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Hubs worlds in the Sonic series


KHCast

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They could add some badniks as NPC, no? Or some animals just for the lulz. But I'm more interested in exploring rather than talking, save for SOME Sonic's friends.

 

But Blue Blood nailed it, this is exactly what the hubs should be. Just like a regular level, but wider.

they did? In unleashed.:/ Or does that not count.

Edited by Riku
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Same. Much better than Egg Pawns. Sorry Pawn fans. :P

 

Also yeah, I agree with Dio and Blue Blood in that case. Bigger maps will definitely be needed, and bringing together the walking-segment and entrance-stage sections would certainly be long enough, but yeah it'd need to be a bit wider. Plus, loops and stuff in them would be incredible.

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I really enjoyed SA1's HUB worlds. They had alot of charm to them and they weren't too big. It was a lot of fun exploring them to find hidden chao eggs, upgrades and easter eggs. Metal sonic and that other robot inside the capsules in Eggmans base come to mind. I loved exploring the Egg carrier and finding out Eggman had a swimming pool, a locomotive chair, a monorail and even a maid to keep it all clean. The characters controlled exactly the same as they did in the stages, no speed caps at all. This meant getting around was fairly quick. Unfortunatley they felt the need to pad it out with those keys.

 

HUB worlds can work for Sonic. Sonic is the kind guy, who is always looking for new things and places to explore. If done right, they can be really fun to mess around in.

 

If the Sonic series was to use HUB worlds again, this should be the basis.

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I was thinking on that fan-game when the ideas started to came in ^^^^^ It's pretty awesome, but I'd say it's too wide.

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Can we have a rule that people can't post that video as an example of how anything should be done in Sonic.  8C

 

 

Even hub worlds need some sense of direction and purpose, and the way Sonic gets around in it depends entirely on the world being ridiculously huge and empty..

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Can we have a rule that people can't post that video as an example of how anything should be done in Sonic.  8C

 

 

Even hub worlds need some sense of direction and purpose, and the way Sonic gets around in it depends entirely on the world being ridiculously huge and empty..

Yes, I wouldn't mind larger hub worlds, but that one's a little too big, with nothing much in it, and it flows a little too much like an action stage.  It doesn't feel like everything's connected.

 

The game has interesting ideas though, but I don't think they pull them off especially well.

Edited by Akito
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I'm with making SA1 style hubs that make you feel as if you're actually walking into the stage. Some small puzzles to reach each stage as well. Basically a small minigame that adds a little length but isn't too tedious.

 

You also can make the hubs, due to not running through them on crack, very gorgeous and give players eye candy.

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As long as you can get to places and get to the levels quickly without too much dicking around, I'm fine with it. Just let me go from level to level, don't force me to talk to people, do stupid side missions, or collect medals (though that's less of a hub world issue really). Make them mostly optional, but have shit to find in there that makes it worthwhile to explore them. Like Generations's abilities, instead of being bought they'd be scattered around the hubs and you could find them as you go, but you don't need to.

A little bit more of a platforming element a la Unleashed entrance stages and Generations wouldn't hurt either, as long as it didn't take up loads of time just to get to the stage and was easy enough to locate and get to, or as optional stuff. You wouldn't have to collect new moves but maybe before certain levels where say the stomp is more necessary the entrance stageish section would be a semi-tutorial on it, showing you how it works as you open the stage up to get into it (if these entrance stage things were mandatory and not just for optional stuff, like hidden levels). This way you know what you're doing before the stage begins without it being like "tutorial yes/no".

Edited by Semi-colon e
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I really enjoyed SA1's HUB worlds. They had alot of charm to them and they weren't too big. It was a lot of fun exploring them to find hidden chao eggs, upgrades and easter eggs. Metal sonic and that other robot inside the capsules in Eggmans base come to mind. I loved exploring the Egg carrier and finding out Eggman had a swimming pool, a locomotive chair, a monorail and even a maid to keep it all clean. The characters controlled exactly the same as they did in the stages, no speed caps at all. This meant getting around was fairly quick. Unfortunatley they felt the need to pad it out with those keys.

 

HUB worlds can work for Sonic. Sonic is the kind guy, who is always looking for new things and places to explore. If done right, they can be really fun to mess around in.

 

If the Sonic series was to use HUB worlds again, this should be the basis.

 

Really if a fan project can accomplish that, I'm absolutely positive Sega could make something wonderful. A Hub world could be fairly large... it'd simply be like a stage if it was less speed-based.

 

Filling it will all sorts of hidden nooks and crannies to explore for goodies can never go wrong!

Edited by Ogilvie Maurice
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I agree with semi-colon e in regard to the tutorial being used to access the stage (say for example you had to solve a small puzzle to get and/or learn to use the stomp ability by hitting a switch or something)

I don't mind missions but maybe make them optional, unless they are relevant and important to the story. I agree that there should be some platforming, but not everywhere e.g. A big field isn't going to have platforms all over it, however finding a cave in said field could be full of lives, rings abilities, secrets ect. And full of platforming too

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I agree with semi-colon e in regard to the tutorial being used to access the stage (say for example you had to solve a small puzzle to get and/or learn to use the stomp ability by hitting a switch or something)

 

Yeah this was pretty much what I was getting at. That is, unless I were to consider making the hub worlds even more optional and have you not be required to do much in them to access the next stage rather than find it (it would ideally be easily located in a place that makes sense with level entrances like SA1), but even then certain challenges in level design could be based on your moveset in certain optional hub areas to get to secrets.

