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Sonic Maker

From Sonic Retro

Revision as of 15:35, 19 October 2010 by Sonica (talk | contribs) (Updated a lot)
Sonic Maker v2.5 running in Windows 7 with a level currently being edited. Including the added labels and outlines the the object icons.

Sonic Maker is an PC game creation application being made by Sonica as his response to Play SEGA's level editor. It is designed to be a user-friendly 'point and click' level editor offering common objects, including platforms, rings, boxes, and loops. Its easy-to-use interface allows users to simply choose and place items in a level grid, as every object fills a set number of squares. Currently, there are functions to save or test layouts, but these are still in a testing phase.

First appearance

Sonic Maker was first mentioned on this thread on the Sonic Retro message board, to spark attention and see what the community thought of the idea. After a good response, development was intensified.

Programming

For the upcoming version 3, Sonic Maker's editor is developed using Game Maker, although in Visual Basic 2010 for the first 2 versions.

Runners

The 'Runner' for Sonic Maker version 3, is also being developed in Game Maker by a collaborative partner; This is a muck more advanced engine, and can support dynamic changing of the terrain, as it uses shapes. The sape system is also the new collision placement system in the editor. The runner for versions 1 & 2 are based off of the newer Sonic Dash engine.

File:SonicMakerv2Title.png
The current Sonic Maker title/logo, with the version number changed for version 2.

Current Features

Sonic Maker currently allows the user to create levels by point and click, save levels, export levels and play levels. The load feature doesn't work, but has been implemented for the next build.

Future versions

Future versions of Sonic Maker will include more features and provide many different ways of creating Sonic games. The next version will include an entirely new interface. A screenshot of the new inteface was posted in Sonic Maker's topic. *The next version of Sonic Maker is the first official release (fully functional)*

Planned additions

  • Add Selection Options
    • If you hold control, click and drag, you can select objects, depending on what editor you're in. All you can do at the moment is delete. I want copy, cut and just for collsion, change what type of shape it is (what platform, what layer).
  • Add Tile Maker (not what you think)
    • The tile maker that you might have seen on the Sonic Maker youtube channel has been scrapped, in favour of the new collision placement system. What I am talking about, is adding tiles to the tile list within Sonic Maker, the whole point of it is to make the entire game inside it.
  • Add Layout Size Options
    • Options to change the level size, basically...
  • Add BG Parallax Maker =)
    • Oh yes! Every Sonic game needs parallax backgrounds, and so should yours! This will allow you to import 1 image, the size of the view, or wider, and let you slide sliders, to seperate the image into up to 20 slices, and you can set the scrolling properties of each section. Simples!
  • Sprite Editor
    • Hmm. After all I learnt making 'Doodle Pad' in GM (Can be found on GMC, if sounds interesting), I can now easy create painting programs, and to take advantage of that, you will be able to customise nearly all the sprites in the games you make.
  • Music Import
    • Of course.
  • Physics Change
    • Not all people want perfect Genesis physics, although most do, so I will make it possible for people to change the following:
      • Accelleration
      • Deacceleration
      • Friction
      • Jump height
      • Jump limit
      • Jump limitation
      • Gravity
      • Top speed
    • ...I might have missed stuff, but oh well.
  • Animation Speeds Change
    • Yeah, animation speed changing.

Videos

  • All current videos are out of date, and show material that you may never see released*

Updates Sonic Maker can now be easily seen on its own Youtube channel: SonicaMaker's Youtube channel It currently contains 2 videos:

  • A preview of Sonic Maker v3 beta, including a preview of the upgraded runner Link.
  • A preview of the brand new TileEditor, that will allow you to import 256x256 images, and draw collision shapes over them Link.
  • Announcement of a GREAT new feature Link.
  • How to use tile editor, and actually save tiles Link.

Downloads

Download.svg Download Sonic Maker
File: Sonic Maker V2.7z (5.28 MB) (info)
Current version: 2.5

Prior versions

Production Credits

Screenshots