Characters: The Thief Kings

Some of you followers may be wondering why I've been writing up some of the smaller plot-centric characters lately, and the reasons pretty simply actually. There are a lot of hedgehogs, and I was feeling that it was a little tiring when I did all three in a row. They were similar characters in  lot of respects, which is not a bad thing, but I wanted to stretch out the other characters and not get caught up in similarity of design with the hedgehog characters. Which is why today I'm tackling the most complex (programming and animation-wise) of the characters, The three-in-one character known as The Thief Kings. I'll be dead honest, no matter how "cool" they turn out, if any characters are given the axe (and it will happen) I'd give this "character" the highest likelihood of going, as they aren't heavily needed in the game and represent a high level of development complexity. Still, nothing like rounding out the character log with some really wild ideas.

Characters: Tails the Fox

Wow, it's been a full 11 days since I last managed a post on here! Sorry guys, been busy. Anyway, this time I'll be going over the character designs for none other then Tails the Fox, that classic two-tailed vulpine hailing all the way from Sonic 2 on the Sega Genesis. Now, the key difference in characterization this time around is that Tails is actually working against Sonic in this game rather then with him. As Captain of the Atlantian Air Corp, he's duty bound to obey the orders of the Chancellor, and does so throughout the game, serving as a foil to the heroes. To acknowledge this key difference, Tails is going to be a bit different this time around. Like Silver, he's going to be a lot more mature and a bit older. His design will also be much more militarized and slightly darker, as he's playing for the other side this time around.

Characters: Espio the Chameleon

Wow. It's only been six days since my last post here, but it feels like its been a lot longer. A lot longer. Anyway, after last weeks brief discussion of the visuals (which really surprised me in that there were no comments for or against the new art direction outlined)  I'm returning this week to characters, starting with a lesser known fan favorite: Espio of the Chaotix. So get ready to see how his unique style fits into the game. But first, I would like to throw out an alert. Sterling Verses, a Sonic-themed podcast, has hinted that SatLoA might come up during it's second season. If you've never heard of Sterling, give it a listen and a bit of leeway. It starts a little rough, but you can see that the crew is committed to making it work, and the show gets better and better as the season goes on. By the time they reach the first season finale, you can tell that they're getting used to the way things work and the order of the show. If you're a Sonic fan (and since you're here, I'm assuming you may be) give it a listen. Now, on with the design...

Visual Design: The Look of the World and Game

No, I'm not done with character designs, I just thought you guys might want to see a little something different. That and it's nice to do something different for a little bit. Anyway, you guys might be wondering what Visual design is, as I have already referenced the setting of the world. Visual design is the colors and graphical style that the game will use. This covers things such as the color palette of the game and levels as well as the graphic animation, modeling, textures, shading, etc. As you can probably guess, I'm not going with a style that Sonic has seen before.

Characters: Knuckles the Echidna

 Sorry it's been a few days. I've been busy with a lot of other stuff...some imperitive, some not so much (although I will say that the Halo: Reach beta offers a lot of change from the classic Halo design that I welcome). Regardless, I've been wanting to get back this as soon as possible to continue with this design. Although currently it is not quite as exciting (lets face it, I'm simply modifying characters that already exist to suit this game) as entirely new content or characters (of which Sonic has enough for now) even slight modifications can bring about some real difference, such as with my reference to Halo: Reach. Anyway, why am I talking here? I should be letting you read up on Knuckles! Oh yes, still calling for concept art if you'd like to give it a go. Oh, and if you know anyone who would be interested in this site, let them know! The more feedback I have the better! Anyway, on with the designs!