Suggestions

The slime being blue in THZ3 is entirely due to the Mega Mack in Sonic 2, and the acid in ERZ is green due to that being the colour of the core (as well as it being the SASRB2 slime texture, importing green acid from Sonic Adventure). Blue FOFs of slime don't exist because it'd be easy to mix up with water, while the THZ slime not being green is... well, it's not an oversight so much as a throwaway reference without changing the colours of the fight too much from its previous magenta, but if they were aggressively honing in on consistency it'd be the next step to change.
 
I would like to see a "Real Time Mode" type of gameplay in which you have only 1 or 2 hours (or 7 days as the intro says the Black Rock stays), so that you had to complete the game in time or you would lose all oportunities.

And then a Record Attack Classification between other SRB2 players (which could also work for Real Time Mode, to be beaten in record time)
 
With all the control options the game has it'd be nice to have a tutorial that covers them. It'd also be nice to be able to adjust the sensitivity curve for movement when using a controller, As well as being able to control the vertical and horizontal camera sensitivity (or a way to have a limited vertical look where you can look up/down to a certain angle but not straight up/down) separately to make enabling vertical look a more viable option.
 
Files loaded during game startup (like by using the recently-released launcher program) don't show if they were loaded erroneously. At the very least, the warning and errors should be printed to console so that I only have to open it during the title screen and see if there are any problems.
 
A ChromeOS port would be nice. I can only play this game on school PC's and I'm usually in the mood to play this game when I'm at home (I don't have a PC).

Also, the reason why I can't just get Linux is that this is my brother's PC, and he won't let me install Linux on it.

So this would benefit a lot of people who can't access a PC all the time (which I fit into) and would probably make your game quite more popular than it is already

JakeAmations out.
 
I'm liking having a simple sound effect for 1ups instead of the whole jingle since I got sick of it ages ago and it's interrupting better music, but for clarity could it be a different sound from the cash register noise? Or could we have the option replace it without triggering the modified flag (since the sound is technically supposed to be replacing music)?
 
A Speedrun Mode would be a GODSEND, it'll basically have a timer (maybe in the middle-bottom of the screen) that'll be active from the moment Greenflower Zone act 1 loads and ends at the very moment the ending plays, this'll make speedrunning much easier, as it can split automatically with each act and Zone and thus can get more accurate times.
 
- Or could we have the option replace it without triggering the modified flag (since the sound is technically supposed to be replacing music)?
All audio, whether it be music or sounds, can already be modified by add-ons without triggering the "modified" flag.

Sounds require a "DS" prefix, and "DS" is one of the whitelisted lump prefixes in SRB2's add-on system.
 
As Zwip-Zwap Zapony said, you can replace both sounds and music without the game being marked as modified, so long as the WAD/PK3 you put the files in contains only sounds and music. However, as of 2.2.2 you can only replace the music - replacing the sound is bugged.

but for clarity could it be a different sound from the cash register noise?

The devs already mentioned they're working on a proper unique sound for it.
 
I'd like to suggest a few Quality of Life changes to record attack, inspired by games based around inspiring the player to score/time attack a level many times by getting them back in the action as quickly as possible, such as Super Meat Boy and Dustforce.

  • In Record Attack, restart the level instantly on player death rather than returning the player to the level select.
  • Allow the player to instantly restart a level rather than having to hold the restart button, or perhaps allow double-tapping the restart button as in Dustforce.
  • Disable level title cards in Record Attack, so the player has full visibility of the screen from the start.
In the event the player might prefer the way things are, these features could perhaps be a toggle in the options menu somewhere.

These suggestions are mostly inspired by the two games mentioned above as well as my organic gripes I've come across while trying to time attack Egg Rock 2. After I die, I hold down the restart key so I can get back to the beginning of the level as quickly as possible, but sometimes I'm a bit too slow and get kicked back to the level select and then have to wait for the color fadeouts and for the level to load back in. Additionally, sometimes on a successful restart, the title card appears again anyway.

Now these are just a few seconds of waiting, sure, but they add-up over time, and less time the player is actively engaged with the game, the more likely they are to quit.

The designer of Super Meat Boy brought this up in an old interview, I think, and so they emphasized getting the player's control back after death as quickly as possible. Dustforce is similar in its approach, and makes a good compromise in case you feel like giving the player control immediately after death might be too jarring--when you die in Dustforce, there's a unique sound (like a whoosh), the screen quickly fades out and back in with the player at the start or last checkpoint, and there's a very quick 3-2-1 count. It's a good way for the player to stay engaged and just enough time to prepare to start again.
 
It should be possible to skip the credits even if you haven't previously seen them.

Yes, credits are nice... but they're also a big "time sink", which some people (including myself) would prefer not having to just sit idly and watch before being able to play more of the game.
 
