Sonic Adventure 1 Prototype + Sonic Adventure 2 Pre-Release ~ Origin topic owner in thread

[Willsy]

Woah, those are actually really cool looking stages! Definitely unfinished, but they do look quite fun to play. I'll be sure to download them if they are released.

[Wittymations]

Maybe it's just me ignoring things I previously seen in the final version, but that prototype definitely seems a lot more curvy than usual.

[Diogenes]

This is just...so good...I mean it's not a particularly well polished level, and SA's jankiness really hurts it, but still, wow. The part at 3 minutes, where you can spindash up some quarterpipes and get to two high paths, or stay on the low path, maybe wallrun to get some rings, and take a tunnel that cuts under the higher paths...and the big downhill slope at 5:50, with a ramp in the middle of it...why did we never get a game like this?

[Blue Swallow]

Thats so cool! I love the last part of the 3rd act, with all those hills, very neat. The part at 3:00 Diogenes mentioned is also really great.

I think I see why they changed this, it's very different from every other stage in the game.

[SilJeff]

This is just...so good...I mean it's not a particularly well polished level, and SA's jankiness really hurts it, but still, wow. The part at 3 minutes, where you can spindash up some quarterpipes and get to two high paths, or stay on the low path, maybe wallrun to get some rings, and take a tunnel that cuts under the higher paths...and the big downhill slope at 5:50, with a ramp in the middle of it...why did we never get a game like this?

Im wondering if it was just simple budget, space, and time constraints. Either way such a shame they never released a game like this

[baba_944]

Does anyone else get a "Frog Forest" and "Lost Jungle" (both from "Sonic Heroes") vibe?

[Brad]

Late, but just found out about the beta and did an article on it because it's dope.

[goku262002]

Dude from Sonic Retro is working on full restortion of this stage in DX:

 

 

As recently posted on the Sonic Retro homepage - the early version of Windy Valley has been found in the Sonic Adventure AutoDemo release, and there have been some attempts at getting it working.

Since I've been working on the level development toolkit for sadx, I plan on making a complete, finished and polished version of this. There's a certain amount of restoration that will need to be done, since this level was unfinished, and not all the data was even included in the AutoDemo. (set files, and one camera file - both of which will need their own work). There's alot of work here so please understand that you'll probably be waiting a little while. At the absolute best, you'll get a version for the Hacking Contest.

What makes this video worth showing off is that unlike previous versions, the textures and level geometry were imported into 3ds max, and a custom PVM was compiled from the texturelist made in max. The public release of these tools will automate that process.

Thanks to Darkspines35 and Catley for the texture pack.

[azoo]

;_; It's so beautiful.

 

I can't wait until the cameras, objects and extra stuff gets added in it. This is so awesome oh my gosh jeez.

[-blank-]

Clearly something that needs a lot more work and refinement, but if this had actually been finished, I wonder what the rest of the stages in the game would be like. We can only dream.

[t0ms0nic]

Another update from Dude; Act 2 and most of the textures have been restored, making the original Windy Valley practically complete aside from the little things needing done!

 

(can't seem to copy the description, and no big post on Retro, so...)
 

... but geez, what were they thinking with that version of Act 2? There's practically no room to stand on, the only thing that could make that idea worse is if the footholds were bobbing up and down.

[Wittymations]

Act 3 seems to get a bit confusing near the end. All together, though, it seems pretty solid. And REALLY colorful by comparison.

 

Wonder why they decided to scrap the original.

[goku262002]

most likely it was too open world and probably testers were getting lost or confused.

[azoo]

My god, it's beautiful. ;_;

 

I'm so glad they went through with reconstructing this whole stage. Acts 1 and 2 look extremely confusing (especially with those camera angles), but Act 3 looks like massive amounts of fun. Definitely wish they would've kept it!

