SAGExpo 2014 Act 2 LIVE!

A lot of them look very sweet

 

Sonic Overture and Edge of Darkness look the most interesting to me.

There's quite an abundance of grass levels this year though.

 

Cool lineup. Thanks for keeping the dream alive

 

I don't make games, but still curious about this: with SAGE being so close together now, will games that are just repeat demos from Act 1 be rejected, or does it matter?

 

Wow, Act 2 completely snuck up on me, might have to postpone my Freedom Planet LP so I can cover SAGE once more.

Is it too late to sign up for Arts & Entertainment?

 

Dammit, and me without a computer
Will the fan games be hosted someplace else after SAGE is over, or is this week the only chance to get the fan games?

 

Here's my two cents on some of the games I played:

Sonic Overture - A fan game that has beautiful pixel art and very fluid and fun to watch character animations. The game has loads of nods to the early Sonic 1 concept art, which is a real treat to see them come to life. The engine is very close to your usual Genesis Sonic physics. Level wise, there's really not a whole lot to do. Rolling in the levels isn't a huge reward, nor are there many level gimmicks for the player to interact with (there's a really neat spin tube, that's about it). Overall, it's worth a playthrough for the effort put into the pixel art and animations.

Sonic Edge of Darkness - An unusual mix of Classic and Modern elements, it feels like this game is having a bit of an identity crisis. The player also feels like a lead weight, but luckily the levels are designed with these physics in mind. The levels do provide some gimmicks to keep them feeling like the player has something to do though, which is good. I dead ended in Corrupt Canyon for a good bit before realizing the sandfalls worked as they do in Sandopolis. The game also has pinches of cinematic experiences like you would expect from Sonic 3K. Overall, it's your usual Sonic fan game that doesn't bring much new to the table, but is inoffensive enough to enjoy a playthrough of. Might want to work on that identity crisis though, especially when you have Sonic looking classic on the title screen, and looking modern for his in game sprites.

Sonic Mega Drive - From the creator of Sonic Fusion, comes a Genesis style fan game. Act 1 is your fairly basic starting stage, but Act 2 really brings out the tricks and action that Sonic Fusion was known for. Plenty of gimmicks and a natural progression of levels ala S3K (a rarity for fan games), even with your standard beach/jungle setting, I found this demo enjoyable and fun. The Act 1 boss was a nice surprise, and the Act 2 boss was a slight twist on the familiar EHZ boss (getting a bit bored with seeing Metal Sonic and Eggman all the time, but that's my personal opinion).

Spark the Electric Jester - From the creator of Before the Sequel, After the Sequel, and Chrono Adventure, comes an indie game that derives entirely from the high speed gameplay from the former titles. Spark is based a lot more on combat and bosses that you would expect from Mega Man. As usual from Lake and his crew, you can expect a very high quality soundtrack, as well as Lakes unique visual style in the levels. However, the game lacks the bells and whistles Before and After the Sequels are known for. The combat and power ups are neat, but there isn't much that spices the game play up.

Overall, I am enjoying the games I've played so far, but I think adding some spice to these meals would be a welcome addition.

 

Well, having worked on Overture, I can say we're putting a lot of soul into this game; we are actually working on adding stuff to Sunrise Gate but those pesky time constraints didn't allow us to finish everything we wanted. Also, this game is based very heavily on source material and we're trying to pack as many nods to the concept art as possible so it's great to see people recognise and appreciate that. As for rolling not being a reward, I don't think you're doing it right, Sparks. :P
I can get some pretty crazy air off the ramps if I hit hills at just the right angle.
Also, just putting it out there, you see that rabbit in the game from the concept art? Well, guess who was in charge of his redesign?

Spoiler

Also worked on EoD too, though much less hands on here; I designed the boss for Antarctic Amethyst (<wow, Chrome didn't spellcheck me on that one), though it looks a little different in the original concept file;

Spoiler

Also, for those of you who, like me, don't bother playing anyone but Sonic in this game, I recommend you play Tails or Knuckles in Shimmering Shores! There's actually a different boss for them to what Sonic has!
I really like EoD's art style but I have to agree with you, Sparks, it feels confused; we see Classic Sonic on the title screen, Modern on the Goal Posts and a weird (but well done) mesh of the two as the in game sprite; I think the game just needs cohesive formatting in terms of designs.

As for Mega Drive, I sort of love-hate this game; while I don't really view it as Classic due to its weird camera system and gimmicks which I think would feel out of place in Genesis games for some reason, I think this game is very good at what it does which is create a fresh new Classic BASED experience, especially with the upgrades thrown in. However, the game LOOKS a little more amateur then what I'd expect from someone like Felik, but that may just be me.

I'm going to skip Spark because I don't really find myself invested in the game, ironic since I only used to frequent forums like these to sing the praises of the Lord High Lake.

Finally, I'd like to finish off with Time Twisted. Now, there's two big gropes I have with this game;
1) Physics - I'm just gonna let this image album talk for me on this one.
2) Difficulty curve

Spoiler

Why on God's green Earth does this still exist?! I find this boss fight completely unplayable not only because it's downright torturing but because it takes the one big Sonic no-no and makes an entire boss around it; I mean, come on, a boss fight on moving platforms over a BOTTOMLESS PIT?! D: Dude, spikes would've been fine, but this?! It just hurts, man... />

However, the game has its strong points; the level art is exceptional, the badniks are (mostly) brilliant and the level tropes themselves are fresh and interesting. The only thing this game is missing is Freedom Planet's casual difficulty.

And that's all I'd like to say apart from that Sonic 4 Remastered is best SAGE game 4everz.

(P.S.: Please let me know what you guys think of Dynamo, I need feedback! D

 

But this is the second boss. :I
Also, forgot to add that some form of debug mode still appears to be in the game as you can set your rings to 50 and go Super by pressing the keys you usually press to go Super (mashing them all down at the same time for some reason? :s)

 

My first round of reviews.

 

You can change key config for the Sonic GDK games threw the ini files. Most people wouldn't know this of course. I always thought Sonic GDK should have gotten a proper key config feature in its options menu.

 

I'll give it a try.

Aaand my second round of reviews.