Ok, I guess I should just dispel all the hypothetical discussion about the special stage lineup because I feel like this is going to get very circular very fast without some insight for you guys.
First and foremost, we actually had this discussion a few times in #'dev. There were arguments on both sides as to having SS7 either be ERZ themed or GEZ/DCZ themed. Hell, at one point someone even reskinned one of the beta Egg Satellites to GEZ to try and prove a point. I won't deny that it looked decent, but I really liked the ERZ theme and kept lobbying that until everyone just settled on it.
Beyond that, I personally feel like Egg Satellite is really top-tier for a special stage and everything from the gameplay to the theme just fits beautifully. I would not want to replace it with a new stage, or turn it into some weird boss thing. I really like the current lineup of themes for the stages (and I know some of the actual stages themselves are subpar, but that's an entirely different issue), and I feel like Egg Satellite is a far more fitting end than DCZ or GEZ could ever hope to be.
Now the question that's being asked here that I can see is if a DCZ/GEZ special stage is going to be made. Well, truthfully, that's a big fat
maybe. Discussion for special stage plans and ideas for content beyond what we currently have is on the table, and themes and gimmicks have been discussed. Now, what happens with that discussion going forward and if any of the ideas get implemented is anyone's guess, and there's no guarantees that
any new special stages will be made. It should obviously then go without saying, but I'm not promising that DCZ and/or GEZ will ever get a corresponding special stage. But if they do (and that's still a very big if), it'd be as extra content rather than as main campaign stuff, and more likely than not if it's extra content, you're going to be looking at things around Black Hole difficulty, unless I decide I wanted to change up things and do something
really different.
To just address a few other things said in the topic:
...I, don't think the thing holding Dark City back is the fact that there isn't a special stage for it...
No, but the reverse is true; the fact that Dark City's been held back is why there isn't a special stage for it (Rob wouldn't have a visual reference to check against, because the source doesn't exist).
ShadowHog is half-right here. There not being a DCZS is not what's holding back DCZ. I'd even argue that DCZ isn't even being held back and it's all just a question of prioritizing and "when" rather than "do we include" but that's just me.
But again, see the above paragraphs for why DCZS really hasn't happened. It's not just a lack of visual reference, it's really thematically subpar to ERZ.
Suggestion: Remove the dash meter thing in NiGHTS mode, and give the player infinite dash. There's pretty much no way to run out of dash unless you deliberately try to, so having an energy meter for it just adds more clutter to the already-busy NiGHTS HUD.
lol, no. There's good reason for that to be there. I was
deliberately generous with the dash meter in the core special stages. I have map ideas that definitely will change the dynamic of that (whether or not those come to fruition remains to be seen, and don't take this as any sort of indication of stuff in future versions of SRB2. I've been debating the merits of making some addon NiGHTS content, but we'll see what happens.
Which leaves space for Dark City to make an appearance, since the way the new special stages are set up. 7 zones = 7 special stages. Right?
Dark City Zone = Special Stage 7
Egg Rock Zone = NiGHTS Super Sonic final boss.Dark City Zone = Special Stage 7
Egg Rock Zone = NiGHTS Super Sonic final boss.
I like the idea of using Egg Satellite(ERZS) as Final Fight Zone. However, what would this mean for Grand Eggship Zone? Since it takes the eighth zone slot and there are only seven Special Stages, it'd be the only level without a NiGHTS counterpart.
I kinda/sorta touched on this earlier but I really don't like this idea for several reasons. Not the least of which being introducing boss mechanics into the main campaign NiGHTS special stages at the very end is probably the worst idea ever.
Actually, I would like to see if it's possible to make a NIGHTS final boss as that "Special final stage of the game" similar to Doomsday Zone of Sonic 3 & K. Only thing is that i have absolutely no idea how the boss would play out.
(Maybe Brak finally gets his wings?)
I have some ideas for NiGHTS bosses outside SRB2 proper. We'll see what happens with those.
Dark City Zone is always just a thought for the developers, and many people try to mod Dark City into the game. Dark City by this point doesn't have a purpose being in the game at the moment, except for having a really good music. Dark City COULD be a hyper level for the eventual next version of the game...
Please please please
please don't spread misinformation. We have not canned DCZ and every discussion we have ever had on DCZ has invariably led to "We want to do it at some point". Now, obviously that can change, but don't make assumptions either.
There shouldn't really be any care about how many Special stages themed with every zone will be. If you get all chaos emeralds before finishing the game or if you get 2 chaos emeralds in one map, then the course of following the special stages for every zone is useless.
This pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter of theme order being as relevant as people are trying to make it out to be. ERZ is just cooler at the end and that's really all I care about.
tl;dr The zone order of the special stages is irrelevant to the zone order and total of SRB2 because I said so.
