[Billy]

Do you think Hoshino would know the reason for Windy Valley's redesign?

[Mike Arcade]

To Mr. Hoshino

Do you have a philosophy of sorts on designing in video games, if so what would that be? When designing a new character for a certain series how do you make it so that the character is something you haven't seen before in said series and at the same time make it fit within the world of that game? What has been the most challenging design you have ever made in a video game?

To Mr. Senoue

What has been the most challenging aspect when it comes to making music in general and in video games? What game gave you the most difficulty when it comes to composing music? What is you're favorite track you've ever made so far?

[ICEknight]

TheKazeblade, on 29 July 2013 - 04:27 PM, said:

For Hoshino:
Between Sonic CD and Sonic Jam, Sonic's world from game to game felt very consistent with a very tropical vibe. From Sonic Adventure on, each game's art felt unique to each installment. What inspires your direction in each game? What benefits are there to maintaining a similar style over multiple games, and what benefits are there to re-inventing the world in each game? Do you have a preference?

I'm still trying to figure out what you mean with Sonic having "a very consistent world with a very tropical vibe between Sonic CD and Sonic Jam"...

[Rika Chou]

I think it would be interesting to ask Kazuyuki Hoshino a Sonic Crackers related question, but I cannot think of anything good.

This post has been edited by Rika Chou: 30 July 2013 - 01:52 PM

[Shadow Hog]

Well, I can give it a stab, although I'm not sure if it's been asked already or not:

"With regards to Knuckles' Chaotix, it came to the attention of the fan community, in the early 2000s (late 1990s?), that the game was originally conceived as a Genesis/Mega Drive title starring Sonic and Tails. The final product, however, features Knuckles, Mighty, and a cast of all-new characters.^{[note: yes, yes, Vector was in that Sonic [1] band thing, but that's getting way too obscure.]} Sonic and Tails only appear in the credits sequence if you get the game's best ending. What prompted the change of focus onto Knuckles?"

[TheKazeblade]

ICEknight, on 30 July 2013 - 01:36 PM, said:

TheKazeblade, on 29 July 2013 - 04:27 PM, said:

For Hoshino:
Between Sonic CD and Sonic Jam, Sonic's world from game to game felt very consistent with a very tropical vibe. From Sonic Adventure on, each game's art felt unique to each installment. What inspires your direction in each game? What benefits are there to maintaining a similar style over multiple games, and what benefits are there to re-inventing the world in each game? Do you have a preference?

I'm still trying to figure out what you mean with Sonic having "a very consistent world with a very tropical vibe between Sonic CD and Sonic Jam"...

I just meant that those games all felt very tropical in their settings. Being based on islands, or large bodies of water, using palmtrees, things like that, in an artstyle that was consistent throughout those games, as opposed to later ones.

[GeneHF]

Billy, on 29 July 2013 - 07:38 PM, said:

Do you think Hoshino would know the reason for Windy Valley's redesign?

Wouldn't hurt to ask, especially now that we've "found" the original level.

Would be rather appropriate. It'd help to present images and such to jog the memory.

[Orengefox]

Well if this is of any help, here's what Jen and I sent to Nik (via PM) ;p

Quote

1. Your inspiration for Amy Rose was based off a female hedgehog character named "Amy" in a Sonic manga that was published in Shogaku Yonensei correct? How did that come about?

2. Similar question. The inspiration for Charmy Bee was based of a male bee character named "Charmy" in the same Sonic manga that was published in Shogaku Yonensei correct? How did that come about? Were you in any way involved in the creation of Charmy Bee?

Example picture – http://info.sonicret...ook49bigger.jpg

3. Going back to when you were developing Sonic CD. As the Special Stage Designer, do you remember at one point working on a Special Stage which looked similar to the rotating Special Stage in Sonic 1? Would you be able to tell us anything about it?

Example picture – http://info.sonicret...992_Cropped.JPG

4. Going back to when you were developing Knuckles Chaotix. Do you remember at one point Sonic and Tails being optional playable characters along side Knuckles and the Chaotix? If so, was there a reason given for their removal; only to have a cameo appearance instead?

Example picture – http://info.sonicret...ix1207_pal1.png

5. Going back to when you were developing Sonic Adventure. Do you remember there being a stage which looked similar to Windy Valley with floating ruinous platforms and a giant tornado you would go into? Based off pictures and videos that were shown of it, the stage looked huge and every character could go to it. It didn't make the final cut in the end. How would that have played out?

Example picture – http://info.sonicret...0/04/SA_WV1.jpg

6. What was the biggest challenge you faced when designing Metal Sonic? Did the character go through many changes during the design process?

7. In Sonic R, there's a character who is designed in a similar way to Metal Sonic – Metal Knuckles. Were you at all involved with the creation of Metal Knuckles, and if so, would you like to see him return to the series in the future?

