Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Fate of the Master Emerald

[Blue Emerald]

*Now known as "Sonic the Hedgehog CD: Fate of the Master Emerald"* (New thread for the renamed game to be announced.)

[Posted September 21st, 2008]

Salutations, fellow Sonic fans! Since June of this year, I was inspired to create a Sonic the Hedgehog game. The game’s name was, of course, Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Of course, I already know several people have been working on their own versions of Sonic 4 (I’ve actually played some of them), and therefore, I know that having this name is going to complicate things in the Sonic fan-gaming universe. Each Sonic 4 would have to be referred to by a specific level or feature (ex. the Sonic 4 with Shadow in it), and that makes things inconvenient. So, to avoid confusion, I’ve decided that my Sonic 4 may be referred to as Sonic 4: Fate of the Master Emerald, named after the first scene of the story’s prologue.

This project of mine was started on June 4, 2008. After spending an hour one day drawing up a scene of a made-up lava level with lots of machinery, it inspired me to make a Sonic game. I had spent the entire summer writing what the plot would be and what the gameplay would look like, researching what would make a good Sonic game, and had spent time online looking for any programs that would help make the game (after trying out the demo, I finally settled on buying Multimedia Fusion 2). Now I’m ready to start off with my first full game, and that’s why I’ve signed up for SFGHQ. Might I add, from what I’ve seen here, a lot of you have some really cool Sonic games being created, so I’m very thrilled to be a part of this forum.

Anyway, let’s get to the main information about the game, beginning with the game’s story.

[The following entry has been edited on December 31st, 2009, and may be subject to change.]

Story:

It’s been a long time since Sonic the Hedgehog last defeated his villainous arch-nemesis, Dr. Robotnik. The last time Sonic faced the devious Doc was at a gigantic mysterious island known as Floating Island. It was there that Sonic befriended a tough-as-nails echidna named Knuckles, who was tricked by Robotnik to fight Sonic, but had soon learned the error of his ways. After Sonic and Knuckles teamed up to defeat the doctor and his army of robot henchmen, a.k.a. the Badniks, Robotnik has never been heard from again.

…Until recently, that is! Looks like Robotnik’s still hard at work, and he’s been doing some more research on the Master Emerald: the guardian gemstone of the seven sacred Chaos Emeralds, and the only reason that Floating Island is still floating. The Doc knows that this massive jewel has a seemingly limitless energy supply, and that energy can be used to power machines. With that information, Robotnik has come up with a terrible new scheme:

“Aha! If I can somehow contain the emerald’s energy and spread fragments of that power throughout the world, I can use that energy to instantly transform the planet into my own mechanical empire!”

Knowing this, the doctor sets a new and dastardly plan into motion!

* * *

Ever since Sonic has had no Robotnik to bust, he’s taken a much-needed vacation on the majestic Polaris Island. Sonic has been hanging around the lush and lively woodlands of Forest Falls, chilling out with his animal buddies and taking time out every now and then to just relax and enjoy the view of the world around him— the world he’s fought so many times to save. Life is good for our number-one hedgehog.

…Well, life was good, until now! Sonic’s best friend Tails rushes to the hedgehog’s hang-out spot with a look of urgency on his face. Sonic knows that Tails has got some bad news to share. Oh, and does he ever! According to Tails, a lot of terrible things have happened:

“Sonic! It’s terrible! Knuckles has gone missing, and now Dr. Robotnik’s finally got his hands on the Master Emerald! He’s built a huge metal tower around the Master Emerald, and he’s using its energy to turn the entire island into one big mechanical nightmare!”

Suddenly, Sonic spots Dr. Robotnik in his familiar ship, the Egg Mobile. The spherical vehicle flies across the ocean and proceeds into the depths of Forest Falls. Without hesitating, Sonic rushes into the forest in pursuit of the Egg Mobile. As he approaches the heart of the woods, he stops to see the damage that’s already been done: all of his woodland friends have been transformed into Badniks!