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Just imagine the hub worlds a bit more opened up and bigger like SA1's but designed like entrance stages, and featuring the NPCs and atmosphere of SU's ordinary hubs. Then, also like SA1 there are natural entrances.. and exits.

 

Like, can you imagine walking into a massive hub like this and seeing all these different, sorta-unreachable routes which seem to lead to other places? You'd start to get curious and wonder where that leads! As you find the entrance to an act, you play the level, and as Sonic finishes it, he comes back to the hub through one of those routes. It gives you a better way of explaining how Sonic went all that distance but yet came right back to the entrance, and it helps connect together the adventure element.

 

Maybe even make those exits allow you to go through the stage in reverse if you enter it.. heh.

Edited by Azookara
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Like, can you imagine walking into a massive hub like this and seeing all these different, sorta-unreachable routes which seem to lead to other places? You'd start to get curious and wonder where that leads! As you find the entrance to an act, you play the level, and as Sonic finishes it, he comes back to the hub through one of those routes. It gives you a better way of explaining how Sonic went all that distance but yet came right back to the entrance, and it helps connect together the adventure element.

 

This actually sounds kind of cool! Benefits suspension of disbelief and really makes some sense; if he's going out in multiple directions looking for something it seems logical he shall return to the start point more or less.

 

Maybe even make those exits allow you to go through the stage in reverse if you enter it.. heh.

 

Hey, this actually sounds kinda cool. It'd be an easy way to extend replayability.

 

Only problem would be it'd require designing the stages so you're never "trapped" going one way.

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Only problem would be it'd require designing the stages so you're never "trapped" going one way.

Or have it that springs and dash panels an certain features only appear on a certain entrance, so if you go in the exit per se. The gimmicks heading FROM the entrance disappear and appear helping you to go the other way and vise versa?

I think that would be great again for secrets and stuff like that. For example say if at one point in the level you ran through a tunnel or something, on the reverse there could be an alternate path so you could go above it, but that entrance is only accessable from reverse?

Kinda like designing 2 levels with the same base route?

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Or have it that springs and dash panels an certain features only appear on a certain entrance, so if you go in the exit per se. The gimmicks heading FROM the entrance disappear and appear helping you to go the other way and vise versa?

I think that would be great again for secrets and stuff like that. For example say if at one point in the level you ran through a tunnel or something, on the reverse there could be an alternate path so you could go above it, but that entrance is only accessable from reverse?

Kinda like designing 2 levels with the same base route?

 

I really back this; it's a good way to increase replayability. Which is really the most important thing in the modern titles since the shift to such speed-based gameplay makes squeezing as much time out of every level as possible very crucial.

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No hubs. Generations had it right.

 

Wandering around Station Square and Mystic Ruins in SA1 was just frustrating at times. I stopped playing Unleashed because of the annoying running around and people babbling about the world coming apart.

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SA1's hub worlds worked great because they weren't too large and the landmarks made them easy to navigate, so you never really get lost. If a hub world should ever be used again, it should mimic the SA1 hub world.

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No hubs. Generations had it right.

 

..But it had a Hub World!

 

 

Honestly, I was pretty okay with Unleashed's. The places were all lively and kept the feel the actual stages had very well. I kind of like exploring at night more at some places, like Empire City. That Night Hub Theme... <3

 

It felt like I was in an actual world. Something even the Sonic Adventure games didn't do as well, if I'm honest. I wouldn't mind a mix of Sonic Adventure 1's hub worlds that were kind of wide and open, and let you have access to Sonic's full speed, an Unleashed's atmospheric hubs.

 

Hell, maybe it'd be fun to give the hubs speed platforming aspects? It could actually be enjoyable to run to one side of the area to another and looking awesome while doing it. It would give people incentive to explore and not complain how boring or whatever they are.

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No hubs. Generations had it right.

 

Wandering around Station Square and Mystic Ruins in SA1 was just frustrating at times. I stopped playing Unleashed because of the annoying running around and people babbling about the world coming apart.

You stopped playing Unleashed because of the hubs. They aren't even that hard to get through. I can understand them being bothersome,but quitting the game and not playing it because of them just seems overreactive.

 

And yeah, Generations had a hub. A different styled hub.

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No hubs. Generations had it right.

 

Wandering around Station Square and Mystic Ruins in SA1 was just frustrating at times. I stopped playing Unleashed because of the annoying running around and people babbling about the world coming apart.

 

You didn't have to talk to anybody after you first get to Spagonia and ask people about Professor pickle. From then on, you talking to people is just you wasting your own time for no reason.

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Sonic Adventure's hub. Why, well let me explain.

 

1 - Quick and easy.

 

2 - The only things you need to progress are the stone statue keys. (which are usaully close to where your suppose to put em)

 

3 - They're just fun to run around in.

 

If a new Sonic game comes out with a hub world, then hopefully they'll make it like Adventure 1.

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Really provided most of the hub stuff is optional I don't think it'll be an issue what goes into them.

 

Though that does highlight the issue of many modern titles - much of the gameplay time has shifted to optional stuff rather than actual levels, which has contributed to the short length problem.

 

Though really it illustrates something - what is the point of a hub? Isn't it basically just so there's one central loaded stage and they can load the rest as necessary? The alternative is the original act-based gameplay which I suppose is seen as obsolete these days.

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