It should be possible to skip the credits even if you haven't previously seen them.

Yes, credits are nice... but they're also a big "time sink", which some people (including myself) would prefer not having to just sit idly and watch before being able to play more of the game.

I would settle for just being able to press jump to speed the credits up, so you can still see them but they get over with faster. I can understand wanting the credits to be viewed the first time so that proper acknowledgement for who did what is given, but being able to speed that process up would be appreciated.
 
I haven't read this *entire* thread, but I did read the last 20 pages and didn't see these suggestions brought up, so here are my thoughts.

More Safety Nets / Replace Most Bottomless Pits with Spike Pits

If at all possible I would like to request that the devs consider adding a spike floor or at least more safety-net platforms to bottomless pit sequences in Arid Canyon, Red Volcano, and Egg Rock.

I can understand the reasoning for why one could disagree with my idea might be that, you want the stakes to be raised in the later levels. You can't allow the player to be "bumper bowling" the entire campaign; if they aim poorly, they deserve to go in the gutter.

It's not that there can be NO bottomless pits, I just think there are too many in the later stages. I think the stages would not be any less satisfying to complete or master if many of the bottomless pits were replaced instead with spike pits that could allow for recovery. The player is still punished for their imprecision, but there is more encouragement to try again and get it right, rather than getting frustrated and giving up.

Also, I think that using bottomless pits less frequently then heightens the drama of the times when they are used... certainly the pulley jumping sequence in Arid Canyon benefits from a bottomless pit.

But with Red Volcano, there's already a lot of hazards to contend with; having the pteradactyl toss the player in lava, and possibly recovering, is still a good punishment, but it's not as frustrating as being caught and then tossed to a bottomless pit.

I know this kind of thing is so much easier said than done, but I bring it up because I feel it doesn't fit with the ethos of the classic Sonic games in the way the rest of the game totally nails the spirit. For example, Sonic 2, really it's only Wing Fortress and the one pit in Mystic Cave. There are a few odd pits here and there otherwise, but it's not central to the platforming challenge in 2D Sonic like it is in Mario.

The reliance of bottomless pits in level design is something that annoyed me in the Dimps Sonic Advance/Rush series, and especially in the Adventure/Modern games. I feel that part of the core Sonic gameplay, in both 2D and especially 3D, needs to involve a certain trade-off to allow for the mixture of speed & platforming to be satisfying and not infuriating. It's a fine line!

Techno Hill exterior wall color

This level is pretty cool looking in the factory, with the silver/purple contrast, and then seeing the red Egg Corp building against the orange/blue city skyline.

But the initial impression of Techno Hill is off-putting, aesthetically, and I think really it's just the orange/burgundy/brick color in the exterior sections with the gray grass.

Changing that color to something that pleases the eye more, while still communicating the same dystopian effect, would really elevate the level's look.

More pink, maybe? Neon toxic green? Baby blue? Mustard yellow? Maybe just blue/yellow/silver together like Chemical Plant?

A big downward slope slide for Techno Hill Act 2

Speaking of Chemical Plant, I love the high speed first sections of TH1 and certain parts of inside the factory in TH2, but I feel like there's a set-piece room that is missing.

The same kind of slope as in Greenflower Act 2, but... more. Something that evokes the feeling of that slope in Chemical Plant.

It could maybe replace the springs in that room with the conveyer belts where you need to drop deep in the goo to rise up to the other side and take the platform up the goo-waterfall.

Basically it'd be a gigantic slide, somehow you arrive at the top of the slope, then you run or spin down what seems like an impossible height, and then have a ramp at the end to pop up to potentially the max height, and then land down in the goo and under the thing and up the goo-waterfall.

MORE Credits!

I'll go against the grain of the last few posts, be a bit rebellious. The credits are beautiful! Not just the character artwork passing by - though they are wonderful - the sheer amount of people, the mixture of usernames and real names. I actually would not mind more specific credits, like, level by level, song by song.

I guess because it's a non-profit game, I'm sort of automatically more impressed and marveled by the credits - I'd actually encourage the devs to take more bows! I'm serious. Why not? Share a tweet or write a short message.

Could it have a skip option? Maybe, I don't know. Part of me thinks it shouldn't, haha. Just as long as the game saves prior to the credit roll, so you can escape and force-quit the game, but you get the guilt-trip quit messages like - "Please my lord. We worked on this for no reward other than your pleasure. Won't you learn our names?" What's the longest amount of time a credits scene can go before someone turns the game off? Push it right up to the limit. The player should take the time to not only appreciate the credits, but engage in some self-reflection and soul searching, so the longer the better. I'm just kidding.

