Sonic 3 and Knuckles, a new lease of life

That's "a new lease ON life," actually.

/commonly-known-sayings-nazi

EDIT: Now, to give an actual opinion:

I like the idea of the design mentality behind your Hydrocity Zone layout, but the palette looks really bland to me. I don't like it when a zone's aesthetic is dominated by a single color (no matter how many shades there are) in a way that doesn't contrast itself properly, and personally that color scheme for Hydrocity just doesn't do it for me.

 

Agreed on the colour front. It looks nice, but it needs more than just red. Couldn't you throw some green in the background somewhere? You'd be surprised at how much difference it makes.

 

Didn't make much difference for Hill Top Zone, though I suspect that's more because the level was the same color as Sonic and an obvious Emerald Hill respray in the same game as Emerald Hill.

Bleargh, I hate Hill Top's design...

EDIT: Also, why was the hill top blue? Why was the only semi-lava level in the stage blue? What drunken excuse for an art director thought coloring 80% of the stage the same color as the main character was good art design?

 

holy shit. this and the death egg miniboss are intense.

great ideas and stuff, man.

 

I don't think it would be a good idea to use a single color for each special stage. You need contrast if you want to make it visually appealing. Here's what I suggest:

Green emerald stage: (Green and Light Brown tiling, Light Blue sky)
Yellow emerald stage: (Dark Purple and Turquoise tiling, Dark Blue sky)
Magenta emerald stage: (Beige and Dark Orange tiling, Light Blue sky)
Blue emerald stage: (Red and White tiling, Black sky)
White emerald stage: (Orange and Purple tiling, Light Blue sky)
Red emerald stage: (Dark Blue and Cyan tiling, Blue Sky)
Cyan emerald stage: (Yellow and Purple tiling, Blue Sky)

In case you haven't noticed by now, + - the color schemes are based off the original 7 zones of Sonic 3 (including Flying Battery).  

Disregard.

 

I think I recall reading that this is the case in plain S3 (unless that's what you mean), albeit maybe that a different rule was used in S&K.

 

I feel like an idiot for not realizing just how similar these palettes are to the originals. I did notice the fourth was exactly the same at the time of writing, though I have no excuse for not trying to change it to something else.

 

Omfg! Awesome screenshots.
I was only asking the other day about hacks for Sonic3/K and the lack of them! I must have skimmed over this topic when trying to look for hacks!

EDIT

Suggestion - I mentioned this idea in another thread the other day so it might be more appropriate here.

Can you make Hidden Palace into 2 acts? Act one being similar to Lava Reef 2 (like the original) just with minor palette edits and make it play through like an actual level with enemies and everything in (no boss maybe) and then have Act 2 where you fight Knuckles use more of the original Sonic 2 level design (not the background though) with maybe a palette change but the colourful light up bridges DEFINITELY would be awesome to see!

EDIT 2-

Another suggestion I just thought of. I always loved the design of the competition levels, so it would be awesome to see them actually used as FULL Levels with new/rehashed enemies and rings and all that jazz. Especially Chrome Gadget and the Cavern type one (Brain dead now... damn)

 

I can answer that for him. That requires ASM. Which my Disassembly is not released yet so it's much harder for people to do ASM in S3K. The half finished disassembly is a nice start for people to look at to grasp the basics but they won't be able to do much without things fully labeled.

 

OMG! I love the changes you have done to the special stages, and the palets on most of the levels. The title screen and save select look nice too. The bonus stage looks awesome, kinda like a S1 Special Stage without the S3K elements! Will you be editing the other bonus stages (Gumball, and Glowing Spheres) too?

 

Glad to see your still working on this, I thought it died .

 

There's really no better way to say this, but I'm loving the palettes because they are...for lack of a better word..."fixed." Not that the original S3K ones were bad, I just feel like the game has a pseudo-HD feel to it. Less fake, more of the colors you might actually expect to see, especially in your AIZ, MGZ, MHZ, and FBZ screenshots in your sig. Most palette edits I see are atrocious, but I really like this "fixing" approach, whether you see it that way or not.

 

Finally, an update! Love what you done with the menu palettes and by the looks of the screenshots, those special stages will be intense.

I like what I see AND read.

 

The palettes are kind of bland. They're very desaturated, and they make me feel like I'm playing GTA IV. Except Marble Garden. The Autumn look works swimmingly with that stage. Carnival Night is good too, but it still looks similar to the original (being generically colorful, that is). You should consider making drastic changes to CNZ that will stand out from the original.

The layouts however are excellent, from what I've seen. Keep that up.

 

I am liking Flying Battery's new tune!

Also the pallete goes quite well with the zone! Excellent work!

 

As I said on msn, your doing an awsome job so keep it up. And I await for a release .

 

I like the remix of Flying Battery. The original is probally one of my fav's from the series.