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Sonic - Project Hero playable demo released! (Fan made 3D Sonic game framework based on Unity Engine)

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Skyfireblaze

Skyfireblaze

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Oct 25, 2017
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cS61I10.png


We had a thread on this before here but since a playable demo build was now released I thought it would be a good time to post a new thread!

What is Sonic - Project Hero:

Sonic - Project Hero is a fan made 3D Sonic framework based on the Unity Engine made by developer Hero and after showing it off multiple times we can finally give it a spin for ourselves, pun intended! :P So far there's only one test-level with various obstacles and enemies to test the engine and the movesets but it's already very promising.

How does it play:

There is no "boost" so it plays fundamentally different from what SEGA cultivated from Sonic Unleashed onwards and closer to Sonic Adventure though it still can get very speedy and offers smooth mobility in every aspect with a Spin Dash, bounce, wall-jumps, Light Dash and Homing Attack which all flow neatly in together, Sonic is just a joy to control! You can apparently also play as Tails and Knuckles but to be honest I haven't found out how so if anyone else finds out please let me know so I can add it to this post.

Media:




Tips and Tricks (More will be added if people share their findings):

- Press R2/RT to transform into Super Sonic

Links:

- The project's Sonic Fan Game HQ page
- The project's Discord server
- Hero's YouTube channel
- Windows Download
- macOS Download
 
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vestan

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Looks rad like all these fan-made Sonic frameworks do but I'd like to see someone make an actual level with this design in mind. Kinda getting tired of seeing greyboxes lol.
 

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vestan said:
Looks rad like all these fan-made Sonic frameworks do but I'd like to see someone make an actual level with this design in mind. Kinda getting tired of seeing greyboxes lol.
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yeah, mad respect for the developers who make these projects (especially since it's purely as a hobby), but like, all these systems and physics demos don't interest me unless you can make something fun and challenging out of it and not just a big empty grey void with a few hills and loops
 
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Skyfireblaze

Skyfireblaze

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detuned radios said:
yeah, mad respect for the developers who make these projects (especially since it's purely as a hobby), but like, all these systems and physics demos don't interest me unless you can make something fun and challenging out of it and not just a big empty grey void with a few hills and loops
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Well the thing is, making actual levels with these would requite quite some resources and manpower, especially in 3D so I can understand why nobody is up to the task unless a team forms.
 
RocknRola

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vestan said:
Looks rad like all these fan-made Sonic frameworks do but I'd like to see someone make an actual level with this design in mind. Kinda getting tired of seeing greyboxes lol.
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detuned radios said:
yeah, mad respect for the developers who make these projects (especially since it's purely as a hobby), but like, all these systems and physics demos don't interest me unless you can make something fun and challenging out of it and not just a big empty grey void with a few hills and loops
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Precisely. From a technical standpoint all these demos, and this one in particular, are absolutely fantastic. Especially when you consider the people making this are getting nothing out of it besides their own amusement/pleasure.

However, the truly hard part (and this goes for Sega as well) is to translate this into a level. To pick up all these systems, adjust them as need be and make functional levels with them. That's something that 3D Sonic games have yet to "nail" down, even if some have been great on their own (Colours & Generations to my mind are the standout 3D games).

I'd love to see how this framework would translate into a an actual game or a level even. I can't ask more of these people who already do so much out of their own volition, it'd be cruel, but it's definitely the step that's missing to convince me that this type of "Adventure-type" gameplay can work on a modern game.
 
Soulflarz

Soulflarz

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Oct 25, 2017
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Awesome concept, hope they can do cool stuff with it

vestan said:
Looks rad like all these fan-made Sonic frameworks do but I'd like to see someone make an actual level with this design in mind. Kinda getting tired of seeing greyboxes lol.
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Oh. This.

I was playing sonic greyboxes over a decade ago, they aren't suddenly a fun game.