8. When designing levels and characters for the various games you worked on, were you faced with any challenges due to hardware and/or graphical limitations?

Note: Will try to bring copies of the example pictures to Summer of Sonic to give Hoshino-san an idea during the press interview.

We told Nik he's free to pick whichever questions will suit best for the press interview. Bare in mind some of these -might- get asked during the Q&A session at SoS as we also submitted them on their site. However, the way we wrote it to them was way too wordy (Nik getting the condensed version of these questions).

[GeneHF]

Assuming they pick good questions. The ones they picked at Sonic Boom were atrocious. People were up in the balcony shitting all over them while the more... "special"... fans were eager to learn if Sonic characters have toes, if Marine will return, and PLEASE MAKE SA3 (even though it will suck on principle because it's been blown up to be the grand savior of the franchise, meaning no matter what they do, people will be unhappy with it... HI, SONIC 4.)

I'd prod a little about R2 as well in Sonic CD, but I think we already have all there is about the level thanks to the dev video and Taxman (unfinished enemies, unfinished boss, concept art, and that what few assets there were of the level were split up and thrown into other levels.)

[ICEknight]

GeneHF, on 30 July 2013 - 03:01 PM, said:

I'd prod a little about R2 as well in Sonic CD, but I think we already have all there is about the level thanks to the dev video and Taxman (unfinished enemies, unfinished boss, concept art, and that what few assets there were of the level were split up and thrown into other levels.)

We might have all that's left, but he could give some insight at what else was planned for it.


I'm surprised nobody has asked about this old Time Travel warp effect:



...being present yet unused in Sonic 1:



He might know some interesting info regarding this.

This post has been edited by ICEknight: 31 July 2013 - 12:51 PM

[Covarr]

Obviously it was intended as an early boost animation, but it got scrapped because they wanted to save that for a few console generations later.

[Orengefox]

I have one more question to add to your pile of potentially asked questions Nik. I doubt Hoshino-san had any involvement in the following question but you never know. He usually had some sort of involvement in nearly everything that involved his characters.

Kazuyuki Hoshino:

Were you at all involved in the Original Video Animation "Sonic the Hedgehog: Journey to Eggmanland" and "Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic VS Metal Sonic" as one of the Production Directors along side Yuji Naka & Naoto Oshima of Sonic Team? If so, what were your responsibilities as a Production Director?

[Dark Sonic]

Simple question but a question none the less.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles and the Advance series pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as alternate playable characters are concerned, yet there has never been a 3D game (beyond Sonic and the Black Knight I believe) that has let you play as another character without them having some drastically different gameplay. There were also many character mods for Sonic Generations where the Sonic models were replaced with other Sonic characters but the gameplay was kept pretty much intact. Why is it that none of the current Sonic games ever let someone play as a character who plays basically like Sonic only with some differences or added abilities, and will there ever be a main Sonic game that will let this be a possibility?

Another one related to one of the above questions

What's with the old games and all the time travel? While only Sonic CD had time travel in the end, didn't Sonic 1 and 2 have time travel as well at some point?

This post has been edited by Dark Sonic: 01 August 2013 - 04:32 PM

[evilhamwizard]

Just throwing these out for Kazuyuki Hoshino:

1.) Could you tell us more about Project Sonic (from the Sega Saturn era)? As one of the game's that was part of Project Sonic, could you tell us more about Sonic Team's Sonic game for the Saturn that was never released? How far along was Sonic Team's Sonic game for the Saturn before work shifted to Dreamcast? What was kept and what was lost during the transition to making Sonic Adventure? etc
2.) Did you work at any company before joining Sega?
3.) What other stages/concepts were abandoned during the development of Sonic Adventure? (ask what this and this are. "MUSHROOM", etc)
4.) Did you go on the trip to South/Central America during Sonic Adventure's development? Could you tell us more about the trip?

Also I agree there should be more questions with Crackers/Chaotix, like why was Sonic swapped with Knuckles, etc. Even if we know the answer to some of the questions, it'd be nice to hear an answer from someone else.

For Jun Senoue:

1.) Can you describe the process of getting the music/sound data into the Mega Drive/32X games?
2.) When you first joined the Sega Sound Team, do you remember what tools/hardware for compositions that you normally used back then?
...

That's it for Senoue. I can think of a few more but he's been able to answer a lot of these on his Twitter and he said he still plans on releasing a FAQ someday.

This post has been edited by evilhamwizard: 01 August 2013 - 05:08 PM

[Dark Sonic]

evilhamwizard, on 01 August 2013 - 04:56 PM, said:

3.) What other stages/concepts were abandoned during the development of Sonic Adventure? (ask what this and this are. "MUSHROOM", etc)

I feel like the first one is Tails in Hot Shelter and the second one is Amy in Hot Shelter (in that room with the block puzzle and Zero popping up on the screen)

Idk why Tails would be in Hot Shelter though