Superb as always. I especially love the use of interactive cars as platforms, really cementing Red Gate Bridge as an actual location and not just a video game level.
You're genuienly so goated. Even though it's a early rough blockout, I can imagine it likely feels great to move around in, especially since the level design accommodates for Forces' weird physics. It's insane how every time I think the level's over, there's another 2 minute segment. Fantastic work!
Looking great so far! A couple thoughts... 1. it's such a small thing, but I LOVE the fire obstacle at 8:03. For a city under attack, we don't really see a lot of burning obstacles in regular forces. 2. If metal sonic is going to be segregated, then it could be cool to have signs of his presence in the stage (metal sonic holograms, claw marks, jet engine streaks idk) 3. I know it's not finished, but I love Sonic belly flopping down the sewers XD
i know it probably isnt intentional but the 5 minute runtime coupled with sewer sections reminds me a lot of what SXSG is doing, great stuff! im loving the car gimmick as well
We pc users/modders remaking the game at this point and soon enough we will have our Forces Remake lmao, thanks for your effort man, you got some skills!
Expanding on the idea of making the Metal Sonic section it's own thing, I agree that it would be a bit much adding him at the end, considering the stage length. For the good of the stage, I think i would be better seperating him into a different stage, but that still goes back to the issue of the original stage just being an extremely bland Metal Sonic fight. I would just say cut him completely, but that may be too rash, I don't know. This may sound weird, but what about not just making Metal Sonic seperate, but expanding on his fight differently? The original fight is pretty bland, but, in theory, breaking up the parts where you run up and hit him on the bridge with actual mini platforming sections, like small stages, before going back onto the endless bridge and hitting him, could make for a nice change. As in, run up, hit him, get knocked off the bridge, do a small platforming part, get back on the bridge, him him, repeat. I don't know how you would do that, but the mods people have made for this game have lead me to believe that something like that could be possible. I just don't know how difficult that would be.
Really nice balance of fast and tricky platforming, especially if I imagine I'm using...y'know, modded controls that aren't the crappy default ones from Forces. I agree with separating Metal off at this point, since the stage is so big. I also never liked that you had to get red/number/moon rings in this stage, since they clearly aren't designed to be part of boss fights.
Holy SHIT this looks incredible!! Finally, Red Gate Bridge gets the level it deserves. I LOVE how long it is, but I get why separating Metal Sonic out might be prudent. I love the cars too, are those unused assets in the game? I feel like those models look like they're from Gens or Frontiers, but I'm unsure. It's giving me a lot of "exploring the city sewers/backstreets" vibes that the original sorta had, and I REALLY love it. I think it'd be cool if this level ended at like, the Death Egg Robot QTE, and then the Metal Sonic part is in its own section right after?
The cars are from Gens speed highway, but they were actually implemented all the way back in the Re-imagined version of Sunset Heights as extra background props. If I do end up cutting the boss out the plan is also to have it end with the QTE and probably place the goal at the end of the tunnel right before the bridge area
1: No one has pointed this out yet so I’ll just say it as calmly as possible…. 0:50 HOLY SHIT THE JUMP CONTROL IS ACTUALLY GOOD NOW!?!!!!!! seriously though I heard Overclocked was gonna update its jump controls but I didn’t think we’d get a peek at it from Forces Re-imagined! (i’m assuming they will control the same since you were one of the lead developers for Overclocked) The jump fix is my most anticipated thing for the Overclocked update and while I was already confident the jump would control a little better seeing it function like THIS as if it was just copy and pasted from frontiers is absolutely incredible and while this doesn’t have to be done I am somewhat hoping this gets added as a simple code injection in the mod manager so future level modders will be able to design their stages with more freedom (this is assuming the jump fix is done with 100% code and doesn’t require any edits to the actual files or something like that I’m still not entirely sure on how things work). 