Aqua Planet Zone Act 1 is about finished. This was a pretty looong area. In Sonic Horizon, the Aqua Planet area is a part of The Labyrinth.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Long, Hard, and Full of Seamen
Aqua Planet Zone Act 1 is about finished. This was a pretty looong area. In Sonic Horizon, the Aqua Planet area is a part of The Labyrinth.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Master Mechanic
Unfortunately, I'm realizing these "8-to-16-bit" transitions I've been working on will be too small for Sonic to maneuver properly, thus I have to expand them pretty thoroughly.
I've only done a little work on it so far, but I have come up with this so far:
Boss area for one section of The Labyrinth (based on Labyrinth Zone GG3). Never realized how hard it was to construct Eggmobile parts (this one is a mesh of Lava Reef Zone's and Marble Garden Zone's bosses) until now.
Also, I'm thinking a huge hinging point for the "bonus material" from Episode III on will be a result of how things go in Episode II. More to come on that later.
I've only done a little work on it so far, but I have come up with this so far:
Boss area for one section of The Labyrinth (based on Labyrinth Zone GG3). Never realized how hard it was to construct Eggmobile parts (this one is a mesh of Lava Reef Zone's and Marble Garden Zone's bosses) until now.
Also, I'm thinking a huge hinging point for the "bonus material" from Episode III on will be a result of how things go in Episode II. More to come on that later.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Sonic Has Cleared Act 1
Whoo, Act 1 is finished. Now I get to see how well this stuff works on levels that aren't "cookie-cutter 16-to-8-bitters"
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Backward Progress
Nother update for the Labyrinth Zone. This time it's Act 1. "Halfway done" with this one. Now to work on the underwater bits.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Wins the Race
It is finished!
Sonic 1 GG's Labyrinth Zone: Act 2 is now finished. Good god that took forever.
Sonic 1 GG's Labyrinth Zone: Act 2 is now finished. Good god that took forever.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Slow and Steady
Well, progress is progress I suppose. The picture on the left is Sonic 1 GG's Labyrinth Zone Act 2. On the right... we've replaced Labyrinth Zone's regular water with new Sixteen-Bit™ brand water! Let's see if they notice.
Yeah, this took like all fucking day. And it's only half done! :D I gotta say, I even impressed myself with this one, so far it's coming out gorgeous.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Sonic Boom
I've had this image in my head a while, and I really want to make it work.
The end of Episode I has Sonic at Never Lake for whatever reason, probably something to do with Little Planet's arrival. He goes, climbs up a small mountainy thing to get something, and as he reaches the top, a gigantic chainclaw zooms in and embeds itself into the mountain. Sonic looks up to see that the chain seems to be coming from Little Planet itself. Sonic (under player control) can then jump onto the chain (which is by far big enough to stand on) and run/climb up it toward the planet. Credits roll.
The thing that really sells this scene though will need to be the music. It's kind of an interesting idea, but maybe not as flashy as it could be. The BGM at Never Lake will probably be a bassline and rhythm from "Sonic Boom" on a short loop. When Sonic jumps onto the chain and starts climbing, as soon as the player is no longer in control and the credits start, whatever point in the music it is, the note will freeze for about one second, then a bit of hi-hat, then the song bursts into the full version of "Sonic Boom" while the credits roll. It could work. It'll just be hard to manipulate.
The end of Episode I has Sonic at Never Lake for whatever reason, probably something to do with Little Planet's arrival. He goes, climbs up a small mountainy thing to get something, and as he reaches the top, a gigantic chainclaw zooms in and embeds itself into the mountain. Sonic looks up to see that the chain seems to be coming from Little Planet itself. Sonic (under player control) can then jump onto the chain (which is by far big enough to stand on) and run/climb up it toward the planet. Credits roll.
