The Daily Click

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Author:	Jeff Y	Submitted:	24th July, 2005	Favourites:	0
Genre:	Platformer	Downloads:	483
Rated:

Yes, I know the download is big...especially for a demo with one zone that contains only 3 acts...but bear with me here. The plot behind Emerald Ties: Crossing Fates (ET:CF for short) is that the Chaos Emeralds have lost their power ans Sonic has to collect them all and find a way to restore the power. Sound cheesy and unoriginal? Well, the full plot actually does have some twists and stuff in it, but seeing as the demo only encompasses one level, you don't get much of a the story from it anyway.

There are three modes of play: Story, free play, and time attack. Each one has a different purpose of course. Although I thought all the modes would be self-explainitory, apparently some people can't figure out what free play does. In the demo, free play allows you to go to any of the three acts and explore. Yes, you can still get a game over and you still can clear the level if you wish, but your score and time count for nothing. Time attack also contains two modes, online and offline. Offline is purely for competing with yourself, but the online component allows you to submit your scores and times to a server where you can, in essence, compete with other players. Keep in mind that the time attack submission system has already undergone some changes since this release. Such changes include the addition of centiseconds for more competitive times and moving to a new server that will alow greater flexibility in competetion. If you wish to try out the online time attack now, you can register an account with the server at the submission screen .

That pretty much covers it all. Note that act 2 is being redone and act 3 is going to look less barren than it does now. And of course, there will be many more levels, twelve, if memory is serving me at the moment (most with three acts).

On last note. The game tries to set the graphic settings to something that should run smoothly on your machine, but at times, it still runs really slow. Although this is in the readme file, if the game runs slow (especially when going fast), you can disable both parallax and motion blur in the options screen. Please read the readme! I didn't put it in there for no reason (it's short and will save you questions and confusion...not that there should be any).

Enjoy! Let me know if there's any major bugs.

Review This Download

http://www.brpxqzme.net/ckt/etcf/demos/etcfd2.zip (8.06mb )

Posted by Phredreeke

24th July, 2005

It's a fan games, bring out the flamethrower! Disclaimer: I'm not mocking this, I'm mocking the general attitude against fan games here on TDC.

Posted by Lukas Hägg

24th July, 2005

That's actually a really good sonic engine, a little slow but that's a given. It's actually the first time I've played a Sonic fangame longer than one to two minutes. There are a few things I'd wanna point out. * The enemies don't really feel like they do in most Sonic games, I'm not really sure why but it just feels that way. * The motion blur thingie, there's two things you could do with this to make it better. Either you make the whole thing more noticeable and sort of integrate it with the gameplay in someway, or scrap it completely since it adds nothing and is as said not very noticeable. * Fullscreen mode would do this game a lot of good. Other than that, this game shows great potential and good luck working on it.

Posted by clwe

24th July, 2005

Ah, hello there 'Jeff Y' ;) I think you know my opionion on this already - great fun.

Posted by Liquixcat

24th July, 2005

I like custom windows.

Posted by Phredreeke

24th July, 2005

impressive (and custom window didn't work for me, I'm on ME)

Posted by hop

24th July, 2005

This is great! Did your team draw those Sonic sprites yourself? The only thing that I can tell is ripped is the background for the boss battle and when talking to tails (and maybe the spin). I'm also glad to see someone is acknowleging the figure-8 dash from Sonic CD! Good job and can't wait untill this is finished!

Posted by Imadjinn

24th July, 2005

Purely awesome stuff. Loved the Sonic 2-style boss, especially so because it was better than it whilst being... it. :S Can't wait to see the finished article.

Posted by Johan Hargne (Wartagon)

24th July, 2005

@Imadjinn: Game FFS! It's a GAME !

Posted by Phredreeke

24th July, 2005

LMAO XD I do luv Aggggge, he is such an adorable prankster!

Posted by mojofltr

24th July, 2005

This demo is very impressive. If I hadn't known better, I would have definitely thought it was a legitimate Sega release. Bravo! ;)

Posted by Mephistex

24th July, 2005

It's technically very impressive but... what's the point? I mean, I could just break out the emulator and play Sonic 2, which is still, let's face it, much better. What I'm saying is: what are you going to put in this to give me as a gamer any reason to play it?

