I really like the concept art up there, I wish the game was made to look like the concept art instead of the flash style graphics that its got going on right now. I'm really hoping that im not coming off as sounding picky or anything! Keep up the good work !
The quality of their work is extremely high and denotes the energy, love and dedication they're pouring in to this. I was really, really impressed with the demo. Hope another release is coming in the not too distant future. Did they say their intention is to produce another demo, or are we waiting for the full game now?
Hey guys ! Don't let my comment about the game looking like flash style graphics get you down! You all are doing a very good job and yes I know that you are putting a lot of effort and time into this project. So....Don't let some of us picky fans get in your way or anything! Keep going and doing what you feel is best. But yeah the part of the game that looks flash like,( and I've seen other people point that out in the past) I cant quit put my finger on what it is that is giving people that impression including myself, maybe the visuals are just not broken up enough threwout large sections and colors feel too even or the chunks feel a bit on the stiff side maybe ? I could be wrong on that, its just the feeling I get when looking at the game and than looking at the concept art and feeling the concept art has a lot more personality to it than the actual game environments. And than there is comparing to the classic game, even though its lower resolution, the pixelated look feels like it's breaking up the visuals enough to give it a bit more, (how can I say this?) a bit more randomized feeling maybe ? But yeah anyways don't take my comments to much to heart, I'm just some random guy online and it is not my intent to put the project down or anything.
I assume it's another demo... With Aquatic ruin. Seems like their developing the game in order of the levels (Hill Top I'm assuming was done because of the sprite sharing) @Andrew - I don't agree with the Flash comment, but I do agree a hand painted approach would look glorious. Especially with how well Cuphead achieved it
Ah, thanks dude! Yeah I guess a new demo with Aquatic Ruin would make sense. Their best bet is to release a series of demos, in my opinion, to maintain spark and hype for the game. Their last demo seems to have released to universal acclaim so people love their work. A few more demos would work wonders for popularity and visibility of the project - and awareness. I'd jump on a new demo in a heartbeat as I adored the last one. Perhaps someone with knowledge of their plans could chime in?
I can see why some people might think it looks similar to flash, but I personally love the style which has been established. I always felt that Sonic's world was intended to appear synthetic, and crystalline. Updating the graphics faithfully just happens to look similar to flash, an artform which basically didn't exist at the time. As I recall, Sonic 2 HD was intended to reference the Official Sonic art of that period, which it does very well. I think it only appears more flash-like because of the large expanses and repetition of sprites. Further, you can be certain that if the artists strayed further from the original content you would probably displease significantly more people. It's a very tight line to walk when dealing with super-fans, nostalgia, and subjective content. Sure they could add all sorts of extra textures and grunge, etc. and achieve a more "realistic" appearance, but this is what modern Sonic has done and many people have complained it looks very generic and Pixar-like (albeit they have been honing a characteristic style more recently). The fact that the Sonic 2 HD team have struck such a balance without appearing bland is remarkable in my opinion. The graphics really pop and basically look to me right now as my 7 year old self had imagined they did at the time. This might be what Mania 2 ought to emulate. Oh wait, silly me, Mania was a huge success so naturally Sega will never make another...
I like the direction they're headed with the visuals, but I agree the tooniness of it is noticeably scaled up. I wouldn't use "flash" as the term to describe it though, it's not flat so much as it looks too soft. The aim for the look of official artwork is aces for the characters, but I think it kind of misses the look the environments themselves were trying to have. The color application and gradients just makes some things look too soft when they were meant to look jagged and leap out of the screen. They've done a nice enough job of balancing their style with the original games, though I'd personally like to see them head in the direction they took Chemical Plant; faithfully recapturing the foreground artwork, and then re-imagining the background to match the style.
via fb: Did you like the animations in our 2.0 demo? Are you ready for a peek behind the scenes on what made them so great? Today the spotlight is on our environmental and enemy animator, Mike Harvey, in a new instalment of Staff Attack! Enjoy. https://sonic2hd.com/changelogs/staffattack/Staff-Attack-Mike-Harvey.html
Simply more reinforcement that this project has some serious talent behind it, as well as a feverish amount of love and dedication. These "behind the scenes" updates are fantastic as well as being really well-made. I did think they were sending out too many of them with nothing to show for it for too long, but then they allayed those fears with their fucking awesome (and quite substantial) demo which I was just enamoured with. Loved it. Wonder if a new demo is on the horizon? Can't decide whether I'd like to try a new build with more zones or just wait it out for the finished product at this point. Either way I love that this project exists and if the demo is anything to go by the end game here is going to be fucking amazing. Excellent work guys.
via fb: 'Now that S2HD has entered phase 3 of production we have moved on to new targets for development. Goals for phase 3 include new zones, game modes, and characters. One of the new jobs we have been most excited get onto, of course, is Super Sonic! So without further ado we present the brand new character designs for Super Sonic' https://sonic2hd.com/changelogs/sonic2/super.html Edit: April fools, I am a fool. I saw that six pack and was like WHAT.
I thought that was real That would've been awesome, just imagine Rambo Super Sonic. Sonic skipped leg day though.
via fb: 'Now that the focus of development is squarely on new features and experiences for future releases, it's time to show where some of our effort has been directed! In the character art space there's been a lot of progress lately, so strap yourselves in for a SUPER update!' Link There still seems to be a ton of interest, what with nearly 500 likes on this post.
https://sonic2hd.com...a-super-update/ There, a more proper link. EDIT: Or even better: https://sonic2hd.com/changelogs/supersonic/Visual-Changelog-Super-Sonic.html Now lets hope that this one doesn't break away too :p I'm not too sure about the sparks, even if sparks are official for hyper sonic. Also, right now I can not recall if Super has the sparks too, either on S2 or S3.
Looks fucking awesome to me. That final Super Sonic animation in the changelog is just superb. So much love poured in to this project. They're fans but it looks like professional work. So onwards to the next demo release. I'm sure there'll be plenty more of these enlightening behind the scenes looks at the game in the interim. Cheers for bumping the thread High Fidelity. Wouldn't have seen this otherwise.
SWEET BABEY JEZUS! This is unbelievable... Is it possible for Sega to buy this, if they wanted to? This project is seriously surpassing my wildest dreams. Some people are so crazy talented. Words cannot express.