The thing that really sells this scene though will need to be the music. It's kind of an interesting idea, but maybe not as flashy as it could be. The BGM at Never Lake will probably be a bassline and rhythm from "Sonic Boom" on a short loop. When Sonic jumps onto the chain and starts climbing, as soon as the player is no longer in control and the credits start, whatever point in the music it is, the note will freeze for about one second, then a bit of hi-hat, then the song bursts into the full version of "Sonic Boom" while the credits roll. It could work. It'll just be hard to manipulate.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Bubble Bobble
Another act, this time I actually completely finished it, more in that it was significantly easier to work with. Labyrinth Zone: Act 3 from Sonic 1 GG, now in 16-bit glory. I'm tempted to try putting that into a GG-style hack of Sonic 1 Gen.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Toot Toot, Sonic Warrior
I think the Green Hills Zone areas from Sonic 2 GG are going to be on the path from Green Hill to Never Lake instead of Bridgeport. Idea comes up as a replacement for a "Never Brook" area, came about from remembering that the BGM for that area is a mix of "Toot Toot, Sonic Warrior" from Sonic CD. Figured that would be appropriate.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Shades of Green
Huzzah. Progress, finally. Baby steps, I suppose. On the left you see the result of a few hours of sitting on Gens+ with Sonic Chaos (SMS), screencapping a few dozen times, adding, editing, etc to bring together the full, pixel-perfect map of Turquoise Hill Zone Act 1. God damn.
On the right you see an hour or so of fiddling around with the map on the left and some blocks from Sonic the Hedgehog's Green Hill Zone. It's far from finished, but it definitely feels a good deal brighter, just by giving it some brighter blocks and and Rings and such.
Also, fiddled around with one of the Badniks from Sonic Chaos and came up with this.
The left is the original Badnik, 2x then 4x. To its right is the doubled-then-edited version. I do this on occasion to see what beefed up Badniks would look like, maybe as a miniboss or some such. I think the doubled bugnik looks pretty cool, I may use that in Turquoise Hill.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Rivers and Waterworks, Bridges and Chasms
So I haven't really had a chance to update lately, my home internet is down, and will be until I can get one of the housemates to come and fix the router. In the meantime...
Coming up with a physical geometry and geography is haaaard. Expect to see an approximated area map sometime soon. Also a hierarchy of challenges and puzzles and such.
The Labyrinth is getting huge. So is Green Hill, but not nearly as much.
Green Hill was originally just Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog (Gen). Then I added Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog (GG), adding the first two acts and combining the third acts of each into one. Then I realized that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GG) also had a Green Hills Zone, so I added the first two there and combined the third act into the previous mish-mash. So now Green Hill is 7 areas long, converging on one large boss stage.
The Labyrinth is even worse. Originally it was 3, plus an entrance area. Then I added three from the GG game. Then I found out that the MS version had a different Act 2, so that added one. We're now at 8. Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 connects to the Labyrinth directly anyway, so now that is a part of it, bringing it to 9. It gets even bigger. This is partly the fault of me attempting to include every possible South Island zone (four games). Aqua Planet and Aqua Lake were particularly difficult to place. They got tacked onto the end of the "escape from Scrap Brain zones" (Scrambled Egg Zone, Crystal Egg Zone), and emptied out into Star Light Zone. I realized how awkward a move that is, four zones consecutively, so instead of making Aqua Planet and Aqua Lake their own zones, they will be put together using Labyrinth Zone tiles and such, and between the two "zones" will be one of the Labyrinth Zone acts. When you hit that act, the path through the area has been changed somehow such that instead of following the Labyrinth Zone path, you now follow a different path to the second "new zone". You may also go backwards through the Labyrinth to get back to Jungle Zone. Last but not least, Sky Base crashes into the Labyrinth when it is destroyed, opening up one final area that leads back into the Labyrinth. As an aside, Sky Base 1 appears to be the only act that will entirely disappear once beaten.
