Game Concepts

Woah! So many words to read. You seem to have many thoughts. That is very, VERY good.

 

I'd first take the game back to basics

1. A platformer with an essence of speed: I felt that Sonic Adventure 1 pulled this off really well for the series' transition to 3D. You don't have to go fast to complete the level...only on certain parts does this need to happen. The original Genesis/Mega Drive games had this aspect as well: It allows the player to explore and not just speedrun the level to death.

2. No gimmicks. Primary gameplay focuses on Sonic alone to complete the game.

3. If certain requirements are fulfilled as Sonic, you can unlock Tails or Knuckles as secret characters.
-Their levels need to be vastly different from Sonic in a way that focuses on their special abilities:
-Tails' levels focus on gameplay similar to Sonic, but emphasizes flight more than speed to advance through the levels
-Taking a hint from S3&K, Knuckles is more adept in finding alternate paths and hidden areas. Accessing these hidden areas will change the gameplay a lot. He also is versatile in hand-to-hand combat. (Also: no treasure hunting)
-All characters can somersault-jump like Sonic again. (For once)

4. Eggman is the primary antagonist of the game with a noticeable lack of demons.

5. Bring back 2 Player Co-op!

6. Re-introduce the Classic look of Sonic with 2D graphics.

 

I've always loved cross-over games from different series, and I've been interesting in making a fan-game with two Sega cross-overs.

In 2004, two games were released called Crash Purple and Spyro Orange. These games had either Crash exploring Spyro's world or Spyro exploring Crash's world. Your enemy would also be the villian in the series that you're venturing in, I.e Crash vs Ripto or Spyro vs Cortex. The player would have to adapt to the other's style of gameplay.

Seeing how NiGHTS and Sonic have had various cameos in each of their respective games, a cross-over would be genius with proper execution. Sonic would be in NiGHTS' world as NiGHTS' would be in Sonic's world. These games would be called "Sonic into Dreams" (refrence to the Sonic game in Christmas NiGHTS) and "NiGHTS the Jester".

"Sonic into Dreams" would have Sonic's levels play exactly like a NiGHTS game; collect orbs, fly through rings, and get from point A to point B. Blue and pink Chao would represent the children that are dreaming. All the villians in the NiGHTS series would be Sonic's foes. If a player were to get all A ranks, Super Sonic would be replaced with Hyper Sonic.

"NiGHTS the Jester" would feature NIGHTS play through classic Sonic styled levels. NiGHTS would also have the ability to glide for periods of time. Collecting all the Chaos Emeralds would allow you to fly as long as you wish.

 

Ah, I too am constantly thinking of my own game ideas, and I've been waiting for a thread like this to pop up somewhere for ages. I have spent a LONG time coming up with ideas for this, thats why its so long. Well, here goes.

This would be a be all, end all Sonic game. The plot would involve Eggman banding all of the villains together with the common goal of taking out Sonic and co., THEN world domination. All Sonic characters from Ray to Silver would appear, fighting to defend the world and themselves from the ever growing forces of Eggman and his new, unlikely allies. ALL characters would have the same general feel and handling of Sonic's SA2 gameplay, with a slight speed increase and some new Sonic Unleashed gimmicks like the speed boost and the quickstep.

Every inch of Sonic's world that we've seen is entirely fleshed out and fully explorable. My idea is more along the lines of reshaping EVERY Sonic level, zone, and act into 3D (not unlike the SA2 version of Green Hill Zone), stitching them together, and filling in the rest to make them feel right. Sounds crazy but I think it could work.

