Ftb (old And Outdated Concepts)

[Jassbec]

(Taken from my internet site http://jassbecspot.webs.com/sonic-from-the-beginning)

Sonic From The Beginning (Previously known as it's working title "Sonic UC" Which means Ultimate Chaos)is a Sonic The Hedgehog Fan-game made by me (Jassbec)

It will take place before Sonic 1,explaining how Sonic really met Eggman.

Similar to what LakeFeperd's fan-game "Before The Sequel" did for Sonic 2 and Tails.

The game takes location in Christmas Island, Sonic's birthplace.

The game is still a work in progress and you can expect to see it in SAGE 2013,as a demo most likely.

Planned Zones (and their description)

(Zone 1) Green Gate Zone: A peaceful place, there's everything in here, a beach full of palmtrees and a forest full of trees. Sonic's adventure starts here.

(Zone 2) Crystal City Zone: A city built by Eggman over a mineral mine, seems like Eggman found the source of his money.

(Zone 3) Flora Frost Zone: A place where it's always snowing, strangely it shows signs of a variety of plants.

(Zone 4) Gear Gorge Zone: Eggman's hydroelectric plant located in a Gorge where there was once beautiful flowers and an amazing variety of trees.

(Zone 5) Complex Cavern Zone: A cave relatively untouched by Eggman, some say it's haunted.

(Zone 6) Raindrop Ruin Zone: It never stops raining in this ruins since Eggman got into the island, who knows what's going on.

(Zone 7) Caliente Carnival Zone: This is a desert that is slowly turning into a casino,maybe Sonic should let Eggman build there since deserts are useless.

(Zone 8) Eternal Elevator Zone: A giant tower that holds Eggman's empire, to reach Botanik Badnik and Scrap Skies, you need to climb it.

(Zone 9) Botanik Badnik Zone: What's this? an artificial forest? What is Eggman planning on doing with those animals,maybe he wants to use them as an energy source?

(Zone 10) Scrap Skies Zone: This is it! it's time to meet the guy behind all the weird things going on Christmas Island. This is a factory full of deathly traps.

(Zone 11)

Special Stage Zone: Eggman has finally found out the true power of the Chaos Emeralds! And his testing his emerald powered robot...with you! Stop him before it's too late!

this is intended to be a spiritual fan-prequel to LakeFeperd's games: the BTS/ATS vibes are utterly intentional and sprinkled throughout. That isn't stopping us from doing our best to make fun and original levels though.

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♪-FTB Sound Team-♫

(Retired) QubedSteak https://soundcloud.com/qubedsteak

StaticBlu https://soundcloud.com/staticblu

TheSymphonicGames https://soundcloud.com/symphonicgamescloud

LoneEchidna https://soundcloud.com/loneechidna

Faseeh https://soundcloud.com/gottagofas

Geckoroverse https://soundcloud.com/starvinggecko

InfinityAlex https://soundcloud.com/infinityalex

-Special Thanks to-

"Arkut" for the moral support! (Thanks a lot buddy!)

"LakeFeperd" Inspiration and mentor...and basic Sonic Worlds tutorial.

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So pretty much everything related to my game will be posted here; concepts,ideas,screenshots (i might post some in the screenshot thread now and then) and all that stuff.

[Jassbec]

In case you haven't been following my game in the screenshot thread,here's some screenshots

[Geckoroverse]

Alrighty folks, I'll start by posting some badnik concepts for Caliente Carnival Zones. Logically I should be starting with first level concepts, but herp-derp-desert-circus.

My idea for this zone was a Western-style desert in the vein of Dust Hill being slowly encapsulated by Eggman's circus-loving shenanigans, greens and oranges being the main colors for the the level layouts with a desert sunset in the background. As such I tasked myself with coming up with some unique badniks fitting for the setting.

The first idea was a roadrunner badnik, which in this incarnation is attached to swinging tightropes ala Angel Island Act 1. They dangerously flail their head when they've reached the climax of their swing, so Sonic has to watch out or take damage.

The lower idea is a jackalope badnik, which dwells in a mechanical magician's hat. It slowly bounds around in a set area, occasionally unveiling itself and its dangerous horns. Hit it when its nose is poking out; the hat itself is invulnerable to damage.

The third badnik is a coyote badnik, whom like its cartoon cousin is often near its roadrunner prey. It controls a mechanism that launches out projectiles ala the flowers from Angel Island, which it activates every few moments when Sonic is near until he destroys it, wherein Sonic can jump on the mechanism and activate a bubble he can bounce on to reach higher places (sometimes into the roadrunner!).