BUT — what I really mean by "more credits" is a credits/ending sequence.

In Sonic 1, it's a faked highlight reel of your adventure through the zones and then a party in Green Hill. In Sonic 2, it's the comic panels and Tails plane catch. S3K is the plane or Angel Island, but basically a blue sky and cumulus clouds. For SRB2, I think it'd be a mix of still images / light animation like the intro, mixed with "highlight reel" footage, and then some recorded gameplay footage while the name credits roll by on another part of the screen.

So what is the ending sequence of SRB2? If it's not already mapped out, I think it works as a combination of the endings - S3K, S2, S1 - in reverse.

The player needs to escape the space station, presumably on the same rocket they arrived on, or an escape pod.

As the pod rockets down from space through the blue skies, we'd see flashbacks of the player's "highlight reel" footage through the adventure.

At the end, we see the player return to Greenflower, now peaceful and flowing with animal friends, to join a party with the other characters who you've cleared. So if your first clear is Sonic & Tails, they do celebration animations by themselves with the animal friends bopping around. But then clear as Knuckles, Sonic and Tails are already there too. And so on when you complete as Amy, etc.

Whoever is last to arrive - Fang (talks with Knuckles), Amy (Sonic), or Metal (Tails)- once all characters clear, the final ending comes post-credits: Eggman attempts to join the party in his eggmobile. The characters all wack him together at once, sending him flying off into the distance... and destroying his face off of the Mountain.

Take care of yourself

My last suggestion is just that I hope you are doing well and thanks for reading this post that I'm typing and now posting!
 
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I think this game would benefit from being able to skip the credits in modded games that have their own saves. I've seen the credits already in the vanilla game. Why do I need to go through em again after finishing a level pack? It's just annoying.
 
Credits can be removed but it's up to the author of the mod to decide whether to remove them entirely or replace them with their own, this is more of a problem on the mod author's end.
 
Another NiGHTS Suggestion

Multiplier Changes

Option A.

Make the Multiplier x3 when getting a link of 100, and make the Multiplier x4 on the very rare occasion that someone gets a link of 1000. You can change the NiGHTS scores to be higher, since this change would make a skilled player get a higher score. With this change, there is more incentive to focus on not losing your chain, currently losing your link is not really a big deal, and thus the Link Freeze powerup is one of the worst, it doesn't really help you get a bigger score.

Option B.

Every loop around the stage changes the score multiplier. So on the second loop around the stage your score multiplier will be x2, and on the third loop it will be x3, and on the fourth x4.

Option C.

Have both of them, so you can get super high scores. A lot of other games have like multipliers up to x8, so for someone getting that high of a score multiplier it can be super fun to them. Of course, the score required for ranks can be buffed due to this allowing for much higher scores to be obtainable. That and the score for lives, since you could probably get 20 lives and a continue very easily if you're very good at NiGHTS.

I believe the previous suggestion about NiGHTS would also be a great help, due to the difficulty curve of these stages being quite... sharp. The first 3 are easy as heck, and then the 4th is a little harder, then 5 - 7 are very hard. Because the first 3 don't have a time limit, even being a beginner i don't think it's possible to fail the first three.
 
Something that might help newer players find Emerald Tokens would be if they have a fairly quiet but still just barely audible high pitched humming sound (Similar to goal rings in Modern Sonic games) that grows subtly louder as you grow closer, and then goes away when you collect them.

The first time a new player is somewhat close to one, they will hear this sound and be naturally curious as to what this thing that is making the sound is. This will tempt them to pick it up if they can figure out how to get to it (Most likely the one near the start of GFZ1 up in the air that most characters need to use the diagonal spring to get to). Once they do, they will eventually clear the act and be brought into the special stage.

Also I know if you press tab you can see your collected tokens, but a more obvious indicator of how many of these you have in your possession above your lives counter would also be helpful, and would help to convey to a new player that the thing they just picked up is still in their possession and didn't just vanish when they touched it. This would also help convey to new players based on the shape of the icon that this is the thing that brings them to special stages, and that they didn't just enter into one randomly or because of ring count or something.
 
I think adding sound cues for emblem tokens is a great idea. In general I think there should just be

More Collectibles

The emblems and emerald tokens are cool, but there are so many nooks & crannies that are off the beaten path that are largely empty. I think adding an additional reward, besides a 1up box, would go a long way to rewarding exploration.

The SRB2 equivalent of korok seeds, or the power moons in Mario Odyssey. A lot of them just scattered about. They don't need to add up to anything, necessarily. They just need to be a thing you collect and it makes a sound when you grab it. That's the reward really.

Adding a "kill count" for enemies in the Extras section. "Collect" all of the animals by bopping all badniks in every stage, you get a Freedom Fighter badge.
 

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