Lange's Supplemental Sonic Fangame Guide

[Guest Mr Lange]

I've been around the Sonic fangame scene for a long time. I've played a lot, and ever since the advent of Sonic Worlds and other accurate Sonic engines, I've noticed issues that are consistent with most fangames. As such, I'll be compiling a guide of these and things you can do. Adhering to these are by no means necessary, but I strongly recommend it for an optimal game.

There isn't much in this guide right now, but I'm sure I'll be making gradual amendments to it.

 

 

 

#1: Replace the default content!

 

 

It seems that with every Sonic engine made, the creators payed little attention to the assets used. This is understandable, the engine is just a framework and they're not obligated to ensure the best assets. They just slap together whatever is immediately available so the engine is running and you can clearly see all the features in action. The problem is that most people never bother to REPLACE most or all of these default assets, and so their fangames end up looking and sounding about as bad as the engine demo. From what I've seen, the worst offenders of this have been fangames using the Dash engine and Sonic GDK.

 

I made the Sonic Sounds Complete pack for a very good reason. For the longest time, which I'll never understand, sound rips from Sonic games have been incomplete and poor quality. Being the only available convenient sound rips, these terrible sounds have infected every Sonic engine since. Fortunately, we've just now started rectifying this with Sonic Worlds. The Sonic Sounds Complete pack is a perfect quality rip of sound effects from several major Sonic games along with some games that have never had proper rips.

As such, pay attention to the sounds in your game. I suggest you just replace them all with those from my sound pack, but at least be mindful of the low quality sounds that still plague fangames, and please replace the worst of them. As for graphics, default engines sometimes replace the original sprites or effects with much flashier versions or custom things. I suggest these are replaced as well. Either stick to the original games, or create something unique for your fangame. It's tiresome seeing the default engine visuals left over, it makes them generic and shows that little effort was put into the fundamentals of your fangame.

 

 

 

#2: Fix the ground roll jump lock!

 

This is a little specific, but it makes an important difference in the gameplay. In the original Genesis games, there is an annoying quirk in the mechanics that is believed to be a bug. If you are running and go into a ground roll, directional control is disabled. However, this carries over if you jump during this state, thus jumping from a ground roll works differently. You cannot control Sonic at all if he jumps out of a ground roll.

This may not seem like much at first, but it is a common action, and makes a big difference overall. This quirk provides nothing of value to the game in terms of gameplay, challenge, or balance, it only takes away. It just breaks consistency and adds a bit of frustration every time it happens. It is believed to be a bug because the code is missing a check and it was "fixed" in Sonic CD and the 8 bit games like Chaos and Triple Trouble. Additionally, if Sonic uses any double jump move in Sonic 3&K including the instashield, the check goes through and enables movement again.

 

The most frustrating occurrences of this bug happen if you go into a roll then jump towards an oncoming platform, clear it vertically, but can't move onto it forcing you to fall back down and redo the jump. This is made worse by the fact that a spindash counts as a ground roll.

 

 

As you can see, this gets even more bad when hazards are below, and the player can't do anything about it. The bug makes everything from platforming to enemy combos a huge pain. When fixed, the gameplay is a lot cleaner.

 

This quirk has been preserved in most engines for authenticity, but it is best changed for your own game. In Worlds, this is a simple procedure.

 

Open the groups to find the rolling group under common actions.

Under the rolling action group, you'll find the section regarding jumping during a roll. You'll find FlagAllowCommonInput there.

 

Change that from 0 to 1.

 

When it looks like this, the ground roll jump lock has been fixed.

 

I do not know where to change this in other engines, but I strongly suggest you find and fix it. It makes a solid improvement in the overall gameplay.

 

 

 

#3: Additional tips!

 

There are other details you should observe in Sonic games and apply them to your fangame. For example, the sounds used across the trilogy were not the same. The spring sound was changed in Sonic 3, this is often overlooked.

Sonic 1 and 2 spring: http://vocaroo.com/i/s10I3ZpjKbQh

Sonic 3&K spring: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0JP2dJL4BhG

The drowning music was modified in Sonic 3 as well, and other sounds were changed more subtly, such as the chaos emerald collect sound. You may want to examine details such as these to ensure the best fit for your fangame, or if you just have aesthetic preferences. Consider everything, such as the different designs for checkpoints and monitors.

 

It's fun swapping out sprites and making new stages and trying to add moves like the homing attack, but also think about the smaller things you can do to improve the core gameplay. One ability you may want to add is the midair roll, which gave the player a lot more flexibility in Sonic Triple Trouble and Sonic Megamix. This move allows Sonic to enter the spin state by pressing jump should he ever be in the air without already being in a spin, such as when launched from springs or walking off a ledge.

