Let's think up new Sonic zone tropes!

In other words, a grittier version of Skyscraper Scamper? :specialed:

 

Sure, if you prefer. Only in this one, if you turn into the werehog, some dude comes out and shoots you. This happens only in East Los Angeles Zone, though.

 

I don't know if anyone has said this or if it's in a previous sonic game but I figured I'd join the fun, its not completely original but oh well I tried at least.

This would be a multi act zone with different gimmicks in each of them.

Falling Forest Zone

Act 1 - Robotnik needs to clear the mountain side for his own needs and at the begining Sonic is attacked by badniks with saws and axes and the like. Sonic can platform through the trees and have to hop over fallen ones along with having to watch for the trees falling randomly in the zone. Badniks would include a buzzsaw snake and a axe throwing Squirel in the trees, along with Mosquitos that latch on to you and suck away rings. (Think Wood Zone from Sonic 2 except it getting destroyed)

Act 2 - would show a cleared away mountain side with Sonic racing towards Robotnik in a Log Cutting machine with random logging machinery in the background Sonic is running through a flowing river with logs and platforms floating around it and machinery floating in the water. Sonic cannot fall in the water or he will die from the fast moving logs and machinery. Eventually Sonic and Robotnik battle it out with Robotnik's machine crashing into a huge wooden dam. The zone brings back a badnik or 2 from the first act but features a Beaver Badnik able to tear away at platforms if Sonic stands on them for 2 long. (Would be like a constant moving zone like you was on a train)

Act 3 - Shows the dam being destroyed and flooding over the hillside of torn down trees and with this it floods the ground and Sonic must escape the forest from the raging mudslide and raging water chasing after him. This part of the zone would be downhill mostly with him jumping from what few platofrms there is left and getting off them before they are destroyed. Dodging the debris of the forest and what's left of Robotnik's machinery flowing and flying around Sonic eventually runs out of platforms and is on the forest floor. He must watch his footing as the ground is very unstable and could send Sonic down sliding (like the slides in Labrinth Zone) but he is stuck in the mud and has to try and free himself before he gets crushed. He must avoid the last little bit of unstable ground before jumping to safety at the last minute and finishing the zone.

 

That's awesome. I did have an idea for a river-like Zone with Sonic jumping up floating logs, but this is much more well-thought-out.

HAving been playing some SA:DX recently, I have to opt for Turkish Prison Zone:



"Hi there, hedgehog. Looks like you dropped the soap."

 

I always thought a cool level would be the Death Egg...under water. I imagined a "Sonic 4" (not related to the actual Sonic 4) beginning with the Death Egg falling from the sky, along with Sonic and Robotnik's mech-suit. Sonic would fall from the sky, after being shot off the Tornado by an angry Robotnik in the distance (who has ejected out of the mech suit) into the ocean, right after the Death Egg. He'd fall into a hole in the Death Egg, would be seemingly dead for a few seconds, but a random oxygen bubble would rise and he'd breath it in and would then be revived, beginning the level. He'd be entirely under water for a bit, until he breaks through a weakened part of a wall somewhere where there's air still in the ship. He'd break through, and a stream of water would pour through the hole and it would be in Sonic's best interest to run, FAST. He'd have a natural enemy, I guess (that being the water). He'd have to get to higher points before the water fills up the large area. I imagine the level would be one act. Sonic would break through a room and find Robotnik messing around with some computer, all frantically. He'd turn around, laugh, hop on his Egg Mobile and leave. Sonic would move forward, reading what's on the screen, and do a "scared" face. The Death Egg's final purpous would be to launch the "B-Bomb", or "Badnik Bomb". It would be right beneath Sonic, and after Sonic made the "scared" face, it would shoot up into the sky (launching Sonic up with it, of course), and Sonic would fly miles away onto the shore of an island (the expected "green" level) and would watch as the bomb explodes, sending out legions of badniks across the planet...more than Sonic/Tails/Knuckles had ever seen. This would be sort of a stepping-stone to a new story, one where Sonic, Tails and Knuckles have had to use all of their resources in an attempt to get rid of the vast amounts of badniks that have been terrorizing the land, all while Robotnik has been using the opportunity to create his own floating island! Which is a home, a stronghold, and a weapon to Robotnik - and those who have chosen to take his side. It launches into the sky as a frightened planet watches. The adventure begins.

LOL!!! I don't know....the only "level" I have in there is the Death Egg under water...but then, that's not entirely a new concept, either. Perhaps level ideas could stem from the story idea I talked about? :v:

EDIT: Hm...what about a level where Sonic is actually inside a computer? As in...cyberspace! Like, Sonic has to actually go into the computer (after being digitized by some newfangled device that Tails created), traverse the "landscape" of its architecture (landscape being your typical Sonic-level-layout of loops and platforms) and defeat the "boss" (the boss being whatever "antivirus" program the computer has on it). That's something I'd like to see. "Digital Zone". I imagine it would be reminiscent of Tron.

Another would be a destroyed city. Robotnik had just tried to level a huge city by dropping a bomb on it from above on his floating island. Turns out, there are chaos emeralds there, and Sonic needs 'em. Sonic traverses a crumbling city that's largely on fire in search of chaos emeralds.

