Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board: Let's think up new Sonic zone tropes! - Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board

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Let's think up new Sonic zone tropes! Because island/water/casino/base is getting old.

#1 User is offline Bobinator 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 12:53 PM

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So, we're all aware of the usual cliches in Sonic games, from the tropical island level, to the watery ruins, to underground caves. Those are all fine and good, they've served us well, but has anyone ever had ideas for new level themes? Let's share them. :3 Mine are probably pretty stupid, but they'll get you started. You can list names, themes, badnik ideas, gimmicks, and a boss, if you can think of one. Sorry the names are so dumb, anyway, I was trying to give them a Sonic CD naming scheme.

Infinite Inferno: Robotnik, for some reason or another, built a zone made to look like Hell itself. There's plenty of lava-based hazards to deal with, but you'll also have to deal with crumbling bones, piles of wrecked machines grabbing at your ankles, and plenty of stray pitchforks to give you good reason to watch where you're going.

Mental Meltdown: Sonic somehow manages to enter Robotnik's subconscious, and what's inside is pretty much what you expect, a huge, unstoppable base under his complete control, with monuments to his own greatness EVERYWHERE you go. Since it's a dream, Robotnik's free to tear apart the laws of physics to make 'impossible' traps. Basically, imagine a cross between Scrap Brain and Eggmanland, with Robotnik pulling apart bits of machinery every once in a while to make obstacles for you.

Gameshow Gambit: Robotnik's hosting his own gameshow in Casino Night Zone, and you're the only contestant. Since this is Robotnik we're talking about, you won't be dealing with answering trivia questions, instead you'll be dealing with obstacle courses with plenty of hazards to watch out for, including huge Wheel of Fortunes you'll grab onto to climb to higher areas. The better you do, the better a route you'll take, maybe there could be certain conditions you could fullfill for each 'stage' of the act before getting to the boss, like not getting hit or grabbing 50 rings.

Anyway, like I said, my ideas are probably pretty bad. Still, though, I'd like to personally see yours.

#2 User is offline Demi 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 12:59 PM

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Friend Zone: Sonic fails to get laid.

#3 User is offline DimensionWarped 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 01:04 PM

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I thought you said new tropes? You just described Red Mountain with some flourishes and a cross between a typical Robotnik base and one of Robotnik's weird levels from Shadow the hedgehog. Props on the gameshow idea though, but you make it sound like Carnival Night when you should be going for the Price is Right.

#4 User is offline K2J 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 01:25 PM

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How about having an airship stage after the space station stage? Like, you fall from space, a la the end of the classic games, and then Robotnik attacks out of nowhere from his backup airborne fortress, and you go fight him? And then, if you get the good ending, after you've beaten him, he drills into the center of the planet and you fight him again?

I suppose an airfield itself would be a good new idea for a stage. We've seen harbors and train depots, so I'm sort of surprised we haven't seen much airport-inspired things.

More of a fanservice, but seeing the ruins of past projects - the Death Egg, Egg Carrier - might be cool. Even a swamped Station Square!

#5 User is offline xcliber 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 01:32 PM

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Mental Meltdown sounds EPIC imo.

I'm seriously trying to think of new locations, but I can't think of any. Sonic has already been everywhere! From deserts to icecaps, lava filled underground caves to the sky and beyond, the moon to alien spaceships, inside a computer to giant casinos....EVERYWHERE!

QUOTE (K2J @ Feb 4 2010, 01:25 PM)
drills into the center of the planet and you fight him again?

Center of the planet has already been done in the form of the final battle with Dark Gaia
This post has been edited by xcliber: 04 February 2010 - 01:35 PM

#6 User is offline Dark Sonic 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 01:34 PM

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What about combining tropes? A Casino type zone combined with Robotnik's Base would be quite awesome, as would the ruins of some previous bases (If Sonic 4 has a level involving a sunken Death Egg I would have a fangasm).

#7 User is offline Super Rockman 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 01:34 PM

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An airfield's not a bad idea; there's been enough stages with airships already in the air. I can imagine these planes then taking off, making the next act.

#8 User is offline xcliber 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 01:37 PM

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How bout a "Macro Zone". Tiny Sonic in a giant house?

#9 User is offline K2J 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 01:42 PM

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And then a Pumpkin Zone, and a Tree Zone, and a Mario Zone, and... wait.

Though that idea would be pretty cool. We've never seen Sonic tackle suburbia, have we? Or hell, what about farmland?

#10 User is offline Super Rockman 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 01:45 PM

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Oh yeah, like the level in Super Mario Land 2. That'd be fine for the setting, but what sort of gimmicks would it have?

#11 User is offline test-object 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 01:50 PM

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The best way to think up new, fresh level designs is by looking at art. No shit. There's a fucking lot of cubism and fauvism in GHZ. That said, I'd love a haunted house zone based on Escher's Staircase merged with some African symbols. And make it brown. VERY brown.

#12 User is offline Ice Sonic 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 02:44 PM

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I actually think up new zones is when listen to the music. For example, when I listen to the JP version of Collision Chaos Zone (Bad Future) I always imagine Sonic running in a metro-like area with the lights constantly going off and on. It's supposed to be a spooky kinda level and in the end, instead of a boss, Sonic gets chased by a giant train. v.png

#13 User is offline Blue Blood 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 03:42 PM

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You know, I've always wanted to see more spins on the themes we always have. When we get ice levels, they're ALWAYS icy mountains. Why not a forest or city for a change? Speaking of cities, Unleashed was full of them and they varied from what we normally expect. Shamar especially was a nicely different city, but as a desert it's what we always expect. Always an Egyptian (etc) styled one. The only time there was anything significantly different was Dust Hill and that got cut. It's always the same thing. I remember being pleased with Advance 2 and 3 for having music and toy themes for the bouncy levels instead on the usual casino/carnival/

#14 User is offline DimensionWarped 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 04:31 PM

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A river. There has never been a zone to take place entirely on a single river. Not even Bridge Zone does that. It could involve jumping between barges, grabbing hold of water wheels, being dragged by a jetski badnik while on water skis, all kinds of stuff really. Thats actually an idea I had for a level forever ago and some of those concepts are adapted to stuff in Nexus.

#15 User is offline RedStripedShoes 

Posted 04 February 2010 - 04:36 PM

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Flooded Metropolis Zone: Imagine those depictions of New York City after the ice caps have melted. That would be the theme for this zone.

Thunder Forest Zone: Robotnik builds a weather machine in the middle of a temperate forest and sets it to flash flood mode.

Giant Robotnik Zone: Sonic has gone into giant Robotnik-themed mechs before (Sonic 3D Blast comes to mind), but this one is so large that it can serve as a Zone all to itself. Fat jokes optional.

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