Oh yeah, I suppose there is that as evidence that Sonic Team thinks the desert has jungles. Precedent!
Sonic GDK accomplished 3d physics. This was accomplished mostly by ONE PERSON. With some refinement by a competent team (ie not Sega currently as it stands) it could be just about perfected for a complete game. A lot of what you said circles back to my point about how they must constantly compensate for their inability to create a complete Sonic engine. They keep using filler for the gaps and the gameplay falls apart. They just keep scrambling the existing pieces about and call it new. Sometimes it is for the worse. Using a button to dictate two modes of Sonic's speed? That's backwards. That isn't natural motion, it's mechanical, and even farther down into the pit of on-rails gameplay.
tl;dr this game sucks because it's not a fangame. And as always, I can't be arsed to actually figure out what you're trying to say.
The problem is though, that whilst Sonic GDK accomplished things the official games haven't in 3D, the execution sucks. Sonic looks weird the way he controls, the levels are bulky and massive to accommodate the fact that you slip around all the time, and collecting rings and doing fun things looks like a massive chore. Rolling down the hills I saw in the GDK video looked fun for a minute, but you soon realise you're doing nothing else and it's adding nothing to the game in a meaningful way. It doesn't matter if SEGA don't do it 'MegaDrive-accurate', because you're never going to have Spring Yard Zone style curvy walls in 3D third person that works well, because you're not getting a good enough view of where you want to roll. Even if that were the case, you'll be rolling either too slow to care or too fast to do anything. I don't think having a run button is mechanical at all. I could argue this for eternity, but I still need to play the game to give you a true reflection of how it feels. It doesn't take much to imagine though that it's fine to play. There's never going to be a true 3D Sonic game which emulates the 2D games, because the way the 2D games work is so different to how it would work on a 3D plane, that it will never feel totally right. So what if we don't get sections where we can just roll down hills aimlessly in 3D, or if we need a run button- let's just wait to feel what it's like first. There's a reason Sonic Generations allowed rolling physics, and it's because the classic sections were essentially 2D and completely separate from the 3D sections.
This is why I suggested that GDK be refined by a good team. I'm not suggesting a perfect 3d counterpart can exist, but the physics can work and a great game be made out of it that isn't an on-rails hand holding quick time event flashy effect parade. It could actually have depth, speed, platforming challenge, and a world that's physically intuitive. That with the great environment designs they're doing and some of the good aesthetics they've got going on now, it would actually be a really good Sonic game of our time. Even if the two-state speed isn't as mechanical as it seems, it is still a step back. Another gimmick for compensation because they can't achieve more natural results.
I personally think it's the execution of the speed gear trigger that's holding it back rather than the general concept. Having a simple means of additional control over one's speed isn't necessarily bad (sometimes you don't want to be running at full speed), and the shift between gears can certainly have much more natural acceleration. It's also a fairly standard manual context button for parkour stuff (the right trigger is also used for parkour in games like Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed). Thing is, the change between 'gears' is almost instantaneous in this game, which isn't so good.
I don't like how the run button changes your speed dramatically in a fraction of a second, which will probably result in some cheap-ass deaths with the player accidentally flinging themselves off a platform. I think it should have been more like the run button in Super Mario 3 where you gradually accelerate to higher speeds (which, now that I think about it, makes even more sense for Sonic)
A good demonstration of sonic GDK.....(Although physics were revamped a bit to be more classic like here) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH9KSi8bFpo Take sonic off the 2.5D rail splines shown above and you can play with the same physics in 3d.. you can get some great gameplay in 3D but it all depends on how you design the levels. When choosing the level, I picked GHZ because it has the most complex collision for the ground of any of the 2D Sonic levels. I figured if we could come close to the original physics while replicating GHZ in 3D, than any other 2d to 3D level scenario would be a cake walk. Also I never had any problems with controlling Sonic's speed by tapping D-pad to move slow, no idea why sonic team wants to have 2 speeds for SLW. ( I guess they wanted to add gameplay strategy to the game for people who like to mash run?) That's me being sarcastic BTW :P Edit: Sonic X-treme here also uses the same physics shown in the GHZ vid above, check out the rolling near the beginning. all 100% classic physics, also note that there are no 2.5D restraints. its purely 3D. Hope sonic team can get it right this time... I have high hopes for Sonic lost world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU-k90htzqk
Has it been confirmed that Sonic will automatically go to the set speed? I may need to rewatch the videos, but I thought Sonic jogged a bit before going at full speed. My only complaint is that he should gain speed as he goes along, even if it's a slow gain.
It's more like Mario now, isnt it? Mario only runs with the holding of a run button, otherwise he does more of a walk. It's the same here, but Sonic is just a little faster.
If that's true than they killed off the huge gameplay feature that initially separated Mario from sonic in the first place.......momentum based gameplay... ouch
It is a completely different style of game though, so I don't know if momentum would even matter here? I dunno. In fact I don't even think momentum based gameplay would even work terribly well in 3D ...I imagine a full 3D, but spot-on classic physics game would be terribly tough to control, really. So I think this is good for 3D, allowing better control of speed (sonic was awfully fiddly to control in the other games, which is probably why levels were so linear). I'm welcoming it. If they want momentum, stick to 2D.
May see more of the 3DS and Wii U versions, but Ruby's already largely shown off everything there is to see of the demo. Unless they're hiding something. Anyway, the bigger deal this year for Sega is that they're sticking their neck out and giving Miku another shot at getting established in the West after that... terrible... Toyota sponsorship. Don't be surprised if you see her pop up in ASRT. S0L's been quiet about that front for a while.
Well, just finished the stream. There's about 5 seconds of new footage of Windy Hill Zone 1 for Wii U and it looked like mostly repeated footage of its 3DS brother. Shame, I thought due to the massive partnership they would be worth a little more of their time.
So looking at the press content for Lost World, I think we got the names for the Deadly Six: According to the renders inside each folder, the characters are named as follows: Red: Zavok Purple: Zazz Blue: Zik Green: Zeena Yellow: Zomzom White: Zor Take it for what you will.
Wow what strange ass names for Sonic characters. What's with all the Zs? Also anything interesting in that press content folder or just the 7 renders we've seen?
There are individual renders of Sonic and each of the Deadly Six and some new screens (including super-hi-res screens of the Wii U version), but not much else. You can get the entire package here.
