Sonic Skywind: Episode II

[TailsSena]

By the Square Enix way I was refferingbto Dissidia Duodecim, but point taken. I think I know of another good background I can use.

[Serephim]

Higher Resolution is poor design? Did anyone ever think about the fact that he may want to do things that require more screen space?

There are plenty of things that could warrant more screen space. It's up to him to decide if its worth it. Perhaps he wants to raise the speed limit, or have puzzles that require you to see more than what you could on a gameboy screen? It's only poor design if hes trying to make a traditional sonic game, but there's no telling what he would do with this. The graphics will suffer, but it IS a fangame, and he should be free to do whatever he wants with it.

You guys really need to stop regurgitating things you hear all the time. Is a higher than usual resolution going to make his game "bad"? Of course it isn't, and you're ridiculous for assuming it automatically would.

As rediculus as it may sound, I'm trying to make this game 'The Square Enix Way'… So;

Solid engine: Worlds 360 Base

Level design: Full of pretty things, regardless of how visible they are at 90mph. Also not cutting short just because "the player will never see that far"

Particles/VFX: Object collection based. (Rings) … May add some action effects too.

Bosses: Elaborate, acrobatic, and strategy-based gimmick cenric.

Ha, haha, "Square Enix Way"....I guess we'll never see it then.

....Jokes about FFXIII Versus aside...The "Square Enix" way is, in one word, "polished". I didn't like Kingdom Hearts II nearly as much as 1, but the combat engine was very solid ( something i modeled my fangame after.) The graphics and special effects were beautiful as well.

If you're focusing on those things you listen, then thats great. The biggest thing to focus on then is how flexible your engine is. Make sure the base of everything is very solid, and that it can support lots of alterations without breaking it. That way, you'll be able to do whatever comes to mind and not have to worry about "ARGHH my engine wont support collisions with moving active objects!" or something.

In terms of level design, it's going to have to be much better. And as for the speed aspect, if you're going to have ridiculous straight-aways, then you might need to find ways to increase sonic's speed to easily and quickly pass them.

[TailsSena]

Tails, FYI. What you are typing on, what almost every fangame is played on and what you are making the game on. Is NOT a PSP.

At the time, I was typing on a DSi, so, true... But probably not what you meant.

@Serephim: Thank you once again. I'd rep+ you again if it'd let me.

And yes, KH1 and 2 are amazing places to take from. If anyone has the she SFX that plays when someone breaks YOUR card in CoM/Re: CoM, I need it please. (Not the "ting!" that plays when you break someone else's card) I'm going to use it for when your attack bounces off a boss. Speaking of bosses, guess who the first is!

[StealthyMC]

At the time, I was typing on a DSi, so, true... But probably not what you meant.

@Serephim: Thank you once again. I'd rep+ you again if it'd let me.

And yes, KH1 and 2 are amazing places to take from. If anyone has the she SFX that plays when someone breaks YOUR card in CoM/Re: CoM, I need it please. (Not the "ting!" that plays when you break someone else's card) I'm going to use it for when your attack bounces off a boss. Speaking of bosses, guess who the first is!

[qimg]http://www.spriters-resource.com/gameboy_advance/sonicadv/sa1_metalknux.gif[/qimg]

That looks really interesting. I can't wait to see how you've implemented this metal Knuckles. This boss kinda gives that "Advance" feeling back to the game.

[BlazefireLP]

Even though eveything else appears to be SonicAdvance2. Wait, this is SonicAdvance-Worlds right? If so, why does it have SonicAdvance2 stuff in it?

[Serephim]

...does it matter?

[sonicyoda]

Yeah, you're just splitting hairs now Blazefire. There is nothing about the title "Sonic Advance Worlds" that suggests all its' graphics come from Sonic Advance 1. I'm positive the title refers to the Advance series in general.

Also, is it possible to complete that demo or is it supposed to be a simple play area with no goal?

[BlazefireLP]

I'd guess an early test with no goal. Also, that was 3am talkin' for yah. XD.

[TailsSena]

Whoops! Sorry I've been off here for so long. Metal Knuckles isn't actually IN the game yet. Haven't had a chance to work on it in a while, my power cord got taken away because I refused to go sight-seeing. Yes "Sonic Advance" is referring to the whole trilogy, I would think that's fairly obvious since Partners where NOT in Advance 1 OR 2.

Yes, what you guys have is a little tech demo (so-to-speak) just to prove that two 360 base engines can be run at once. No goal, just some rings, empty area, and an unfinished spike thrown in for fun.

