NiGHTS Reverie Dev Tries Hand at 3D Sonic
3D fangaming isn’t nearly as prevalent at SAGE as it has been in previous years, but for those who like to see Sonic do more than sidescroll, there remains a small selection of 3D fare to try out.
One of those games is Sonic Small World, the product of Kentilan. You may remember Kentilan from work on NiGHTS: Lost Reverie, as well as the Christmas edition–both well celebrated by fans. This entry’s all Sonic, however, and it’s entirely coded in C. Take a look at the preview video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiy1OPBI8h
Currently in version 0.3, the demo shows off Lost Hill zone. To play it, you need Windows. Go to SAGE and look for the Sonic Small World booth link.
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Bad Youtube link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiy1OPBI8hE
What’s the point of this in a post Sonic GDK world?
Stuff like this, imperfect and unpolished as it may be, always shows me how much potential Sonic really has. Sega could learn a thing or two from even the worst of these videos.
Rolling physics, insta-shield in a 3D setting, wide-open spaces, curved landscapes/hills, smoother wall running… I’d love to see Sega embrace some of these concepts, expanding on the Sonic formula (while still remaining true to its roots) rather than constantly narrowing it.
…oh..so it’s like a pseudo Sonic Adventure? No thanks. I’d rather take the real Sonic Adventure than this.
I like the ability to incorporate the wide open spaces but that’s more suited for Mario, not Sonic. Let’s not ever forget that.
Sega/Sonic Team, I hope you’re watching some of these fangames because its a damn shame that your fans can make better attempts at a pure 3D Sonic game than you did for almost a decade (though Colors was amazing as well as I am glad that you’ve decided to make some roomy areas in levels like City Escape or Seaside Hill).
Sonic Small World (despite it being imperfect and unpolished) is showing some progress as well as it reminds me of another 3D fangame, Sonic Freerunner which was shown back in March.
@Haru
What’s wrong with incorporating wide open areas into an official Sonic game? It would greatly show people it worked Mario, why not Sonic? Its much better of him being in a 2.5D mashup of lively 2D sections but with small, claustrophobic 3D sections.
^ I forgot to put “than”. Stupid typo.
Despite how incredibly unpolished the fan game seemed to be, one thing I admire about it compared to others is how the level design is wide open, but it’s not ridiculously large enough for a player to get lost in. Seriously, the 3D fangames I’ve seen seems to have areas more suitable for HUB WORLDS than actual levels.
This fan game proves that Sonic levels can still be wide open, but linear enough to know where you’re going, as well as provide landscapes such as un-prescripted slopes.
I’m still waiting for the day that someone makes a sonic fan game using either (1) sprites or models made entirely on their own or (2) edit them enough to call it their own. I’m not saying that it’s bad because of it, but when the most fluent or not broken thing in your game was made from someone else, then that kinda puts on the wrong feeling.
@Darkgomu
There are tons of those and most of them are fucking awful (visually).
Also, sprites and models have nothing to do with how the game functions. Ripping sprites/models from games doesn’t copy their programming – the physics engines powering these games are almost always fan-made.