First things first... I have no hacking experience. I need to say that above everything else. That said, I'm wondering what the easiest way would be (if this is even possible) to pull this off. In a nutshell, I want to make the absolute complete "director's cut" of Sonic 2, compiled from levels from other hacks. Basically, I want to take Sonic 2 and make the following changes: * Add Wood Zone from "Sonic 2 Delta." * Add Dust Hill Zone from "Sonic 2 Delta." * Add Winter Zone from "The Lost Worlds." * Add Rock Zone from "The Lost Worlds." * Add Hidden Palace Zone from "Sonic 2 Delta." * Add Cyber City Zone from "The Lost Worlds." * Replace Casino Night Zone with a beta-tized version, maybe from "The Lost Worlds." * Rename the levels to their beta titles. Can this be done??
I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't be possible but you'd have to actually know how to hack, a, and b, you'd need permission and source code from the people who made the other hacks.
So do what Esrael did in the past with his Sonic 2 Delta series of hacks? Yeah it's possible, you just need to know how. :v: I suggest reading the guides we have on the wiki, and check out the "So you wanna start hacking Sonic?" thread as well as downloading the latest disassembly of Sonic 2 from the SVN.
Yeah, more or less what Esrael did, but with the Lost Worlds version of Cyber/Genocide City and the Winter Zone, I suppose. I mean, since these levels aren't my work, I wouldn't think of putting this out in the public... just something for my own amusement I guess, 'cause I'm anal retentive that way. :-P
Bad idea. See, if you even do this for your own enjoyment, other members aren't really gonna like it. Even if you just steal it for your own pleasure. I'm not a mod or even of any importance here of any way, but I'd just like to point this out. Self destruct activated in 10 seconds. Have a nice day!
For the record, Esrael is and has always been okay with other people making use of his work; in fact, he has an IPS patch up on his website that inserts a good number of the Sonic 2 Delta levels into any hack. It used to be commonplace to use them to expand gameplay potential but hasn't been made use of as of late. As for the Lost Worlds work, I suggest running the idea by ExecByte and seeing if he's willing to work with you to whip all that up for personal use. I don't really expect him to say yes, but it's a hell of a lot better than just doing it and hoping he doesn't get mad or something.
Hell, even despite what Esreal or ExecByte say... don't just take everything they did and plug it into your work... make your own, or at the VERY least, base it off of theirs, but still put your own work into it. I've played both hacks, and am putting together my own fangame. I wont touch this if it has blatant carbon copies of something else on it.
Thing is though, once you've got over the thrill of seeing these levels in Sonic 2, they really are quite shit. There's alot of stuff you'd have to do to those zones to make them appealing, a coherent level design and some new gimmicks (considering these zones don't actually have any) for a start. Not sure if a beginner will be able to do that, but it would be nice to be proven wrong.
I think that we should see more projects involve these levels. See more ideas and more possibilities. The reason we see mediocre filler levels with no gimmicks is because not many people attempt it. I liked some of what we saw in Lost Worlds... but You are right.. we need to see them implemented better. I'm planning on putting them in my fangame with their own distinct features... and more appealing names.
Well programming gimmicks is easier said than done. It's less explored in Sonic 2 than it is in Sonic 1, as far as I'm concerned.
True... Fair enough. But then that's why we learn, is it not? Many things in existence today, hacking or otherwise... were considered at one point (and maybe still are) easier said than done. So, let's learn how to do it and put together something good... I won't let difficulty be an excuse for me to download something that presents nothing new. I WILL, however, let it be an excuse of trying something new and failing.
The only true gimmick I've ever seen in a fan version of one of the lost Zones would've ended up in a future version of "Sonic 2 Long Version." Sonic Hachelle Bee massively redid Wood Zone with loads of new graphics (making it resemble a proto-Mushroom Hill), and a section where you ran through a tunnel - you heard grinding machinery, and when you came out, the forest was bare. Damn cool. Shame that one wasn't finished. :-( Only issue was, like SHB's Dust Hill, it was incredibly long and difficult compared to real Sonic 2 levels.
Nope. The screenshots that were released fueled my dreams for the longest time as a wee laddy. I was heartbroken when none of that amazing stuff was ever released. Are the screenshots even still around? Haven't seen them in years. It's be nice to see if they look as good as I remember them.
I've been cooking up a few gimmicks and/or concepts for the lost levels to implement in my game... One thing I'm including in MY Wood Zone is the modified Buzzer Badniks that were supposed to be in the game. They will be positioned in a way in that allowing them to shoot at a certain time and place will reveal alternate paths, and/or items... I believe this was a concept that was supposed to be in the original zone before it was scrapped... I'm going to implement it in mine. ALSO, Going to have a vertical-scrolling boss battle taking place within a giant tree... Dunno yet how the fight will play out, but I wanted to implement part of the zone being from within a giant tree. BTW I'm renaming it Mountain Pine Zone... based on the fact that I'll have it transition into Hill Top Zone... and I got the name influence from my former work place. LOL.
