This is my entry for SAGE (Sonic Amateur Games Expo) 2020.
The game is not finished yet, I'm releasing this demo for the event. The level is very short because it's using the default pico-8 map. The final version will have a stage as big as Sonic 2's Emerald Hill (and 2 acts if the compressed limit is in a good mood).
Still, it's fun to roll and bounce around the level like a THPS game. Have fun :)
CRT version:
Short, but I really, really like it. You really nailed Sonic's physics, he controls and jumps very nearly to as he did on the Genesis games. Very excited to see the final game.
I've been watching the progress of this on twitter for the last few weeks and safe to say it's been worth the wait.
Fantastic stuff.
Awesome. Short but super impressive. Hoping for more updates, but really happy this exists.
Thanks for releasing the png cart, I have a pico-8 launcher and didn't fancy those data.pod standalone long term.
So accurate I need to go find a CRT to make the waterfalls look right!
So beautiful! I was wondering why there wasn't any quality sonic game in pico-8 yet!
Truly fantastic job - I dig very much your small rotation routine!
Thanks everyone! :)
@apLundell There ya go! hahaha :D
@freds72 It means a lot coming from you. I followed your tips of using closures for objects, pretty cool!
This shows a lot of promise and skill, I can only believe the final project will keep this skill, however, I have to ask, why the CRT filter?
@Dragonhearted apLundell mentioned above that he wanted to try the game on a CRT monitor, so I made a cart with the CRT effect as a joke. The original cart at the top of the page doesn't have this filter
I didn't have a chance to check out the code of the CRT version! Please post it again!
Nice. It's accurate to the controls(?) of original sonic games.
I beat this in 6 seconds lol, i have a video on my youtube channel xd
Thanks, everyone :)
@MaJeeDooo0010 I'm aware of the spin dash bug, I just didn't prioritize fixing it because the classic games had it too, so it's almost like a legacy feature hahah
I might fix it later depending on how many tokens it costs to fix and how many spare tokens I have at the end.
I would love to make it a full game as a multicart (I made multicarts before), but this game will probably have just one level (as big as they were in the Genesis titles), with 2 acts. The main reason is that I want to start a Patreon for my personal projects, and I can't accept donations while working on a fan project.
@RayEz I saw your video! Pretty cool!
@Farewell_AstralDev There's a guide in the SonicRetro website for most of the core mechanics: http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Physics_Guide
I'll just expand this one level to the size of a level in the classic games.
I made a little art thing based off this.. maybe I should recreate it in Painto-8!.png)
I haven’t played this game much, but it seems fun! Also, for the love of god, PLEASE add the drop dash. I would constantly use it and the game would be way faster
Edit: also I thought the big ring would be a special stage
It was the end
I'm not sure I'll add mid-air abilities like drop dash or insta-shield, but there will be a bunch of shield abilities.
Yeah, it's super short, it's just a demo for SAGE. I'll make a full stage later on.
Speedrun, it doesn't show here but it's actually 6.8 seconds not 7. For some reason the timer still plays for a short while after you hit the ring.
If you also want to speedrun, there's a few routes that work pretty well. It depends if you pick up shield or not.
{} SHIELDLESS {}
- When the game starts, start charging up a spin dash to the left.
- There's a loop at the start, but it cuts off to another part, where you'll have to press right instead. Make sure to practice this transition!
- Don't jump in this part, unless you have to. Just hold right and let Sonic do his thing.
From here on out there's a branch. You can either go on the top of the platform, or in the middle of it. Usually you should aim for a specific one, depending on how high the spin dash launched you.
-- If you land in the middle, just hold right. Sonic will reach the goal eventually.
-- If you land on the top, jump off the platform around the middle-right, but don't jump off too close to the edge. If you do, you'll land on the platform and waste a lot of time.
{} SHIELD {}
- There's a bug where if you hold left next to an item and jump, you collect it without actually lifting off the ground. So first, hold right until you're pushing against the shield, then jump. Make sure to still hold left when you're jumping. Because of this bug, almost no time is lost getting the shield.