Cool concepts aren't applicable to cool games inherently and its getting old to hear "wow sega sucks they did x with their 1 greybox proof of concept level and sega sucks at dev'ing sonic so segas worse than them". Like sega has issues doing it themselves, hence wildly inconsistent releases in the series.
 
TyraZaurus

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Nov 6, 2017
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This is the only 3D Sonic fan game effort that really excites me on account it tries to work with what 3D Sonic is instead of discarding everything for the sake of making everything Classic inspired.
 

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It's not really a game though is it? What kind of actual game could you make with these kinds of controls where you have to have big wide open spaces that you whizz past? I like the idea but I'm unconvinced till they can make an actual game out of it.

I don't think the boost formula was too off the mark to be honest, I just don't like the constant boost. Make it almost a time trial racer where there are multiple paths and you're trying to find the best one, and if you time things like jumps or wall plants correctly you get a speed boost, then make it about speed running. That'd be fun. You could set tony hawk-esque missions as well. Have boss levels where you have to stay in front of them to wear down their HP (similar to Tokyo Street Racer).
 
MrBadger

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Oct 27, 2017
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It is a shame that Sega will never finance a Sonic game that could properly take advantage off this concept. It looks like it'd be crazy expensive and time consuming to make this into something worthwhile
 

Deleted member 41520

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This feels like a glimpse into a lighter timeline where SEGA actually treated their IPs with respect and allowed them to take risks.

Looks absolutely glorious.

Scarlet Spider said:
Fuck, seeing this makes me miss Adventure-styled gameplay even more. So much to do rather than boosting through fodder.
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This is way superior than anything the Adventure games did though, right.

jacktuar said:
It's not really a game though is it? What kind of actual game could you make with these kinds of controls where you have to have big wide open spaces that you whizz past? I like the idea but I'm unconvinced till they can make an actual game out of it.

I don't think the boost formula was too off the mark to be honest, I just don't like the constant boost. Make it almost a time trial racer where there are multiple paths and you're trying to find the best one, and if you time things like jumps or wall plants correctly you get a speed boost, then make it about speed running. That'd be fun. You could set tony hawk-esque missions as well. Have boss levels where you have to stay in front of them to wear down their HP (similar to Tokyo Street Racer).
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Huh?

1. No, this is "not really a game" - it's a prototype made on 0 budget by fans. Of course it is not a game yet. It's a prototype project. Making something like this INTO a game takes over a year of full-time work by a team.

2. Open world games are larger and more intricate than ever before. This doesn't even need to be open world and the design principles still stand. Take this framework and throw a couple million dollars at it (give it a decent sized team and 18 months to build) and we'd definitely get some phenomenal level design and concepts behind it, which are almost like 3D representation of classic Sonic levels, which were very open and always gave you multiple paths forward.

3. With proper level design and development, this absolutely would fit your description of "a time-trial racer with only two or three ideal paths to take as you progress". This level is just a test-area for showcasing the mechanics. If you strung it all into a longer environment with linear aspects it would become exactly what you describe. Even the Tony Hawks thing. IIRC there's a much earlier development video which makes it look just like that - almost Sonic the Hedgehog Pro Skater.
 
Jimnymebob

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Oct 26, 2017
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It looks fun, but I've always felt that level design was the weak point of 3D Sonic, not the controls.
 
Razmos

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The knuckles gameplay looks awful and totally different
 
LeoDroid

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I've seen past videos and this looks really fun, Sonic fans do some amazing stuff, I'm not sure how this would work as as full game though
 
Illusion

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Why are fan projects better then any official game the Sonic Team has released in recent years? Geez.
 
ckareset

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It's pretty good. I think Sonic needs to be slowed down a bit though. It's way to hard to make levels at a higher speed. Classic Sonic really doesn't move that fast and I'm not sure how people don't see that.

SRB2 is still the only 3d fan game with good levels ironically
 

Deleted member 17184

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In my opinion, Sonic games work better with linear levels. I know the idea of open-worlds sounds exciting, but I also believe that it conflicts with Sonic. Think of it like this: Mirror's Edge Catalyst was announced as an open-world game, which many people loved at first. But when playing it, most of the fun parts were linear. A game where a core pillar is running and gaining momentum immediately clashes with trying to figure out where to go next. A linear level, however, can be created with a designed flow, mixing platforming, combat, and running.

