So here's a game I've been messing with for about a year and a half now. I was going to wait until I had a demo ready to post about it, but that's still a long ways off so I'll just post a little about it here. (This is going to be the worst intro post) A plot synopsis I wrote when I first started (the game's gone through a bunch of reboots since then but it still stands) Since many words does not a good game topic make, here are some pretty pictures to look at. Green Hill Zone, the obvious first little area. Home to everyone's favourite hedgehog (and Sonic) and the seaside village of Emerald Town Station Square, still pretty bare bones but these screens get the point across Angel Island and such Comparison between Mobius and the mirror world of Suibom Overworld map As you can tell, I'm pretty much ripping off the style of Mother 3 with this game, mostly because the reason I started it was to use some little sprites and such I made. Also I should mention that it's being made with RPG Maker XP, which might turn some people off, but I have seen some amazing things done with this program and I just might replicate them via stumbling about blindly. Guh, I probably should have waited until a demo to post this. I still have a LOT of work to do, but I wanted a place where I could post some progress and show things off. Hopefully this thing doesn't get ignored because of this :< And if for some strange reason you want more, here's a super-old super-shitty blog full of old character writeups and screens of the first bunch of maps and such that have since been revised.
shhh I messed up and clicked submit instead of preview Don't tell anyone it is our little secret, okay?
Hopefully you'll do a better job than Bioware did with Chronicles. I always liked the Earthbound series, despite being unable to force myself to play Earthbound too far past the first town or Mother 3 past the first chapter anymore. But this looks like a good game so far, although the whole Suibom looking like a wasteland thing kinda irks me, as I never quite got the point of the land itself going to shit because of a tyrant. I mean, look at OoT, besides Hyrule Castle Town going to shit, Hyrule Castle being replaced with Ganon's castle, Zora's Domain freezing over and stuff that you eventually fix, Hyrule really wasn't all that different. Although it might be justified if Anti-Sonic focused more on ruling by scaring everyone shitless than he did keeping his land beautiful. But that's just a little nitpick. Looking forward to this
I'd recommend toning down the striped Green Hill grass in the residential shots. I know it's true to the original game, but high-contrast green vertical lines are a little grating to look at.
That's actually pretty much it. The evil Sonic cares more about making money than silly things like pollution controls or waste management services. That and I'm trying to go for being as cliché as possible with the mirror universe (so it's like sonic team really made it!), and they're always pretty filthy. It's amazing how much of a difference that made! It's so much brighter now :3
The game definitely gives an Earthbound vibe to be, I'm loving the graphics of the game. Just wondering, have you decided how the battle system will be implemented?
I'm hoping to do something similar to Mother 3's battle system, except with something more Sonic-y to replace the music-related timed combos, because those would be a bitch to program in RMXP. In a perfect world I'd make the battle system similar to Paper Mario, with pressing buttons at the right time to dodge or deal extra damage. Since the battle system has been brough up, here's a quick mockup of how the battle screen looks so far. The status windows and the default RMXP fighter guy are obviously just stand-ins until I figure out something for the real thing.
Interesting. Right off the bat, some recommendations on the visuals: 1. Sonic looks sad. Give him a bit more attitude. Perhaps you could also play around with changing his expression throughout the game. 2. Seeing those green stripes makes me wonder how it would look if they were all wavy lines instead. Also if the brighter green were a darker shade. 'Sup to you. So far, it's a modest and simple premise. For a game modeled off a very successful, simplistic SNES RPG, you couldn't have started better. Now I'm just curious as to how you'll approach the music and the character interactions. By the way, I totally wouldn't mind facing off against a scary Egg Giygas.
It's the shape of his eyes, mostly, that make him look sad. May wish to at least tweak that. If I may, given the spritish Motobug look, it shouldn't be hard to make good sprite-like portraits for Sonic and other party members. As for the soundtrack, well... I'm not the best guy in the world to take advice on that from in the first place, so I'll let the "experts" advise you on that one. :v:
I gotta say, I love that the battlefield doesn't consist of just plain ol' sprite rips from Sonic 1's background. You're keeping the style consistent - mad kudos there. If you could do the same for the background, you've got a winner.
Suibom looks like it could be one of Sonic CD's Bad Futures. I love the style this makes, and more pictures would never go unappreciated (not that I'm saying you need to release more). I'll keep my eye on this one.
quote name='MegaDash' date='May 2 2011, 02:08 PM' post='583784'] So far, it's a modest and simple premise. For a game modeled off a very successful, simplistic SNES RPG, you couldn't have started better. Now I'm just curious as to how you'll approach the music and the character interactions. [/quote] Right now the music sounds like this. I don't really know what I want to do with the instrumentation(is that the right word?) right now, I can't decide between Genesis synths or real instruent samples ala Mother 3. I am kind of doing that already, actually! I am planning on using these face shots for message box portraits for all the important characters; it shouldn't be too much to do a full-body version for the battle screens (although I may remove those entirely)
I'm liking pretty much everything except for Sonic himself, but that's just an echo of MegaDash said. Changing Sonic's eyes would be all it really needs, since it looks good otherwise. Hope to see a demo soon!
This is looking really good, Mother is one of my favourite franchises so it's nice to see someone doing an attempt at a Sonic game in its style. However, as a person who have tried himself, RPG Maker XP is not the easiest thing to get working in a Mother-ish Battle System. But best of luck to you!
Artwork looks good, and the synopsis works nicely. Haven't taken a listen to the music yet, but I've managed to take a gander at all the character stuff. The "King Sonic" talk-boxes look unfinished and I'm curious as to what kind of look you'll use for them. I get the feeling, though, they'll just be modified versions of the normal Sonic talk-boxes. Other than that, I really can't say anything else what hasn't already been said. I look forward to more info/news.
Well, the Green Hill sample is already worlds better than Chronicles, but that's nothing to be proud of. I'd recommend going the way of Mother-style remakes. Slow the pace down and rethink the main melody to give it a nice "home base" feeling, since that's where you'll be starting the game. Don't make it sound boring or anything, but make it sound nice and welcoming.