Sonic the hedgehog:Emerald Chaos: STARTING FROM SCRATCH

[sonic101]

okay on the resolution thing, I've already scaled it down once. IM NOT DOING IT AGAIN!. I personally hsate it small. okay HATE IT! and im gettign annoyed with people asking me to do it AGAIN. i dont play on low screen res, so with a tiny screen the size of a gba screen i have a very hard time making out what im looking at, not to mention im very near sighted i dont need to be looking at the screen any closer then i already am.

And i dont care if you people like it small or large stretched or not. its my game and it shall be the way i like it. and i see nothign wrong with hwo it looks. nobody seems to play this but me anyway. and im perfectly fine with that. its only on here for the off chance some one else wants to play.

Im not re building levels I finsished a year ago to fit 3 or 4 people who dont like looking at big things.

So enough with the stretched complaints.

the bouncing coment. thats a good point and i have been trying to work on that.

Right now my efforts are in tweaking alot of the other things to cut down on file size. and lag ( dont mention the streched bgs or ill kill you)

Do I sound angrey, of course I do, I'm getting really tired of people complaining about petty sprite size.

[LarkSS]

I've had the same happen to me. I introduced a game with a screen of 640x480 and I had quite a few people asking me to shrink it. It's not a problem no more though since I'm redoing the entire game with a more advanced engine. I understand how you feel though. The screen seems too small unless you make it fullscreen and it forces you to look in a small area which for me makes it tough to see what's in front of you.

[sonic101]

indeed. thanks for the understanding.

[LarkSS]

Yes, I believe no one should complain about the resolution, but I do also believe there should be a windowed or fullscreen option. If you do ever use a resolution bigger than 640x480 however, remember to include a graphical option since not all computers can render that much with a good fps.

[sonic101]

ya i know, theres a glitch with the game though where if you switch to full screen everything glitches up, and sonic cantr move , ive no idea what cuases it.

[LarkSS]

Strange... Since I don't use GameMaker ( normally ), I'm not sure what the problem is. Did you try placing Sonic a bit off the ground? Also, did you disable gravity for the first second to give the level a chance to render to avoid Sonic getting sucked into the ground and preventing movement? Just guesses, but they may help.

[GCFreak]

Wow, I don't know why that glitch is happening, but this game is awesome! Are you making this in Game Maker?

[LarkSS]

Yes he is, which is the exact reason why I can't play it. I found out I can't play anything made with GM6. Kinda sucks.

[sonic101]

Did you try placing Sonic a bit off the ground? Also, did you disable gravity for the first second to give the level a chance to render to avoid Sonic getting sucked into the ground and preventing movement?

That's a good idea, I've never even thought of that... I'll give it a try next time i work on the game.

Wow, I don't know why that glitch is happening, but this game is awesome! Are you making this in Game Maker?

Me either but thanks for the compliment! Glad to know theres more then 2 people out there that like this game heh, stick around I plan on uploading a new beta soon. And yes I'm using Game Maker 6.1 registered.

Yes he is, which is the exact reason why I can't play it. I found out I can't play anything made with GM6. Kinda sucks.

Indeed I beleive that was related to your gfx card wasn't it? on your laptop right. I'm sorry you cant try it out, it sounds as if you'd really like it if you played it. Thanks for your support on my game regaurdless

And more on my game, I've converted all the stage intros now from sprite to draw functions and cut out the old sprites. the result is this transformation. (I'm beginning to love the draw functions and there gradients)

old stage intro(completely sprites ( 500 by 600 so they were huge))

this one likes dull and kind of lame. cheesy even.

and heres the new one, completely done with draw functions and gradients.

now the text displaying the stage is its own object set to read what stage your own then display the stages name and what act your on, as opposed to the old way where in i had a sprite and objexct for each stage (5 stages thus far each with 3 acts, you do the math) and instead of moving up with the red box it moves to the left so each of the boxes moves towards its own side of the screen (text box moves left, red box moves up yellow moves right and blue moves down)

so now, 1 object is all i need and it looks sexy

it only cut out about 120kbs on the file size of the game but i noticed the game loads about 2 seconds faster now so some progress is being made

