Sonic 3 Adventure

Sonic 3 Adventure

I was going to wait until after SAGE to announce this project, but I decided I should go ahead and get this out there before too many people are too busy with other projects to help.

This project aims to re-create the look and feel of Sonic Adventure 2, but with Sonic 3 levels, enemies, gimmicks, and story. The game engine will be based on the Sonic Freerunner mod of Damizean and Mark the Hedgehog's BlitzSonic engine. Recently I've been working hard to tweak the controls, and to add and improve existing features to make the engine feel more like SA2. The engine will, of course, use free libraries and effects demos. Like BlitzSonic Freerunner's source, the source for Sonic 3 Adventure will likely be released to the public.

If you are curious where you can find BlitzSonic Freerunner's source, I haven't released it quite yet. I've been planning on releasing it at SAGE 2012. You can see a short list of upgrades I've made since the last release of BlitzSonic Freerunner here.

I've been looking forward to making a BlitzSonic mod like this for some time. I have even tried once before to make Lava Reef Zone, but I was too inexperienced at the time to continue making the stage and the badniks.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRKBTodSTac[/youtube]

Now, I believe I have enough experience in 3D modeling and Blitz3D that I could get this project going, and sustain it long enough to get at least the first stage of each level in Sonic 3 completed.

However balancing the development of a game with real life can be a challenge, and if I want this project to get done within a reasonable amount of time, I will need help with it. So here comes the part where I ask for assistance.

I am in need of texture artists, modelers, animators, musicians, programmers (Blitz3D), and maybe storyboard artists. I haven't decided yet if the last one is necessary, because if I make cut scenes they will likely center around the original Sonic 3 story, which is incredibly simple. The only instance I would need the story board artists would be for deciding camera angles and for drawing out things that the characters do during the sequence.

This is mostly an open project, and I'm not going to be especially strict about anything, and this isn't necessarily team oriented. The only thing I will not tolerate is perfection. Nobody is perfect, and neither will the texture or model you produce. To prevent this project from dragging out indefinitely, chasing impossible dreams of perfection, I will accept just about any model or texture, provided it is at least 256x256 in size, and matches the overall color scheme of the level and other textures. Models are just as forgiving; I will accept any model because I plan on improving the LOD system later on. Models that are low poly may be featured as a low-detail model, and models with too much detail will get used in the production of high-res baked textures. Basically I don't want to dwell on how well something looks or how accurate it is, I just want to get the resources into the game and get it done. Later, if someone makes a better model or texture, we can always upgrade it. I don't want this fan game to drag out indefinitely!

Now that you know the general idea, what engine I'm using, what I need help with, and what I expect out of this project, I hope you will take interest in the project and I look forward to seeing what the community has to offer!

I will update this page with more information, progress, and demos as the project progresses. The first phase in the project is creating resources for Angel Island. In the mean time, I am continuing to refine BlitzSonic Freerunner's code for release to the public, and to get it ready for this project.

 

Yes, the BlitzSonic version of Freerunner is a completely separate project that I am continuing. It is basically going to be an upgraded version of BlitzSonic (just the engine), and this project will use it for the creation of a full game. I kept the old Freerunner name for the Freerunner engine project because that's what it was called initially. WorldRunner, as it is called now, is continuing under Sonic GDK.

 

The hovercraft handling has been fixed, but it still needs fine tuning. However, that may not be necessary if I can manage to get this completed:
Game_Character_Parser.bb
I don't mind sharing this because it will be made public anyway. Its not finished yet, but this will allow you to create profiles, which will be nothing more than mesh/animation data, and physics/handling. Its like Stage.xml for characters. This would enable you to tweak the handling to your liking on a per-character basis. I have to get a character select working before it will work because that parser will eventually read the characters automatically, like the stage folder does now. I think this is the best approach because characters can be made portable; If you make a character or refine the handling, you can share it with others, and they don't need to do anything to get it into the game, other than plop it into the character folder.

 

This isn't exactly a progress shot, I'm just testing the new auxiliary object placement code. Redlerred7 gave me the idea to use pyramids for object placement on the Worldrunner forums, and it seems to work pretty well. The power of the spring is adjusted by moving the center vertex of the pyramid objects while editing them in your 3D editor.

And, Sonic doesn't bounce randomly in the cage like he does in the Megadrive/Genesis games, he bounces perfectly clockwise around it. Weird! :v:

 

The game is going to feature Angel Island through Launch Base. If I can get enough people to help out, I might consider going all the way through S&K levels as well.

There isn't really a dedicated editor. Blitz3D accepts .3ds, .md2, .x, and it's native format .b3d. Many people use Fragmotion for work in Blitz3D because it supports the .b3d extension so well. But there are plugins for 3DS Max, and you could also export to one of the other formats using another software. As for filling the level with objects after you have modeled it, I'm writing up a help file for BlitzSonic Freerunner to guide you through it.

 

Bloominator model. I may have put a little too much ambient lighting on it. I'll tweak it later when I get it into the game.

 

Well I could use some burned wood and grass textures. Angel Island won't stay green for long! And model wise, I could certainly use the flowers and fruits in Angel Island - the tall red flower and small shrub with the spinning fruit. I'll try to post some of my resources later if you need a base from which to start. I prefer you use textures that I, or you, have created from your own photos. I often avoid using stuff off the internet or from games. That doesn't mean you have to go out and get a picture of burned grass; you are encouraged to be creative. I made a nice ice crystal texture from a brick wall, which I will probably use in Ice Cap at some point.

Update: Light dash is in place! I just need to make some sparkles and refine the speed.

 

I finally got around to texturing the Caterkiller Jr. badnik, and I toned down the lighting on the Bloominator significantly. The Bloominator is also animated now, and shoots sprite-based spikeballs.