I know we’ve been pretty quiet on developments. Considering this project’s involvement with a certain individual, I’m sure you can understand. But let me assure you, your patience will not be in vain. Developments on this project are happening. Hang in there!
UPDATE (1-17) – Don’t worry. We’re not having to start from scratch.
-Hunter
If you are a musician skilled in any of the following, please comment on this post with the best possible relevant example of your work:
I am looking for a collaborator for certain aspects of this project. Details will be given to anyone selected.
Don’t send me to your website or your myspace page. Just post links to MP3s, MIDIs, or XMs/MODs.
Hope everyone is having a fun time getting back into school and all. Got a new track for you, the Retro Remix for Dusky Deposit Zone. I noticed in the comments for the last entry that Blue Emerald had suggested a rock remix of Death Egg Zone from Sonic & Knuckles. Well, because Blue is really good about leaving feedback on the music-related posts, I decided to take his idea into consideration. But, of course, a rock remix of a rock song would be a little easy…
So, what I have concocted is a real funky version of said track, featuring an extended solo section for the first time in the soundtrack. I’m throwin’ thicker synths than you could ever hope. Also, check out my brand new drum samples.
Remember to clear your cache and refresh the page to load the new playlist. The track is located between Sunset Shore (Retro Remix) and Pristine Palisade (Genesis Mix).
-Hunter
I’m back and bronzed. Sorry for the lack of updates post-SAGE, but I went to go enjoy the waining weeks of my summer, so there is really nothing to update anybody on… soooo… yeah, exciting.
School starts for the lot of us this coming Monday (sans Christian, but he’s off doing his own double-awesome-super-secret things), so time’s going to be slipping away from us by the day.
Right now, I’m getting the hell out of this apartment. It’s always hot, even when the air conditioning’s set at 65, which doesn’t really encourage me to work on this project. I can’t wait to get into better digs and hop back on this hobby again.
Oh, and a word of advice, commenters: this blog is great motivation for myself to keep working towards what I want to achieve, but I’d like to not be heckled about “lack of updates,” please. If I ain’t got nothin’, I got nothin’.
~Flick
Hello! If you are visiting this site for the first time, through the 2009 Sonic Amateur Games Expo, we welcome you to the homepage Sonic Nexus.
Unfortunately, as you can see in the post below, we are not unveiling any new playable content during this show. Our planned, and awesome, three level demo was not up to our standards at this time, nor completed in some areas. Throughout the week, we will try and post some screenshots, and maybe video, of the new stages in action.
If you would like something playable, the most recent demo that we have is from September of last year. It features the debut of Nexus’ new engine, the Retro Engine by Christian Whitehead (The Taxman). You can also delve further in Nexus’ long history of engine changes with the 2007 and 2006 demos.
While we hold SAGE near and dear to us as fangame developers, we just did not want to disappoint anybody with a lackluster product. Keep visiting this site, checking for updates, and your patience will be thoroughly rewarded.
Please enjoy SAGE 2009!
-Nexus Team
With the show one week away and only one new zone out of the two planned for the next released completed, we are making an announcement that we will not be releasing anything playable during SAGE 2009. Brad has been saying for the past few months that the SAGE demo was no guarantee. With the bulk of the work only done during the past two months, busy personal lives throughout 2009, and SAGE starting a month earlier, Hunter, Brad and Christian will not be able to produce by next week.
Even with new content available, we will not release anything less than what we want to. We were making concessions left and right over the past two months for a possible SAGE demo, such as cutting the music options, Tails, Knuckles, and the second boss in each zone. Once we were cutting too much, Brad made the decision to pass on the show and focus on the original 3-zone demo plan with all the features. Its release date will not be established nor estimated.
However, its content shall remain what it has been for the past few months. The 2009 demo will include all three characters, three zones, six bosses, and the three soundtracks. All of the pomp of the final product, but three zones and without special stages.
We hope that you continue to check back here for updates during the show for more information about our 2009 release.
-Nexus Team
I’m on the casino level. What a refreshing change of pace from a water level.
Now that I’m going to post preliminary screens of the level, I might as well introduce everybody to the background artist behind the Cosmic Chaos’ new look. It’s none other than The ParadoxX, Sonic fan game legend. He is incredibly skilled at backgrounds, especially Sonic CD styled ones.
