SC1 will be included. S1 and S2 will likely not. I am choosing not to include them again on initial release due to it not being polished enough. I figure DLC will be a good alternative.
great, s1 and s2 will make or great dlc, will said dlc include an Encore like more for sc2? if so that would be an amazing idea to get folks to go for the upgrade lol. good ideas for such a mode would be new music/ alter level layouts/ pallets and new/harder bosses. i you need ideas. sory, just spit balling ideas at the wall seeing what sticks. hope my brain helps you make this game as good as it can be. also no big deal if thats a no, lol i know deving the game its self can be a big deal, so if you say no who am i to go "but hez" no one thats who. im just tossing out fun ideas and hopeing you also enjoy them, thats all.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O8BTdbrzzMB-9-HR5rjD4AByDYt4UYvP/view?usp=sharing In case anyone doesn't follow SAGE. Feel free to post bugs. I plan on trying to release hot fixes occasionally.
Where's a playable revamped SC1 included in SC2? I just can't find it. In Factory Frenzy, the drowning music is increasingly urgent while counting "5, 4, 3, 2" down, but it becomes normal as it comes to "1, 0". Not very habituated to it.
I've been having issues with the controls too - I have 3 devices plugged in (HORI EX2 arcade stick, XB1 controller and RetroBit Mega Drive USB) but it only seems to recognise the stick, the option to choose a different device isn't doing anything when I select it. I've been having quite a bit of lag in the gameplay too, but I dunno if this is something to do with the ReShade thingy included.
So I tried this out today, and had a few strange things happen already. Did anyone else somehow download the wrong version? The link on the SAGE page initially gave me a download half the size of Hez's link above. I had issues with the configuration in the 'other' version (the drop dash didn't work, and some of the options wouldn't take for some reason). When I redownloaded, everything was fine controls-wise (I use an Xbox 360 controller). The music in the version I redownloaded was also completely different, and normal acts felt less slow and sluggish, and more fluid as they should (they still occasionally chug, but not as frequently). The special stages however, I found to be nigh-unplayable in both versions; not sure how to control Sonic's movement at all (Left/Right seems to have very little impact on his movement), but they have been quite frustrating so far. I got through the first zone, but I'll probably have more comments once I come back to the game tomorrow.
Ya the SAGE version seems to have an alternate/older soundtrack. The alternate link is the same game, but has a less chip tune soundtrack, I guess at some point Hez swapped the soundtrack out? Anyways, I've played through this game as Sonic & Tails and Knuckles alone (on the final stage with Knuckles, I'll beat it... eventually, I'll get to why in a bit). Before I get into the negatives though I have to say, this has the potential to be one of the best 2D Sonic fan games out there, like right up there with LakeFepards stuff and Sonic Axiom (and even those weren't without their glitches, I get it they're fan games). The ideas are solid, the sprite work is great, great level tropes and gimmicks, the music in both soundtracks is pretty good. So without glitches, like a 9/10. Butttt yea, glitchy. I have run into some unfortunate glitches, some minor, some very game breaking. From the top of my head here's what I've noticed: Sonic "glitch" - Sonic can't drop dash with a standard shield which he can in Mania Fang glitches - Fang can't roll normally but will gain the ability if he goes through a curling tunnel. This is fine but if you roll into a breakable wall, go to a special stage behind said wall, and return, you're rolling ability is gone and you can't escape the room. Resetting brings you back to the Special stage entrance, so you're forced to return to the title screen - Fangs ammo bar blocks the boss life counter... sometimes. Sometimes it's the other way around - Fangs title cards have a Knuckles emblem on them - not a glitch but it's so damn satisfying shooting Robotnik lol Menu/UI glitches - You can't unlock anything in the extras menu. I have enough points and I found the trigger to get the things in the shop, but it refuses to let me buy anything. Maybe this stuff isn't done? - playing around in the extras menu then going to the challenges menu can result in "Act 6" being highlighted. Act 6 appears to almost be an encore mode? I'm amazed the level even loaded. Acts 7, 8, and 9 can also be selected, although Act 9 crashes the game - I'm assuming the extra acts aren't done yet? Unlocking and selecting them in the extras menu crashes the game - the level statistics menu won't count how many bronze star rings you have total - an alert message mentioned "red star rings" which doesn't sound right given they're bronze - the challenges menu says 0/0 challenges complete at all times, completing the challenge checks off the challenge but the counter never goes up - This isn't a glitch more a nitpick, I get what you're trying to do with the logo overlay on the pause menu but it's hard to see and just makes things look messy - This is a glitch though. Objects still move while paused, and you can clip through things as a result, example, if youre on those 4 block rising stair cases and pause, the blocks will rise but you'll stay in place. Upon unpausing you'll clip through the object. The minecart object in that one level also continues moving when pauses - I get a lot of random notifications saying ive unlocked Tails despite him being available from the start, usually upon entering a bonus stage, sometimes after clearing a level - there's no option for full screen? - what's with that hydrocity badnik shoot noise whenever a level loads/reloads? - the credits screen pictures and general menu pics look out of date - you can't return to the main menu from the end screen, you have to quit - in level secrets should save as soon as you grab them, the game forgets you found them if you enter special/bonus stage or if you die. Bonus Stages - it's veryyyy inconsistent on whether or not you carry you're rewards with you back to the level, and usually you don't. The gumball machine one is the worst, the slots one usually carries over, and the other one with those orbs you rotate around is somewhere in between. - there's no music in any bonus stage in the sage version, the other version has bonus stage music - you can turn super in bonus stages - similarly Knuckles can glide, I'm assuming Tails can fly? Special Stages - if you're in an area with altered physics (underwater, I'm assuming in space as well but I got all the emeralds by zone 3) said physics will carry over to the Special stage. You'll essentially gain a moon jump - speed shoe music carries over to special Stages - some special stage rings can't be entered or collected. Maybe they're on another layer? But they'll just float there, mocking you - every special Stage awards you 7200 points, 2200 for rings and 5000 for time, regardless of what you've collected - little odd you get a time bonus from special Stages since there's no visible timer - when getting all the emeralds as Knuckles you get a message saying "Knuckles can now be Super Sonic" Challenges - more a suggestion than anything, but special/bonus stages should be disabled for those. Honestly didn't attempt to see if they worked, by that point I was kinda scared to see what would happen lol General glitches/oddities - sometimes a star post will save your rings and shields when you come back after death, I mean it's useful but probably not right - the shield system is veryyyyy finicky. I can't determine when a shield will get overwritten, if you're on the shield menu when getting a shield you won't get the new shield, meanwhile if you lose a shield and go immediately back in the shield menu you can get that shield back. Very cheesable lol. And what's the infinity symbol mean? - not a glitch, but what is that shield that looks like Electric fire supposed to do? - activating Super forms propels you forward. This isn't welcome I'm certain circumstances, example, the boss in the mine cart level, you'll just fly off screen - speaking of Super forms, when I got all the emeralds as Sonic I could turn super but his pallette didn't change, he remained blue, and this occurred for the remainder of the game. But Knuckles worked as expected when I turned super as him. The only time I've seen gold super Sonic is in challenge mode - a lot of junk chunks and objects lying about, more in the later zones, I'm guessing remnants of older level layouts? - I beat the game with all emeralds but it said "try again" anyway and Robotnik was juggling all the emeralds - when you return to a level after a special or bonus stage and have more than 100 rings you'll hear the 1 up jingle, but you won't get a 1 up Stage specific glitches (sorry if I forgot the zone names, hopefully the themes suffice) Snow level - the small platforms don't seem to be standable, although oddly my Tails partner could stand on them - this seems to be the only level with remnants of the Tails costume power up. It works with Sonic as expected, but Knuckles doesn't have costume sprites so he just is in random poses while flying Kinda Hydrocity Zone - there's a water flow tunnel where if you're positioned wrong you can very easily get caught in a Sonic 06 Silver bitch slap moment, you'll hit the spikes, lose rings, collect at least 1 back, then you'll hit the spikes again, lose the ring, get the ring, etc etc - standing on moving platforms can occasionally teleport you (you go back to the platforms starting point with the platform) Jupiter Jungle - if you're knocked into one of the oil ocean cannons you can be shifted off course and drift away forever - a lot of misplaced rings and such on loops Wing Fortress 2 Electric Boogaloo zone - pausing breaks the background - is the small water section at the start really worth it considering if you fall into a pit you'll get like, sky or space water, which looks odd? (I'll add to this list more as I play, I really do like this game) And now for the biggest dumpster fire of the game - the final boss. It's just flat out broken: - you can occasionally hit the boss and it registers as two hits. This is ok sometimes, but if it's on one of the final hits (phase 1 or 2) you'll go into a hit overflow much like the final zone glitch from Sonic 1 and you'll just be smacking him around forever, never beating him - it's veryyyy easy to break the boss. If you don't manage to hit him within a certain attack pattern, he goes to another, and you hit him then, there's a good chance he'll just get stuck in place. You can shake him out of this by hitting him but you can only reach that high as Super Sonic and im assuming Tails. If you're plain ol Sonic or Knuckles you're done - pausing can break the boundaries of the boss, particularly during phase 2. I was able to run off to the right to some garbage chunks then fell in a pit and died - you can get crushed when the boss swings his clenched hands back - you can get caught on the hands that launch missiles even though they're supposed to be in the back. I know this isn't done yet exactly, and really I only mean the best, this game is really fun! I can't wait to see where this goes from here! Overall very nicely done. We'll worth the wait
Great to hear all the feedback! I wanted to chime in and make sure everyone knows I'm hearing everything. I'm opting to hopefully release a patched version in the next week rather than frantically patch everything and be constantly uploading new builds. This way, I can test the changes and insure they don't fix one issue while creating 3 new ones. Also don't hesitate to throw in suggestions! I'm considering this an open near final prototype, so I expected bugs. I figured instead of abandoning the project, I'd be more fair to release it and have everyone enjoy it -- while also putting some motivation back into myself. I'll answer some common questions too; -Drop dash is intentionally the way it is. I felt Manias was too overpowered. I also opted to make it not function with a normal shield. I felt the benefit of the shield comes at the cost of the ability. -The music was intentionally switched back and forth. No one knew about the other sound track so I figured it'd be neat. The composers were fantastic about the whole thing and continue to also work on it and take feedback. In the future, I'm going to include both and have an option like Sonic CD 2010 to pick either. -Blue Super Sonic was not intentional, but the forward burst was. I thought it looked cool but in retrospect, I didn't really think of the repercussions. I'll likely remove it. The blue super sonic is probably when you have a sonic + tails save. It will be fixed. -The "All emeralds" final level/boss was not included on this build. This is why even with emeralds it says try again. Stay tuned -- I had to entice people to download the hot-fix SOMEHOW -The extra/bonus glitches are not intentional, and will be fixed when I figure it out.
