Edit: A lot has changed since this first post, so it's pretty outdated. The prototype can be played here: https://arvigames.itch.io/shadowrecollection Old post: ________________________________________________________________________ Welcome to my fan game. As the title says, it's a 2D Shadow the Hedgehog game. This is the first time I've ever shared anything about it, so I'm going to answer some questions you may be having. Is there a demo? No, the game, if you can even call it that, is currently brutally unfinished. I have practically created the bare minimum required to make a little preview. The physics are unfinished, Shadow can't even turn to the left, but the basics are there and making it playable wouldn't take too long if I continue development. This is the main reason why I'm posting this to begin with. I'm not sure whether this is something people want right now, but I will gladly continue making this game if I see some people actually wanting to see the finished product. Also, the name is probably only temporary. I just didn't want to include "Shadow" in the title because I don't feel like it is worthy of having his name yet. It's a joke title, but it's not supposed to be a joke game. If I ever reached the point of working on anything story-related, I would want to respect Shadow as a character. Here's the preview: How do you play the game? Controls: I have made the game with mouse and keyboard controls in mind. You currently use A&D to walk, mouse to aim/shoot and Shift to enter "walk mode" (because adding a run button would be ridiculous, as you would be running/skating most of the game anyway). Eventually I would also need a button for special attacks, like Chaos Blast, and I might add a spindash, but whether the game actually needs that or not is up for debate. Controller support would be added later, but I feel like the input layout would be pretty self-explanatory. Gameplay: As far as the gameplay goes, you would basically run around like you do in the classic games except now you have the added mechanics of the chaos abilities as well as the many different types of guns you can use to damage enemies/bosses or activate things. Some areas might temporarily lock you until you kill all the enemies or have an elevator type gimmick where the "walk" button would come in handy because you wouldn't be sliding all over the place with the acceleration of skating. (Originally, I wanted to make an isometric Sonic game, but the year of Shadow inspired me to make an isometric Shadow game. I quickly realized that I had very few Shadow games to actually get ideas from, so I stepped back and decided to give Shadow a 2D game. This doesn't mean that the game can't also have isometric parts, but I don't want to spoil too much, in case I actually do continue development.) Would the finished game look like the preview? Kinda. As far as the graphics go, most of what you see are placeholders. Westopolis, which is what this is supposed to be, looks nothing like the actual Westopolis, it's not even remotely destroyed. I also didn't go all out while making the background and foreground, so you can expect them to look much nicer (and more accurate) when the time comes to actually make them. On the other hand, Shadow looks almost exactly as I had him in mind. Obviously, a lot of animations are missing and the ones I have made could use some tweaking, but The pixel art style of the original genesis games is way above my level and I could never hope to achieve that level of shading. But who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind in the future and add some shading to the sprites. What about the audio? I'm not really a sound designer, so I'm probably going to borrow a lot of sound effects. As for the music, I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's going to be remakes of the original soundtrack made to fit the 2D gameplay, if that makes any sense. The preview has a very bare-bones (and unfinished) version of what I mean. The original Westopolis soundtrack simply wouldn't fit. However, I'm not limiting myself to genesis instruments. Will the story be different? This is the part I'm least sure about. I'm definitely ditching the whole choose-your-own-adventure thing the original game had going on. It just doesn't make sense for the story to be so wildly inconsistent. This means the game will either have every stage of the original, played one after another in a certain order, or I can try to put together an "optimal" path with a story that makes sense that features the most beloved levels of the original. What this means for the gameplay is that every stage would have you either fighting the aliens, the soldiers, or you would have a neutral level (I'm not sure what this would be like, you could either fight both sides at once or both the soldiers and the aliens could be treated as obstacles that you need to move around). I also haven't decided on whether you would still have other characters fighting alongside you like in the original. That's all I have to say for now. If you have any questions/suggestions/ideas, then please don't hesitate to share them!