2: Now that I’ve stopped having A breakdown over the jump controls (LETS FUCKING GOOOO-) even though this is definitely an early build the level design seems very promising with interesting ideas like pushing the cars to make new platforms, the button section at the end forcing us to explore a bit and from that short little water section I saw utilising the sewer area which I felt like was the most underutilised part of the city, of course the design isn’t perfect there’s some moments where you’re just running and others where you’re just watching for like five seconds but that’s to be expected with something that’s been made in like a week so I’ll wait until the level is much further in development before calling anything out. 3: I read the description and personally I think you should keep Metal Sonic in this stage (don’t really know why I just think it would work better that way) in fact as another comment said you could have hints of him throughout the stage which would make the boss feel like a “haha! Gotcha bitch” moment
Ngl i kinda just forgot I had the jump changes enabled when recording this video, that was meant to be more of a surprise for when the actual Overclocked update with them comes out. But yeah, in the long run they're going to be included with Re-imagined as well, and they're also code-based so they can be used with any other physics mod
@@brandonj_300 honestly can’t blame you as it probably just feels so natural compared to base games jumping that you probably just forgot it was enabled lmao, plus I don’t think many other people have noticed the jump changes so it’ll still be a surprise for the Overclocked update
When this one gets fleshed out it has potential to be the coolest level in the mod, I do love me a nice lengthy Sonic level sometimes and it's a nice way to end of the Sunset City levels, can't wait to see this one fully realised
Huge fan of the sewer like part with the gates, water slides and non-linear switch paths to open up the next section, insane work! I wonder how you're planning to make this and vs Metal Sonic separate levels, can you just add a new entry without overwriting anything? would it work kinda like the Chaos 0 fight from the CSIM? I'm curious! Personally I'd like the whole one long level + boss experience but I can understand how that might be too much for most people, maybe trimming down some of the long boost hallways before the sewer section could help ease up the time a bit? they don't add much besides maybe a quickstep section but there's a lot of them anyway
(I totally didn’t copy and paste this reply from another one of my comments) Based off another comment the boss fight will be here, my guess as for why it isn’t shown in the video is because maybe removing it temporarily makes developing the custom stage easier? I don’t know i’m not much of a modder
Quick level design question. When you block out levels like this, do you manually model everything out and bring it into the game, or is there tools you use to build out all these paths that allows them to be so smoothly curving, winding, and twisting all over the place? Genuinely curious as I’m a game dev who’s main experience is with programming gameplay over stuff like level design. In Unity I try to use stuff like ProBuilder to block out my levels, but I can never seem to get the level models to come out perfectly smooth like the paths in this.
With most modeling programs like Blender or 3ds Max you can create splines and then use modifiers to deform models along them, so all I really had to do was make a straight template road and deform copies of it with various splines to create all the curving paths in the level
Did you remove the Metal boss fight entirely? Wouldn't be much of a loss considering the final Infinite fight, but I'm just curious. Edit: I hadn't read the description. I think Metal would work better as his own boss stage tbh, but it's up to you. Level looks great. Long enough and very open.
