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Hello! This is a thing. What is this thing? Well, all I can say is that it is a story. What type of story? Well, I'm glad you asked. It's *a* story. A story that I'm working on. When's it coming out? When I finish it. When's that happening? Who knows! But I'm not about to say when so I put myself under crunch for pressure of hitting this deadline. All I'll say is that it's a three-parter (subject to change) and that it's a thing I want to finish (subject to change). For now, feel free to speculate about what it is or any questions I may (vaguely) answer. If I'm done, I'll post a part here. For now, I'm just making this for the future.

Continuing in IGN First's coverage of Sonic Frontiers, prolific Sonic writer Ian Flynn spoke to IGN regarding his experience writing an entirely new Sonic game for the first time. With so little known about Frontiers' world and story, Flynn does lay out the basic premise: For fans of story in Sonic games, you'll likely be relieved that it sounds a bit more involved than the slim plots of Generations, Colors, and Lost World. Though we've not seen any thus far, Flynn suggests that you will have significant interactions with other characters in the game, and that the story itself may have a slightly darker, "melancholy," tone, than other recent entries: It will be interesting to see what Flynn brings to Sonic game writing. He notes that while he has greater creative control with what he pitches in his other work on the franchise, the core elements of Frontiers' story were provided by SEGA. Which isn't to say there's no room for his trademark style of characterization, as Flynn cites getting to take Dr. Eggman "in some interesting directions." In closing, Flynn offers well wishes to players, and hints at another of his trademarks: connections and references between Frontiers and other games in the series. Flynn's Sonic resume is impressive, and while he's best known for his work on both the Archie and IDW Sonic comics, he's also contributed to Sonic Boom, Sonic Origins, YouTube's Tails Tube shorts, and the upcoming Sonic Prime in a consulting role. With Sonic Frontiers releasing this Winter, there's still plenty of time for SEGA to give eager fans a more robust taste of this new and distinct Sonic setting and story. View full story

