Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Fate of the Master Emerald

[Aikocho]

Ether way, It may already be unanimous.

[Blue Emerald]

Yeah, I realize it could go that way, but I'm still being fair about this.

[ShadowMasterX5]

Can I change my vote to ZFG's mod?

[Blue Emerald]

Yes, you can. I'm allowing people who've already voted to change their minds until the 15th vote has been counted.

The new Sonic is gaining a bit more ground.

Old: 3, New: 8

Still need 4 more people who haven't voted yet.

[Zenor]

I'll change my vote too. The new modification looks indeed nice. I'm not liking those colors though.

[Blue Emerald]

Old: 2, New: 9

Still sticking with the colors, though.

[Jamie Bailey]

Ooh, we're voting in this topic now, I should look in more often.

I vote for the new sprite, I like the ZFG version.

[Blue Emerald]

Old: 2, New: 10

I'm pretty sure everyone can predict the outcome of this poll, but I said this poll would last for 15 votes, and that's how it's going to stay.

I still need 3 more votes, everyone. If there are any of you out there that haven't voted yet (and I know there are), come on down and root for your favorite sprite.

[Blue Emerald]

OK, since I want to speed this along as much as possible, I'll put a vote in my own poll. I'll vote for ZFG's sprite. (Wow! Bet you didn't see that coming, did you? I sure didn't. )

Old: 2, New: 11

That means there's only two votes to go. Come on, people; hurry up and vote before a bunch of us suddenly change our minds.

[Spike]

I'll change my vote to the new sprite if you're using ZFG's version.

Just end the poll already. Even if more people did vote for the old sprite, it can't possibly win. People aren't going to say "You said there would be fifteen votes, not thirteen! I hate you! This game sucks now!"

[Blue Emerald]

I am.

Old: 1, New: 12

So, I guess it's kind of waste to keep this poll going, but still, I'm dead-set on being fair about this poll, so I'm not going to change the rules while the poll's still going. So, if all the people who didn't vote want this poll to end quick, just vote and the poll will be over.

Just end the poll already. Even if more people did vote for the old sprite, it can't possibly win. People aren't going to say "You said there would be fifteen votes, not thirteen! I hate you! This game sucks now!"

Valid point taken. Then again, have you recently read about the kid who didn't join this site because the registration page asked if he wanted to receive e-mails from here?

Yeah, all right then. Besides, the poll was showing obvious signs of slowdown; it had to end sometime. So, in that case, ZFG's sprite wins by a landslide(/giant mountain-breaking avalanche). I hereby declare this poll closed.

*bangs the gavel*

All right then, ZFG; you and I have got some serious spriting to do.

[Amesuki]

Good Luck with the spriting. And Yay for the poll finally being over!

-Amesuki

[Blue Emerald]

Minor update tonight.

The Sonic spriting project has become a long and arduous venture. To give you all an idea of how long this is taking, two fellow spriters have already left this project (I do thank them both very much for their assistance, though ). So that means I'm doing this whole sprite sheet on my own, which means it's going to take a long time to complete it. Given the circumstances of this undertaking, I've decided to post a progress report on the Sonic sprite sheet in my signature. This way, you can all be assured that I haven't spent 12 days since my last post doing nothing. I've been working on this every day, so the percent completed in the signature should constantly be on the rise.

In conclusion, keep your eye on that little number in my signature.

[Blue Emerald]

YES!! IT'S DONE!!! The Sonic sprites are finally finished! It took a very long time, but I am extremely glad to say that the new Sonic sprite animations are complete at last.

Now that that's out of the way, I can finally get back to working on the actual game, to which I am happy to hear is receiving some new buffs courtesy of everyone's favorite Sonic Worlds programmer, Appo. I'm currently in the midst of programming the Badnik Bioslug into the level, but getting Bioslug's spikes to work exactly the way I want them to has proven somewhat of a challenge (trying to make it work like the spiky crab from Sonic 1's Spring Yard Zone). Hopefully, I may also be able to program an original new gimmick or two into the first level. In the meantime, expect to see a playable test level of Sonic 4 sometime in the near future, hopefully this month.

[FanGameRevolver]

YES!! IT'S DONE!!! The Sonic sprites are finally finished! It took a very long time, but I am extremely glad to say that the new Sonic sprite animations are complete at last.

Now that that's out of the way, I can finally get back to working on the actual game, to which I am happy to hear is receiving some new buffs courtesy of everyone's favorite Sonic Worlds programmer, Appo. I'm currently in the midst of programming the Badnik Bioslug into the level, but getting Bioslug's spikes to work exactly the way I want them to has proven somewhat of a challenge (trying to make it work like the spiky crab from Sonic 1's Spring Yard Zone). Hopefully, I may also be able to program an original new gimmick or two into the first level. In the meantime, expect to see a playable test level of Sonic 4 sometime in the near future, hopefully this month.

holy *! yes! I can't wait!

