Sonic the hedgehog: West island

[Grigri]

Note: this island is NOT the same island as sonic 2's west island

Hey, i have been working on this for a LONG long while (Progress has been slow since my workflow is wierd and i also restarted most of the levels completely )
BUT! after summer break and a few weeks of not doing anything, i have decided to start to work on this again! :D

Summary of what this will be: a level pack with like 2 maybe 3 unlockables and about 7-8-9 main stages!

Do note that this will all be made by me, myself and i so it wont be of perfect quality sadly, but i will try my best! (if it ever gets released that is)

For now i wanna share some screenshots i made of the now in development version of the first zone's second act

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

Screenshot 3

Do know: these area's are undecorated ect because of the fact that the level is still in indev, they will be decorated alot better later on :3

For now this is all i want to share, when i have the first zone done with both acts complete and decorated i will post it here as demo, for feedback and to let people play!

 

[neo x]

It's peak, reminds me of videos I watched that was uploaded back in 2010-2013, for some reason?

 

[Grigri]

Not really a big update but i added a room for people who use noclip... uhh...

Yea, just wanted to add this, i am taking this VERY seriously... trust me... ... ...

though on a serious note, i am adding a new area wich takes a little inspiration from GFZ2 in some way!

More... serious updates will be out sooner or later!

 

[Grigri]

i have not given a update in a while, so small update time!

i resumed work a week or 2 ago but went on vacation shortly after so i couldnt work on it, but i am back to working on it bit by bit since i like to test my maps a bajillion times

i am trying to speed up development so i can get a demo out on christmas or something like that but im not sure if it will be out at that time

on a good note: the first zone's act 1 has its layout ALMOST fully complete (missing a seperate exit for a other path and its missing objects, decor, ect) and the boss stage is practically done (though i might have to make it smaller because it is VERY big for a boss arena... making the boss just not fun to fight)

on a sad note, act 2 of the first zone is very, VERY huge and open... that is because i wanted to have explorability in this level, but as downside it makes development on this stage a REAL annoyance since there are many wide open area's with nothing in them that i have to fill in... wich takes alot of time

also the first zone is made on the og zone builder, the rest of the stages i wanna make on UZB since it makes stage creation easier and faster wich would help nicely so when the first zone is done development will speed up

and on a ending note, i am gonna be making concept art soon that i can share and get opinions on too, with the zone names there too.


we will just have to wait and see, but i hope to get more updates out soon on this since i do really love this project (and have been working on it for MONTHS since i think i started around begin this year? counting the times i restarted making stages and all that (plus learning how to even use ZB with making this and other stages) it has taken a while but im at a stage to start ACTUALLY doing work on this project! YAY!) so i will try and update more but dont take anything for granted! at the end of the day i have other things in my life to focus on like school and my own entertainment and all that.

to end this off i wanna show off a lil logo i made to put on the concept art!

 

[Grigri]

Hey guys! i wanna tell about the zones i have planned!

GOLDEN BEACH ZONE
First zone of the game! this one will be planned for the first demo. The zone has a lack of beaches despite its name...

FOREST RUINS ZONE
Second zone of the game! the atmosphere is set at a abandoned castle at night, act one sees the player navigating towards the castle and act 2 sees the player INSIDE the castle, trying to find Robotnik.

SUPER DAM ZONE
Third zone of the game! a city built behind a mega dam! Robotnik flees to here to shut off water acces to the city... and to make multiple badnik production facilities!

MIRAGE CANYON ZONE
Fourth zone of the game! Robotnik escapes from super dam to a empty lifeless canyon full of dangerous rocks, scorching hot sand and heatwaves! (A special bounty hunter may appear here...)

LAVA CAVES ZONE
Fifth zone of the game! a cave hidden deep in the rocky mountains of Mirage Canyon! The player will find themselves facing alot of lava trying to take all their lives! but im sure they will manage... maybe if they get far in enough they will find Robotnik digging for expensive gems wich coat the walls of the cave!

AIRIAL FLEET ZONE
Sixth zone of the game! Following Robotnik onto a ship that was docked at the exit of Lava caves, the player finds themselves flying high up in the air ready to take down Robotniks airial fleet of expensive yet powerful ships!

