3/14/2025: Demo released, https://gamejolt.com/games/sonicminus/987084 Sonic Minus is a 2d classic fangame that features 7 zones and a Story that prominently features Metal Sonic. ZONES: Vibrant Valley Frantic Freeway Relic Rush Chaos Caverns Winter Wonderland Sandy Springs Final (name unrevealed... what a mystery!) Story: The game takes place on Eastshore island, Eggman discovered that the center of the island holds a ton of Negative Energy so he wants to use that to make the Chaos Emeralds into Negative Emeralds. I'm currently looking for: Genesis-style composers, level designers, and sprite artists. (Not for characters) SCREENSHOTS: Spoiler: Screenshots It's made in Clickteam Fusion 2.5 with Not So Simple Sonic worlds, the the current iteration in development since 2023. GameJolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/sonicminus/987084 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7pwrf8gatWA67pcrNUGTHg Discord: https://discord.gg/mJpYRJjA9p
The level design looks pretty solid from what I've seen, but it's hard to truly judge levels without playing them. When are you planning to release a playable version?
A new patch has been released for the demo: + means added - means removed * means fixed = means changed + A boss with Metal Sonic + New music for the Credits and Frantic Freeway Act 1 by Robin Nerdington = Game now saves at beginning of acts, death, and end of acts = Time bonuses now use the Sonic 1 values - Manual Saving, saving at pause, saving at checkpoints * Credits are now skippable * Corkscrew animation used Sonic 3 sprites * Sonic appeared in the front of the first loop * Falling platform pieces appeared behind a building * Hopefully fixed title card font not working * No longer able to mid-air roll when you're in the dying or drowning state
I gotta say, the new music and skippable credits have definitely improved the experience. The boss is pretty neat too A few improvements I would like to see: - add a way to quickly restart the entire level, you could just add a button in the pause screen - pause the music while the extra life jingle is playing - this is just my opinion, but I feel like the timing on the crumbling blocks is a bit too tight, you don't really have any time to react
All three things you suggested were added, they will be available in the sage 2025 demo (that's pretty far now that i think about it. sorry!) Also, i'd like for more people to join the discord, it's pretty barren right now. https://discord.gg/mJpYRJjA9p
This game is now on hiatus. But don't worry, I will be working on something much bigger and better. I'll still work this every once in a while, but I'll be focusing more on that. That project is "Sonic Atlantic", a fangame made by time209. I'll be on the team as a level designer! Sonic Atlantic's discord: https://discord.gg/zns4CWra35
I really like Sonic's sprite set in this game, it's really well-animated and remarkably faithful to the original trilogy's Japanese box art. I like these sprites better than the Mania sprites, which just didn't look like the right shade of blue and didn't have good hands. Very nice!
I feel like the alignment for those walking sprites could be better cleaned up. They move around a bit too much. Also, not sure if those graphics for the Vibrant Valley are complete, but I hope you also have a background artist as well. Sea and clouds looping throughout the entire stage map with no vertical movement doesn't sound good. Finally, the level design here is pretty OK- I like how you leave enemies out of the speedy segments and leave them for platforming, a thing that even official Sonic devs didn't get right back in the day. Solid enough, but if you were to really make it more memorable, then... 1. you should try changing up the structure a bit. One thing all the best 2D Sonic games do to differentiate their levels are changes in the structures, loops, and general flow in order to make them stand out even amongst the level design. For a green zone, try giving the chunks of levels slightly (but not too much) erratic movement in order to better sell the natural look. Straight lines for level chunks works in a more mechanical area, but not in a green wonderland. 2. Add some gimmicks! Come up with some fun gameplay concepts on some spare time and try programming it in. It makes a world of difference and gives your level something fun to be remembered by. Even something as simple as like, say. the swirling tunnels in Sunrise Gate. More interesting examples can be the weird goop that changes properties and color when injected with a serum in Mania Chemical Plant Act 2. 3. As kind of an addendum to the last point, more new enemy designs for the levels would be a good start. Granted, I'm putting this last because I think this would require more of a general character/design artist and you only have a tile artist so far for this project- this isn't something you'll be able to do without more assistance. But if you get another character artist who can work on enemies, it would be great if you could add some more. Just some honest criticism from what I see from these videos. I hope the best for you & your project man. I could try contributing *some* music when I get more experienced with FM, heheh. Lazy bastard though, so don't hold me to it
