Sonic: The Gizoid - SAGE 2009 Demo

[AntonHuckleberry]

Start as nothing, become anything...

'The Gizoid' is a Sonic fan-game with a difference. Playing as the Gizoid, you can unlock and choose a variety of skills and abilities from a host of characters from the Sonic universe. These skills will change the way you play through huge levels with multiple end points and unlockables along the way. You can sprint start-to-finish, fight everyone you can or go exploring to find unlockables! It's up to you how this adventure unfolds.

This new demo has the first two levels, and a selection of abilities to play around with. Enjoy!

Screenshots, trailer and demo all available from the link below:

http://antonhuckleberry.webs.com/sonicthegizoiddemo.htm

[Slow_Motion]

Wow,Amazing im downloading it right now.

Edit: pretty damn good game.

[AntonHuckleberry]

Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it.

[Guest Viking ZX]

Alright, I gave the Gizoid a go, and I'm really impressed. The multitude of skills that are apparent and the length of the levels is pretty impressive. I also really enjoyed the music from the second stage. A guitar remix of Marble garden...where can I find that?

As far as constructive criticism goes, the level graphics are a little bland, especially the first stage. That tile motif is overwhelming. However, it's a demo mainly intended to show tech, kind of like Gemeni, so I'm guessing you'll add more to it later (grass and other colors).

Anyway, this one is great! Nice job!

[Guest Sabin Stargem]

Heya, just played through the demo twice today. I got a few criticisms and observations, plus questions.

The first and biggest flaw I noticed had to do with how the game transitions between sections in each stage, which tended to be sudden and disrupted gameplay, stopping Gizoid in his tracks. If this is an engine limitation, I believe that building stages around this problem would best, like how Megaman stages tend to be in sections with individual rooms - you could use these points for mini-bosses or challenges, if need be. The first transition in which this happens is near the area with crates and a blue sphere in Stage 1.

An second issue is with the Jetpack ability and the blue sphere is mentioned - when picking up the sphere, the text box is automatically dispelled due to the jetpack button needing to be pressed, which means that the text can't read by any human that I know of, though I wager that isn't a problem for Gizoid.

There are a number of other issues having to do with presentation, such as the end-stage summary and how to go about unlocking additional powers, but those are minor quibbles considering that this is essentially a tech demo. The game works fairly well, though it needs some balancing and meat to it. All in all, pretty good work! I am looking forward to seeing this game at the next SAGE.

Viking VZ: I think you could find the music from Stage 2 at OCRemix, Project Chaos, or Hedgehog Heaven. There is a whole bunch of other nice bits of remixed Sonic music to be found in those places. I especially recommend Walk on Water, Three Ring Nightfall, and Malicious Fingers of Project Chaos.

AntoineHuckleberry: Yo, what direction are you intending to take The Gizoid's gameplay and storyline? Are each of the final stages to present a general challenge, like a Stardust Speedway or Hydro City, or be based on specific character archetypes? Will playable or enemy versions of Sonic and the gang appear? What of chaos Emeralds, will they grant Super Forms like in S3&K?

[AntonHuckleberry]

Thanks for the comments and criticism. I'm a big fan of sonic remix's, so expect to see more in the final version. The marble garden one is called "Sonic Gargles with Garden Marbles", sure you'll be able to find it in google.

Yeah this is an early version and have much more to do!

[Kain]

I really like the concept of the game in-action a whole lot more than I was expecting. The sprites and move-sets really go great together and the concepts are great. The only thing is I have two little problems with the game which are actually big problems. The first problem is that the screen hiccups at certain points (this is obviously because you use multiple GM rooms for a single level to lessen the CPU load) and the controls sometimes wig out when the transition happens. You might want to look into Damizean's sector-based activation system as an alternate way to make sure your huge levels don't lag. The second problem is that your resolution is just way too big; you're using sprites designed for resolutions which are less than 1/4 of what you're using. Not only does this make the graphics kinda bleed together, but it forces you to make sparse level designs that look rather unattractive and bland. Because of the physics of your game, I don't suggest taking it all the way down to GBA-resolution, but I'd hesitate to exceed 400x300.

Oh, one last problem, it takes forever for your game to load and it takes up a heck-lot of RAM (well, for my computer anyway). You might want to look into loading certain big resources (backgrounds, music, and such) externally so you have better control about what's loaded and when.

Anyway, technical and presentational issues aside, surprising game that I'm looking forward to more of. I like the exploration aspect, I like the modification aspect, I'm a huge fan of what you're trying to do and it's implemented solidly with only a few hitches.

[ClassicSonicRules]

Game looks good, but I can't seem to get it to run. It takes forever to load and then finally gives me the message: "Unexpected error occurred when running the game." (Using XP BTW.)

[AntonHuckleberry]

Hey everyone, thanks very much for so all the interest in my game. I've been away for a couple days so I'll answer some points now:

Looking at act transitions within levels, hopefully I'll find a way to keep control consistent or just make the transitions smoother (Hit a sign and use a screen fade or something like that) but as you thought Kain, this was to reduce lag, and I haven’t seen this sector based activation system, but it’s something I'll defiantly look into now, so thanks for that.

About the info spheres, they're exclusive to the demo that I added quite quickly, annoying I know when using the jetpack ability, but not something that will affect the final game.

Presentation needs work I'll agree. The large screen size, along with using a single painting as a background (as opposed to several parallax backgrounds like most sonic games,) make the game look quite bland. I chose a larger screen size because of a personal preference as I've played many fan games that can be quite frustrating as it's difficult to see what’s ahead, especially at high speeds. Making optional screen sizes and resolutions may be a cure for this that I will add into the game.

The file size is rather excessive which is annoying I know, but I really want to put quality over efficiency with this game. Music and large image files will be used externally in the final game as I have done with my other game (Chao Life).

I couldn't imagine why the game wouldn't run I'm sorry to say ClassicSonicRules, the long load time is probably just due to the file size, and I haven't personally tested the game on XP, but there isn't any reason I'm aware of why it wouldn't work on XP.

As far as where I’m taking the game Sabin Stargem, the stage levels will follow a similar suit to what you’ve seen, but with increasing difficulty and different level aspects and trends. By that I mean in the demo levels, it is been mainly speed based with low difficulty, later levels focus more on platforming, quicker reaction times and more strategic use of your abilities. However stage levels aren’t the only levels in the game. Along with Boss’, there are ‘Trial levels’ that will be unlocked either by getting a certain ability or progressing through the story. These levels will either be mini-levels or challenges or require a certain ability to enter and the level will revolve around using the ability to get to the end. For example there is a race against a train, collecting raining rings to build up enough boost to vertically run up a large wall and using your drill stomp on one of three breakable platforms to answer questions displayed on a large sign, getting it wrong leads to death.

There will be around eight playable characters in the final game (looking through your character abilities, it might not be too hard to figure out who they are!) In my trailer (See here:

) you can see some in action briefly, along with Super Sonic, which answers your other question Sabin Stargem, there are super forms in the game, although not all characters will have a super form. Chaos emeralds are obviously in the game too, but as far as how they relate to the storyline and how you get them, that’s a secret for now! I’ll just state that there’s not special stages...as you know them! The game will include a storyline which I hope will be intriguing and interesting to Sonic fans, with a healthy amount of highs, lows and surprises, but a bit more complex and mature than the official Sonic games. These will be presented with cut scenes either at the start or after completing a level/boss/trial.

Phew, wrote a lot more than I thought! I hope that’s answered some questions, again thanks to everyone who's tried the game and especially you guys giving me feedback and constructive criticism, it's a huge help and motivation boost and I'm working hard to make this game the best I can possibly make it.