Project DASH

[Highwire4]

Hey all,

Thought I'd post the little project I've been working on in my spare time up on here. Its called Sonic DASH but because of how lame of a name that is it's subject to change later on when I care long enough to come up with something new. Now for a bit of history about this project before I link y'all to some stuff.

This project has been in my head for around 10 or so years now and has gone through around 3 different game builds. The past few months I've been finalizing the concepts for each level and have recently begun drawing up the graphics for the game.

Here's some links to previous builds of the game..rather old, consider these tech demos:

First Build:

Second Build:

Attempt at a 3D build:

3rd Build:

Gallery of Concept art: http://sonicbommer.deviantart.com/gallery/38102258

Act 1 Complete level:

STORY:

Overall Plot: Eggman has discovered clues from an ancient civilization about the where-a-bouts of an ancient seismic weapon capable of destroying anything anywhere on the planet at anytime. To make sure he wins this time, Eggman has stopped fooling around. His robots are far meaner than ever before and he takes advantage of every opportunity he gets when it comes to killing Sonic. Can Sonic stop Eggman from obtaining and using this weapon?

First Cut-scene: Sonic is napping in a field when he hears explosions in the distance. Upon waking up he notices what looks like an Eggman battleship far off in the distance. He quickly gets on his feet and blasts off towards it.

ZONES:

Forgotten Forest: Jungle/Ruin Theme

The Forgotten Forest is a vast mountainous jungle of peaks and deep ravines covered with lush foliage and the occasional giant tree. Its a little bit like Central/South American rain forests.

Act 1:

Takes place on the forest floor in the purest heart of the jungle. The jungle cliffs rise high above the tree tops, well out of view as they dominate the backdrop along with towering trees.

Act 2:

Sonic has manuevered his way up the tree line, around midway at this point. He's also uncovered some ancient ruins filled with spike traps and giant cliche boulders. A great lake is visible in the distance along with an ancient bridge that is said to lead to one of the ancient wonders of the lost world.

Act 3:

Far above the canopy now, Sonic can now see above the cliffs and mountains and see just how truly vast this jungle is. As he gets closer and closer to the center of Eggman's operation, the jungle around him seems bigger than ever before as he ends the level scaling a gigantic tree.

Sketched backdrops of each act

Grainy Ghetto: Urban/desert theme

After Sonic's long fall from Eggman's surprise attack on the temple, he finds himself in an arid city during the annual kite festival. Dash across rooftops and slip down clothes lines as you blast through alley ways and marketplaces as you make your way toward the palace in the center of town.

Act 1:

On the outskirts of the town, you can see the entire city before you, with the great pyramid palace at it's center. Make your way into the streets but be mindfull of those slippery sand dunes.

Act 2:

In the heart of the city, the energy of the festivities is undeniable as you race through markets and slide across carpet bridges. Try to stick to the rooftops since you'll get a few short cuts along clothes lines and kites.

Act 3:

The sun has begun to set on the arid dunes as Sonic has made his way to the palace. Skimming across aquaducts and catching a ride on kites are going to be your best bet to making it to the giant pyramid.

Gimmick list

Havok Harbor: Shipping Harbor theme

Havok Harbor is a vast and bustling shipping harbor. A maze of shipping containers, cranes, warehouses and giant cargo ships make up this zone. One of the more colorful of the zones.

Concept Art: http://sonicbommer.deviantart.com/gallery/38102258#/d4slm64

Skyline (or Downtown Dispatch. not sure): Future/Urban/Industrial theme

Skyline is a giant city of the future. Sleek skyscrapers reach beyond the clouds and dwarf the rest of the landscape around them. Dodge and surf air-car traffic as you make your way through the vast multi-level mega-city. Light bridges and teleportation circuits aid in traversing this chaotic urban sprawl.

Concept Art: http://sonicbommer.deviantart.com/gallery/38102258#/d5d0j35

http://sonicbommer.deviantart.com/gallery/38102258#/d5d0j6r

Raw Refinery: Arctic/Industrial/Fire theme

Act 1: A desolate and eerie place; Raw Refinery is an oil refinery in an arctic wasteland. The beautiful Aurora in the night sky does little to offset the lonely feeling of this place since you seem to be absolutely and completely alone, yet you feel like someone is watching you.... Run on giant pipe valves like hamster wheels to fill/drain pools of oil to access new areas, but watch out for falling icicles and oil pits!

Act 2:

This whole place was an elaborate trap! Dr. Eggman has set the entire refinery on fire in an attempt to destroy Sonic before he gets too much of a nuisance! You must quickly escape before the refinery destroys you in it's destruction. A rather linear level since the entire zone is literally falling apart or melting around you, if you aren't quick enough, there won't be enough level left to play!