In the main mode, Adventure mode, you start off with a quick cutscene, afterwards the Character who you choose is dropped into this world. Making it more RPG-ish, you can then choose to roam the countryside to your heart's content (completely ignoring the main story if you so choose), actually do the main story, or tackle random side missions. There would be NO levels, zones, acts, action stages, adventure fields, hub worlds, or anything like that, you're already IN the action stage AND the hub world. Your time and score would no longer apply to levels, but missions. To do a mission, simply talk to a mission related character and accept it. The mission would start RIGHT THERE and would end when you complete the MISSION, not the area you were just in. (I think it would feel like classic Sonic in a way, with you just going from point A to point B, and going through many unique areas along the way. Example: Sonic 2. Sonic was likely just going from Emerald Hill to the Death Egg. Aquatic Ruin, Hill Top, Metropolis, these were just "on the way".) Naturally however, there WOULD be a mode where you could just play ONE level, disconnected from the actual game world with no actual mission involved.

You could also get other Sonic characters to join you in a party and have them follow you around JUST like Tails did on the Genesis. They would have course have AI and help you out in battle too. At any time, you could switch to any other character in your party, and control them, your main character would simply follow. Many characters may only join your party under certain circumstances, like progress in the main story, or the completion of a certain side mission for them.

The Chaos Emeralds would be collectible, but they play a key part in the main story, so you will not be able to collect them all necessarily until the main story is finished, at which point they would enter special stages for you to hunt down and collect. No matter what character you are, once you have the emeralds and 50 rings, you can go super and fly around at hyper sonic speeds until it runs out.

This is just a tiny bit, I'll add more later.

 

This, please. This combined with Rave's idea for "Sonic Star Ultra". If I had this game, I would die happy.

Also, I'd like to see a Shadow The Hedgehog 2, done right. No crappy Heroes graphics, less samey (and shorter) levels, no "FIND THE COMPUTER ROOM" or "THIS IS WHO I AM" crap, more in-depth and playable 2-Player mode (with characters that aren't just Shadow recolors) and slightly tighter controls so I'm not slipping all over the place. I actually enjoyed Shadow other than that. >_>

Hm, and I guess I'd like to see ideas from my hack implemented somehow in a upcoming game, but I doubt that will happen.

 

<sarcasm> Needs more flagship characters cussing. </sarcasm>

 

I've been recently fantasizing about a spinoff called Shadow the Hedgehog: Agent.
The game takes place after the first game, where Shadow's at a clean start (Joining GUN as an expert Agent). Rouge is of course already with GUN. Shadow of course wouldn't use firearms since fans would go crazy.

Along the story, GUN offers Team Chaotix a position due to their detective skills. Espio I would imagine as a stealth agent. Charmy would be taught to hack into programs. Vector would be the brute. They are all part of Shadow's team. (They're also there for comic relief)

Along the way, GUN is impressed with Tails creative skills and intelligence, and offers him the job. Tails gladly takes it and is an official member of GUN as a sort of agent and mechanic ( his dream job =D )
Sonic encourages Tails to take the job, seeing as it'll make him happy. Though Sonic isn't the star here. He's just there for support. I also think it would be suitable for Tails to atleast use some firearms. Not anything like AK-47's or anything like that.........but something along the lines of lazer guns. Tails learns to become a stronger person both mentally and (sort of) physically. Also, his normal attire just would not do. GUN will hand him a new look. Changing his red and white shoes to GUN boots. He wouldn't wear any clothing, but maybe sort of straps along his waist and shoulder that hold flash grenades and any other weapon suitable for him. (Chaotix would also get suitable attire)

The whole game is basically GUN dealing with a highly dangerous terrorist plan.
As well as dealing with some of Eggman's schemes.

I don't want to exclude any popular characters. So I'd also like the Master Emerald to have a role in the game. ( Terrorist organization wanting the Master emerald for power......or something like that) Which brings Knuckles into the story as he does everything he can to get the emerald back.
He does not however join GUN (it's not his style)

Amy is another popular character that would upset fans if she weren't included. So to spice things up, she could get kidnapped as a hostage. As well as Cream and Cheese.

So the game is broken up into speed [shadow]
stealth [rouge, espio]
and gun missions [tails, vector]

In multiplayer you can unlock sonic for racing in the speed stages as well as other cameo characters for the other gameplay missions.

