Yeah, I saw the page go up but I decided to leave it to you to post about it. On the other hand, I like + - the easter egg you hid on the SAGE booth page .
I stopped myself after the ghost castle level, this is just a demo right? how far can I actually go?! Didn't want to spoil anymore. So all the other game music is just placeholder right? I love the tracks you guys made and if you feel that stuff like Hang Castle fits with your stage I love to see your guys take on a remix of it. Whats up with the special stage rings? disabled? Other then the slowdown I get which is probably due to my crap computer, its a great demo and I can't wait for the final version.
...I just ran on boiling water. It's like running on water except it's boiling. Best game ever. On a more serious note, I love how you keep bringing old Badniks in, and freshen them up with an entirely different gimmick. ...oh dear god, Splats. And one more thing, why is Sugar Splash greyed out on the level select? If there's one level I was looking forward to... Man. Coulda used a sugar rush. Oh well, I'll survive.
I've played the demo and I must say this game is likely to be of the same quality or even better than your previous one: the Spike shield, the Tails Doll boss, a haunted level, new varied gimmicks,etc. About the "secret" powers, they don't belong in a Sonic game, but Tails' one is kinda cool... In my opinion, Tails needs a few special gimmicks and/or alternate paths, to add enough character variety like in SBTS. On a different note, it'd be nice to have Knuckles in this game; more specifically, how Dr. Eggman tricked him to be against Sonic. I hope you include him in a special level/battle/cutscene!
I haven't gone all the way through this yet, but Lake, this is something fantastic you've got going. I spent about five minutes just wandering around the first act of the second playable zone, because it seemed to have such depth, and I wanted to explore. I love the bird airships and the homage to Donkey Kong Country with the blast barrels. I don't really have anything to criticize at the moment, so keep it up, and I look forward to the full game.
Hey, that's something quite amazing you got there! Really! I really loved the zone themes, and some of the musics are amazing too! But I have a question. It's kinda big, so I will put it in spoilers, if someone wants to/can answer. Spoiler I played the demo of Sonic ATS, and then, tried the Sonic BTS game too. (It's a great game also, by the way!) But while playing, I realized something was strange. I didn't know exactly what it was, so I decided to play some Sonic 3 to test, and then it occurred to me: Sonic's "acceleration" is reasonably lower than in the original. I mean, I don't know if it is exactly the acceleration, but the distance he can move in a set period of time. English is not my first language, so I'm struggling a bit when I try to describe it. Since I don't know how to explain, I will use a image: The photo shows the distance that Sonic reaches after a jump, leaving a still position, holding the pad as soon as you press the jump button. I'm sure that this fact is already known (because it's the second game of the series, of course the creator has realized it already or someone has said this before), so my question is, is this some kind of limitation of the engine? Don't know much about fangames, but I've noticed that some of them cause a similar feeling when playing them. I also noticed that the acceleration of Sonic seem closer to the classic game when he gets the Speed ??Shoes. (The "acceleration" only, the maximum speed is, of course, much higher.) So these values ??can be configured? It's intentional? Or it is simply too much work with code and such? In the end... Amazing job! Keep it up!
alright, thanks for the feedback, I've already fixed some of the things you guys mentioned and they will not be a problem in the final game. aisde from slowdown, which is kinda one of the hardest thing to fix. @Chaud I think it might be bacause the collision detection is very different from the original games but, well, I cant fix that, not at this point. Sonic Worlds is really good, but not perfect
Oh, so it's really an engine-related thing, then. That's a pity! It's not like this is a deal-breaker in any way, it's just that sometimes Sonic just doesn't move as you want him to. But I don't think the problem is collision detection: I was playing a little more today, and noticed that, really, the acceleration of the Speed Shoes is almost the same as the "normal" Sonic in the classic games. If it wasn't for the increase in the max speed, it's almost like the "normal" Sonic moves like he was underwater, and the "Speed Shoes" Sonic moves like he's supposed to. This shows that, somehow, the data for an aceleration closer to the original already exist in the game. I'm a total newbie in programming, I will admit that, but it "seems" to be that this could be adjusted by changing the values of Sonic "normal" acceleration to be almost the same as the ones Sonic has when you pick the Speed Shoes power-up, without changing the max speed. But I don't have the slightest idea of how much work that requires. I hope that doesn't sound like I'm "demanding" something in any way - I found your work amazing in both games, to the point where the only "criticism" that I have is this one! This certainly shows the level of dedication that you had in making this game. The only thing I can say is, congratulations! PS: Where is the music of "Foliage Furnace" from? It's amazing!
I am only guessing here, having never seen the inner workings of the Sonic Worlds engine, but the evidence suggests that the problem is the following: In the real games, Sonic's acceleration while in the air is double that of when he is on the ground. I don't think Sonic Worlds emulates this (in fact, a lot of values seem to be wrong), so Sonic's jumping feels sluggish. It would make sense about the speed shoes and water, too, because speed shoes double acceleration and water halves it. At this point Sonic ATS may not be able to change, if the levels are already built around these physics, but the fix would probably be simple otherwise.
And it's not just that, each level has its own copy of the engine (may seem very stupid but this is how it works) and I would have to go changing the value in every frame and after that, I would have to go beta test the whole game(about 1 or 2 hours to do it...) to find issues with the level design and fix then, and beta test the whole game again. that would take a lot of time and, you know, I want to finish this game as soon as possible. it's not really worth going back to change the engine at this point. so yeah, anyway, I think I've some good news: I've finished all the main levels =P now what's left is the special features, cutscenes and bosses. this doesnt mean the game will be finished earlier, there is also a whole soundtrack to be done.
So the code is duplicated like Sonic CD? Sounds odd that a modern engine would have that limitation. Or is it just the physics values that are duplicated?
