Demo 3.0 OST: Aquatic Ruin Zone Act 1

Presenting an early look at the soundtrack for the next S2HD release:

Aquatic Ruin Zone Act 1
By eph

September 2019 Progress Report

Hi everyone! It's been a while since last update, time for a new progress report!

Thanks to programmers: Victor Lopez, Stephen Osborne, and our new addition to the team, Amy Wright, Aquatic Ruin Zone & Special Stage implementations have made significant progress lately. We have also been able fix a multitude of bugs thanks to your valuable feedback on the demo! See below a tech demo on the Special Stage rendering so far:

On the art side, Corral Summer and Mike Harvey have been focusing on the ARZ foreground tiles and background layering, which is nearing game import of the final assets.

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Meanwhile, Vincent and Leo Cirius are hard at work on the production of a full set of epic animations for Super Sonic! We also have some other surprises in the works that we can't wait to share, so please stay tuned for the next release!

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A SUPER Update!

Now that the focus of development is squarely on new features and experiences for future releases, it's time to show where some of our effort has been directed! In the character art space there's been a lot of progress lately, so strap yourselves in for a SUPER update!

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Character Art: Super Sonic

Now that S2HD has entered phase 3 of production we have moved on to new targets for development. Goals for phase 3 include new zones, game modes, and characters. One of the the new jobs we have been most excited get onto, of course, is Super Sonic! So without further ado we present the brand new character designs for Super Sonic:

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Staff Attack! Mike Harvey

Did you like the animations in our 2.0 demo?
Are you ready for a peek behind the scenes on what made them so great?
Today the spotlight is on our environmental and enemy animator, Mike Harvey, in a new instalment of Staff Attack!
Enjoy.

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January 2018 Progress Update

Team S2HD would like send a huge 'thank you' to everyone who downloaded and played our 2.0 release! Seeing your reactions and messages of support has been an amazing source of joy and encouragement. In particular we would like to thank all of you who have reported any issues or bugs you may be encountering with the demo. Currently a patch is in the works which fixes many of these issues; also included are improved physics, overhauled object art and more. The project has now entered 'phase 3' with work on Aquatic Ruin Zone well under way. You can find some of the relevant concept work for this stage below:

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Sonic 2 HD Demo 2.0 is here!

The time has come -- please visit sonic2hd.com to download the demo release! As Sonic 2 HD is very much a work-in-progress, you may encounter bugs while playing. We have found plenty in our testing and have done what we can to squash them, but our small team can't find them all on our own. You can help us improve the experience further by letting us know what you found. We hope you enjoy playing this first taste of Sonic 2 HD as much as we have enjoying building it. Thank you all for your support!

A Very Special Announcement

Today Team S2HD makes a very special announcement:

By the fans, for the fans.
sonic2hd.com

Concept Showcase: Chemical Plant Zone tiles

Today we present the first entry in our new Concept Showcase series! This week: Chemical Plant Zone tiles.

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Visual Changelog: Rexon

Rexon was one of the pieces we have been working hard at S2HD from the beginning and has been fully reworked from his Alpha. Extra care was taken in this revision, as we wanted to preserve the base, while updating it where necessary. Enjoy!

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Making Of: Hill Top Zone Boss Flamethrower

Today we present another time-lapse video, showing the creation of various assets of the Hill Top Zone boss, including its flamethrower.

Staff Attack: Corral Summer

In this latest Staff Attack! we draw our attention to Corral Summer, sprite and level artist.

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S2HD Q2 2016 Progress Report

While we've shown a lot of our work through visual changelogs and time-lapse videos since the project's revival, we've never really given a full progress report on where the project is at, and how close we are to another release. So for this reason, we've decided to provide you with some details on the things we've most recently working on and how the project is travelling.

The vectoring of the Chemical Plant Zone background is now finally complete. This has been our primary focus and one of our core goals lately. We are especially proud of this accomplishment since a large portion of the background, particularly the lower section, has been redesigned from scratch. We have used a multiple stage process in the creation of this background, as per the image below, starting with various lineart concepts from Nerkin. Once a particular design has been approved, the lineart will be colored and subsequently vectored by our level artists. Now that the Chemical Plant Zone background has been fully vectored, all that remains on the level art end of things for the next release are some minor bits and pieces for Hill Top Zone and adding animations to the CPZ background.

The development of one of the towers from the middle section of the CPZ background. Click image for full size.

Recently, we have brought onboard a new programmer, named Lake-Ishikawa, who has made some incredible progress on the implementation of the Special Stage physics and game mechanics. This is a very promising development. We've also seen some substantial work being done on asset creation for the pause menu and Nerkin's creative genius at work in some main menu concepts. This is an aid to providing you with the most polished release experience possible. Other recent work includes progress from Toni Leys on tracks for Hill Top Zone Act 2 and the Options Menu, superb animated artwork for the Hill Top Zone boss flamethrower and other fiery projectiles, and some work on enemy animations, with only one remaining for the next release.

Some of our immediate goals include animating Tails, importing the Chemical Plant Zone Background, and further refining and developing the engine. Stay tuned for more development updates!

-Team S2HD

Some Exciting News!

Today we have some BIG news to share! Yes, you read that right. The anticipation has been building to this one moment, so without further adieu: We are incredibly excited to announce Big's Fishing Adventure 2 HD!

Join Big the Cat on his quest to catch the most fish he can while he searches for his best pal, Froggy. This journey will take you across all the zones you know and love in Sonic 2, allowing you to explore the world like never before!

Our artists are thrilled to be using their talents to create something entirely original, and we can't wait to get this game into the hands of our fans in 2092. Stay tuned for more updates on this very exciting project!