What new level tropes would you like to see in future Sonic games?

[Shiny Gems]

So, basically, there Sonic series has been using old tropes over and over, with not much newer tropes to be seen. That said, we have Sonic Mania, which has a studio level and a saloon level, and there are said to be newer level tropes that will be revealed later. That said, I would like to ask this, and it is not just Sonic Mania based, but something in regards to future Sonic games: What kind of new level tropes not used before would you like to see in future Sonic games?

For me, I would like to see:

A romantic park zone

An archaeological site zone

A nightclub zone

A library zone

And a gymnasium zone

What about you guys? What new level tropes not seen in Sonic yet would you like to see in future games?

[Sonictrainer]

I have a couple

Forest City: similar to Knothole Village. Imagine rolling through giant tree slides

Restaurant: Something similar to Sweet Mountain and Dessert Ruins but instead of sweets, we have other foods. Maybe a chili dog factory

A Badnik Factory: We've kinda of almost had this a few times, but a giant factory that shows animals getting stuffed into Badniks.

Cold Ruins: Navigating a frozen set of ruins

Railroad level: Something where Sonic has to run through a railyard of steam engines

[Sega DogTagz]

How about a stage focused around bad weather? I've always liked stages that put you in the middle of some stormy apocalypse because it served as a great change of pace from the sunshine and blue sky's of most levels.

Stages like Windy Valley get some props for throwing you into a tornado for a stretch, but I'd like to see entire stages built up around the concept. Pirate Storm was awesome. Running through the heavy rain and navigating through the choppy waves was different and fresh. How about some stages featuring Sonic evading some other natural disasters. I'd love to see Sonic move up the coastline during a Hurricane, or bounce his way through a crumbling landscape as a 9.0 earthquake brings down the world around you. You could even pull off a Sky Chase Zone where a Tornado is as much of an enemy as the Badniks trying to shoot you down. Thunderstorms, hail, rouge waves, there is a lot you could play with here. 

[Nepenthe]

I'm less interested in new tropes so much as I'm interested in stages that have smart and logical level design extrapolated from the unique characteristics of their locations, because more often than not nowadays the trope or theme of the level mostly informs the textures of the models versus the experience of really being in that place. Basically, a casino level can be considered a casino level just by reskinning a normal Sonic level with casino-based artwork, or you can toss a random candy level in the sky and be done with it, which isn't really all that interesting or intuitive. Instead, you can combine existing tropes as a result of looking creatively at the area of a stage. For example, you can essentially put a Labyrinth or Chemical Plant Zone-like area in a City Escape stage by simply allowing Sonic to go down into the sewer system. Similarly, I also like the above idea for weather and would like to see its effects on stages explored me, like in Windy Valley's tornado where the floating platforms are just natural debris torn away from the stage, and of course rain and snow decreasing friction. I will always appreciate little touches like that over whether or not Sonic Team merely includes any given trope.

[Tails spin]

52 minutes ago, Sonictrainer said:

 

Railroad level: Something where Sonic has to run through a railyard of steam engines

Sonic Heroes covered this trope with rail canyon .

I like the idea of combining tropes. like starting in the hills/mountains then progressing to the sky or the underground .

[JezMM]

While 100% new level tropes are very cool and I'm sure I could think of a bunch if I put my mind to it, one thing I know for sure is that I'd like to see the finishing touches on classic level tropes get mixed up a bit.  Things like - set the typical grassy/tropical stage at night rather than daytime for a change.  Give us a rainy city instead of a neutral weather'd one.  An Eggman stage that, rather being one or the other, sees a mixture of clean, high-tech elaborately designed areas as well as blasting through the purely functional, grimy industrial parts of the base that are behind the scenes of the flashier parts of the stage.

[Forte-Metallix]

I had a couple of Zone ideas for a hypothetical Sonic 4: Episode III:

1) Magma Resort: A beachside area stationed near a massive volcano. The first half of the Zone is tropical, with emphasis on underwater exploration, coral reefs, and caverns. Halfway through, the volcano erupts, flooding the beach with lava and molten rocks. The water is heated up to the point where staying in it will slowly drain your Rings.

2) Stormy City: A metropolis plagued with natural disasters- typhoons, hurricanes, floods, etc. Think Perfect Chaos, but you explore the entire city.

3) Egg Planet: What became of Little Planet after it got trapped in the Death Egg II. Seven acts, each one an Eggman Empire-remake of a Sonic CD Zone. The final battle takes place in an amped-up Metallic Madness.

[Darinian]

The exploding forest in a aquarium park style planet being hurled toward the sun with sonic chasing in the tornado with 30 extra sets of jet thrusters . Why are you all reading this and looking at it weirdly?

[Sonictrainer]

53 minutes ago, Tails spin said:

Sonic Heroes covered this trope with rail canyon .

No, those were diesel trains in a mountain base

I was talking something like these.

[Shiny Gems]

What about a level based on the Living Fires in Terca village in Romania, Europe, which has this?

Only with more flames?

And maybe some of this?

 

[Sega DogTagz]

2 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

No, those were diesel trains in a mountain base

I was talking something like these.

 

So less rail canyon and more Radical Train (2006).

06 did have some pretty good stage tropes going for it. Armageddon City, Underwater Base, Mid-Euro Ruins... even End-of-the-world was kinda trippy.