Jiminy said:
2. Open world games are larger and more intricate than ever before. This doesn't even need to be open world and the design principles still stand. Take this framework and throw a couple million dollars at it (give it a decent sized team and 18 months to build) and we'd definitely get some phenomenal level design and concepts behind it, which are almost like 3D representation of classic Sonic levels, which were very open and always gave you multiple paths forward.
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This would take more than a couple million dollars, to be honest. One of the biggest issues with Sonic games is making the camera work correctly, for example. The speed involved, and the fact it's in third-person, means it needs to make sure everything the player needs to see is visible at super high speed. The art style should also not get in the way of communicating where to go next, and so on.

I don't envy Sonic Team. They have an incredibly complex job.
 

Deleted member 3040

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About the same as usual. Sure, movement might be fun, but I honestly need to see someone attempt a level to understand the appeal of this. The video linked above looks rather... bad.
 
vestan

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nbnt said:
This looks messy tbh, and highlights exactly why this kind of freedom doesn't work in a Sonic game where you can just sling to the end and ignore 80% of the level.
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I got to watch this and yeah I kinda agree. Not really a fan of how floaty Sonic is here too.
 
Nali

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nbnt said:
This looks messy tbh, and highlights exactly why this kind of freedom doesn't work in a Sonic game where you can just sling to the end and ignore 80% of the level.
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The extreme homing attack range and floatiness is definitely weird, but it's pretty hard to maintain your momentum and keep flying across the stage like that. Not sure it'd be the right direction for a full game, but it's the only fan project where I've had fun playing the stage over and over again to learn the layout and physics.
 

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Khrn said:
In my opinion, Sonic games work better with linear levels. I know the idea of open-worlds sounds exciting, but I also believe that it conflicts with Sonic. Think of it like this: Mirror's Edge Catalyst was announced as an open-world game, which many people loved at first. But when playing it, most of the fun parts were linear. A game where a core pillar is running and gaining momentum immediately clashes with trying to figure out where to go next. A linear level, however, can be created with a designed flow, mixing platforming, combat, and running.


This would take more than a couple million dollars, to be honest. One of the biggest issues with Sonic games is making the camera work correctly, for example. The speed involved, and the fact it's in third-person, means it needs to make sure everything the player needs to see is visible at super high speed. The art style should also not get in the way of communicating where to go next, and so on.

I don't envy Sonic Team. They have an incredibly complex job.
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Absolutely true, a couple of million dollars would be absolute bare minimum here, almost indie level (at the very most "BBB"). $10+ mil would be more realistic.

Re "linear or open" I mean the first few Sonic games all had pretty damn open levels. They were 2D but featured maybe 16 paths which all looped and intersected in different ways, and you could often drop to lower ones or rise to higher ones, whether intentional or not. This essentially made them very open. You could stick to one path or diverge to another at many given times.

A Sonic game in the style of this project would work very well with such levels. Imagine a long channel, like a long complex motorway with multiple overpass points, and you run down these or split off however you like. The level doesn't need to be "round" like proper open world/sandbox design, but can be long and focused, just very wide/broad.
 
DinoPulse

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Aaand we just got PC Gamer's attention about this.

Sonic Project Hero is a 3D fan game that now has a playable demo.

Hopefully this is enough to convince SEGA and Sonic Team that another Sonic Adventure 1/2-style 3D Sonic in the modern age, but modernized could work! Hero has put alot of good ideas into this that SEGA and Sonic Team could use. Now if only Shadow and Rouge were playable.
That as well as Hub Worlds and Chao Gardens too.
 
