Robotnik Returns!

Remember that shitty thing I made? Well, it got better. Enjoy!!!

IMPORTANT NEW THINGS:

There are several new monitors. The clock monitor freezes all the enemies on the screen, the static monitor hurts you, and the ghost monitor is a secret

S3Kish special stage rings (you don't respawn back at them; this is intentional)

THE INTENDED LEVEL ORDER IS:

Lazy Field

Construction

Technopolis

Pollutant Plant

Scrap Brain

Scrapped Ruin

Final

And other things you'll have to figure out for yourself

Story:
Robotnik was getting frantic. Every plan he made seemed to be thwarted effortlessly by the blue hedgehog, and his ideas were getting stupider and stupider by the week. Utterly confused and enraged, he looked back on some of his old files, and realized that his previous ideas were much better than his current schemes! They'd given Sonic a run for his money, and he had just barely escaped Robotnik's seemingly fool-proof plan. Perhaps, if he lured Sonic back to South Island, he could get his old lairs back in working order. Of course, most of the ruins had been torn apart by the test of time and Dr. Eggman's "Modifications". Green Hill Zone was protected by the lingering chaos emerald magic, and spring yard zone had to be replaced entirely. He got lucky, though. Scrap brain zone was in working order, and he worked hard to make it as cruel and soul crushing as Sonic could ever imagine...

Features:
New music, Artwork, names, and layouts for various zones.

A brand new character, with various perks and quirks: Lilly the Flicky! (playable by pressing b at the start menu)

New monitors
Completely different level order
A reimagining of Hidden Palace Zone added the way that Sega intended, through a 7th special stage entrance (its essentially a bonus level, full of lives and rings)
Alterations to the boss arenas
Various bonuses for collecting all six chaos emeralds (start with 10 rings, orbinauts spawn with no spikes, S monitors give 50 rings, etc.)
New special stage layouts
A new zone at the SBZ2 twist
And of course, a badly ported spindash xD

Lilly is a Flicky in a mech with an attitude!



You can play as her by pressing B at the start menu, and enjoy her varied pros and cons:

Pros:

She is immune to damage from large spikes (but not smaller ones, like on spikeballs and enemies)

She can't drown

She has more control of her jump height in the special stages

She can only lose ten rings at a time

She can Jumpdash

Cons:

She doesn't drop rings, so she can't recollect them

She can't roll or spindash

She is often forced into harder platforming parts because she can't roll, and has a harder first boss.

being a lazy ass, I kinda took this pic from LooneyDude's thread. Oh well.



The level select code is unchanged for a reason. please check out all the other levels!

Download

Some credits:

LooneyDude for most (but not all) of the custom artwork

Nineko for most of the music

Xeta for a music fix and the credits theme

Sebli for a lot of guides (most importantly, the jumpdash)

Some SCHG and SSRG tutorials

And some other people I've probebly forgotten...

If you feel you should be credited somwhere, don't heistate to ask!

 

I thought people already said stuff about it. Must have been on another topic.

I'll start then, I guess.

Lazy Field Zone replaces the water with a field. I get that. However, the sprites you used turn really glitchy after awhile from deformation. I suggest using the tiles from Emerald Hill Zone's background:



...or at least something similar to them.

In some places, it seems like there's an overabundance of certain objects. In Lazy Field, I got a ton of Newtrons to follow me. So many, that it caused the game to slow down. Also, there are too many rings in some areas. For example, in Lazy Field, there's a loop with a ramp next to it, and they're FILLED with rings! Another example is in Construction Zone. There's this long stretch of land with nothing but rings. Speaking of that zone, It's got a bunch of dick moves, like those monitors encased in spikes I cant seem to avoid.

I'll probably play more later to give you some more notes.

 

Oh thank goodness! A review! The reason I made a new topic was because this version is way more improved, and has at least partially overwritten every zone in the game. I wanted some more playtesting so I could improve the game a bit more. Thanks for the tips!

 

Spoilered to save space.

