Sonic: The Fated Hour - July 2009 Update

[ssbfalcon]

There's too much actual platforming elements to be influenced by Sonic Unleashed

*zing* at SEGA

[DimensionWarped]

Eh... I don't see that many platforming elements right now. Sure, there is some running and jumping, but let's be real... Sonic Unleashed has those two elements.

I kept wanting those overhanging platforms to fall, but they just wouldn't. Will they eventually?

[Spike]

I totally just noticed the Super Sonic video. Looks awesome.

[Rael0505]

I really admire your work ethic, Blaze. If everyone organized their work and pushed to get things done the way you do, we'd see more finished games (or at least more demos and tests).

Have to say I don't like the level by the look of your video, though. It looks incredibly bland. In fact, I could almost imagine it's exactly the same as the ice level, but with different graphics. You need gimmicks if you want the levels to really be unique from each other. Otherwise, you'll have a game that has the same kind of level over and over, except with different graphics.

I know there's not much to judge by just yet though, I'm sure the finished result will be much more interesting. Hope you can get everything done by the deadline

[BlazeHedgehog]

Eh... I don't see that many platforming elements right now. Sure, there is some running and jumping, but let's be real... Sonic Unleashed has those two elements.

I kept wanting those overhanging platforms to fall, but they just wouldn't. Will they eventually?

No, I'd have to write specific code for that and I'm too lazy. I know they look like the side platforms from Mystic Cave Zone, but oh well. Not really enough time to spend a day writing that.

I really admire your work ethic, Blaze. If everyone organized their work and pushed to get things done the way you do, we'd see more finished games (or at least more demos and tests).

Have to say I don't like the level by the look of your video, though. It looks incredibly bland. In fact, I could almost imagine it's exactly the same as the ice level, but with different graphics. You need gimmicks if you want the levels to really be unique from each other. Otherwise, you'll have a game that has the same kind of level over and over, except with different graphics.

I know there's not much to judge by just yet though, I'm sure the finished result will be much more interesting. Hope you can get everything done by the deadline

It's not exactly the same. Grind rails weren't in the christmas level, and neither were the dash rings. Or the launch pads (those are interactive - think of them like the trick ramps from SA2's City Escape). The enemies are going to be new.

And the loadouts should help make it feel a lot fresher than it really is, especially considering the level's size and how equips effect the way you navigate the level (at least, I hope). This wasn't really a level I planned very much beforehand, hence the relatively weak reliance on real, level-specific gimmicks. It was just sort of a... spur of the moment decision.

I never really considered what I have to be a "work ethic", really. Besides, a lot of you guys probably have stuff you do during the day - jobs, school, going out with friends. I'm a stereotypical nerd who shuts himself in all day and plays on the computer (or I was, until my motherboard started giving me bluescreens during the heat of the day - now I sit around on my prehistoric Win98 laptop goofing around in Genecyst and Nesticle until 11pm).

What I'm trying to get at is this is more or less what I do for entertainment. I work on TFH. In a way that's kind of sad (as I very much realize), but at least I'm having fun doing it! That's why I don't consider it a "work ethic", because it doesn't really feel like work for me.

Well, except for when I have to code a menu like Sonic's equip menu or something. That's when I really have to sit down and think hard and plan ahead way farther than I'm used to.

But really, if you want just a little better work ethic, write out a to-do list in a text file. Visualize everything you need to do in your game, make a list of everything you want to get done, and then just go down the list checking stuff off until there's nothing left. That helps me immensely. TFH probably wouldn't be half this far if I didn't write out a list of everything I wanted to accomplish. It really helps to put a stop to the amount of dicking around you do after you finish writing a specific piece of code because you know what's still left on the list.

[Sockman]

I personally think the desert level is fine.

The lack of gimmicks and long expanses of just running give it a barren, abandoned feel. Though such a tone is typically avoided in levels with other settings, I feel that it's fitting given the placement of the level (even the color scheme of the tiles make it feel desolate).

With that said, it probably isn't the best level concept for a demo. A level in a demo should showcase a variety of activity and features.

Keep it up, Blaze.

What I'm trying to get at is this is more or less what I do for entertainment. I work on TFH. In a way that's kind of sad (as I very much realize), but at least I'm having fun doing it! That's why I don't consider it a "work ethic", because it doesn't really feel like work for me.

We need more of this attitude, also. Having fun should be the first and foremost priority when fan-gaming. When that ceases to be the objective, fan-gaming loses its "magic".

[BlazeHedgehog]

Well, as I keep telling everybody, the level hopefully won't look so barren when I'm done with it. I have a lot I want to add to the background (trees, walls, huts) to make it look better. But as I've said, I'm still hammering out the basic level design - polishing the level visually is the last thing I plan on doing.