Concept Art: http://sonicbommer.deviantart.com/gallery/38102258#/d4nx291

Airship Atrocity (or Atmosphere Armada): Sky/Armada theme

After Dr. Eggman's escape from Raw Refinery, he launches his Sky Armada in preparation for the final phase of his plan. Sonic manages to hitch a ride on the last ship as barely escapes whats left of Raw Refinery. It doesn't take Eggman long to figure this out, and in an act of desperation, begins to fire upon his own ships! Ziplines and air-currents will get you from ship to ship, but you can also infiltrate a vessel and sabotage it's reactor to destroy it and blast your self a few ships ahead!

Southern Sea: Ancient Ruin/Future/Ocean theme

The final zone. Its a race against Eggman himself!

Mantle Madness: Final Boss

The final fight.

The Main Idea

What I want to do with this game is do something that I don't see a lot in fan games. I want to use atmosphere and mood and gameplay to give the player a sense of progression. I want to make my colorful zones instill wonder, discovery, panic, loneliness, etc all through the use of visual stimulus and level design. I want to make the player immersed in this colorful world and experience not just a fun experience, but a slight emotional one, an experience that'll stick with the player for a while after they've finished playing it.

Progression is a big theme in this game. Every act in each zone is slightly different. Each act brings new graphics and gimmicks to the table while keeping the overall theme consistent. Even the time of day may change in certain acts and cut scenes will bind each level together in a manner similar to how S3&K told it's story.

An example of this passage of time and space would be the transition between the 4th zone, Skyline Zone, and the 5th Zone, Raw Refinery.

In Skyline Zone's first act, you find your self on the outskirts of a futuristic mega city riding atop the bow of the previous zone's boss, which is now a smoldering heap of metal. As you get closer to the end of the act, the buildings in the background get higher and higher and the environment seems to be getting more chaotic and full of energy till you finish the act and go to the next one, which starts right where you left off, only this time, you're in the downtown part of the city. Now that you're in the heart of the city, your environment feels radically different. You spend a lot of your time racing up and down colossal sky scrapers and surfing atop flying cars as you weave your way through chaotic traffic to the end of the act. The third and final act is much more industrial, with giant factories and power plants now replacing the once towering sky scrapers. The chaotic energy of the city is still very much there, but it has a more imposing feel to it, like as if they aren't welcome in this part of town. If the player were paying attention they'd notice that the sun is now setting across the sky as they make their way to the end of the act which ends where a giant oil pipeline meets a power plant. The Boss battle takes place on this oil pipeline, and as the battle goes on, the environment will begin to change from the bustling city to a frigid blizzard just as the last sliver of the sun disappears behind the horizon. This changes the patterns of the boss and the visible falling of the sun should change the tone of the battle to ease it into the the next zone; Raw Refinery.

Raw Refinery begins where the boss left off; on a slippery snow covered pipeline that leads to a vast and desolate oil refinery. Night has fallen upon the land along with a raging blizzard. The odd lack of badnicks along with these other factors is making this act seem rather desolate and isolated. This loneliness and darkness makes the player feel uneasy as the entire level gives off this foreboding and empty aura.

Yes all of that is just talk and thoughts right now, but it's what I hope to achieve with this game. Given the current state of development, I don't have much to show for it in it's current build. I am currently working on the first act of the first level to at least get something like a tech demo out that'll show on the basic level what the game will look like.

[DimensionWarped]

It sounds like your concept is vague and the entirety of your work so far consists of unfinished artwork and abandoned tinkering efforts.

I like the idea of a painted art style for a Sonic game, but you really should see things through a little further before announcing your project.

[Serephim]

I see tons of builds but nothing different between any of them.

Sonic Worlds seems to accomplish everything your previous builds tries to accomplish. You should probably just stick with that and then focus on finishing your artwork.

[Highwire4]

I completely agree with what the both of you have said in regards to this, but I really don't get a lot of free time to work on this.

I guess it would have been wiser to get the engine ready first before I start doing visuals but I have little experience coding in MMF2 and I'm sick of the project going no where so I thought it'd be fine if I just worked on what I know best first to get it out of the way.

But you guys know more about this whole process than I do so..

Is my concept really that vague? I'd love to elaborate on it if it's really needed.

[Serephim]

I think it's mostly just some misconception floating around that every fangame needs its own specific 100% built from scratch engine. There's nothing wrong with wanting to program for yourself, but...i don't really know.

So, i don't really know what's being shown. I guess what im saying is, there's no real concept that any of those engine tests seem to follow other than typical sonic stuff, and worlds exists already. Im guessing your artstyle is your hook here, so you might want to finish at least a level set then show it off.

