[Mobiethian]

What would be a good bonus stage for this game? Expand your ideas here.

[PC2]

Sonic is usually in ball form in all of the bonus stages. A pinball bonus might be cool, but would without a doubt be way too long-winded for a bonus stage (besides, that's something I'd like to see in the Circus Zone). I think something involving simple commands and a time limit might work pretty well. How about a stage where special badniks that only appear in the Bonus Stage will try to attack you in various ways, but you must defeat them before your time runs out. You start out with like 15 seconds, and when you destroy a badnik, you gain a few rings and a few seconds, but if you get hit, you lose some seconds. As you progess, the badnik hoards become tougher and tougher to beat. This way there can be a more limited pinball special stage completely different from the usual roulette thing that I'd rather see in the Circus Stage.

[Phoenix]

It's kind of like SCD, but I like.

[DimensionWarped]

PC2, on Nov 19 2008, 08:20 PM, said:

Sonic is usually in ball form in all of the bonus stages. A pinball bonus might be cool, but would without a doubt be way too long-winded for a bonus stage (besides, that's something I'd like to see in the Circus Zone). I think something involving simple commands and a time limit might work pretty well. How about a stage where special badniks that only appear in the Bonus Stage will try to attack you in various ways, but you must defeat them before your time runs out. You start out with like 15 seconds, and when you destroy a badnik, you gain a few rings and a few seconds, but if you get hit, you lose some seconds. As you progess, the badnik hoards become tougher and tougher to beat. This way there can be a more limited pinball special stage completely different from the usual roulette thing that I'd rather see in the Circus Stage.

Considering Sonic has only had one game with bonus stages, I'm placing a speculation on this one. Two out of three, he was always in ball form, one being because it was adapted from a previous special stage model. The other, Sonic was never in ball form.

That said, there are patterns that are shared between every bonus stage in S3K.

#1. No stage can last forever. At some point, ejection is forced.
A. Gumball Machine - Run out of bumpers
B. Slot Machine - Turn all of the ejection point contact blocks into goal blocks
C. Electric ball thing - Constantly moving ejection beam.

#2. Stages revolve around central gimmick.
These ones are self explanatory.

#3. Multiple prizes can always be obtained. You never get ejected after a single item.

So when designing a bonus stage in the vein of S3K's, you need to consider an exit condition and a central gimmick. Then you need to think about the player's immediate method for obtaining items/rings/whatever and how you will gradually put the player in a forced exit condition...

That is to say, if S3K is the style you are going for of course. Thats the impression I'm under here... and I've devised a couple of bonus games in that style myself.

[Mobiethian]

I'll bring my bonus stage mockup over here to show what I had in mind for a bonus stage:



Original idea: You would start at the far left of the screen and have the option to jump inside the spinner for a chance at rings, lives or lose everything. You're given 3 spins at the start of the stage. Once a spin is completed, you exit the spinner and you may either jump back in for another try, or run to the right of the screen to exit the stage. If you land on the "goal" space, you're automatically thrown out of the bonus level. If you land on Robotnik, you lose all of your rings.

New idea: I was thinking the stage should be a classic pinball environment with flippers and bumpers. Tweaker mentioned before that the original idea was not very interactive and I agree. My new idea for this is; not only would there be risks taking a chance at spinning the wheel, but there would also be the unfortunate chance of falling below the flippers and exiting the stage. The wheel would have added prizes such as different types of shields. The wheel should be at a centralized location with an area to fall into and take a spin.

[Hybrid Project Alpha]

Plinko.

[muteKi]

Hybrid Project Alpha, on Nov 20 2008, 11:49 AM, said:

Plinko.

This is actually a great idea. The end of the stage is obviously the bottom; a good comparison is the 4th Sonic 1 special stage. Among other things you could get would be shields and stuff that activate at the end of the stage.

Basically it would be the glowing spheres stage in reverse mixed in with some of the "move left and right to grab rows of rings" mechanic seen in the final act of each Sonic Labyrinth stage.

[DimensionWarped]

How about some elaboration? Saying Plinko is fine and good and all, but if you don't describe your concept in more detail, it isn't worth that much. One of my bonus games for Sonic Nexus is a Plinko-based concept, but the player interaction is centered on the entry method more than anything else. So really, let's hear a description of the bonus stage from start to item collection to cycling to finish.

[Baby Ghost]

Moving this idea I gave from the Concepts thread.

[Dark Sonic]

That would be rather cool, only no hearts and more bumpers

[Blue Emerald]

Dark Sonic, on Nov 20 2008, 04:22 PM, said:

That would be rather cool, only no hearts and more bumpers

There should also be (temporary?) flippers located somewhere in that stage. The player might not know what they're getting until they reach it, but whether they choose to use the flippers or not could make the difference in the end.

It would give the player a bit more control over the special stage, instead of just pressing left and right.

This post has been edited by Blue Emerald: 20 November 2008 - 07:09 PM

[Baby Ghost]

Yeah, I realize that I meant to say "add flippers in there somewhere, not bumpers". The hearts are just from a beta Casino Night zone. I chose them because they reminded me of the pink in the orby bonus stage in Sonic 3.

[DimensionWarped]

So your Plinko concept is a one-shot, one-prize ordeal. I take it he also just starts in the middle of the top of the screen too? Or perhaps a randomly picked location?

[OSM]

Something like a dart board. Aim Sonic with a cursor that moves randomly around rings, goals(opting you out of the special stages), and eventually a jackpot of rings. You're timed on how long you can wait to shoot Sonic off, and you're given 7-8 rounds to blast through. The more rounds you pass, the faster the cursor moves and more hazards are placed on the board.

This post has been edited by OSM: 20 November 2008 - 10:48 PM

[Rokkan]