2015 will also come true.

Source: http://www.sonicstad...or-smartphones/
NeoGAF thread: http://www.neogaf.co...ad.php?t=960550
Original source (Japanese): http://www.famitsu.c...2/28068910.html

Hey everyone. Development on Sonic Neon has started up again with a view to finishing the first public release of a one-level demo. I am however finding it extremely challenging in getting to grips with Sonic Worlds. I think it just goes to show how long it has actually been since I have worked on a Sonic fangame. I'm skilled with graphics, level art and level design but in terms of implementing the work into Sonic Worlds and getting the game playable I'm finding it hard and to be honest almost impossible. With that in mind I wanted to ask whether anyone would be willing to join the project as a partner so that development can resume and the one-level demo can be developed and eventually finished.

Here's some of the latest screenshots of Sonic Neon from the current build I'm working on:











Now in terms of time commitment I would say the involvement of any potential partner would be quite minimal. I need assistance with things like implementing the level I'm working on into Sonic Worlds and getting the level playable and functional. For someone skilled with Sonic Worlds and the MMF/MMF 2 event editor in general this wouldn't actually involve a massive amount of work. Even so for Sonic Neon to continue development I would need some serious help. Sonic Neon is planned to be a one-level demo for the moment in order to gauge interest in the project becoming a full game. So again we're looking at very little work involved. Assistance in implementing the level into Sonic Worlds. Getting it playable and functional. And for the moment that would be the only work involved.

For Sonic Neon to continue development and see a demo finished and released I am going to need help. Anyone interested?

Hey everyone. I have returned to Sonic fangaming. I thought this would never happen but I have a substantial amount of time on my hands at the moment and wanted to do something enjoyable and productive. Sonic Neon represents my return. Running on the latest release of Sonic Worlds; Sonic Neon is a new and potentially innovative Sonic fangame with some original and new ideas. Sonic Neon sees Sonic thrust into a nocturnal cityscape where he must collect neon spheres of light. At least for the first zone. The objective is to collect every colour of the rainbow. Once every colour is collected something special and magical happens. I want to keep precisely what happens a secret until the demo release. Suffice to say it is something profound. So profound it represents a massive technical challenge to pull off in MMF2. I'm making decent progress with it and this feature should be available and active in time for the demo release.

Screenshots. Just a note here. These are very work in progress and subject to change.











The main objective and theme I'm going for here is a game to which the atmosphere is compelling and immersive. I want the player to be zoned in on the game when playing. In order to achieve this I feel that sound and music is of the imperative. In terms of the game's soundtrack the music I was thinking of going for is something like this. I may use this track. I may choose another. I feel that this track conveys the type of emotion I'm going for. I've always believed that sound is super important to the type of feeling and emotion you get when playing a game. I truly want Sonic Neon to be a unique experience. Something different. Something memorable. There's obviously a long way to go here but I am confident that I can get a demo out. A demo quite soon.

That's everything for now. Thoughts and opinions?

PS: If you like the music I linked to I strongly recommend this track. Not suited for a game but beautiful none the less.