[Cyberblade]

A 2.5d platformer built from the ground up in the Blender game engine, Sonic Shift pulls ideas and influences from a number of different Sonic games. I'm not trying to make a perfect Sonic clone in either physics, nor gameplay, but rather a fun game built on the basic fundamentals of the Sonic series.

Sonic 1-like engine: Sonic Shift's engine is most similar to Sonic 1, this is to keep the design focused better than it would be if I tried to implement every special ability from the last 20 years.

2d look, 3d design: Levels only move left and right, but they utilize not only a vertical level structure, but a 3d one aswell. There are higher routes, lower routes, further away routes, and closer routes, and they may all intertwine. It is possible you may see a path in the background whose entrance is hidden earlier in the level. This encourages multiple replays and exploration to find fun new paths.

Simple Story: The story will be kept simple, no more complex than that of S3&K or Sonic CD. Again to keep developmental focus. This is a story that I've re-developed from one of my previous projects that I feel is simple enough for the style of the game, but interesting enough that players will enjoy it in the end.

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Todo list:

Engine:
Look up/down
Camera Movement
Water

Game:
Golden Gulch Zone
Crabmeat
Buzzer
More to be announced!

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This little level was created mostly to start to get a feel for level design with the engine, so pardon some of the more crude looking areas in the video. I've been sort of off and on considering adding rings + enemy stand-in's to to this and releasing it as an Engine demo, but right now I just don't think it's a good enough representation of the work I've put into this so far.

Level development is really early, and I still don't think this is ready enough for a public demo (So no SAGE appearance this year), but I felt that I might aswell make a separate topic for this now that it's this far in development and get it out of the general screenshot thread. Feel free to ask questions, point out things you notice in screenshots/videos/demos(whenever they're released), criticize, whatever.

[Aerosol]

I'm interested in what method you used to get Sonic to move towards/away from the camera for things like loops and jump-from-underneath platforms.

[Cyberblade]

It's not perfect and requires a bit of thought while I work on the level design, but Sonic's always following an invisible wall. He always keeps a specific distance from this invisible wall, no matter what its curves or sudden distance changes in the case of the jump from beneath platform.

In the case of moving back and forth from background/foreground areas via springs (at least in that video), the wall is just curved towards the path I want him to fly off to. If I want him to go from front to back, I cut the wall off of the front section while leading him to the back wall, he comes in line with that wall and follows it down to the path below, from back to front with the springs requires a "wall" object that will appear once Sonic's in the path, but as you can see in the video at this time back->front transitions are all just paths curved up to the front.

The downside to this approach is that if I poorly layout the level or miss a spot in this wall Sonic's behavior can become problematic or he can fall out of the level. I'm sorta still trying to work out how to smooth things out on those background/foreground transitions and work his way back on stage if he falls out.



Here's a screenshot of the level in that video showing the wall that's set for that loop in the background. You can see there is a bit of a hole around it, but the walls surrounding that hole are carefully structured to prevent Sonic from falling out if he somehow managed to jump over that loop.

As I said, not perfect and requires some planning, but it works pretty well imo.

[Cyberblade]

Since progress is rather slow because of school I think I'll go ahead and let you in on a few things just to keep some interest going. Nothing is too complete at the moment, so pardon the grey and and ugly, but hey, an update's an update.



This is your first look at Golden Gulch Zone Act 1. It's a very short very simple level, I hope it's not too simple. This is just the level layout, no obstacles or extra graphics or anything, but it's something.



And a badnik I'm calling "Traplant" currently. If attacked from above it will snap its spike shut onto the player, but is vulnerable when it periodically closes on its own or rolled into.

And now for something really interesting, here's a small engine demo. It's just the small test level from earlier with rings and test enemies in place. There is no hud yet, and this level was made merely to test both the physics under new conditions and to get a grasp on how to develop levels better in my engine for my own benefit. I'm only posting this here to hopefully get some opinions on the engine physics itself.

Known Bugs in this engine demo:

*Places you can fall out of the level (Just some poor choices in designing that wall that I've learned from and will be fixing in Golden Gulch Zone)
*Sonic can sometimes get stuck at an angle on the ground: Just jump and push in the direction facing up and he'll slowly reset. I'm working on this one, and it doesn't crop up too often in my experience, but just an FYI before anyone brings it up.
*Jumps are abuse-able when going up slopes. (Again, working on it.)

Anyways, don't complain too much about it being rough and bland, it's a very basic engine test level. :3 Just enj

This game also uses Blenders GLSL graphics options for a much better looking game, but this may not allow it to play on all computers properly. If it proves that too many people are having trouble I'll switch it back to Blender's default game engine rendering, but I'd rather not because the default can't do real time shadows and just looks like ass.

[KazeSenshi]

Wow man, that demo video is cool. The method that you used is too creative too, but can't you force Sonic only to move in the X axis and do some type of function that makes sonic moves in the Y axis when you want (like when you jump in a spring). Also for me the cam is too far away from Sonic and his spin while jumping is too slow.

*Waiting for the colored map version =) *

[Namo]

That level map may be gray, but it sure as hell ain't ugly. I'm very impressed with the layout and vastness of the level.

A few niggles with the engine:
-You can do a Sonic Rush/Sonic 4 wall stick.
-If you roll or are propelled into a spring on the ground, you will bounce and move in the direction you were facing if you are not holding down any keys.
-Jumps are a little floaty
-On the second layer of the level, I got into a roll, slid off, and started bouncing off of the walls.

So it needs a little work but it's very good so far. Very impressive.