I would like all the previous members from sega studio usa working on this. I would be animator / rendered high quality character artwork / and game concept helper
I'm not capable of directing. So takashi iizuka could do that. He can also do a bulk of the level designs since he is extremely experienced in that area.

I'd like a different tone for the music. As much as I love Jun, I think I'd like someone else as sound director as I don't see how rock would go with this type of game. I'd like music that has Drum n' Bass, electronica, chillout, and progressive. (all music genres that haven't really been heard in sonic gemes) To create a cool atmosphere.

 

I'd want the story and characters partially based on Archie since it's the closest thing we have to a solid storyline, levels would be a mixture between classic sonic levels and real world locations (think a slightly more realistic Sonic Heroes in level design, yet still maintaining the checkerboard patterns.), music would be centered around a Sonic Adventure style with a little more Jazz and whatever Empire City had. Gameplay would be exactly what Sonic Unleashed had minus the Werehog gimmick, Sonic's Heroes-esque running on butter physics and taking forever to stop, while adding a little more platforming into the mix.

 

I like your idea a LOT. But if it were EVERY character, it would probably cause confusion, say for example, Sonic and one of the Babylon Rouges. In Sonic Riders, Sonic and Jet are downright enemies. Wouldn't that be confusing if two enemies randomly teamed up? Unless there was a part of the story where they'd NEED to team, I don't think it would add up.

Something I would consider is temporarily playing as characters you don't have access to yet, kind of like the Peach segments in Paper Mario. For example, there could be a segment where you'd have to play as Mighty with Ray following you, or Silver with Blaze following you, etc.

But I like your ideas. If you were to jam this all in a game, you'd have yourself a brilliant fan-game. If you plan to translate these words onto an actual game, I support you. If so, I'd love to help contribute.

 

I'll make it simple: Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Serious, a game based on the mechanics of that one would most probably do it.

The only change I would do maybe: a variant on the Light Dash (triggered by double jumping), that would work only on a special kind of rings that don't add to the count but allow this move. And Sonic would be able to break walls, floors and ceilings in the move. This is merely to allow for Sonic-only paths (remember that in S3K Tails can access every path Sonic can). And remember that Knuckles can break walls, but not floors and ceilings, something this thing can =P

But yeah, other than that, the game would be pretty much the same kind of gameplay.

 

He wouldn't wear pants. Just starps on his waist and shoulder to hold items. As well as maybe some sort of GUN head band.

 

Well at the end of Riders it seemed like it was implied that had become more of friendly rivals, and like the beginning of my post says, the characters HAVE to work together to stop the combined forces of Eggman, Eggman Nega, the newly revived Black Doom, the brainwashed Chaos, and even the New Battle Kukku army. There may even be some conflict between some old rivals before they'd end up working together.

I am actually going to get a degree in game design after high school, and if I am successful, I'll join Sega myself to make it. Sadly, I have NO experience what-so-ever right now in the actual process of game development, let alone fan games, but I'll learn soon enough, hopefully in college.


For the party system I'm thinking of having 4 followers max. Also, a second, third, and even fourth player could simply press start and take control of any one of the party members, so long as there isn't already a player controlling them. Anyone playing could switch to another character, as long as no one else is using them at the moment.

I also have a new twist on rings. They will represent Health, Money, and Energy. Getting one ring adds one ring to your actual 'rings' (health rings) at the top left corner of the screen, and one rings worth of Ring Energy to the ring energy meter. Of course getting hit makes you lose a certain number of rings, and of course getting hit with 0 rings = death, but losing health rings doesn't mean you lose ring energy. Ring energy is used and depleted only in one of two ways: Boost, and Powers. I'll explain powers later. To add your Health Rings to your Money rings, either complete a mission, or simply press the Back/Select/- button while you pass through a checkpoint. At that moment every one of your rings will be made into currency for you to spend.

 

Well then maybe now's the time to start. Game Maker is often the stepping stone for game designers.