Posted by Phredreeke

24th July, 2005

I think most fan games do the circle loops wrong. It's like the game pauses when you run in it. So do this.

Posted by Phredreeke

24th July, 2005

Paul J, you're one of the many reasons TDC sucks for the fan gamers, who'd turn to dedicated fan game sites.

Posted by ds-guru

24th July, 2005

great game, great engine, great graphics. keep the motion blur it may not ad anything to the gameplay, it rocks! and it can be switched of anyway. and for those who don't read readme's: the game can be switched to fullscreen with F6

Posted by Silveraura

24th July, 2005

Its very nice, but I think one of the reasions the enemies dont feel like the ones in the original Sonic game as Lukas pointed out, is because in the original Sonic games, the enemies dont really act like they have a set additude or movement. They feel like they are actually thinking rather then just reacting to you comming & automaticly switching into attack mode. You should try making it so that enemies, mainly the ground bugs, stop & turn, slow down, move at different speeds, accelerate & decelerate, all to give them the feeling that they arent just moving back & forth in hopes that you accidently step on them. As for the bee's, try to make it so that once they see u, they slowly accelerate & after a few seconds they are at full blown speed, chasing you down. In a Sonic game, enemies have to be very well positioned, they need to be in a position where you arent flying at top speed & suddenly you wack into one, because thats just annoying, they need to be in a position where you can see that they are comming, but you have to think of how to avoid or kill them. Overall though, I liked it, & look forward to seeing the full version. Good Job

Posted by Lukas Hägg

24th July, 2005

Oh so there was a fullscreen mode. Then I apologize. Playing it again in fullscreen made me notice more things. ^^ Love the smoke effect on the spin, looks really good.

Posted by AndyUK

24th July, 2005

Well first off well done on the graphics and presentation, very nice. The engine is as good as you would expect from a sonic fangame nowadays and the level design seems alright, maybe act 2 was a little 'hold right and jump when you need to' and some nice set pieces. oh, it has "press start" at the title screen lol. And tails is too tall for my liking.

Posted by axel

24th July, 2005

I LUV AGGGGGE

Posted by Nuklear41

24th July, 2005

I LUV AGGGGGE'S MOM

Posted by Blackgaze

24th July, 2005

I LUV KILLING YOU!!!

Posted by Jeff Y

24th July, 2005

Thanks for all the comments, I didn't expect so many so fast >_>. As for responses to your suggestions... I will try to find a way to make motion blur a little more interactive. Maybe go Sonic CD style but use the high speeds with some power-up to go to Special Stages. I don't think I'd really get rid of it, just because it took me awhile to get right and a lot of people think it's pretty nifty to have everything blur as you go pretty fast. And as it's been stated, you can turn it off if you really don't want it (the settings do save...so you should only have to do it once =P). The custom windows in the screenshots was just the theme I had on my system when I took them, they aren't actually part of the game iteself. The Sonic sprite was made by another member of the team, Blyde. I'm working on getting an original background for the current level and original graphics for Tails' Lab. As for making the game something different than just a Sonic clone...well, that's part of what a storyline is there for. The originial Sonic games never had much of a storyline and I'm having my game tied to one closely, I know...maybe not a big difference. For the most part, yes, official games will be better than fan games. It's a tribute to the games I love though. Thanks for giving suggestions on how to make the enemies seem more "alive". I'll definately work that out and make them more intuitive and not so boring as far as AI goes. I will also work on getting an original Tails sprite because I don't need many frames since, at the moment, Tails will not be a playable character.

Posted by AndyUK

24th July, 2005

An edited tails sprite from sonic 3 would do, Sonic looks like an edit of the Sonic 3 original anyway. A good edit too.

Posted by Jeff Y

25th July, 2005

I believe my spriter made that from scratch. He probably used some references to the Sonic 3 sprite.

Posted by Un Known

25th July, 2005

I only comment when i really like a game, that's the case now. But it could sure use some music. There was no introducing music for dr. robotnik.