The IGN coverage thus far has left a lot of unanswered questions. Unsurprisingly, ten minutes of lightly edited gameplay footage without narration or context hasn’t proven itself to be a great way to premiere this game for the first time. We’ve seen a bit of the combat, we’ve seen a little world traversal, and we’ve seen more sky grinding than Final Rush and Rail Canyon’s unholy lovechild. But there’s some BIG aspects we still don’t know about. Big aspects like what the game is. Before today’s IGN impressions and Sonic Central, writers GX and Nuckles87 are taking stock of the vitally important things that we still need to see from Sonic’s next big outing: The Story Premise (or at least some world building) Even if Sonic’s moveset is familiar, this is a big departure from previous games on many other fronts, and it needs to be grounded in something. The enemies look bizarre and abstract, the world is going for a more realistically detailed aesthetic, and while it’s implied that other characters are around somewhere, we’ve yet to see an Amy, Eggman, rogue AI, or reason for Sonic to be there at all. This genre is about establishing a world that the player builds a relationship with and cares about. There’s no opening mystery that should be held back at this point. SEGA, you got us excited with Ian Flynn on writing. Now show us the fruits of that decision. Exotic Environments (and bizarre landscapes) We understand there are supposed to be multiple biomes in the game, but we’re still kind of trapped in Nondescript Grass and Forest Land. This is the first showing, we need to be wowed by unexpected scenery, awe-inspiring landmarks, and in true open world fashion, a mountain that you should definitely not be on. Make the player want to be in that world and see every inch of it. Further, the geography we’ve been shown thus far has not been especially Sonic-like. Sonic games are known for their twisting, fantastical, completely unrealistic geography, yet everything we’ve seen from Frontiers has been so…mundane. We’ve seen landscapes we’d find in any open world game. Where are the loop-de-loops? The twisting, mobius-strip terrain? That half-pipes? The first Sonic open world game ought to have the sorts of geography iconic to the series! Challenge (and room to make terrible choices) One of the promises this style of open world makes is very little handholding, and the bedfellow to that is giving you the opportunity to get in way over your head. While it may be unintuitive, modern open world design thrives on showing you things that are way beyond what you can do with the promise that at some point you will achieve that which first seemed impossible. What here is meant to scare the player? What is meant to frustrate them? What challenge makes the player feel amazing when they finally get past it? We’ve only been shown some very basic button-mashy combat; is there greater depth later on using sidestep dodges and environmental positioning? And on a similar note… Strength & Abilities Frequent complaints thrown at the initial footage was that Sonic keeps boosting on and off, and enemies take an exhausting number of hits. I’m personally willing to put up with this if, over time, I upgrade to boost longer, get stronger, and discover more effective combat strategies. Sonic and combat very rarely mix well, and if every encounter takes minutes to resolve, it will completely bog down the game’s pace. By completing challenges and gaining new abilities, I want new ways for Sonic to navigate the island and dispatch once formidable foes with ease. That’s the basic ethos of Sonic, isn’t it? Learn the lay of the land and master getting through it? Progression & Goals Over the last week, Sonic Frontiers has been shown in a piecemeal format, showcasing various aspects of the game without the context of how they interact with each other and any as-yet unseen mechanics. All games have a game play loop, where systems interact and each activity flows into the next. Open world games in particular need a well tuned loop; it’s the distinguishing factor between an actual open world and a playground of mechanics. So what we need more than anything else is a clear cross-section of what it’s like to simply play Sonic Frontiers across its span. What is the player expected to do in these environments? How do exploration, traversal, puzzles and combat connect to one another? How will players be rewarded for playing the game play loop well? What sort of goals will these mechanics help the player achieve, and will those goals be satisfying to accomplish? One More Thing... Frontiers has some interesting ideas on how to augment Sonic’s tried-and-true boost moveset with his circle updraft and this ranged kick, but it just feels like there’s one big thing missing, some sort of unique mechanic that rethinks Sonic or connects him to the open world structure. Open world games like Forza Horizon and Elden Ring succeed through incredibly tuned mechanics, while others forge their unique identity through fresh and versatile mechanics. Breath of the Wild had its chemistry system, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus is built entirely around the concept of throwing. The mechanics shown for Frontiers thus far are just, well, Sonic. It needs a defining, differentiating mechanic. An identity. An element that slowly unwraps depth and demands creativity to master. It’s difficult to say if they’d reasonably keep a mechanic like that under wraps at this point. Usually it’s something you’d want to show off immediately. But on the other hand, it’s been an extremely chaotic and bizarre rollout, so it's anyone's guess what they're still holding onto. An Actual Trailer Seriously. I don’t know if they were hoping that the game would speak for itself, but the game really, really needed someone to speak for it. Transitioning to an open world structure is a difficult task for any developer, and while we’re cautiously optimistic from what we’ve seen thus far, SEGA’s secretive approach to this game has left us more confused than excited. Frontiers has quite a lot to prove to overcome it’s rocky debut, but perhaps this week’s events will help reveal the actual trajectory of this game. View full story

To those of you who don't know, Sony has recently confirmed that they are working on a cgi/live action hybrid Sonic movie. But what storyline could they use for this upcoming movie? It's said that it will be "dark and edgy" so this COULD hint to a film adaptation of the adventure series which makes sense since the films will be a annual release, will they base the film on the genesis games and explore Sonic's origin, or will they try a completely original story? What stories would you like to see in film? Here are my top 5! 5. Sonic 1 and 2 (one movie) 4. Sonic 06 (If altered and improved, could make a great movie) 3. Sonic unleashed 2. Sonic Adventure 1. Sonic Adventure 2 (sequel)

So I have been going back and fourth recently on a video game concept that I have been wanting to do for a while, problem is, I keep changing the story around. not much else to it, while I know I don't want it to be complicated in therms of plot, I do want the game to have multiple endings. Not because I want to at least make a story, but because I want to increase replay value by adding multiple endings and levels (similar to that of Shadow The Hedgehog in 2004). Now some of you are probably thinking? "But Bonkers, why don't you just write a simple story that isn't that hard to understand?", well I would but the problem is. The story I keep rewriting ends up sounding like a clone to another story out there (mostly Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and Mega Man) or it ends up being really cliche. So that point I'm trying to get to is, should story in video games matter? And if anyone could give out advice as well on story telling would be much appreciated. P.S. The game I have in concept is a Sonic Rush/Unleashed Clone with a heavier emphasis of multiple pathways and speed, hence the multiple endings/levels.