Spoiler

Alright, let's see here...we got ourselves a thing. This is bad in some places and decent in others. I'll be elaborating on this now. This is all just my 2 cents, so don't feel like you're required to take any advice I give you. I highly recommend you take any suggestions I give into consideration, however, as well as suggestions by anyone else. Anywho, let's begin...

Lazy Fields Zone

To be entirely honest, I couldn't find much wrong with this zone other than a few spots where the game seems close to crashing due to sheer badnik numbers (*cough* overabundance of Newtrons in Act 1 *cough*), as well as a couple dick moves in the second and third acts and a few points that don't make sense, but I'll get to that later.

Construction Zone Act 1

Hoo boy, just the first act of this zone is enough to make me hate it. Here's where the real criticism starts.

First, taking the upper path, I find that there is a long strip of level with nothing but rings:



Err...what exactly is the point of giving the player so many rings? It's almost like you're holding their hand one moment...

...and then pushing them off a cliff the next, as seen below:



How'd you come up with this thing? It's kinda dickish and when you consider that the spike bug still exists...



...yeah, the spikes in this game get irritating real quick. Might want to lay off quite a bit on the pointy shit. Anywho, going back a bit:



This looks out of place. Perhaps add some chunks up above it to at least make it fit in.

Starting a new game from the level select, I entered Construction Zone 1 again and this time took the bottom path, only to realize it's just as bad as, if not worse than, the top path.



Are you seriously forcing the player to make up their mind that quickly? You don't put a flamethrower and floating platforms together like this. It's kinda dickish and really, it just annoys the player, because if you fall there, you die.



The player should be able to go up here, but s/he's not because the above floor is sold here where it shouldn't be (right above Sonic).



A couple frames before I died due to thinking there was something beneath the floating platforms that used to be above me. Seriously, don't leave large bottomless pits like that.

Pollutant Plant Zone Act 1

Anywho, Construction Zone is done, since I couldn't be bothered to play it further, but I did try Pollutant Plant Zone (which weirdly enough has a different name on the level select). Here's a fault which I believe is more of Marble Zone's fault in general, but hey, it's a problem:



Sonic shouldn't have that angle here. Also, while I'm still on this image, I'll say that the palette here kinda hurts my eyes a bit. Mind making it more user-friendly?



I really hope the invincibility was meant to make this possible, because it's literally impossible to get those monitors under normal circumstances.

Another fault concerning badniks:



This can happen in legit S1. If you go into a Caterkiller with enough speed, you will get hurt (or die, if no rings are possessed) upon killing it.

One last thing:



This is the fault of an overabundance of invincibility monitors. 32 seconds is way too fast, especially for a Marble Zone layout.

Concerning music, LFZ is nice, and PPZ is a bit loud and it's not good, but it's not bad either. Might wanna work on that a bit.

And with that, I believe that is all I have to say. My current verdict?

Level Art: 5/10 (Lazy Fields background is kinda good, though it's not much. Still, it has potential.)

Music: 6/10 (Arguably the best aspect of this hack.)

Level Design: 5/10 (Has some potential, but you may wanna lay off the hazards.)

Character Art/Design: 4.5/10 ('Fraid I can't give it a very high score, though the spindash does bring said score up a bit)

Replayability: 3/10 (It's got some replay value, I guess...)

 

Total Score?

23.5/50

Grade = C+

Needs a bit of work, I'm afraid, though for a first hack it's not bad at all.

 

Wow, if someone else has the same problems as me, that either means he stole what I said, or they're pretty important.

EDIT: Alright, so I played a bit more. Let's continue this review.

Construction Zone: I think this was Act 2. Besides having those horrid spiked monitors, it was pretty good. However, things would take a turn for the worst when this happened:



No spiked ball. This isn't after Sonic jumped, making the ball go offscreen. No, THIS SEASAW DOESN'T HAVE A SPIKED BALL AT ALL. Have you playtested this area?

Before I forget, let's talk about the monitors.

Ring: Gives Sonic ten rings.