The final one is a rattlesnake badnik, whom is completely stationary. Coiled under itself, it snoozes with only its bumper-rattle above. While it can be safely spindashed into, if you hit the bumper, you have only a few seconds to avoid its lashing fury, or else get hit.

I've got more art, but this is all I've scanned at the moment. Also, my colored Battlesnake is all sorts of crappy in different aspects of the drawing.

What do you guys think? Any changes or ideas you can suggest if you have any?

EDIT - Spoilered for convenience.

[Jassbec]

Alrighty folks, I'll start by posting some badnik concepts for Caliente Carnival Zones. Logically I should be starting with first level concepts, but herp-derp-desert-circus.

My idea for this zone was a Western-style desert in the vein of Dust Hill being slowly encapsulated by Eggman's circus-loving shenanigans, greens and oranges being the main colors for the the level layouts with a desert sunset in the background. As such I tasked myself with coming up with some unique badniks fitting for the setting.

[qimg]http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/5912/caliente1.png[/qimg]

The first idea was a roadrunner badnik, which in this incarnation is attached to swinging tightropes ala Angel Island Act 1. They dangerously flail their head when they've reached the climax of their swing, so Sonic has to watch out or take damage.

The lower idea is a jackalope badnik, which dwells in a mechanical magician's hat. It slowly bounds around in a set area, occasionally unveiling itself and its dangerous horns. Hit it when its nose is poking out; the hat itself is invulnerable to damage.

[qimg]http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/6509/caliente2.png[/qimg]

The third badnik is a coyote badnik, whom like its cartoon cousin is often near its roadrunner prey. It controls a mechanism that launches out projectiles ala the flowers from Angel Island, which it activates every few moments when Sonic is near until he destroys it, wherein Sonic can jump on the mechanism and activate a bubble he can bounce on to reach higher places (sometimes into the roadrunner!).

The final one is a rattlesnake badnik, whom is completely stationary. Coiled under itself, it snoozes with only its bumper-rattle above. While it can be safely spindashed into, if you hit the bumper, you have only a few seconds to avoid its lashing fury, or else get hit.

I've got more art, but this is all I've scanned at the moment. Also, my colored Battlesnake is all sorts of crappy in different aspects of the drawing.

What do you guys think? Any changes or ideas you can suggest if you have any?

I love every single badnik idea. It's gonna be tough cuz' i'm not the best programmer in the world, but i'll figure it out.

----------------------

Now it's my turn!

Remember the final boss concept we were talking about? i made this.

WARNING,MAY SCREW UP THREAD (really big image)

[Geckoroverse]

Nice to see you like the concepts. I figured they might be a little iffy concerning their behavior, but hey, I tried.

I'm probably going to work on ideas for the first zone next up, since that's likely going to be where you focus on the SAGE demo taking place. I kinda' wanted to tinker with the aesthetics for the stage to make it look more original than a simple Green Hill clone.

Also, anyone have any idea how to convert MIDI files from Anvil Studios into formats that can be uploaded to Soundcloud and the like without a ton of hassle? My first attempt a while back ended up changing the soundfount and fudging it up somewhat. I'm attempting to come up with conceptual compositions for some of these stages. :x

[Jassbec]

Nice to see you like the concepts. I figured they might be a little iffy concerning their behavior, but hey, I tried.

I'm probably going to work on ideas for the first zone next up, since that's likely going to be where you focus on the SAGE demo taking place. I kinda' wanted to tinker with the aesthetics for the stage to make it look more original than a simple Green Hill clone.

Also, anyone have any idea how to convert MIDI files from Anvil Studios into formats that can be uploaded to Soundcloud and the like without a ton of hassle? My first attempt a while back ended up changing the soundfount and fudging it up somewhat. I'm attempting to come up with conceptual compositions for some of these stages. :x

Yeah, some concepts for Green Gate would be pretty sweet.

Good luck!

EDIT: i'm probably going to work more constantly on the game in Summer Break.

[Jassbec]

I asked TheSymphonicGames if he could remake these tracks for Caliente Carnival.

https://soundcloud.com/symphonicgamescloud/sets/arid-bluffs-zone-suite

If you need inspiration for some reason, listen to this.

EDIT: how does this look for Caliente Carnival?

[ChaosLord]

AWWWWH SWEET.

I'd try to contribute something now but I have exams tomorrow and Friday.