From what I've seen from Sonic Worlds, all the code is duplicated. That's how MMF2 event system works (although you can have global events, but then they would be events for all the frames, without exceptions, not just the ones you want to, and Worlds wasn't programmed in that way anyway). Anyway, nice to know the main levels are finished, Lake. I can't wait for this game to be released :P
That is correct; Multimedia Fusion works by dividing the game up in to "frames". A single frame is anything from the titlescreen, a menu screen, or an entire level. Almost no data is shared between frames unless intentionally specified by making the object or variable "global". That means each level must contain a complete, functional version of the game engine. Thankfully, MMF is smart enough not to duplicate sounds between frames. There are ways to try and globalize scripting but I've found it's a hassle to work with and I heard somebody mention during SAGE that it can really slow the game down.
You've been doing an awesome job sir. The OVA tune was a great touch in act 1. Falk's probably going to have a field day with it. Like I said. Got a chance to sit down and play this and I've come away impressed yet again. I'm surprised you gave us so much to play with and get a feel for the whole game. I have random performance issues here and there for whatever reason though in Cyan City, though through a replay I didn't seem to have the same issues. Foliage Furnace was my favorite pick of the bunch because the trope reminds me of Planet Wisp and level design works very well with all the gimmicks. Overall everything is improved. I didn't even find a single spring that launches you backwards! I'm still a bit iffy on some badniks and for whatever reason I really don't like the first act of the first level, but everything else I can't really find something to bitch about. One thing I didn't like was Cyan City's boss fight at the end of the build up. The death ball really didn't feel right as a boss. Oh and the Kirby powers...while cool....not really feeling it for a Sonic game. But that's just me. Also the Spike shield was more useful than I thought it would be. Use it to jump on spike badnicks for example. A detail I liked was that the Peel out and Spindash do different things now. You can just use the Peel out and spin because tapping it makes you go nowhere, but at full charge you have a higher speed. Spindash you can spam for a quick boost and attack but full charge is slower than peelout. Also the Peelout sucks underwater. Thanks for making them just a little bit distinct so that they're useful in different situations and aren't the same version of a going fast move. Shields not breaking underwater/lava was a great idea and the way the fire shield doesn't give you oxygen immunity was a neat touch. And finally: Dem backgrounds. Found a few level issues, questions, maybe some bugs too if you didn't already know Lake. Foliage furnace. -Buzzsaw guys. When there is more than one popping out the others just stay put and don't zip around the the first one. -Got stuck in one area. Can't remember where though. I'd do a run through to check. -Managed to get Mighty stuck for a second when showing you how to knock the boulders away in act 2. Parhelion peak: -Some bumpers are nightmare traps and too close together. Some of the super close ones in the ground should be spaced a bit more, otherwise they're layouts are devious but fun. -Bumper Badnick is awesome, but it is confusing in how to destroy them. I noticed one placed over a spring and a spindash gets rid of it, but doing that to others won't kill them. Do you have to be going a certain speed on the ground or something? Castle Zone: -Really needs another word added on to complete the theme of act names in my opinion. A trope like this one with the unique take on the haunted style needs to have a distinctive name. Creep Castle, Creak Castle, Eerie Estate, Kame Keep, Moon Mansion, something something. -There is one spot involving moving platforms and spikes below placed tightly next to a ring monitor. If you try to get the monitor from anywhere other than falling from the top of the moving platforms there is no way you can maneuver out and miss the spikes. Maybe that was intentional? I know I used it to get a boost to the top with a bounce from up high, but anyone who just goes for it normally won't be making it back with those rings. Space the spikes so you can jump just a little bit in between so that it is possible with enough maneuvering skill to jump between them would be my suggested fix. - the Spike flip badkicks don't make it clear when they will flip. Intentional? - Those ball badnicks with rotating spikes sometimes damage you if you hit them when moving too fast on the exposed area. Technology Tree: -It's near impossible to see the little light guys that don't hurt you but send you backward when hit. Intentional? -The roller badnicks with the front spikes don't make it clear enough that you can jump on them. Its obvious spinning into them is a bad idea, but the last spike out of the three looks like it might hurt you from the top. Redhot Ride: -Flying dragon badnicks with spikes on top make it look like you can hit them from the rear on the head, but it doesn't seem to work without taking damage. Add spikes to the those areas as well? -The second area where you need the fire shield should have a stage piece like one you used in the upper path with all those hidden monitors you bounce on. It forced you to roll so you could do the bouncing and forcing to roll into the fire shield monitor would make it impossible to miss. I somehow jumped over the thing had to kill myself below in the lava. Cyan City: Some framerate issues happened here for whatever reason. I can't seem to replicate it. Might have just been my end. On an unrelated note what is the music from Parhelion Peak? It's now stuck in my head. EDIT: Whoa this was bigger than I thought it would have been. Sorry for the wall.
Okay, I've played through it some more and have found what I'm guessing to be bugs, but they may be intentional, and if so, just ignore me. Anyway, when playing as "jester" Sonic (does that power-up have a name?), there are numerous odd sprite moments, such as swinging around the gymnastics bars in Technology Tree Zone or when dashing around the rising cup gimmick from Sonic 3 in the castle zone. On the bars he goes into various "wrong" sprites, such as the jumping sprite or the spring bounce sprite. In the castle zone, he turns into normal blue Sonic in the gimmick, and I also got him to turn into normal Sonic in the figure 8 animation somewhere in the same zone. Another possible bug that I've encountered in a number of zones is when in possession of the water shield, and moving underwater, if Sonic gets hit by an enemy, he loses rings, but keeps the shield. I haven't gotten hit enough times under those conditions to notice if it happens every time or not, and again, if it's supposed to be that way, I'll shut up, but I thought it should be pointed out just in case.