Invincibility Sparkles: Gives Sonic a short time of invincibility.

Sonic: Gives Sonic a 1up.

Shield: Gives Sonic a blue shield that allows one extra hit without rings.

Sneaker: GOTTA GO FEST

That's all fine and dandy, but the rest aren't so nice.

Red S: Makes noise. Maybe I need fifty rings or something to make it do stuff, but I haven't tested it out yet.

Robotnik: Makes noise.

You need to make what these do clear, unless you haven't programmed them in yet, or they just do nothing.

ONWARDS TO POLLUTION PLACE OR WHATEVER IT'S CALLED!

I like the concept of making Marble Zone a polluted wasteland. Most hacks just keep it either old ruins, desert, or a lava land, but this is a nice twist that I like. What I DON'T like is the palette. Yeah, I know it's supposed to be an ugly dump, but you're making it ugly the WRONG way. Another problem is that this place has WAY too many "push block, ride, and wait" areas. I know Sonic games (especially the first one) aren't just about speed, but it's also not just about slow, boring parts. A problem I think people have, even Sonic Team, is that they believe waiting=challenge. However, waiting=BOOOO-RIIIIIING!! That especially implies in areas with long periods of waiting. That means you, Spring Yard Zone.

Next: Scrapped Ruin ZooOOAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! IT'SHORRIBLEMAKEITSTOPPLEASE!!!!

(ahem)

Well, things start off godawfully with the music being Labyrinth Zone, then Scrap Brain, and later Labyrinth Zone AGAIN. Next is the graphics. Now I know not everyone can't make beautiful graphics like MarkeyJester, or mediocre graphics like me, but GEEZ this place is butt-ugly! For the love of all that is holy, I hope it's still a work in progress! I haven't played that much of it, so I may revisit it later.

Technopolis Zone:

Basically Spring Yard Zone with minor layout changes.

Well, okay there's ALSO a new palette and modified background. I must say though, the floating cities in the background are pretty neat, and the secret 1up near the beginning is pretty nice, too. But besides that, there's not much to it.

Before I wrap this up, I wanna go back to Lazy Field for a second. The music, while catchy (since it's Zelda) isn't very first level-y. It's sorta empty, as in it's not using many instruments at once, and it's a bit boring. Do something with more of a harmony.

Well, there's some more critique from me. I hope I wasn't TOO harsh, since some beginner Sonic hacks aren't good AT ALL. Even though I've only just recently become a member on this site and my opinions probably don't matter, I just felt like giving my two-cents on your hack, since you did seem really eager on getting a critique on it.

 

Scrapped ruin zone is a work in progress, and it was changed to appear after scrap brain (thus the akward music change). It is a bit bland, but I need to work more on my art skills before I fill it in (the only art I did completely on my own was the smaller stalagmites in the aformentioned zone). The Eggman monitor isn't implemented properly, and may be changed in the future. The S monitor does do something, but only if you have all six chaos emeralds, although there's no super sonics yet

Yah, sorry for the funky construction zone layout, it's very incomplete and has a lot of crap left over from when it was placed before scrap brain. Similarly, pollutant plant zone has some easy stuff leftover from when it was the second zone in the game, which will definitely be removed. Also, pollutant plant is currently going through a HUGE art change, so the palettes should fit much better in the future. Also, what part of the palette hurts your eyes? I'm happy to change it for you :3

(update)

there's been a big update! Check it out! Pollutant plant finally has it's own graphics

 

Sky (along with the clouds), background trees, grass, and the sludge has some brown pixels you may wanna fix.



Something like this.

 

I didn't want to totally rip you off, but here's what i've done:



Also, I've given the hack a big update, with your previous thoughts put into consideration (the palette isn't updated in that version, though)

 

Switch the colors from the top of the grass and the bottom so the shading isn't all wacky tacky sacky.

EDIT: I found your original post. Maybe a mod could combine them all into one.

 

I can't say why exactly, but I really like that palette combined with the pipes. Very nice work there.