Revisionrevisionrevision...

Btw: Be careful with the music stuff. Creating the level and the music at the same time can be bad. Either you create the level first and then the musician will base the songs off of the level that he has seen/played OR you make the music first and then design the level around the music style.

Otherwise, you'll end up with a level that has some random inappropriate music.

BUT THAT'S NOT MY TASK SO DO WHATEVER!

Also, you mentioned you're not that good at 'programming'. I've never used MMF2 or Sonic World or even Game Maker HOWEVER, I am an actual programmer! So if you have any LOGIC based difficulties, I could help you with anything you need there, if you get too stuck! As in, I can't tell you exactly how to do something but I can give you the logic behind it that you just need to convert in to MMF2's... "code".

(But for experience, I'd rather you try to figure it out yourself first, lawl. Programmers don't have a knowledge-base on how to do every game gimmick ever, we actively try to figure it out, at the time... Unless you're my Uni friend, Matt, in which case it's more like "GUYS I CAN'T WORK OUT HOW TO TURN ON THE COMPUTER GIVE ME YOUR CODE FOR IT"... wait... what was I talking about?)

[Highwire4]

I like the ideas behind this and I like how the story pans out. I like the ideas for some of your levels too. I really want to see what Gear Gorge and Caliente Carnival look like.

[Geckoroverse]

I asked TheSymphonicGames if he could remake these tracks for Caliente Carnival.

https://soundcloud.com/symphonicgamescloud/sets/arid-bluffs-zone-suite

If you need inspiration for some reason, listen to this.

EDIT: how does this look for Caliente Carnival?

[qimg]http://jassbecspot.webs.com/photos/undefined/desert.png[/qimg]

Would these be earth/ground textures for the level? Also, that music fits the level tone wonderfully!

I think that getting the level aesthetics and stuff worked on should be focused on before music; it'd be easier to get fitting music then.

I've been working on stuff for Green Gate and Cave Complex respectively; the latter is one where I've been putting the emphasis on "haunted", though mixed with dark moist underground caverns I've visited in the past, plenty o' stalactites/stalagmites and cave related fauna and such. I'm LOVING the one creepier badnik I've designed though.

[LoneEchidna]

Would these be earth/ground textures for the level? Also, that music fits the level tone wonderfully!

I think that getting the level aesthetics and stuff worked on should be focused on before music; it'd be easier to get fitting music then.

Definitely agree.

[Jassbec]

Definitely agree.

Don't you worry, i'm working my a** off making the art for the levels, please be patient .

though music actually gives me ideas, Caliente Carnival pretty much came out of the SG's songs i showed you.

[Jassbec]

Would these be earth/ground textures for the level? Also, that music fits the level tone wonderfully!

I think that getting the level aesthetics and stuff worked on should be focused on before music; it'd be easier to get fitting music then.

I've been working on stuff for Green Gate and Cave Complex respectively; the latter is one where I've been putting the emphasis on "haunted", though mixed with dark moist underground caverns I've visited in the past, plenty o' stalactites/stalagmites and cave related fauna and such. I'm LOVING the one creepier badnik I've designed though.

Yeah, they're ground textures.

like i said above,i'm focusing and working on aesthetics right now.

[Geckoroverse]

Yeah, they're ground textures.

like i said above,i'm focusing and working on aesthetics right now.

Ah, I see; hope you won't mind me coming up with level concept art as well, especially for Cave Complex and the like. I've been drawing Green Gate as a temperate forest with some frikken' majestic mountains in the background, which would continually get covered in black soot from Eggman's flying machines as the acts go on.

I also drew different badniks, like a beaver and a bagworm/pinecone, so yeah.

Cave Complex I see resembling this and this, with stalagmite loops and platforms, and blind newt badniks that electrify moist portions of the floor until destroyed. And that one creepy badnik I'm working on...

[ChaosLord]

I've been drawing Green Gate as a temperate forest with some frikken' majestic mountains in the background, which would continually get co

Are you going to have an literal 'Gate' in it? Not that I would mind, I'm just wondering what I should be envisioning here.

[Jassbec]

Ah, I see; hope you won't mind me coming up with level concept art as well, especially for Cave Complex and the like. I've been drawing Green Gate as a temperate forest with some frikken' majestic mountains in the background, which would continually get covered in black soot from Eggman's flying machines as the acts go on.

I also drew different badniks, like a beaver and a bagworm/pinecone, so yeah.

