Sonic CD 2

So basically, you want to make this game then.

 

Well the seasons idea is certainly (pretty) original, and the only other Sonic game that used this was Sonic & Knuckles's Mushroom Hill Zone Act 2. It's also the only cycle I can think of not used as a central game gimmick for the old games. (Sonic CD - Time Travel, Knuckle's Chaotix - Day/Night)

 

Pfft, Megaman? More like this:



Anyways, I like the idea. It still follows the time thing from the first Sonic CD, yet doesn't directly copy it. It is admittedly somewhat smaller-scale than the idea of traveling years and years through time, so I'm not sure what to think about that. Also, it would be fairly difficult to create unique season-based variations of stages that don't end up seeming too samey between each other.

...also, there's the issue of having to have 4 separate tracks of music for each zone.

...and figuring out a decent way to switch between 4 different seasons with ease and convenience.

...

Honestly, I can see this as being a real hassle to pull off.

 

I definitely like your Seasons Idea! It would be unique, still follow the way that Sonic CD introduced with the time zones, and adds strategy!

Only issue is there would have to be 4 separate different layouts. 0.o

May I suggest something easier?

It would still follow the time zone format, but instead of fast forwarding/rewinding thousands of years...how about like 10 years each way?

The difference between this and Sonic CD is the change would most affect Sonic himself. This would happen instead of the zones layout being changed, Their look would still change based on the time chosen.

For instance in the past, Sonic would be younger, more agile, and smaller, allowing for entry into smaller areas. In the future, Sonic would be roboticized (as all lifeforms except Robotnik are) into Metal Sonic! He would be able to smash walls, make a force shield, and still have high speed maneuvers!

Just a thought.

 

I know a cycle but I'm keeping it to myself.

But it's not that unique, haha. Basically every sequel to a time travel game ever has used it.

 

WHY MUST YOU KEEP THIS A SECRET?

How about all three cycles used at once, Time Travel, Day/Night Cycle, and Seasons Cycle, to create 64 different variations of every act? *shot*

EDIT: Oh, alternate universes. duh.

 

Oh, this remembers me of that Banjo Kazooie "last" world, where you had 4 diferent seasons and you had to change the season to see how time pass and the changes you did in winter, afected the summer and so~

 

I can't say I'm a big fan of the idea of season changes. If the goal is to make it mandatory to switch time frames, then you need something more reliable than a future and past signposts.

With my idea of beating the boss in the past to save the future, you essentially have 3 difficulty levels and new ways of getting Chaos Emeralds. Although this doesn't make it mandatory to time travel, there are some bosses you might say "shit, that was too hard, next time I play I'll go back in time to make things easier"

My beef with Sonic CD was that saving the past still resulted in having to fight the same robotnik. There was no incentive to save the past.

 

For a second I had no idea why people were talking about season/time traveling untill I relized this wasn't your sonic 4 topic.....

Looking good so far, I actually was planning some kind of level on paper, sonic gets swallowed by a shark and he needs to make the shark throw up from the inside, and then you are playing the regular sea level, there are flowers in the foreground, broken/abandoned ship as some kind of hidden room with goodies, and ride on a dolphin tail/bounce from its water pipe thingy (the hole on its back) to get to the boss arena, a pirate ship.

I pretty much revealed what I was planning, feel free to use it, its not even in my hack yet.

 

I love your work most of the time, Stephen. However this just doesn't look good at all. Whether this is original art or not, it looks like a cut and paste job from another game that's obviously not Sonic or even anything like it. It looks like a cookie cutter, Chuck Rock type of game and we all know you can do much better than this!

 

This is a great idea, and will be more accesible to the people that don't want to switch Time Periods to destroy generators and such. If you had them planned anyway.

 

It doesn't really have that sonic feeling. As Jason said, it's like a generic look that you'd expect to see in games like puggsy, chuckrock and rolo.

It might be because of the tiered foreground. I don't think it's something I've seen in Sonic before, at least not like that. If you're going for underwater sea, have it more sandy, perhaps with some coral and starfish like you have done in the background. Of course I base that on the assumption that Sonic is already underwater (despite the lack of underwater palette on Sonic, it looks as if he is already underwater)

The sunken ship looks too intact to be a sunken ship. break it up more, make it more diffused and add more debris. After all, in the deep sea, you're not likely to see that much clarity in a sunken ship and it's not going to be that clean (add moss and coral to it) . Also add coral and more rocks to the background around the ground. The sea floor looks too level.

Just to give you an idea of what I mean about diffused look.

http://media.nowpublic.net/images//f1/0/f1...15b51da60a7.jpg
http://soulofamerica.com/soagalleries/caym...sunken_ship.jpg

Just to quickly add, it also looks like the boat is a rather small boat given the size of the planks on the side of it, which in turn makes it look like the boat is right up next to Sonic given its scale. I think you should add more planks to make it look larger and then implement some of the other suggestions and then hopefully it will start to fall in place.