 

Thank you. Not to brag, but I have a nack for palettes.

 

That sounds like underwater palette, an interesting idea if someone wants to add water in marble zone. I like this.

 

Professor Neo commented on my special stages in the wrong thread, so for the sake of simplicity (and the mods who need to shift it), I'll respond here.


Stage 1:


The giant patch of emeralds is there to help me test out code I added which only activates when you get the 6 emeralds, so I could debug them in quickly. It will be removed once I'm done testing the aforementioned features. I like your idea for making the first stage easier. Perhaps I'll use the idea I had for stage 6 (more on that later). As for it being too hard, try not touching the controller


Stage 2:


I'm glad to see that you like it! I was a little irked by the fact that the stage kept pushing me away from the emerald, but it would be too easy if there was an R block (the stage tries to push you into the only goal trap). Also, the gate blocks to the false chamber are broken on purpose (wasn't sure if you knew).


Stage 3:


I closed off a lot off sections to make it more navigable (perhaps I'll remove the unreachable area for the love of VRAM ;D). Once again, very happy you said it was great :3


Stage 4:


I didn't really think through the last part of this stage (I guess it should be considered incomplete)


Stage 5:


This is where I first discovered the unused false blocks, and as you saw, I lost my mind over them XD. The shitty bumper jaunt needs to be changed wether I like it or not, any way, as it can glitch sonic into walls.


Stage 6:


I meant for it to be an annoying fake block maze, but the VRAM just won't have it. Will be overwritten almost entirely in the future.


Thanks for the help, my special stages would be horrific without you


Note: I added this post through a crummy IPhone, so expect bad grammar and awkward autocorrects

 

Another Update!

I decided to completely redo a good chunk of PPZ's palette:



Also added some dirt art (which was ripped from minecraft )

Special stages have been altered for play-ability

And made SBZ even more evil >

Update:

Oh shit! I double posted D:

Can some one please merge these?

 

Eww a poop sky. A sky of POOP! nuh, i dun wan it. nuh.

But seriously, change the sky colors to this (and change the mountains to fit).

/monthly_07_2014/post-2923-0-60932600-1406732801_thumb.png

And get rid of the dirt, too (unless you're going to add a shadow under the grass and darken the color of it.

 

Honestly, I think mountains look a little out of place in that palette, I have to strain my eyes to see the details in the clouds. Plus it doesn't really look like the smog I'm going for. I'm not sure how to fix your issue with the "poop sky". I think it looks okay. Besides, it is a sewage plant, after all

Also, there's a big update, which includes a lot of art changes:

Download

 

Just played the recent update.

The art changes are getting better but still need more work.

The layouts aren't too bad from a gameplay perspective, but some of the object placement or the sheer number of objects like enemies,rings, platforms, etc. in a given area is really off-putting. Having a bunch of platforms or enemies within the same little area is unnecessary.

It also contributes to an issue (that I had to make adjustments for in my hack as well, even though I didn't put nearly as many objects in it as you did) where you'll have objects randomly disappearing and reappearing out of nowhere (may also have to do with the remember state flag not being set properly for some objects). It's very noticeable. The other part of that issue can be helped with this fix: http://info.sonicretro.org/SCHG_How-to:Fix_a_remember_sprite_related_bug

Suggestions and concerns:

-Please don't put multiple extra lives near each other (or even more than 1 or 2 in the same stage). That's HIGHLY exploitable.

-Please don't put special stage rings directly in front of me at the end of the stages and force them on me. I'm actually NOT a big fan of playing special stages in Sonic games (especially after the 1st or 2nd playthrough) and would like the option of avoiding them at any given point.

-I think the pollution plant music gets redundant and grating too soon. Edit: Listening to it again it's just that some of the sounds/instruments that are used is what's making it grating.

-Why are S monitors in the game? (I get what you're doing with them, but they don't serve any purpose that a static monitor wouldn't do instead from what I can tell).

