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Sonic AGES (current Build: 13)

Discussion in 'Fangaming Discussion' started by Foxeh, Sep 26, 2017.

  1. Foxeh

    Foxeh

    Animator Member
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    Sonic AGES and Writing a documentation for Realms
    discord is here

    Download here
    you can download AGES at it's booth here.

    Now..about the contents in this current prototype...

    hosting multiplayer matches.
    long story short, the host needs to port forward 7500 to get other people to join your room. after that, joining and hosting games is pretty much the same as Sonic Battle R. (copy your AGES code and give it to people you want to join your game)
    I haven't set a limit to how many people can be allowed into a game yet. i haven't had enough people for a proper stress test yet.

    There is one major bug in AGES where after you finish all the stages or gameover back to the main menu, you're soft locked from starting single player again. you'll have to restart the game.
    I'm still trying to make a solution to this, it's just taking a really long time to figure this out.
    This bug doesn't apply to multiplayer though. it was present in last year's build too but i just set it so people repeat the last stage over and over. but instead of confusing people. you go back to the main menu.
    this same bug also prevents the game from closing for some reason...
    this bug is fixed in the coming Build 14.



    Current Change log for Build 13: putting out fires edition.

    Code (Text):
    1. ```
    2.  
    3. 1. Jman added AGES codes as a new way to host and join games in multiplayer. similar method as sonic battle R
    4.  
    5. 2. fixed some springs in carnival speedway that doesn't give character control back. (over looked some of them previously)
    6.  
    7. 3. fixed horizontal springs in carnival speed way that under weird circumstances would slap characters through the wall.
    8.  
    9. 4. fixed the soft lock inside of seabed with the bouncer near the fire shield.
    10.  
    11. 5. fixed a few collisions with some platforms acting funny in carnival speedway. there's many more that needs to be fixed, but i tacked the biggest problems first.
    12.  
    13. 6. removed the annoying duplicate HUD on the netplay. (something weird happened and suddenly there were 2 HUDS lol)
    14.  
    15. 7. tiny project fixes to some pet peeves. [IMG]//forums.sonicretro.org/public/style_emoticons/default/wink.png" class="bbc_emoticon" alt=";)">/>
    16.  
    17. 8. took carnival speedway out of the single player mode. was meant to be there temporary anyway.
    18.  
    19. 9. added some informative text in the multiplayer menu.
    20.  
    21. 10. fixed the info text from breaking when switching menus. (wasn't a big deal, but it kept bothering me)
    22.  
    23. ```



    Previous changelogs:
    Build 12: Barely made it to SAGE 2018 edition

    finally figured out that annoying control glitch. meaning i can get back to other things, like character and level art stuff AND ONLINE basically, those few people had an external app called vjoy that they used to make games without controllers work. you don't need this for my game and it just causes trouble. i will release a separate build without gamepad support if it people are so stubborn to not turn it off.

    Additions
    1. Web Browser Build (so you can play the game through the browser. this is still very little tested so expect bugs and such (multiplayer shouldn't work with web browser build so i suggest downloading the game instead)
    2. Exit game button at main menu (so for those that game over and need to restart the game, they don't have to alt+ f4)
    3. Multiplayer! - this is early so there wont be too much to play on. there will be multiplayer specific stages that wont be playable in single player since i have different plans there.
    4. One new Multiplayer Stage- with permission from Felik, as a milestone celebration, this stage is part of a collaboration for Sonic Fusion. expect more fusion stages in multiplayer since they're pretty fast for me to bring over. Thank you very much Felik //forums.sonicretro.org/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png/>
    5. Many Controller Supports!- supports Xbox 360, Xbox one, Nintendo switch, PlayStation 4 controllers. if you'd like a specific controller to be supported please request so and i'll look into doing it.
    6. Dynamic music!: only for the main menu. this was something I've been wanting to learn how to do for the longest. you've probably noticed this in games such as Phantasy star online series and Muramasa and many racing games. As much as i love ungravity, i needed to properly test layering tracks seamlessly. which is why 7. the main menu music is Planet from ridge racer vita's menu so please enjoy that for now because it's temporary just like all the music. (ridge racer is my favorite arcade racing game other than Hang-on, and Outrun and Cruzin')
    8. Pause Button: this was put together really quick, I'm sorry that it looks so basic. i'll polish it up after adding in a certain highlight to this year's sage submission //forums.sonicretro.org/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.png/>

    Major Changes - the things that aren't additions.
    1. Ding dong the with is dead! fixed that really annoying input glitch a few players got that caused their player to move on their own.

