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My newest project, hitherto known as "The Next Game", has been in development for over eighteen months now, and has been restarted three times. Hopefully the end product, if it ever appears, will make all the effort worthwhile. Ladies and gentlemen, let us take a highly preliminary look at Sonic Ultra X!

Section Contents

History
Features
Level Design

History
I has originally intended to create Sonic Ultra X (abbreviated to SU4, for obvious reasons) in MMF, using my own 'static engine'. My first attempt was rather pitiful, and after a month or two, I decided to start from scratch. This was no major loss; all I had at that point was a half-finished, slow and buggy engine.

My next attempt was also created in MMF. Things went slightly better this time. The engine actually worked, and there were a number of nice features implemented. Click here to download the unfinished MMF edition. Everything from the second MMF edition is in here. Try waiting at the title screen, and also try pressing CTRL when you're running at full speed. I would have continued with this version, too, if it hadn't been so s-l-o-w. Using animated backgrounds is not a good idea in MMF. :-) It was at this point I decided to leave MMF and switch to C.


The second MMF edition

Prior to beginning SU4, I had experimented a little with Allegro - the Allegro Low Level Game Routines. Allegro provided an easy method for DOS programmers using C or C++ to write games, without having to spend time writng drivers for different hardware. I decided to employ the library in SU4.

I actually got some way into the development of the first C/Allegro instalment. I had an engine with most of the basic features implemented, but without all the annoyances of MMF. My only problem was that 256-colour DOS games are never anything special, and are a pain to develop. I switched to 16-bit colour, then to 24-bit, and finally added support for 32-bit colour. Finally, I ported the whole thing to Windows. This was the point at which the project died an unfortunate death. All these transitions had taken their toll, especially the final port to Windows. The underlying code for the Windows version of Allegro differs substantially from its DOS counterpart. The upshot of all this was that the code had become very messy, making updates difficult. Also, somewhat more importantly, the framerate had halved. I did managed to speed things up a bit, but I decided that, on the whole, it would be better to start from scratch. You can download the unfinished (and very buggy) C/Allegro version here.


The first C edition

So I did just that, and, archiving the old source, I started afresh. So far, all that's done is half an animation editor and a tiny portion of the level editor, but the code is much cleaner this time, and the graphics routnines are considerably faster (I'm using page flipping instead of double buffering). This project is going to take quite some time to complete, if indeed it ever is ever completed. I plan to cut development time, however, by delegating the task of level design. See the Level Design section for more details.

Features
Very little of the current edition of SU4 has been finished, or even started, but here's a summary of the planned features: If some of this seems a little fanciful to you, then you're probably right. I have this annoying tendency to make big plans and end up with a modest game, rather than the other way around. But, hey, you never know - I may just surprise myself! :-)

Level Design

Example level splash screen

Players of my previous games will be aware of just how awful I am at level design. Unsurprisingly, I loathe the task. And it takes far too long. It suddenly struck me one day that it would make sense to get people who actually enjoy it, and moreover, are good at it, to design levels. So, in SU4, I intend to delegate the task of level designing. Full credit, including e-mail and site URL if requested, will be given to desginers whose levels are used, both when the level starts and in the final credits.