 

 

Each one of these has a different method attempting to balance it. In Triple Trouble the midair spin has a short lifespan, and in Megamix it dampens your upward momentum. These aren't necessary, but they could be applied to elements in the game such as making boss fights more challenging.

 

 

 

These are all optional things, but these details can make a lot of difference at the core and overall experience of the game. Please give these matters thought, as they can greatly enhance the quality of your fangames when applied well.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Mr Lange

[Serephim]

All i want to add to this topic are quirks concerning "modern" style sonic games.

 

 

-Dying isn't fun. It doesn't matter how many lives you start with. It's not challenging, it's just annoying.

 

-Going fast and then getting hit isn't fun. No, warning signs don't make it better. 

 

-No, the game did NOT give me enough time to react. Yes, it IS the designers fault.

 

-Going fast and then running off a cliff isn't fun. In fact running off a cliff isn't fun ever.

 

-Stop putting death pits in sonic games, for the love of god just stop it.

 

-Being able to accelerate from 0 to C at the press of a button is really stupid if you can't stop yourself equally as fast. (No, NO, dying is not a justification for allowing this.)

 

- You don't have to be moving 50 pixels a frame in order for the game to feel fast. Relative speed is just as great.

 

- But that doesn't mean he should handle like a rock when his boost is empty.

 

-QTE isn't fun, it never was and never will be. I'm playing Sonic, not fuckin mavis beacon. 

 

-The directional shooters from Unleashed were good only for challenge stages and usually aren't fun to interact with either. Especially if you're killing me with them. Stop killing me with dumb shit.

 

- The Super Peelout is useless. It was useless in Sonic CD, and it's useless everywhere else too. If you're going to add this, at least add a reason for using it.

 

- The boost was neat in Unleashed because you could see where you were going, which made it very visually simulating. Stop killing me with the boost.

 

 

 

 

tl;dr

 

stop killing me. If going fast makes me die more, then nothing about your sonic game is making sense.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Serephim

[Aerosol]

I'm seeing a lot of opinions in here, and for the most part I agree with the both of you. There are, however, these two points

 

Rolling jump lock

 

I'm a big fan of the rolling jump lock actually. The only problem I have with it is, because midair speed was capped in Sonic 1 (and 2 I believe), you could be rolling real fast, jump, and suddenly you're not moving as fast.

 

Why am I a fan of the rolling jump lock? Because it makes successful rolling jumps feel skillful as fuck. Besides that, giving the player an out with the Insta-Shield means that there's time to bail if you foresee your roll-jump not working out too well. Win-win in my book.

 

So I say keep the rolling jump lock, just make sure that your ground speed is carried over into your air speed.

 

Super Peel-Out is (not) useless

 

The hell it is. It allows you to get up to speed in a manner in which you can maintain that speed on ground that isn't downhill. Compare that with the spindash, where once you're up to speed you don't have much control unless you jump. If I perform a peel-out and notice a moment later that that is a terrible idea, I can stop a lot sooner. Not to mention I can jump without a lock (and I actually prefer having the lock in place).

 

The peel-out adds another level of easy-to-get, hard-to-master complexity to Sonic gameplay. It definitely is not useless.

[Candescence]

I don't get why people would design a 'modern' style game in the first place, especially in 2D. Even in 3D, Modern Sonic's gameplay is shallow as fuck, even with the improvements that came with Colours and Generations (Unleashed was just plain bad for at least half the game). I get that people like it, but boosting and quick-stepping isn't interesting by themselves, and the novelty of GOTTAGOFAST has long past and wrapped back around into mundane. If you're gonna try your hand at 'Modern Sonic', for pete's sake, try and make it not mostly shallow, try and do something interesting with it - all the games at SAGE with 'Modern Sonic' gameplay didn't even try to do that.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Candescence

[Aerosol]

The problem with these "modern style" fangames is that they don't realize their playing the worlds most stupid game of chinese whispers. Unleashed daytime was Sonic Rush in 3D and it worked well. But these fangames don't look at Sonic Rush for inspiration. They try to turn the Daytime gameplay 2D again and it just doesn't work out.

[InfinityAlex]

And that's why the Modern sections in Generations 3DS suck.

 

If there's one thing I want to say, it's implement a proper difficulty curve. YES, OVERBOUND, I AM LOOKING AT YOU!

