SWIFTY SWAMP ZONE thumbnail
🎴Swifty Swampv Zone🎴
The sixth and final thumbnail concept I made. Admittedly this concept has the least amount of influences but it's still fun.
Now that the revolution has been stomped
we can now run amok at the swamp in..
Metal Marz ref sheet
Speaking of my sona, did you ever notice how familiar the hands holding those rayguns are? Curious indeed.
My color palette
The color palette is mainly my default colors I use for my personal sona stuff. I use this for everything related to that retro aesthetic.
Primary colors are my favorite.
I was also inspired a bit by the music video for Rock the House by Gorillaz. The red, white and blue star spangled design of the visuals played a bit of role on how the stage looked. Not entirely but just enough.
youtu.be/lRlmM88zzbY?...
Those songs being Panic, The Dirty Side of the Street, and Beatophone. Panic especially with it's sample of "I will never free you. Hand in hand." Feels very Sonic CD.
Panic - youtu.be/7jb6huzmTfE?...
The Dirty Side of the Street - youtu.be/_u_dWC9wL3M?...
Beatophone - youtu.be/FPjJW5iTFN0?...
The sound for this stage comes from the same source for my robo sona, and that source being Caravan Palace.
Actually a bit of their music was the driving force for me to produce this concept. Three songs in particular had the feeling I wanted of whimsical/sinister.
I think having multiple pieces attack you would feel overwhelming, but also exciting if executed in the right way.
That's how I would make this stage. You are one hedgehog against this Robotnik Revolution (Maybe that should be the stage name instead lol)
If you were to play this stage, I would want it to feel like you are being oppressed and battling the stage as a whole.
Jumping on exploding rockets, dodging raygun laser beams, outrunning giant marching robots, and taking down the stage as if it were a big enemy itself.
it later dawned on me that this retro sci-fi aesthetic was a really good fit for Eggman. The iconography it has could be read as whimsical to sinister under the right framing.
You just needed to place the right pieces on the board.
How would I apply this Sonic? Well this actually came from the question of "How would I approach an Eggman level?"
I knew for a fact I wanted his stage to have a visual design that was pretty different from the rest of the stages. Something striking but too out of line for this project.
Metal Marz banner image
If you've followed me for awhile, then it's no secret that I've been playing with this look for while. Mostly with my robo sona Metal Marz.
Safe to say, it's a look that I'm pretty familiar with to make a concept for with Sonic, and perhaps some other projects in the future. We'll see.
Picture of my retro robot related collection
I love stuff like this so much. Especially the robot tin toy designs. If it's got a wind-up key, then I'm game.
So one of my favorite aesthetics in recent years is the retro sci-fi aesthetic. More specifically the Raygun Gothic, Space Age, and Atompunk subgenres of Retro Futurism.
From shapes. to bright colors. to design motifs, and to the overall charm of the aesthetic for me.
This thread is kicking my ass, but I hope y'all enjoy me putting my thoughts out there on full display
RETRO RAYGUN ZONE thumbnail
🤖Retro Raygun Zone🤖
This is the fifth stage I made, and it came very easily to me since this is my aesthetic through and through.
Now that the festival is done
Let's march with our ray guns into...
a shot from the Steven Universe opening
The colors in the thumbnail are just a healthy mix of blues and greens. Mainly to keep things simple despite the many colors you would see in some of these festive settings.
I don't have a palette for this, but I was very influenced by this shot in the Steven Universe opening.
The sound for Flight Festival wasn't figured out until I finished the concept. When I was listening back to more Pizzicato Five music, I relistened their song It's A Beautiful Day.
That song has such a cheery bright sound that had also used bells in the instruments. I went, "WAIT THIS WORKS!"
Singing bowls photograph
Though, as I was drawing the bells hanging, I felt that I could turn them upside down for a more interesting visual. I learned that Singing Bowls are sometimes referred as Standing Bells or Inverted Bells.
So it worked out in my favor artistically
The idea of bells in this festive frenzy of fun actually didn't come from music at first, it actually came from the Philanthropy Belfry (Hotaru Futaba's stage) from Garou: Mark of the Wolves.
I just always thought it was a nice looking stage. it's as simple as that really.
Church bells photograph
That's my way of combining these objects into one level
However there's one thing I haven't touched on. it's the one thing that helps tie into the festival theming, and gives the stage it's sound.
BELLS
Early Flight Festival Concept
Here's an old sketch I made on how I would construct this level by acts.
Act 1 is set during daytime with balloons and kites
Act 2 is set during the evening with hot air balloons and hang gliders
Act 3 is set during nighttime with sky lanterns and fireworks
Washington State International Kite Festival Photo
Hot air balloons photo at the Cappadocia sunrise
Releasing sky lanterns in Wiang Tha Kan
Fireworks at the Eiffel Tower
From regular balloons, hot air balloons, sky lanterns, kites, to even fireworks. These stood out to me a lot, to where I wanted to fit them into one cohesive package.
The festival part of the name was due to how we sometimes see folks celebrate special events by either throwing things into the air or setting them afloat.
On that, I wanted to showcase a variety of objects that are airborne to display celebratory events.
Screenshot from Owlboy
I've always liked a good sky centric level in video games. Like Altitude Limit from Sonic Rush, Skyloft from Zelda Skyward Sword, and the setting of Vellie from Owlboy.
Owlboy especially so, due to it's beautiful pixel art environments.
FLIGHT FESTIVAL ZONE thumbnail
🔔Flight Festival Zone🔔
The fourth stage concept i made, but in truth this is actually the oldest idea I've had since I was in high school.
Jill from ENDLESS FANTASIA
Finally got around to drawing fanart of Jill from ENDLESS FANTASIA. Her design is super fun and I was hyped when I saw her Vorpal Sword design. I'll get around to drawing Jack and some others soon.
Can't wait to see more of this comic from @danny8bit.bsky.social
I'm taking a break from the thread since I've been posting for hours. I'll pick it back up tomorrow cuz I'm TIRED
