Project SAAS (IMAGE HEAVY TOPIC)

Project Saes? The heck is that?

It's a short, 2D only level pack following yet another one of the good Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik's plots for world domination. It'l have 6 to 7 zones, but they'll probably be only one act each (Though, there may be exceptions). However, bosses will be in the same act on the zone you are playing, so don't think some of those zones were wasted on bosses.

The finished product will (hopefully) have some SOCed bosses and new enemies, as well as some gold 'ol fashioned 2D style gameplay. I also will include secret unlocks of course, but don't get your hopes up; I'm just a beginner you know. But knowing me, it'll be a long time before I finish this (If I even DO finish it :P).

Also, "SAAS" is pronounced like "sauce"

So, what's the story behind THIS one?

Eggman has, yet again, had his plans foiled by that blasted hedgehog. With this defeat, he devises yet ANOTHER plan to take over the world, as you would expect. Running a blank, he decides to thin of a plan to stop that meddlesome rodent instead, hoping his Eggman Empire plan would be easier without him. After looking upon the many areas he has been to via footage gathered by cambots planted across the many landscapes he's been, hoping to find some of Sonic's weaknesses, he took a closer look at some zones themselves, and thought "How the heck to those blocks just FLOAT in midair anyway?"

His curiosity getting the best of him, he researches the subject. From numerous sources from websites by scientists like him, he gathered that all of these platforms and other substances, called "Floors over Floors" or "FOFs" were given their attributes from out of world substances called "Control Sectors". these "Control Sectors" were mostly made up of a powerful substance called "AFALL1". If he could harness the power of AFALL1, he thought, he could make his own "Control sectors" to create powerfull contraptions of pure landmass to destroy that hedgehog, and bring the Earth (Or Mobius, if you believe THAT) begging on their knees for mercy! Then, the Eggman Empire will become a reality, with King Robotnik as it's mighty ruler! With the SAAS, the Super AFALL1 Anarchy System!

...Now if he knew how to obtain this "AFALL1" substance...

...Perhaps the scientists that wrote this information know...

That is the STUPIDEST crap I have ever read.

...I'll be honest. I just threw that together at the last minute. Infact, the project was just called SAS and didn't even stand for anything at the time; I thought the story and what it stood for (as well as adding another A) while I was uploading the first version.

Eh, whatever, how is the pack coming along?

So far... A couple of bugs, but good. One level just needs a big ironed out and some OTHER people playtesting it (Seriously, I've been playtesting this since I made the 1.09 version, which was originally just a one level thing), and it's as good as done.

I am also working on the second level, but it's nowhere NEAR finished. Not even 10% done. Other levels haven't even been deiced upon, but I have ideas in my head SOMEWHERE, but most have already been taken (Shakes fist angrily at Burning Sands zone and that one zone from Sonic Xtreme, taking away any potential of making a Magma/Desert level). But I'll manage... Maybe.

CURRENT VERSION (V0.2):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?20bjm0yzjdh

I may make a Sendspace mirror.

CURRENT PROGRESS/TO-DO LIST:

Sunset Town:
Bugfixing
(Maybe) Visual Improvement



What was originally a standalone zone, Sunset Town opens up the pack. This level has tons of enemies in comparison to later levels, but the numbers are mostly bark than bite. I might end up toning down the enemies, since most of them are so useless and they may cause lag for some people. there are also lots of teleporters here, but newer levels will have signivigantly less. I got a little too teleporter happy on this one...

This was originally a 1.09 level, but was ported over. If you wish to see and/or download the original, check this horrendously low quality vid here with the download in the description.



This originally had a turret, and the (unseen in this pic, since the crates block the view of them due to my poor photo taking skills) tiny houses (which I really need to do something with) used to be boxes before 2.0 screwed the crates up, sadly.

Anyway, the turret was being too cheap and firing as soon as players stepped upon the spring. Having such a cheap hit was annoying, so I replaced it with the pop-up turrets, and some (Destroyed in this pic) red Crawlas, but it just wasn't the same. What should I do with this area?



The acidic poison hurts you, but touching the bottom is an insta-kill. It's easy platforming though, so it's not a cheap kill. I'll remove the damage from the next version. I just keep forgetting to somehow...



This is one of the facilities of the Sunset Labs Acid Purification Plant, also known as the SLAPP. This explains the acidic poison water. It was taken from Techno Hill. and other intoxicated and acidic areas.



Now here's an issue I've been having: this teleporter, as well as several others, will activate REGARDLESS of how high above the ground you are. I've been trying to find out why this happens, but I just cant figure it out. Some other teleporters (Oddly, the ones you would WANT to jump over) can infact be jumped over without activating it. Anybody know why this happens?



I plan to have Chaos Emeralds hidden in highly ironic areas; Mario Shrines. Open the ? Block, and there an Emerald may wait inside. However, unlike 1.09, hitting it will send the emerald skyward WITHOUT STOPPING. So...