Sonic knows what he’s gotta do! He has to free all the animals from Robotnik’s control, save his friend Knuckles, and get the Master Emerald back where it belongs! There’s no time to waste! Robotnik has to be stopped, and fast!!!

Gameplay:

-Ten Rounds in all, each containing three Zones.

-Find the Special Stages that house the seven Chaos Emeralds. The first and second Zones have different requirements for reaching the Special Stage. Discover the mystery behind these secret stages!

-Discover unique power-ups throughout each of the zones.

-Robotnik is planning to spread his mechanical empire across each and every stage. Find the secret to stopping his evil scheme in each Round, before it’s too late!

-Beat the game to unlock something special!

The Zones:

Forest Falls

This beautiful green forest is filled with colorful flowers and cascading waterfalls. Take a ride down a wild waterslide, or bounce and swing around the forest with the help of some of the stage's active plant life. Just be careful of the swarms of insect Badniks that are crawling around the forest floor. They can strike when you least expect it!

Heatwave Havoc

After getting wet from Forest Falls, you'll find yourself in a super-hot industrialized volcano! Float across treacherous magma on some cool metal platforms, or take a spin on a foot-powered chain elevator, among other ingenious inventions. Lurking around this fiery playground are some hot-headed Badniks that are ready to blow off some steam. The Flame Shields littered about this stage will definitely come in handy!

Crimson Coast

Once you've escaped the volcano, get ready for some much needed sun, soak, and sand. This ruby-red paradise has all kinds of fun sights to see. Sprint your way up huge vertical ramps, or race across vast, ripply tide pools! Dr. Robotnik has left some tricky new foes around the beach, however, and these robo-natives don't take too kindly to strangers!

Mystic Maze

Once you get your sea-legs from Crimson Coast, you'll explore this quiet, flooded cavern, filled with glittering gold and gems. These ruins are not without their quirks, however. Strong water jets will push you around the water, while bubble cannons will send you twirling toward the surface. Getting some air will be a challenge in this watery labyrinth, so finding a Water Shield can be vital to your survival.

Winter World

From ebb and flow to ice and snow, your next destination is Winter World, the coolest place on the planet! Here, you'll encounter slippery ice slides and swirling corkscrews. If the ice is too much for you to handle, you should locate an Ice Shield to increase your traction on the frigid floor. It'll also be a big help when any Badniks come sliding your way.

Neon Nightlife

Bright lights and busy streets -- that's what this stage is all about! Catapult yourself from the pinball flippers, bounce around bumpers, and careen through the city speedways. This metropolis also contains a wealth of rings! Some rings might even point to secret areas.

Dusty Desert

You’ll find lots of sun and sand in this stage, but this is definitely no day at the beach! Hop aboard a mine cart rollercoaster, slide around in the shifting sand-falls, and jump across mirage platforms in this dry land of sand. Robotnik’s mechanical creatures have made their home here, and their sting is worse than that of the hot desert sun!

Skyhigh Stadium

Welcome to the ultimate obstacle course in the sky! Navigate spring-filled chambers, fly through a spiky tower, and swing your way across spinning propellers. This entire place is one merciless maze, and you can be sure that Dr. Robotnik will be waiting for you with one more trap at the finish line.

Umber Underground

Explore a busy coal mine deep below the planet’s surface, and get ready to operate some heavy machinery. Burrow beneath the cave floor with a spin-powered drill, operate a crazy crane, and be sure to avoid the swinging wrecking balls! The Badniks patrolling the mines are ready to strike at your arrival, and the trek can only get more perilous when these dark caves get even darker!

Tower Trouble

Dr. Robotnik’s ultimate robot base! What dangers will be found inside? That’s a secret!

Progress has been slow on this game, but you can bet that I’m still working to make this game live up to its status as the what-if fourth installment. Watch out for new information as it arises.

[cyborg_ar]

those screens look interesting

btw, the name "sonic (the hedgehog) 4" is cursed, dont use it

[Cuda Ahbuda]

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Fate of the Master Emerald..........theirs nothing wrong with this title name (well in a way yeh, but mostly no as long Blue Emerald uses Fate of the Master Emerald in the title). Well since this sounds like a big game on the way, are there any plans for a new character to the franchise?

