[Jase]

Hey sup.

I have been quietly working on this project alone for the past few months. I had the idea of trying to combine 2 mechanics in different games to see how well it played out, and Sonic + Portal seemed like a great combination in my mind, as they are both momentum-driven games. It has hurdles to overcome when designing though, as combining a colourful fast-paced platformer with a slow-paced grey themed puzzle game, but it's worked out pretty well in principle. There's a handful of other features that I have created but they are untidy and not adequately presentable right this moment, but I reckon I will show them soon. I felt like sharing videos to see what people think, as I haven't received any feedback since I have worked on this alone and not posted about it anywhere online. (Although I received feedback from someone in my life whom doesn't enjoy Portal's gameplay mechanics, so at least there's that lol.) There's so many quirks to deal with in the game that I am feeling kind of burnt out and am beginning to think I have made a boring-ass project that is going nowhere.



I made this game from scratch using Construct 2, which I think has an amazing editor, but goddamn there's a lot of performance issues. You have to be very delicate when designing your game in Construct 2, especially if it is a large/sophisticated game. Construct 2's runtime is entirely in javascript, although there is some special .js system for the Physics in the runtime called ASM.js, which according to Scirra (The company behind Construct 2), greatly improves physics performance. But I made Sonic's movement entirely using the event system in Construct, meaning all collision detection and slope detection and everything is all through javascript. Scirra said they could use the ASM.js system for the entire runtime but it would require them to rewrite their whole runtime and it may only give an extra "10%" performance increase. Hmm...

No demo for now. It's functional but still contains many glitches that aren't straightforward to iron out.

Even if you are aren't a fan of crossover games, or a fan of Portal at all, or if you literally think "cool" or "crap", all feedback is greatly appreciated!

This post has been edited by Jase: 21 April 2015 - 01:24 PM

[Xeal]

Jase, on 21 April 2015 - 01:03 PM, said:

https://www.youtube....h?v=M2E5rTwtBd8
(^lol how do I make embedded youtube player?)

Remove the 's' from https.

[Aerosol]

Well, this is pretty cool.

[Jase]

Xeal, on 21 April 2015 - 01:17 PM, said:

Jase, on 21 April 2015 - 01:03 PM, said:

https://www.youtube....h?v=M2E5rTwtBd8
(^lol how do I make embedded youtube player?)

Remove the 's' from https.

Oh yeah, thanks!

[Ell678]

It looks very interesting! The level design possibilities are putting my brian in overdrive...

[Jase]

Thanks guys!

I uploaded a new video a few days ago showing light bridges.


Yeah the level design ideas are crazy if you enjoy portal mechanics. I want to make a insanely early "sandbox" build of this game with a miniature level editor so that you guys can mess around with it. There's way more features already made that I really want to show, it's just that they are simply "made" and not polished and have placeholder sprites.

[Jase]

I've uploaded another video. It's one of the several gels that are in Portal 2.

[Covarr]

I know this feedback is not immediately relevant to anything you've presented so far, but I offer a strong word of warning: Make sure to clear portals after the player passes the end signpost and/or show the end-of-level text regardless of if the player is still on screen. snkenjoi made a Sonic 2 hack that added portals and, combined with the control lock after a signpost, it was possible to get stuck in an infinite loop. Not really a huge deal for a small hack, but in a serious fangame this could get annoying fast.

[Felik]

Well this makes up for a pretty cool... Portal 2 2D. What does it have to do with Sonic again?
Don't get me wrong I don't want to sound like a douche (I honestly don't), but I just can't see how you can mix fast spectacular Sonic gameplay with slow puzzley Portal gameplay.

[Dark Sonic]

Felik, on 18 May 2015 - 05:02 PM, said:

Well this makes up for a pretty cool... Portal 2 2D. What does it have to do with Sonic again?
Don't get me wrong I don't want to sound like a douche (I honestly don't), but I just can't see how you can mix fast spectacular Sonic gameplay with slow puzzley Portal gameplay.

Honestly I think the two have the potential to go quite well together. Both games rely heavily on physics, so while there would be some slow elements for sure, if designed properly there could be some really interesting fast paced puzzles involving loops, slopes, and different trajectories related to portal positioning.

