[Sonic 1] Ashuro the badger BETA demo

Hi everyone! (sorry for my bad english)

I finally want to share my work, Ashuro the badger, in a little demo of 3 playable zones:
-FROZEN ISLAND (ghz)
_act 1 (day)
_act 2 (sunset)
_act 3 (midnight)

-DEEP CRYSTAL (lz)
_act 1 (green)
_act 2 (blue)
_act 3 (yellow)

-PYRAMID TRAP (mz)
_act 1 (day)
_act 2 (sunset)
_act 3 (night)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New custom music (some converted (from vgmusic), some fully created with sekaiju and converted)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This is not the final version, just a demo.

Rom here:

 

This is one of few hacks with fan character I don't like - I love this! Dude, you did good job with this hack, I love the title screen, art, new character skills (yay no sprite swap!) and I see potential in this hack to change reputation of fan characters from bad to good! Can't wait to see more of this project!

 

This was actually pretty fun to play for a few minutes. Some things I want to point out:

• The fan character sprite art in this hack is amazing. I take back what I said; you can make up for everything with a good implementation
• The wide array of moves is awesome!
• In the first level, bits of leftover GHZ art are in the walls. They're rather distracting, and have a neon/crap look to them due to the new palettes.
• In GHZ, I was able to run into the side of an S-Tube, which looked like a solid wall. I got stuck inside, as the S-Tube code forced me forward into a corner. I quit here; it's not fun getting permanently stuck in a wall

 

First thing I noticed while playing is that your music is lackluster. I've only played through the first couple of acts (as I got stuck in a couple of walls in Act 2, and didn't want to play further), but I noticed the tracks, specifically non-level themes, sounded incredibly empty. The same goes for your Unleashed port. I know the song goes for a short bit without anything besides a bass and a drum, but it doesn't go on nearly as long as your track does. And for the record, I despise the instrument you added to Ice Cap act 1's track.

There isn't any potential anywhere for anything like that. The character still reeks of genericness (given that Ashuro still has yet to give us any of his character's supposed backstory) and the game would work fine if it just had Sonic in it instead of a fan character. Heck, it might've worked better in a way.

 

Okay, so, let's put aside the fact that that fan characters suck.

From playing your Green Hill-alike, I can tell you that your palettes are incredibly ugly, and it's impossible to tell which parts of the baffling abstract hellscape are a wall or part of the background.

Your enemy placement is mostly pretty good, aside form the areas that you just put 10 of the same enemy one after the other in some kind of slowdown torture area, so you've got that going for you There don't seem to be any of the shitty dick moves that a lot of first timers fill their hacks with, so that's a plus.

Also I'd suggest that the first place that actually requires you to use the weird little double jump that is only ever explained in the gif in your post there shouldn't be in an area that murders you with spikes.

After that, well, I dunno, I got to the start of the renamed Labyrinth Zone area and it was completely identical to Sonic 1 and I've played that so many times that it completely sapped my will to go any further, sorry.

 

Thanks for all critics, i know that the big problem is the tiles and the wall collision...
I will fix the S-Tube.

I suggest everyone to go until Pyramid Trap, to critic the zone that i have most worked on.

 

The character art looks pretty good, I'm happy you decided to stick with the character. Don't worry about people who dislike fan characters, because it is just a meaningless bias. There is potential to make a good game with the character. However, there is still quite a lack of polish elsewhere.

The moveset is good, but it feels very unintuitive. Many times I feel like B and C should do something, it doesn't do anything. Since B allows you to double jump, it only feels natural that it allows you to jump from the ground, too. It's hard to tell when you are going fast enough to use the dash; perhaps make the speed threshold for the dash lower, or maybe even not restrict it at all.

I like the swim ability and attack. It's quite nice.

 

I just finished playing this so it's time for a review:

Right off the bat I can see you've put quite a bit of effort into Ashruo's sprite set, he's given a bit of identity which is something that many fan characters lack. Onto the gameplay. I quite like the moveset Ashruo has, I especially love the swimming ability, more hacks need to implement water based abilities, with that said my biggest issue regarding the gameplay is the controls themselves.