- Next, spin dash to the right. Follow the same steps as shieldless.
Once again, there's a branch.
-- The middle plays out the same way. You can try to shield jump south on the loop to save some time, but it's incredibly difficult and not worth it.
-- If you land on the top, try to jump as close to the edge as possible. When you're about to hit the platform, shield jump northeast, which will make you land on the other platform. Jump again. This time you'll hit the ring.
{} THOUGHTS {}
So how fast are these routes?
Believe it or not, the fastest route is shield top. Due to the item glitch, collecting the shield wastes virtually no time in comparison to not doing it. In addition, the shield jump makes shield top incredibly smooth. I got my personal best with this one. Average time is 00:07 with the occasional 00:06 that becomes a 00:07, due to the timer glitch.
Shieldless top is actually a lot faster once you learn the right route. Before you do it's horrid, but once you learn where to jump it's really smooth. Average time is 00:07.
Shieldless middle is probably the one you should start with. It's pretty solid and once you learn it you can move on to shield or shieldless top pretty easily with your newfound skills. Average time is 00:09.
Shield middle is the same thing, but getting the shield wastes time here, since there's no real reason for shield jump. Average time is 00:10.
@supreee That's a deep analysis for such a small demo hahah :)
I'll have to look into the timer bug.. Probably add a more precise counter when you finish the level, down to the millisecond >:D
@supreee That's a deep analysis for such a small demo hahah :) I'll have to look into the timer bug.. Probably add a more precise counter when you finish the level, down to the millisecond >:D
Gotta speedrun those demos.
Really, really impressive and I really, really look forward to more of this. Thank you for putting this out there!
Incredible! I decided to try speedrunning this for fun and, after about an hour and a half, I got a 5 second time! My strategy is to:
> Immediately spindash right to get the shield.
> Jump right and shield down to get speed off of the slope.
> Jump and shield up to clip onto the platform.
> Immediately jump and shield down to land on the top platform.
> Jump at the very end of the platform to make it to the next platform.
> Jump again at the right time to clip up to the next platform.
> And jump to the end.
Super fun and I wish you the best of luck finishing this.
Edit: I was also able to get a 5 second time without the shield! Here's what I did:
> Hold down and left from the beginning.
> Immediately spam z, x, and c to charge the spindash and release down to spindash.
> hold left until the end of the loop, then hold right and land on the top platform.
> Like before, jump at the very end of the platform to make it to the next platform.
> Jump again at the right time to clip up to the next platform.
> And jump to the end.
Great! Can't wait to see a finished version (If one even comes out.)
HEllo bonevolt,
please, do the full level emerald hill and chemical plant and aquatic ruin and casino night and death egg with acts 1 and 2
add the bosses
add chaos emerald if the special stage complete.
the giant ring send you the blue sphere
I don't know if this would make enough of a difference to justify the effort, but it looks like the running animation goes at a constant framerate regardless of Sonic's speed. If it's easy enough to fit without too many added token, I would recommend basing the animation speed for running on how fast Sonic is moving. It's a little touch that makes Sonic feel a bit more like he's actually interacting with the ground despite the cartoonish animation.
Also, while it wouldn't be able to be tweeted, you could make the fuller game longer by having it use multiple carts, if you finish your current plans and still feel like making more that is.
@kimiyoribaka It already behaves this way. Do a spin dash at max speed and immediately press up to uncurl. You'll see that the running animation goes a lot faster than running at a slow speed. I implemented it exactly like in the genesis titles.
Yeah, I'll probably make it into a multicart at some point.
This game is very well made that it looks like the actual sonic!
very well done!
@SB1020X Not at the moment, but it will be updated at some point before the heat death of the universe... Hopefully haha
please, bonevolt just answered that. don’t press people who make games as a hobby and share them freely!
Wow this is a great rendition of Sonic. Hope for more levels / mods. :)
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