[Felik]

Dark Sonic, on 18 May 2015 - 05:12 PM, said:

Felik, on 18 May 2015 - 05:02 PM, said:

Well this makes up for a pretty cool... Portal 2 2D. What does it have to do with Sonic again?
Don't get me wrong I don't want to sound like a douche (I honestly don't), but I just can't see how you can mix fast spectacular Sonic gameplay with slow puzzley Portal gameplay.

Honestly I think the two have the potential to go quite well together. Both games rely heavily on physics, so while there would be some slow elements for sure, if designed properly there could be some really interesting fast paced puzzles involving loops, slopes, and different trajectories related to portal positioning.

Problem here is with the fast pace. You need to slow down and think on a solution to a new puzzle but sonic nature makes you want to go fast. You will either end up with a labyrinth zone with puzzles or starlight zone with from little to no room to thoughtfully place your portals.

[DigitalDuck]

Felik, on 18 May 2015 - 05:25 PM, said:

Problem here is with the fast pace. You need to slow down and think on a solution to a new puzzle but sonic nature makes you want to go fast. You will either end up with a labyrinth zone with puzzles or starlight zone with from little to no room to thoughtfully place your portals.

You could easily have situations e.g. you have a large quarter-pipe to scale and no room to gain speed, requiring you to use a massive slope to get some momentum going and portals to conserve it.

You could make it Sonic CD style, where instead of merely getting to the end you must explore, using Sonic's speed + level gimmicks to gain height and reach places. Add portals into the mix and you need to use speed and smarts.

There's no reason it has to be one or the other.

[Covarr]

Felik, on 18 May 2015 - 05:25 PM, said:

Problem here is with the fast pace. You need to slow down and think on a solution to a new puzzle but sonic nature makes you want to go fast. You will either end up with a labyrinth zone with puzzles or starlight zone with from little to no room to thoughtfully place your portals.

There is a middle ground: puzzles that require fast pace in spurts. One of the most important elements to Portal is the use of momentum, and I can easily see puzzles that incorporate this concept. For example: spindashing straight into a portal on a wall, and coming out of another portal on the floor AGAINST a different wall, converting that horizontal momentum to vertical and allowing Sonic to reach heights he couldn't with a jump, up to a new platform or cliff in order to continue. That's just a pretty basic example; I'm sure many more puzzles could be made that integrate Sonic's speed in a meaningful way rather than working against it.

[Jase]

Ah yeah Covarr, I remember that thread and seeing your video, thanks :P

Felik, you have a good point.
I guess I failed to mention that I am not trying to design it to be about speed and purely speed, because there would always be flow problems when playing a stage for the first time. Can't expect people to solve portal puzzles whilst running at top speed as well as aim and place the portals. However, even though the game is more about thinking and puzzles, you do have the ability to be fast, but in order to take advantage of Sonic's speed, that comes with replaying the stage. That will be encouraged by having different modes like "Story mode" being primarily about solving the puzzles in your own time and fashion in order to progress to the next stage, and "Time Attack mode" being solely about trying to beat the stage as fast as possible.

I've noticed that I'm catering to my own experience. I enjoyed Portal's puzzles and appreciated the slow pace, but I felt inclined to replay the games a few times, practising and trying to complete them fast and it was a great sense of satisfaction to speedily complete a level once you've learnt it well enough. So in Sonic Portal, once you understand the puzzle, you can do it much faster a second or third time around. You are not expected to be all about speed and flow when you first play each puzzle.

I have designed a few stages that are almost primarily about speed, but it still requires practise in order to flow nicely.

This post has been edited by Jase: 18 May 2015 - 06:18 PM

[Deef]

Just agreeing with above points.

I would be easy to get caught making 2D Portal puzzles that have little to do with Sonic gameplay.
But it wouldn't be too hard to think of ways to combine them either, because physics. Half-pipes and momentum and all that.
But then setting things up dynamically as we run, the way we pick angles and jumps, would be tricky again. Memorisation and replay would be a thing, and I think it would make for an enjoyable time attack, as you described Jase.

This post has been edited by Deef: 19 July 2015 - 03:54 AM