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Sonic Incursion (RELEASED)

Discussion in 'Fangaming Discussion' started by Ell678, Apr 20, 2014.

  1. Ell678

    Ell678

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    Sonic Incursion
    Hi all, I'd like to present the fangame I have been working on over the last few months, called Sonic the Hedgehog: Incursion. It is a full 2D Sonic game made in UDK, made possible by the SGDK codebase by Xaklse. I started work on this in July last year. So far, the first zone is fully playable, as is the second, and progress is being made on the third and fourth. In addition to having two acts per zone, ala Sonic 2 /3, each level has a third act that has a gimmick, or has slightly different goals. For example, the first zone has a chase on a surfboard, requiring the player to jump over obstacles and enemies, reminiscent of Sky Chase Zone. The second zone has a small exploration puzzle, and so on. There is a story, of course, I am just not ready to talk about it yet. It will be kept to a minimum in game though.

    The main purpose behind this reveal is to get help. I had intended to get more work done before I revealed the project here, but I keep hitting snags. If you can help in these areas -

    Modelling / animation
    UI / Menus
    Programming

    Or in any other field then please let me know, I'l take all the help I can get!


    Videos

    [youtube]

    [youtube]

    Here is a download link for the demo.

    Credits
    Sonic Team / Sega for all things Sonic
    Epic Games for UDK
    Xaklse for SGDK
    Red 6095 for the Ristar "Planet Flora" remix
    My New Soundtrack for the Sonic 3 Boss remix
     
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2020
  2. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    Working on my art!
    Something looks... off. I can't quite put my finger on it but it just seems a bit rigid in the foreground and it has a lot of detail in the background. That or maybe the camera seems too low. I can't tell. Great start either way though.

    lol California Girls.

    EDIT: I know what it is. With only the ground and no foreground below it it looks kind of funny. It'd be like if Green Hill Zone you only saw the grass and not the checkered pattern below it.
     
  3. winterhell

    winterhell

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    This is unplayable. Many gameplay bugs. Air control is very hard.

    Do you expect people to play with WASD AND left control or the mouse left? Its good that at least there is gamepad support.
    As for the camera, you might want to tilt it slightly downwards and move it a bit up. Currently it looks like its facing straight ahead on the Z axis.
     
  4. Ell678

    Ell678

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    Sonic Incursion
    I've never had any issues with air control - but I play with a 360 pad, which SGDK has native support for. I hardly think it's unplayable.
     
  5. Falk

    Falk

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    I think I can pin it down to two things:

    1) As mentioned, the ground extends a little too far towards the camera. Most 2.5D games (not just Sonic) manufacture reasons to 'cut away' the foreground to distance things from the camera.

    2) Camera follows Sonic too rigidly. He shouldn't be stuck dead center of the screen. The screen should 'catch up' organically to Sonic's movement, and then when Sonic goes past a certain velocity threshold, it should 'look ahead' to give more of a view of upcoming obstacles, etc.
     
  6. Dashtube

    Dashtube

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    Sonic Exodus
    Just uploaded a playthrough of the entire demo. My main gripe is that Sonic's air control could use some work and maybe bringing some features back like the stomp which I think would have been useful in alot of situations. Aside from that though, this is shaping up to be a really great fangame, and it this pace it might just become the first full 2.D Sonic fangame.
     
  7. Ell678

    Ell678

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    Sonic Incursion
    Thanks for the feedback so far guys, it's given me things to think about.
     
  8. My list :)/>
    1. Enemies that hover on ground are too fast.
    2. Boss should need less hits to beat or change the behaviour after some.
    3. The rolling animation doesn't look good, did you try to check the "Disable Scripted Roll" option?
    4. Something is wrong with air control, did you change it?
    5. Camera should show more stuff, make sure that it's affected by Sonic velocity.
    6. Ziplines should be faster.
    7. Fireworks for daytime?
    8. Thin platforms need another model.
    9. Sea is blinding.
     