[Zal]

okay on the resolution thing, I've already scaled it down once. IM NOT DOING IT AGAIN!. I personally hsate it small. okay HATE IT! and im gettign annoyed with people asking me to do it AGAIN. i dont play on low screen res, so with a tiny screen the size of a gba screen i have a very hard time making out what im looking at, not to mention im very near sighted i dont need to be looking at the screen any closer then i already am.

And i dont care if you people like it small or large stretched or not. its my game and it shall be the way i like it. and i see nothign wrong with hwo it looks. nobody seems to play this but me anyway. and im perfectly fine with that. its only on here for the off chance some one else wants to play.

Im not re building levels I finsished a year ago to fit 3 or 4 people who dont like looking at big things.

So enough with the stretched complaints.

the bouncing coment. thats a good point and i have been trying to work on that.

Right now my efforts are in tweaking alot of the other things to cut down on file size. and lag ( dont mention the streched bgs or ill kill you)

Do I sound angrey, of course I do, I'm getting really tired of people complaining about petty sprite size.

First of all people, don't bag me about quoting his whole post.

Secondly I don't think I deserved to be talked to that way, considering I'm giving you constructive help and you're just throwing it back in my face.

The only reason I mentioned the resolution thing is because you kept resizing images to fit and I thought it would be better smaller, but whatever.

Finally, the resizing of the images isn't "some petty sprite size" to me and I was just trying to help. Plus if you think that only you will play it then why continue with this thread may I ask?

WAIT hold on, you said you resized it already... so how freaking big was it before? O_o

[Rael0505]

I agree with everything Zal said. 320 x 240 isn't small. It's the resolution the Genesis used. And by the way, the SNES resolution is a lot smaller still. The reason is because the player shouldn't see too much around him. If you made it smaller, I think it would improve the game a whole lot.

And resizing sprites makes them look all ugly and pixelly. I wouldn't recommend it.

[Zal]

Yes thanks for verifying that, because I agree that too much space around the character gives away too much. Like there isn't much surprise ahead of you when you can see for miles.

[LarkSS]

I agree with everything Zal said. 320 x 240 isn't small. It's the resolution the Genesis used.

Okay, lets get this straight. I like 320x240 since it improves game speed, but it requires you to make special camera techniques so you can see things in front of you. If you don't have that, making it a tad bit bigger might be key. Also, some games might make good use of all that extra space. I mean, what if the game ( I know this doesn't have to do with this game ) had Sonic go EXTREMELY FAST and it required you to see that much in front of you? All I'm saying is you can't say 320x240 is the way to go, end of story. I believe it depends on how the game works.

Now with that out of the way, if I look at your new screen size, it doesn't look too bad. You don't see too much infront of you, just enough. I know what you're trying to say Rael and maybe he can keep that in mind in something else he makes, but I don't think the current screen resolution will cause too much harm to the gameplay.

[sonic101]

Okay to be fair i tried switching to your prefered screen rez. the result was that i would have to increase the font size of all text to be readable, shrink text boxes to fit the screen thus having to make more to fit the dialgue that wouldnt fit on screeen. Then I'd have to shrink every last sprite, background and title set to fit the new resolution, then replace all the objects in the game to fit the new sprite sizes to prevent broken levels and collisons problems. and thats not even the half of it. To use your resolution I would pretty much need to rebuild this game fromt he ground up in every asspect.

That's why i refuse to do it. Also I didn't like that resolution, its just to small, and your arguement about the genesis using it, well the genesis still stretches that resolution to fit your tv screen, and a television screen is not the same resolution as a typical pc moniter. whwich means that point isnt really valid, my game isnt for a genesis and a tv screen, mines for a pc with a pc moniter. Anyone whos played sonic advanced on a gba then tried sonic N on the n-gage knows exactly why this doesnt work.