-The spindash startup is a floating few pixels off the ground. Make it start a bit lower if you can.

-Please avoid placing floating spikes in the stages. It looks bad/tacky. (This includes spikes that appear in front of the foreground)

-There is a bug where sometimes you can get hit but not lose any rings and no hurt sound effect gets played (but you'll still fall back as if you were hurt).

-There is a bug where sometimes if you break a monitor, the contents will do nothing. E.g: I broke an invincibility monitor in GHZ3 and it didn't grant me anything. I died and came back to that spot and broke it again and it worked the 2nd time.

-There are some parts of some levels where you will get stuck in the walls. I noticed it in LZ and MZ mostly.

That's all I have so far. Hope these will be taken into consideration and it will be improved to come together as a nice hack.

 

OK I need to go over a few things in this update:

• RINGS RESPAWN. I noticed this in Hidden Palace Zone. I'm not sure if the other zones do this, but make sure that once you collect a ring, it STAYS collected.
• POOP SKY. A SKY OF POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP! Maybe give a real life image of the enviromental effect you're going for, and I'll make a mockup on how to change it to look not pooey.
• Construction Zone: FOLLOW ME!! SET ME FREE!! TRUST ME AND WE WILL ESCAPE FROM THE CI-TY!!
• The songs have PFTTH noises due to missing instruments. Do what I did: replace those sounds with a hex editor. Also, some songs just aren't fitting. The Sunset Park music in Whateverpolis Zone puts me on edge, and I don't think that's the intended feel of the level, and as good as Escape to the City is, it doesn't give me that midnight city feel. Do something a little more peaceful.

 

I was trying to go for something like this (in PPZ's BG): (SSRG won't display it)

I haven't made (or ripped from S2 or S3K) BG factory art yet

The Hidden Palace Zone glitches are due to the fact that I asked it to load a LOT of rings. And I mean LOT. HPZ will likely be completely redesigned, once I get working on its proper function (I plan to hide the 7th emerald in it )

I plan to change a lot of the songs in the future. I don't like HPZ's current theme, and I do plan to swap out Sunset Park with something that kinda fits the "Casino Cliche". I was thinking of the Warioware Inc. theme from SSBB, but I hasn't been made for S1 (or any other sonic game, for that matter) and I'm not good enough to port it yet . I think I'm sticking with the Escape from the city theme for CZ, it fits the theme I'm going for, and that song feels so good when your going fast

Oh, thank goodness! Thanks for this fix!!! It's gonna be painful removing more objects, but at least my monitors won't just break for no reason!

 

Guess who's back back back

Back again gain gain

LooneyDude's back back back

To spout his stupid opinions again, so strap in.

First off: The SKY OF POOP.

Here's a little mockup thingy:

/monthly_08_2014/post-2923-0-85387000-1407266602_thumb.png

I didn't edit a pic of your hack with Paint Shop Pro like I usually do, but instead just edited a clean Sonic 1 disassembly. Use colors like those. And as music recommendation, use Rusty Bucket Bay instead of that crappy rendition of Scrap Brain Zone (sorry to whoever made it).

Next: I noticed you added level select music, which is fine and dandy and all that, but it only plays sometimes. Not sure why, but it does.

Lazy Field Zone: Yay, you used the Sonic 2 Emerald Hill field! Thank you! The next step is to make it blend in with what's above it by putting similarly colored objects above it, like bushes or hills, like this:

/monthly_08_2014/post-2923-0-48109900-1407267468.png

Something I found really stupid was how the waterfall doesn't have the cycling water palette. I'm not sure if it's to make them look like vines, but it's not very pleasing.

Also, I noticed one of the roms you uploaded was called Robotnik's Revenge and not Returns. Just something I thought was interesting.

(EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention something. The spindash is a bit wonky. Even if you ARE trying to make it like the Sonic CD one, there's still graphical-related stuff in need of fixing. When Sonic is charging the spindash, his y-position is off, making him look like he's levitating! A little nitpick, but shouldn't be TOO hard to change.