How about a hover technique for the Wind Shield? You hold the jump button, and it stops your upward velocity from becoming negative for a while. I'm sure Sandopolis in particular could've used a shield like this.
The shields look great so far! Would you be able to add a sort of 'pull' effect on the bubble shield as Sonic jumped or fell? A sort of slight teardrop effect as Sonic pushes the the bubble forward and the back tries to keep up. I don't know how much work it would entail, but I think it would be a really neat detail. Since it's 2 in the morning and I'm probably not making much sense, something a little like what can be seen here as the bubble is pushed forward Actually, just watching that, I've had an idea: I would love you forever if the bubble shield popped into a bunch of tiny bubbles when you lose it.
Woah, what if that happened with all the shields? Like, the flameshield goes out in smoke, the thundershield fizzles out, the aquashield bursts into tiny bubbles. This is entirely me fanwanking, but + - we could totally use those as the mercy invincibility when you lose a shield. Like, Sonic's slightly ashen when you lose the fire shield, he's sparking when the electric shield dissipates, and he's covered in bubbles when the water shield bursts. Please feel free to ignore me, as I am a sparkly-eyed fanboy who doesn't know what's best for the series :v:
On the shields: Awesome, awesome work. I really love the bubble. I agree with Blivsey that any sort of movement should effect the bubble, which ties in with the "bouncy pinball" ability I talked about earlier. But why stop there? The electric shield could shoot out jolts every now and then. The fire shield could leave a fire trail behind him. All my yes. That's the kind of spunk and personality I have wanted from a Sonic title. Agreed with the fire shield ash, but I would wet Sonic instead of covering him with bubbles, the electricity shield should have him look shocked and shoot of a spark or two. This is all fanwank, but like I said, the details add up and count. I think I love this little think tank you got going on here.
Another shield stage effect idea: A factory stage could have fans in the background of certain sections that raise the Bubble Shield's jump height by making Sonic lighter, enabling him enough to reach other paths(or cross into higher paths missed before), (kind of like the green switch ability in Arcane Altitude Zone from Before the Sequel) I think this was already mentioned, but perhaps the elec-shield could 'power' certain platforms and make them rise or lower to shortcuts, or other areas.
Oh my yes, I can do it quite so realistically but I'll have a bloody good go. I love all these ideas I'll probably use a lot of them! Tiller, I'll probably be doing everything in your post.
One of the things that shields lack compared to Mario's suits is character. These ideas help with that.
I am so, so excited to know of this project. So excited. Wish I could contribute more than just ideas... but I'm only good with sprites and MAYBE music. Looking forward to seeing this project come to fruition. Wanna make sure you realize that was Caniad Bach who had that idea, not me. Props where props are due
I would love for people to contribute music at a later date, because that's the one thing I can't do myself, but I don't think it's the right time for that just yet. As for the bubble shield, I'll be uploading another version of the shield demo soon, with a few edits to that
Just being curious, but will you consider doing the same with levels at a later point? That would definetly be something interesting for the community to get behind if you ask me.
Level layouts? Sure, why not. I know I'll be taking care of graphics, engine and level design, but help wont hurt with the third.
Ok here it is: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27349627/Sheilds.zip (same link OMG!) Anyway, This is the easiest way of doing it, but I am not 100, or even 50 percent happy with it yet, so it will probably change a hell of a lot soon.
OK, that's really cool. I really like the way those shields look (and that bubble effect is pretty cool), although I think the normal blue shield is a bit flashy (playing the animation too fast maybe? I dunno).
That's even more awesome as I thought it would be. Again, excellent job. The bubble pinching probably needs tweaking but the idea is there. I can't wait to see what will make you happy then. I've been thinking about level design here, and mostly thinking about the opening green/wood stage design. They should feature heavy tree branch curves and loops of sorts. Like a tree root of a massive tree that twists and forms a loop/corkscrew on the ground. I was digging in the old Sonic Retro level design topics and it featured some cool tree/cliff ideas. Not sure what became of any of it though since they're still plugging away at it. Example from Sonic CD.
Here's an extremely geeky and OCD suggestion for bubble shield There's a minimum size and maximum size. The shield will continually edge towards maximum size (I.e. crossing half the distance between current size and max size every second or so) On movement, chances of releasing bubbles are a function of how fast Sonic is going and how far away from minimum size the bubble currently is, hence: 1) stationary = never release bubbles 2) at min size = never release bubbles 3) close to max size, releases bubbles at the slightest movement 4) very fast movement speed, release bubbles even while close to min size Releasing bubbles subtracts the shield size according to the size of the bubble released (randomly generated range based), compensated by the fact that bubbles are 3 dimensional (I.e. 60 pixel shield - 10 pixel bubble, remaining shield size = 3rd root of (60^3 - 10^3) edit: Also, the effect looks awesome for horizontal and vertical movement, but remains circular for diagonal movement- I'm sure you're already aware of that though!
Providing I have the time, I would love to help out with some of the music. Do you have any idea how you want the game to sound? Ie. what kind of style and timbres to use. When I get back to my flat I could try and compose a main theme if you'd like? Providing you don't just want to use the Masa theme from 1/2/Generations. Depending how busy I am I can contribute music, production, mastering or even just Masa-style demos. After uni's all wrapped up in (hopefully) less than 2 months I'll be free to do whatever and will be able to spend time on stuff. I'm loving the shields. How feasible would it be to add heat waves around the fire shield? (Sorry if I'm bombarding you with ideas XD) Actually providing I can find a 1/4 to 3.5 jack adapter for my headphones, I might have a whack on my keyboard now and see if I can come up with anything. I can't sleep anyway haha!
If we're Sonica's going for all four elementals, the air element is kinda taken with the lightning shield IMO. I just had an idea though, and like all these ideas it's fucking stupid (to some. I GUESS) so you've been warned. ROCK SHIELD Rocks circle Sonic. Special attack: downward smash; Sonic is propelled downwards - not unlike the bubble shield, but with no bounce. Sonic destroys anything destroyable without bouncing, just ploughs right through that shit. Reistances: whilst Sonic has the Rock shield, he cannot be squished - objects simply come to a stop when they hit the shield instead of smashing Sonic. Other features: shield makes Sonic very heavy - to the extent that his bounces from enemies are minimal and he can't high-bounce. His jump height is not affected (that would make progressing through levels a bitch) but Tails can't carry him in 2P co-op. Having said that it's stupid, it's nowhere near as fucking dumb as a spike shield. Keep spikes dangerous, yo.