[Slingerland]

If anybody, and I mean aaaanybody, derails this thread with bitching over the Sonic 4 name, you can take a day off, and by "day off," I mean a day long ban. Blue Emerald has acknowledged the numerous Sonic 4's, so don't give him shit about it. It's a good looking project talk about that.

So, yeah, there's a lot of info, but there are a few screens as well. I absolutely love what you did to Hydrocity's color scheme. As for Summer Forest zone, it has an Advance badnik in a Genesis zone, so that doesn't click for me. Crystal Tundra is decent, but I bet you can do more to it, in order to make it scream "Ice Cap" less. Try something along the lines of what you did for Indigo Ruins, because, man, that color scheme is cool.

Keep up the good work.

[Rawr]

Really sweet job so far. I'm wondering if maybe I should make mockup graphics for all the zones that I have planned instead of testing them all in the engine first, and making a post like this for my project. The only thing is I don't have quite enough done on mine to warrant a topic yet.

But wow, really nice job. I'll be keeping an eye on your project for sure =D

[Cyber Rat]

As for Summer Forest zone, it has an Advance badnik in a Genesis zone, so that doesn't click for me.

Hadn't I read your comment, I wouldn't have even noticed. I think it works pretty good with the vivid background (this particular badnik, not advance sprites in general).

This looks interesting so far. Since you said that you spent quite some time on a plot, I would like to ask whether you intend to implement dialogue into the game, or 'silent' cutscenes like in S3&K?

[The ParadoxX]

Talk about the engine... Did you make it from scratch?

[Cstyler]

Maybe this game have perfect engine, but why the hell it have original level sprites from Sonic 3 & Knuckles?! All zones you described are just clones of S3&K zones.

And yeah, Indigo Ruins Zone's sprites looks like 16-coloured bmp image. In comparison with other zones, there is not enough of colours.

I hope you'll add more originality.

Good luck!

[OverbounD]

This game looks like it has some potential. I think a little more originality with your levels would be nice. Right now all the levels look like they are almost entirely copied from Sonic 3&K.

[Cuda Ahbuda]

Well Sonic 2 was built off of Sonic 1 as to Sonic 3 was built off of Sonic 2. So it's kinda of the same as to Sonic 4: Fate of the Master Emerald is gonna be built off of Sonic 3 (well I think that's how it is)

[Blue Emerald]

@ Slingerland: Thanks for the input! It's a great thing for me to get the okay from one of the minds behind Sonic Nexus! For the Buzz Bomber, I was recently thinking about changing the Advance sprite for the Gunnerbee sprite. Same goes for Steel Eel (which is a Sonic Advance 3 recolor), but that'll have to be done from scratch.

I've just started working on my spriting abilities; I hand-drew the small tree and the Bioslug for SFZ and the orb in the fountain for IRZ. Hopefully, I'll be able to do bigger spriting jobs, like bosses. As for Crystal Tundra, I was thinking about making it more... turquoise. Maybe I could add more of those large crystals, too (I don't want to decorate it with icicles, as that may cause people to think the ceilings are dangerous). Was also considering making a blue version of the glowing bridge from the Sonic 2 Beta's Hidden Palace.

@ Cyber Rat 101: My intent is to use dialogue for the game, but it's not going to be one of those tedious "press button to hear more" kinds of dialogue often seen in RPGs. Since this is an action game, I think the action should keep going, so I'm trying to stay away from those press-button dialogue moments. There'll be enough for people to understand the story and to set the mood for scenes, but not so much that it leads to way too many unnecessary halts in the action.

Fortunately, the extra mode that players get from beating the game removes all cutscenes and dialogue moments, and goes straight from zone to zone, which should make the hardcore Genesis Sonic fans happy.

@ The ParadoxX: I'm going to use the Sonic Worlds engine. Should speed things along, but don't think I'm going to make the game out of nothing but what Sonic Worlds offers. Of course, I have my own original ideas, so it'll keep the game fresh and new.

