Project Mettrix

This short article is in need of work. You can help Sonic Retro by adding to it.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Project Mettrix is a fan game led by Stealth, created using his own E02 Game Engine. This platform makes this game available to DOS, Windows, Linux, MacOSX, PSP (CFW), and Wii (Homebrew Channel) users, and has allowed a significant amount of mechanical evolution from the game's earlier incarnations.

There is also an unprotected E02 template derived from some of the scripts that make up this game that can be used in conjunction with E02's development features to create new levels, and even games. Editing documentation for the template is provided with the download, and goes with E02's own downloadable documentation to make this approachable. This template can be found in E02's in-program "Downloads" list under the "Fangame Templates" section.

History

Project Mettrix has seen three incarnations throughout its life.

This game began as a project by Ron Echidna named "Sonic and the 7 rings", in development using The Games Factory. After many complications, Ron decided to seek out a C programmer to do the engine work instead, which led him to Stealth sometime in 1997.

The second incarnation was created using Stealth's already-existing Sonic the Hedgehog engine created directly in C, for DOS, and eventually Windows. The versions used to create "Project Mettrix" were hailed as very accurate reproductions of the original Sonic engine for their time, and also eventually featured a level editor for creating custom levels. At the time of this change, Stealth became the sole programmer, and continued to expand the game and the engine itself while also serving as co-producer. Ron introduced several design changes for this version, including new level graphics, changes to the level lineup, and the name change to "Project Mettrix. Due to Ron's increasingly-frequent and lengthy disappearances, Stealth was eventually left as the sole developer.

In 2003, Stealth became increasingly frustrated with the way the then-current engine worked, and began making plans to make a new, better, and more expansible engine based on the "Zone" and "TitleCard" scripts he implemented near the end of the original engine's life, leading to the production of Engine02, his third attempt at a game engine. Working from the ground up, it wasn't until 2004 that it began to resemble a Sonic the Hedgehog game, featuring a test level with rings, and physics similar to the previous engine. The physics were improved until, finally, everything "Sonic the Hedgehog" was moved out of E02 by means of the heavily-improved script functionality, effectively separating the Sonic game from the C-coded engine. The whole process led to a tremendous absence of updates to Project Mettrix as a game, until the game's first Zone, "Shining Island Zone", was reintroduced within a "Project Mettrix" game created for E02 release 6, along with highly accurate and functional gameplay, as demonstrated by other levels present in that demo. In 2008, Ron came back briefly and contributed some new work to the game - a prototype of Bronze Lake zone, which was then added to the game demo. Unfortunately, he vanished again shortly after, leaving the future of the game in Stealth's hands once again. With much of the core Sonic the Hedgehog engine finally complete, development can once again progress on "Project Mettrix" as a game.

Level Order

In the final release of the original engine version, the game starts in Wood Zone as an options zone for choosing characters, save data, and Levels, and allows access to normal level progression. As of the current demo release, the game instead begins with a level and character select menu. An "Options Zone" is still planned, but Wood Zone will not be used.

The original engine version was set up with this level order. As of this writing, it is planned to change somewhat for the E02 version, but there are no specifics.

Levels	Sonic	Tails	Knuckles
Level 1	Shining Island Zone	Shining Island Zone	Guardian Castle Zone
Level 2	Aqua Lung Zone	Aqua Lung Zone	Dust Hill Zone
Level 3	Nightlight Heights Zone	Nightlight Heights Zone	Bronze Lake Zone
Level 4	Neo Sky Chase Zone	Neo Sky Chase Zone	Zoom Tubes Zone
Level 5	Zoom Tubes Zone	Zoom Tubes Zone	Hidden Palace Zone
Level 6	Hidden Palace Zone	Hidden Palace Zone	Timeless City Zone
Level 7	Timeless City Zone	Timeless City Zone	Egg Fortress Zone
Level 8	Egg Fortress Zone	Egg Fortress Zone	Power Source Zone
Level 9	Mettrix Zone	Power Source Zone	None

In the complete final release of the original engine version, there are also "hidden" test levels that can be accessed from the editor, by using the "warp" command-line parameter, or by activating a special debugging menu by pressing F7.

Credits

• Ron Echidna - Original Producer, Level Art/Layout, Badnik Art, Some Bronze Lake Scripting
• Stealth - Producer, Programmer, Some Level Layout
• Liz - Art
• Verse - New Soundtrack
• Andre Schroder - Original Soundtrack
• Sneeky - Some Rendered CutScene Graphics Originally Intended For Inclusion

Special Thanks

• MSmoke - Sound Blaster Example [E02]
• Chaos Emerald - ASM info, Windows programming examples ]E02]
• YarHarHar - Ideas and Dust Hill art
• Michael Sterns - Original MetalSonic sprite set [replaced]
• Sonic Team - For the official Sonic series, of course!

External links

E02 Version

• Current version homesite
• 2010 SAGE release page
• 2009 SAGE release page
• 2008 SAGE release page
• 2006 SAGE release page

Pre-E02 Version

Note that any Windows builds of the following versions will probably not run on newer Windows systems due to newer video card drivers dropping support for any resolution less than 640x480, as the program attempts to start in full-screen 320x200 mode. DOS versions have proven to be playable using DOSBox.

• Preserved Pre-E02 version homesite with downloads
• Sept04 SAGE release page
• Mar04 SAGE release page
• Sept03 SAGE release page
• Mar03 SAGE release page
• Original SAGE release page
• Preserved Pre-E02 Version User-created levels site with downloads

The Games Factory Version

The following build requires CNCS32.DLL

• Final The Games Factory version