I've already stated numerous times I dont liek smallr resolutions, and that I'm not changing it. If you want to be helpful comment on things that arent adressed in every other post. like how's the gameplay? is it fun? how's the level design? do the levels progress in dificulty on a good scale or does it switch to much? are gimics used to many times in certain levels? is the dialgue crappy? are there collsions problems scattered all through out the game? does it lagg? ]

things like that would be more helpful then arguing over somthing I'm happy with and not willing to change.

[Rael0505]

You need to use gimmicks a lot more.

[Zal]

Ahaha... Now see you made a little bit of a mistake there sonic101, when you say "they even stretch the genesis games to fit the tv screen" you're a tad off there as well. It has NOTHING to do with resolution my friend because all they do is stretch it and the tv does the rest, 320 x 240 stays the same.

SOLUTION to this problem is to use the full screen option on MMF. You can have everything readable then. However if you were to do this, I suggest you make it an option, not an ultimatum, if you know what I mean.

[sonic101]

one problem with that, im not using mmf. im using gm 6.1 and full screen in gm will just make everything huge. and you'll just complain about that too.

now stop arguing with me about the resolution. any further posts with such will just be completely ignored.

[Rael0505]

one problem with that, im not using mmf. im using gm 6.1 and full screen in gm will just make everything huge. and you'll just complain about that too.

No, I don't see why we would complain then. The resolution will stay the same in full screen.

[Zal]

one problem with that, im not using mmf. im using gm 6.1 and full screen in gm will just make everything huge. and you'll just complain about that too.

now stop arguing with me about the resolution. any further posts with such will just be completely ignored.

Don't put words in my mouth considering you keep taking this out of perspective.

I wouldn't complain about that because it's a completely different thing. Resolution of the screen is different to how big it ends up being.

As you can see, this is a 320 x 240 rectangle inside of a 640 x 480 one. Just because the resolution is 640x480, doesn't mean you can't only have a 320x240 screen in there. This is the same as resizing the screen. You may have a 320x240 screen, but even when you full screen it, it doesn't mean you're changing the resolution, you're just filling the screen.

[sonic101]

any further posts with such will just be completely ignored.

If it bugs you dont concern yourself with this project. I've already stated I'm not changing it. So why waste your time trying to prove a point that isn't nessasary.

[Zal]

Look now you're just being stupid. I wont hassle you about it again, but don't just ignore people just because you think we're wrong.

[sonic101]

Look now you're just being stupid. I wont hassle you about it again, but don't just ignore people just because you think we're wrong.

Now YOUR wrong. I'm not saying your wrong in how window sizing works, I'm saying that I'm not changing my games resolution becuase I dont want too. I'm also asking you to stop arguing with me over it becuase it's pointless and I'm sick and tired of every website I place this project on arguing with me over things that have been layed to rest.

Now again I say I'm not changing it becuase I like it the way it is and I dont like the 320 by 240 resolution and to please stop commenting on it. And I'm ignoring any further comments on it becuase I dont want to get annoyed and start another flame war over it. Place yourself in my situation.

How would you like it if you'd mentioned something 4 or 5 times only to have people keep pestering you about it and when you try to lay it to rest they keep coming back with a point to prove.

I work on this game as a past time becuase I found it fun, at least for the

1st month of making it, ever since then it's been one person after another telling me to change this or change that, or add this or get rid of that.

This game has become "Their game" and not "my game".

The original idea was to make a simplistic game where I could teach myself how to make games with game maker. that was nearly 2 years ago.

All I wanted was to make a simple game where you could wall jump around with sonic. That was pretty much it. Becuase I found it fun just to do that.

Beyond that it's just been trying to please everyone else.

I had it set full screen for 800 by 600 and then people complained they didnt want full screen, then in windowed they wanted it smaller then it all came full circle and they wanted small screen but in full screen blah blah blah blah blah.