[Hez]

Your post gave me diabetes

Honestly man, it's a hard, harsh lesson to learn, but nobody gives a shit about your "concepts" or "ideas". Not you specifically, but everyones. You generally will get positive feedback when you have a solid foundation, like a complete level, complete working concept, etc. If I posted every inch of my progress on my game, I'd probably have 50 posts a day.

[Highwire4]

@Serephim: I see what you're saying now. When I get more time I'll edit the first post with much more information. I suppose the previous builds were just me really trying to nail down proper sonic level design. I still haven't quite nailed it yet but I've learned quite a lot from my past attempts.

As for the whole super-custom-special-awesome game engine, thats not really what I meant. I realize now that the first post is rather lacking in clear information since I was rushing but what I meant was; I'm using the Sonic Worlds engine, but I'm not too savy when it comes to programming, so creating my own power ups, game mechanics, or level gimmicks is just out of my reach at the moment and as a result, the engine is not ready. Sorry about this massive communication error on my part @_@

@Hez:

I'm well aware of this, concepts are just words with no backing behind them and as a result are nothing to really talk about. In hindsight I should have waited till I had a complete tile set to work with and at least a test level to go with it before I announced it here.

When I get the time, I'll have to record a video of the last build which had a complete level along with beta graphics if its actual levels that you guys need to see. It's just going to be out dated is all.

I'm at the stage in development though when I'm turning concept into an actual game. I thought that one screen shot would have expressed that. lol whoops.

So I guess I'm sort of in an odd spot at the moment...lordy this is a little embarrassing.

Well one thing at a time. The highest priority is to get at least act 1's tile set finished. Then I can start constructing an actual level to show off. Once thats finished I gotta figure out how the hell to program gimmicks and stuff...weee

[OverbounD]

You come here how often Hez? What in the hell made you think: "Gee, I simply must log on to my SFGHQ account and reply to this thread".

[Highwire4]

Alright I managed to find the time to do some recording, as a result, here is the first full act of the first level.

I suppose a better way to explain this stuff would be that in the previous builds, I was mostly just trying to figure out what I was doing or how to do things. Basic experimentation while gaining experience through trial and error.

Feed back on this wasn't the best. The game played too slowly and it felt cluttered.

I didn't have a unique tile set for the level either, I just used what Sonic Worlds already gave to me and slapped on some graphics over the base collision sprites which looking back on it now, isn't the best way to pull off the desired effect.

I did try to incorporate as many paths and intersections as I could, but I scrunched everything together which made it kinda slow.

The goal at the time when I was designing this was to have multiple paths and make sure that 'pressing right to win' wasn't a common theme. I forgot about the speed and flow elements though, which ultimately killed the overall level design.

Is this more substantial for you guys? Granted it's pretty basic and not all that good, but its a full level.

[Falk]

The hand-drawn art-style implies a lot of organic curves; the level you have, half temporary art or not (dear god please tell me it's temporary, right now it's not something I want to be caught playing) is very angular, which again plays into level flow. Something with gradual slopes will appear to flow a lot more smoothly even if the basic routes are the same. Stuff like half pipes not ending exactly vertical, slowly easing into upward/downward incline, everything to reduce the sense of perpendicularity.

Just something else to keep in mind.

[Highwire4]

Any art in the previous builds was purely temporary, put there so I could get a rough feel for how to implement things. The tile sets I've sketched up for the current build are as smooth and flowing as a rollercoaster and won't be implemented until each sprite is finished.

Thanks for all the input guys, really appreciate it

[OverbounD]

Actually I really like the hand drawn graphics. Not that I think you should keep them for a final game or anything. I just really like that tree and the pillars. Try to make them into pixel art!

[Highwire4]

lol thanks Overbound. No worries, those'll get drawn up in due time. Though we won't see any ruins till I start working on Act 2's tile set, which is basically the same as Act 1's but with ruins thrown in and a few minor tweaks to complete the atmosphere in the level.

Speaking of tilesets, I've been a little reluctant to start sketching the graphics for the level gimmicks. I'm not to sure about them, what do you guys think? Do I have enough? Are they too generic?

[Apricity]

Oh man, I'm with Overbound; Those hand-drawn graphics are so cool!

The gimmicks are plentiful but they do suffer from being a bit generic. I do like the curly branch one though, it's a nice twist on the olld gimmick.

[Highwire4]

Thanks Chronic!

Guess I'll have come up with new ones then, which is fine, thanks for the criticism.

[Serephim]

Your post gave me diabetes

Honestly man, it's a hard, harsh lesson to learn, but nobody gives a shit about your "concepts" or "ideas". Not you specifically, but everyones. You generally will get positive feedback when you have a solid foundation, like a complete level, complete working concept, etc. If I posted every inch of my progress on my game, I'd probably have 50 posts a day.

shut up

Speaking of tilesets, I've been a little reluctant to start sketching the graphics for the level gimmicks. I'm not to sure about them, what do you guys think? Do I have enough? Are they too generic?