...You gotta use the red spring to get it. This one is easy to find and get, but there will be more platforming involved in rushing to get it, and getting to these shrines in the first place wont bee too easy......



Follow your nose! Er, rings. Use them to bop on some enemies to the other side. But they're in the background (As well as some sad SDURFs desperately trying to swim up stream), so you have to aim (slightly) more carefully...

Now, this is where a Co-op problem arises: No more enemies, no way for Sonics to pass. What to do here? Maybe I can trigger a spring appearing if someone makes it to the other side...



The home stretch, this area has the most enemies by far, but it's easy to pass. Even if you DO get in trouble, there' an even EASIER way to get through. How? Well, I ain't saying, but I didn't go through the trouble of hiding it well. It IS the first level after all.


Eggman fights you, and this time, he hacked some turrets to assist him!

Now, this is where things get a bit cheap, I fear. You see, the turrets in the 1.09 version assisted you more because Eggman was in the back, coming closer to you. You could guide the fire to him, and win without touching him. But doing that NOW, he goes MORE back and uses cheap coward tactics. Stupid retreating, making the fight last too long, so I put him in the middle instead, making the turrets more of a hinderence. I put up some walls to block the bullets, but Eggman tends to fire off screen... But if I get rid of he turrets, the fight becomes boring. What to do...

Artechnic (working title):
Level Design
Visuals
Bugfix



This level is also in the pack, but NOWHERE NEAR FINISHED. It has a small part of the beginning, and an endpoint, but not much else. But I might as well talk about it a bit...



You can see the base, but you cant get there because of the 2Dness :P. The area is basically going from the start, through a pipe to the underwater system, then coming on the other 2D plane and getting to the goal. There arn't too many enemies here, and there wont be in the final version.



Now here's ANOTHER delema I have. I wonder if I should make this area ice or more like the mountainish area in the beginning. I dunno, but either way, the wall will be transparent so you can see inside. You'll see more subs (Yes, that's a submarine) later in the level, but more like platforms.



This is pretty much the rest of the level at the moment. This will change, but for right now, it can be easily waterskipped into yet another sky reaching teleport. If you are sick of teleports at this point, don't worry, it's not as frequent as it was in Sunset Town.



Now this is a big I need help fixing. I get here, and the wall kinda goes forward a bit, and then...



...It shoots backwards! What is that pipe doing to it? It only happens around the pipe...



See? Only around here is fine, but if you get far away from the pipe, it's fine again! I'll move the north farther away to do some visuals and maybe some islands to do some platforming on, but i don't think it'll solve my problem...



I might add a teleport to the boss here instead. Probably the Sea Egg once more about how to use it is known and put on the wiki or something.



And that's all I got to show so far. Any advice or critique for me please?

I'll download the pack in a few, but for now the major thing I have to say is make use of the fact that 2D mode still has an unaccessible 3D Axis. Use the Sideways Springs to make Sonic move to another plane, for instance.

Detail is also a must, epic visuals = teh epic

Looks good from the screenshots though

Wow, I'm very impressed. I'll have to see how it plays but the visuals look quite good for a 2d level. I would like to point out however that in this screenshot here: LINK, the GHZ textures start to blend in at that distance. Maybe use GFZROCK2 for the larger walls and use the GHZ rock for some of the smaller ledges. Also, you can place small fofs over top of each cliff to put that top grassy texture from GHZ in there, which is time consuming but REALLY worth it. I would use the olive-colored grass in the JNG section as that would fit more in that kind of dirty theme you're shooting for.

As for Artechnic, the screenshots show that its clearly not as far along as the first one, but I like how you are using the ERZBLUE textures with the ice theme. I'd like to see factory/naval-base elements play more heavily into it to help differentiate it from the many snow levels we've seen. Additionally, you'll want to add some geometry to the background, even if Sonic's not going to platform on it, to make it feel as natural as the first one.

Also, teleports can sometimes feel contrived... use zoom tubes, springs, or other similar devices to transfer the player around. In places where you want the player to go into the interior, use a tag to disable the sound effects as the player enters the door so that the player doesn't realize he's just gone through a teleporter.

Will comment on the gameplay when I have time to play through it, keep up the good work!

This was fun! Like JEV3 said you might want to make zoom tubes instead of using teleporting to reach other parts of the level. The boss is fun to fight if you want to in the future you can make him fly above you then charge at you so that he does not seem too easy by getting hit by the turrets. For Artechnic the level should start on top of a mountain with a misty effect on top of it then go through other mountains that seem more techno than the one before then you go through the rest of the level that you have planned.

I know how to fix your problem now. In the bug reporting topic I found out what causes the problem, so I changed the exeacuter from each time to continuous and it worked! What you need to do is the same thing.

(Credit:Glaber)

Anyways, that how you fix your tele error.

