It's Sonic's 30th, and also almost 5 years since we announced Sonic Mania. I thought I'd post a few random dev pics to mark the occasion. It's a series that has inspired joy and creativity for so many so hats off to the hedgehog!
Starting work on Sonic Mania, I never imagined we'd have a physical copy, let alone a full-on mini series! Yet here we are... please enjoy their hard work on the complete Sonic Mania Adventures! 🤟
Six years ago today. Thanks for everything
@CFWhitehead
,
@HCStealth
, and everyone else who made Sonic Mania happen. I've still never felt so much joy in a piece of art. <3
Did you know that the Special Stage UFO was meant to get angry after you reached the Chaos Emerald and chase you down in sudden death for 10 seconds? Thankfully we had mercy and realized it would be challenging enough just reaching Mach 3 on the courses 😅
I forgot I made this (circa 2005 it seems!). For context, it's not using the Retro Engine at all, it's actually the first time I attempted any kind of 3D programming. No pre-existing engine, just a janky little experiment using C++ & the Direct3D 7 API
Ready, set, YO! 🪀
Introducing our debut title: Penny's Big Breakaway!
Perform slick yo-yo tricks as you dash, flip, whirl, and swing to outwit a royally-peeved emperor and his penguin army. 🐧
I am proud to contributed with my past work with
@HCStealth
on the previous remasters which are represented here.
@Head_cannon
has carried the torch to complete S3K I am excited to see the results
I loved this demo track! This was Heavy Rider's original stage, which was meant to be separate to Lava Reef. Sadly there was not enough time in the development schedule to realize another full Zone so we had to move Heavy Rider into Angel Island's HPZ.
Fun fact for Sonic's Bday!
"Lagoon City Zone Act 2"'s theme derives from a demo I created for a proposed "Hidden Palace Zone" in Sonic Mania. The idea marinated for 7 years, matured, and finally found a home in "Sonic Superstars" last year.
This is the 2016 demo!
I'm happy
A solid patcharoo is out on PC now, and will be on consoles pending approval! In particular Switch patch gets a video mode to unlock the framerate to 60 ala Bombrush, or adds Anti-Aliasing if you choose to stay locked.
I am serving as Evening Star's Creative Director and Lead Engine Architect. Looking forward to pushing myself even further in this next chapter of my career as a game dev, and creating games that are hopefully even more fun for you!
Thanks for the patience for those affected, this was a particular DX12 barrier thing that only RDNA3 seems to be sensitive to. Took some digging for us to find the cultprit!
I think we have figured out the crash affecting AMD RDNA 3 GPUs!!
We still need to have QA validate the build internally before we can release, but hopefully can have this hotfix out to you all very soon
#PennysBigBreakaway
Join the heroes of Avalice as they face their greatest challenge yet. Freedom Planet 2 is high speed platforming at its finest! Available now on PC and Steam!
➡️ Steam:
➡️ :
A big thank you to
@dark1x
for taking the time and effort to make such an in-depth BTS video. Penny was such a massive learning experience for me, I’m really excited where it will take me next!
Today on Digital Foundry, it's
@dark1x
with one of the best developer deep dives we've ever done, going in-depth with
@EveningStarStdo
on Penny's Big Breakaway. Bespoke tech, amazing access and a unique presentation - check it out!
I didn't really have a good grasp on Matrix and Vector math at the time, but a bit later my friend Hector aka Damizean basically came up with BlitzSonic and carried it forward
Had a dumb chog dream last night where I watched the Sonic Rangers trailer. The plot was "Sonic gets sent to posh boarding school" Doing tricks and stuff in gratified playgrounds. This was the key art... I kind of like it?
Absolutely thrilled to finally announce I'm the main composer behind
@EveningStarStdo
's upcoming first original title, "Penny's Big Breakaway!"
I had the pleasure of collaborating musically with
@HunterBridges
,
@SeanBialo
, and even
@CFWhitehead
! Stay tuned for this pearl!