Firstly only the A button jumps, why? I can understand why you axed C as a jump button since you made it the boost ability but B as well? I mainly press B or C to jump whenever I play Sonic so I ended up press B at times but found I couldn't jump. Doesn't help that I can double jump with B which makes it feel really unnatural that I have to press A then B to double jump, maybe you could consider making the B button jump as well. Speaking of A button only issues the Spin Dash and Super Peel-out can only be activated by press A while holding the respective direction.

This is especially annoying with the spin dash since I would normally place my fingers on all jump buttons and rapidly press each one to gain high speed, please change it so that I can also press B or C (while holding the respective direction) to activate these two moves. The wall jump seems to be using Mercury's code, could you modify the wall jump code so that it is only active by pressing C up against a wall since C doesn't do anything in the air, also the kick attack needs some tweaking, I was able to still kill enemies even though Ashuro was exposed and I can't destroy monitors with it, maybe modify the kick so that it only destroys enemies/monitors while Ashruo is kicking.

Now for the levels and Art. Level design for the most part is good but there are quite a few flow stoppers such as spikes in the middle of a high speed area like in Frozen Island Act 2 and areas where you are required to use the wall jump, not to mention there are quite a few leftover layouts from Stock Sonic 1. As for art it's good in some places and bad in some places, for the positives I like the new chunks used for Frozen Island and Pyramid Trap, not to mention I like how there is dynamic art used for each act, for the negatives there are lots of areas where I got lost because it was hard to distinguish what was a platform and what wasn't, this was especially noticeable at the beginning of Frozen Island 3, the art and palettes in FIZ overall need some polish.

The music was okay but nothing outstanding, I really like the music in Pyramid Trap 1 but that's about it, overall not a bad start but there are a lot of things to polish mainly the controls, art and some parts of the level design. Good luck

 

Here are my thoughts:
-I really like the custom character and art. It gives the hack a unique feel that I don't get with most hacks.
-Why is Ashuro blowing a bubble while he sleeps during his idle animation?
-The level design is pretty solid. I especially like the platforming section in Frozen Island Act 2.
-The Frozen Island Zone's art is okay. It needs a lot of polish but I think it is able look good.
-Palettes need a lot of work. Grey does not go well with turquoise.
-Why is there no level select? This presents a big problem when someone wants to experience the other levels of hack to see what they're like. This is problem for me because:
-Deep Crystal Zone Act 1 crashes the game in Regen at around the end. I haven't checked to see if it keeps occuring because I don't want to play through the hack again.
-My biggest problem is the controls. On a keyboard, A is used by my ring finger which is not as easy to use as my index finger which is used for C. I suggest making C jump and moving the dash button to B.
-Where did you get the code for the after-image? Whenever a feature like that is used in a hack with simple code changes, it seems suspicious. The code you have is almost complex enough that I would assume you created the code yourself so I'm making sure it isn't stolen.

 

Here is my honest opinions.
- The Swim ability is too OP!
- The moves were awesome
- The Ashuro sprite was good.

The flaws
- The Controlls as mentioned earlier isn't that good.
- Infuriating spikeplacement in GHZ.
- Too slow. (Imo this game is slow because of the obnoxious spike placement)

I think this hack is not good. But not bad. It's meh. I could absolutely see this become a better hack tho I think you should drop Original the Character do not steal. It's not saying much however. Just fix the spike and controlls and I give this game a go again.

 

I had a blast playing this.
Your palettes and level layouts are refreshing and give a unique atmosphere.
The character's abilities are a plus and the level layouts make good use of them. The swimming ability is a nice feature.
Your level layouts often puzzle the player where to go next but with enough experimenting and exploring you can always figure it out. I like that.

On a first try of this rom, it is not obvious in some places how to proceed without knowing the moveset. I figured it out though.
You should add a readme for people who don't come to this board, once you publish the final rom. It's good that you listed the moveset in your post.
I honestly did not read your post first and went straight to the download file to try it. lol So that's were my suggestion comes from.

All in all, I like your hack and hope you will continue on it.

On that note, I can say it runs perfectly fine in Kega Fusion so this is Regen specific.

