Freedom Planet (v. 1.4)

[Strife]

Yeah, I really hope that the composer I find will be able to make something just as catchy.

Anyway, I've got a bit of a snag with one of my gimmicks for Relic Maze. If any MMF2 gurus can offer me advice, I would be eternally grateful.

[Strife]

After a month-long search and numerous e-mails and private messages, I think I've finally found the right music composer.

If any of you have been keeping tabs on Sonic 1 Megamix over at Sonic Retro, you might have heard how the project is getting

which is composed by Woofle and remastered by SonicTweaker. There's an 85% chance that the former will be able to help me out with Freedom Planet's tunes. I've got my fingers crossed!

[Strife]

Two excellent bits of news today! First of all, Woofle has agreed to help me compose the game's soundtrack, and he's working on remixing the Miniboss theme right now. He's also been kind enough not to charge me money for his services, since we're both playing equal parts in the creation of each song.

Second, I showed Ziyo Ling (the girl who made Sash Lilac) the beta video of Dragon Valley on DeviantArt, and she was completely thrilled! She was even kind enough to put it on the front of her DA page so that I could get some extra publicity. I took the opportunity to ask her if I could use some more of her Sonic OCs to balance out the hero/villain ratio.

Once I've got some more plot details sorted out and I've fleshed out each character's personality, I'm going to try and recruit a few voice actors to provide soundclips. Nothing big as of yet - just some attack/hit sounds and such. (Though I have fantasized about Sonic BtS styled cutscenes... xD; )

[VirtAnderson]

If there are any younger characters, I might be able to do some voice acting. My voice is higher, so I sound like a littler kid. If you have any of those kinds of characters, I'd be glad to help.

[LakeFeperd]

(Though I have fantasized about Sonic BtS styled cutscenes... xD; )

haha =P

anyway, that's a nice looking stage strife

there is just one thing that seem a little off, it's those chinese/japanese red things in the second act.

and, hey, nice way you found to teach the player that the logs can fall to open a new path, i would never thought of that.

EDIT: hey strife, do you mind if i copy the animation style you did for the springs in my new fan game?? i mean, the more faster you are, the faster the animation plays

just couldnt resist

[Strife]

I'll keep that in mind, Virt. Thanks!

haha =P

anyway, that's a nice looking stage strife

there is just one thing that seem a little off, it's those chinese/japanese red things in the second act.

and, hey, nice way you found to teach the player that the logs can fall to open a new path, i would never thought of that.

EDIT: hey strife, do you mind if i copy the animation style you did for the springs in my new fan game?? i mean, the more faster you are, the faster the animation plays

just couldnt resist

True. I wanted to do a better job at drawing them... Maybe they'll fit better if I change their color?

Of course you can copy the animation style! It's not like I own a patent or anything. xD I'm actually surprised that nobody's thought of it since its use in Ristar.

[LakeFeperd]

True. I wanted to do a better job at drawing them... Maybe they'll fit better if I change their color?

Of course you can copy the animation style! It's not like I own a patent or anything. xD I'm actually surprised that nobody's thought of it since its use in Ristar.

umm.... well, it's seem like it is floating and too 2D

you could make the pattern variate e bit more, maybe some kanji there? i dunno

also, it does not seem to be in the right place for some reason

but the colors are fine the way they are

well, it's kinda hard for me to explain things in english so... it's kinda better just to show an image

just for some inspiration

[FanGameRevolver]

Two excellent bits of news today! [...]

Great news, I can't wait to see what comes out of that.

Do you have a link to this persons DA, Just for curiosities sake?

[Strife]

Lake - Ah, okay, that makes sense to me. ^^ I'll see what I can do.

FGR - It's in the first post under Current Changes, but here it is again for convenience's sake.

[Strife]

I touched up Lilac's concept art a bit and drew two of the newest characters, courtesy of Ziyo Ling. The one in the middle is Carol, a wildcat. The one on the right is Milla, a basset hound (from what I can gather, at least). This should hopefully balance out the hero/villain ratio a bit. xD Once I've come up with a male hero and a female villain, then I think I'll have all of the dramatis personae I need for the plot.

[Hybrid35]

You don't know how much I love you right now...

[Strife]

<3

I've got a second composer on the music team now - Blue Warrior from the VGMusic forums. He has a Youtube channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CobaltBW

I've always loved the triumphant feel of his original songs, and I think he'll be a big help with the game's melodies. Blue and I will be the MIDI composers, while Woofle will finalize and remaster them in his style.

As the days pass, I notice more and more people expressing interest in the project, which is pretty cool. And since I'll be looking for voice actors in the future, I think it's safe to say that this is going to evolve into a team effort.

[Falk]

Pretty sick choices. Can't wait to hear what you guys cook up.

[Kessler12]

I was just looking up that guy the other day and was thinking if I should use his "File Select" for the collab. XD

[Goshi68]

Voice Actors, huh?

