What's Important in a Sonic Game?

I've been watching the new installment of ShayMay's Sonic Spitball Series and it got me wondering what makes a Sonic game and what the creators of official games as well as fan games and hacks put as priority when making a Sonic game. This is a question the creators have to deal with when creating their games and each Sonic game that has come out has done things differently. For example, Sonic Adventure used a ton of set pieces in its levels while Sonic Unleashed relied a lot on speed to keep players interested.

My question is to my fellow hackers, as game creators/editors yourselves, what do you think is important in a Sonic game, no matter if it's 2D or 3D?

Also, if you haven't watched Sonic Spitball, I sincerely recommend it. Each part is over an hour long which can be good if you need something to keep you occupied when doing monotonous tasks.

Edit: I forgot to say that all of the things in the poll are important to each Sonic game in one way or another. I'd just like to see what people prefer.

 

None of the above. You missed the larger scope of what's needed, and focused on frivolity.

 

Where's my "all of the above" option?

Also, SA1 relied on a hell of a lot more than the setpieces alone to keep people invested. Like Sonic 1 was for the Genesis, it was a tech demo for the Dreamcast. I say it relied just as much in the art, music, spectacle, and the open-world aspect as much as it did the setpeice aspect. Hell, I'd argue it relied more on specticle and an open-world feeling above setpeices. If you actually take into account the content within SA1's world, it feels pretty damn connected. Part of that is due to it having a hub world, but part of that is the levels sharing the same aesthetic as the worlds around them. But on top of that, the levels themselves were really impressive to play through. Think about it. In SA1, you got to:

• Explore the inside of a volcano
• Run through the inside of an airship
• Run atop the roofs of skyscrapers at night
• Run through some kind of structure in the sky

None of these are setpieces, they're entirely spectacle. That's not to say there aren't setpieces in Adventure (such as being chased by a giant Orca, or running down the side of a building) but they're pretty well dispersed. There was normally about 1 large or 2 small setpieces per level, but compare that to the levels as a whole. They never really dominated the level, and they were usually well-contained. They certainly weren't what you played the level for.

But getting back to my original statement, I feel all of those are equally important when considering how to make a Sonic game. However, there are some I would add. Such as:

• An overall feeling of uniqueness
• A proper marriage of speed and platforming
• Flow within-levels
• A showcase of the best the system it's running on has to offer
• Psuedo-realistic worlds

In general though, there is no one key thing that is the "most important" in video games. They all blend together to make one product.

 

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Now that I reread my post, yes, I worded that really badly and the idea seems dumb. I should have mentioned how almost all those things are important in Sonic games and I just wanted to know what people thought should be focused more on.

I said "most important" for a reason. If they all were the most important, then none of them would be the most important.

First of all, it was a bad idea to say that there were a ton of set pieces in each level because there weren't that many. The game did seen to focus on using them more than other games (besides Sonic 3K) iirc. Second, what I meant by "spectacle" was the spectacle of running at high speeds.

Also, before someone corrects me, I know that speed and spectacle was in only less than half of Sonic Unleashed because of the two gameplay styles and 2D sections. I was just pointing out that it (and Colors at times to the point of panning the camera away from Sonic) used it much more prominently than, say, Sonic Adventure 2.

Basically, the whole point in the creation of this topic was to see what others would want Sonic games to focus on. I apologize for the confusion.

 

....Except when it comes to game design, there is no one "most important" feature. That's like asking me what the most important wheel on my car is.

Although if we're talking about which one SEGA needs to focus on more, I'd say coolness and exploration, seeing as they've lost focus on those as of late. Lost World and Generations kind of stepped in the right direction in the second regard, but they were far too linear in terms of stage progression.

 

You missed basic principles key to making Sonic work so well. It's not about frivolity. It's about good understanding and implementation of basic fundamentals in a way that is enjoyable to the player. All the other shit? Means nothing if you don't handle fundamentals properly. What's important to a Sonic game is handling the fundamentals well and in a way that feels natural to the player while still being unique in identity. There's a lot that goes into that, but no amount of crap listed in your poll will matter if fundamentals are fatally flawed to begin with.

The most important thing, and what a lot of people fail to understand both inside and outside of Sega, is to do your fundamentals well. Many games have failed because of this, and many hacks fail to handle this at all. It's in some ways like a cake: frosting is great and all, but if the cake underneath isn't good, then frosting is the proverbial lipstick on the pig.

 

Originally, cars had only one wheel connected to the engine for movement. The reason was due to turning, since the wheels can desync around curves, you could not have two wheels on the same axil hooked up, this would cause one of the wheels to slide/slip. This was until the "differential" was created. So technically, the most important wheel on your car would be the one that drives, without it, you car would not move. Thereas the otherwheels are unnecessary as there are cars out there that drive on three wheels =)

...when I get back from work, I shall voice my opinion.