 

I mean, look at every Classic Sonic game. Green Hill is probably the hardest first level, if only because of a couple of bottomless pits (which you have to go out of your way to find) and the spike bug. I mean, yeah, I consider Sonic 1 to be hard relative to Sonic 2, 3K and CD, but whatever.

 

Anyway, you can't tell that the game is getting more difficult, which is a good thing. I'm not saying that you should make the game a breeze; you should be trying to make the game gradually support the player less and less without completely letting go. For example, we've all played Emerald Hill before. It's easy, right? That's why it's the first level. After that you are thrown into Chemical Plant. You notice it's a little tougher, but no big deal; the only thing that's really gonna catch you out is that bottomless pit before and during the boss of Act 2. Now, this is perfectly fine difficulty transition. Now, say we go from Emerald Hill to Wing Fortress (I'm not using Metropolis because we all know that shit is cheap as fuck). Holy fuck this is hard. I mean, you may not think so, but imagine you're playing Sonic 2 for the first time; you've been whizzing through EHZ like the cool kid you are and you feel confident about it. Heck yeah, you just beat the boss! Time for the second Zone, Wing Fortress (this is an alternate reality where we all saw Wing Fortress after EHZ, so just roll with it, OK?)! So, after EHZ, you think you know what the game is about; speed, so you take that into Wing Fortress. Yeah, it doesn't work. You have to be skilled or go slow.

 

Thing is, though we don't notice it; the game is gradually slowing you down. Think about it; EHZ, super fast. CPZ, gotta watch out in some areas, ARZ, gotta watch the arrows and be careful to stay on the top path, etc. You get it? So yeah, if you're gonna make a Classic Sonic game, always pay attention to the difficulty curve. I may post another one of these rant-ish things later.

[OverbounD]

When I opened this thread I assumed it would be a guide given the name. These are more like Nitpicks that have unraveled into yet another attack on Modern Sonic.

[Guest Mr Lange]

Yeah I didn't want the thread to turn into that, I didn't even know it would happen. I was hoping if anything others would just have more detailed tips to add.

As for peel out, certainly wouldn't be useless if you gave it an advantage over spindash, which it already has. Charges up automatically, quickly, and gives you a lot more speed, and as Aerosol said, it lets you keep your speed. This is great for giving Sonic a unique ability.

I agree with most of what Serephim said, although I'm not that concerned with the modern style 2d fangames. Bottomless pits aren't bad, like everything else its about how they're used. They were not often used, but when they were, they were usually expertly placed in the Genesis games. They were also used in level context, such as Wing Fortress which makes sense because it's in the sky, or Oil Ocean which gave you sinking time before reaching the bottom, which made the death about drowning in oil instead of just being a bottomless pit.

 

So can this thread not be a debate about whether or not modern style 2d fangames are legitimate? Just advice on the fangames themselves please.

[Abominal Taz]

So can this thread not be a debate about whether or not modern style 2d fangames are legitimate? Just advice on the fangames themselves please.

Agreed.

 

Stick to the topic of the OP folks. If you want to discuss/rant about modern sonic game play, take it elsewhere.

[Aerosol]

Yeah I didn't want the thread to turn into that, I didn't even know it would happen. I was hoping if anything others would just have more detailed tips to add.

As for peel out, certainly wouldn't be useless if you gave it an advantage over spindash, which it already has. Charges up automatically, quickly, and gives you a lot more speed, and as Aerosol said, it lets you keep your speed. This is great for giving Sonic a unique ability.

I agree with most of what Serephim said, although I'm not that concerned with the modern style 2d fangames. Bottomless pits aren't bad, like everything else its about how they're used. They were not often used, but when they were, they were usually expertly placed in the Genesis games. They were also used in level context, such as Wing Fortress which makes sense because it's in the sky, or Oil Ocean which gave you sinking time before reaching the bottom, which made the death about drowning in oil instead of just being a bottomless pit.

 

So can this thread not be a debate about whether or not modern style 2d fangames are legitimate? Just advice on the fangames themselves please.

 

What you have is less of a guide and more of a list of grievances, though.

I've offered my two cents on that regard, in any case.

[InfinityAlex]

Mine was a rant come guide, so I guess I win, right? XP

[Serephim]

And that's why the Modern sections in Generations 3DS suck.

 

If there's one thing I want to say, it's implement a proper difficulty curve. YES, OVERBOUND, I AM LOOKING AT YOU!

 

 

I personally dislike the weight people give to "difficulty curve", trying to start too high or put way too much thought into how often the game should kill you, instead of what you should be thinking about: "how does putting this here make my game more engaging". 