@ Cstyler: Like I said, most of these are Sonic 3 & Knuckles sprites, and subject to change.

As for IRZ, I too had some issues with the colors. The blues seem a tad too NES-like for my tastes. This'll change, but I don't want it to look too smooth that it loses its Genesis look. I think I might keep the Hydrocity blocks, though. Slingerland seems to love it. Hope he doesn't get too attached to the background, though; I was looking for a more rocky, ruins-like environment when I made the mock-up, and that was the closest thing I could find.

And yes, you're right. The level order almost screams "S3K ROM-hack," doesn't it? If the transition from green level to water level didn't make you think so, then perhaps the carnival level did. (Of course, now that I think about it, Sonic 2 also went from green level to water level, so it keeps some of its synergy)

When I started work on the game, I wanted the game to be as close to an olden-days Sonic game as possible: ice levels, green levels, water levels, carnival levels, all that good stuff. It wasn't intentional to make it look like Sonic 3, however, but the level order has meaning to the story in the game. Everything is placed in a proper order.

However, Electric Carnival could change into a different stage, now that I think it over, but I think it should keep some of its gimmicks. The other zones will stay. I might also ditch the waterslides in Indigo Ruins; way too Hydrocity to be its own stage right now, but Sonic sliding through the ruins also plays a part in reaching the zone's Special Stage. But believe me, I'll try to keep this from looking like Sonic 3 as much as I possibly can. I'll work on broadening my spriting skills a bit more. Thanks for your input; this is the kind of stuff I need to keep in mind.

[Felik]

I like how it's looking. the only my wish please don't make too much nothingness in the level. You'd better make a smaller but saturated level then large but boring level. I hated Sonic Geda for that.

P.S. I like thos next-geny lookng oldscool sonic ard. I looks intersting.

P.P.S.

I was looking for a more rocky, ruins-like environment when I made the mock-up, and that was the closest thing I could find.

You confessed!

[The ParadoxX]

The Zones:

(The following pictures are all mock-ups, so the scenes shown are subject to change)

We already knew =P

[Serephim]

Wow, looks interesting. When do we get a Demo?

[Rael0505]

The Indigo Ruins color scheme is bitchin'. I'd recommend using an ink effect (subtract or AND) for water instead of semi-transparency, though. It would look much better.

Hope you make this more original than some of the Sonic 4 projects we see around here. And welcome to the forums!

[Blue Emerald]

Wow, looks interesting. When do we get a Demo?

Thanks. I wouldn't expect a demo soon. I just got Sonic Worlds yesterday, and I'm trying to interpret the engine's events (like all those colored dots, for example). It is a big contrast compared to the tutorial MMF2 gave me when I first used the program. I'm fairly new to this stuff, so it'll take time.

In the meantime, I've still been working on writing stuff up for the game. This morning, I just finished writing up a list of each zone's gimmicks and a draft for the parallax layers in each zone, so I'll have a more concrete idea in mind when designing the stages.

[Zal]

It's okay, the idea sounds really cool. I'm not too sure about the backgrounds though. I know you're just starting to get into your spriting capabilities, but perhaps just try mixing things up a bit further. By that I mean, try not to make the zone look as much like hydrocity, ice cap, etc.

Other than that, good job. And honestly, if you like Sonic 4, go with it. No one should really give a shit if it's called that. No one has yet to complete a game named that so I don't see the beef people have with it.

[Serephim]

Other than that, good job. And honestly, if you like Sonic 4, go with it. No one should really give a shit if it's called that. No one has yet to complete a game named that so I don't see the beef people have with it.

Pretty much. Everyone bitches about using this name, but there is no REAL fangame that has the title "Sonic 4" that anyone even knows/cares about.

However if you just popped up with "hai i makn sonc4 hers my stry" then this topic would have been closed by now. >>;

[Cyber Rat]

If anybody, and I mean aaaanybody, derails this thread with bitching over the Sonic 4 name, you can take a day off, and by "day off," I mean a day long ban. Blue Emerald has acknowledged the numerous Sonic 4's, so don't give him shit about it. It's a good looking project talk about that.

