Yes!
50-60 FPS
NEW hedgehog engine creating and pushing PS360 to its limits!
Also did you see the trailor to the short movie?
http://www.sega.com/sonicunleashed/notw/us/index.html
Credit to Spyne at sonic stadium for finding this update
Quote:
My
name is Yoshihisa Hashimoto and I am the project leader for Sonic
Unleashed as part of the Sonic Team, Sega’s development studio in
Japan. My duties include managing the production of Sonic Unleashed as
a Game Director and Lead Game Designer, and also as a Technical
Director, supervising the Hedgehog Engine which is critical in ensuring
the high quality graphic images in the game.
In this 2nd entry in the Sonic Unleashed Developer Diary series, I’d like to discuss a couple of things with all you fans:
* How Sonic Unleashed has made big advancements in Sonic game play
* The "Hedgehog Engine," which generates beautiful and impressive graphic images
SCREEN:
http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/923/923171/sonic-unleashed-20081023021246726.jpg
New Concept for Sonic
Sonic Unleashed offers many attractive features – one of the most outstanding being the gameplay itself for Sonic the Hedgehog.
The Art Director Sachiko Kawamura and I have participated in the
development of many Sonic games for over 10 years, ever since Sonic
Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. During that time, we’ve seen a lot of
Sonic games being developed and released. But we always felt that
something was missing.
I kept asking myself “Is this the Sonic that fans really want to
see?” It looked to me that Sonic was a bit restrained. I could hear his
cry; “I want to run faster! I want to run freely!” For years to come as
I worked steadily to build my career at Sonic Team for Sega, I kept my
belief that “the true Sonic the Hedgehog could be even better!”
Then, in 2005, I was approached and asked by the Producer Akinori
Nishiyama “Would you like to produce the next Sonic?” And this is when
the new chapter of Sonic began.
I started straight off by thinking of what is needed to make the
real Sonic. And I found the answer pretty quickly - I actually already
had my answers in my mind since I’d always been thinking about what the
“ideal” Sonic was!
* Sonic is all about speed. Without it, he is not Sonic. So we
needed to put absolute priority on the sense of speed and let him dash
non-stop on the trackless routes.
* Draw from and improve the classic “Side-Scrolling Sonic” from Genesis. This would surely please loyal Sonic fans.
* However, be careful not to end up with just an ordinary
side-scrolling game. Because it will be nothing more than a “Nostalgic
Sonic” experience. We wanted to make the “Ultimate Sonic” experience.
* Keep the 3D gameplay that progress players towards the back of
the screen, which was something adapted since Sonic Adventure. 3D is
absolutely essential in giving the sense of speed and an powerful
presence. 3D Sonic could definitely be very entertaining if made right
so we’d rather we go more towards the 3D ( 3rd person ) Sonic
direction.
* Compare 3D to 2D, and think of two completely different gameplay
styles taking only the good aspects from both, while discarding the
bad. And then mix those two parts seamlessly to result in a stage that
changes rapidly and dynamically offering gameplay that offers all
advantages from both 2D and 3D.
* Keep platforming gameplay elements in mind too. Speed can be
appreciated more with the contrast of differently played, slower in
speed areas.
*To achieve the non-stop-supersonic-running sensation, revise the controls and develop a new speed action mechanism.
* Prepare amazing visual images with rich presence so that the player can be immersed in the experience with Sonic.
And thus, the “New Sonic” would be born from this set of key concepts.
SCREEN:
http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/923/923171/sonic-unleashed-20081023021259148.jpg
Unleashing Sonic the Hedgehog!
So we began with the prototype of the new Sonic.
First, we needed some new control mechanism to achieve the
“non-stop supersonic running sensation”. I came up with the following
new action mechanisms: Quick Step and Ring Energy.
Usually, the player moves in 3D gameplay using the left stick, but
since it’s analogue, it limits user’s movement for linear directions.
Since Sonic dashes at supersonic speed, it is difficult to let him run
non-stop within a complicated 3D environment using the left stick
alone. We needed a system that allows Sonic to move quickly and avoid
the obstacles. That is where the “Quick Step” idea came about. The
control was quite simple: while running, all that needed to be done was
to press either trigger with your right or left index finger, enabling
Sonic to side step directly to the left and right while still being
able to run in supersonic speed, zipping through the obstacles in the
3D environment.
Next, I focused my attention to the rings, the item traditionally
used in the Sonic games. With rings, or even with one ring, Sonic could
avoid taking damage from enemies. That was a fantastic system for a
fast action character such as Sonic, but I always felt it was a shame
that collecting more than two rings makes little difference in the
gameplay. So I presented a new concept called “Ring Energy” in which
collecting many rings is enjoyable and rewarded, marrying the concept
of the rings and the speed. As more rings are collected, more energy
would be accumulated, and by gathering the rings, it would also allow
Sonic to “Sonic Boost”, the fast acceleration feature. “Sonic Boost”
also allows him to break through walls and objects, and run quickly
blasting through the enemies. Using the “Sonic Boost” is very thrilling
and you will quickly become addicted to using it.
