The GHZ Forum

http://kotaku.com/fans-make-the-3d-soni ... 1786047762

So has anyone seen this? Or better yet tried it? I doubt my pc will handle it, so I have to glean information vicariously. It looks to my eyes at least very much what I imagine a playable version of the sonic cd opening would be.
Also, a pox on the writer of the post who complains about the platforming, unless it is actually mechanically crappy.

I downloaded it but haven't tried it yet. Apparently there isn't much to do. It's just a GHZ sandbox for Sonic to run through. More tech-demo or proof of concept then an actual game. You can collect Chaos Emeralds and transform into Super Sonic. And there is a secret room that telaports you to Hidden Palace Zone, which transforms your Chaos Emeralds into Super Emeralds and unlocks Hyper Sonic which is just ridiculously powerful (he has the screen clearing double-jump).

Here's Hyper Sonic in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq1EApFhE6w

I do like the jitter effect for hyper sonic; So do these two proof of concepts suggest that a potential answer to many of the speedy Sonic gameplay problems (other than what seems to be decent controls and camera) is to make the geography oversized to counteract Sonic's speed, and allow for manually playing through a "typical" Sonic landscape manually as opposed to constant scripted or on rails sections? Again, videos can be easily made to lie, but everything seems so functional. Obviously a lack of bottomless pits also helps the situation immensely (I assume).

I always thought Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 handled Sonic's speed and mechanics well. Yes, there were some "automatic" sections in levels, but the physics didn't clash with classic Sonic games. Speed was built over time, characters had inertia, rolling/spindashing down hills is faster then running, etc. This fan game is definitely an interesting idea, but from what I've seen of it, I think I'd rather just play something more like the Adventure series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5paaz16Nw20

this fan game is looking pretty dope.

Yeah, I'm not sure how they plan to keep things interesting in terms of stage progression just based on that video, but as a proof of concept Utopia looks like it has a lot of promise.

I mostly just like how sonic utopia looks like it has a really good momentum based gameplay. The controls look pretty good. Hoping to play it soon.

Majestic Joey wrote:I mostly just like how sonic utopia looks like it has a really good momentum based gameplay. The controls look pretty good. Hoping to play it soon.

There's a download link in the description.

But it's not available for Mac. : (

Yeah... I have a mac. I have to wait until I go over to my girlfriend's house to play it and the whole time I'm playing it she'll be trash talking my computer and going on about pc master race.

Got to play Sonic Utopia at the gf's house. The controls are pretty damn good. Getting speed is all about keeping momentum and the platforming works great. The level is really vast and fun to explore. I think all it really needs is enough interesting gimmicks to keep the player interested. Seriously though, the guy that made this game should just pull a freedom planet and make his own game because instead of keeping it a sonic fan game because it plays so well.

Wouldn't surprise me; most the crew behind this worked on Freedom Planet.

Not to reopen this particular can o worms, but I hope they get a better character designer, though.

I really liked the Sonic model--it combined most of what I liked about the early versions of the character without looking all pudgy like the Sonic 1 box art.

And yeah, I'm looking forward to the game they're planning after having played the demo. If Sega is smart they'll snap these guys up and let them do their own line of Sonic games, though the guy who sounds like he's the driving force behind the project might want to tone down his absolutely fucking stratospheric levels of disdain for Sonic Team just a tad if he wants to pull a full Taxman.

I was referring to FP; Sonic looks phenom here (though personally, I'd point his spines a mite farther outwards). And it's one thing to emulate the success of something and another to create something new of equivalent quality.

Dr. BUGMAN wrote:I was referring to FP; Sonic looks phenom here (though personally, I'd point his spines a mite farther outwards). And it's one thing to emulate the success of something and another to create something new of equivalent quality.

Totally agree. I love Freedom Planet. The gameplay is some of the best 2d platforming I have ever played but the character designs look too much like "original character" sonic fan art. The characters in Freedom Planet don't have the charm as the sat am sonic cartoon characters and lean more to the furry demographic. That's just my opinion.

chriscaffee wrote:I always thought Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 handled Sonic's speed and mechanics well. Yes, there were some "automatic" sections in levels, but the physics didn't clash with classic Sonic games. Speed was built over time, characters had inertia, rolling/spindashing down hills is faster then running, etc. This fan game is definitely an interesting idea, but from what I've seen of it, I think I'd rather just play something more like the Adventure series.

Bless you; may you always be stocked with drano and your car battery never fail; I thought maybe I was the only person who thought that, and it was reaffirmed after I recently went back and played a little bit of sonic colors after adventure 2, and was faced starkly with how generally unpleasant colors controls work. All that being said, if you could properly mix the controls of the adventure with some of the level design of the utopia and the GHZ Paradise, maybe a winner could be had; however I have still yet to actually play either the paradise level or utopia, and thus experience their controls, but if I ever get the chance, maybe my opinion would change.

This one's got my attention. I always thought a fully handrawn Sonic game could be a beautiful thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMHmn8atkM4