DEATH EGG ZONE
Last zone of the main campaign... you already know what happens in the death egg... Robotnik rebuilds it for the 4th time to try and launch in into the atmosphere and succeeds! its now up to the player to stop him from taking over mobius... i hope they have all the chaos emeralds!

Those are all the stages! and fun fact: Lava Caves zone is actually from a older project of mine called "Sonic the hedgehog return to little planet" wich was a fangame that was being made on a roblox game called "Classic Sonic Simulator" ... It was made on a alt account i forgot the password of so the project will never be fully released, sadly... but there is still footage of Lava Caves on my youtube! so hey i guess its not lost forever, right?

But why is it back here in Sonic West island? well my friend, its simple! I absolutely loved the atmosphere of Lava Caves and i wanted to bring it back here! (Actually i couldnt think of a good level idea nor name so i took Lava Caves lmao)

And hey, who knows? maybe i will remake Return to little planet when im done with West island? but thats all for now. I got to get back to working on the game!

Also if you have any questions regarding the project, dont be afraid to ask here! im more than happy to awnser any question!

I hope you have a nice day!

 

[Grigri]

Another upda- wait no a question actually...

I cant seem to figure out how to use a global colormap and a colormap assigned to a sector together (aka: that the player and surroundings are orange colored but underwater is blue type of stuff) so i ask of you all

Wich one do you prefer?

Number one!

OR!

Number two!

I kinda wanted this act to have a huge sunset like feel but ya know... cant have the stage look too ugly either...

 

[NeoZiggy421]

I would say the second looks much better, fits the overall vibe of "Golden Beach" here with the "end of day" theme going on, the first one honestly feels out of place and not really "Golden" in any sense. Speaking of names- this zone's name honestly makes no sense really, (and if you mind my manner's here) downright misleading in a sense- especially if this is what the zone looks like, instead of redoing the stage's textures just to match the name, I do have two replacement names that might suffice? I think the name "Sunset Valley" or the name "Evening Hills" or Hill if you prefer. Both of the names are inspired by the "end of day" aesthetic you've chosen for this zone (especially for the second colormap you showed us), and the more "plains" names because well- this here is our green zone, one I made with the intent of a more original name in mind (that being SVZ) and one to take reference to the fact this is on Sonic 2's (16-bit) Westside Island, and well the first zone of that game has "Emerald Hill" or EHZ and well, this map-pack would have its first zone be named "Evening Hill(s)", EHZ. I'm so smart

You don't need to take my suggestions here, especially if you can make your own better name (even better names than mine!) but it would be nice to see some sort of rename for a more grassy sunset/evening zone instead of the beach... gold? (how does that even work?) that it says it is. I also took notice that this idea was very similar to Sunset Hill from Sonic Advance 3, so if you need any inspiration for this stage I'm sure this can give you a few ideas! I would like to say the zone names for a few other zones in this level-pack I take issue with and I wanna also think of better names for them as well but I won't enforce those ideas unless you want me to share (its your creation after all!). I hope I helped in some way, the overall idea of this project sounds pretty great to me and want you showed so far doesn't look that bad! Don't be afraid to ask for help for ideas or mapping tips as well, I'm sure there's a great bit of people that would lend a hand if you so need it, but for now- cya later!

Spoiler: Huh? Do you need me to shorten this for you? Click Here! I promise :)

TL;DR: I'm not actually going to spoon feed anyone here lol, no short recap here for you!!... you must read... now

 

[Grigri]

I would say the second looks much better, fits the overall vibe of "Golden Beach" here with the "end of day" theme going on, the first one honestly feels out of place and not really "Golden" in any sense. Speaking of names- this zone's name honestly makes no sense really, (and if you mind my manner's here) downright misleading in a sense- especially if this is what the zone looks like, instead of redoing the stage's textures just to match the name, I do have two replacement names that might suffice? I think the name "Sunset Valley" or the name "Evening Hills" or Hill if you prefer. Both of the names are inspired by the "end of day" aesthetic you've chosen for this zone (especially for the second colormap you showed us), and the more "plains" names because well- this here is our green zone, one I made with the intent of a more original name in mind (that being SVZ) and one to take reference to the fact this is on Sonic 2's (16-bit) Westside Island, and well the first zone of that game has "Emerald Hill" or EHZ and well, this map-pack would have its first zone be named "Evening Hill(s)", EHZ. I'm so smart