    Minor Changes - the things that aren't as big as major changes... lol
    1. decreased the deadzone for the 360 control stick back to 0.4 (was 0.7 temporary to find the issue with the possessed gamepad inputs)
    2. the camera now snaps to the player when going through a teleport in seabed.


    Build 11:
    Current Website https://sites.google...ages/sonic-ages
    SAGE Booth https://www.sonicfan...-2017-alpha.43/

    Notes: Theres a very small percentage of players who seem to experiencing their player moving on their own. most of my time has been into trying to research and solve this issue. Any extra info on this would be very useful.

    This week I've focused on mostly just fixing pretty large bugs so i can resume the art and animation bits. gameplay before art, you know?
    Messing around with the latest version of unity to see if everything ports over fine without bugs. seems to deliver smoother gameplay to AGES.
    Also preparing online multiplayer. (only racing at the moment, unless more ideas come up)

    Additions
    - Linux Builds
    - Max Builds

    Major changes

    - Fixed that nasty control lock glitch when players couldn't regain air control on a bouncy object after losing it. http://puu.sh/xR9Hb/01b6187df2.gif
    -added the basic standalone player for those that's experiencing issues with their player running around without them pressing a single button. actually this didn't fix the intended thing i was tryign to fix so im going to remove this next build.


    Minor changes
    - Moved some of the enemy placement so it isn't cheap anymore.
    - Increased the deadzone for the 360 control stick from 0.4 to 0.7 (for test reasons).

    Things you likely wont notice
    -Updated unity from 5.5.4 to 2017.1.1 (to take advantage of faster level creation and smoother gameplay?)



    Build 10 - SAGE Edition

    No change log here since this is the public debut.
     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2020
  2. Sparks

    Sparks

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    Sondro Gomez / Kyle & Lucy
    I think you should polish up the level more before working on characters.
     
  3. Foxeh

    Foxeh

    Animator Member
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    Sonic AGES and Writing a documentation for Realms
    on it! :) (actually, that's the main thing I'm working on at the moment.)

    expect changes
     
  4. SuperSnoopy

    SuperSnoopy

    I like Sonic Advance Member
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    Slice of life visual novel, coming soon...?
    Wait... Is this real time gameplay ?
    My god, it look gorgeous.
     
  5. Xiao Hayes

    Xiao Hayes

    Classic Eggman art Member
    About the poll:
    Silver and Shadow are on the list, but not Blaze or Rouge; also, there's Bean, but there's no Bark. Team Chaotix is also out of the list, so I'm not sure which was the selection criteria. For additional characters, I should stick to the standard trio and leave the others out unless you have really clear which playstyle will have each character or give the newcomers a good plot so repeated playstyles don't really matter. Either way, a full game just for Sonic is better than a demo with a full roster.

    About the gif:
    I like your approach, a game that looks like an animated series, and that's only in aesthetics, so you don't really alter the classic gameplay experience, plus you keep the geometry art concept from the classic games. Level itself, however, could have some more colours on tiles, and the springs could be better shaded; looking cartoonish shouldn't mean looking flat, and you did quite well for both background layers, so I'm sure you can improve that. Background walls could also have a bit more varied look, though. The contrast between background and foreground is how it should be, however, at least for visibility, so keep that in mind before making any changes.