[Cyberblade]

KazeSenshi, on 06 October 2011 - 12:00 PM, said:

Wow man, that demo video is cool. The method that you used is too creative too, but can't you force Sonic only to move in the X axis and do some type of function that makes sonic moves in the Y axis when you want (like when you jump in a spring). Also for me the cam is too far away from Sonic and his spin while jumping is too slow.

*Waiting for the colored map version =) *

If the level only transitioned on the y (actually x axis in the engine itself) layers on springs I'd consider this, but layers can join together, and the pathways can make bends in and out and things like that. So it's pretty useful to make sure I always keep Sonic on a proper layer.

As for the cam distance, I set it perhaps a little further than necessary in this test level for my own benefit, making it a bit easier to see the interactions with the level ahead of time.

I'll take a look on the spin animation speed though. :3

Namo, on 06 October 2011 - 12:16 PM, said:

That level map may be gray, but it sure as hell ain't ugly. I'm very impressed with the layout and vastness of the level.

A few niggles with the engine:
-You can do a Sonic Rush/Sonic 4 wall stick.
-If you roll or are propelled into a spring on the ground, you will bounce and move in the direction you were facing if you are not holding down any keys.
-Jumps are a little floaty
-On the second layer of the level, I got into a roll, slid off, and started bouncing off of the walls.

So it needs a little work but it's very good so far. Very impressive.

Thanks. :3 I'm very focused on making a the level design feel vast and full, even in a small level like GGZ Act 1. I want the player to see stuff in the background and foreground and want to try to figure out how to get there. The game will focus on speedy runthroughs, but the more rewarding and interesting sections will come to players who poke around.

On the bugs:

* I'm aware of the Sonic Rush/4 wall stick, totally had forgotten to put it in the known bug section. I'm currently still unsure how to fix it, because the part that's causing it is the same section that lets him smoothly follow slopes in the first place.

* Hadn't even noticed that ground spring issue. ^^ Thanks for pointing that out, I'll get right on that one.

* I'm actually thinking of rewriting the jump function. Just how abuse-able it is when going up slopes bugs the hell out of me. I'll make sure to get it a bit tighter and less floaty.

* I've never experienced any bug like this. The test level in that demo is divided into layers, but also sections like this,

Left Back :::::Middle Back :::::RightBack
Left Front::::::Middle Front:::::RightFront

The middle front is the loop, the middle back is the platform above it. You fell off and bounced off walls? Can you elaborate on what you mean and in what section? I'm going to take a stab that it was a problem with the invisible wall, but I'd like to take a look at it anyways.

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Thanks to both of you for your input. ^^ I'll put what I can to good use.

[Namo]

It's a bit hard to explain, but I'll give it a shot--

I'd just touched the first spring that sends you back a layer. I run left, hit another spring that launches me to a platform with a wall in front. I start rolling right, I build speed, and then fall off and back to the layer you start out in. At this point, I'm still tucked in a roll, and when I collide with a wall, I reflect off of it as if it is a bumper that only knocks you left and right.

I was able to replicate it as many times as I needed. If you need me to record it, I can.

[Cyberblade]

Namo, on 06 October 2011 - 02:17 PM, said:

It's a bit hard to explain, but I'll give it a shot--

I'd just touched the first spring that sends you back a layer. I run left, hit another spring that launches me to a platform with a wall in front. I start rolling right, I build speed, and then fall off and back to the layer you start out in. At this point, I'm still tucked in a roll, and when I collide with a wall, I reflect off of it as if it is a bumper that only knocks you left and right.

I was able to replicate it as many times as I needed. If you need me to record it, I can.

Ahhh, I just managed to do the same now that I got that. Hmmm~ That is truly bizarre behavior...thanks for that extra description. ^^ I think I've already got a grasp on why it's doing that, should have that fixed quickly.

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For those of you interested in the technical explanation behind this bug: When rolling, the game determines two things, which direction you're rolling in the Y axis, and what direction you're moving in the Z axis. If you're moving down in the Z axis it adds to the speed of the roll, up or 0 and it subtracts speed from the roll. The issue comes from the slight bounce off the wall in the Y axis, because the game multiples the speed its calculated based on the Z movement by -1 if you're moving left. This isn't a problem on normal ground where you can't change directions in a roll, but the wall forces a change in direction for you with just the slight bounce. It's more noticeable in that instance where you're traveling down because the speed increase is higher, but it's completely do-able off of the wall in the Right Back section, the one on your right when you hit that spring that sent you back a layer. It was a bit of a stupid error on my part because I forgot to take into account how the physics change once you've rolled off a ledge and the small bounce when you hit a wall at a high enough speed.

[Trunks]

That thing has WAY too many polys.

[Aerosol]

Actually, yea. It didn't even occur to me to say something about it but it most certainly does, mate.

[Cyberblade]

Oh I was quite already aware that what you see there is too high poly for in game, several pieces were quickly added just to make something previewable. The stock cone spikes and stock perfectly spherical head are just way too much imo. Anyways, it's a WIP and subject to quite a bit of change, I still don't like the head being so spherical, I think it needs some extra detail but I'm not sure what yet. Don't worry, I'm not quite that stupid to leave things too excessively high poly. (Not that I'm going to claim any of this is perfect in that regards, but there's a difference between not perfect and just crazy.

Spoiler

...It didn't help any that I accidentally added subsurfacing to the eyes there. >>

[Cyberblade]

A much prettier look at Golden Gulch Zone act1. Pardon the texture tearing in some places, I'm absolutely rancid at unwrapping. ^^;

[Ritz]

Cool trees.

[KazeSenshi]

Wow I liked the squared hills, but what are these "tetris blocks"? It is a bit strange but I liked it too.
Also you could put some grass over the loops.