Few questions about your level design, -Whats your process with for designing levels? -How has feedback from Overclocked, experience with modding frontiers or general experience changed how you design levels? { I've noticed that the overall structure of what you've shown off here is quite different from a lot of what you've shown off in the past(In comparison to your other forces levels). There's a lot more of a focus on 3D platforming in this. While in the past in 3D there was a lot more of quicksteping, rail switching and notably longer corridors before either another path opening up or some obsicles. Also your 2D level design here is more condensed with platforming and obstacles than prior. I know that Overclocked was criticized a little for some of those factors and even got an update recently that added more 3D platforming to it's levels, causing me to wonder if this shift is from that. Although I've also seen your frontiers levels and it's left me to wonder if that caused a shift in perspective. But what do you feel caused this shift the most? }
Varies a bit from level to level but with this one I pre-planned the gimmicks and major areas the stage would go through, blocked out the full layout from start to finish, then began importing it into the game and actually making it playable. And yeah, I'm definitely trying to move away from the Overclocked design philosophy tbh, because even I feel like that type of design has run its course. Overclocked also explored it about as far as you can possibly go, and now that we have actually functional jump physics I see no reason to not go much further with more open/platforming-based design than I have with previous levels
@@brandonj_300Interesting, so I see that my analysis was correct when it comes to the differences in direction of the level design here. I do quite like the new direction with its stronger focus on this sort of platforming. I’d say you’re doing a great job overall with this stuff! Also one last quick question has come up since then. With sonic x shadow generations releasing fairly soon and it featuring sunset heights, do you plan on using assets from its version of sunset heights when they become available for the reimagined mod? (why didn’t youtube notify me at all about your reply lol)
@@vixtheexistent6390 Probably, I was already planning on using assets from the underground sections that have been shown, and I might use more depending on what shows up in other areas
Interesting gimmick with the cars, but I think it could be better if there was at least a choice of using/not using them, example: attacking the car lets you use the upper path (as already implemented), but in pushing it, you cover a small hole that you could slide into, to access another path, so you have the split second decision of hitting the car or sidestepping it to access the alternate path
5 MINUTES?? I'm sure there'll be some fat to trim. I think the last switch press bit could be arranged like 4-4 in Frontiers where you gotta press 'em along the way.
Idk, the whole idea with that part was to try doing something less straightforward than usual by having you go back and forth on the left and right routes before being able to continue forward. Could probably streamline it a bit more but I'd rather keep the general concept intact for now, though I'm unsure if it'll actually survive playtesting in the long run
@@brandonj_300Something you could potentially try is having the paths for the buttons go diagonally forward right and forward left. That’d probably make it feel a little more like the player is still progressing in the level than having to stop and do the buttons. Then perhaps you could do something like having the tunnel before the double button section launch sonic and the avatar into the air where you can then use the camera to pan towards the right and left showing off the buttons while they fall to tell the player that they need to hit those buttons to continue.
Hello! Personally, I already liked Sonic Forces since I bought it (even if it's not high on my list), and I'm usually not a fan of mods as they look like people just put things in order to put things in the levels. However, I really liked what you're showing and I feel like it looks like it would be an actual level from the game. However, this makes me question two things: -Why are you reimagining levels from Forces if the game itself wasn't so great? -Why aren't you using another game as a basis? Genuine curiosity
Using the cars/vans as interactive platforms is such a cool and creative mechanic. I wonder what other plans you have in-store, in terms of level design? As always, looking forward to what you bring to the table; Sonic Forces is in safe hands with you around 😅
There's gonna be some custom setpieces in the stage as well, some of the long empty stretches of road for example were basically me making room to add that type of stuff in later in development
Really Interesting work here! I admire what you're doing here, reimagining entire levels. But, I have to be honest, it feels a bit lackluster. I like some of what you have here but, There's a lot of long, winding roads, basic platforming, small homing attack chains, and generally simple interactions without much challenge. It doesn't seem like you're fully utilizing the boost formula. Boost levels shine when they continuously challenge the player's skill and reaction time-quickstep here, use a light speed dash there, chain it all together to maintain speed. The thrill comes from a constant series of tight challenges. Forces was often criticized for being too short or lacking alternate paths, but the bigger issue that those contributed to was that it just felt boring. And honestly, that problem still seems present here. It would be one thing if this was Lost Valley, the first level is allowed to be simpler and easier, but this one is decently far into the game. The interactions here are too basic and one-note - and on top of that, they're very spread out, with a lot of stretches where the player just boosts without much else to it. Of course, using Forces as your base is gonna be pretty limiting - I mean, the issue I just listed would be largely mitigated and even beneficial if it had the drift. But still, there's more that can be done here. Cram the more fun and engaging parts of the level closer together, and make them test the player's reaction time more with an opportunity to go faster at every turn, I recommend revisiting some of the best levels from Generations and Unleashed, as well as checking out the 'Sonic Rush 3D' Leaf Storm demo from this year’s SAGE for inspiration. There's a lot of potential in your project, and you clearly have the skill to pull it off, but you're still falling into the same pitfalls as the game you're reimagining.