Cave Complex I see resembling this and this, with stalagmite loops and platforms, and blind newt badniks that electrify moist portions of the floor until destroyed. And that one creepy badnik I'm working on...

Concepts are going to speed up the art x2!

They would be really helpful.

[Geckoroverse]

Are you going to have an literal 'Gate' in it? Not that I would mind, I'm just wondering what I should be envisioning here.

I was wondering about that myself. :B I'm not quite sure about either the metaphorical or physical implications of that name. XD Any ideas Jass?

[Jassbec]

I named the level "Green Gate" because it was some sort of entrace to Christmas Island, an introduction to the game,or something like that. Green because plants, Gate because of what i said.

EDIT: I had this idea of Act 1 being at day (Screenshots) Act 2 at sunset leaving the Tropical area and entering the forest area, and Act 3 in sunset slowly becoming night (using some vertical auto scrolling techinques similar to the auto scrolling clouds) but now inside the forest part of Green Gate.

EDIT 2: Also, it was slightly inspired by Sea Gate from Sonic Heroes (the tutorial level)

Random: Here's a Green Gate

[Jassbec]

Oh i think you guys might want to hear this, it's a little more story.

Eggman's Robots in FTB are powered by cheap batteries that last about 20-minutes.

After Sonic battles Green Gate's boss, Sonic turns into a badnik due to the boss' self-defense explosion mechanism (Eggman was looking for animals in Green Gate for robotization testing purposes, Sonic IS an animal, so yeah.) After 20 minutes Sonic's battery runs out, making the badnik explode, making Sonic free. Sonic awakens in Crystal City Zone.

[Geckoroverse]

Alrighty, some sketchy concept art for Green Gates and Cave Complex! Testing out a new printer, so hopefully you can see these.

EDIT -Spoilered for convenience.

The first one and a half pages cover some initial concepts for Green Gates, with a few aesthetic ideas like big mountains in the background, and stylized roots in the ground to flaunt three-dimensional stuff. You also see concept badniks based on beavers, bees, bagworms, and what was going to be a weevil. Also, a scene where Sonic sees Eggman's warships spewing fumes that rain ash upon Green Gates.

Everything else is for Cave Complex. The first thing I wanted to get out of my system was to get the "haunted" concept, without being a normal ghost and the like. So I went for the "creepy little girl" route, even if it seems out of place in a moist underground cave, but I think that'll catch some players off guard.

As the notes state, neither Sonic nor the badnik can be harmed, but if Sonic touches her, she flips the fuck out and screams ala Scorpius from Spinball, and emits a field that slows Sonic down. If he's careless, he'll eventually get teleported back to the last checkpoint he passed, unharmed but hampered. They're more along the lines of obstacles than badniks, and I imagine only a fe of them appear. I suppose they're like badnik Boys of Silence/Witches?

The other badnik is a true resident of the caverns, a blind albino newt badnik that is flanked by spiny gills and emits a signal that electrifies all water in the nearby vicinity, like puddles and such. If Sonic bops it on the head, the water reverts to normal.

Also, random net spider badnik. I guess they would catch Sonic in webs, and he'd have to spindash out of them? I dunno', not sure if I care much for him.

Also, level designs. I wanted to use stalagmites/tites in the vein of loops, platforms, and such. They'd probably encompass the entire level aside from water and such, with only Eggman's badniks a sign of his presence.

Wotcha' think? Also note that the badnik designs are WIP, so they're subject to change.

[Jassbec]

Alrighty, some sketchy concept art for Green Gates and Cave Complex! Testing out a new printer, so hopefully you can see these.

[qimg]http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/3541/greengate1.png[/qimg]

[qimg]http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/7378/greengate2.png[/qimg]

[qimg]http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4783/cavecomplex1.png[/qimg]

[qimg]http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/3415/cavecomplex2.png[/qimg]

The first one and a half pages cover some initial concepts for Green Gates, with a few aesthetic ideas like big mountains in the background, and stylized roots in the ground to flaunt three-dimensional stuff. You also see concept badniks based on beavers, bees, bagworms, and what was going to be a weevil. Also, a scene where Sonic sees Eggman's warships spewing fumes that rain ash upon Green Gates.

Everything else is for Cave Complex. The first thing I wanted to get out of my system was to get the "haunted" concept, without being a normal ghost and the like. So I went for the "creepy little girl" route, even if it seems out of place in a moist underground cave, but I think that'll catch some players off guard.

