TSSZ Fan Fridays: LakeFeperd

Of “Sonic Before the Sequel” Fame, Interview Inside

Sonic fan games are something of an elusive beast; many are attempted, yet few are completed. Consequently, those that do make it beyond a concept level or demo deserve some notoriety, and few have come closer to a full release than Sonic Before the Sequel. This game takes place between the first two Genesis titles and builds upon that style of gameplay. It has also won several awards, including Best of Show at the 2011 Sonic Amateur Games Expo and was voted Best 2011 SAGE game by TSSZ’s own readers.

Behind this game is a fan by the name of LakeFeperd. For the past few months, he has been building in game in the Sonic Worlds engine and, apart from some assistance with boss battles, he has built the game by himself. While there is no firm release date for the game, LakeFeperd claims that the game is in its final stages of beta testing and should be released, in his own words, “not too soon, but not too late”.

You can download the demo for the game here, and you can view the game’s trailer below. Additionally, we have conducted an interview with LakeFeperd about his game, and that can be seen below the trailer. We’re always looking for interesting fan projects, so if you’ve got something great to share, send us a link at fansonfriday@tssznews.com.

The following interview has been edited only to correct spelling and grammar errors for the sake of readability.

TSSZ: What inspired you to work on Sonic Before the Sequel?

LakeFeperd: Well, there is a lot of influence from the original Sonic games and other games, but for the most part, it’s the idea of making a fan game. What I mean is that people can get bored quickly when playing a fan game partially because it is disposable; they didn’t pay for it! That’s why every zone in SBTS has something different from the others, so the player won’t get bored so easily.

TSSZ: There’s a lot of Sonic fan games. What do you feel separates Sonic Before the Sequel from everything else?

LakeFeperd: I don’t really like to compare my fan game against other ones, but maybe the storyline? Well, there was a lot of planning to do what I was going to do, but to tell you the truth, I don’t really know; I haven’t really thought about it.

TSSZ: Can you explain how you shaped the storyline and created the game’s unique zones?

LakeFeperd: First, I plan out the zones and later I try to find a way to link them together.
It isn’t hard; for example, just try and think of a link between Marble Zone and Emerald Hill Zone. The storyline wasn’t that hard simply because it is between Sonic 1 and 2.

Most of the zones came from something I made in the gameplay. For example, Titanic Tower Zone was based on a “reverse version” of Terminal Velocity from Sonic Colors and that’s why there is a tower with the Death Egg on it. That opened up room for tons of possibilities in the game, and that concept also became the game’s “icon”, which is the Death Egg being launched. I just think I failed in the concept of Sonic being “cool” when Tails appeared.

I also had to remove a whole zone “concept” from the final game. (That level, Star Light Carnival, was later donated for the Sonic Worlds Level Collab.)

TSSZ: What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome in production thus far?

LakeFeperd:  I think it was the bosses. I have really poor programing skills, so I had to make the bosses with objects I already had in Sonic Worlds, like moving platforms and stuff like that. Making them fun and keeping them from becoming frustrating was the biggest challenge that I’ve faced so far.

TSSZ: How long do you anticipate the final game to be (in terms of number of zones and in overall playtime)?

LakeFeperd: Well, except for the final zone, the game has 10 zones with 3 acts and a boss battle (except for Sunset Star Zone, which has 4 acts with Act 2 being optional). In play time, it really depends on the player. For me, I can do a speed run of the game in an hour and a half to two hours.

TSSZ: Which Sonic game was the first one you ever played, and which one is currently your favorite?

LakeFeperd: The first Sonic game I played (and also the first game I ever played) was the original Sonic the Hedgehog. My favorite one is Sonic 3 and Knuckles.