So I'v had enough. do you see where I'm coming from now?

[Zal]

For clarification, we weren't forcing anything upon you. We were suggesting things, which we are allowed to do.

I'm sorry that people keep forcing things upon you, but that wasn't what we were doing.

However no matter where you go, people will always think that your project can be better, that's the way things are. You just have to take suggestions in your stride but still do what you think is right.

Plus caps lock typing gets you no where.

[Rael0505]

If it bugs you dont concern yourself with this project. I've already stated I'm not changing it. So why waste your time trying to prove a point that isn't nessasary.

Our posts after you said that were trying to explain, not trying to convince you to do it. If you want to keep the resolution, that's fine with me.

[si1a23]

I finally got around to playing this game all the way through what you have made so far. I took a few screenshots to address some concerns, and others are general tips.

Okay, so starting with zone 1...

The moving platforms everywhere are this way, not just in zone 1. It seems you can get stuck on the sides and the platform stops moving and Sonic goes through about 4 different animations until you eventually fall off. Also on that topic, Tails really screws up the moving platforms. It might be better to make Tails not interact with moving platforms at all, if that is possible.

After I finished act 1, I managed to wall jump behind Shadow. The cutscene perfomed normally, and the giant ring appeared, but for some reason I couldn't move. I have no idea why that happened.

Please put a spring here. It can be incredibly difficult to get out otherwise. I did manage to, however, so it's not completely necessary, but it would be convenient.

At this area is the end of a path of rings that you are supposed to light dash across. The trail is very long, and I died a few times because the rings disappeared before I could dash to the end. Again, it would be convenient if you made the rings last a bit longer, but not 100% necessary.

I got stuck in the ground here. I think your culprit is the first raised platform in that area. It occurs after a checkpoint, when you fall down a hole. I think something got in there that isn't solid, or it could be a glitch with the spikes.

Ok, somewhere in zone 1, you used the same sprites that were used for a solid object as a backdrop. I think that has been mentioned already, but it is confusing and hard to tell which one is solid.

In my opinion, Jeweled Cathedral was quite well done, until you get to act 3. The level design isn't too bad here, but the lava rises way too fast. It takes a nearly flawless run to beat the level. I got 3 gameovers before I finally beat it. I was down to my last life and I was going to quit if I got another gameover there, because I was annoyed with it. It was definitely too difficult for zone 2.

Blizzard Peak was alright, but there wasn't a whole lot of gimmicks in it. The last zone was very cool. It was a tad easy, but that's okay.

I think you serisouly need more gimmicks. The last zone you made is the only one that has enough in my opinion. There needs to be more objects Sonic can interact with. In each zone there was about 1 or 2. Try putting in 3 different interactive objects exclusive to each zone, or at least make them more abundant.

Rings should be all over the place. You shouldn't be able to go more than about 5 seconds without a seeing a ring. About 200 rings is good for a level.

When you die after hitting a checkpoint the time should go back to the second that you hit the checkpoint.

When you lightdash, you tend to shoot off after the end of the path of rings, especially if you were dashing upwards. I noticed it in the boss level because I lightdashed upward into the spikes. If you can't or don't want to fix that, then at least rearrange the rings in the boss area so that doesn't happen.

I notice that you reuse your ideas fairly often. It is okay to reuse ideas, but in example, the tokens are almost always hidden in a cave off to the left or right after wall jumping to the top or falling to the bottom. Try hiding them in a different style every once in a while. It doesn't have to be complicated to get them, just change it up. You could hide a switch somewhere in the level that opens an area with a token in it later on. I'm just saying that because by the 3rd zone it got old. I already mentioned the gimmicks, but I think if you work on adding some more unique ones it will really spruce up the levels.

I have to say that you have done very well with this, and I enjoyed the game a lot so far (even though it lags on my cruddy computer). Good luck finishing this project, I can't wait to see more.