I think they're pretty awesome. They're all pretty sonic typical, but that's not a bad thing. I especially like the pull vine idea, dont think i've seen that one before.

[Highwire4]

Thanks Serephim

I went ahead and did some brain storming and came up with some new stuff:

New gimmick ideas

These won't replace the one's I've already come up with, just add onto them. These better?

I've also updated the first post with quite a lot of information.

[Highwire4]

Not much of an update in terms of anything super flashy, unless you mean this:

While the bottom two sprites are really only half done, I just thought that this jump in quality was worthy enough to post. I've finally figured out how to make these rather quickly so it shouldn't be too long till I finish the tile set, assuming school doesn't get in the way.

Another reason for the update was I wanted your input on a boss idea I have. I want to do something different with the bosses in this game rather than the standard formula sooo:

Basically the boss is a military train fitted with weapons to the extreme. You defeat it by going from car to car destroying each one along the way. Each car is designed like a level, but has boss fight elements in it. I'm not entirely sure how to proceed when it comes to how you defeat each car.

Maybe kill all the turrets or blow up a weak point?

I was talking with a buddy of mine and he suggested something like taking down each car piece by piece. Like taking out the wheels of the engine or destroying its cab or boiler or something.

I have no clue how to design a boss so...I dunno, what do you guys think?

[Highwire4]

Guys seriously? Am I doing something wrong or...?

So I've been doing some level designing.

CLICK THAT BITCH

This is act 1. Each square is 128x128 btw.

White boxes are monitors, yellow squares are springs, red squares are enemies and the white mini-castle things are spike traps. Orange boxes are level gimmicks.

Gimmicks from left to right:

Emerald Hill Helix

Launching Fern thing

Floating Lily Pad

Swinging Vines

Cannon Flower (send player up 4 tiles)

Spring Trees(send player up 3 tiles)

Green Hill Zone tunnels

Slippery Moss

Stage end

I had the first bit before the first Y-path linear to teach the player about the enemies and the physics and stuff btw.

I have no idea how well this actually plays out but what do you guys think?

Also I won't be able to work on this as much as I used to since school has started up and I've got game projects for class that need my attention more than this.

[Damizean]

I'm surprised no one commented on your progress, but that hand drawn art looks very, very amazing. I'm definately looking forward to see the level art completed and a playable demo.

As for the level design, seems pretty decent although you should ensure some sort of retraceability for the upper path. Seems that there's no easy way to go back from it after that S pipe.

Keep up the good work!!

[Ark-E]

I like the idea on how this is following in terms of aesthetic measures. (Not even I'm that good with level artwork, which is odd, but hey.) The artistic concept of how the levels are blew me away.

Keep up the good work man. Lovin' it! =D

[Highwire4]

Finally some feed back

@Damizean: Wow thanks man, means a lot :3

I see what you mean though with the level design. I'll get right on it. I've started creating the level in MMF2 and I've already had to change a few things around so I'll be sure to fine tune the rest of it too.

@Arkenova: Wow seriously? Thanks a lot man! I'm glad you love what I've got so far!

I'm creating the level and working on the game when I can. What I hope to achieve at the moment is to get the basic layout of the level set up. I can already simulate most of the level gimmicks with what's already in the Sonic Worlds engine. Making the actual gimmicks will come later when I can actually comprehend how the engine is structured.

It would be pretty cool to get something at least playable to you guys, even if it is pretty fucking ugly to look at. Like um, open public beta testing I guess? Would you guys be interested in participating in something like that?

[Rawr]

I like the hand drawn art. I don't like the scale of it in the game though. At the resolution you have your game set at, I feel like the piece is too big and the details get awfully muddy zoomed in like that. The preview pic you posted where its zoomed out is nice and crisp.

I know it'd be a huge undertaking to change everything to fit an HD format but honestly I think it'd be cool if you could tweak everything to work at a higher resolution. It'd do your hand drawn art more justice.

Also don't take it personally when lack of feedback occurs - yeah its nice to have people comment but not everyone is around here all the time and its kind of a quieter community these days.

[Highwire4]

Crap. I see what you mean. I can't have tile sets 2-3 times bigger than the standard set and keep the same screen resolution. Derp.

I'd love to try to fix the problem with the camera resolution but I can't find where that bit of code is ANY WHERE. Made a topic about it after I rage quit of searching for 6 or so hours: http://www.sonicfangameshq.com/forum/showthread.php?p=157996#post157996

I figured that was what was going on, but I'm pretty new here and not really familiar with the community yet. Thanks for the critique though

[Jassbec]

I'm very fascinated for that hand drawn art,you should try to "pixel dem pictures" if you know what i mean.