Blitz Sonic PC game

1 comment by ElGiganteDeYeso on Jun 30th, 2008 digg this super bookmark

Blitz Sonic ModDB site opens

At last, I've got around and created a site for people to keep track the updates of Blitz Sonic. Some people where confused by the fact there was no site that holded any information about the project, since all the releases have been done via IRC and YouTube. But at last, I decided to create a site here at ModDB, seeing it offers a great functionality and flexibility.

• What's Blitz Sonic?

  Blitz Sonic is, as the summary of the project says, and attempt to create a Sonic the Hedgehog fangame that recovers the feel & gameplay of the first instances of the franchise. All over the years, the franchise has been evolving into something far away from it's roots. On the transition between the side-scrolling 2D to 3D, a lot of the values of the previous games were lost.

  Sonic stopped empathizing on exploration and gimmick interactivity. SEGA decided to emphatize only on speed and linearity. The player eventually kept losing control over the character in favor of automated paths, and loosy gameplay (pit falls of death ahoy).

• Project premises

  Our premise is to take back the key elements of the previous instances: Exploration, interaction and complete control over the character. Of course, this isn't easy, but we have made a step forward with the release of the first engine test. We succeeded to have similar physics and mechanism to those found in the old Megadrive games, but with the addition of the new spatial dimension.

• The Engine

  The engine, even thought the project summary says it's "Custom built", it's based on Blitz 3D, a somewhat old DX7 engine, wich provides a very good interface for RAD. Even though it's oldness is a weakness (may be slow on modern cards, doesn't have shaders nor most of the current gen effects), the fact it's based upon DirectX7 allows it to be compatible with the bast majority of cards existing today.

  It's easy of useness allows the project to progress faster in terms of programming, and there are a lot of tools that can backup the development of games with it.

• Open Source project

  The project source code is also available through a modified ZLib license, wich allows everyone to use and modify the engine, as long as the following terms are agreed:

  License wrote:This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
  warranty.  In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
  arising from the use of this software.
   
  Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose
  (except for commercial applications) and to alter it and redistribute
  it freely subject to the following restrictions:

  1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not
     claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software
     in a product, an acknowledgment in the product itself as a splash
     screen is required.
  2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
     misrepresented as being the original software.
  3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

  All characters and materials in relation to the Sonic the Hedgehog game series
  are copyrights/trademarks of SEGA of Japan (SEGA Co., LTD). This product
  has been developed without permission of SEGA, therefore it's prohibited
  to sell/make profit of it.

  
  

  With this, users are permitted to create custom contents (or Mods) that will prolongate the life of the project. It also grants permission for use this into other projects, providing a solid base for them, and focus primarily on content creation.

• Want to participate?

  Right now, the project needs model animators and level designer/modellers. If the project catched your interest and you have the skills to help us, please contact with us through PM or the forums.