I'm pretty sure you mean "save system", but allow me to joke around here HAHA. HAHA LOOK AT YOU, YOU CAN'T EVEN BEAT S3K WITHOUT SAVESTATES. Also. Guy's pretty good. I'm a musical kinda guy too, so maybe if Sonica does contact him I could drop him a line too.
If you do this, make slightly rusty rings on water levels, slightly moss-encrusted rings for ruins levels, slightly icy rings for ice levels, yadda yadda blah blah.
Nonono that's waaaaaaaaaay too much work, isn't it? Well, it does sound easier than doing different reflections. rust/ice/etc. would pretty much cover up most of the problems with the whole case. How did the 3D games solve this whole thing? I'm looking at Unleashed/Generations. I don't remember any reflections on those rings... EDIT: Now that I think about it, are there any old Sonic artworks with rings on it? Since the art itself is already based on Sonic 1-3 Japanese arts, it would only make it easier to base the rings on artworks too, no?
In real life decorative metals are usually polished or plated as this improves durablity and aesthetics. I am going to use chrome plating as an example. Dull Chrome This finish is achieved by sand blasting the part before electro plating with nickel and chrome. Bright (Mirror Finish) Chrome This finish is achieved by polishing the part before electro plating with nickel and chrome. Do these finishes reflect colours and light from their enviroment? Yes. Dull Chrome produces a blurred grandient. Bright Chrome produces a clear reflection with sharp edges and depending in the shape of the part there may be distortion.
I definitely like the idea of different reflections for different stages, so long as they aren't too noticeable; with the Generation's Green Hill example, I felt like the green on Sonic was a little too overpowering, it looked like someone boosted the green level in photoshop a little too much. As for their creation, may I recommend using the gradient mesh tool in Illustrator? With time and finesse, it comes up with some truly outstanding reflection results. Plus, once you have reflections in place, all you have to do to change the color of reflection is select particular points and replace the color.
I have an idea for real-time day/night atmosphere for almost any level, expect that it would require your computer's time to have some kind of realism (Date is not required since it would need more work) would be nice to see someone doing that (I don't want in-game auto-day/night switching)
Lord no, I have the ideas but I am still sorting out the little things. I have gathered ideas for layouts to help with that though.
Haha okay. I'm looking forward to that stage of development then. I hope you all won't worry too much about the supplementary parts of this game.
I hope to see more of actual level design and graphic progression as well. Too much focusing on the tiny little details will just cause things to end up like a certain community project. I think the best idea is to get the main idea and picture sorted out, then worry about touch ups later.
Your engine handles slopes well for starter, but I'd like to see more functionality from it before I make a judgement. Loops and shit like that. As for what I want? Well, it's simple. See these games? Make a game exactly like these two. Add new levels, better graphics and 1-2 new moves for each character that don't impact game play too heavily. You do that, no one will complain. There's a lot involved in that though. As for what will make a great Sonic 4, I want to see more detailed doodad shit, that's what made those S3&K so great. Flying Fortresses dropping bombs on Sonic as he out runs them and shit like this. Too many fan games are so straight forward run through a green hill rendition zone to the end, with very little ever actually happening. Not enough flair or neato shit to spice things up. I'd like to see movement towards more "thrill moments" like I previously mentioned and a lot of level gimmicks placed in ways that actually enhance the experience of the level, not get in the fucking way. Examples: bouncy mushrooms in Mushroom Hill Zone, those crazy wheel things in Scrap Brain, the swing bits from Angel Island Zone, etc. More jam, less dry toast.
I agree. Make everything first and touch up on details later. You won't get anywhere if you have to ask for advice on every single object. Also, on the subject of the wall jump, I would suggest something along the lines of the wall run in Eggman Hates Furries - when Sonic makes contact with a wall, he will land feet first, running up the wall until momentum is lost. I feel as though this was the best approach as it gave Sonic this new ability without taking away from the core Sonic gameplay, and I found it didn't stop gameplay as much as sticking to the wall and jumping off it would. However this is your game and I wouldn't really mind all that much if you just used the regular wall jump or even decided to settle for something else. Just making suggestions really. I hope this turns out to be a great game.
You said you're using Game Maker, right? Would it be possible to make a "prototype" version using simplified or ripped graphics, and then replacing them with your HD artwork as you go along? It seems as though it would help production, so that you can see exactly what needs done as you're working on it, and it would be interesting to see a before and after version of each thing. I kind of was interested in the Sonic 2 HD project because I had seen what the game was like beforehand, and so had a point of comparison when admiring the new graphics. On a different note, I may be beating a dead horse at this point, but I found something that was just screaming "Sonic Special Stage" at me. In itself, its far too elaborate from what you intend to do, but a simplified version that you could handle with Game Maker would be awesome, whether it be built 2D like the normal levels, or designed in the same way as the Sonic 2, 3&K, or CD Special Stages. Here's the video I found:
What I'm wondering about is the special stage entrances. There's been so many different methods of reaching the special stages. reach the end with 50 rings, reach a checkpoint with 50 rings, find a special stage ring, collect a key and make it to the end without being hit. There was also CD's but I have no idea what that was. I hope you'll do something original but I suppose there's not much room for originality in this case.
CD's was reach the end with 50 rings, the purest of Special Stage entry methods. It's the best the Sonic Team has come up with, because it makes rings valuable for something other than staying alive. Sonic 2's did this as well, but considering that there was often a Star Post not too far away, the danger of not having enough rings to get into the special stage was kind of subdued.
Pretty much this. It was one of a small number of things that S2 almost did right! Then Knuckles in Sonic 2 came along and made the entire thing into a joke. Sonic 3 & Knuckles’s special stages were pretty laughable, for the most part. Sonic 1 definitely has the nicest ones, even if they do totally kick my ass (which is a good thing considering how rare it is in this franchise). Anyway.
What if they were entered like CD's time travel? (I.e. hit a Starpost with a certain amount of rings, then keep Sonic at a certain speed long enough to warp to the Special Zone).