This brings the total to 16 Labyrinth areas. Do note that these are by NO means to be done all at once. You go through a few times:
1st time - Labyrinth 1-8 (New Entrance Area, Labyrinth Gen*, Labyrinth GG, Labyrinth 2 MS)
2nd time - Labyrinth 9, 7, 8 (Scrap Brain 3 Gen, Labyrinth 2 MS, Labyrinth 3 Gen*)
3rd time - Labyrinth 10-12, 5, 13-15 (Aqua Planet, Labyrinth 2 GG, Aqua Lake)
4th time - Sky Base, Labyrinth 16, 5 (Sky Base 2, Labyrinth 2 GG)
* The first time through the Labyrinth, when you hit "Act 7" (Gen Act 3), a timed boss battle with Robotnik occurs. When the battle starts, the platform Sonic stands on is propelled upward by a strong jet of water. Robotnik compensates by using his boosters to keep up. Regardless of victory or defeat, when time runs out you and Robotnik both fly out of the top of the Labyrinth near Scrap Brain. Robotnik stays where he is, while Sonic is flung halfway across (and down) Gimmick Mt. to Celeste Highway, which connects Marble Road to Star Light City. (Was thinking about calling it Sparkle Highway and connecting it between Spring Yard and Star Light City for some kind of weird double pun, but I like "Celeste" better.) The second time through the Labyrinth, Sonic climbs up the vertical tunnel and exits near Scrap Brain and re-enters after being thrown down the trap door in the first place. The third time through that path is entirely blocked off. After Sky Base is beaten, this path reopens. Labyrinth 14 exits near Star Light City.
The Labyrinth is also connected to River Gimmick in some way I haven't quite figured out yet. The water flowing through the Labyrinth does in fact feed the river. Odds are the water comes out through the Labyrinth Entrancem, goes down the waterfall in Gimmick Mt. Jungle, then begins flowing toward Bridgeport, past Green Hill, and into the ocean (thinking of going with Compaci Ocean, was the name I've sort of used for it in conceptual phases for a while, dunno).
Coming up with a physical geometry and geography is haaaard. Expect to see an approximated area map sometime soon. Also a hierarchy of challenges and puzzles and such.
The Labyrinth is getting huge. So is Green Hill, but not nearly as much.
Green Hill was originally just Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog (Gen). Then I added Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog (GG), adding the first two acts and combining the third acts of each into one. Then I realized that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GG) also had a Green Hills Zone, so I added the first two there and combined the third act into the previous mish-mash. So now Green Hill is 7 areas long, converging on one large boss stage.
The Labyrinth is even worse. Originally it was 3, plus an entrance area. Then I added three from the GG game. Then I found out that the MS version had a different Act 2, so that added one. We're now at 8. Scrap Brain Zone Act 3 connects to the Labyrinth directly anyway, so now that is a part of it, bringing it to 9. It gets even bigger. This is partly the fault of me attempting to include every possible South Island zone (four games). Aqua Planet and Aqua Lake were particularly difficult to place. They got tacked onto the end of the "escape from Scrap Brain zones" (Scrambled Egg Zone, Crystal Egg Zone), and emptied out into Star Light Zone. I realized how awkward a move that is, four zones consecutively, so instead of making Aqua Planet and Aqua Lake their own zones, they will be put together using Labyrinth Zone tiles and such, and between the two "zones" will be one of the Labyrinth Zone acts. When you hit that act, the path through the area has been changed somehow such that instead of following the Labyrinth Zone path, you now follow a different path to the second "new zone". You may also go backwards through the Labyrinth to get back to Jungle Zone. Last but not least, Sky Base crashes into the Labyrinth when it is destroyed, opening up one final area that leads back into the Labyrinth. As an aside, Sky Base 1 appears to be the only act that will entirely disappear once beaten.