SMALL UPDATE I sadly haven't had a lot of time to work on the game, but I've managed to put together a tiny prototype for anyone who wants to try it out. prototype: https://arvigames.itch.io/owtheedge (There's also a Windows download because the web build tends to be very laggy) controls: WASD + Spacebar + Mouse CHANGES I've decided to replace the whole gun thing with Shadow's Chaos Snap ability. To use it you simply aim at a close enough object/enemy and then attack. I personally find this to be more fun, but I also haven't completely ditched the shooting mechanic yet. The prototype doesn't include any curved surfaces because I haven't finished the physics yet. Expect the next update in about a month. FUTURE PLANS - adding slope physics - spindash - Westopolis (either the full level or part of it) - some polish
UPDATE Here's the update as promised. It currently only has the beginning of what should become Westopolis Act 1. Edit: The low quality version has been uploaded as a web build https://arvigames.itch.io/owtheedge controls: WASD + Spacebar + Mouse Some notes: - the physics system might occassionally break because there are still some bugs left - the low quality version only exists because I haven't implemented an options menu yet - technically you could play with a controller, but I can't guarantee that it will work and even if it does, the aiming is really janky at the moment FUTURE PLANS I don't really have any huge plans for the next update. The game already has a foundation, so now it's all about expanding and adding polish. Ideally, the next update will have the following: - the entire Westopolis Act 1 with completed visuals and sound - a demo of another stage or two
UPDATE Alright, so, this may be kind of a small update, but it lays the foundation for some pretty big things down the line. This update adds a combat move for Shadow and includes playable test areas for both Rouge and E-123 Omega. As always, you can play the low quality version on your browser. Here’s the link: https://arvigames.itch.io/shadowrecollection (I recommend reading the character movesets I’ve written in this post) Controller support seems to be limited to the downloadable version, as it didn’t work on the browser version for me, but the general jankiness of using the analog sticks is gone (for the enemies at least, the orbs still need some work) and now the game is much more forgiving with the aiming. In case you do use a controller and it’s detected successfully: - the right stick is used for aiming - the right trigger is used for each character’s special attack - alternatively, the left trigger can be used for jumping while you have your thumb on the right stick Here’s what each character does: SHADOW Chaos Snap: - when used on an orb / solid object, you teleport to it and your speed increases based on the direction you teleported in. If you hold jump while doing so, your speed remains the same but you get an upward boost - when used on an enemy, you teleport to the enemy and as long as you keep holding the attack button you can aim where you want to throw them. Throwing them in a certain direction gives you a boost in the opposite direction, damaging the enemy (some enemies can be found at the end of Westopolis act 1 if you want to try it out) Currently, nothing can hurt you, but the enemies will attack you in the future and Shadow will also take damage or bounce off if you teleport right into an enemy’s weapon or Shield. ROUGE Flight: - if you jump in midair, you enter flight mode. Rouge loses some of her speed, but accelerates in the direction you’re aiming in for a short period of time. You can gain some immense speed when flying down. You can only fly once, meaning that if you stop flying, you have to land and jump before being able to fly again. It’s advisable to stop flying before you get tired or Rouge will start falling Dash Kick: - using the attack button in midair lets you dash in the direction you’re aiming in. This stops your flight and puts Rouge in her falling state unless you hit the ground or an enemy. If you manage to hit an enemy, you don’t enter the fall state and can immediately fly again. While falling, you lose complete control over Rouge and have to wait a bit, even after landing on the ground, before you can control her again. You can’t jump or roll in this state OMEGA Fire: - using his iconic arm cannons, Omega can fire in any direction you want. He only fires basic bullets as of now, but I do intend to give him more types of ammo. Also, he will definitely talk in the future Glide Shot: - If you shoot straight down while in midair, you can simulate gliding. This isn’t tied to any recoil physics and is simply a scripted mechanic. This can be done whenever you want to, as every bullet sets your vertical speed to 0 Omega can also double jump. He does this using his jet boosters, though there is currently no animation to show that. ______________________________________________________ That’s pretty much it for this update. I really hope the first act of Westopolis doesn't take too long to make because the second act is where the real game with all the gimmicks and minigames starts.
