Game Concepts

Dimps made Sonic Advance 2. I'd say that's a horrible idea.

 

Maybe you shouldn't be a lazy ass, and code the rest your self.

It's open source for a reason, he's not making a game for you to just go "LOL MODEL SWAP GAME COMPLETE"

 

How about you stop being a condescending prick to people? I swear, there's few things that keep me from banning you for this horrible attitude. I don't want to see it again—I don't care what justification you have for it. Show some respect, for fuck's sake.

 

Actually, I think the division of Dimps that created the advance and rush games are now part of Sonic Team. I'm not entirely sure though. But in the credtis of the wii version of sonic unleashed, the dimps logo isn't there. In fact at the beginning of the credits it just says "Sonic Team", then the members names appear.

Also, there are some talented people at Sonic Team. Like takashi iizuka. Who envisioned sonic in 3d. As well as being the best level designer at the company. Seriously, he designed most of the levels in SA1, SA2, heroes, and the [good] levels in shadow's game.
They're also good with creating appealing characters that have become very popular in the fanbase.

The problem is that the programmers aren't up to par.
If you look at the credits in sonic next gen, all of the programmers, mind 3, never worked on a game before...........or it could be the lack of decent organization schedules. Also, developing for mutliple consoles bogs down the game quality. iizuka even said this in a sonic heroes interview.

Sonic Team's composers are also very talented. Always trying new themes and styles that we all love and make YouTube AMV's with that get up to 400,000 views. Even hiring band members to help them perform themes.

 

Thank you for that little gem of irony, Takashi Iizuka is now the first person I would fire.

Frankly I don't think it matters how many games they've worked on, it's clear that almost nobody on Sonic Team has any interest in or appreciation of the series so it's time to give it to a team that does, like Bioware for instance.

Which is precisely why I'd fire them and bring back the old composers. Richard Jacques would be spared, naturally. To ensure quality, I'd force them to make the music 16-bit, so that only then when it was actually semi-unique could they remake it with recorded instruments in a manner similar to Brawl.

No offense, but you almost sound like a plant from Sega.

 

Take into mind Bioware is a specialist in that genre. Their only failure was the Star Wars MMO, and mainly because they were inexperienced with MMOs (it turned out most players wanted to be jedis straight from the beginning, very MMOish attitude, indeed). So the chances for Sonic Chronicles being bad were pretty much slim. I don't think they would be able to make any Sonic game that isn't a RPG.

 

I highly doubt that. First of all, most companies could easily do better with Sonic than ST is doing.

Second, they have proven that they are capable of not only showing respect for the franchise, but also going above their audience's expectations and creating games with impeccable quality.

 

Erm... They haven't released a Star Wars MMO yet. They're working on one based on the KoTOR game. The trainwreck of a Star Wars MMO (Galaxies) that's been on the market for years is a product of Sony and Lucas Arts .

On that note, I hopped, a long time ago, on the bandwagon of people who think they should let Capcom try their hand at a Sonic title.

 

I wouldn't cite Yojiro Ogawa as the creator of NiGHTS into Dreams... (especially considering he isn't listed in the credits, so I'm guessing you meant someone else), I'd probably go with either Naka or Oshima.

But I recall seeing something that said Takashi Iizuka was now in some generic management position. It seems to me like he is a good enough designer, but is lacking good judgment and can't really be asked to direct a game.

 

If I were to create a Sonic game, I would make it free-roam- DON'T STOP READING YET. I know a free-roam Sonic game doesn't sound too good at first thought, but hear me out. I've basically wondered what's offscreen when I either pass the signpost or destroy the capsule. A blank expanse? The end of time? Richard Simmons' satanic secret to weight loss within a few weeks? That being said, if I were to make a Sonic game, I would make it free-roam, kinda like Crash Twinsanity. Of course, there would be a minimap and the zone area would be long enough in order to compensate for the extreme speed of our favorite blue hedgehog and his friends.

Moreover, no cheap item placement, meaning that things like emblems or triggers to Super Rings won't be in a very inconvenient place where we would never think to look because of the basic desire to finish the mission. It won't be like Sonic Advance 2's bullshit. Let's see, what else...HP number for bosses, flickies running around when freed, small things like snowboards and extreme gears to ride...now it boils down to story, characters, gameplay and zone design. I use the term "story" loosely. Isn't the only thing that has "Sonic" on it with any kind of solid story either "Sonic The Comic" or "Archie's Sonic The Hedgehog"? Come on guys, you all know it really just got down to the simple answer of Sonic zooming through the zones and bashing the bad guys. Nothing really deep at all...well maybe except for Sonic Chronicles if that has any story to it.

As for the transition into actual Sonic gameplay that involves blowing badniks to hell and collecting rings, this is where a sense of realism would occur. You're given objectives GTA-style, follow the directions provided by the trusty minimap through the really expansive landscape, and suddenly you're in the zone within like a few minutes of getting there. Just like GTA. Simple. Oh, and one more important thing; ZERO. UNNECESSARY. BORING. DRAMA. This would be cartoony compared to the games of today, and even make fun of the characters, especially fata- I MEAN Robotnik. (lols) So there. That's my idea.

