Sonic 2 HD

[Rökkan]

SO ABOUT SONIC 2 HD AGAIN.

The forums at Sonic Retro have a section so that you can help with the project and also ask the ones that are most involved with it how the development is going.

(And yes, the game will have a lot more than just HD graphics and music, as it'll also have Hidden Palace Zone, online play and leaderboards. Other than that, not any other extra feature is entirely confirmed, but a bunch of ideas are being pitched, and some will likely be in. Just to name a couple of them - extra Special Stages, including an "Endless" mode and the inclusion of the other scrapped zones - like Wood Zone and Dust Hill)

So apparently the development is coming along really really well - and fast:

It has been two years and until we see a development blog to indicate their progress in more detail we have to assume (on our outdated information) that the team has the alpha-engine almost complete (given they stated they almost made the alpha release date) and from recalling some notes from the team members on the boards two zones (out of a total of eleven) are almost complete. At this speed we're looking at (using calculations based on the game's progress over the last two years) a projected, optimistic release date of January 2020.

I've seen something along these lines posted a few times, and I feel it should be addressed. It is understandable that you would think that this game won't be released by 2020, I thought the same thing before I joined staff. I was drawn to the project with hopes that I could help speed the production along, because it seemed like little to no progress was being made from the outside perspective. That was a year ago, and while that concern was valid back then, I can tell you that production has exponentially increased since then. You could almost say this project was reborn in the year 2010, because every single asset has been redone for the better. You may see it as a waste of time, but all of the art assets from many different artists put together just didn't fit as a whole. I think we can all agree that we want this game to be the best it can be, and we want the art to look completely amazing and blow people away, so in the end the small wait will be beneficial to all.

That's why we made it a priority to finalize an art style, one that gelled together well while keeping in spirit with the Official Art at the same time. After we finalized that art style, we flew through the rest of the assets, and will continue to do so. Sonic's whole frameset was done in a matter of months, all while adding extended animations (hundreds of frames). HillTop Zone was completely redone from scratch in under a month, compared to Who Knows How Long it Took Zone, aka Emerald Hill Zone. This trend will continue on into all further work we produce as the staff members get even more comfortable with the new art style. We have found our groove, production is going faster than ever, there were just a few speed bumps along the way that have been ironed out.

Most of the staff devote practically all of their free time to the project, all while living our real lives on the side. This project has become a second life for us, and we are trying to please as many people as possible. I genuinely appreciate you voicing your concerns, and I hope I've helped you to understand that things aren't coming along as slowly as they might first appear.