I have some talent in theatre/acting/voice-morph/whatever, so if I get a decent mic, I may give it a shot, Strife. But that's your call.

(Hopefully I'll be able to start doing that soon enough. I still have plenty of cash left over from Christmas and my Birthday is on the 19th...)

But, yeah, best of luck with this project, Strife. I'll even wish you a happy new year since I'm here right now.

[Sotsug]

Where's the WATER LEVEL??? Ç_Ç

[Strife]

I'll keep you in mind, Goshi. It may still be a while before I start recruiting, but in the meantime, it would be helpful if anyone who's interested would present some sort of demo track of the different kinds of voices they can pull off.

Where's the WATER LEVEL??? Ç_Ç

Dragon Valley, Battle Glacier, and Thermal Base all have water in them, but at this point there isn't a level that's completely dedicated to underwater pathways.

It would seem that the project is getting quite a bit of attention over at sonic-world.ru. The website is Russian, so I only have a vague idea of what exactly they're saying, but it seems generally positive aside from a few nitpicks about how the characters are drawn.

[Duckboy]

So I watched the video, and it looks really nice. The artwork is great, and it looks like it's a solid platformer with good level design. Based on the video anyway.

My only thing is, I can't help but feel you're limiting yourself by tethering it to the Sonic universe. Especially since Sonic isn't actually in it, I think you could have a real good original platformer. Your characters all look unique enough, with I guess the exception of the purple girl having spikes on her head. The other two don't really look like they belong in Sonic. If you replaced some things: Their running animation to not look so Sonic-y, change the rings to something else, change the springs to something more unique, change the item boxes, etc. Things like that. I think if you change a few things you could change it to a Sonic fangame with fancharacters to your own awesome original thing.

[Strife]

I agree with you there, Duckboy. I'm actually not tethering it to Sonic on purpose - the main reason that elements of Sonic are still in the game is because I haven't thought of a better alternative for them, and I'm definitely open to changing them in the future.

Running/spinning animations: They could stay, I think. Jazz Jackrabbit got away with it, afterall.

Item boxes: I could try making them levitate instead of staying on the ground, but would that make them too similar to the Advance series?

Rings: I've been thinking about swapping them out for a while now, but I'm not sure what form they should take. I'm learning towards rose pedals, feathers, or hearts - something that the robotic enemies would justifiably be unable to use while still offering protection to the player.

Springs: I'm kinda stuck here, to be honest. xD;

Goalpost: I've already changed it to something a bit more unique than the Robotnik signpost, at least graphically. Functionally, it's the same.

[Cstyler]

It would seem that the project is getting quite a bit of attention over at sonic-world.ru. The website is Russian, so I only have a vague idea of what exactly they're saying, but it seems generally positive aside from a few nitpicks about how the characters are drawn.

They all think those characters are too kawaii (so do I!). By the way, they thought you're a girl.

I personally like Milla the most. <3

And if you're interested, I've started posting news about your project here not so long ago:

http://vk.com/feed?q=%23freedomplanet&section=search

[Strife]

Ah, okay. Kawaii was definitely the look I was aiming for (which is why I picked them to begin with), so I'll take that as a compliment. Also, I don't blame them - the game is turning out to be more feminine than usual Sonic games, afterall.

Also, thanks for the publicity. I take it that VK is the Russian equivalent to Facebook?

Act 1's background is now complete. I've also finished the Wood, Earth, and Water shields (Wood is shown in the screenshots). Since I don't plan on adding bottomless pits to the game, I'll have to make another perk for Wood.

My idea with the shields is that they could be summoned in Adventure Fields with the round keystones that robots drop when they explode. I'm still a little fuzzy on how I'll handle it as this point, though.

[NeKit]

It would seem that the project is getting quite a bit of attention over at sonic-world.ru. The website is Russian, so I only have a vague idea of what exactly they're saying, but it seems generally positive aside from a few nitpicks about how the characters are drawn.

Actually, you're pretty famous here already. We are following your progress at Sonic SCANF too.

Nice job. It's rare something completely original, but with the gameplay elements we all know and love. And as it was said before, the characters look great.

[Falk]

the game is turning out to be more feminine than usual Sonic games, afterall.

I draw your attention to MLP...

[P3DR0]

I draw your attention to MLP...

>feminine

>MLP

Does not computate. MLP is the manliest thing ever.

Also, looking good Strife, I would just punch these color values a little bit. Since the sun is setting the ambient should be a little bit more warm and darker.

[Strife]

That's true. MLP Syndrome all the way!

Actually, you're pretty famous here already. We are following your progress at Sonic SCANF too.

Nice job. It's rare something completely original, but with the gameplay elements we all know and love. And as it was said before, the characters look great.

Two forums! That's pretty awesome. I enjoyed reading through all the comments via Google Translate. x3 Thank you!

For those who didn't notice, I updated the logo with all of the characters I've drawn so far. The final "poster" will have two more villains and two more heroes, and that should be about it.