Keep in mind this layout isn't much more than a basic skeleton of what it will be by the time it's finished; a lot of the empty parts for example are going to filled in with more complicated design later on
@@brandonj_300 You ever completely forget one small but important thing in something you write or make that you completely intended to add, but just didn't? Yeah I just did, and it was something along the lines of "I'm aware this is unfinished and there's a lot that could be different in the final version, so I hope you keep this in mind for that"! Boy ain't that fun :D And yeah I'm well aware this is clearly an early skeleton, but that's exactly why I'm critiquing it now, because that's before anything is really finalized and locked in place, so any problems can be dealt with early on instead of having to retool major parts of something you've made after most of if is already done, which is just a huge hassle. I know I've dealt with that far too many times before. So jf you already plan to add a bunch more to the emptier sections and challenge the player, then good on ya, I'm just trying to help how I can. Good luck!
Well as we can see in the original stage Classic Sonic’s version and the one in Shadow Generations Sunset city has a sewer system so it’s likely when that part of the level is completed it’ll be us going through the sewer system (which if you ask me is very welcome because I feel like that part of the city could’ve been utilised more)
Based off another comment the boss fight will be here, my guess as for why it isn’t shown in the video is because maybe removing it temporarily makes developing the custom stage easier? I don’t know i’m not much of a modder
The slider physics lose speed almost instantly when you go uphill so the dash panels were a necessity to prevent you from just getting softlocked in that area. I'll probably end up just remodeling the tunnel to not curve upwards as much at the end though
@@brandonj_300 I’m wondering now with SXS Generations, did you take immediate inspiration based on the footage shown? I think it’s what we all wanted Forces to be in terms of level design. Ok, another question… are you gonna include the Metal Sonic Fight? I doubt you’ll be able to add in another stage.
@@gameman5804 Not really, most of the ideas here were conceptualized months before that footage was shown, though I might end up incorporating aspects of whatever SXSG does into the final version of the level. Haven't decided if the boss will be included or not, splitting it into a new level is possible on paper, but we would need some improvements to the existing tools to fully implement it that way
Superb as always. I especially love the use of interactive cars as platforms, really cementing Red Gate Bridge as an actual location and not just a video game level.
The bridge gets to be a level in itself. Nice
like with overclocked, this does a good job designing 3D platforming with forces' crazy air physics in mind. also like the dynamic 2.5D camera angle
You're genuienly so goated. Even though it's a early rough blockout, I can imagine it likely feels great to move around in, especially since the level design accommodates for Forces' weird physics. It's insane how every time I think the level's over, there's another 2 minute segment. Fantastic work!
Looking great so far! A couple thoughts...
1. it's such a small thing, but I LOVE the fire obstacle at 8:03. For a city under attack, we don't really see a lot of burning obstacles in regular forces.
2. If metal sonic is going to be segregated, then it could be cool to have signs of his presence in the stage (metal sonic holograms, claw marks, jet engine streaks idk)
3. I know it's not finished, but I love Sonic belly flopping down the sewers XD
saving this
robot racism
i know it probably isnt intentional but the 5 minute runtime coupled with sewer sections reminds me a lot of what SXSG is doing, great stuff! im loving the car gimmick as well
We pc users/modders remaking the game at this point and soon enough we will have our Forces Remake lmao, thanks for your effort man, you got some skills!
Red Bridge but it’s an actual level
people still adding to this game love it
realmente , vos fuiste la razon para que yo compre sonic forces
es increible como seguis empeñado en mejorarlo realmente admirable
You're cooking something big here. This is going to be peak
HERE WE GOOOOOO RED GATE BRIDGE ‼️‼️‼️😫😫😫😫
Nice to see this project still up and running!
