The SAGE 2017 Demo has accumulated over 1000+ downloads in just two days! Thank you all so much for your support!
It’s hard to believe we’ve made it this far. It seems like just yesterday we were talking about Shadow as a playable character. Progress sure is quick, isn’t it? (Sometimes not quick enough, *cough cough*) It’s been a year and a half of development and we’ve finally hit the big leagues.
A special thank you to all who’ve helped develop, playtest, and help with our product development. And a thank you to all who are playing the game as we speak. We started out as a passion project, and now we’re here.
Where do I begin with this one… I have played bad fan games before, but damn, this one takes the cake. But let’s get into this “gem” of a game.
Before you can play, the game will give you the option to use a control or a keyboard. It would be best to use. It is a control layout, so it does not matter what you pick.
When you first start the game, you are dropped into the level, No cutscene, just an action stage. This stage is called “Emerald Garden” It uses level pieces from the advance series.
This opening stage is all over the place, there are pits in some annoying areas, the level layout is not too bad… but zone two is very questionable. But I’m jumping the gun. For sonic, he has light blue rings as a means to use his light speed dash.
I also want to talk about sonic, in this game, he feels heavy when he jumps, his momentum feels akin to Sonic 4 momentum, if you roll while holding right or left, you gain momentum, maybe, too much. This feels awkward to get used to it.
The more I play it, the more the physics and momentum give off a Sonic 4: EP 1 vibe. It really does remind me of that game, it’s not a bad thing mind you, It feels off.
I got off track again. So, let’s see. Emerald Garden has some questionable enemy placement. Or rather, the game has very questionable enemy placement, at times is unfair. You have to take your time, should you go fast, you will end up falling into a pit or running into an enemy with almost no time to react.
But the emerald garden stage is a fairly easy level if you ignore the pits. It’s a standard platformer stage. After beating Emerald Garden, you are off to fight Eggman, this boss fight is based on the Sonic Advance 2’s, “Leaf forest” boss.
But after beating the boss, you are warped to Scuttle Town, (Yes, from Shantae), where you get a cutscene that is pretty much a plot dump. Eggman and Risky boots have teamed up and you must stop them.
Here is the main hub world for this game, After beating Emerald garden zone, which is a level and a boss. Sonic gets one more zone, for the demo to play in. And boy, this next stage for Sonic is.. I really don’t like it.
The level select hub room is based on Sonic Advance 3, where, if you complete a zone, you can come back to it later, and play it again.
Now, to get into the second zone… I can understand why Lake Feperd, said this was the worst fan game from sage2017 on his twitter.
So, zone 2 is a fire-based level, or rather, going for a fire theme for the zone.
Lava Filter… Man, this stage is ugh. Enemy placement is awful here. If you are new here, using the dash booster will boost you into an enemy. There are pits here. too many pits that make this a marble-like level.
You can go fast, but you will be punished, with cheap enemy placement and cheap deaths. You need to go slow, so you can avoid cheap deaths and cheap potshots.
Overall, this is not a fun stage, it needs work, a lot of work. I can say, without a doubt, that I truly hate this stage with a passion.
But, should you manage to beat the stage, then the final boss for Sonic, is Sky. And this boss is so easy, that it is sad. Deal with a “Hard” level, only to fight an easy boss. UGH!!!!
I know, I’m being a bit mean but, you need to be this way for games. This way, they will know what to fix or improve.
After beating Sky, You get a cutscene between the two.
Then Sonic story ends with him, talking to Knuckles and Tails, which follows up with Sonic meeting Shantae again and meeting Amy
Just DAMN. Now for Shantae.
If you played the Shantae series, you know she has a Hairwhip attack and magic powers and items. The game gets most of that right, for the most part.
Scuttle Town is our first and only level for Shantae. It’s your normal platformer stage and yes, there are pits but here, they are not too bad, it’s a good thing.
Scuttle Town, you just go right and do some platforming here or there. There is a part where you need to fall down to get to the next area.