[Zal]

Please for the love of God, keep plugging with this. I so badly need to see this near completion, it's one of the few fangames around here which I want finished badly.

That being said, what you have thus far is pretty good. I think the buying menu is a little overrated, but I think it could come in handy. Although shops in games make for massive games. Depends on how big you need this to be?

Either way, you have my support. =D

[BlazeHedgehog]

Well, uh, a little bit before I started work on the SAGE demo, I went through and wrote down every idea I had for a level I wanted to make and I came up with 12 levels. At the same time, I wanted to re-visit locations from older Genesis Sonic games too, which bumps the number up to... 20.

Which is kind of an overwhelming number. Two weeks per level (max), that's 40 weeks, or uh, roughly 10 months. Which is a loooong time. I'll probably pair the list down to the essentials. See if I can drop some (or all) of the "revisited locations".

[Numbuh 214]

Well, uh, a little bit before I started work on the SAGE demo, I went through and wrote down every idea I had for a level I wanted to make and I came up with 12 levels. At the same time, I wanted to re-visit locations from older Genesis Sonic games too, which bumps the number up to... 20.

Which is kind of an overwhelming number. Two weeks per level (max), that's 40 weeks, or uh, roughly 10 months. Which is a loooong time. I'll probably pair the list down to the essentials. See if I can drop some (or all) of the "revisited locations".

...Have you checked your PM box lately?

[Spike]

With a list that big of levels, maybe you should just pick your 7 favorites. That's the standard for a normal Sonic game, and being picked from a list that big, you would have 7 quality levels. Not too many, not too little. Sounds great to me.

[BlazeHedgehog]

...Have you checked your PM box lately?

Dude, I'm good, trust me. If I need help with anything I will just post it in Fangaming Assistance, because that just makes more sense.

[BlazeHedgehog]

Elephant.

[Eminence]

Elephant.

A baby mouse needs to pop-out when you smash the elephant.

Subtle irony. Ftw.

EDIT: I have no clue why I quoted your post.

[Spike]

The enemy itself is cool, but I think it's legs need some work.

[Neo Hazard]

Pretty awesome, I like everything about that elephant.

The backgrounds in that video struck me as odd at first, but I almost like how they aren't actually from a Sonic game of any form.

[Aaron C-T]

Imho, he needs to be able to shoot a little bit further away, though if there's more pressing matters, by all means handle them first.

[BlazeHedgehog]

Imho, he needs to be able to shoot a little bit further away, though if there's more pressing matters, by all means handle them first.

He's already almost at the edge of the screen when he can shoot!

[DimensionWarped]

No, I'd have to write specific code for that and I'm too lazy. I know they look like the side platforms from Mystic Cave Zone, but oh well. Not really enough time to spend a day writing that.

Considering that the exact type of platform is already coded in one of the Sonic Worlds builds, I have to confess it makes me a little sad that you don't just pull it off of there.

[BlazeHedgehog]

Not possible. The build of worlds you guys use is dramatically different than what I use. Hence why I never bothered to update TFH to a newer build of the engine - it's not as easy as cut and pasting, or even just looking at the code and copying it over by hand.

The version of Worlds you guys use has like, 10x the variables and 10x the code, even without all the gimmicks attached to it.

Edit: Incidentally, Spike, what do you mean about the legs?

[DimensionWarped]

All you'd have to do is change where it references the "ground" variable and the rest would take care of itself.

[BlazeHedgehog]

Still. It's not going to hurt to leave it the way it is. Maybe I'll think about it tomorrow, but I don't really see that much of a point, to be honest. ;P

[DragonXVI]

Elelphant looks good, reminds me of the ol' Clucker from Wing Fortress who just sat there distributing bullets to your face. If I had any complaint, I'm not overly sure about the "aiming the trunk" animation. Maybe because the trunk's fairly small compared to the rest of the sprite, so it's a fairly small animation while the rest of the sprite is inanimate - Wondering if it should take some kind of "Firing stance", moving the rest of its body

(Granted I don't think any classic Sonic badnik really has a "Firing Stance" but still...)

[BlazeHedgehog]

Ehhh... Clucker doesn't have any animation. Neither does the Mantis from Metropolis Zone.

I will admit it seems odd that the elephant is immobile, but I don't see how I could fix that, because there's quite a few enemies just like him in a lot of Sonic games.

Like those pig things in Scrap Brain Zone that throw bombs.

[DimensionWarped]

point

Aesthetics and activity. While the amount of time to fall was always too high to make a difference, the simple fact that they fell was still enough to get a player's adrenaline pumping.

In the end, it's your call. I just think you could get a lot out of it without expending much effort.