This brings the total to 16 Labyrinth areas. Do note that these are by NO means to be done all at once. You go through a few times:
1st time - Labyrinth 1-8 (New Entrance Area, Labyrinth Gen*, Labyrinth GG, Labyrinth 2 MS)
2nd time - Labyrinth 9, 7, 8 (Scrap Brain 3 Gen, Labyrinth 2 MS, Labyrinth 3 Gen*)
3rd time - Labyrinth 10-12, 5, 13-15 (Aqua Planet, Labyrinth 2 GG, Aqua Lake)
4th time - Sky Base, Labyrinth 16, 5 (Sky Base 2, Labyrinth 2 GG)
* The first time through the Labyrinth, when you hit "Act 7" (Gen Act 3), a timed boss battle with Robotnik occurs. When the battle starts, the platform Sonic stands on is propelled upward by a strong jet of water. Robotnik compensates by using his boosters to keep up. Regardless of victory or defeat, when time runs out you and Robotnik both fly out of the top of the Labyrinth near Scrap Brain. Robotnik stays where he is, while Sonic is flung halfway across (and down) Gimmick Mt. to Celeste Highway, which connects Marble Road to Star Light City. (Was thinking about calling it Sparkle Highway and connecting it between Spring Yard and Star Light City for some kind of weird double pun, but I like "Celeste" better.) The second time through the Labyrinth, Sonic climbs up the vertical tunnel and exits near Scrap Brain and re-enters after being thrown down the trap door in the first place. The third time through that path is entirely blocked off. After Sky Base is beaten, this path reopens. Labyrinth 14 exits near Star Light City.
The Labyrinth is also connected to River Gimmick in some way I haven't quite figured out yet. The water flowing through the Labyrinth does in fact feed the river. Odds are the water comes out through the Labyrinth Entrancem, goes down the waterfall in Gimmick Mt. Jungle, then begins flowing toward Bridgeport, past Green Hill, and into the ocean (thinking of going with Compaci Ocean, was the name I've sort of used for it in conceptual phases for a while, dunno).
Monday, June 4, 2007
Region Map Tree
So, I like to organize things, which results in me drawing up a lot of lists and stuff. I've been mulling over the old list of area maps and have been reorganizing them and such, nothing terribly huge, but eh.
Everything below is represented by a set of numbers in the format E.SSS.RR.AA. E is the Episode Number, which will, for QUITE some time will just be 1. S is the Scene Number, which represents each individual different scenario the player encounters, which often involves the same area. R is the Region Number, of which South Island has 7. A is the Area Number, which is each individual screen.
Listed are the full ESRA numbers for the Green Hill Region and the general regions of South Island.
1.001.01.01 - Green Hill Village (Introduction)
1.002.01.03 - Green Gardens (Chuck Tutorial) [boss fight - Dr. Robotnik]
1.003.01.01 - Green Hill Village (Deserted)
1.004.01.02 - Green Hill Village Brook (Deserted)
1.005.01.04 - Green Hill 1 (S1 GHZ 1)
1.006.01.05 - Green Hill 2 (S1GG GHZ 1)
1.007.01.06 - Green Hill 3 (S2GG GHZ 1) [miniboss fight - ?]
1.008.01.01 - Green Hill Village (Congregation)
1.009.01.07 - Green Hill 4 (S1 GHZ 2)
1.010.01.08 - Green Hill 5 (S1GG GHZ 2)
1.011.01.09 - Green Hill 6 (S2GG GHZ 2)
1.012.01.10 - Green Hill 7 (Combined GHZ Act 3s) [boss fight - Dr. Robotnik]
1.013.01.01 - Green Hill Village (Congregation 2)
1.014.01.11 - Turquoise Hill 1
1.015.01.12 - Turquoise Hill 2
1.016.01.13 - Turquoise Hill 3 [miniboss fight - ?]
1.017.02.01 - South Bridgeport
1.???.01.01 - Green Hill Village (The Day Is Saved)
1.???.01.14 - Never Lake
1.???.01.15 - Black Chain
01. Green Hills
02. Bridgeport
03. Marble City
04. Spring Yard
05. Gimmick Mt.
06. Star Light City
07. Scrap Brain Facilities
Everything below is represented by a set of numbers in the format E.SSS.RR.AA. E is the Episode Number, which will, for QUITE some time will just be 1. S is the Scene Number, which represents each individual different scenario the player encounters, which often involves the same area. R is the Region Number, of which South Island has 7. A is the Area Number, which is each individual screen.