Open, interactive, and visually interesting. You sir have some damn skill
Expanding on the idea of making the Metal Sonic section it's own thing, I agree that it would be a bit much adding him at the end, considering the stage length. For the good of the stage, I think i would be better seperating him into a different stage, but that still goes back to the issue of the original stage just being an extremely bland Metal Sonic fight. I would just say cut him completely, but that may be too rash, I don't know.
This may sound weird, but what about not just making Metal Sonic seperate, but expanding on his fight differently? The original fight is pretty bland, but, in theory, breaking up the parts where you run up and hit him on the bridge with actual mini platforming sections, like small stages, before going back onto the endless bridge and hitting him, could make for a nice change. As in, run up, hit him, get knocked off the bridge, do a small platforming part, get back on the bridge, him him, repeat. I don't know how you would do that, but the mods people have made for this game have lead me to believe that something like that could be possible. I just don't know how difficult that would be.
Redoing Metal's fight is doable on paper, but I don't see myself allocating time to mess with that instead of focusing on other levels
Really promising, can’t wait to see more 😊
This is so sick I see the vision
Really nice balance of fast and tricky platforming, especially if I imagine I'm using...y'know, modded controls that aren't the crappy default ones from Forces.
I agree with separating Metal off at this point, since the stage is so big. I also never liked that you had to get red/number/moon rings in this stage, since they clearly aren't designed to be part of boss fights.
Thought you wouldn't touch upon this stage again.
I love the I dea of homing at the cars to make a platform
Holy SHIT this looks incredible!! Finally, Red Gate Bridge gets the level it deserves. I LOVE how long it is, but I get why separating Metal Sonic out might be prudent. I love the cars too, are those unused assets in the game? I feel like those models look like they're from Gens or Frontiers, but I'm unsure. It's giving me a lot of "exploring the city sewers/backstreets" vibes that the original sorta had, and I REALLY love it. I think it'd be cool if this level ended at like, the Death Egg Robot QTE, and then the Metal Sonic part is in its own section right after?
The cars are from Gens speed highway, but they were actually implemented all the way back in the Re-imagined version of Sunset Heights as extra background props. If I do end up cutting the boss out the plan is also to have it end with the QTE and probably place the goal at the end of the tunnel right before the bridge area
This is pretty cool.
I like that you’re gonna use the inside of the city like in Sonic X Shadow Gens
1: No one has pointed this out yet so I’ll just say it as calmly as possible…. 0:50 HOLY SHIT THE JUMP CONTROL IS ACTUALLY GOOD NOW!?!!!!!! seriously though I heard Overclocked was gonna update its jump controls but I didn’t think we’d get a peek at it from Forces Re-imagined! (i’m assuming they will control the same since you were one of the lead developers for Overclocked) The jump fix is my most anticipated thing for the Overclocked update and while I was already confident the jump would control a little better seeing it function like THIS as if it was just copy and pasted from frontiers is absolutely incredible and while this doesn’t have to be done I am somewhat hoping this gets added as a simple code injection in the mod manager so future level modders will be able to design their stages with more freedom (this is assuming the jump fix is done with 100% code and doesn’t require any edits to the actual files or something like that I’m still not entirely sure on how things work).
2: Now that I’ve stopped having A breakdown over the jump controls (LETS FUCKING GOOOO-) even though this is definitely an early build the level design seems very promising with interesting ideas like pushing the cars to make new platforms, the button section at the end forcing us to explore a bit and from that short little water section I saw utilising the sewer area which I felt like was the most underutilised part of the city, of course the design isn’t perfect there’s some moments where you’re just running and others where you’re just watching for like five seconds but that’s to be expected with something that’s been made in like a week so I’ll wait until the level is much further in development before calling anything out.