SilverX

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Honestly, I would pay $60 for a 3D Sonic that had Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow playable. It amazes me how SEGA doesn't hire people like this to make new 3D Sonic games good again.
 
flashman92

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Asking Sega/Sonic Team to make a game around these physics engines is probably too much, but I really want them to 1) Make it so that jumping doesn't cancel all forward momentum and 2) Oh my god incorporate that alternate homing attack (tap button for standard homing attack, hold button to do a homing attack which preserves momentum)

People asking Sega to hire these guys, in the last 20 years there have basically been 2 full 3D Sonic fangames: Sonic Robo Blast 2 and Fark the Electric Jester (I know it's not a Sonic fan game). Everything else has pretty much been tech demos. You can't just throw money at these guys and have them design an entire game.

Sonic Mania worked because the people in charge pretty much new how classic Sonic games worked better than anyone currently at Sonic Team. No one like that exists for the 3D games.
 
diakyu

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It's weird how frequent these fan projects are within the sonic fandom yet I feel like none of them ever go anywhere. Of course the effort is commendable, and this project looks great, but it's just strange to me.
 
nded

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diakyu said:
It's weird how frequent these fan projects are within the sonic fandom yet I feel like none of them ever go anywhere. Of course the effort is commendable, and this project looks great, but it's just strange to me.
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Not that weird when you have a fanbase as, uhh, passionate as Sonic's paired with a developer as inconsistent as Sonic Team.
 
wwm0nkey

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diakyu said:
It's weird how frequent these fan projects are within the sonic fandom yet I feel like none of them ever go anywhere. Of course the effort is commendable, and this project looks great, but it's just strange to me.
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Apparently Utopia is nearly done, just got pushed back recently, but yeah most projects just kinda die
 
The Adder

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Honestly this engine mainly looks like a great way to do Adventure stages in a hypothetical Sonic Adventure 3 so they're not just empty vistas where you solve the occasional puzzle, but big fun sandboxes. Also looks great for Knuckles stages. The mechanics look good for more straightforward Sonic stages, but I don't know that they'd make a whole lot of use of having a full plain of movement.
 
Nali

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diakyu said:
It's weird how frequent these fan projects are within the sonic fandom yet I feel like none of them ever go anywhere. Of course the effort is commendable, and this project looks great, but it's just strange to me.
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There's a lot of programmers in the Sonic fandom, but 3D art and level design chops are harder to come by, on top of being the really labor intensive part of game dev for a project like this.
 

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Jiminy said:
Absolutely true, a couple of million dollars would be absolute bare minimum here, almost indie level (at the very most "BBB"). $10+ mil would be more realistic.

Re "linear or open" I mean the first few Sonic games all had pretty damn open levels. They were 2D but featured maybe 16 paths which all looped and intersected in different ways, and you could often drop to lower ones or rise to higher ones, whether intentional or not. This essentially made them very open. You could stick to one path or diverge to another at many given times.

A Sonic game in the style of this project would work very well with such levels. Imagine a long channel, like a long complex motorway with multiple overpass points, and you run down these or split off however you like. The level doesn't need to be "round" like proper open world/sandbox design, but can be long and focused, just very wide/broad.
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Just to be clear: I meant linear in the sense that it had a beginning, middle, and ending section. Alternative paths are super important, for sure, but the level designer will always know where the player is going. On the other hand, an open-world kind of map (completely sandbox - Mirror's Edge Catalyst style) would make the player always stop to figure out where to go next.
 
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Skyfireblaze

Skyfireblaze

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Oct 25, 2017
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DinoPulse said:
Aaand we just got PC Gamer's attention about this.

Sonic Project Hero is a 3D fan game that now has a playable demo.

Hopefully this is enough to convince SEGA and Sonic Team that another Sonic Adventure 1/2-style 3D Sonic in the modern age, but modernized could work! Hero has put alot of good ideas into this that SEGA and Sonic Team could use. Now if only Shadow and Rouge were playable.
That as well as Hub Worlds and Chao Gardens too.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Oh wow this is the first time I contributed something news-worthy I guess. Makes me feel a bit flattered :)
 
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