@kinucakes
Sending you my admiration and good vibes for the future. Skullgirls and Indivisible's art remains utterly incredible to me, and you and everyone else deserve to work in an environment that matches that calibre.
Penny and Yo-Yo will be making a scene at
#IndieLand2023
giving you a FIRST EVER look at the gameplay in
#PennysBigBreakaway
! Swing on by October 29th at 7PM Pacific Time and save the link:
@teelopesmusic
Titanic Monarch's theme is probably my favourite Mania track you composed and hearing it symphonized only further cements it. The fact we went through 5 completely different demo tracks to reach that sublime combination of harpsichord and modem sounds. Muah! 😘👌
This is exciting! It's been a loong time since I helped back in 2015 so I can't wait to see FP2 in its final form 🔥. Best of luck to
@SDiDuro
and the rest of her team!
We are pleased to announce that Freedom Planet 2 has a release date at last! The game will be officially releasing on Tuesday, September 13th this year.
More information below on why this date was chosen.
Introducing our main cast of characters in animated form! Big ups to
@yetifarm
and symphonic sicco
@TeeLopes
for helping us put this trailer together🪀🤟
The stage is almost set... 🪀Join Penny and Yo-Yo and face-off against a star cast of Bosses in
#PennysBigBreakaway
, a brand new 3D platformer.
Coming to Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S early 2024.
⭐️Wishlist now:
@Sonic_Hedgeblog
I went to Sega World once back in the day, I think I still have the map and entry cards packed away somewhere. I remember being supremely embarrassed when the stage show was on and my parents were like “hey it’s Sonic let’s go see him” lol
Twerkin' Dango was an animation glitch during dev. We loved it so much it became immortalized in the SSZ2 cutscene. To this day, we have it as a slack emoji
Today on Digital Foundry,
@dark1x
circles back to celebrate Penny's Big Breakaway - one of the best games of the year so far - 4K 120fps on all Xbox and PlayStation consoles with a brilliant, fresh, original design:
Ahoy-hoy! We've just posted some new job openings at
@EveningStarStdo
:
- 3D Character Artist
- Lead Environment Artist
- Producer
These roles are all local to Los Angeles. Remote candidates will not be considered. Find out more details and apply at
@tha_rami
Mania - In the Zone transition from Press Garden 1->2 we needed explosion SFX playing during a point where the engine swaps to a new scene, but SFX can't be played during scene load. So we baked explosion sounds into a music stream, which is able to play between scenes lol
Performance mode on switch will get you 60fps most of the game when docked, and a decent amount in handheld too. Some levels like VanillaTown will drop to 40/30fps in places where geometric density is high
1. First language: Q/Visual Basic
2. Had difficulties: Objective-C
3. Most used: C/C++
4. Totally hate: Android NDK java+native hellhole
5. Most loved: C or C#
6. For beginners: Any language sandbox you can start coding for in like 15 minutes
Another track that was super fun to collab with moitron
@TeeLopes
on - something to capture Penny's gumption at this moment in the story while giving the player something to revel in!
I had a crack composing the boss theme for the mighty Judge Rufus with my musical counsel
@TeeLopes
! Your attendance is requested at the hearing 🎸🧑⚖️🤘
Esteemed members of Macaroon, I implore you to be prepared for another dose of musical mischief. 🔨🎶
#PennysBigBreakaway
Listen to the full track and other released tracks here:
Composers:
@TeeLopes
@CFWhitehead
Hi
#girlsbehindthegames
, I'm Lola, I worked on Sonic Mania as producer. I'm basically mom for the team and I will fight for my team. 🔥
Do what you like, work for what you love. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise FIGHT 🔪
@GibusSuspicious
When the Phantom Ruby first arrived in the Mania timeline (Classic Sonic post-Generations), it landed on Angel Island. The Phantom Ruby is a pretty strange blurpy rock which tends to react to anything with a degree of consciousness. (1/2)
I've been iterating on engine tech for over 10+ years, and the biggest accelerator to quality is having team members who use your tools daily and hold you accountable to it!