Zone 01 : "The Mandatory Green Level"

Is this artwork taken from Sonic CD?

 

No.

 

No...

It's (mostly) mine. Drawn pixel by pixel from scratch. Though there are parts of it that I am unhappy with.

 

I think he asked because it appears very similar to existing Sonic CD art in style. This isn't bad for a hack, but it could pose some potential confusion in this particular game. I was experiencing the same confusing when I played through the first level of Sonic Nexus, but I received various assurances that the graphics were, indeed, not nicked from Palmtree Panic. Fair enough.

I'm trying to think here... see, while each concurrent Sonic game had similar motifs, the levels as a whole always looked different. I'm concerned here because the level as a whole is extremely remenicient of Sonic CD, and not is sort of lacking its "own" feel (if that makes any sense). I think it might be worth it to try and add some variety to the background so it isn't just the whole generic "ocean with islands in the back." I know it's classic Sonic design, but it also doesn't feel like it's totally its own level yet.

 

Perhaps the island could show a little of the level that might be located there. (I know that the island not in the background is the area the game takes place, but maybe it could have a smaller island which is home to only one Zone.)

 

By the way, here is the current work in progress tile set and also the background seperated into pieces. Posting these just incase someone wants to help with this zone. Remember, this is not final...far from it actually.

Also, before anyone asks, YES, it is using the hexagon design from my hack. It's my own original work so I don't see why people seem to have such a problem with this. MHZ in S&K used a similar abstract ground pattern, and also it would be difficult to change it this far in the levels development.





(Note: I did not include parts of the background that I didn't draw, because I don't have that separated into pieces I think.)

 

Well, I have a problem with the hexagon design because it's not particularly interesting. Try and think of the detail that Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 had in their ground patterns—even with a bunch of square blocks, they still appeared quite detailed and cleanly shapen. I think the ground needs some sort of texture to it to make it feel a bit more like it's actually ground. One way to help this might be to do some darker shades on the outermost bits of the hexagon, so it appears the shapes are either protruding or engraved into the ground. This way, it looks more detailed, makes a tad bit more sense (and yes, I know Sonic doesn't have to make sense, but whatever), and is a bit more original in direct comparison to your hack.

It's just a suggestion, mind, but I think it's worth trying out. If I were anywhere near as good at pixel art as I'd like to be, then I'd try it myself.

 

I think that this zone should be a primer for the entire game, but not contain anything radically 'new' to the Sonic series. It would basically introduce the game like Sonic 2 and 3&K did, nothing too new, so we don't just start shoving concepts into peoples faces like a kid showing his mother his newest drawing. I don't know if this has been mentioned before in the original threads or on the older fourms (too lazy to read all of that, and too much new stuff would arise by the time I finished), but it's a way to start the Project: Sonic Retro (we also need to come up with an abbreviation for the project, something like P:SR or PR, something simple and easy to type out and understand among the community).

 

I agree with Guess Who on the concept of the level. The first time I saw the level art, I felt like it was something that came straight form another Sonic game. I didn't see anything particularly new with the design. We could, of course, keep it similar to the first levels but the art could go in a different direction.

Hell, it doesn't have to be tropical, it could be a temperate deciduous forest or some other kind of forest. But since this is a tropical zone, we could stick it somewhere like a tropical rain forest close to a beach but not too close. So, we could add in a more mountain like feel to the level that adds depth to where it is. Ergo, the BG could be something like a mountain peak jutting out from a fuckton of trees. We could even make it blue, in reference to the blue mountain zone.

 

I agree that the tiles could use a slight more definition but other then that I think its great as it is.
The main thing that will give character to the level is the objects and badniks populating it, im not sure if comparisons can be made just yet from only the floor and grass. Some plants in the foreground of the current tiles would make a world of differance without the trouble of changing everything

 

Did somebody say texture?

I also have to agree with Guess Who - this is "the Sonic sequel", isn't it? Perhaps we should do something other than just straight up tiles - get a little random with it like AIZ, maybe.

 

These backgrounds look too 'clean' to me.
If you look from Green Hill, to Emerald Hill, to Angel Island, they each get more rough and more detailed, especially when it comes to Angel Island Zone. These backgrounds right now seem too clean and tidy for me, they do look like a Sonic CD 2 kind of background.
But with this opinion, I am stuck as to how to rectify this. Maybe just make the colors, background cliffs more detailed in a Green Grove kind of way.

 

<!--quoteo(post=243359:date=Nov 9 2008, 09:28 PM:name=PC2)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PC2 @ Nov 9 2008, 09:28 PM)
I also have to agree with Guess Who - this is "the Sonic sequel", isn't it? Perhaps we should do something other than just straight up tiles - get a little random with it like AIZ, maybe.[/quote]
Much better! I think the darker bits of the pattern could use some edits to seem a bit more in the ground, but I like that a lot.

It might also be beneficial if the shapes were directly connected instead of popping out of the ground, but that's just personal taste.

 

Well, I think the main issue for me is that it's just a very bland brown. I'd like it to be a little bit more colorful, like what they did in Chaotix.

 

Hey, just throwing a name for the zone out there, but, how does "Crystal Lake Zone" sound? I'd like to see that name in a hack, but I don't have any skills with that whatsoever =P

 

It's supposed to be more of a beach/island level... the name should be more to that theme.
How about Sunny Shoreline... Zone?

 

First of all, I must say that adding a bit of texture to the tiles makes them look amazing! Now that I've seen that image all of the old ones look bland in comparison.

Secondly, I think the main reason people assume the background is from Sonic CD is those mountains. They are shaped very similarly to the mountains in the background of Palmtree Panic Zone!
My suggestion would be to redraw them to be more rough-looking; outside of video games I have never seen mountains with sides that are that smooth.

 

Maybe it's just me, but the new style is playing tricks with my eyes or something here. It feels like I'm looking at a pasted jpg quality picture. Ingame that wouldn't look too great to me..

One thing the background needs is to get rid of that obvious reference to Sonic CD. If you recall all the Genesis games, they kept improving on the idea of the first level. The Sonic 1 and CD BGs combined kinda fit under where it's at now. After Sonic 3 they improved the idea by making it a jungle, then in S&K it was a forest. Afterwards there Sonic Adventure and Sonic Advance both had the Beach concept, which even carried over in Heroes. There's not anything new I can think of but a newer concept should be developed. This is just going backwards really..

And I for one am still personally against this level even being in here. It's already been in Rika's old hack and it's got rather old enough, regardless of how much more updated this is proposed to be form the original. It may be beating a dead horse, but I'm curious how many others think the same. Not that it's likely to change the opinion of the people in charge either way.