After making your way through, you get a cutscene with Sky and Bolo, as they let you know that risky boots, is up ahead. You have a cutscene with Risky Boots, seen below.
The Sonic Vs Sky fight is the same, but Risky Boots has two patterns. Run to the left or right, or jump to the left or right. That’s it. She only has touch damage as an attack and this fight is so boring.
Once Risky boots is beaten, You get a cutscene that ends Shantae part of the demo.
I am not going to bother, playing this game any longer than I need to. Going to give my thoughts on this demo, what I liked and didn’t like.
What I liked
Most the sprite animation looks nice
I like the concept, of a crossover happening
The story needs work but could be good.
What I didn’t like and bugs
This game has too many pits
Enemy placement needs work
The homing attack is broken and need to be fixed
The Lightspeed dash rings, also need work. Pressing the action in the middle of the rings will send sonic backward
Homing attack on a spring kills momentum
Sprites tend to be off the ground or not align well
When Shantae attack in the air, she does not attack but loses momentum for a second
In Lava Filter, if you skip the level trigger (By jumping over it), that takes you to the other half of the stage, the game hard locks.
In short, this game left a bad first impression, I went in knowing what I was getting myself into, but, wow. I did not plan for this, in any way. There are some good ideas here, but there is a lot of coal, burying the diamonds and there is a lot that needs to be done.
The game goes for a Sonic advance style but the physics and momentum for Sonic feel close, to that of Sonic 4’s physics and momentum. It just needs work, is this the worst fan game? No, but it’s pretty close.
If you are making games like this, it’s best to have a team of testers to find what does or doesn’t work. So this way, you will know what needs to be fixed and improved on.
But I am done with this game. There are other characters like Sky, Knuckles, Amy. Only Tails, and Bolo are unplayable, at the moment. I like the ideas here, but they need work and time. I don’t know what game engine, that giga6152 used to make this game. But with a little work, time and effort, this could be a fun fan game.
Hello there, I am Sonik, but you know that by now. It’s that time again. The Sonic Amateur Gaming Expo or SAGE, for short. Where Sonic game devs or indie game devs show off their skills by making a game for SAGE.
As the Title says, I will be looking at Sonic ages and give my thoughts on it and what it did right, wrong and such.
Sonic Ages title screen
So Sonic Ages, a Sonic fan game made in Unity engine and it does offer Xbox360 / controller support. Be warned, the game will be loud when you open it.
The game opens up with a beautiful Tutorial stage that is based on a pencil and paper theme, with Sonic being a sketch for this scene. It’s a short stage, though, it is meant to help you get used to the controls.
Sonic Ages – Tutorial stage
After completing the tutorial stage, we are off to “Seabed” zone. Our water level for this demo.
Sonic Ages – Seabed zone
The seabed is your primary Linear stage. While there are routes you can go to, and even go on different paths of the scene, the level layout is ok, for what it does, it’s playable. You have the basics, falling platforms, Platforms, moving platforms, Enemy spawners, enemies, spikes and springs, and rings.
And, not to forget, this Sonic has the move set from Sonic 3, Sonic controls well, although he does carry momentum, this is a good and bad thing. You can gain speed at this stage, but this scene is built for platforming, not speed.
The seabed is an ok stage, but it gets the job done to give you a simple, of what is to come in the next release. This game has promise, but it needs work, a lot of work for this game to shine through.
And before I forget, the animation for sonic is nice, Though, at times it seems it would need more frames of animation to make it look smooth, not choppy. Sonic has a nice idle animation, and the running at full speed animation also seems nice.
I can tell that a lot of time went into the animations, and it shows. They are not perfect, they need a bit more work. But well done, some animations are still rough and unfinished, but this will change over time.
I guess I will talk about the bad and things I did not like about this game. I know the game will be rough but in SAGE, games need these type of reviews to give game devs an idea of what to fix, change, or improve on.