And so, the ring became more important in its role. Also, the more
rings are collected , it increases the Max speed at which Sonic can
sprint, so the Time Attack feature that tracks how fast a stage is
finished becomes another fun feature. Moreover, by using other various
actions such as “Sonic Drift”, ”Sliding”, ”Stomping”, ”Wall Jump”, and
”Light Speed Dash”, we solidified our concept to let Sonic be able to
dash non-stop on the trackless route.
Once the speed mechanism was in there, we moved onto the stage
designs. The stages that Sonic dashes through are designed to show the
change in view rapidly from 3D to 2D every 15 to 30 seconds. On each 3D
and 2D area, the course is carefully laid out with various geographical
elements such as uphill, downhill, banking, loops, valleys, walls,
ceilings, floors, grind rails, springs and jump bumpers.
In Sonic Unleashed, the speed in which the player travels in the
game is actually increased many times compared to past Sonic titles.
Since he’s so fast, each action stage is as long as 10~20Km.
Our artists worked very hard to put together these massive
geographical areas. And we were eventually able to see Sonic running
through these courses. Even though the control is pretty simple, Sonic
runs around freely in the beautifully elaborate background at his super
speed. The camera is optimized so that the change between 2D/ 3D is
very smooth and dynamic.
Our entire staff was excited by how fun and how good the game felt
to play. Sonic was finally freed from any restraint and started to
shine in his true color. This was the moment when finally Sonic was
Unleashed!
SCREEN:
http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/923/923171/sonic-unleashed-20081023021255835.jpg
The “Hedgehog Engine” and its visual quality
We also have “stunning visual beauty” as a major theme in Sonic
Unleashed. I was not interested in making “average-quality” visuals at
all. For
me, the target for visual quality was to be on par with pre-rendered CG
animation and I wanted to achieve that goal in this title. Now with
high-end hardware such as Xbox 360 and PlayStation3, it’s the right
time to be able to achieve this goal.
Back in 2005, I was able to see new games from some other studios for
Xbox360 and PlayStation3 and I remember always feeling that something
was missing. I thought that though it was true that they looked better
than past-gen games, I still felt something was missing. They were
doing things with Shadow Map, Normal Map, HDR… shaders and everything.
So okay, the lighting may have been richer… but was not blended enough.
Things just looked flat as a whole. I thought the users’ expectation
was much higher. So we knew we needed graphics that reached the
“pre-rendered CG animation” level.
So I started thinking about what is needed to achieve this. What
does pre-rendered CGs have that game graphics lighting doesn’t? I went
on to make it a habit to observe many games, a lot of pre-rendered
graphics and real-life scenes as well. As a result, I came to the
conclusion that the effect of light reflecting from one object to
another was what was completely lacking in many gaming graphics. I
realized that this was what I felt was “missing.” This is a concept
called “Global Illumination” in the field of pre-rendered CG.
After much struggle, we finally developed a Renderer that calculates Global Illumination by our 100% original algorithm.
To cover the vast amounts of calculation that need to be processed, we
also improvised a system that connects 100 PCs for the team to
distribute the work load, which enabled us to complete all the lighting
calculations for an action stage which goes as long as 10~20Km in 2 or
3 days.
At the same time, we developed a technology called Light Field, which
is used to ensure that the lightings on Sonic, enemies and objects are
naturally blended to the background under the Global Illumination
environment.
The result of Global Illumination and Light Field produced
brilliant results. Graphics at the quality which were only a dream just
a few years ago started to come alive before my eyes. I remember
watching the prototype graphics with my background and character
artists as their eyes started to glisten as they looked at the screen
with such intensity. That’s when I became sure of our success.
As you all know, We have Sonic in Sonic Unleashed. The overall feel
of the graphics is rather cartoonish. Usually people don’t associate
high-end visual technologies with these cartoonish graphics. But we
have set the foundation for creating world-leading quality visuals that
could be on par with hardcore FPS or racing games of a more “realistic”
nature. We made no compromise in visual quality and/ or game mechanism.
This is Sonic Unleashed.
SCREEN:
http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/923/923171/sonic-unleashed-20081023021253023.jpg
Back to its roots?
I’ve been asked a lot of times if “Sonic is going back to its roots” in
interviews. My answer is always “No.” Sonic Unleashed still retains the
spirit from his Genesis days, which is his origin. But it’s only one of
the many amazing qualities of Sonic Unleashed. We are learning from and
taking good bits from his origin but we are not “going back” at all.
And actually, I wanted to “go beyond” the origin.
I’m confident that this one is so good that everyone will say
“Sonic is back!” This title has the best of SEGA, the passion of the
Sonic Team. I can’t wait the to have everyone see and play this newly
unleashed Sonic.
There will be more to come in the developer diaries . So hope you look forward to the next one, too! Stay tuned!
http://blogs.ign.com/SEGA_SonicUnleashed/2008/10/23/104478
Like I said, Sonic Team pushes the limits on hardware.
