Redux Course Ideas ===================== See list.ods for full list. Sonic Redux is a racing game designed as a "second run" at Sonic R. A Sonic R 2, if you will. Two of the most common complaints of Sonic R (that aren't due to hardware limitations) are the shoddy character balance/physics and the low number of levels. Sonic Redux tackles that second one by providing 20 courses, split into 4 cups. Each cub consists of 4 courses of roughly the same difficulty, plus a bonus challenge track. The challenge track is where you must race Metal Sonic (or some other bad guy) to unlock the next cup. Each challenge track is based off of a level from the classic Sonic series. (Cup A is from Sonic 1, Cup B from Sonic 2, Cup C from Sonic 3&K, Cup D from Sonic CD.) If we can, we should make these a "get from point A to point B" sort of deal. You can optionally unlock the next cup by getting a certain time on all 4 of the cup's tracks. This makes it a challenge for new players and merely a mild annoyance for seasoned veterans who lost their save file. === COURSE GUIDELINES As far as Sonic R courses go, rings are what make them. A good course cleverly doles out rings and forces you to spend them in the most efficient possible manner. It's all really just a high-speed balancing act between time and rings. For a time attack example, take the loop at the very end of Resort Island. You can skip the loop and shave a few seconds, or you can go through the loop, collect the rings, and spend them later on the accelerator. The right choice is entirely dependent on the situation. Collecting rings on the last lap is a bad idea, but not collecting rings on the first lap might be just as much so. When you add other players into the mix, things get positively intense. Radiant Elemerald. There's two ring gates, both 50 rings. Behind one of them is an accelerator, which requires 50 rings for maximum efficiency. You get roughly 50 rings per lap, if you hit each line. In a time attack run, it makes sense to unlock one gate on the first lap, unlock the second gate on the second lap. and use the accelerator on the third. This really falls apart in multiplayer because everybody has 50 rings to play with per lap. If you are ahead and you unlock the shortcut with the acclerator, your opponent will gladly take their saved up rings and zoom right past you. You have to manage your rings in such a way that your opponents get the least out of them and you get the most. That's tricky, but it's so. so fun. In a nutshell, to make a good Redux course, give the player many equally good options that they can choose depending on the situation. Resist the urge just to fill everything with blatantly good shortcuts. Force compromise. Maybe make the shortcut go past an accelerator, making it a one-or-the-other deal. Maybe make the shortcut an expensive alternative to masterful platforming. I don't really know. Just make the player compromise on the best path forwards. Don't forget the power of non-gated alternate routes. Some characters need longer, straighter segments than others. Cater to that. Avoid what Regal Ruin did. In addition, you can put rings and itemboxes on longer routes to, again, force compromise. There should not be a section that you always avoid because it's useless. (Looking at you, Resort Island.) --- There'd a second aspect to Sonic R courses. They must be explorable. This is more of a personal thing, but for me, going in time trial and just walking down all the side routes trying to make a mental map of the place was half the fun. Heck, even just running and jumping around was great, too. Sonic R encouraged this with the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic Tokens and the balloon mode. I don't plan on having Chaos Emeralds in course, and probably not Sonic tokens either. (Collecting while racing is a really dumb idea, I'm sorry.) Redux can encourage this via easter eggs and just stuff to stare at. And also maybe some time-attack excusive collectibles that we can count and make you feel good about. (Like the Red Rings from the new Sonic games?) IDK. But don't forget it. === ART STYLE General art style for levels should skew towards realism. Natural tracks, like forests and caves, should have a subdued, monotonic palette. Robotnik's machinery and Starlight City should be vivid and colorful in comparision. For anything man-made, design it as if it came from 1988-1996. Use Bold-Oblique Helvectia, normal Futura, or other thick sans-serif fonts. Use rounded boxes and solid colors for machinery. This takes place around 1996/7, before the Adventure series, so design accordingly. For any in-game art, use the Japan/8-bit Sonic aesthetic. Solid colors and geometric shapes, but not in that terrible 90's American fashion. --- As a rule of thumb: make these places somewhere you want to be. You should enjoy sight-seeing the tracks even without the race going on. These tracks should excite your natural urge to explore and stare in wonder at the world around you. === MUSIC I dunno. Stay away from chiptunes, vaporwave, and excessive Woofle. Keep upbeat parts upbeat, but do not be afraid to slow it down. Also I can't compose for crap, so bum all of this off of something else. Or learn. But that might be rather difficult. === CUP DESCRIPTIONS Each cup can be viewed as a self-contained "story" of sorts. Not planning on cutscence, but you can imagine a sort of progression and logic to the course choices. Each cup should also flow into the next cup. Naming scheme should try to follow a Sonic CD-style death by alliteration. It seems silly, and it probably is, but it makes the names pleasant sounding when done correctly. --- CUP A - News from the radio: Robotnik's up to no good! Get to the mainland. Names and visuals should be comfy and cozy. This is the easy cup, so make it inviting. --- CUP B - Head into Starlight City to get a lead on Robotnik's plans. Once done, head out by train to the ruins of Aqua Lake. This is mostly punk-industrial, with the exception of Serene Savanah, designed as a "mental break" of sorts. --- CUP C - Robotnik's set up a factory and is tearing apart the land! Stop him! Mostly scampering around natural environments. Up trees, down rivers, through tunnels. etc. As the cup goes on, it skews industrial until you're literally on Robotnik's factory floor. --- CUP D - You've managed to hitch a ride to Robotnik's base on the Flying Battery for a little bit. You kind of blew it up to stop Metal Sonic, so you'll need to walk the rest. Names should be as cosmic and luxurious as possible. Tracks should be difficult. Make it feel penultimate.