[Canned Karma]

Textured glass is definite eye-candy, but I'm not certain it fits well with the original theme of the Special Stages. Beyond that, there's the technical concern of rendering a glass material properly. Having light interact convincingly with a transparent or translucent surface like glass is a very intensive operation for a computer, and in the interest of having the Special Stages run as smoothly as possible on a variety of systems, we'll likely opt for a solid material first.

[eX.A.K.R.]

Hey guys, I'm new here, and I came here mainly because I wanted to contribute ideas and feedback for this Sonic 2 HD project.

On to business: I am looking at Synergy's Special Stage concept, and while fading distance far into the background seems like a good idea at first (no more bombs popping out of nowhere to hurt you), I feel that it might change the gameplay mechanics around a bit too much. One of the reasons why some of the Special Stages are rather difficult is because you really can't see what's coming in from where, especially as the half-pipe goes on a downward slope or twists left/right. I clearly remember bombs on the bottom of the pipe at one part in the last Special Stage in Sonic 2 (the black/dark coloured one) just as it goes downward, using the element of surprise to crash right into you if you were not expecting it at all.

Transparency is also a good idea, but it should not be too much as to let you see too far off what's coming at you, to preserve the element of surprise. Besides, too much transparency can be quite distracting in a real-world gameplay scenario. The same apply to textures; as Canned Karma also said, textures might not be in line with the original theme of the Special Stages. However, until we see a mockup it's difficult to judge whether it might be a good idea or not.

This post has been edited by eX.A.K.R.: 29 October 2010 - 11:36 PM

[W.A.C.]

Transparency is also a good idea, but it should not be too much as to let you see too far off what's coming at you, to preserve the element of surprise.

Hmm... Maybe the farther away a tube is to Sonic, the less transparent it is on screen? Example: If a tube is really close to Sonic, it could be about 80% transparent where as if it's far away, it might be about 20% transparent. Not sure if transparency is a good idea but that could work.

[Synergy]

I think I've struck a happy balance with the following: very slight transparency so that you can see the diamond background but not what's coming through upcoming corner pieces; a vertex shader that squashes distant tube vertices into a point to look more like the original (and which means corner pieces are more of a surprise); and scaling the objects so they appear only at a set distance, which allows the required reaction times on the part of the player to again be similar to the original. Once the next demo is out you can judge for yourself as it really needs to be seen in motion.

This post has been edited by Synergy: 30 October 2010 - 01:25 PM

[ah2190]

Transparency is also a good idea, but it should not be too much as to let you see too far off what's coming at you, to preserve the element of surprise.

Hmm... Maybe the farther away a tube is to Sonic, the less transparent it is on screen? Example: If a tube is really close to Sonic, it could be about 80% transparent where as if it's far away, it might be about 20% transparent. Not sure if transparency is a good idea but that could work.

I think that it should be the reverse of this: less transparent nearby (so that you can see the full BG of the stage) but more transparent the further away it is. And, the transparencies stack when looking through more than one plane of glass, (like in the corners) so that it's harder to see what's coming up around a corner.

[NAC]

why not just keep the entire track a uniform transparency, except simply don't draw the bombs & rings past a certain z-distance from the screen?

[Hamneggs]

Hey, Synergy, why not make the background a colored Perlin Noise style background?

[Andeed]

(Sorry for the bump!) What's happening with the special stage, any progress there? Will it be integrated at all into the alpha?

[Synergy]

Still working on it: hope to have more to show off in the near future It won't be in the alpha unless the S2HD team have any other plans for the special stages.

[Andeed]

Still working on it: hope to have more to show off in the near future It won't be in the alpha unless the S2HD team have any other plans for the special stages.

Brilliant, I look forward to it!

[Lapper]

If it's not, I wonder what happens when you try to enter one?

[Gambit]

I was thinking about that too, and I imagine we'll just shut them off or something so no stars appear. I'm not actually sure yet, but that seems like a logical thing to do.

[E-108 Iota]

Maybe, we can HAVE the stars at the checkpost, only that when Sonic jumps on it, you'll get something similar to this:


Then you'll just go back to where you were before. Would be a nice nod to the classic games, me thinks.

[Gambit]

Ha ha. That could be amusing.

[McGuirk]

Maybe, we can HAVE the stars at the checkpost, only that when Sonic jumps on it, you'll get something similar to this:


Then you'll just go back to where you were before. Would be a nice nod to the classic games, me thinks.

Sorry for being flagrantly off-topic, but you took that screenshot at the perfect moment. Tails has a serious rapist-smile going on mid blink there.