You don't need to take my suggestions here, especially if you can make your own better name (even better names than mine!) but it would be nice to see some sort of rename for a more grassy sunset/evening zone instead of the beach... gold? (how does that even work?) that it says it is. I also took notice that this idea was very similar to Sunset Hill from Sonic Advance 3, so if you need any inspiration for this stage I'm sure this can give you a few ideas! I would like to say the zone names for a few other zones in this level-pack I take issue with and I wanna also think of better names for them as well but I won't enforce those ideas unless you want me to share (its your creation after all!). I hope I helped in some way, the overall idea of this project sounds pretty great to me and want you showed so far doesn't look that bad! Don't be afraid to ask for help for ideas or mapping tips as well, I'm sure there's a great bit of people that would lend a hand if you so need it, but for now- cya later!

Spoiler: Huh? Do you need me to shorten this for you? Click Here! I promise :)

TL;DR: I'm not actually going to spoon feed anyone here lol, no short recap here for you!!... you must read... now

I completely understand that the name is very odd lmao Honestly the only reason its still called that was because the old version of GBZ was actually a bit more coastal (though there was still much more grass than sand) and i never really bothered to change the names, but i will defenitely think of a more fitting name for this (and also some other stages since Mirage canyon zone isnt even referred to that in the MAINCFG rn but its mentioned as a basic "Desert level zone") And Since GBZ went through like 2 reworks or so i always kinda kept the name thinking that i would add alot more "Beach" into the level (wich never happened ) So yea, a newer, more fitting name is defenitely needed

 

[Grigri]

Hey everybody! small little thing here, i installed linux mint on a old thinkpad! i installed srb2 2.2.13 on it too wich means i could possibly stress test my mod and maybe try and optimize the levels since every level will use UZB except golden beach (for now, i will remake it later, maybe i will start doing small things for the GBZ remake now... But i want to get a demo out soon ) and since UZB makes probably preformance heavy things easier to make this thinkpad could let me see if i can possibly optimize the game in any way! this just makes the mod more accesible to people with worse devices but dont count on it since im not sure if im really gonna actually do that, its just a thought for now

in the meanwhile, here is a gif from Forest ruins act 2, a small little thing im chipping away at

and yes, that is xmomentum sonic, and the gif is all grey because of a purple global colormap

 

[*GOOFYRAT!*]

NICE!!!
Can't wait, dude! Seems awesome!

 

[Grigri]

Hello all!

I have stopped working on this project (NOT PERMANENTLY!) because im messing around with GSgrindrails rn lol, its really fun.

tommorow i will probably start to chip away again to get a demo out soon!

i only have one worry for this project at the current moment, wich is the release of 2.3 (wich is practically right around the corner)
its not as if i wont like 2.3 but, its the worry that my mod wont work in 2.3, and that porting it will be a huge hassle.

so i have my fingers crossed for the hope that either:
1: wont have to port and 2.2 and 2.3 mods are cross compatible! (the one i hope for, and its prob also the best for most mods that have released in 2.2's lifespan being very cool mods wich would probably be hell to port)

or

2: that porting the mod will be a piece of cake!

the future is uncertain but hey, its whatever

and either way i will have a blast, a robo blast with 2.3, im sure of it...

So yea, i hope to have a new, more fun update out soon!

Have a nice and most wonderfull day!

 

[SnocSock the Hedg]

Hello all!

I have stopped working on this project (NOT PERMANENTLY!) because im messing around with GSgrindrails rn lol, its really fun.

tommorow i will probably start to chip away again to get a demo out soon!

i only have one worry for this project at the current moment, wich is the release of 2.3 (wich is practically right around the corner)
its not as if i wont like 2.3 but, its the worry that my mod wont work in 2.3, and that porting it will be a huge hassle.

so i have my fingers crossed for the hope that either:
1: wont have to port and 2.2 and 2.3 mods are cross compatible! (the one i hope for, and its prob also the best for most mods that have released in 2.2's lifespan being very cool mods wich would probably be hell to port)

or

2: that porting the mod will be a piece of cake!

the future is uncertain but hey, its whatever

and either way i will have a blast, a robo blast with 2.3, im sure of it...