 

About Sonic 2's difficulty....Sonic 2 is braindead easy up until the very moment you enter Metropolis Zone, the zone everyone hates because it's actively trying to kill you. Every other death in Sonic 2 is probably due to getting crushed by something or drowning. But it never had to "slow down" because the game was never particularly "fast" to begin with. It just had limited sections where you're allowed to roll through tons of neat loop layers. Then again Sonic 2 was an older game, so the last 2-3 stages being an extra life sink isn't uncommon. On Modern fangames though, the reason I bring up death pits and such isn't because they're bad ideas, they're just extremely self-contradictory in majority of their application. The amount of pit deaths from Sonic 1 >> Sonic & Knuckles decreases drastically, In fact i can't even recall a pit death in Sonic 3, maybe one or two in S&K. The level design was just more advanced. But Modern style games go significantly faster and spam them every chance they get.

 

 

I just think every modern style game would actually force itself to be much better by refusing to kill the player with death/spike pits. No more deaths on speeder jumps, enemy chains, directional cannons, rail segments...that means you have to supplement most of these areas with something else, an alternative if you fail them. You should be self-motivated to take the skillful path, and you shouldn't be punished for exploring your options.

 

 

I think the other big problem with 2D modern fangames is Sonic Team's fault. Sonic Advance 3 was decent, and Sonic Rush was a good example of 2D sonic with boost. But Sonic Colors...i dont even know what it was, but its level design very vaguely resembled sonic. Lost World was even worse. 

Edited March 14, 2014 by Serephim

[Guest Mr Lange]

What you have is less of a guide and more of a list of grievances, though.

I've offered my two cents on that regard, in any case.

Hence the supplemental part. It's not so much a tutorial as a series of various details that can improve the quality of a fangame, based on observations of past fangames that often miss these details. I hope to expand it with good advice that others have to offer.

 

The amount of pit deaths from Sonic 1 >> Sonic & Knuckles decreases drastically, In fact i can't even recall a pit death in Sonic 3, maybe one or two in S&K.

Marble Garden had death pits in sinking mud, Ice Cap had underwater death pits, some outdoor areas in Flying Battery were like Wing Fortress with open air below a series of suspended gimmicks, Sandopolis had death pits in sinking sand, Sky Sanctuary was surrounded by open air death pits, and the final boss had you running away from an autoscrolling death pit.

All of these however are, as I've said, intelligently placed and in level context. I agree that the worst death pits in these modern style 2d fangames are the ones placed under some gimmick section like a homing chain or QTE ramp. Those should at least drop to an alternate path, not unavoidable death.

[Aerosol]

I'm not going to nitpick your choice of words here. All I'm saying is that it's not a guide, it's a list of your personal grievances. That said, I'm out.

[Mr. Potatobadger]

I don't think they're personal grievances. They're all perfectly valid things to want to be fixed in fangames. Bad audio quality isn't good, ESPECIALLY coming from sonic, a very sound and musically inclined series. The ground roll lock thing can be VERY frustrating, and serves reason to be fixed. In sonic 2, you don't have to be in a ball/spindashing for the lock to happen, just as Lange showed. Some people prefer the lock when coming from the spindash, like Aerosol said. I'm on his side. But I DISLIKE the lock when you're not spindashing, so I removed that from my game. The sound effect of the springs are something to be consider, especially if you're like me and I care about those things. The only thing that IS a personal grievance is the mid air roll. He's not even complaining about it either, he's just saying you should consider it because it opens up new gameplay opportunities.

[Serephim]

The roll lock never was a problem for me, in fact if I didn't read about it here I never would have even noticed it was a thing. 

 

 

 

Marble Garden had death pits in sinking mud, Ice Cap had underwater death pits, some outdoor areas in Flying Battery were like Wing Fortress with open air below a series of suspended gimmicks, Sandopolis had death pits in sinking sand, Sky Sanctuary was surrounded by open air death pits, and the final boss had you running away from an autoscrolling death pit.

All of these however are, as I've said, intelligently placed and in level context. I agree that the worst death pits in these modern style 2d fangames are the ones placed under some gimmick section like a homing chain or QTE ramp. Those should at least drop to an alternate path, not unavoidable death.

 

Yeah, the difference here is the scarcity of pitfall deaths vs. most fangames. The sinking pit deaths will kill you, but even after you fall into them all you have to do to escape is jump out, you can even panic mash if you like.