 

Sorry I couldn't send the music earlier Ashuro, I got caught up in other things and eventually forgot, so yeah. I'll PM Cool Edge Night to you as soon as I have finished (Still only just past the bit with the Pad Bell octaves). Also, Misinko, I can confirm that Cool Edge Day's intro goes that long, though the SFX may have drowned the lead out, leading you to believe that I has gone longer than it should have.

 

As had been said, control system is not good. It took me a lot of time to pass first act of Frozen Hill zone and I got stuck in second act in chunk due to it. On the other hand, your hack has good art, unique level layouts and unique character sprite design. Well done, Ashuro!

 

Okay, thank you all so much for comments, i have fixed some bugs.
I've made a README txt for those who want it.

You have to get WINrar or 7zip:

 

Alright, so I was able to have this thing a go. My thoughts are generally positive, but I feel there are some points that need to be worked on. Sorry for the long-ass post, but I want to give feedback in lots of areas.

I'll start this time with the cons, since this is a project that offers a promise, but has flaws that worry me. Let's talk about the palettes. I mean, I know you made an effort and some ideas were brilliant, but the color schemes, though well planned, are not correctly applied - we can see wrong shading in places, or the famous issue of clashing between foreground and background (which my project also had before, careful with this). Sadly, I also have to agree with some people here - the background music in the levels is not that bad, but at times it feels empty... And we have more hacks with ports we have listened to in hacks over... and over... and over. It's not a bad thing, but if what you're looking for is originality, then that is not what you want.

Honestly, those are my only nitpicks. Now, for the positive. I like the idea of having a fan character despite of how much this is criticised in the scene and in the whole fanbase. I don't really think this is a problem as long as the character has got an identity, shows differences between the other Sonic characters and such. Pana der Hejhog is a good example of a well made fan-character hack, and personally, I think this is a decent one too.

Sure, maybe the level design might not be as fast according to some people here (though that depends on how people play the game, I didn't find it that slow, c'mon!). But hey, let's see something here - difficulty isn't exaggeratedly high, we got to use all moves in some areas and there are not many unfair points, at least none from what I have seen. Besides, the newer chunks made the game feel new despite being edits of the levels in the original game, which isn't a bad thing! Personally, I think the level design, although not the best, is enjoyable. Want me to recommend you something? Try adding more different gimmicks, don't fear re-using ones from the original game.

The level art is getting there, but I have got mixed feelings when it comes to this. I liked, for example, how the tiles are structured in Pyramid Trap, but the first level needs work when it comes to this. Perhaps it's just the palette, but there is something that doesn't make it feel "right" to me.

As for whether you should continue it, why ask about it? Of course you should. This project shows a lot of promise, as I said before. Anyway, that is your decision after all, don't you think? I wouldn't listen to those people that are looking for discouraging you. We are here to keep improving and do our best, and what's most important, to make our dreams come true. So, once again, I'm looking forward to further releases, but that's something you have to decide yourself.

I'm giving this hack a 8/10.

 

Thats amazing Looking Forward to full release

 

Seeing as I have recently mustered up the moxxy to beat this thing all the way through, I felt I should give my full thoughts on the hack. My thoughts on your Music haven't changed in the slightest, so let's talk palettes.

I want to know if you did the art for Pyramid Trap yourself, because Frozen Island's art looks atrocious. The blocks look nothing like snow, ice blocks, or whatever you were trying to make them look like, and instead looks like a garbled mess. Not only that, but the pallette itself was far too bright, and distracted me from ever really getting any kind of look at the background. Your colors also did not go very well together. Pyramid Trap does look good though, and Deep Crystal looks alright for a pure Labrynth recolor.