  9. Ell678

    Ell678

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    Sonic Incursion
    I'm not quite sure what has happened with the air control, considering I hadn't changed it from the defaults. I think it does actually feel different to other levels in the game but I can't put my finger on it. I'l look into it further.

    As for the camera, I had deliberatly made it tight to emulate the Megadrive games but it doesn't seem very popular. I have since replaced it with a camera that is slightly affected by Sonic's movement. In faster areas, this does help greatly as you can see a little further. Thanks for the feedback!

    Edit: What do you guys think about the actual level layout? Bear in mind it is only the first level.
     
  10. Falk

    Falk

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqOlpQ7sepE

    Sonic never was 100% in the center of the camera 100% of the time in Sonic 1 either.
     
  11. Ell678

    Ell678

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    Sonic Incursion
    Here are a couple of shots of how the camera works now when you pick up speed.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Oh...and despite trying to be clever and original with the music, it doesn't seem to have worked, so I'l look into a replacement.
     
  12. TimmiT

    TimmiT

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    Wouldn't angling the camera like that make the platforming more imprecise?
     
  13. Ell678

    Ell678

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    Sonic Incursion
    It's not like that all the time. When the player isn't moving, or isn't moving quickly it is just how it was in the demo. Sonic is moving very fast in the bottom picture, so that angle is as severe as it can possibly get. It doesn't hamper the platforming at all :)
     
  14. Aerosol

    Aerosol

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    I think I'd have to see it in motion to make a better judgement on that.
     
  15. Ell678

    Ell678

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    Sonic Incursion
    Well, I played about with it some more. I have two options here, which one do you guys think is best? Obviously I'd rather get this right early on.

    Option 1.

    Option 2.
     
  16. Aerosol

    Aerosol

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    Sonic (?): Coming summer of 2055...?
    Option 1. No contest.
     
  17. 360

    360

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    Option 1. Option 2 is at a strange angle that makes it confusing to follow Sonic's movement. I'm surprised there's not more encouragement for this game on here. During the prime of Sonic fangaming something like this would have been considered amazing and godlike. You're doing some amazing work man. This looks very promising. I think ultimately all this project needs are some technical tweaks based on the feedback you've received here (which you're already doing looking at your most recent updates) and you could potentially have something fantastic here. Keep up the good work.
     
  18. Aerosol

    Aerosol

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    Well there's a couple reasons why this project hasn't garnered much attention. It's pretty much what happened with BlitzSonic.

    You're on the right track though, Ell. Just do something about that foreground. I recognize you've built alot of the level already and it'll be hard to change it all, but trust me when I say that doing so will go a LONG way to making your game look a ton better.
     
  19. Covarr

    Covarr

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    I like the idea, but I think it needs significant toning down. Four things I'd do:
    1. Increase Sonic's minimum horizontal speed before the camera starts rotating. As it is, it fluctuates a lot during heavy platforming segments, and can be really distracting. A speed threshold will help tone this down.
    2. Increase the minimum amount of time Sonic needs to be traveling at the minimum speed before the camera starts rotating (maybe half a second above the minimum or so). This buffer will prevent unnecessary camera jerks if the player can't maintain a high speed.
    3. Make the camera rotation itself more gradual. The angled camera itself isn't too bad, but if the player actively notices it changing, it can be distracting.
    4. Reduce the angle at maximum speed. Right now, it goes just a little bit too far.

    All in all, what you should be aiming for here is subtlety. It's okay to get fancy with cameras, but the player should only notice it if they're trying to. The camera's job is to support (and to a lesser extent enhance) the gameplay experience, not to show itself off. If the camera movement stands out too much, it draws attention away from the rest of the game rather than helping it, and therefore isn't properly doing its job.
     
  20. winterhell

    winterhell

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    I cant remember seeing a game with so much exaggerated crepuscular rays shadows. Do you yourself think they make the game prettier?