    Overall, one of the most interesting things in the SAGE trailer, I hope it's as fun to play as nice it looks. Good job! :thumbsup:
     
  6. Foxeh

    Foxeh

    Animator Member
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    Sonic AGES and Writing a documentation for Realms
    As far as the poll goes:
    Funny how you should say that about Blaze lol... :)
    I was only allowed to have 10 choices. every character is up for choosing. i figured I'd just change the selection of people later on in November or whenever I'm ready to put together another character. (i actually have more fun animating these characters than laying out stages lol)

    about the gameplay:
    For now for SAGE sake and to finally stop being quiet about my project for so long, i decided to show basic gameplay to get a grasp how the game will play and look. You know, just to make sure the general gameplay works well before i add in the extra tricks.
    Of course that stage design isn't nearly the final look of it. Been fixing it up as we speak because there's a lot I've been dying to do with it.

    I'm saving the extra things for a little after SAGE is over. had some really fun things i wanted to finish putting together :D

    Also thank you very much, your kind words motivates me to keep pushing for better ^^ I'm taking everyone's comments into consideration and acting on them.
     
  7. Xiao Hayes

    Xiao Hayes

    Classic Eggman art Member
    Just tried the demo, and found some things I wanted to tell you about, be they good, bad, or just worth noticing:

    - Physics don't seem very good, there's a lot of odd behaviours and noticeable faults to be fixed.

    - Maybe I missed something, but I didn't know if there was a key to pause the game, or to close its window; I had to close it using the context menu on windows bar.

    - Just as I said before, a cartoon Sonic looks great, though you should draw more frames for some animations, or redraw some sprites to fit better said animations (sometimes both).

    - I understand enemies are yet to be improved, as they don't look great with a single sprite for movement. I understand that since the explosions say "place holder"; Seeing this was funny (in a good way).

    - Similar thing goes for monitors, I suppose you'll draw them at some point later instead of using S3&K sprites.

    - I love the tutorial level, you should model a whole zone after this. You could call it "desktop designs" or something like that.

    - I didn't notice in the SAGE trailer, but you actually made this seabed level after the PSO one! I loved that! Do you know what? I was thinking about making a "Sonic in PSO" fan game, and have a lot of graphical work done for Mine 1 level. It's neither cartoonish nor HD, though. :v:

    Overall, is a nice demo, and, as I said the other day, also an interesting style approach, but, now that I've played it, I think you still have a lot of work pending just to finish the content of the demo (and, of course, to finish the whole game, but that's obvious). I'm looking forward to see your progress in the future and try any new version you release.
     
  8. SuperSnoopy

    SuperSnoopy

    I like Sonic Advance Member
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    Slice of life visual novel, coming soon...?
    I played the demo yesterday and I have to say this is pretty incredible. Like, this looks GOOD. The animations, the artstyle, damn.
    I noticed the shields, monitors and the HUD are using their default appearance. I'm guessing future versions of the game will have everything hand drawn.

    However, the level design wasn't exactly my cup of tea. It's not bad by any means, but it looks more like something you'll see for later stages. I don't know if you intent to make this stage the first one, but it's something to keep in mind.
    I also noticed a lack of stage specific gimmick that could make the stage more memorable. I only found these teleporters thingy, and there was only one at the beginning of the stage and one at the end (that didn't do anything)

    Still, this was a pretty good experience overall, in my opinion one of the best SAGE game this year.
    I'm gonna follow this one very closely :eng101:/>
     
  9. Love the sketch stage idea, one of the most original ideas for a stage. I hope it lives up to its looks!
     
  10. Chimpo

    Chimpo

    Cheapest Retro Poster Member
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    You need at least one more walk cycle in-between standing still and the current one, or at least a transitional animation between standing and the current walk cycle. It just looks weird with Sonic snapping into a completely different pose that doesn't flow well with the others.

    Level design needs less abrupt ends in routes. The pacing is thrown out the window when you're picking up speed and all of a sudden you hit a wall. Your first GIF shows exactly what I mean. Find a better way to slow the player down or redirect them smoothly. Or use your teleport portal as an actual gimmick in the stage. The stage is currently bland without something to keep it interesting.

    [​IMG]

    Advice for Future Demos:

    • Add a pause menu with a restart function. I've had to Alt+F4 several times because the spring bug is way too common.
    • Because of the above reason, make the tutorial optional or give people the option to skip.

    Otherwise, it's cool.
     