Listed are the full ESRA numbers for the Green Hill Region and the general regions of South Island.
1.001.01.01 - Green Hill Village (Introduction)
1.002.01.03 - Green Gardens (Chuck Tutorial) [boss fight - Dr. Robotnik]
1.003.01.01 - Green Hill Village (Deserted)
1.004.01.02 - Green Hill Village Brook (Deserted)
1.005.01.04 - Green Hill 1 (S1 GHZ 1)
1.006.01.05 - Green Hill 2 (S1GG GHZ 1)
1.007.01.06 - Green Hill 3 (S2GG GHZ 1) [miniboss fight - ?]
1.008.01.01 - Green Hill Village (Congregation)
1.009.01.07 - Green Hill 4 (S1 GHZ 2)
1.010.01.08 - Green Hill 5 (S1GG GHZ 2)
1.011.01.09 - Green Hill 6 (S2GG GHZ 2)
1.012.01.10 - Green Hill 7 (Combined GHZ Act 3s) [boss fight - Dr. Robotnik]
1.013.01.01 - Green Hill Village (Congregation 2)
1.014.01.11 - Turquoise Hill 1
1.015.01.12 - Turquoise Hill 2
1.016.01.13 - Turquoise Hill 3 [miniboss fight - ?]
1.017.02.01 - South Bridgeport
1.???.01.01 - Green Hill Village (The Day Is Saved)
1.???.01.14 - Never Lake
1.???.01.15 - Black Chain
01. Green Hills
02. Bridgeport
03. Marble City
04. Spring Yard
05. Gimmick Mt.
06. Star Light City
07. Scrap Brain Facilities
Friday, June 1, 2007
Home Sweet Home
The opening chapter for Episode I is going to be (for E1Blue, anyway) the Green Hill region, which consists of the quaint Green Hill Village, Green and Turquoise Hills, the piece of River Gimmick that hits the ocean, and Never Lake.
Green Hill Village'll be a tiny little quasi-forest town. Primary population are Ckys (those little animals that pop out of Badniks when destroyed), though a few hedgehogs like Sonic's uncle Chuck live there too. A townie shop and inn are set up in town, as well as the town hall (which is more the mayor's tiny house than anything). Residents of Green Hill Village include Uncle Chuck, Mayor Wicky, Facky (mayor's assistant), Jecky, Gicky, Pitacky (innkeeper), Socky (shopkeeper), and Hocky (local jock). Presumably there are more villagers, but you won't meet them till later.
Near the shoreline there's a spot known as Green Gardens. A bit more lush than the surrounding area, Chuck turned it into a bit of an exercise area to keep fit. On the opposite side of town lies Green Hill itself, and beyond that Turquoise Hill.
Never Lake is relatively near Green Hill, but doesn't get explored until later.
Green Gardens will serve as the tutorial area, where Chuck teaches Sonic the basics of the game. Green Hill Village will be the first town area, also the first area where Sonic will be able to enter rooms and buildings, buy items and equipment, and use his uncle's house or an inn to rest, as well as interact with NPCs. Green Hill will be the first action area, a combination of Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (GG). After that is Turquoise Hill from Sonic Chaos. After that's said and done, the first chapter of Episode I is finished as Sonic heads towards Bridgeport.
Green Hill Village'll be a tiny little quasi-forest town. Primary population are Ckys (those little animals that pop out of Badniks when destroyed), though a few hedgehogs like Sonic's uncle Chuck live there too. A townie shop and inn are set up in town, as well as the town hall (which is more the mayor's tiny house than anything). Residents of Green Hill Village include Uncle Chuck, Mayor Wicky, Facky (mayor's assistant), Jecky, Gicky, Pitacky (innkeeper), Socky (shopkeeper), and Hocky (local jock). Presumably there are more villagers, but you won't meet them till later.
Near the shoreline there's a spot known as Green Gardens. A bit more lush than the surrounding area, Chuck turned it into a bit of an exercise area to keep fit. On the opposite side of town lies Green Hill itself, and beyond that Turquoise Hill.
