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So last month I gave a lecture on Sonic Adventure 1 & 2

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by MrMechanic, Nov 17, 2024.

  1. MrMechanic

    MrMechanic

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    So bit of context/background to this...

    Last month was Sonic Con UK, it was a small but fun Sonic fan convention, the kind where mainly fan artists get together to sell things, like a market stall type thing. But Bentley Jones turned up! And there were a few other things so it was fine!

    Anyway, I was asked to host 2 panels at this event, the first was 'what it's like being a youtuber', and for some reason, I said "Hey, why don't I do a really dive analysis presentation of SA1 and SA2" and because they had an open slot on their panel list they said "Yeah go on then!"

    Well... As I was writing the script I quickly realised, trying to do a deep dive analysis on both those games... in 40 minutes... really isn't possible... So I had to change it...

    What was supposed to be a panel, ended up becoming a bit of a pseudo lecture on how and why Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 are really good at communicating their story to the player. I decided to bring up some concepts that people don't usually talk about or instantly think about when it comes to how Sonic games tell their story, whilst it's not so much the case on the Sonic Retro Message Board forums, certainly everywhere else, the belief is Sonic games really only communicate their story in a literal "Here is a cutscene telling you a story".

    So I very briefly talked about how story is communicated through level design, how this can create a much wider and deeper narrative than people realise, the example I used was how Lost World and the Mystic Ruins overworld communicates the final fate of the Echidna tribe which isn't depicted in the story. And then I talked a little bit about Cinematography, how this is used in both games to reveal a deeper sense of truth about how characters feel about themselves and each other, this time I talked about Gamma's storyline and how it's also used to show Sonic & Shadows relationship to one another.

    Anyway... after I finished, the audience seemed to really enjoy it and one guy came up to me and... Lord I wish I could remember his name and where he said he taught at... But he said he was a professor of games development at a University here in the UK, he's the guy who at the end of the video asks the question about 'How do you bridge the gap between kids and adults when it comes to telling stories in a Sonic game?" (oww this might be a fun topic for us to discuss!), he said he really enjoyed the talk and said it was a really good introduction to a lot of concepts his teaches his students which... Put a big smile on my face.

    A few notes before some of you lore masters go into this with a fine tooth comb. I did this panel after coming out of the worst round of flu for years, so I'd not had a lot of time to practice. 2. 40min... so not every argument is fully bullet proof. 3. This was my first time doing a live panel/lecture like this and... I don't know if anyone else has done something like this... but after a while... suddenly your carefully planned script turns to mush and you tend to 'go off on one' and you say stuff which isn't the greatest argument ever, e.g. at one point I mention speed running, and as I'm saying these words my brain is thinking "Wait I have no idea if this is true or not, what the hell are you doing!?"

    But anyway... if anyone wants to watch my lecture on SA1 & 2's storytelling for 40min... there you go!