3: I read the description and personally I think you should keep Metal Sonic in this stage (don’t really know why I just think it would work better that way) in fact as another comment said you could have hints of him throughout the stage which would make the boss feel like a “haha! Gotcha bitch” moment
Yeah fr I like the jump wayyy better
Ngl i kinda just forgot I had the jump changes enabled when recording this video, that was meant to be more of a surprise for when the actual Overclocked update with them comes out. But yeah, in the long run they're going to be included with Re-imagined as well, and they're also code-based so they can be used with any other physics mod
@@brandonj_300 honestly can’t blame you as it probably just feels so natural compared to base games jumping that you probably just forgot it was enabled lmao, plus I don’t think many other people have noticed the jump changes so it’ll still be a surprise for the Overclocked update
When this one gets fleshed out it has potential to be the coolest level in the mod, I do love me a nice lengthy Sonic level sometimes and it's a nice way to end of the Sunset City levels, can't wait to see this one fully realised
Huge fan of the sewer like part with the gates, water slides and non-linear switch paths to open up the next section, insane work!
I wonder how you're planning to make this and vs Metal Sonic separate levels, can you just add a new entry without overwriting anything? would it work kinda like the Chaos 0 fight from the CSIM? I'm curious!
Personally I'd like the whole one long level + boss experience but I can understand how that might be too much for most people, maybe trimming down some of the long boost hallways before the sewer section could help ease up the time a bit? they don't add much besides maybe a quickstep section but there's a lot of them anyway
Adding custom level slots is mostly doable, the only problem currently is that adding new level names currently doesn't work properly.
id say keep the boss fight in. you work youre way to the call of metal to finally find him and take him on!
(I totally didn’t copy and paste this reply from another one of my comments)
Based off another comment the boss fight will be here, my guess as for why it isn’t shown in the video is because maybe removing it temporarily makes developing the custom stage easier? I don’t know i’m not much of a modder
@@furious_pie466 makes sense
No way you have better air control for sonic because that is what I need in forces right about now.
Nice Video.
This is art)
Please keep the boss fight in the level. I want to experience the good old days of Sonic Heroes' 7-minute levels again, lol
Looks peak.
That's a cool gimick tho
Quick level design question. When you block out levels like this, do you manually model everything out and bring it into the game, or is there tools you use to build out all these paths that allows them to be so smoothly curving, winding, and twisting all over the place? Genuinely curious as I’m a game dev who’s main experience is with programming gameplay over stuff like level design. In Unity I try to use stuff like ProBuilder to block out my levels, but I can never seem to get the level models to come out perfectly smooth like the paths in this.
With most modeling programs like Blender or 3ds Max you can create splines and then use modifiers to deform models along them, so all I really had to do was make a straight template road and deform copies of it with various splines to create all the curving paths in the level
one thing i would like to see is sliding sections and make the pop in little bit better but not even fronteirs did that
Sonic Forces Game Land:
Just out of curiosity, are you planning on reimagining the Metal Sonic boss as the cherry on top?
Nah, maybe i'll make some tweaks to it but it's not going to changed in any substantial way
5:17 I see what you did there, you used some Dream Team level design which is great 👍.
Dayum
You could do a worm chase in Lost Valley
Did you remove the Metal boss fight entirely? Wouldn't be much of a loss considering the final Infinite fight, but I'm just curious.
Edit: I hadn't read the description. I think Metal would work better as his own boss stage tbh, but it's up to you.
Level looks great. Long enough and very open.
0:12
IS THAT A VOLKSWAGEN VAN?!?!
It's legally-distinct but yeah, pretty sure that was the original inspiration for that model (it's being reused from Gens Speed Highway to be clear)
Very nice, I really like this Section 6:44 it flows very well.
Few questions about your level design,
-Whats your process with for designing levels?
-How has feedback from Overclocked, experience with modding frontiers or general experience changed how you design levels?
{
I've noticed that the overall structure of what you've shown off here is quite different from a lot of what you've shown off in the past(In comparison to your other forces levels). There's a lot more of a focus on 3D platforming in this. While in the past in 3D there was a lot more of quicksteping, rail switching and notably longer corridors before either another path opening up or some obsicles. Also your 2D level design here is more condensed with platforming and obstacles than prior.
