The Ideal 3D Sonic Game?

Loops do not work in 3D. They'd generally be faster to just run past from either side. In order to prevent the player from doing so, you'd either have to isolate the loop by placing walls or pits on either side of the player. Either that or you have this object in the middle of the playing field that serves no purpose other than to possibly illicit some nostalgia or something.

 

Or you could be a little less direct about making them better. What do game companies do when they want to 'suggest' something counter-intuitive? The same way racing designers convince you drifting is better than smart turning. They give you a rather significant speed boost. To make loops in a non-linear enviroment actually functional, you could make the successful completion of one give you a faster speed boost than spindashing or dash panels. OR you could add some sort of launcher at the end of the loop that takes you somewhere not available on the lower path.

 

I never said it was the best thing ever, I was merely using it (the Grassy level specifically) as an example of how a 3D Sonic sandbox may look like. Better level example Not Mine.

Again, not saying the controls, animations, objects, or anything else are perfect.


I don't really have such a strong desire to control Sonic on loops, as I do to have momentum and speed play be the deciders in whether or not you go all the way through it.

If used right they can increase your momentum.

 

I considered that as well. However, there'd have to be very large speed boost to actually make it faster than just bypassing the loop -- either that, or a very small loop. Perhaps if you put a super shoe item at the top of every loop, but that just really feels forced.

Using it as a launching point to higher areas is a pretty good idea, though.

 

As for the difficulty of controlling yourself on the loop, perhaps when you enter the loop the left and right movements become nullified until you exit the loop.

 

Well you know, corkscrew loops can still work in a 3D world. Since they tend to work as bridges, you can easily lead the player into one.

 

Loops could still be used as a gravity obstacle when going through a level, even an open one. In fact, why don't Sega just do it like they did with Sonic R? That game had it where there was at least some physics involved in your movement across it, and used invisible walls to block you from moving out of the loop (intentionally or unintentionally). Also in that game, they put in double-sided speedpads on the loops; which is something they should be doing instead of the cheap dashpanels they have nowadays. They didn't send you at instant top speed, but they did accelerate your speed, and not just that, but they also allowed you to go on them either forward OR backward, which allows for much more control. Maybe that could be the speed-boost mechanism you guys were talking about, while rolling can multiply that speed double-time when it comes in contact with the boostpad. Using the loop this way could allow you to use it to gain high speeds and reach a higher up area that would be difficult to reach without the help of the loop (that is, unless you've mastered taking advantage of rolling). :p

 

Or you could just find the room to get to a high enough speed to go around them without any help.

But say you take the high risk, high reward, high altitude path. Say that path has loops and the path is too narrow for you to bypass them without falling down to the lower part of the level. That's one way they could work without being a meaningless obstacle.

 

Sonic R's loops were generally more worth bypassing; rarely was it faster to go over a loop than across it. I suppose that there was the benefit of rings there, but Sonic R's really the only game that having that many rings really counts for anything.

I just feel that in trying to hard to get a player to go through the loop your faithfulness to the concept of the less-linear "sandbox" world becomes jeopardized.

 

Sonic Adventure 1 was pretty good- just throw in more diverse path choices, less Big the Cat-esque characters as forced characters to finish the final story (extra characters after you've completed the game is fine), WAY bigger adventure stages with way more stuff to do in them (C'mon, who WOULDN'T want to just run around like a maniac as Sonic with no strings attached in a huge, open city?), and I think it'd be amazing.

 

Cool Story Bro.

Loops can be placed in ways such that taking them allows you to reach places that ordinary routes don't lead to. Lake the Hill Top Zone loops, for example.

 

Thinking back to Hill Top Zones, I'm suddenly reminded of something interesting... you never get to be on top of the loops any more. Remember that? That was always neat.

 

That's why it may only really work in 3D as an obstacle on a more linear section of a sandbox level, a more linear section that you have to more carefully traverse. Like a narrow bride in the sky.

And Hill Top Zone loops are good examples of loops functioning in a non-useless way.

 

A lot of the loops in the 2D games actually were sort of meant to be punishing. It generally was faster to go over it if you could (baring a little speed trick involving jumping at the top and rolling), and you'd almost always find rewards at the tops of loops if you could get on them. There were some exceptions of course, particularly noting speed-porn areas like sections of Chemical plant and Starlight Zone, but for the most part, those were in the minority. Not number-wise of course... I mean, they'd spew loops everywhere in those types of areas and that throws the numbers off a little, but in terms of the amount of time you spend dealing with loops.