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Sonic Nexus

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Revision as of 14:48, 31 May 2009 by VirtualKey88 (talk | contribs) (Development History)
NexusTitle.png
Sonic Nexus
Latest version: Summer 2008 Demo
Latest release date: 8/7/07
Engine: Retro Sonic
Credits: Slingerland, Damizean, DimensionWarped, The Taxman

Sonic Nexus is a game being created by Nexus Team, headed by Slingerland of SFGHQ. At SAGE 2006, he acquired two more team members in Damizean and DimensionWarped, also of SFGHQ. The game currently uses the Retro Sonic engine. The game began development in the summer of 2006 and has had three demo releases, two at the Sonic Amateur Gaming Expo and one during the summer of 2008. It is a critically acclaimed fangame, garnering comments such as, "absolute perfection of the classic Sonic style" from SAGE visitors and various tech blogs. The character lineup will consist of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles.

Sonic Nexus Website & Development Blog

This brand new, Wordpress website was created by Hunter Bridges and is updated with news, features, screenshots, and development updates 1-3 times a week.

Sonic Nexus' Official Website

Nexus Team

Development History

Sonic Nexus’ development began in August of 2006 as a one-act demo at the 2006 Sonic Amateur Game Expo. The original demo was created in Multimedia Fusion 1.5 in the 360 v2.0 Sonic engine by Damizean. It featured the second zone of the game, Cosmic Chaos, a casino paradise. Nexus was originally created by one man, Slingerland, someone with aspirations of creating his own game akin to his all-time favorite, Sonic CD. With the help of Damizean, to fully maximize the potential of the engine, Nexus’ 2006 demo was a smashing success and, according to some, it became the face of the Sonic fangaming community.

Slingerland’s original intention for the 2006 demo was to wrangle a new programmer to help ease the development curve and to incorporate the more complicated concepts. DimensionWarped joined the team during SAGE 2006 to fulfill this vacancy and they both started working immediately, adding Sunset Shore to the completed Cosmic Chaos. They released a Christmas demo, Sonic NeXmas, to show that progress was still being made. This demo was the first time Hunter Bridges, the game’s composer, worked on the project, creating Christmas remixes of Sonic 2 songs. Work in this engine continued into 2007. However, Damizean was nearing completion of his Multimedia Fusion 2 engine, Sonic Worlds, an engine used by a majority of fangamers today, and change was on the horizon.

With the first build of Sonic Worlds in their hands, Slingerland, DimensionWarped, and Damizean went to work on the SAGE 2007 demo. Due to the annoyingly large number of projects that show off their “green tropical paradise” zone, Slingerland decided to go an alternate route. This detour involved flexing graphical muscle and complex platforming in Nexus’ water level, Pristine Palisade. Regardless of the general consensus that the “water levels suck,” the team pushed forward. The hang-up this year was that Slingerand was directing SAGE that year, so pulling double duty put even more stress on the team. However, the demo was finally released and was named “Best in Show” (co-winner via tie total score) by a panel of judges at SAGE, while enduring a lot of complaining and comparisons from many players.

Pristine Palisade illustrated the shortcomings of Multimedia Fusion 2. Lack of object management, resulting in horrendous lag for low-end computers, was the main factor. Contributing was MMF2s programming, which was not satisfactory, according to the duo of DimensionWarped and Damizean. MMF2s workspace was an issue throughout the second demo’s development. The project was too much for this Clickteam program to handle and it was announced that Nexus would move to a new engine to be written from the ground up. A few months into this new engine’s development, Damizean asked The Taxman, who is responsible for a famous, C based fangame, Retro Sonic, for assistance. Damizean simply wanted to use a build of Retro Sonic (pre-Sonic XG merger) as a base and point of reference for the foundation of the new engine, but after challenges adapting to this code, Taxman instead offered to further enhance the current XG build of the Retro-Sonic engine for Nexus. The result is Retro-Sonic 2008, a 2D engine now capable of completely custom games. During the development on the new RSDK, RGXSuperSonic was recruited to make the intro and outro cutscenes for the game.

After missing SAGE 2008 due to an extensive development time, as the new RSDK had to be re-built from the ground up, the 2008 Nexus demo released on Labor Day (September 2, 2008) to much praise and acclamation. The game has since been featured on many blogs and popular websites, such as racketboy. The traffic on the game's website has steadily increased and a demo is roughly scheduled for the early months of 2009. It has since been confirmed by the development team that the next demo will be released when it is ready to be.

Gameplay

Sonic Nexus is classic Sonic in its finest form, an untarnished retro reboot without a homing attack or grind rail to be found. The classic Sonic experience is recaptured through its revolutionary new build of Retro Sonic, created by The Taxman.

Rather than simply duplicating the classic formula, Nexus introduces a few tweaks to it. The most notable are the new level-specific gimmicks that make their Sonic debut. While still re-introducing tried and true elements of previous Sonic titles, Sonic will have new gimmicks to interact with.