[LATER BUDDY]

[DELETED]

Edited January 30 by Wolfy

[Metal the Mario]

As a matter of fact, I was thinking of one the other day that would be cool: a "Mardi Gras" level combining the theatrical, carnival-like atmosphere with traditional New Orleans-style architecture. I would think the arched, multi-tiered look of the latter would offer good opportunities for slopes and alternate paths.

I can see the overall aesthetic being a cross between Carnival Night and Stardust Speedway Past.

[KHCast]

Yeah a festival kinda setting ala sambe de amigo + rooftop run generations, would be pretty awesome. If not that, I'd love to see a old timey black and white retro kinda setting like Timeless River from Kingdom Hearts used somehow.

[Lucid Dream]

The reason I like Sonics tropes is because they have nice colour combinations and patterns. If there's going to be a new trope, I'd want it to follow that. I have a bunch of new tropes in my head, but what I primarily want is:

A winter shrine stage with plum blossoms - bright Silver/white and Pink are a beautiful combination, and aren't particularly garish (like other pink Sonic stages). A large remote Shrine would add context and a little bit more variation in the background, without altering things too much. 

A flower field stage - I really don't know why this hasn't been done before. I've been to these large beautiful lush flower fields, and I always love running through them because of how beautiful it all is. There's so much variation as well, from having a mountain or a forest background and having so many flowers to choose.

 

Those are the 2 new tropes that I'm really begging for. 

[smogfog]

Eggman's giant train

[FReaK]

I really want another new Snow trope. like the one in the newest mega drive comic, holy moly that one is sexy as hell.

[speedhog58]

Desert/Casino hybrid: A stage that starts off with Sonic going through a desert that eventually transitions into a casino city, kinda like Vegas.

Future City: A stage that is based around time travel, the main stage is set in a futuristic city which leads to a time portal half way through that sends you to a past version of the city, then depending on what route you take or what you destroy; the future city you return to and finish the stage in will be completely different.

Sewer/Subway hybrid: These are two settings we've never really seen Sonic in before, the main stage would be set in the subway tunnels where you dodge trains and grind on tracks, the sewer would be a more platformer heavy alternate route that has dozens of pitfalls and water traps to fall into.

Tokyopolis: Simply a stage based on the city of Tokyo, it would be a very interesting setting to bring to the franchise that has not been seen before.

 

[Shiny Gems]

How about an optical illusion zone, based on something like these?

 

As well as a resistance base level, an arcade themed level, a water park level...

And a neighborhood level, which I think would be sweet to have. Skip to 2:57 here to see what I mean.

 

[MadmanRB]

22 hours ago, Nepenthe said:

I'm less interested in new tropes so much as I'm interested in stages that have smart and logical level design extrapolated from the unique characteristics of their locations, because more often than not nowadays the trope or theme of the level mostly informs the textures of the models versus the experience of really being in that place. Basically, a casino level can be considered a casino level just by reskinning a normal Sonic level with casino-based artwork, or you can toss a random candy level in the sky and be done with it, which isn't really all that interesting or intuitive. Instead, you can combine existing tropes as a result of looking creatively at the area of a stage. For example, you can essentially put a Labyrinth or Chemical Plant Zone-like area in a City Escape stage by simply allowing Sonic to go down into the sewer system. Similarly, I also like the above idea for weather and would like to see its effects on stages explored me, like in Windy Valley's tornado where the floating platforms are just natural debris torn away from the stage, and of course rain and snow decreasing friction. I will always appreciate little touches like that over whether or not Sonic Team merely includes any given trope.

You know I can agree with this and Sonic sort of did that in Sonic adventure 1.

The problem is incorporating it which is the hardest thing to do.

But I have seen it done, the Batman Arkham series sort of has this in play.

Actually an arkham like game would be neat  for Sonic

[Nepenthe]

It's less about implementation and more about preproduction and planning. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to put a playable sewer in a city level; we did it in Casinopolis in SA1 how many years ago? I get the feeling that Sonic Team either doesn't have the  will or the time to create levels like that anymore.

[MadmanRB]

Yeah its a shame too, I mean seriously effort goes a long way but sonic team doesnt know what that is anymore.

[Darinian]

21 minutes ago, MadmanRB said:

Yeah its a shame too, I mean seriously effort goes a long way but sonic team doesnt know what that is anymore.

Try making a quality game where sonic the hedgehog goes at breakneck speeds and doesn't beat the level in 5 seconds, make a game that is actually visually pleasant for the majority playing it, and has enough content for replayability. That takes effort, and would you look at that, Sonic Team did that.

[MadmanRB]

Yeah but they kind of let other studios handle sonic and that did not wind up so good.

Plus having to rely on a new character to sell Sonic 2017 as opposed to letting the game work without adding un needed baggage.

I mean yes they made some good efforts in Colors, generations and Lost World but Lost world is very divisive.

I dont think the effort was there, I mean I like lost world but its not as polished as generations

[Darinian]

8 minutes ago, MadmanRB said:

Yeah but they kind of let other studios handle sonic and that did not wind up so good.

Plus having to rely on a new character to sell Sonic 2017 as opposed to letting the game work without adding un needed baggage.

I mean yes they made some good efforts in Colors, generations and Lost World but Lost world is very divisive.

I dont think the effort was there, I mean I like lost world but its not as polished as generations

I avoid lost world talk since I really haven't played it, but that's other things. Other studios handling sonic is NOT SONIC TEAM it's OTHER STUDIOS.

Also... they can add a new character, I mean when was the last time we had a new hero character.