When I told him that I hated my rupee pattern foreground that I unveiled a few months ago, he went to work and showed me some mock-ups. I love hexagons. ParadoxX took the 2006 Nexus demo and made mock-ups using the new foregound. Notice how what he made is better than ORANGE BLOCKS. (Images not final, click to make them larger.)
The re-colored Chemical Plant buildings took a hike. Good riddance. When I gave him my tile set, it had that Robotnik sign in it. It’s supposed to be a slot machine outline, but I never told him. However, it looks pretty badass as a Collision Chaos-esque sign.
Then, I imported the palette and tiles in the RSDK, which is now an incredibly easy process with the 3.2 update that Christian talked about earlier. Patterning the hexagons is a pain in the ass. I get so lost in the 16×16 tiles (at left) when trying to find the right one to place into the 128×128 tile.
It’s a lot of trouble, but it’s so pretty in-game. Especially when all the “disco square” tiles become animated through palette-changing scripts. Casino levels are always so fuckin’ cool.
Pushin’ it.
-Flick
Hey, guys. We are just inside 2 weeks away to SAGE. I’ve been pushing myself during the days lately, but it looks like I’ll be pulling some all-nighters this week if I hope to get this demo out during the show. I’d hate to miss it again!
As I mentioned in the previous post, I had to re-map Pristine Palisade’s second act. Well, it is done and will be passed off for scripting goodness! Then, I’m off to map Cosmic Chaos. Seriously, guys, the grid paper makes designing levels a much faster process! Below is a trio of screens of the pre-scripted zone:
The water effects are still in-tact (and improved) from the MMF2 demo in 2007.
Trust me, I’ve made the “Atlantis area” speedier in spots.
Sonic does some platforming underwater. It gets really tricky!
Go go, Nexus Team!
-Flick
The 2007 Nexus demo, featuring Pristine Palisade, consisted of the zone’s first and third acts. The second act was cut after being unable to finish the scripting for it. The entire act was mapped out, but there were unfinished gimmicks, holes in the ground, and assorted bugs everywhere. When I was porting these acts to the RSDK, I decided that Act 2 was still an asshole. The image below is a zoomed out version of the Multimedia Fusion 2 file. Click it to see it in full:
To those unfamiliar with the stage, Pristine Palisade is two stages in one. The brown area is a water ruins-type place, like Tidal Tempest or Labyrinth Zone. The golden place underneath is entirely underwater and is a lost utopia of sorts. You travel in between these two worlds to reach the end. Act 1 is about 2-3 minutes. Act 2, however, can be completed in 7-8 minutes. There is no fucking around in this stage if you want to finish within the 10-minute time limit. Since the golden place is submerged, it takes forever to get through! (Below: an early version of PPZ’s transition into the RSDK)
So, the short story is that I felt that I had to re-map the entire second act. I should have it done in a day or two. Then, I can pass it off to Tax for the level’s scripting. This level has taken forever due to the sheer amount of ground that I have to cover with this “two zones in one” concept. Who’s the idiot who thought of that one anyway? Oh, right… me.
Stay tuned, because a look at the brand new Cosmic Chaos is coming with the introduction of a new team member.
-Flick
All you readers already know that this game has three soundtracks: the original Nexus soundtrack, the “Retro Remixes,” and the “Genesis Mixes.” How will all of this music be presented in the game though?
Well, at first, you will only be able to listen to Hunter’s original compositions for the game to start. In Act 1 and 2 of each zone, you will find one TV monitor in each with a music note on it. Act 1’s monitor, when hit, will permanently unlock the “Retro Remix” for that zone. Act 2’s music monitor will unlock that zone’s “Genesis Mix.” Once you’ve unlocked some music, you should head over to the options menu.
In the options menu, you can select which music that you want to hear for each zone, allowing you to completely customize your soundtrack. You could have all Genesis Mixes or all Retro Remixes. Better yet, one zone could be the original Nexus soundtrack and the next could be the Retro Remix. The choice yours!
Will this function make it into the SAGE 2009 demo? Hopefully. The music is ready for the three stages that are going to be in the demo, but this feature is low on the priorities list compared to other, more awesome things. Maybe the unlocking aspect won’t be there and the music already unlocked, but we’ll see, eh?
-Flick