Moving onto your level design. I'll start off with Frozen Island again, because that's the only level I remember vividly. The level itself felt clunky and monotonous, primarily because your art make everything feel same-y. Your art also made it difficult to distinguish what could and could not be walked on because walkable surfaces often looked like the background they were plastered in front of. At around halfway through each act, I honestly wanted it to just end. It was an absolute grind to finish of Frozen Island, because the levels seemed to be repeating themselves at various points. The acts rarely felt like they were going anywhere, and there never seemed to be a clear indicator of when you were coming up on the end of the level. The same critism applies to Pyramid Trap as well. Deep Crystal was very unmemorable, so I have no thoughts on that, besides the swimming ability making the bosses too easy. Pyramid Trap, aside from being monotonous, was also frustrating because of your over-reliance on using wall-jump sections as opposed to any other form of level design. It's my personal philosophy that you should never force a player to use gimmicks in a game unless you're building the game around the gimmicks, and this is no exception. Pyramid Trap is currently the only level that forces you to walljump, and it's pretty annoying.

Although while on the subject of extra moves, let's talk about yours. Most of them are unnecessary in the worst way. The only moves I found any use for were Ashro's Peel-Out, Spindash, and swim ability. I forgot everything else existed. I'm firmly against the "because I can" mentality when designing movesets. In my mind, if you don't have a use for a move, don't include it. I sincerely hope you put these moves to use as you continue with your game instead of just having them in there because you can.

Finally, we have your fan character. He looks alright, albeit very recolor-esque. He does look like he's gonna be another "dark" character with a troubled past (my money's on a death in his life, or no one understanding his powers) based on his animation set, which is admittedly well-drawn.

Overall, this hack screams "mediocre" for me. It's alright at its best, and annoying at its worst. Still, I see you have a solid foot in the door, so I hope you can manage to take this thing in a good direction.

 

Alike to most comments, I agree that the Winter-themed GHZ has a messy palette, but the artwork is still good.

At the same time of arguing that maybe using IceCap Zone's colours rearranged into your palette line could help, I also have to mention that the "SpinDash Attack" charging animation could use a little tweaking. The first frame shows that this move should be animated like the peelout. Also, the third frame with the red glow is ever so slightly posed different, and the character's vibration while glowing seems a little odd to me. Try just glowing or just the rumble, perhaps?

That said, I've only just gotten through most of Act 1 upon writing this, and most of all, good work on the title screen.
Just look into that TM on his head, though.

(Also, "dash boost" using the death sound just.. I'm not too sure, maybe the dash release or a muffled rolling sound would make more sense.)

 

I think the same.

Now moving on my thoughts. When I've first seen it, I thought it's going to be another dumb "Original the Character" hack recolor, but this is surely a better thing. On the positives, I liked the swimming move and how LZ required it's use. I also like that Ashuro isn't just a dumb recolor (=P) but it's a bit more creative. I also like the moves, but these are also a negative (on that later). The LZ and PTZ palettes are pretty neat. I like the boost move and that you can destroy enemies when running. Not sure if I should mention it, but I also like what you started with SLZ.

On negatives, the moves are almost all the time unnecessary. The boost move sounds like farts for no reason, the Spindash release sound would fit much better. The FIZ palettes are too bright and bad. There are slow places (for example the tubes section in FIZ1, the spikes slow you down for no reason) and some layout nitpicks mentioned by other members above. The music is "meh.", but it's listenable.

While the hack isn't a typical "hei guyz, i made a sanic haxor with my oc, its very pr0", it also isn't anything I didn't seen before. The layouts are ok, but need some work, including making them give the player a chance to use more the character moves. Some songs also may be redone. It isn't bad at all, but it isn't a great thing either. I give it 6/10.
Najlepiej mi się gra przy kawie i ciasteczkach. W ręku. *** Nie no, coś wy - jajcowałem =D Meh, I suck at writing opinions.

 

Ashuro, you should start giving your files version numbers (eg v0.1 or v1.0) or we will soon lose track of the files you upload. The button fix would already be 0.2 or 1.1
A lot of people have given constructive criticism and positive feedback already, so they care for you to continue. Your poll is not necessary (anymore). Keep up the good work!

@Painto A recolor isn't necessarily a bad thing. RHS uses one too and I find his fan character and its name kinda funny. It always reminds me of jalapeños peppers or 'death sauce'. =P
Plus, you can choose to play as normal Sonic or RHS in his hack, so no problem. On that note, we got some good news from StephenUK 2 days ago. His teaser pics on YT look amazing.

Ok back on topic.