 

Flying Battery only murders through pitfall you when you're outside, Sky Sanctuary has fall deaths but even those are rare. Majority of the falls in that stage only set you back progression wise, and there are clouds and such to prevent that too.

 

 

So yeah, alternate path on failing a trick section or something. I mean, you don't even need an alternate path. Just let them go backwards and try again, or maybe take a spring or something. But nothing is more annoying than pitfalls or spike pits when you fail sections the game throws you into anyway.

[DimensionWarped]

If there's one thing I want to say, it's implement a proper difficulty curve. YES, OVERBOUND, I AM LOOKING AT YOU!

 

You know what is absolute shit is that the vast majority of fangame demos start at the easiest level they will ever include and then never get finished. I disagree with you completely here. Most people who play fangames should be at a level of skill that they shouldn't mind playing a mid or late game level when they play a fangame demo. Also, starting from the middle and working your way towards the outsides of the game is a good way to ensure that you don't end up phoning in large portions of the game by following the usual strong start and strong end patterns of development fatigue.

 

That said, when large portions of a project don't work properly, you should probably dispense with the life limits.

 

 

 

In fact i can't even recall a pit death in Sonic 3

 

They are rare in S3, but there are a couple in the cave sections of Ice Cap Zone. You can also argue that Angel Island's boss fight arena has a couple. S&K has a good number more with them showing up in Flying Battery, Sky Sanctuary (though you have to go on odd paths to get to them) and also being part of the run to the boss fight area for Lava Reef 2.

[InfinityAlex]

You know what is absolute shit is that the vast majority of fangame demos start at the easiest level they will ever include and then never get finished. I disagree with you completely here. Most people who play fangames should be at a level of skill that they shouldn't mind playing a mid or late game level when they play a fangame demo. Also, starting from the middle and working your way towards the outsides of the game is a good way to ensure that you don't end up phoning in large portions of the game by following the usual strong start and strong end patterns of development fatigue.

 

That said, when large portions of a project don't work properly, you should probably dispense with the life limits.

 

 

They are rare in S3, but there are a couple in the cave sections of Ice Cap Zone. You can also argue that Angel Island's boss fight arena has a couple. S&K has a good number more with them showing up in Flying Battery, Sky Sanctuary (though you have to go on odd paths to get to them) and also being part of the run to the boss fight area for Lava Reef 2.

You mean to say Attraction Attack isn't the first level?

[Guest Mr Lange]

You mean to say Attraction Attack isn't the first level?

Alex if you have criticisms specific to Time Twisted, please just take it to that thread.

Edited March 16, 2014 by Mr Lange

[InfinityAlex]

No, it's not specific, I just thought that's what DW was talking about.

[DimensionWarped]

You mean to say Attraction Attack isn't the first level?

 

Yes.

[TheJeli]

Back on topic.

Something that bugs a lot of people about fan games is they nearly always start with a tropical zones. I can tolerate this with ROM hacks due to hardware limitations and the difficulty of implementing new art, but a major thing that fan games have going for them is that they are easily modified.

Now this doesn't mean you can't start with a tropical level, just try and think of some alternatives first, or even just combine two ideas.

[InfinityAlex]

While tropical levels can be very common and samey, it depends what you're going for. For example, the Classics generally started as such with Sonics 1-3 starting with tropical levels (Green and Emerald Hill Zones count as they have palm trees) and the GG games following suit, save for the Tails spinoffs and S2. If you're trying to emulate the Classics very closely, tropical Zones seem to be the way to go.

 

HOWEVER, if you want to do something more unique, then I agree, you shouldn't be using tropical Zones. This is especially annoying in Modern games; only Adventure, Heroes and 06 really had tropical levels first.

[Mr. Potatobadger]

I agree with TheJeli. It seems like almost every sonic fan game starts with an unoriginal green hill clone. Sonic classic, Sonic Edge of Darkness, and Many others are guilty of this. Look at sonic before and after the sequel. The first levels of those 2 games are tropical, BUT in a fun and original way. Hilltop heights is my favorite BTS zone.

 

My game is starting with a level called fern valley. It's tropical, yes, but heavily wooded and original. Like how mushroom hill is to S3K.

[OverbounD]

Yes.

This is news to me!

 

I'm not changing TIme Twisted just because you dislike a few things about it Alex. I will create the game I want to regardless of what critics say. Offering advice is one thing but pressing issues when developers have already acknowledged your opinion start to get obnoxious. Developers are free to disregard feedback to preserve their artistic vision if they so choose. There seems to be this attitude creeping around that if developers disregard some suggestions their games are considered failures, and frankly it's unproductive.