New shields, including the elemental shields from Sonic the Hedgehog 3, make their appearance as apart of a level-specific shields feature. In a given zone, there are a few different shields, but one will be best suited in a particular zone. These new shields are specially designed to interact with the surrounding environment and help Sonic find all the routes that a zone presents to him.

When it comes to bosses and badniks, Nexus has you covered. The project offers up some of the coolest boss concepts and badnik attack patterns that you have seen. You will deal with the usual level specific badniks, but when it comes to the boss, Robotnik will refuse to go down after the first time, launching a surprise attack with an entirely new mechanism to crush Sonic.

Story

Dr. Robotnik is back and this time, he is putting everything on the line! Using the scrap metal left over from his previous, failed attempts to destroy Sonic’s world, Robotnik builds a titanic clock tower in his image. Sonic the Hedgehog springs into action upon gazing at this technological monstrosity. Dr. Robotnik has been developing a paralyzing creation inside that clock tower and he vows to release it once the clock strikes a certain time. Will Robotnik stop Sonic from reaching the Egg Clock or can Sonic stop the ticking terror before the last bell tolls?

Planned Levels

  • Sunset Shore
The obligatory tropical paradise first zone. This level is planned to have an actual sunset occur during the player's journey. The level is a rib at Blue Frenzy's long-delayed "Sonic Frenzy Adventure," as it uses a similar zig-zaggy pattern in the foreground. The level features the traditional array of tubes, loops, breakable walls/ground, bridges. However, new gimmicks take center stage in the form of a parachute and a zip-line.
  • Cosmic Chaos
This zone was the first level shown to the public at SAGE 2006 and was an instant hit. The zone features flippers, wall running, slots, bumpers, roulette wheels (not in SAGE 06 demo), and high speed sections. The art is a combination of Blue Frenzy's "Neon City" custom background library and the beta version of Casino Night Zone with minor tweaks and neon signs by Slingerland. The level's foreground has undergone a face-lift, rather than using a infinitely repeating amount of orange blocks. New casino elements arise in Cosmic Chaos now, such as a roulette wheel and a deck of cards that creates new paths.
  • Magma Monoliths
The obligatory lava level. The level is currently in a basic state, but currently features pushable blocks floating over lava (a la Marble Zone). The level was created by Rael0505 of SFGHQ. The zone has been revamped, with the foreground being completed just recently. Therefore, the screenshot of the level below is obsolete.
  • Beaming Bridge
A Genesis revamping of Bridge Zone, from the Game Gear version of Sonic 1, with many improvements. No gimmicks or features have been announced at this time.
  • Dusky Deposit
Formerly known as "Misty Mine," this zone features mine carts, drills, and everything you would expect to be in a mine. The level is being created by SkyLights, a quality spriter featured at The Spriter's Resource.
  • Pristine Palisade
The obligatory water level. This zone was on display at SAGE 2007 and helped Nexus garner "Best in Show" honors. The level is a tribute to Aqua Lake, from the Game Gear version of Sonic 2. The level features swinging platforms, bubble lifts, crank-operated doors, and various aquatic gimmicks. The teleport gimmick is noteworthy, for it transports the player into an Atlantis-like world, leagues under the sea. The level is blocky and platform-heavy, akin to Labyrinth Zone and Tidal Tempest, and thus, it lacks loops and curves.
  • Angelic Airway
Formerly known as "Aerial Acreage." The art has not been revealed for this stage at this point in time, but currently, it is a hybrid of Sky Chase and a traditional Sonic level, in that not only will Sonic be riding on Tails' Tornado plane, but he will be dropped off occasionally to defeat badniks in a city in the sky.
  • Wicked Works
The art has not been revealed for this stage at this point in time, but currently, it is Robotnik's base set inside a rustic clock tower. The gimmicks are similar to what you have seen in past factory zones, but a "portal" gimmick sets this zone away from the pack.

Screenshot Gallery

Original Soundtrack

Nexus' soundtrack is composed by Hunter Bridges. With the new website, there is an on-site player to play high quality versions of most of the game's tracks.

Christmas Spin-Off

Sonic NeXmas is a one-zone mini-game that is released every holiday season by the Nexus team. On Christmas Day of 2006, the old engine, created in Multimedia Fusion 1.5 by Damizean, played host to a holiday-themed version of Emerald Hill. The Christmas remixes of the Emerald Hill and Sonic 2 boss music were done by Nexus' composer, Hunter Bridges. The boss, which was rather rushed, was quickly sprited by Aerosol of SFGHQ and was programmed by DimensionWarped.

Accolades

  • SAGE 2006: Best in Show runner-up
  • SAGE 2007: Best in Show (tied 1st)
  • Sonic Site Awards 2006: "Fangame of the Year" nomination
  • Sonic Site Awards 2007: "Fangame of the Year" nomination
  • Sonic Site Awards 2007: "Best Music" nomination

Downloads

Download.svg Download Sonic Nexus
File: Nexus2008PC.zip (8.21 MB) (info)
Current version: Summer 2008 Demo for PC

Prior Versions

External links