So yea, i hope to have a new, more fun update out soon!

Have a nice and most wonderfull day!

2.3? What do you mean, is 2.3 already happening? I thought 2.2.14 was still in the works?

 

[NeoZiggy421]

2.3? What do you mean, is 2.3 already happening? I thought 2.2.14 was still in the works?

That's probably a misconception of theirs;

2.3 is nowhere near release at that current moment even though it's now fully taken full priority over 2.2 for the devs, so we still have a good while to wait .

(For @Grigri) you should only concern yourself with the eventual release of the last 2.2.X release, that being 2.2.14 (or .15 if we have another emergency patch like .12 -> .13). Have fun with GSRails though Grigri

 

[Grigri]

That's probably a misconception of theirs;

2.3 is nowhere near release at that current moment even though it's now fully taken full priority over 2.2 for the devs, so we still have a good while to wait .

(For @Grigri) you should only concern yourself with the eventual release of the last 2.2.X release, that being 2.2.14 (or .15 if we have another emergency patch like .12 -> .13). Have fun with GSRails though Grigri

ah alright goofy little me i thought it was close to release since SSNtails uploaded a new video, somebody had a comment under it saying
smth like "gosh damnit ssntails stop teasing us with peak stuff" and SSNtails replied to it with this

so i took a wild guess

 

[Grigri]

Hello everybody!

and happy holidays!

i wanna share a cool little thing i am toying around with right now wich will most defenitely make its way into my levels now

its these triangle vertex slope whatever's, i learnt about these a few hours ago in the GSgrindrails server and i think im in love
same thing goes for this very cool arch tool!

also the gif used here is a sort of self made demo thing for gbz1's UDMF remake wich will be made when demo 1 has been released (wich should be very soon since 1. i dont want to use zone builder anymore and 2. i dunno what to add to the levels except for decor lmao)

so yea! i hope to get back to yall very soon with a first demo release (wich will be not very good but you atleast get to sorta see what i have been doing lmao)

also, the sonic 3 movie released! thats pretty cool... now i gotta dodge the 700 million spoilers heading my way
(and i already got spoiled once i think? but id rather not think the characters mentioned are gonna appear (i forgot them all anyway))

im gonna go add the final touches to the binary versions of GBZ now (wish me luck, UZB is much better)

well thats it for now! have a nice Day!

 

[Grigri]

Hey yall!

not really a update or anything i guess, i just wanna show something cool i made with the FRZ1 remake (yes, there were older, worse versions.)

i guess it spoils a emerald token so im gonna put a spoiler on it just incase you dont want to get spoiled since i do not plan on removing this nor do i plan redoing the whole map. sofar there is nothing wrong and its turning out very nicely.

anyway, here is the gif.

Spoiler: Normal gif, warning: spoils emerald token location!

Also, a blooper since thats funny.

Spoiler: Blooper gif: spoils where the emerald token sort of is!

this gif also shows more of the level, lmao.

thats all right now, the demo should come out on the 25th, remember: its not gonna be very good.

and a lil extra: I am thinking of releasing a demo 1.5 where its just GBZ (or whatever the name will be at that point) but then remastered in UZB.

so yea, those are my plans right now at the moment lol.

for the rest i have nothing else to share right now so:

have a nice rest of your day!

 

[Grigri]

Hey all!

merry christmas to all of ya!

or holidays if you do not celebrate christmas

anyway, i have the FIRST EVER DEMO !!!

for all of you :)

do note that:
1. these levels were made with binary with pretty bad level design
2. the levels cut off awkwardly because of the fact that they have been binned
3. decoration gets more scarce
4. 3 emblems in act 2 of gbz arent present
5. a whole path is completely unfinished in gbz2 wich means there is only one way to get to the end (sorry about that)
6. emerald tokens are removed since there is 1 unfinished special stage wich i also have to rework (wich i have no plans of doing that anywhere near the future)
7. there are some issues with polyobjects in gbz1
8. and alot more like as empty space
9. gbz 2 emblem hints say PLACEHOLDER or UNKNOWN im not sure but thats since i only add the hints in when im done with the level
10. there is some junk i added into the PK3, that will be deleted later too but right now my main focus is the levels
11. Alot of the main campaign is here but most if not all the levels are in a HEAVILY unfinished state with some even having place holder names or testing names, so take note of that if you go snooping around the levels i guess?