Seabed’s enemy placement often feels unfair and cheap, enemies can attack the player off-screen or they are placed in areas when the player has no time to react, which can result in potshots or cheap deaths. Below, is a good idea of what I mean.
Seabed platforming…
Seabed lower path
Sonic I-frames, where after getting hit, the player is safe from taking more damage. But they are short, Like very short, this is a problem. With short I-frames, you can take hits from enemies that can result in cruel death, based on the enemy placement.
Should you get hit onto a spring, your controls are lock in place and, in some cases, your momentum will carry you off into a pit, which is an unfair death.
Overall, this game left me with mixed feelings. There are things I like, things I disliked, and things that left me a bit confused. Sonic Ages is a fan game that reminds me of the classic era of Sonic. Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, though, Sonic 3 is what they are going for, I assume, it gives me those vibes.
While the game has its flaws, I can’t be too harsh, as this is only a SAGE Build of the game and just so much could be done, It’s a fun demo, which has two zones for you to play.
I am no SAGE judge, but I wanted to give my thoughts on this game, or in this case, demo. I think I said what I wanted to say.
Sonic Ages does remind me of another Sonic fan game, that is based off the Sonic OVA. Titled “Sonic Freedom” While as far as I know, Sonic Freedom is still a proof of concept
Pantufa the Cat DX is a Sonic Rom hack that has been made into it’s own game. A platformer of sorts. I would say this is more of an fan game than a rom hack. But nevertheless, it’s a rom hack of Sonic the hedgehog 1, and it adds new things to spice things up.
What does Pantufa the Cat DX have to offer players? Trial and error platforming, now this is not so bad, games like cuphead, Wings of vi, and I wanna be the boshy, all have this trial and error theme. It’s in place so some players can’t “hold” Right to win, much like the Sonic games of late. There’s no challenge there in Sonic games, it’s too simple, and has made some players “soft” when a game offers a real challenge, akin to cuphead, wings of vi. They hate it.
Story?
Pantufa the cat offers some good platforming challenge for you to enjoy. play as Pantufa the Cat, and visit the 6 brand new zones with new layouts, new set pieces, and new traps.
Duck hunt dog has turned rouge with his super powered NES, and he is hell bent on taking out Pantufa, it seems but Pantufa has something to say about that.
New to this game is a new move. The parry Jump that allows Pantufa to avoid damage for a few seconds and the new “Infinity shield” that keeps the player safe from everything apart from getting crush..
There is no lives, given the fact that it running with the trial and error theme, and there is a health bar that the player has. It can be re-filled by breaking a monitor with a paw icon or collecting 20 coings will also re-fill part of your health
I guess the only issues I have with this game is that, Hazards and enemies seem to be place in spots where you have no way to react in time. Checkpoints in the later levels are far off, to a point where they are near the end of the stage or boss but that is fair, since it is late game, things ramp up.
Some hazards seem to have a wider hurtbox and there were un-fair deaths, and the game seems to have slowdown when respawning at a checkpoint but these are nitpicks.
The whole trial and error in a Sonic game is a turn off for some.
Overall, Pantufa the Cat DX left a somewhat pleasing feeling after beating a hard game that offered a real challenge and the feeling of overcoming it was even better. I went into this game having very low and mixed feeling towards the game but after playing it, I was wrong, and I’m glad.
Pantufa the Cat DX is the reason why gamers need games like this, When there is a real challenge that the player can’t beat, they forfeit or give up because it’s not easy. Gamers today have gotten weak and soft. If you can hold right, then that is the challenge that THEY want but DON’T need.
Pantufa the Cat DX is a decent platformer that offers a consistent challenge through out the game, and fun can be had here. The game rewards skilled play, instead of speed.
As I said, Pantufa the Cat DX is a decent platformer, that is, if, you go into this game knowing that it’s not a sonic game then you will have a better time. If, you go into thinking it is going to be a Sonic game, you are not going to have a fun time.
It’s far from perfect, but if you love trial and error-like games, and like a good platformer with Challenge, Pantufa the Cat DX should suit your needs.