I know that Overclocked was criticized a little for some of those factors and even got an update recently that added more 3D platforming to it's levels, causing me to wonder if this shift is from that. Although I've also seen your frontiers levels and it's left me to wonder if that caused a shift in perspective. But what do you feel caused this shift the most?
}
Varies a bit from level to level but with this one I pre-planned the gimmicks and major areas the stage would go through, blocked out the full layout from start to finish, then began importing it into the game and actually making it playable.
And yeah, I'm definitely trying to move away from the Overclocked design philosophy tbh, because even I feel like that type of design has run its course. Overclocked also explored it about as far as you can possibly go, and now that we have actually functional jump physics I see no reason to not go much further with more open/platforming-based design than I have with previous levels
@@brandonj_300Interesting, so I see that my analysis was correct when it comes to the differences in direction of the level design here. I do quite like the new direction with its stronger focus on this sort of platforming. I’d say you’re doing a great job overall with this stuff!
Also one last quick question has come up since then. With sonic x shadow generations releasing fairly soon and it featuring sunset heights, do you plan on using assets from its version of sunset heights when they become available for the reimagined mod?
(why didn’t youtube notify me at all about your reply lol)
@@vixtheexistent6390 Probably, I was already planning on using assets from the underground sections that have been shown, and I might use more depending on what shows up in other areas
Interesting gimmick with the cars, but I think it could be better if there was at least a choice of using/not using them, example: attacking the car lets you use the upper path (as already implemented), but in pushing it, you cover a small hole that you could slide into, to access another path, so you have the split second decision of hitting the car or sidestepping it to access the alternate path
Yea, I've been trying to think of some more interesting ways of using them so that would be worth a shot
5 MINUTES?? I'm sure there'll be some fat to trim. I think the last switch press bit could be arranged like 4-4 in Frontiers where you gotta press 'em along the way.
Idk, the whole idea with that part was to try doing something less straightforward than usual by having you go back and forth on the left and right routes before being able to continue forward. Could probably streamline it a bit more but I'd rather keep the general concept intact for now, though I'm unsure if it'll actually survive playtesting in the long run
@@brandonj_300Something you could potentially try is having the paths for the buttons go diagonally forward right and forward left. That’d probably make it feel a little more like the player is still progressing in the level than having to stop and do the buttons.
Then perhaps you could do something like having the tunnel before the double button section launch sonic and the avatar into the air where you can then use the camera to pan towards the right and left showing off the buttons while they fall to tell the player that they need to hit those buttons to continue.
Hello!
Personally, I already liked Sonic Forces since I bought it (even if it's not high on my list), and I'm usually not a fan of mods as they look like people just put things in order to put things in the levels.
However, I really liked what you're showing and I feel like it looks like it would be an actual level from the game.
However, this makes me question two things:
-Why are you reimagining levels from Forces if the game itself wasn't so great?
-Why aren't you using another game as a basis?
Genuine curiosity
Using the cars/vans as interactive platforms is such a cool and creative mechanic. I wonder what other plans you have in-store, in terms of level design? As always, looking forward to what you bring to the table; Sonic Forces is in safe hands with you around 😅
There's gonna be some custom setpieces in the stage as well, some of the long empty stretches of road for example were basically me making room to add that type of stuff in later in development
Woah an fully custom stage in Forces?
Really Interesting work here! I admire what you're doing here, reimagining entire levels. But, I have to be honest, it feels a bit lackluster. I like some of what you have here but, There's a lot of long, winding roads, basic platforming, small homing attack chains, and generally simple interactions without much challenge. It doesn't seem like you're fully utilizing the boost formula.
Boost levels shine when they continuously challenge the player's skill and reaction time-quickstep here, use a light speed dash there, chain it all together to maintain speed. The thrill comes from a constant series of tight challenges. Forces was often criticized for being too short or lacking alternate paths, but the bigger issue that those contributed to was that it just felt boring. And honestly, that problem still seems present here. It would be one thing if this was Lost Valley, the first level is allowed to be simpler and easier, but this one is decently far into the game. The interactions here are too basic and one-note - and on top of that, they're very spread out, with a lot of stretches where the player just boosts without much else to it.
