I'm not on top of SAGE as much as I used to be, but good things need more coverage: https://www.sonicfangameshq.com/forums/showcase/sonic-galactic-sage-2020-showcase-demo.799/ I know nothing about this project - I didn't even know the thing existed until yesterday, but it's nice to see something that doesn't just look like a resprayed Sonic Mania. Well done... people behind this!
This fangame was quite a nice surprise among this year's entries. It's probably my favorite 2D one, the spritework is incredible and the level design is solid. I'm equally surprised to see you posting about it - I didn't know you liked Sonic
I'm actually doing some of the art for this! (I'm listed as 'Death Egg' in the credits) Nothing of significance I've made made it into the demo unfortunately, unless you count the floating platforms, but I've helped out with a decent amount of level art in a couple other levels.
This has definitely been the standout Sonic fangame entry for me this year. It just looks so bloody good, it plays great and everything is on point for me.
I literally created a profile there just to comment on it, by far the project that impressed me the most at SAGE as a whole. As I said there, this project was in a direction I liked a lot - it really looks like a "progression" of classic games and not a revision of them. As they said themselves, they are taking a more "Saturn" approach with its art direction, and I totally feel that. It's the kind of direction I've always wanted to see the series taking, making sprites more detailed and closer to the characters' design. I became particularly a fan of Knuckles' sprite, I really love it sooooo much! In the rest, the game has a very solid design and visual as a whole (although the second act is significantly shorter than the first). If anything, the only really "bad/sad" thing I have to say on the project is that it has such a high quality, and sounds so ambitious that it ends up looking to me like another one of those incredible projects that will never be finished - which obviously, I hope to be wrong. Other than that, it's really amazing!
Maybe it's because it's early, but sprites are very inconsistent. Sonic and Tunnel have a very detailed shading, on Tunnel looking basically a prerendered sprite set, while Fang and mostly Knuckles have a really simple shading, especially Knux which looks really cartoony. Also, his head looks BIG on fast running stance and some others. Also happens in a minor scale to Tails. Other than that, the project looks awesome.