 

This was what I at one point hoped Splash Hill would be. The Death Egg had "splashed down" off the coast of Green/Emerald/Turquoise Hill, so Act 1 would be a fairly normal Tropical Island Zone, Act 2 would be a post-tidal-wave beach, and Act 3 would be Sonic hopping around the underwater wreckage in the coastal shallows. SADLY, I am apparently more imaginative than paid level designers. :/

You mean this?

You mean THIS?

 

Huh, interesting...I haven't played either Shadow the Hedgehog, or Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). I gave up on the 3D games after SA2. "Digital Circuit" looks interesting, and pretty much covers what I was describing, but "Crisis City" is nothing like what I was imagining.

 

I have one. Behold:

Titanic Terror Zone.

I'm sure you guys know where I'm going with this one.

 

Perfect. Water rushing in, the ship slowly turning upwards, and general panic setting in. I even have a boss: you need to fight someone for the last lifeboat. :v:

 

With the music being a loop of S1's drowning music.

Terror by name...

 

: ( : ( : (
That would be so scary, I'd shit entire houses.

 

I would kill for Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Special/Bonus stages.

Also, I have the perfect use for a gritty Jet Set Radio type urban environment: The locale where Eggman's human subjects live. Sure, the old Doctor mostly works with robots, but you'd think there'd have to be at least a few unlucky people who have to live under his rule. Now that we've interacted with human communities in Adventure 1 and Unleashed, I'm curious what life in the Eggman Empire is like.

And then I had this idea for a gimmicks factory, GIMMICKS Inc., where the player witnesses monitors, springs, point markers, ect. in various stages of being manufactured. The actual stage would feature typical factory sets, such as conveyor belts with crushers and and grinders, rotating gears, ventilation shafts, transport tubes, pulleys, and security droids. As for the feel of the zone, think Portal's environments mixed with Mirror's Edge openness and bright primary colors. This is meant to be an efficient, clean and relatively happy factory, not your typical Eggman one.

 

-->Metal Mainframe Zone

Robotniks new base. Pretty much a small City unto itself.
Many robots around.
Spikes, death traps, standard final level material.
However, its actually a giant flying fortress....yes....a city in the sky
Final Zone

(I always liked the idea of a battleship the size of a city)

-->Demonic Ruin Zone

Ruins of the ancient civilisation that foresaw the Doomsday Zone
(remember that Mural in Hidden Palace zone when you fought Knuckles)
Plenty of ghosts.
Robotniks machines
Robotnik is trying to find the Secret tablets that will give him the information need to reobtain the Super Emeralds, after Sonic sealed them away.
Second-last Zone

(Interesting concept I think)

-->Endgame Zone

The extra zone after collecting the 7 chaos Emeralds.
Robotnik, steals your Emeralds and uses them and the Master Emerald to warp the Super Emeralds in from their alternate dimension.
The true Final Boss. A Super Emerald powered Battle Mech, the size of a Skyscraper.
Hyper Sonic final battle

(something we really need, I mean after S3&K What happened to them?)

My ideas, what are your thoughts?

 

Sonic Geometrical Patterns the Book? Goddamn, I'm going to buy that book one way or another. Thanks for showing it, man.

Edit: Ah, nevermind. I just looked up that book and there's only sixteen window designs in it. And you have to color them. What.

 

Stephen King Zone
Tax Return Form Zone

 

Why did I read that as StephenUK Zone and Taxman Zone?

 

Here's another from Amazon dot com. It's a bit more expensive but I think it has more designs.

Anyways, there are a lot of tropes that the game developers have approached but haven't made memorable. I think the Black Comet levels in particular could have been completely awesome examples of the alien environment trope if enough effort and innovation was put into them. But instead they were pretty bland, both gameplay wise and aesthetically. The same is true of Shadow's Digital Circuit-like stages, to a smaller degree.

Another trope I'd like to see is a lunar mining facility, like Lunar Lander Zone. Hell, Eggman could even build right into that crater he left in SA2.

 

I think it was wishful thinking.

 

Optical Illusion Zone:
A level that takes place on multiple optical illusions. This would be a puzzle-oriented level, while also having a lot of (infinite) runways. For example, this would be awesome to run around in, just replace stairs with slopes:


Holland Zone:
Act 1: A Completely flat level which requires no jumping whatsoever, with some very slow cow/sheep badniks who don't do shit. It also has a lot of (wind)mills in the background.
Act 2: Takes place on the shore, with a slight amount of elevation in the form of dunes and dams. Here, seagull and crab badniks are your enemy. There are also many stranded jellyfish badniks that do not move, but hurt you if you touch them. However, this level is still mostly flat ground.

My two cents/joke level ideas.

 

Forest Underworld Zone - A network of mirrors brings a bunch of sunlight deep underground to a huge, wide-open space in the earth where a huge forest grows. Underground lakes exist due to flows of water pouring from the walls in the distance. The walls are lined with dark crystals, a la "The Core" when they burst through the mantle and enter a HUGE area in which I can only describe as being a crystal cavern.