 

I actually think Iizuka isn't horrible, but he definitely needs people like Yasuhara or Ohshima to help balance out his insanity. I mean, SA1 was absolutely brilliant and I could really feel Ohshima's hand in there somewhere for some reason, even though the art style was a radical change from the previous games. I mean, that's part of the reason the first NiGHTS game was really good -- it was flashy, fun, and simple, and this was clearly because there was a team effort behind it.

He's no Yasuhara, but as long as he's got someone to help filter out his crazier ideas (I've made a post a long time ago where I joke about how Iizuka thought up Big's fishing idea -- he had to have been the one to come up with it) then he can do some good stuff. The problem is that in Heroes, Shadow, Journey of Dreams, he's more or less working solo.

 

Indeed, but if they were to make a platformer, don't expect it being the best platformer ever.

True. Or at least they know how to catch fans. Like the Mega Drive cameo (seriously, when I saw it I was like WTF). Or the fact that you can actually decide what Sonic says so you can prevent him from being a faggot if you want.

I swear I've keep reading in GDNet that it was made by Bioware. Meh, then go and find a game from them with a score lower than 70% (and apparently only two of them had under 80%...).

 

Sonic CD was directed by Ohshima, as was Burning Rangers. Ohshima was the NiGHTS overall director while Iizuka was the lead game designer.

He was also chief game designer for S3K and Sonic 3D basically.

Yojiro Ogawa DID direct Secret Rings though. He also did "character game design" on SA1, though I'm not quite sure what they mean by that.
He's also credited under "Original Wii Planner" for Sonic 06, which amuses me to no end.

 

Maybe it means the different gameplays specific to each character? The name seems to imply that.

 

Yeah I've thought of that, and its something I do plan on getting around to, there are just two issues: Money, and a Good computer. When I DO get started on that, I'll put it on this site first.

The controls of my game (on a 360) would generally be:
A: Jump
X: Boost
B: Attack
Y: Power
LB/RB: Quickstep
LT: Drift/Brake
RT: Crouch/Roll
LS: Move
RS: Rotate Camera
Back: Action
A,A: Air Action 1
A,X: Air Action 2

Air Actions include things like the Homing Attack, Flying, Dash Glide, Bounce Attack, Insta Shield, Double Jump, etc., and each character can have 2.

Crouch/Roll is the equivalent of pressing down in a 2D Sonic game.

Actions Include Talking, Turning Rings into Money at checkpoints (while NOT in a mission), Getting into vehicles, picking up weapons, and (when none of the above applies) scrolling through your weapons.

Now I need to explain the uniqueness between different characters. Each Character has a class, style, and 3 elements.

The classes are either Speed, Flight, Power, and two unnamed ones (for now) for the characters that don't at all apply to the first three. Speed Characters (though EVERYONE runs fast) Have a higher running speed, can use the Light Dash, and their Air Action 1 will by default be the Jump Dash/Homing Attack. Flight characters have a longer Flight Gauge (as even a non-fly type character could use it, like Jet or Storm), and their default Air Action 1 is of course flight. Power Characters are of course stronger in melee combat, they can dig, and their default Air Action 1 is the Dash Glide.

Styles are difficult to explain. Each character has a Running Style, and a Combat Style. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy all have the "Free" running style, Espio and Rouge have the "ninja" running Style. Knuckles and Amy have the"Brawler" Combat Style, while Sonic and Tails have the "free" combat style. These are more applied to the kind of character each person is.

Elements include, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Chaos, Light, Dark, Love, and Psychic. Each character has their own 3 elements. 2 of Sonic's are Fire and Wind. Knuckles has Fire and Earth, Amy has Love, Rouge has Darkness, Blaze has Fire, Chaos has Water, and Shadow has Chaos. Painting a picture yet?



Here's where I explain Powers. Anyone can use powers. Chaos Control, Super Form, Sonic Wind (yes I'm including the SA2 special attacks), and Chaos Blast are just a few of them. ALL powers require a select amount of Ring Energy, and some (like chaos control) require power objects (1 Chaos Emerald).

Each Power has an element, and to use that power the character must HAVE that element. Certain Power Objects posses elemental properties, and having that power object in a way GIVES the element to the one who holds it. Having a Chaos Emerald give you the Chaos Element, allowing to use chaos powers as long as you still have a Chaos Emerald (Elements you have through power objects do not count as one of the three that each character has). Certain Powers may also however require a certain Class and Style of Character to use. Sonic Wind requires Wind element, "free"style, and Speed Class. Chaos Spear requires Chaos Element, "mage"style, and Speed Class. Some powers HAVE to have power objects no matter what, Super Form and Chaos Control included.

In addition, some powers, like chaos spear for example, can be charged for grander effects by holding down the Y button, taking more rings per second that it is charged.

 

There has not been a single dope soundtrack since they stopped hiring this mofo, I'd fix that immediately: http://blog.dctgarden.com/