Of course, using Forces as your base is gonna be pretty limiting - I mean, the issue I just listed would be largely mitigated and even beneficial if it had the drift. But still, there's more that can be done here. Cram the more fun and engaging parts of the level closer together, and make them test the player's reaction time more with an opportunity to go faster at every turn, I recommend revisiting some of the best levels from Generations and Unleashed, as well as checking out the 'Sonic Rush 3D' Leaf Storm demo from this year’s SAGE for inspiration. There's a lot of potential in your project, and you clearly have the skill to pull it off, but you're still falling into the same pitfalls as the game you're reimagining.
development on this stage started last week dude
It’s Forces, the Stage Mods will feel like Forces but better.
Keep in mind this layout isn't much more than a basic skeleton of what it will be by the time it's finished; a lot of the empty parts for example are going to filled in with more complicated design later on
read the replies you got flaming lol
@@brandonj_300 You ever completely forget one small but important thing in something you write or make that you completely intended to add, but just didn't? Yeah I just did, and it was something along the lines of "I'm aware this is unfinished and there's a lot that could be different in the final version, so I hope you keep this in mind for that"! Boy ain't that fun :D
And yeah I'm well aware this is clearly an early skeleton, but that's exactly why I'm critiquing it now, because that's before anything is really finalized and locked in place, so any problems can be dealt with early on instead of having to retool major parts of something you've made after most of if is already done, which is just a huge hassle. I know I've dealt with that far too many times before. So jf you already plan to add a bunch more to the emptier sections and challenge the player, then good on ya, I'm just trying to help how I can. Good luck!
Man this puts a smile on my face!
Also, I'm curious why you chose to put a water slide section in? Isn't that more of mystic jungle's thing?
Well as we can see in the original stage Classic Sonic’s version and the one in Shadow Generations Sunset city has a sewer system so it’s likely when that part of the level is completed it’ll be us going through the sewer system (which if you ask me is very welcome because I feel like that part of the city could’ve been utilised more)
@@furious_pie466 Correct, the slide tube section basically serves as a transition into the underground/sewer area
How long has this level been worked on so far?
2 weeks roughly
@@brandonj_300Damn, looks like it won’t be for a while.
So basically, you're getting into almost completely original level design?
I think it's better to cut half of the level and put the Metal Sonic battle
Are the player physics good? Like does it feel like Generations physics? Or is it vanilla forces?
Good looking mod btw.
could use more platforming sections. it just feels like a long empty road as is
Yea, most of the empty parts are going to be filled in with more complicated design later on
are you not keeping the boss fight?!?
Based off another comment the boss fight will be here, my guess as for why it isn’t shown in the video is because maybe removing it temporarily makes developing the custom stage easier? I don’t know i’m not much of a modder
First
Seems legit
3:43 Someone took inspiration from SXS Gens. Considering how much momentum is built, the boosters seem to hinder the jump.
The slider physics lose speed almost instantly when you go uphill so the dash panels were a necessity to prevent you from just getting softlocked in that area. I'll probably end up just remodeling the tunnel to not curve upwards as much at the end though
@@brandonj_300
That’s probably that, yeah… Sonic’s lack of an animation makes it funny though.
@@gameman5804 There's some hacky workarounds I have in mind to fix that, but I'm probably not going to mess with it til much later on
@@brandonj_300
I’m wondering now with SXS Generations, did you take immediate inspiration based on the footage shown? I think it’s what we all wanted Forces to be in terms of level design.
Ok, another question… are you gonna include the Metal Sonic Fight? I doubt you’ll be able to add in another stage.
@@gameman5804 Not really, most of the ideas here were conceptualized months before that footage was shown, though I might end up incorporating aspects of whatever SXSG does into the final version of the level.
Haven't decided if the boss will be included or not, splitting it into a new level is possible on paper, but we would need some improvements to the existing tools to fully implement it that way