Sonic 3 Level Concept Art Research Thread (with HQ Pictures)

I think therein lies the problem. You guys are interpreting that section as representing a nearly whole act, while to me it looks more like a brief platforming section (like the one at the end of the Sky Sanctuary sketch) where you ascend to escape the lava and reach the temple, leaving no room for standard level design outside of the temple area.

 

Oh I thought there was something new. The leftover R2 assets were sprites though. Were there no level tiles or anything?

 

Wasn't this art of Little Planet new to Origins? Or am I mistaken? R2 having swinging platforms ala Marble, prominent spikes, a fan... a forest with what looks like support beams? I've never heard anyone talk about any of that, only ever about it being the ruins clip in the end credits, and that image of a castle(?) with rainbows.



(Not all that related to the Cyber City talk, I'm realizing-- It just sprung to mind and the level concept art thread seemed like a good place to post about it)

 

Interestingly, Zone 1 has no indication of it being lit on fire, or the Flying Battery sequence. With all the other story sequences included in the maps, it's strange how those weren't.

I always thought it was weird how everything is burned only a short ways into Act 1, but it still plays the happy Act 1 music. I wonder if that originally wasn't intended to happen until Act 2.

 

Actually, in the original game you'd always have act 2 music playing any time you exit a special stage or bonus stage - this is because, as ORKAL explained it in one of their glitch videos, when the transition from green to fire happens, the game has actually secretly moved you over to Act 2. In S3&K, they tried to hard-code their way out of this by having the special stage ring right nearby forcibly queue up Act 1 music when you leave it, but it doesn't work for any of the other special stage rings or bonus levels anyway, so more often than not you'd still mainly hear the Act 2 theme through most of act 1!

Icecap is apparently another zone that has this "hidden" act switch to handle asset changes.

 

Wow, just wow!

Seeing the S&K side of the Sonic 3 story is simply the best!
The actually "story" is highlighted through these shortened concept sketches of the actual levels, which I would never believe if I never saw this thread/news. That's the key to why the game felt different from earlier games, that there was a connected story during the creation of the actual levels.

I thought the background of Lava Reef in the known Sonic 3 prototype was proof enough that Sonic 3 had the complete story. Again, before that I thought Sonic 3 had this simplified Sonic 2 kinda story where the Master Emerald didn't even exist. There were of course the early level layouts in the Sonic 3 prototype that confirmed Hidden Palace, or the route there, was also at a known state during Sonic 3 development.

But these concepts, showing the things I have always wanted to see confirmed, like how important it is to see the Death Egg in the background of several levels, just makes this worth more than an earlier prototype would give (since art/level data is harder to remake multiple times instead of just updating the story a little). Information of this kind is highly appreciated and I thank whoever made it possible for us to look at them!

I will look through all the posts later, but for now I just need to address that going from concepts like these, to real game art, all the tile art, all the designs, and layout, is ridiculously difficult. We must always appreciate the amount of work that went on between these concepts, and the final product!