So I suggest we stop saying anything about the name starting now.

On topic: what most people said, be more original about the zones. While I would personally let Summer Forest slide as an Angel Island/Mushroom Hill hybrid, and Indigo Ruins as a really nice Hydro City recolour, the Crystal Tundra one is just an Icecap ripoff. More originality when it comes to the zones would be a good idea (but then again, it isn't much of a problem, I mean, Hydro City from Sonic 3 is something like a Labyrinth/Chemical Zone hybrid, so using edited zones from earlier games isn't that big of a deal, just manage to finish the game.).

[Blue Emerald]

The Indigo Ruins color scheme is bitchin'. I'd recommend using an ink effect (subtract or AND) for water instead of semi-transparency, though. It would look much better.

Well, I tried the AND ink effect and it makes the water too dark and murky, and the subtract doesn't seem to change it at all. There has to be some way to get the water to give off that color effect from the Genesis games, but I can't find it right now.

Progress with Sonic Worlds is coming along; I'm starting to slowly figure out this engine. The only issue I'm concerning myself with at the moment is getting the Crabmeat Badnik to shoot the two energy balls. Otherwise, I'm beginning to understand how some of these objects work. Before you know it, I might be able to make a full successful level.

[Daniel]

Try making the water color

R 64

G 48

B 8

and use the subtract ink effect. It should come out nicely.

EDIT: This should be the finished product:

LOL, Screenshot from my game.

[DimensionWarped]

Well, I tried the AND ink effect and it makes the water too dark and murky, and the subtract doesn't seem to change it at all. There has to be some way to get the water to give off that color effect from the Genesis games, but I can't find it right now.

It's really done completely differently in the Genesis games. They have different pallet tables that are used to color objects while they are underwater... in other words, they basically picked the colors by hand instead of using some complex transparency/ink effect.

[Blue Emerald]

Try making the water color

R 64

G 48

B 8

and use the subtract ink effect. It should come out nicely.

EDIT: This should be the finished product:

[qimg]http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/dnlhern3/Untitled.gif[/qimg]

LOL, Screenshot from my game.

Well, I experimented with a bunch of other colors to test the subtract effect, and either the reds got washed out or it wasn't the right color. Anyway, I tested 64-48-8, and it just happens to already be the default color for the water in the Sonic Worlds engine.

Wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but now that I think about it, it kinda looks like the water color for Sonic CD's Tidal Tempest. Guess I'll keep this color for now.

As of now, I've learned about implementing the invisible bridges, making the bouncing rings semi-transparent post-ringloss, and changing the water color (should be handy for my other levels with water segments, where the water color may be darker or lighter, so this gives me some new ideas). Next on the agenda: getting the Crabmeat Badnik to shoot the bullets. Progress is coming along slow but steady, and that's fine by me.

Also, thanks DimensionWarped for telling me about the handpicked palette. That had to have been a lot of work for Sonic Team to change the color of all those sprites just for an underwater level.

[Daniel]

Next on the agenda: getting the Crabmeat Badnik to shoot the bullets

http://www.sonicfangameshq.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4821

Not much, but it well help...

[Blue Emerald]

http://www.sonicfangameshq.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4821

Not much, but it well help...

I think I understand what they're saying, but I tried making the bullets appear and they won't. I tried testing it with a sound sample like the thread said to, and the sound worked, so the only problem is creating the bullets. Here's what I found:

Shoot the bullet and return to moving state

* State of Crabmeat = 1

+ Crabmeat animation Shooting is over

And the events are:

Crabmeat: Set state to 0

Crabmeat_Bullet: (nothing is checked off)

I compared it to Buzz Bomber's bullet commands, and the difference is that its bullet is checked off while Crabmeat's isn't. What should I try putting there for Crabmeat_Bullet? "Set Alterable Value A to 1" didn't do anything like it did for Buzz Bomber (For that, I was just expecting a bullet to appear).