Never Lake is relatively near Green Hill, but doesn't get explored until later.
Green Gardens will serve as the tutorial area, where Chuck teaches Sonic the basics of the game. Green Hill Village will be the first town area, also the first area where Sonic will be able to enter rooms and buildings, buy items and equipment, and use his uncle's house or an inn to rest, as well as interact with NPCs. Green Hill will be the first action area, a combination of Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (GG). After that is Turquoise Hill from Sonic Chaos. After that's said and done, the first chapter of Episode I is finished as Sonic heads towards Bridgeport.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Location, Location, Location
Episode I takes place on South Island, setting of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (GG), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (GG), and Sonic Chaos. The merging of these four games brings a slew of areas to the island, ranging from the native Green Hill Zone to the man-made Scrambled Egg Zone to the twisting Labyrinth Zone and beyond. The full list of areas is at the bottom of this entry.
I have some doubts about making so much in Episode I first because it's obviously a significant amount of stuff to put into this one game, and second because it may make Episode II just that much harder to keep interesting.
Oh, and as a side note, any of the episodes can be played independent of each other, but if you start a game in Episode I and use the password system to play the finished game in Episode II and beyond, more content will appear. Episode II practically doubles in size if you use an Episode I password.
Full(ish) area list for Episode I: Blue:
Green Hill Village (town)
Green Hill
Turquoise Hill
Bridgeport (town)
Great Bridge
River Gimmick
Never Lake
Marble Road
Sleeping Egg
Marble City Ruins
Spring Yard Commons (town)
Spring Yard
Spring Yard Stadium
Gimmick Mt. Jungle
Gimmick Mt.
The Labyrinth
Celeste Highway
Star Light City (town)
Star Light City
Mecha Green Hill
Mecha Green Hill Base (town)
Scrap Brain Research Labs
Scrambled Egg
Aqua Lake
South Island Airspace
Sky Base
I have some doubts about making so much in Episode I first because it's obviously a significant amount of stuff to put into this one game, and second because it may make Episode II just that much harder to keep interesting.
Oh, and as a side note, any of the episodes can be played independent of each other, but if you start a game in Episode I and use the password system to play the finished game in Episode II and beyond, more content will appear. Episode II practically doubles in size if you use an Episode I password.
Full(ish) area list for Episode I: Blue:
Green Hill Village (town)
Green Hill
Turquoise Hill
Bridgeport (town)
Great Bridge
River Gimmick
Never Lake
Marble Road
Sleeping Egg
Marble City Ruins
Spring Yard Commons (town)
Spring Yard
Spring Yard Stadium
Gimmick Mt. Jungle
Gimmick Mt.
The Labyrinth
Celeste Highway
Star Light City (town)
Star Light City
Mecha Green Hill
Mecha Green Hill Base (town)
Scrap Brain Research Labs
Scrambled Egg
Aqua Lake
South Island Airspace
Sky Base
Old Ideas Beaten Black & Blue
So then, if you're looking at this right now, you're probably either rather confused, rather interested, or rather apathetic. I've decided to start a Blogger blogging blog blog for my Sonic RPG project, formerly named D-Series: Black & Blue. Now it's Sonic Horizon. Edgier, cooler, and most importantly, shorter. Sonic Horizon: Episode I is a significant deal easier to say and work with than D-Series: Black & Blue: Episode I. Anyway, that's beside the point.
This blog is pretty much gonna be for whatever minute updates come along with this project. I'm aiming to make one update a day, give or take. First few days'll be pretty thick, I imagine, as some of you reading this may have never heard of this project before, so there'll be a good deal of explanation.
Anywho... keep an eye on this blog for random updates. Should be interesting, methinks.
This blog is pretty much gonna be for whatever minute updates come along with this project. I'm aiming to make one update a day, give or take. First few days'll be pretty thick, I imagine, as some of you reading this may have never heard of this project before, so there'll be a good deal of explanation.
Anywho... keep an eye on this blog for random updates. Should be interesting, methinks.
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