and again, there will be a demo 1.5 wich is the OFFICIAL version of the first zone with all 3 acts too! so this is more of a sort of "meh ill just give them something to play" type thing

so yea, im sorry that the first demo is insanely bad but im most defenitely improving my work as hard as i can. since UDMF does help ALOT with level making (making it easier to incorporate more difficult things and it really helps with my workflow) though im also still learning alot of things of srb2 level design, since i mainly base my levels off of official levels or other more populair mods but since im only one person and i dont really have the best experience in level design: things wont always be all too good

but i AM starting to get a feel that im understanding this alot more and more, so i do think that when the other demo's release, that it will be alot more fun to play than this demo

feel free to give feedback, but it is probably already issues i saw myself... but ya never know

and hey, any and all feedback is appreciated!

anyway, thats enough talking for me right now. enjoy this... if you even can?
(also, the file isnt named demo 1, i know that but sofar i know the submission rules dont apply here, later demos will probably have v1.5 or v2, v3, ect and i guess the first OFFICIAL release would be named like v5 if the last demo is v4 or something, i dont know yet... we will see what happens when we get there)

 

[*GOOFYRAT!*]

AYYYYY-
Nice work so far, really liking it!

 

[Grigri]

Hey all!

im working on adding new textures for the monitors!

im far enough that i believe they look in a presentable state

here are some gifs! (with GBZ2's UDMF version in the background)

they are quite small and as such the hitboxes look quite wierd too, but just using a sprite sheet to make these already is taking long enough so for now i will leave them like this

As you can see, the monitors are a little small... i wont tweak the hitboxes though since that would defenitely throw some people off and uh... idunno how i can make the hitboxes smaller or bigger

it can look kinda goofy with some parts of the texture (because of the constant texture swapping) and some monitors are oddly colored but yea...

also the pity shield will be blue

this is so that it matches the normal shield icon from the monitors (when i add that lmao)

(also: ignore the skybox, its there because i was testing custom textures, the same skybox will appear in a other zone however )

Thats all for now i guess! i like how the item boxes are looking! next step is to add a custom hud i think, with custom i mean just swap it with the s3&k hud maybe... idunno lol

Have a nice day though!

 

[Grigri]

A update on the objects the hud and the levels!

I have a new hud in place right now wich is the Sonic Xtreme hud, idunno if it will stay around forever since i might want to redo it myself? im not sure

nothing too interesting has happened with the item boxes, i only made one for the Extra life but since the monitor is smaller the little character icon is off center, and it looks pretty ugly

Now, onto the big stuff!

I have made a bit of progress on Forest ruins act 1 and i am thinking of restarting act 2, since what is there just doesnt really click all too well and the gameplay is quite bad

Forest ruins now has this very VERY big area wich has alot of swining maces and all that, and it also has other (in my opinion) pretty cool things, so im quite satisfied with that

Golden Beach!

Well... uh... in my opinion it looks very ugly, i dont want it to just be "Another GFZ" so i will probably have to make my own stage assets wich... im not that good of a spriter

I did check the Community textures pack thing but nothing really caught my eye so im on my own here, sadly

anyway, lets make it a bit better... maybe? with

SUPER DAM!!

wich it wont be called soon, i just need to find a better name, lol

I have started work here, to kinda get my idea's out there and honestly, this is the most satisfied i have ever been making a factory-like level, it looks nice and also uses a few custom Textures made by me

So the level idea is renewed, its a city that Robotnik is trying to rush out, act one will have sonic at the more outside area's of this place, there will be Mega excevators in the background (if i could implement them somehow without using lua or without using 100000 different linedef executors and fof's and more, i would but i simply cant) wich are there to show that Robotnik is trying to destroy/flatten as much land as he can for this city of his.

Here are some screenshots!

And also, i have this (in my opinion) cool lighting effect!

Also, you can see the Hud here

Also, this stage rightnow uses a VERY old skybox i made ages ago, lol.
I should probably remake it... or just find a other skybox that can replace it

Thats all i have at the moment!

So yea, Have a nice day!