Besides the aforementioned blending issue, Granite Zone is looking gorgeous. I recognize the rotating panel, lava and UFOs from the Sonic 1 Prototype, but is the rest of the artwork custom or is it from another source I'm spacing on (Rayman? Ristar)?
Every little artwork is custom. Even the Sonic 1 Prototype stuff are redone, yeah. You can check out the very talented lead artist of Sonic Overture here: http://picsandpixels.deviantart.com/
I want to see dat parallax with those background tiles. Thankfully you guys are aware of the blending.
Most of the artwork is completely custom. The only exceptions are the fundamental things, like Sonic, springs, or any recognizable existing sprites like Splats or the UFOs that were found in rom data, but even those things we've taken great care to modify and enhance for the game. PicsAndPixels is responsible for most of the artwork, with some additional work by me and Sly. I handle most of the colors and do some animation, such as the waterfalls and sunflowers. I've tweaked a few sprites, and I'll be making more graphics myself later on. Sly contributes with some sprites to help Pix, which she enhances. You can see examples of that in the Granite mockup with the pyramid and columns in the background.
Can I marry this games art? Please? Preeeetty please? This is all sorts of glorious 16 bit pixel perfection, I can't wait to see Granite Zone when it's completed. Edit: By the way, if I may ask, how will that yellow mock-up platform work? Is it going to be Sonic only being able to stand on it during specific frames, or one of those platforms you can only stand on for a second before it flips?
Not gonna spoil things about the stage, at least not yet. So much cool stuff is planned though that the mockup cannot possibly cover. As for graphics, expect some new things next time around.
I finally got around to playing this (Yes, I know, way too long) and I'm impressed. The art style is classy. Nice use of cool colours that contrast well with each other. It makes it pleasant to look at and there's a lot of detail everywhere. The badniks having fireworks in them is a nice touch and I love the "rival" scene with... I don't know his name but you know who I mean. The art change for Act 3 is very nice and changes the look enough without making it feel like a new zone, which is quite clever. The boss is brilliant. I love it; from the mannerisms of the Dr, to how it plays out. The layout could use a little tinkering with, however. In some places, the zone felt a little empty with me just running along with nothing in the way of badniks or even rings for quite a few seconds. I'm fine with this happening a few times overall but when it happens a few times per act (and as much as I love the look of the scenery), it doesn't feel right. The use of rings is sparse here and it feels more like a later level because of it, yet the difficulty doesn't match up. The other problem that I've found, that is also connected to this, is the lack of level specific gimmicks. You've got these swirly tunnels used quite a bit that are similar to the S tunnels from Sonic 1, but they are used way too often and you are in them for too long. You've explained above why this is the case, but are forgetting that the layout in Sonic 1 doesn't push you (subconsciously, anyway) through most of them whereas here, it does. Green Hill Zone had breakable walls and swinging platforms introduced in Act 2, and rotated spiked logs and "waterfall paths" introduced in Act 3. I just feel that the layout is something that is incredibly important to making a platform game work. You've got a very solid foundation here to work with, though. (The above is my opinion. I just wanted to offer some constructive criticism. Take it as you will.) I'm also loving the screenshots of the second Zone. The nods to the beta content and such really do help give this a touch of familiarity, while ensuring it's unique and I applaud you on your efforts so far.
Thanks DA. We've received a lot of similar criticisms about the stage, and it helps having a more in depth response like this. We actually have the same number of spiral tunnels as Green Hill has S tunnels, but as you said, they last longer and work a bit differently. One thing that Green Hill did that we didn't was distribute the tunnel sections vertically, which helped reduce their repetition across the level. In truth we could probably use at least one less of them anyway. There were actually some things we had to cut from the stage due to time and engine limitations, which left it a bit bare. All that is going to be implemented along with some level design adjustment based on the feedback.
Here's a badnik that will appear in Granite Zone. "Watch out for Frava! He can make trouble for you if you're not cautious when jumping over lava pits!"
Behold, an amazing secret hidden away in Sonic Overture that we have just now decided to reveal! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XsLbemfzqA
Well that is a very unique way to trigger it, who would have thought of doing that? Does the ROM need to be named Sonic and Knuckles?
I just tried it... Spoiler More accurately, I was dumb enough to try it. It didn't work. Oh well, any reason to play Overture again.
So that's what I was supposed to do? I was putting Bubsy ROM into that folder in a desperate attempt to play as him, oh well.