Try making your teleport an intangible FOF sector. Also, in multiplayer, you can just switch to tails to get pass the spring part. I'd also suggest an alternate way to pass the crawla bouncing part incase all of them die before the player gets it right. You don't want to punish the player for killing enemies.

Thanks for the info guys; I'll try adjusting the teleports as soon as I can (the comp with SRB2DB is being used right now)

As for Artechnic, the glitch involving the pipe shooting the wall back does not happen when I moved the wall back (Which I was planning to do anyway, so I could add some visuals) and I was already doing some spring work for alternate paths. I have a basic idea for the alt path, but I'm not quite sure what to do for the normal one... However, the pipe at the end WILL take you inside the marine base instead of the other side, and I have some ideas for it.

Anyway, for the people too lazy to download the map to playtest it (which I REALLY want you to do, but if you cant...) here is a video of the latest Sunset Town:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMU_04J2ijg

I'll fix up those teleports asap.

also, note: TELEPORTS WILL NOT BE THIS FREQUENT IN LATER LEVELS. They will be used sparingly, and only if necessary. I got way too telehappy with Sunset Town, but I still like it just the way it is.

Wow, I saw the video, and it didn't look like crap

It looked like a lot of fun actually, but I remember a bit too many enemies, it looked like.

This was a very fun level. The 2nd level is small right now.

There is a Chaos Emerald in the 1st level... Hope that's not much of a spoiler. The location is in [spoiler:dc498d7491]the 2nd question mark box. It will fly higher. Before it's gone, use the red spring to the right to get the Emerald.[/spoiler:dc498d7491]

I like the way this is going. The story is unusual but oddly enticing, the levels look great, I look forward to seeing this finished. =) And that's odd, because its pretty well known that I don't like 2D levels, and these are pretty good, so good luck with this.

filio said:

This was a very fun level. The 2nd level is small right now.

There is a Chaos Emerald in the 1st level... Hope that's not much of a spoiler. The location is in [spoiler:79f8d2224f]the 2nd question mark box. It will fly higher. Before it's gone, use the red spring to the right to get the Emerald.[/spoiler:79f8d2224f]

Click to expand...

Um, you do know the screenshot shows that emerald...right?

Oh, don't make rings that the player can't get. Because that makes it impossible to get a PERFECT bonus. And don't overload with Crawlas. Its possible the memory might go over 64MB and sigsev.(Oh, it might lag in netgames too)

And some of the enemys are just unnecessary. XD

Erm, who cares about Perfect Bonus? It's really only good if you want to get the emblem for it, and you can't adding this because it modifies the game.

Now now, we all know there are people who strive for perfection.

SO ONTO BUISINESS

I adjusted Sunset Town slightly. I have removed some unnecessary enemies, adjusted some monitors, added an attraction shield to get the rings in the waterfall (though, getting the shield itself is kind of tricky, since it is submerged), and fixed a slight graphical error near the first death pool. Also, the teleports are fixed, so now all of them teleport upon contact with the floor, except for one which I intentionally did not fix, for it makes it a bit easier to activate without getting hit by something.

...And once again, I forgot to remove the damage from the acidic water.
-_-

SO HERE A LINK TO A DEMO
http://www.mediafire.com/?yjuzft2zzmv

I have removed Artechnic from this demo due to it being incomplete and, in it's current state, incompletable. But since this is just a few changes to Sunset Town, that's all that's needed, right?

So far, Artechnic's progress is okay so far, but it could be smoother. Stupid zoom tube...

But I kinda want to get into SOC editing so I can add a boss. Nothing fancy or complicated, just a simple boss.

You should keep Detons, SDURF, Crawlas, and Buzzers as enemies at this point. There are still too many enemies.

Well, the "too many enemies" thing is kinda intentional; most of them don't pose much of a threat close together, but the points racked up can give you easy lives, Which you'll probably be needing in later levels. I might tone it down some more, but the SDURFs in the background stay. Except maybe in one of the toxic pools.

Oh, and the detons are REALLY cheap. As slow characters won't be able to outrun them.

And, why did you put a e in the first part of the post.

Autosaver said:

Oh, and the detons are REALLY cheap. As slow characters won't be able to outrun them.

Click to expand...

...Detons are ALWAYS slower than the characters top speed, regardless of who it is.

ALWAYS.

tried it with Tails and Knux, and they got through fine. Plus, you can duck behind the shield monitor, and they all blow up, leaving you to pop it open without using it prematurely.

I have an idea on how to solve the emeralds going skyward.

[spoiler:9f85aff531]Add a gravity flag on them.[/spoiler:9f85aff531]

Monochrome said:

I have an idea on how to solve the emeralds going skyward.

[spoiler:9ed2bfd332]Add a gravity flag on them.[/spoiler:9ed2bfd332]

Click to expand...

I dunno, I kinda LIKE them flying up.

I might add a race for the emeralds to get some.

Could you make the file name simpler? I can't memorize, and thus, still haven't tried this yet. :p