I DO have a rudimentary plot in my head though.

Eggman has decided to go back in time (again) to see if he can bring back some of his old robots and make them better... And do some other things while he's at it. Speaking of which, he's also brought back an old damsel whom Sonic has completely forgotten, and must now save. (She saved herself last time.)

"Arrrrgghh!! This stupid thing looks like Sonic but it's BAAAAAAD!!!!"

It's Sera

[TailsSena]

A dynamic difficulty system is in the works in my head, and is getting programmed as soon as I get my damned power cord back. (I could have SWORN I had a spare!)

An invisible counter lingering just outside the frame will keep track of the current "difficulty" level for a boss. If you get hit, 2 points are subtracted. If you hit the boss, 3 points are added. The counter's current value determines which actions can be performed by a boss. Combine that with the runtime randomizing it's action value every handful of seconds, and you have yourself the hardest Knuckles related boss outside of Sonic Battle!

[TailsSena]

New release soon!

[BlazefireLP]

Try not to post triple post dude. It's not cool and I do believe their are rules for that? You can simple use the button =/.

[Serephim]

A dynamic difficulty system is in the works in my head, and is getting programmed as soon as I get my damned power cord back. (I could have SWORN I had a spare!)

An invisible counter lingering just outside the frame will keep track of the current "difficulty" level for a boss. If you get hit, 2 points are subtracted. If you hit the boss, 3 points are added. The counter's current value determines which actions can be performed by a boss. Combine that with the runtime randomizing it's action value every handful of seconds, and you have yourself the hardest Knuckles related boss outside of Sonic Battle!

Lol...well, thats how most bosses work. More dangerous moves are unlocked as you continue to wear it down, and moves are somewhat random to not fall into patterns.

Its great you're getting it working though.

[TailsSena]

I'm doing it this way so it goes crazy the more you kill it, and calms down a tiny bit if it hits you... Also, no-hit runs will be damn near impossible; 7-hits, and no damage to the player (21 on the counter), will unlock a bosses"Cheap move" that is to say it creates some odd object several times that are very hard to avoid...

...Like... It generates 6 little blue sparkles, and as each one 'hits' the top of the screen, there is a 1/3 second (20 frames) delay until a large bolt of lightning comes crashing down in ONE frame at the player's current X position. Also, with 21 or higher on the counter, the boss will warp away at any signs of danger.

I might also make it aware of your partner so that it's not like Sonic 3/Advance 3/any game with a partner where enemies would completely ignore Tails/your selected partner.

Update on progress:

Options menu accessible and functional.

Mighty and Shadow removed due to lack of animations.

Currently expanding stage and redoing some Sounds.

Optomized waterfalls.

Modified Character select.

Working on specializing characters...

Ripped Homing Attack from BlazefireLP's Sonic '06 engine. Pain in the ass to port, but it works great! Just wish I could force it to go faster like with the Jumpdash. And don't worry, I made a note on it's groupname to give you credit, BlazefileLP!

[TailsSena]

Sorry for DP. New Demo release! Please report any bugs, and suggestions.

I HOPE YOU LIKE INACTLIVE BUZZBOMBERS CUZ THAT'S ALL I HAVE!!

Sonic Advance Worlds.zip

[Hobbes]

I tried to play it, but once the level started the game crashed! :C

[Serephim]

I'm doing it this way so it goes crazy the more you kill it, and calms down a tiny bit if it hits you... Also, no-hit runs will be damn near impossible; 7-hits, and no damage to the player (21 on the counter), will unlock a bosses"Cheap move" that is to say it creates some odd object several times that are very hard to avoid...

I know where you're trying to go with this, but this isn't a very good idea.

I can understand if this was an Action-RPG or something of the sorts, but in a game like sonic, forcing you to lose your rings is just a terrible idea. That defeats the purpose entirely.

Lots of people assume that it's the difficulty of the boss that makes the boss fun. That's wrong. It's a fun boss that makes the boss fun.

In other words....don't focus so much on difficulty. You'll always want it to be easier at first than too hard, and if "hard" is what you're looking for, "cheap" is never a good way to get there. It's just a good way to piss off the player before they press the close button on your application. Let the fun come from figuring out the boss and the unique attacks you can make the boss come at you with. That's what you should be thinking of. After you've got that down, THEN you come up with ways to tweak it to make it harder if it's too easy, or easier if it's too cheap.

