Sonic Horizon

From Sonic Retro

Sonic Horizon is a project being organized by WiteoutKing as a revisit of the first 10 years of Sonic the Hedgehog games, in the form of an RPG. Originally titled D-Series: Black & Blue, this is projected across seven games, six of which draw directly from old Sonic games (Episode V is still unknown). As of August 2007, the project is still in primarily basic preproduction phases.

1 Production History
2 Episode I
3 External Links

Production History

D-Series: Black & Blue

D-Series: Black & Blue was intended to be a set of multiple-storyline RPGs. The titular gimmick of "black and blue" is in reference to the two primary storylines that would interweave through the seven episodes, Black Side and Blue Side. The former would follow Dr. Robotnik and his henchmen primarily, eventually moving to a different character once he became part of the opposite storyline. Blue Side would follow Sonic for the most part, occasionally switching with other characters.

The main reason the B&B idea was scrapped is the awkwardness of what Dr. Robotnik's gameplay would be. Blue Side would be almost exclusively platformer/RPG. Black Side wouldn't lend itself to platforming nearly as well. Thus, the concepts for Blue Side were taken and reshaped into Sonic Horizon. Black Side's stories may see daylight eventually, in the form of various different game types (one episode of the game lends itself well to an RTS formula, another to a civilization-building formula).

The episodes remain focused on the games they had during D-Series:

Episode I - Sonic the Hedgehog (also Sonic GG, Sonic 2GG, Sonic Chaos)
Episode II - Sonic the Hedgehog CD
Episode III - Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Episode IV - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 / Sonic & Knuckles
Episode V - unknown
Episode VI - Sonic Adventure
Episode VII - Sonic Adventure 2

D-Series: Black and Blue began in 2006 was officially cancelled on May 31, 2007.

Sonic Horizon

Sonic Horizon began on May 31, 2007, with the opening of the Sonic Horizon blog, and has been making semi-regular updates. A good deal of what was previously D-Series: Blue Episode I has been vastly expanded in Sonic Horizon Episode I. The number of areas has nearly doubled, bringing the total to nearly 100.

Engine

Originally planned to run on Saxman's ProSonic engine, it is now looking for a replacement, at the halt in production of the engine.

Episode I

Sonic Horizon Episode I is in preproduction phases as of July 2007.

Story

It's a beautiful day on South Island, particularly in Green Hill Village. Many of the denizens are enjoying the weather and an outdoor summer concert from a band fresh out of Christmas Island. The band takes a break and leaves the stage. Suddenly, the beautiful blue sky is clouded by a strange darkness. The cloud descended upon the village, and the citizens soon realized what was happening. This was no cloud, it was a swarm of robots! The villagers were being kidnapped! A member of the band returned in a hurry. The village had become a ghost town. The adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog begin here.

Playable Characters

Sonic the Hedgehog - Vacationing with his band on South Island, Sonic bore witness to his Uncle Chuck and the entirety of Green Hill Village being kidnapped by Dr. Robotnik. The primary controllable character in Sonic Horizon.

Jecky - A Flicky who lives in Green Hill Village. He decides to go off and try to rescue his friends, eventually meeting up with Sonic and joining him for a while. He's not too strong, but that doesn't stop Robotnik from making him a target...