Posted by X_Sheep

25th July, 2005

I LUV AGGGGGE (not)

Posted by Zapper

25th July, 2005

This is brilliant, after a few minutes of playing I forgot that I was playing a sonic fangame! If there was some sort of fullscreen or larger display mode it would be brilliant Other than that I cant wait to play the final version! Great game!

Posted by Jeff Y

25th July, 2005

"I only comment when i really like a game, that's the case now. But it could sure use some music. There was no introducing music for dr. robotnik." Yes there was...half the download is the music pack :E.

Posted by AndyUK

25th July, 2005

yeah, the music was like background music rather than half the fun of the games, as is the case in Sonic games. Sonic heroes for example has better music that the whole rest of the game. It seemed like a generic rock of sorts.

Posted by Al

25th July, 2005

This is pretty cool, good Sonic engine and nice presentation, i really like the motion blur effect, although i agree with the other comments about the music. Its not bad music, I just think it doesnt really fit with a Sonic game.

Posted by Bo Fu

25th July, 2005

Fnarkin' great. I've missed the old school Sonic games, and this one is just that - plus enough new features to make it worthwhile.

Posted by RC

25th July, 2005

"I believe my spriter made that from scratch. He probably used some references to the Sonic 3 sprite. " *cough* aside from the fact that he stole my walk anim and the shoes for all the frames -_-... Not that I didnt just redo the walk anim for you to look a lot more fluid(why didnt you include it in this demo?!). oh yeah and this rocks :p

Posted by Peblo

25th July, 2005

I LUV AGGGGGE

Posted by Retired Kliker Lazarus

26th July, 2005

@Jeff Y- This is truely the most impressive Sonic Fan Game I've ever seen. @Nuklear- Again, that's not funny.

Posted by Jeff Y

27th July, 2005

Thanks Lazarus. It seems that I have a lot of thumbs up, awesome. Although it might not be awhile until I update with another demo or anything, I'm thinking about maybe screenshots of new levels and such until the final release.

Posted by Yai7

28th July, 2005

Please tell me the name of the Mod file that you were using as an ingame 1'st zone tune! It's awasome! I want to wav it with modplug and burn it to a CD, and then do a free run! I also want to know what was the name of the invincibility mod tune! It's awasome! Besides: Great! Awasome Demo! You can change the opening screen into a tradiotional sonic game style! It will look neat on that game! Please tell me the name of the songs! It sounds like angels sing to my ears!

Posted by Jeff Y

29th July, 2005

Heh, I'm glad you liked those music tracks. The 1st zone's music was actually altered to something more "seasidey", but here are the names and authors of the two requested songs. Invincibility: ari-san by Sidewinder/Megawatt 1st Zone: Paradise by David Newton (Wong Chung Bang)

Posted by Keh?

29th July, 2005

Impressive work! This must be one of the best Sonic the Hedgehog fangames I've ever seen. Be sure to finish it, or I'll make sure you get no christmas presents this year. ;-)

Posted by Mindstorms

29th July, 2005

I LUV AGGGGGE

Posted by Jeff Y

31st July, 2005

@XslashOmega: Don't worry, it'd be stupid for me to can this game seeing as there's a lot done...all I need is levels really. I won't can this.

Posted by Keatontech!

31st July, 2005

I LUV AGGGGGE

Posted by Keatontech!

31st July, 2005

I LUV AGGGGGE

Posted by Keh?

31st July, 2005

Well, looking forward to it :) It almost plays as real Sonic games, actually I played it through like 30 times ;)

Posted by Jeff Y

2nd August, 2005

Heh, glad it has some sort of replay value. My aim for it is to feel similar to the old Sonic platformers, but have different twists and fresher looking graphics. It's sort of like what I really wanted Sonic Advance to look like because I'm really disappointed with the series...for me, the sprites just don't do it (level design in the first was okay but seemed to deteriorate in 2 and 3). I wanted Advance to be the Genesis games but with better graphics.

Posted by AndyUK

2nd August, 2005

you're not the only one.

Posted by jpSoul

5th July, 2006

it's the best sonic fangame i've ever played !!
sonic have a very realistic movement in the loppings, you can jump when you are into !
levels are quite big it's amusing to discover other passages