The SAGE demo is out. Come get it. So, this is a thing I've been working on lately, as part of an effort to build up a mutiplayer platform engine in Construct 2, as well as experimenting with new methods of conveying narrative that don't rely on non-interactivity. I intend on releasing a demo for SAGE, with a single-player demo and a multiplayer mode capable of supporting up to four players. As a Construct 2 game, the demo will be playable in all HTML5/WebGL-capable browsers. But, thanks to the power of Node-Webkit, there are also Windows, Mac and Linux executables if you prefer that. Screenshots: Work in progress, obviously, just to note. Overiew Digimon: Heroic Battle Spirit, made in Construct 2, is a fan-made 'expansion' on the three Digimon: Battle Spirit fighting games for the Wonderswan/GBA made by Dimps, one of which, Battle Spirit 1.5, never left Japan. The idea is to include nearly every existing playable character from the first two games at least, hopefully add more fighters from more recent Digimon series (Digimon Savers/Data Squad and Digimon Xros Wars/Fusion) , enable four-player multiplayer, and include a special Metroidvania-like story mode with innovative narrative mechanics that attempt to do away with the need for cutscenes in most cases. The demo is an attempt to demonstrate a basic idea of the direction being taken for both single-player and multiplayer. It's not exactly 'polished', nor 'balanced', but very much playable. Playable Characters In the demo, there are three playable Digimon - Agumon, Gabumon, and Renamon, each with unique movesets. Okay, that's not quite true - there's a fourth character, but he's not a Digimon - a special guest fighter for the demo. I'll be unveiling him when SAGE opens. Story Mode Synopsis The first thing you remember is waking up in a cell in a dungeon. You manage to escape, but you find yourself in a castle filled with strange machines you've never seen before that are hostile to your presence. And to make it worse, there's no way out... Without treading a lot of water. And you sincerely doubt you can swim that far. An exploration of the castle finds you battling an old enemy, but even he is subservient to a greater power. Without your partner, you're left alone trying to figure out how to escape the castle, where he and your friends have gone, and who imprisoned you in the first place... Open-ended environments inspired by the likes of Metroid and its many imitators. Multiple characters with different abilities. Sub-weapons that augment your character's fighting abilites. A 'narrative button' that provides dialogue options ala Mass Effect, but in real-time, with an adjustable slow-down effect. A 'look' mechanic reminiscent of old-school adventure games. An adjustable, zoomable camera system that accommodates any number of screen resolutions. A 'fog of war' system that hides unexplored areas, and fogs explored but unoccupied areas. Beware, not all boss enemies will be content to sit around and let you walk up to their doorstep, and some may start hunting you on their own volition... Possible extra for later on: 4-player co-op. Multiplayer Fully-featured classic Battle Spirit gameplay, now with 4 players! (In the future, depending on what happens with Steam Controllers and online multiplayer support in Construct 2, up to 16 players might be supported.) Dynamic camera system that keeps every combatant on-screen. What about the future? Well, what happens in the future is going to be a bit interesting. Right now, with this demo, I'm pretty much limited entirely to existing game assets (and not just from Digimon games) and open-source assets, which are both neat, but they have their limitations. Long story short, if I want to really complete this game as I envision it, I'll need help. Aside from presenting a demo, I'm using SAGE as a platform to advertise for artists and other people who are interested in making this whole thing work. Primarily, I'm looking for an artist(s), an optional plural, because I intend to redo as many assets from scratch as possible, from level art to character animations. The existing assets are great, but I don't really want to be restricted to what there is right now, if I want to expand the gameplay, for example (the existing sprites were designed for a rather simple fighting game, let's be honest), not to mention I want a consistent art style across the board, which is important. And I'd like to be able to have higher-quality art assets, which would be neat. What I'm mainly looking at for animation work is the program Spriter, by Brashmonkey. It's tech that is similar to what is used in games like Rayman Origins/Legends, and anything Vannilaware's done (Odin Sphere, Muramasa, Dragon's Crown, etc), and when the tool is used properly, the results can look superb. As well, animations can be created and tweaked much more easily than traditional animation, scaled better, enables character customization, heavily reduces RAM usage, includes support for stuff like collision rectangles, and already has native Construct 2 support. I like traditional animation as much as anyone, but I'd like to save my time and my artist's time when it comes to creating assets, animations, and iterating on them. If nothing else, Spriter is great for easily prototyping animations. Still, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I've got a demo to finish!