[SlickEvan]

Imagined if he rolled more during some of those sections :0 It was so beautiful! I eally wanna see the physics in play with this stage. Also, I think Act 2 was supposed to be scaled a bit bigger. Look at the ramp before he gets to, I think it's the last spring or wall jump section, it's so tiny in what looks like he was supposed to like fly off of it? Maybe. I really love the looks of it though ; - ;

 

(Also "R" button is starting to fail me ; - ; something keeps getting it caught. )

[Phos]

Reminds me of some ideas I also had for 3D Sanicing. Act 1 looks like it was built along the same lines as the final, but less linear and no homing attack chains. I wanna say that act 3 probably was completely redone because I get the impression that they wanted the 3 acts of each level to each be different in a major way, and we got the dumb hot wheels track in the sky. I immediately think of that part where the camera pulls out for no reason and you end up bumping into the edge if the track and it always looks so dumb. None of that here. It would probably need some moderate changes before it can be called finished, for example it could do with a Yasuhara trick of giving the player a more commanding view of the level now and again to give the player their bearings, but I'm not sure SA 1 had the draw distance for that.

[Indigo Rush]

This honestly looks better than any 3D Sonic game we've seen to this day. In terms of level design, at least.

 

Seriously, the tiered level design with ramps, wall-running and slopes as features is perfect. Why didn't they stick with this?

[E-122-Psi]

They are cool sight to behold, I wish they'd kept the more out open setup to some degree (at least had a few more hidden pathways). Though I will admit Act Three seems a bit ill defined in it's path, looking very maze like and likely easy to get lost in. It looks like it was designed more for the alternative plays styles such as treasure hunting.

[Celestia]

I dunno, I think stuff like Act Three could have been fine with a bit of polish. Throw in a map of some sort--hell, the Adventure Fields had them, for obvious reasons, who's to say they weren't going to be used for normal stages at some point? Either way, I would have enjoyed that sort of level. And even as someone who isn't as big on Classic Sonic as I used to be, it is pretty neat to see level design that seems to translate those ideas into 3D so well, a bit of awkwardness aside. 

 

Though I personally think the final product got it right too. Not exactly all the time, but y'know...

[E-122-Psi]

I think they would have at least had to have restructured it so it wasn't easy to fall back to earlier parts of the level, it looks almost like a cluttered pyramid in places.

 

I am kinda glad they used the retooled Act Three, it's more linear but it's one of the speediest most adrenaline pumping bits of the game. Still the beta level could possibly have worked into the final game if they edited things up a bit, fine tune the pathways and replace what little textures and scenery was kept in the final Windy Valley and you could almost have a completely original level.

 

Does anyone else get a bit of a Sky Sanctuary vibe with the beta?

[JezMM]

most likely it was too open world and probably testers were getting lost or confused.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it was a combination of this, what Phos said, and possibly optimisation that caused the changes.  I mean these are running on the PC version right?  I wonder how well final Dreamcast hardware could run a map this big and complex.

 

 

Still looks super fun mind you.  Certainly very much reminiscent of the classic 2D stages, though maybe slightly less personality.  Feels about on par with stages like Seaside Hill in Generations, though with the uniqueness of each path being traded off for more of them.

[SlickEvan]

I personally think this is a really cool type of level that I'd like to be used for reference in more Sonic games. I loved the final product but this really uses those physics and shows that levels can be open without having to slow down your Sonic or add a run button and still have enjoyable open designs. Sure it needs some polish but that's why it's a beta, eh? But all in all I really am like the looks of it.

[Blue Blood]

This honestly looks better than any 3D Sonic game we've seen to this day. In terms of level design, at least.

 

Seriously, the tiered level design with ramps, wall-running and slopes as features is perfect. Why didn't they stick with this?

I can only guess they didn't stick to it in SA1 both because the engine wasn't up to snuff (lots of nuances in that video unavoidable simply by the way the game works) and because it really didn't work very well for different characters. Plus it's ambitious in design. Way way way moreso than any level comes close to in the final game. By the time of the final game they had found a style that worked for all that was possible back then and then continued with that same direction come SA2 and all future games.

This is what 3D Sonic should be now. That kind of level design, parkour and a much more solid and modern engine and we'd so be good to go. That would make Sonic great again.

[VO.SUPER]

This level design shows a lot of promise; modern Sonic Team needs to look at this and say, "Hmm, how can we rethink our strategy with Sonic for something more like this?" This idea definitely takes more advantage with what Sonic is capable of, and could use some expansion with modern tech. Oh well.

[Noiz]

I agree that the Sonic Team should look back on stuff like this and incorporate old ideas in with the new.  I'm honestly bored of the levels in the newer Sonic games.  I suppose that is why SA1 is especially my favorite game, because it is so open.  I'm probably beating a dead horse saying all that though.