[Blue Emerald]

Look, everyone! Finally, a real screenshot!

Pretty nice, right? That is indeed from the actual game. Currently, the level design is shoddy, but I haven't graphed anything out for this level yet, so that's to be expected. Also, I've still been spending most of my time tweaking the Worlds engine to my liking, so the game will show less evidence of Worlds elements.

In the meantime, tell me what you think.

[Cstyler]

Holy cow, this is great!

The only thing I'd edit is:

Btw, I wish we'll see your game at SAGE. ; D

[Zenor]

I think the foreground is a bit repetitive (but those decorations are fine). Also, that Bug's face looks a little weird, and something about that monitor and the grass are bothering me.. But that's about it. It's great that you are finally taking actual in-game screenshots rather than just doing mockups, though ( And it's looking really nice, by the way).

[Daniel]

Look, everyone! Finally, a real screenshot!

[qimg]http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k151/cloudstrife2006/sfzpreview-1.png[/qimg]

O_O

That's amazing!

[Rael0505]

Man, that's awesome. I love how visually appealing this is now compared to how it was 20 pages ago. It's an improvement.

I agree with all of Cstyler's suggestions. I can see what ZFG is saying, too. Maybe some ways you can vary up the ground a little are adding different size logs, making them different colors. You could even give them tops/bottoms, too, by making them curve into a point at the ends or something. Just play with it a little and think of ways you can add more variety. It's off to a great start as it is.

By the way, I like the idea of putting patches of grass in the middle of the ground, but the sprite of the grass patches and the main grass on top of the ground don't match with each other. The small patches are composed of large blocks of color, while your grass has a slightly more vertical stripe look to it. Why don't you remake the small patches by editing off the main grass sprite? That way, there won't be any stylistic clashing between the two.

All nitpicking aside, I like what I see. Keep it up.

[Sslaxx]

Looking good there, methinks. This game is coming along quite nicely now!

[ShadowMasterX5]

Whoa, that's very good Blue Emerald , the game really is coming out quite nice. Also yes I think the tiles are a bit repetive, try maybe putting vines wrapping a few logs, it'll give it a more nature feel

Edit: Think of Sonic Rush when there were vines in Leaf Storm's loops XD

[FanGameRevolver]

Just one question about the picture... I take it the BG is not in place yet,...It's just blue...It looks nice though.

[ZFG]

Whoa, that's very good Blue Emerald , the game really is coming out quite nice. Also yes I think the tiles are a bit repetive, try maybe putting vines wrapping a few logs, it'll give it a more nature feel

Edit: Think of Sonic Rush when there were vines in Leaf Storm's loops XD

How can you say that? It's not repetive at all.

[Blue Emerald]

Just one question about the picture... I take it the BG is not in place yet,...It's just blue...It looks nice though.

It's there, it's just hidden behind the foreground. I'll work on raising it up so that it can be seen while walking or running.

Cstyler: Thanks for the tip; that will definitely help me figure out which platforms are ones Sonic can jump up to. Of course, Sonic CD had platforms like that, and they didn't shade those platforms, but you could recognize them as ones you could jump up to. I could, however, add some dimension to these platforms so they don't look so flat. I'll definitely consider putting clouds in the background; although Act 1 was meant to have a clear sky, now that I see this background in the game, I think it could look much better with some clouds in the sky. Thank you for your advice.

Zenor: Concerning the grass, I was aiming for a Sonic CD style when I made that, so 1) the grass is meant to be as repetitive as it is and 2) Sonic is supposed to be standing in front of the grass (in response to Cstyler's concern about the grass). As for the monitor, it's meant to be a forest-themed version of the classic monitor, so it has a grassy log for the base and a vine-framed monitor. Antron's face looks fine to me, but do you mean that his left eye should be farther away so his face is looking more forward? In the meantime, thank you for reviewing this.

Rael0505: I'll edit those grass patches. Concerning the logs in the foreground, I was thinking about perhaps making some of them checkered, as I had done with a few of the logs before in my previous mock-ups of Summer Forest (and in retrospect, that was also planned to prevent repetition). Maybe then it would have more variety. Thank you for your critiques.

ShadowMasterX5: Hmm... vines are possible. I'm not sure if it would look very appealing in the foreground, but maybe I could use them at the ends of platforms? Then again, I've already considered darkening the logs at the end for dimension. I'm a little iffy on this idea, but thank you for it.

As for whether or not this game will be in SAGE, I first have to have a booth set up (which means I'll have to email lmerrill about it and get that set up as soon as I can). Also, I'll be lucky if I can finish the first act so it's fully playable, as I really don't have anything drawn up for it yet, and as of late I've found myself pressed for time on this project. Hopefully, this will make a debut in this year's SAGE. And thank you all for your help; it will make this game much better.