This is great! I love all the mechanics you keep experimenting with here. I'll definitely keep checking in on this to see where it goes. Omega in particular feels interesting to play. And the automatic camera zoom-in/zoom-out seems like it'll add a lot of opportunities for interesting level design choices
Thank you so much for your very kind words! I’m glad you found Omega interesting, he does stand out by practically turning the game into a Sonic run and gun. I plan to keep development pretty transparent and am always open to any ideas or wishes anyone might have, as long as it’s not completely outrageous. For example, I’m currently still working on the first Act of Westopolis, which is a Shadow stage, but if you’re more excited for Omega, I could try to include more of him in the next update, give him more of an actual level and maybe even some animations. As for a release date, expect the next update in about 2 weeks.
I like both Shadow and Omega. Their mechanics can both be satisfying to use with the right level design. I wonder if Omega could be improved if you make it more recoil-based. Or you could make it pseudo-recoil-based by setting the directional velocity to zero (in the direction you fired from) while adding new velocity. as I was writing this I realized it's difficult to explain, so here's a sketch of what I mean by pseudo-recoil. g is the velocity from gravity, f is the direction Omega fires his cannons, then -f (negative f) is the "recoil" so Omega's new velocity becomes g' (g prime). though vertical velocity still always becomes 0, so it's not actual recoil. You could adjust f to be any size so that the mechanic is not overpowered. Idk, it's just a thought, may not actually be a good idea so don't take it too seriously. Of course, I'm looking forward to Shadow's stages as well, and I hope to see some creative level design implementation. I'd especially like to see level design that encourages you to chaos snap enemies.
That is definitely an interesting idea. I hadn’t really considered adding actual recoil, but I’ll see what I can do with your suggestion. The main problem with implementing it is that I kind of want flight to remain something exclusive to Rouge, which means that the player shouldn't be able to gain enough vertical recoil To begin ascending. of course, this can always change, so I’m just going to take my time to experiment with it and see what works. I plan for Omega to have many different weapons to use, so there’s a lot of fun to be had with different amounts of recoil there. It won’t be in the next update though cause I don't want to delay it further.
UPDATE Alright, Westopolis act 1 is practically finished! It might be a bit different from what you would expect out of the first level, since it doesn’t take place in the city, but I thought that it would be a pretty neat idea to have the first level be Shadow making his way to it. It’s currently not playable because the game is still very buggy and needs an overhaul. To be perfectly honest, releasing playable builds every month is becoming a bit stressful and takes up a lot of time that I would rather be spending on adding actual content to the game. I’ll definitely release a big update in the near future, but for now, I will stick to videos so I don’t burn myself out. With that said, here’s gameplay footage of the level: FUTURE PLANS Throwback Levels: Before I can begin working on future levels, there are still a bunch of stuff that need to be set up, so the next update won’t include any original levels. However, this doesn’t mean that no new levels will be added, only no new original ones (Shadow 05 levels), and this is where I would really appreciate your input: The game will have unlockable minigames for each character. For Shadow’s solo levels, the minigames would be stages from previous 2d Sonic games. I think this is finally a good excuse to make a poll, so that’s what I’m doing. I have looked at most levels from the 2d games and made a list of the ones I’m willing to remake. If the stage you wanted isn’t on the list, it’s probably because it’s either already remade / being remade by someone else, or because I just don’t really like it that much and am not ready to spend hours working on it. It also seems like the polls are limited to 10 responses, so I had to cut a lot of levels out and this resulted in only 1 classic level being on the list. I think I can make 1 or maybe 2 of those throwback stages for the next update. Hopefully they’ll also help me develop a better understanding of Sonic’s level design to better prepare me for the future of this game. Excited to see what the results will be! Next update: Like I said, there is a whole lot that needs to be worked on in this game. Westopolis Act 1 is far from perfect, but I think I’m going to leave it the way it is for a while. At least until I’m sure that I have the skills to go back and refine it. Here are some things I actually want to get done for the next update: - physics overhaul: the physics system is not reliable and you can even see it break at times in the preview - character animations: Rouge and Omega need to be animated before I start working on their levels. If I have some time left, I might also start improving Shadow’s animations and give him more personality, cause at the moment he literally only has 1 head sprite. - presentation: mostly the title screen. - minigames: I already mentioned Shadow’s solo minigames, but I might also start working on other ones That’s it for now, See you next update.