Also, you wouldn't have to be employed at Sega. If you were to legally obtain the Sonic the Hedgehog license, YOU could make it. You could also hire a team to make it.

 

So playing S3&K through for the first time in years right after playing Unleashed got me thinking... what would S3&K look like in 3D?

I know there are several 3D Sonic fangames out there but they all just seem to be demos or engines. Why not take one of these and remake S3&K levels, enemies and bosses in them? I think it should stick as much as possible to the original level design - rather than just taking the theme of the level and remaking it, each individual chunk should be converted to a 3D form. Afterwards, modifications to take advantage of the third dimension such as extra paths or extra hidden bonuses could be added.

Some things to think about:
1. The camera could be set to always follow behind Sonic (like the 3D games but without all the spasming) or at a 90 degree angle, like the classic 2D games. This would be changeable in-game. During cutscenes the camera could be scripted to spice things up.
2. Two important choices to make when converting something into 3D:
a. should it be extruded or curved into the third dimension? Hidden rooms for powerups and giant rings would work well either as cubes or cylinders (the cross section of both is the original square), but places like the segments in HCZ where you spindash up a semicircle onto a spinning cylinder would have to be curved inwards, turning the semicircle into a hemisphere, whereas things like MGZ movable blocks would have to be turned into cuboids.
b. should it go inwards, or outwards? It's important to think about the setting. I'd suggest Angel Island might work best if it was set on the edge of a forest, so you'd see the trees (in the ground no less) one side of Sonic's path, and a drop down to water the other side. Invisible walls should be used to stop Sonic walking into the jungle or falling off the path. Something like HCZ, being underground, would surely have walls all round, following the background of the original. MGZ, being more complicated and maze-like, might use the third dimension a lot more in a realistic manner, while SSZ of course would have sky both sides. Zones like LBZ or MHZ might even alternate between possibilities.
3. How would boss rooms cope with the change? In 2D, you're forced to fight the boss because of the screen lock, but there is no such concept as a "screen lock" in 3D! Boss arenas would either have to have autolocking doors, or, more interestingly, would allow you to run away and continue with the zone if you wanted, but maybe give a different ending or somesuch for not fighting all the bosses. I just thought about all the bosses though, and realized (surprisingly) that all of them could force you to fight them in 3D in some way - many bosses invoke crucial cutscenes when they die (such as MHZ2, DEZ1 or LRZ1) and others could place a door after it, if not before (AIZ1 boss would have a door on the tube, for example).
4. Several game elements would have to be reworked. The CNZ barrel (rofl) would have to change as up/down would be used for movement. Spindashing would be on a button of course. The Hyper Sonic 8-directional attack would have to use three buttons instead of one (plus the d-pad), to specify the vertical direction. Knuckles' challenge in MGZ2 would have to be altered to prevent you from merely climbing around the arrow-shooting enemy.

So, tl;dr - anyone up for this? I would do it but I have no experience whatsoever in 3D games programming, plus I already have too many projects.

 

The CNz2 drum should be nuked from existence, especially in any kind of remake of S3K. Whatever, making a new game would be better, as it'd most likely take better advantage of 3D and be adapted to it. Level design in SRB2 is made taking 3D into account. Even sometimes the concept of path disappears and you end up in a huge field from where you have to make your own way.

 

First I'd fire Sonic Team.

Yes, I went there. Either that, or rename them "Cell Phone Development Hell Unit #7".
Then, I'd pick up the best and brightest from Dimps and the modding/hacking community.

 

I happen to have a rigged and textured Sonic Heroes Sonic model, and I can make and texture some objects and levels, but I would reccomend NOT using most other engines, as most of them that I have seen suck (not that I can do anything better, I'm just saying that they have poor gameplay and controls). An engine similar to the BlitzSonic engine, except completed, would be perfect. Either way, I would have a bit of trouble getting Tails rigged and textured because for some odd reason, the model of him that I have lacks tails.