Hey everyone! I had a fun Idea, I wanted to try and write the "Twas the Night before Christmas", Staring us! Now, You can request to be apart of it, and if you can see where you would fit in to my story, you may post suggestions Now, there will be a few little rules for my story collab okay? 1. It has to be safe for kids to read. Why? Well... lets just say, I don't like stories with sexual content or cursing, I can accept some humorous partying and such to be in the story. ( I just can't put my name on a story with cursing ) 2. I will try and fit people in in the order they request to be added, that way I can fit as many as possible. 3. Any tidbits you want to submit must be in the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" style, for example: "Twas the Night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for Captain Dwibbs" it does not have to rhyme though, just maintain a rhythm (If you can;'t get it that way, I can help ya out . ) So that is my rules, and yeah, if you want to submit pieces for the story, I would be glad to try and add them And if more people are willing to write for it, I can make a list and put it in an order so you know which part you will be writing then . I think to avoid confusion, you should post actual written parts via PM, and Ideas and requests to be included can be discussed here . I hope this goes well and that we can all have fun! ( Oh yeah, any written parts will be credited to their authors ) EDIT: Okay, i am going to give a little leway for some side story stuff, as long as it does not interfere with the flow of the poem too much. Thanks Kablamjamdan for posting the link for the original poem. (post below) And I will post some more inspiration of what I am shooting for here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/25/the-sea-is-my-brother_n_1113455.html I find it very interesting that it is being published. If it was really a "crock of shit", why wasn't it burned? Imagine you're some author, you're dissatisfied with your first work, can it and then it gets published many years later. Some of you might be interested with this. I am interested in it since I'm into books nowadays and that's good. I remember doing a presentation about him and other guys like him in some high school class 10 years ago.

A random little topic - what's your preferred placement of bosses in Sonic games? Classic Bosses are formulaically placed and can always be expected to appear after a certain number of levels in a row. The formula will rarely change outside of the final stages of the game which may contain boss rushes, multiple bosses in a row, or unauthordox placement to accompany an unauthordox final stage (e.g Scrap Brain/Hidden Palace onwards/Terminal Velocity). Used by: Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Colours, etc Adventure Bosses appear as and when the storyline calls for them. This can sometimes mean no bosses for several levels' worth, or even more than one boss in a row. Used by: Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic 2006, etc Mixed Bosses do appear formulaically placed if one was to look at the level select menu - but the order and frequency you fight them in during the story may not match up with the levels they relate to. Used by: Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Unleashed, etc Other Formula You Came Up With? No that's a silly formula, sit back down right now. Used by: Nothing, ever. I dunno, there isn't a crazy amount of room for discussion here, I'm just wondering what people's preferences are. Generally speaking I think it should be done on a game-by-game basis as to what approach they take. If a game is story-based though I do prefer it when they take on the mixed or adventure style simply because it feels silly and predictable to shoehorn a boss into a set section of the story and results in the kind of awkward filler cut-scenes we got in Colours. However I would love the occasional game that uses the classic formula as a means to trick us later on by giving us a surprise out-of-place boss encounter as the story calls for it. Btw I was kidding, you can come up with formulas of your own or suggest ones from other games that you think would be neat in a Sonic game.

This topic is to talk about the personalities and tone changes(from the norm of course) in Sonic Colours, since it is one of the first games that the new writers wrote, so what do you think? First I`ll give my two cents. I think that the interactions between Sonic and Tails are the best they have been in any game. The way they joke around with each other, like it's just another day of stopping Eggman/Robotnik, they really seem like best friends. I also love the bit where Tails gets mind controlled. Sonic was not smiling, not making a joke, he was just dead set on hurting Eggman/Robotnik for what he did to Tails. Now, the constant jokes. I like the jokes and think it fits Sonic`s character but it should not be in every cutscene in the game. Sonic should have some cocky humor but gosh, he should not be a comedian. The next game, I`m hoping for a balance of the jokes and seriousness, that would be perfect for me. I don't mind at all that Tail's personality changed. In fact I really like his new personality! Apart from character development in Sa1 (which they kinda forgot about), he's just been an accessory to Sonic who builds technology to help him. Now he has an actual personality, which I prefer over the old one. I like the sarcastic sense of humor he got, and the fact he was not so obsessed with Sonic (obsessed and best friends are two very different things). So yeah, Tails's new personality is a plus for me. So overall, I think the Colors writers did a good job, I am waiting to see how they handle the other characters, and just wish that they don't use jokes EVERY cutscene.