[Slingerland]

Sonic Nexus 2008 Demo

http://nexus.hrook.net

So, yeah, this demo debuts the brand new Retro-Sonic engine and RSDK. That's really about it. It has taken all summer, but now we have a solid foundation with which to make more levels, gimmicks, bosses, etc. If you were anticipating it in any form, I am truly sorry for this lengthy, 2-week delay. It's just the nature of the beast, as I prefer not to release a luke-warm project.

The game is for Windows and Mac. The Windows version is currently available and the Mac edition will be out the door shortly. If you only have a Mac, again, sorry for more wait. It's coming, though.

Controls

• Arrow Keys = move
  
• A/S/D = jump
  
• Down + jump = spindash
  
• Up + jump = peelout
  
• Enter = Start/Pause

Credits for this particular build:

• Produced and Directed by Slingerland
  
• Programming by The Taxman
  
• Graphics by Damizean, The Taxman and Slingerland
  
• Game Design by Slingerland and DimensionWarped
  
• Level Design by Slingerland
  
• Sonic Sprites by The Taxman
  
• Enemy Sprites by Aerosol
  
• Music by Hunter Bridges
  
• Flash intro cutscene by RgxSuperSonic

Record your time attack run and post it as a video response on YouTube to this video. If you have the best run, you can win $15.

A few things to note:

• There are a few layer issues that people people have been encountering. Some I have been able to find and neutralize, but others, I have yet to replicate. We will be striving for finding them all next time around.
  
• One person encountered an "instant stop" on the tail end of the corkscrews.
  
• More to come as we find them. I love public demos...the mass beta test!
  
• If you lose your parachute, it regenerates in a quick second, so don't freak out if you lose it.
  
• The parabolic zipline gimmick in act 2 uses placeholder graphics, so I don't need to be reminded. :P
  
• There are a few instances of iffy badnik placement. I know where they are.

Head on over to the site and download the demo!

I hope that you guys here enjoy it. C&C is much appreciated and highly encouraged.

This post has been edited by Slingerland: 02 September 2008 - 06:00 PM

[saxman]

I am very impressed guys! I was a bit iffy about the intro, but once I began playing the game, it really put a smile on my face. It felt like a genuine Sonic game. It's too bad there's only one level though. But overall, very promising. Good job to you Slingerland and Taxman and the rest of the crew =)

[jman2050]

Oh. My. God

[SmashFGM]

This is very awesome. I had no lag and the engine is spot on. I Loved every second of this demo and the music fits. I can't wait to see the final product.

[DimensionWarped]

Glad to finally have this one out there. I hope you all enjoy what we have going here.

[Tweaker]

Hot shit. Much better than previous versions of both Retro Sonic and Nexus! Loving the gimmicks and overall environment, though I had some concerns in that the end of Act 1 felt a tad bit too much like Palmtree Panic in design. Outside of that, the level design flows extremely well, and keeps up a great pace, and has amazing balance between platforming and speed. This is a Sonic level, people!

I think the hang gliders are a bit tacky, personally—they don't feel as dynamic as they should, and they're only useful in a limited situation (with the fans). It might benefit from a system that better helps it propel the player at high altitudes. In addition, I was at one section where I was riding the hang glider, and a buzzbomber slammed into me! How rude.

Hunter did an awesome job with the music. It's very colorful and fits the environment perfectly! While it doesn't have a "traditional" Sonic feel, it still manages to be entirely appropriate and retains a memorable melody. Great stuff!

The new enemies were very colorful and felt natural. Their behaviors are extremely similar to traditional Sonic badniks, but at the same time have a nice refreshed graphical and behavioral revamp. It's the little touches that count. :D

(I also wanted to try out the zipper gimmick, but I kept missing the handle. Looked pretty sweet, though.)

Overall, the design in this game is of superb quality. Huge props to all involved in its creation, and I'm looking forward to future progress. Keep up the great work!

[DimensionWarped]

My original concept with the hang gliders was to have them get significantly faster than their maximum horizontal speed is now. The speed you'll be able to attain later on mostly will depend on how long you can stay up. We'll keep working on this stuff. Also, there will be a little hook/wooden construct for them to hang off later on for aesthetics. Yeah, right now they seem a bit rough. As for the buzz bombers, well, sometimes you just have to let go of the glider. Yeah, I know no one would ever want to do that, but no worries. The game won't thrust you into a bottomless pit.

This post has been edited by DimensionWarped: 02 September 2008 - 06:33 PM

[Tweaker]

Quote

As for the buzz bombers, well, sometimes you just have to let go of the glider. Yeah, I know no one would ever want to do that, but no worries. The game won't thrust you into a bottomless pit.

Haha... yeah, I know what you mean—I should have jumped off, it just took me by surprise. It sort of reminds me of Robjoe's old Megamix layouts where you'd smash into badniks without prior warning. I eventually memorized where they popped up, but that didn't make it any less of a dick move in terms of design practice.

Don't get me wrong, though, that's just one nitpick out of the bundle. I'm sort of thinking that for the gliders, you can try a sort of "Mario 64" approach—you can gain more velocity by diving down and trying to keep a steady angle of flight, but if you try and hold up the entire time you're not going much of anywhere. Just a suggestion, though.

[muteKi]

So a bit like Sonic 2 GG then?

[Irixion]

This felt exactly like SonicCD....With the exception of the flower out of enemies =P. Excellent work.

[theSTHguy]

I think we've found a new definition of 'Sheer Greatness'. I remember playing the 2006 demo a couple of times and I was blown away with that. Somehow, I missed the 2007 SAGE demo; how I don't know! Two years later, it has blossomed into a beautiful game. For a demo, it's still bloody fantastic!
Oh, and one bug I found is that I got an extra life with 99 rings, not 100; maybe 0 rings counts as 1 in the code for an extra life somewhere? Just guessing.

Overall, an absolutely superb piece of techinal engineering that is definately a huge success. Keep it up!

[DimensionWarped]

Heh, yeah, we've heard about the 99 rings bug a few times now. The lack of an enemy remnant too. My personal preferences are for us to do something completely new for enemy remnants, but it hasn't been much of an issue so far.

I like the idea of that Tweaker. I'll try to work with that soon. Might try to run you by a few different prototypes of it.

This post has been edited by DimensionWarped: 02 September 2008 - 07:44 PM

[Shoemanbundy]

DLing now, but I just want to make a small suggestion. Get rid of that music that automatically loads when you go onto the site. It's not your fault I happened to have been listening to a song that was so low in volume beforehand, that my speakers went BLASTING when I entered your site, but it is generally annoying when music starts playing out of nowhere. Plus it makes it slower for 56k users.

Dunno if this looks like a bitchy rant but..there you go :p

[Ashura96]

Just played through.. This is looking great, all that hard work converting to the Retro engine is sure to be rewarding.

[Slingerland]

Quote

DLing now, but I just want to make a small suggestion. Get rid of that music that automatically loads when you go onto the site. It's not your fault I happened to have been listening to a song that was so low in volume beforehand, that my speakers went BLASTING when I entered your site, but it is generally annoying when music starts playing out of nowhere. Plus it makes it slower for 56k users.

Dunno if this looks like a bitchy rant but..there you go :p

Oh, don't worry about ranting, because I totally agree. Thanks, man.

This post has been edited by Slingerland: 02 September 2008 - 07:55 PM