SPG:Elemental Shields

Sonic Physics Guide
Basics Positions And Speeds Angles Variables Calculations (Technical) Pixel and Subpixel Hex Angles Characters Sonic Tails Knuckles
Collision
Solid Tiles (Terrain Part 1) Sensors Solid Terrain (Terrain Part 2) Layers Loops Slope Collision (Slopes Part 1) The Player's Sensors While Grounded 360 Degree Collision While Airborne Hitboxes The Player's Hitbox Trigger Areas Solid Objects Solid Objects Sloped Objects Jump Through Platforms Pushable Blocks Item Monitor
Physics
Slope Physics (Slopes Part 2) Moving Along Slopes 360 Degree Movement Falling and Slipping Down Slopes Landing On The Ground Air State Running Jumping Rolling Getting Hit Rebound Underwater Air Physics Super Speeds
Gameplay
Main Game Loop Game Objects Game Enemies Badniks Bosses Ring Loss Special Abilities Spindash Super Peel Out Drop Dash Insta-Shield Flying Gliding Climbing Elemental Shields Flame Shield Bubble Shield Lightning Shield Player 2 Player 2 CPU Respawning Special Stages Rotating Maze
Presentation
Camera Animations Animation System Variable Speed Animation Timings Normal Animation Timings Animation Rules
Special
Overlay Scripts Sonic 1 Overlay Sonic 2 Overlay

Notes:

• The research applies to all four of the Sega Mega Drive games and Sonic CD.
• For moves like spindash, dropdash, peelout, flying, and gliding, these are detailed in Special Abilities.

Flame Shield

When Sonic performs the Flame Shield action while airborne, his X Speed is set to 8 in the direction he is facing, and his Y speed is set to 0, regardless of their previous values.

Bubble Shield

Constant	Value
down_force	8
bounce_force	7.5

When Sonic performs the Bubble Shield bounce, his X Speed is set to 0, and his Y Speed to down_force. However, in Sonic Mania, X Speed is halved instead of set to 0.

When he rebounds from the ground, bounce_force is subtracted from X Speed and Y Speed, using cos() and sin() to get the right values.

X Speed -= bounce_force * sin(Ground Angle);
Y Speed -= bounce_force * cos(Ground Angle);

On steep slopes, the bubble shield is unlikely to bounce at the right angle. That's because this bounce speed is applied AFTER Sonic lands and has calculated his new Ground Speeds and new X Speed and Y Speed from landing on the ground. On steep slopes, this landing Y Speed is likely to be high (downwards), effectively cancelling out a lot of the bounce Y Speed that gets applied.

Lightning Shield

When Sonic performs the Lightning Shield double jump, his X Speed is unaffected, but his Y Speed is set to -5.5 regardless of its previous value.

Note: All of the Shield abilities can only be performed once in the air. Sonic must land on the ground before he can perform them again.

Ring Magnetisation

When Sonic has a Lightning shield, nearby Rings will become mobile and begin moving towards him in a unique way.

Constant	Value
follow_speed	0.1875
turn_speed	0.75

If a Ring falls within a radius of approximately 64 pixels around Sonic's position, it will become Magnetised and begin to move. When Magnetised, the Rings have an X and Y Speed and do not collide with anything (except for Sonic). In order to move correctly, we have to calculate how fast to move the Ring, and in what direction to accelerate. The Ring accelerates at two different rates depending on its relative position and speed, follow_speed when already moving towards Sonic (in order to not pass him too quickly), and turn_speed when not (in order to quickly catch back up with him).

First, it does a check to see where Sonic is in relative position horizontally.

Sonic is to the left of the Ring
If the Ring's X Speed is less than 0, subtract follow_speed from the Ring's X Speed. Otherwise, subtract turn_speed from the Ring's X Speed.
Sonic is to the right of the Ring
If the Ring's X Speed is greater than 0, add follow_speed to the Ring's X Speed. Otherwise, add turn_speed to the Ring's X Speed.

Then, the attracted Ring checks Sonic's relative position vertically.

If Sonic is to the left of the Ring
Sonic is above the Ring
If the Ring's Y Speed is less than 0, subtract follow_speed from the ring's Y Speed. Otherwise, subtract turn_speed from the Ring's Y Speed.
Sonic is below the Ring
If the Ring's Y Speed is greater than 0, add follow_speed to the Ring's Y Speed. Otherwise, add turn_speed to the Ring's Y Speed.

The Ring's X and Y Speed is then added to the Ring's X and Y Positions, moving it.

Here's some example code for the ring while magnetised:

if Ring is magnetised
{
	// Relative positions
	var sx = sign(Sonic's X Position - Ring's X Position);
	var sy = sign(Sonic's Y Position - Ring's Y Position);
	
	// Check Ring's relative movement (0 if moving away from sonic, 1 if moving towards)
	var tx = (sign(Ring's X Speed) == sx)
	var ty = (sign(Ring's Y Speed) == sy)
	
	// Add to speed
	Ring's X Speed += (ring_acceleration[tx] * sx);
	Ring's Y Speed += (ring_acceleration[ty] * sy);
	//"ring_acceleration" would be an array, where: [0] = turn_speed, [1] = follow_speed
	
	// Move
	Ring's X Position += Ring's X Speed;
	Ring's Y Position += Ring's Y Speed;
}