  11. Foxeh

    Foxeh

    Animator Member
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    In the Walls
    Sonic AGES and Writing a documentation for Realms


    Thanks for the idea, Chimpo, i'll look into a clean way of allowing the tutorial skip. i'll probably just put the tutorial into a separate selection i the main menu.

    i know i don't reply too often, but i have read and taken everyone's comments into consideration. of course, this game isn't even near finished. for sage reasons, i made sure i gotten the main things out the way to make sure what I'm intending to do with this is understood. otherwise i would've skipped SAGE again and then presented this in 2018

    none of the current art is even final. this goes for sonic, the stage, and the lack of animations that are present.

    As far as the way seabed is, this is meant to be a much later stage in the game. because of this, i have no intention of making it easy. there's a lot of assets not into this stage yet.
    Since this is a Sonic game about other SEGA games, Seabed is inspired from pso episode 1 and 2 and will indeed have more use of the teleport which is still not fully functional yet. will include more enemies some saving for boss., a multitude of traps (floor grabbers, damage traps, maybe confuse traps, poison rooms, tripwire alarms that spawns tech turrets.) not to mention the environment art is barely there and not even animated.

    i understand that there's no actual beginning stage yet, and i have been brainstorming on what theme i wanted to decide on. (choosing between dynamite headdy, ristar, golden axe and altered beast) of course the most I'd do is lay the stage out before pulling all of my time into it because seabed still needs to be done.

    I'm very happy with all of the lovely comments you guys shared and it's been fueling my motivation to keep working on this.

    also I'm super happy you also thought of a pso stage as well, HedgeHayes. i didn't speak on the main gimmick of this entire game theme yet but stay tuned in the coming months ;)
    the tutorial stage is also what i use as a placeholder for stage layouts. was thinking of making a few multiplayer stages that let people try out the stages before they get their actual art, music and assets replaced.

    btw i updated ages to build 11. it's been a week of bug fixing.[​IMG] nothing visual until i can take care of most of the major game breaking bugs and get more menus ready.

    i wanted to make the 1st poll contain spoilers fields so i can keep things compact and organize so i can add the to-do list and keep the extra info optionally view-able. anyone know of a way?
    thanks again for the nice critiques.
     
  12. Xiao Hayes

    Xiao Hayes

    Classic Eggman art Member
    Since it's a Sonic game visiting other Sega titles, you could adapt some characters from those other titles to work on a Sonic game. It's just an idea, though, I don't know if it's possible to get good characters for a Sonic game that way.
     
  13. Foxeh

    Foxeh

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    Sonic AGES and Writing a documentation for Realms
    that's a big maybe. but for now I'm going to take the Mario party route with this one. ;)
     
  14. unAWARE

    unAWARE

    Mmm...morphball! Member
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    I'd like to see Mighty and Ray in here, your art style would suit them really well I think. Mighty could have his signature "Wall Kick" move. I'm not sure what Ray would do though.

    Editing this because now I see they are poll options. D'oh!
     
  15. Foxeh

    Foxeh

    Animator Member
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    Sonic AGES and Writing a documentation for Realms
    here are a few old gifs that i made when i was working on more features and gimmicks. i tend to use old genesis sprites when i test things.
    got a lot of things coming so i figured i could show a few off. (including some i found funny)
    I'll show new gifs when i get around to making some.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    i am not a programmer

    [​IMG]
    i tend to use placeholders a lot. but this one ended up being funny cause the thought of sonic flapping his arms rapidly to fly is hilarious...

    [​IMG]
    there was a time when i was working on the AI, and he would release a really powerful spindash. it was really absurd at the speed so for laughs until i fixed it. i placed a shotgun sound effect to it.

    [​IMG]
    51 sonics tested inside engine. i need to test more eventually... and outside engine... gotta find out how many bots/players people can have without dropping frames.

    [​IMG]
    i know i showed this before in general screenshots, but this is from a netplay test me and a few friends did as we raced bots in one of my new game modes.

    [​IMG]
    Saving the really juicy stuff for when it's near release time.

    Also the Amy sprite is from E-122-Psi