If the composers are open to feedback I'd like to make one suggestion. Ease back the dubstep in Zone 2, Act 2. I love the idea but the beat is too repetitive and for exploring purposes, if you're in a level for 10 minutes it gets very grating. But I must say, fuck that special stage music is a mood for sure, great work. A E S T H E T I C lol I had a couple other suggestions too: - an unlockable emblem tracker, similar to Sonic Robo Blast 2 - tapping the shield menu button should switch to the next shield in line, or there should be a separate button to scroll through shields rather than entering the menu - Tails should be able to carry you like in Mania - have the time text flash red in the last minute before a time over. 1st time I was over 9 minutes I wasn't sure if there were time overs or not.
It's broadly fine for a fan game. There are loads of little niggles here and there, but I guess it depends what the aim is; whether we're crushing silly bugs or elevating this to some theoretical "Sonic Mania 2" or whatever. The biggest problem I found was with general game "state". There's issues with music and powerups and extra lives when moving between the main game and bonus stages (and possibly special stages too?). I managed to clog up the gumball machine and exit it with 0 lives, while if you enter and exit with 100 rings, I think you get awarded extra lives twice. AI controlled Tails seems to get a bit bored and just stands and wanders around in certain circumstances (as opposed to following Sonic). I guess even in the Mega Drive games it's hard to say whether Tails "helps" the player, but here he seems easily distracted. The physics are odd. Sonic feels slow to accelerate and can bounce of objects at curious angles... which though might be mathematically correct does make the Special Stages a bit awkward (maybe get some more goal blocks in there for people less keen on getting chaos emeralds). The "green window" bits in Carnival Chaos(?) cause slowdown. I'm guessing that's not intentional. But other than that, it's just broader aesthetic decisions, such as not always being able to distinguish between background and foreground, the use of alpha transparency to produce millions of colours (but dithering in other places which is a bit of a mismatch). The title cards are a bit slow. Some of the high speed contraptions are slower than Sonic's normal running speed. Most of the music is a bit too twangy for my tastes, although maybe I've been spoiled over the years. But again it's all par of the course for a fan game, so it really depends how much you're willing to invest in this years-old project. Getting something out that's playable from beginning to end puts you in an exclusive club of cool people... and you've done it twice!
Another glitch I found as Fang - his gun just flat out doesn't work in Murky Mines. For some reason the ammo bar doesn't show up, and if you press the shoot button you get stuck in aiming mode until you get hit by something (you also can't jump while in this perma-aim mode so that can be a problem) I must say though, Fang is actually really fun to play as. His gameplay takes some getting used to but you can pull off some interesting things as Fang. Also very nice touch with the elemental shields giving his gun slightly different effects. I also got to the final boss as Fang. I've yet to beat it (I mean I did but due to glitches it didn't register as a win), but his gun is very inconsistent in that fight for when it wants to register as a hit or not. Maybe you can add some kind of indicator to show when the boss is hittable, like make the panels flash or something. Even as Sonic and Knuckles the hit box can be rather confusing. Also maybe a target to show where the missiles in that one phase will land, kind of like Mania's final boss.
I mentioned this before, but I had a very difficult time controlling Sonic in the Special Stages. Left/right barely seems to do anything at all, and some of the angles that I got when hitting certain blocks (R blocks seem rather sensitive). Am I missing something here?
No they're just kinda finicky. Also the "flip" blocks, cool idea, disorienting as hell. Actually curious Hez, where did the idea for these special Stages come from? The credits show a more "Blue Spheres in Sonic CD special stages' thing going on but apparently you decided to opt for this Sonic 1 Special stage remix instead. Fine of course, just wondering why the change?
As a note: Balloons are completely and utterly broken in Multiplayer, they never reset the collision, meaning EVERYONE gets dragged to the highest ceiling.
Oh right a glitch I forgot. I don't know what those barrels in Carnival Chaos are supposed to do, but as Knuckles anyway they just jerked me around at high speeds then I clip through eventually and fall. I never could see what it's intended behavior was supposed to be
ARGH -- it was literally one line I accidentally turned off in the code too. "the credits screen pictures and general menu pics look out of date" -- that was intentional, to show the progress of the game and all that. If nobody got it, I can change it. I thought it was a fun easter egg.