As the notes state, neither Sonic nor the badnik can be harmed, but if Sonic touches her, she flips the fuck out and screams ala Scorpius from Spinball, and emits a field that slows Sonic down. If he's careless, he'll eventually get teleported back to the last checkpoint he passed, unharmed but hampered. They're more along the lines of obstacles than badniks, and I imagine only a fe of them appear. I suppose they're like badnik Boys of Silence/Witches?

The other badnik is a true resident of the caverns, a blind albino newt badnik that is flanked by spiny gills and emits a signal that electrifies all water in the nearby vicinity, like puddles and such. If Sonic bops it on the head, the water reverts to normal.

Also, random net spider badnik. I guess they would catch Sonic in webs, and he'd have to spindash out of them? I dunno', not sure if I care much for him.

Also, level designs. I wanted to use stalagmites/tites in the vein of loops, platforms, and such. They'd probably encompass the entire level aside from water and such, with only Eggman's badniks a sign of his presence.

Wotcha' think? Also note that the badnik designs are WIP, so they're subject to change.

It's kinda hard to see them, but i looked at my screen from underneath my desk and everything is ok!

I'm interested in the bagworm badnik,looks easy to program. i don't know how to draw roots (pixel 'em is what i mean) but i'll try.

Looks like you had some fun with Cave Complex! The little girl enemy is really unique and awesome, and easy to program too! (basically if sonic stays too long in the sensor that is created around the enemy when sonic collides with it,sonic's position will be change to the last checkpoint or start of the level if the player haven't touched any checkpoints) i'm actually testing some coding right now.

You're really creative, good job!

I'll work on Cave Complex once i'm done with Caliente Carnival's basic aesthetic concept.

[Geckoroverse]

It's kinda hard to see them, but i looked at my screen from underneath my desk and everything is ok!

I'm interested in the bagworm badnik,looks easy to program. i don't know how to draw roots (pixel 'em is what i mean) but i'll try.

Looks like you had some fun with Cave Complex! The little girl enemy is really unique and awesome, and easy to program too! (basically if sonic stays too long in the sensor that is created around the enemy when sonic collides with it,sonic's position will be change to the last checkpoint or start of the level if the player haven't touched any checkpoints) i'm actually testing some coding right now.

You're really creative, good job!

I'll work on Cave Complex once i'm done with Caliente Carnival's basic aesthetic concept.

Thankya'! The bagworm was initially designed to simply fall off or just hang there as an obstacle; if Sonic hits the clamp on the branch its connected to, he'll knock it off himself.

Cave Complex intrigued me partly because it gave me a Donkey Kong Country vibe (think Stop 'n' Go Station), and also because it seems to me like the perfect fright level: You have fear of the dark, drowning, and ghosts all in one. Plus, having been in an underground cave myself, I can attest to their uniqueness and general spookiness (and how adorable blind cave animals are :3).

I might be able to help you with some sprite stuff as well; I've experimented in the medium, and have a really great program for doing so.

[Jassbec]

Thankya'! The bagworm was initially designed to simply fall off or just hang there as an obstacle; if Sonic hits the clamp on the branch its connected to, he'll knock it off himself.

Cave Complex intrigued me partly because it gave me a Donkey Kong Country vibe (think Stop 'n' Go Station), and also because it seems to me like the perfect fright level: You have fear of the dark, drowning, and ghosts all in one. Plus, having been in an underground cave myself, I can attest to their uniqueness and general spookiness (and how adorable blind cave animals are :3).

I might be able to help you with some sprite stuff as well; I've experimented in the medium, and have a really great program for doing so.

Yeah! some help will sprites would be fantastic since i'm not good at detailed pixel art.

[Geckoroverse]

Yeah! some help will sprites would be fantastic since i'm not good at detailed pixel art.

What dimensions are the Sonic sprite you are using? Heck, might as well post it or a link to it so I can use it as a size reference. Anything in particular you would like for me to attempt to sprite?

Also, I'm undecisive on how the aesthetics of Crystal City should be handled, mainly because it sounds a little bland in description. Suggestions?

In other news, the word "aesthetic" has been repeated a million times in this thread.

[Jassbec]

I'm using Mod.Gen's Modern Sonic sprites (Classic,modern,it's still sonic) i pretty much prefer those over the classic ones because the cutscenes are like comic books, and i need sonic to have as many expressions as possible.

EDIT: Seems like the site has a virus or something,so don't risk it. intead here's this taken from my site:

In other news, the word "aesthetic" has been repeated a million times in this thread.

Yeah,lol.