You'll gain nothing from bosses becoming cheap mid-battle. And FYI, the experience of narrow victory/defeat is MUCH more fulfilling than the experience of "god damn i finally beat that cheap piece of shit, finally next level lets go".

And uh, yeah, the EXE crashes as soon as the level starts.

[Djawed]

Sup, crashes here too (on windows 7)

[DimensionWarped]

Same here.

[luksamuk]

I'm on the app-crash club here too...

Are you using any kind of different extension?

[BlazefireLP]

Okay, played it for a bit and some things:

The character select has the same flaws than every other one that I see, I selected a character, I can then move and select another and keep spamming it everywhere.

Tried homing attack, and it straight away didn't work, I am now currently stuck at an enemy, shaking while knuckles keeps jumping. Serious, your homing attack is not even functional if not BARELY. It has so many glitches. The worst part is I know how they are caused when it happens. That resolution is so big most of the game rooms look really empty in areas. Honestly, WHAT IS WITH people making fucking loading screens in MMF2 games? They serve no purpose other than to delay the player from getting to the actual game. This is something that I think it very VERY stupid. MMF2 loads everything almost in an instant. There is never really a reason to trigger something to load in another frame. Just get to the point with it.

Now, one REALLY stupid thing you didn't do was keep the abilities to their own respective characters. For example, I can do the homing attack as any character. Even then, in any small chance. It still NEVER works or completes its homing attack cycle. Again, like I said last time. What is with the crappy MIDI's? Is it me alone who just thinks they sound horrible and are ridiculous to use these days due to the fact that it supports MP3's OGG's MOD's IT's and others.

On the (ONLINE) tab, put your mouse under the window from where it is, it starts shaking from putting your mouse under it.

Another common thing, Most of the sprites are poorly animated, my eye's would appreciate it if they was made a bit more smoother.

The RING-LOSS procedure does not always function correctly, sometimes I hit an enemy or walk onto spikes the rings disperse but I do nothing but stand their like nothing happened. I think that'd be the MODE7 causing crashes for some people. It is also a big cause for game slowdowns. I found the use of low quality Sonic-Genesis sounds slightly odd for the style you are supposed to be going for as well. Go to the main website and you should find some SFX rips by me from ADV2 or ADV3.

Overall, I found this too buggy to play and barely enjoyable. The ONLY thing I remotely liked is the same thing I did in one of my old engine builds. Make a 3D MODE7 sea in the background and set it's Z length dependent on a Frame height expression.

This has many ways to go and I also think this game should be only a project only on your part. I personally don't think this has what it takes nor the common collaboration standard to become something that would be one. It all seems very "Make a topic and people help out with my project" Based.

That's my review of it.

[TailsSena]

Okay, lesson learned... Mode7 and MMF2 HWA don't like eachother... I can fix the character attributes in a few minutes, and that's been in my head for a while. The homing attack not working properly thing... I'll try. I have a few ideas...

Just keep in mind that this is the last one to be this crappy. As the engine takes shape more and more, the game will get better. Once that's done, I can finish Leafgreen Zone, and release it again. Sound like a plan?

Oh, and blazefire, could you elaborate a bit more on the problems incharacter select? I need to understand you correctly before I can fix anything.

For those of you who got crashes, the best thing I found was patience, though it's hardly worth it at this release. If you DO, just keep your hands OFF the keyboard until the timer starts... THAT's when control is restored to both players. Ciao!~

[BlazefireLP]

You shouldn't keep releasing builds over and over. by the time you think it is worthy of a demo, we'd all of played it to death by then. Release things in a bundle. Like lots of substantial changes and take your time, no matter how eager for feedback you are from something.

When you select a character, the voice plays. I can then select another character after selecting the second one and just keep spamming the selection. Even if you don't know what I am saying. Just make sure things act "break" resistant due to any type of user input or circumstances.

Edit: I think me going over things for people in videos with my commentary would sometimes be better than my typing out things I may forget and having to explain something better shown. I think it'd be a healthy method of criticism.

[TailsSena]

Just make sure the transcriber can read your voice right. My compuer has a fried sound proccessor, and no card to replace it with. That's why the sounds in my game are so horrid, though I did get a hold of the SA3 sound pack.

[DimensionWarped]

You shouldn't keep releasing builds over and over. by the time you think it is worthy of a demo, we'd all of played it to death by then. Release things in a bundle. Like lots of substantial changes and take your time, no matter how eager for feedback you are from something.

I'm pretty sure his need for frequent feedback trumps those notions right now.