 

That was back then though. And even then, you still needed the extra wheels to hold the thing up, and aid in supporting the weight of the car so the one could drive it. Plus the two in the front still need to be there for turning and breaking.

Nowadays, the wheels operate in tangent to an even larger degree. My truck is rear-wheel drive, so the back wheels handle the acceleration while the front two handle the turning. And all four have breakpads. While yes, the rear ones would technically be the "most important", that's from a technicality standpoint. From a practical standpoint, they all have around the same importance.

 

READ MY POST CAREFULLY.

 

Point taken. Still though, each wheel has an individual task. Though, the front's got an even bigger importance now, seeing as it's the only one that's steering the car.

Unless of course the back ones do the same. I doubt my truck would be able to use three though. Too much risk when I'm hauling a load. I need the best steering I can get when that happens.

 

Relax, I was just trolling. You used an analogy to justify your meaning, and hell, I knew what you meant. But I couldn't pass up the opertunity to look at the analogy from a serious point of view, and point out why it could still work against your favour dX

On subject of course, I've had a long think about this at work. And honestly? I don't put "anything" first, I just think "ah, I have a cool idea, I'll try this!", and if it doesn't look, sound or play right, I think "fuck it, remove it, I'll do something else". But that's my view as a creator myself, not my view from looking at someone else's creation.

If I were to look at Sonic and justify what's important? I'd say what made the games unique and attention grabbing in the first place, better graphics and audio by comparison to other games at the time, and a better platformer than most due to the vital fact that the physics are WAY MORE REALISTIC that other games at the time. Rolling up into a ball and gaining/losing speed based on the hills, that... is.... GENIUS! It's a shame the Sonic games recently don't do that. There is no slow gradual gain/loss in speed, there is no rolling into a ball down a hill... Hell, I bet Sonic doesn't jump at the angle from the floor he's standing on, I bet he just jumps straight vertically up.


...am I right?

...please tell me I'm right?!

 

Pretty much agree with MarkeyJester. Also the level design in my opinion could be more like Sonic 2. Since Sonic 2 is the game who have the most stable level design in difficulty and is getting increaseable harder for each stage but still have the speed there. What I also would like is a 3D Sonic game that is using the Unleashed/Colors/Generations Gameplay without 2D. Since the 2D was slower then the 3D sections. What's important for that however is that Sonic should still maintain the Spindash/Roll ability from the classics and the level design should have more of what Sonic 3 did. (Branching pathways).

The most important for me is the Sonic 2's level progression in difficulty and elements from Sonic 3&K.

 

There's many things that are important when designing a game. But I want to point out a couple of aspects that are important to me personally.

One is comfortable controls and fluid movements. I like controls that feel consistent and natural don't feel restrictive, clunky, or awkward. Any time the player would expect to perform an action but nothing happens is a bad thing.

For example, if you're designing a dash ability that is bound to a dash button. If the dash only works when on the ground, it makes attempting to dash in the air feel unresponsive, and results in unintuitiveness. Allowing the dash midair would solve that.

Sometimes more free controls would feel like making the game too easy. But making controls inconvenient or inconsistent isn't valid difficulty. Movements should feel comfortable and intuitive.

What MarkeyJester mentioned about gaining and losing speed on slopes is a good thing. It makes movements on slopes feel natural when the physics are correct and not ignoring jump angle when jumping on a slope.

A second thing that is important to me is world design. This is a thing that varies greatly on the type of game, but Sonic-styled world design is what I want to talk about. Also others may have different preferences; this is just my personal interests. What I like to see in games are distinct zones. Each zone would feel coherent, and keep certain details consistent to establish a theme and a sense of atmosphere. Zones would have a set of objects, set pieces, and enemies unique to it, and in each level within the zone, they're rearranged in different ways to keep the game interesting. This makes me excited to see a zone, and eager to see what the next one is like.

It's nice when the tracks within the zone share a recurring melody, such as having a remixed version of the track in a different section of the zone. In Sonic games, this could be different acts; in others games it could be daytime/nighttime, seasons, overworld/underground, etc.

A counter example could be having forest zone, and then having a random desert section in the middle of it, and then having a forest section in a later snowy zone. I feel this would break the feel of consistency and distinctness of zones.

 

I figured. I just really enjoy debating.

Anyway, I do agree with your thoughts, primarily because I share them. I do believe you are correct in saying that the recent Sonic games do not have Sonic jump at an angle. I haven't tested it as of late though, so I couldn't give you a definitive answer.