I hope everyone is excited for Halloween, I know I am. To help you get into the mood we’ve got some spooky Sonic Unleashed updates in both website and video form. Our US Sonic Unleashed website has seen a small makeover to show off some Halloween flair, I won’t spoil it for you, but do check it out for yourself! Next, we have a special teaser trailer for our upcoming CG movie, Night of the Werehog! The teaser is … well, a teaser. Look for the full movie soon.

Outside of Halloween-y updates, we’ve got two new Sonic Unleashed trailers going up today for Wii and Next Gen systems. The videos feature new footage from Chu-nan and Mazuri levels with both Sonic and the Werehog. Check em out on our Youtube page! (currently uploading, check back shortly!)

Lastly, we’ll have another blog going up today talking about the Hedgehog engine, written by Yoshihisa Hashimoto, the Project Lead for Sonic Unleashed. It’s a great read and we’ve even got some special screenshots showing off the Hedgehog engine in action.

I hope everyone has a great Halloween, be safe and have fun!

Hello to all Sonic fans!
My name is Yoshihisa Hashimoto and I am the project leader of “Sonic Unleashed” in the Sonic Team, Sega’s development studio in Japan. While managing the production of the Sonic Unleashed as a Game Director and Lead Game Designer, I also supervise, as Technical Director, the Hedgehog Engine which is critical in ensuring the high quality graphic images of Sonic Unleashed

In this 2nd issue of the Developer’s Diary, I am going to introduce you to the following topics.
* Sonic Unleashed which made a big advance in Sonic game play
*”Hedgehog Engine” which generates beautiful and impressive graphic images

[New Sonic Concept]
Sonic Unleashed offers many catchy features, and one of the most outstanding is the game play of Sonic the Hedgehog himself. The Art Director Sachiko Kawamura and I have participated in the development of many Sonic games for over 10 years since Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure2. During that time, we’ve seen a lot of Sonic games being developed and released. But we always felt that something was wrong.

I kept asking myself “Is this the Sonic the fans really want to see?” It looked to me that Sonic was tied on a heavy chain, taken away his freedom. I could hear his cry; “I want to run faster! I want to run freely!”

For years to come as I worked steadily to build my career at Sonic Team for Sega, I kept my belief that “The True Sonic the Hedgehog can be a lot better!” Then, in 2005, I was accosted and asked by the Producer, Akinori Nishiyama “Would you like to produce the next Sonic?” This when the new chapter of Sonic has began.

I started straight off to think what is needed to make the real Sonic. And I found the answer pretty quickly. Actually, I already had my answers in my head since I’d been always thinking about what “ideal” Sonic was.

· Sonic is all about speed. Without it, he is not Sonic. So put absolute priority on the sense of speed and let him dash non-stop on the trackless routes.

· Take in and Improve the classic “Side-Scroll Sonic” from Genesis. It will surely attract old Sonic fans.

· However, Do not end up with only an ordinary side-scroll game. Because it will be nothing more than a “Nostalgic Sonic”. We wanted to make a “Ultimate Sonic”.

· Keep the 3D game play that progress towards the back of the screen, which was adapted since Sonic Adventure. 3D is absolutely essential to give the sense of speed and the punchy presence. 3D Sonic can be very entertaining if made right. Rather, we go further into the 3D ( 3rd person ) Sonic direction.

· By comparing 3D/ 2D, 2 completely different game plays take only the good stuffs from both, discarding the demerits. And then we mix those 2 parts seamlessly will result in a stage that changes rapidly and dynamically.
The gameplay that offers all advantages from both 2D and 3D.

· We keep Platformings too: Speed can be appreciated more with the slower-pitched areas.

· *To realize the non-stop-supersonic-running action, revise the control. and prepare (develop) a new speed action mechanism.

· Prepare amazing visual images with rich presence so that the player can sync with Sonic.

· “New Sonic” would be born from the set of these key concepts.

[Unleash Sonic the Hedgehog!]
So we started on the prototype of new Sonic. First, we needed some new control mechanism to realize the “non-stop super sonic running action”. I came up with the following new action mechanism:
・Quick Step
・Ring Energy

Usually, the player moves in a 3D gameplay using the left stick in the, but since it’s analogue, it limits user’s move to linear directions. Sonic dashes at the supersonic speed. So it is difficult to let him to run non-stop within a complicated 3D environment by the left stick alone. We needed a system that allows sonic to move quickly and avoid the obstacles. That is “Quick Step”.

The control was quite simple: while running, all needed to do was to press either trigger with your right or left index finger.
This enabled Sonic to slide orthogonally to left and right and he could run through in the supersonic speed zipping through the obstacles in the 3D environment.

Next, I focused my attention to the rings, the item traditionally used in the sonic games. With rings, or even with one ring, Sonic can avoid the damages by the enemy. That was a fantastic system for fast action character such as Sonic, but I always felt it is a shame that collecting more than 2 rings makes little difference in the game play.

So I presented a new concept called “Ring Energy” in which collectin many rings is enjoyable and rewarded, marrying the concept of the ring and the speed. As more rings collected, more energy will be accumulated / pooled, and by consuming the rings, it also allowed Sonic to “Sonic Boost”, the fast accelerating feature. “Sonic Boost” also allows him to break the wall and the objects, and run quickly blasting the enemies. “Sonic Boost” is so refreshing and you will be addicted.

And then, the ring became more important in its role. More the rings (collected) , faster the Max speed Sonic can sprint, so Time Attack has really became hot! Moreover by using various actions such as “Sonic Drift”, ”Sliding”, ”Stomping”, ”Wall Jump”, ”Light Speed Dash”, we materialized our concept to “let him dash non-stop supersonic on the trackless route.”

Once the speed mechanism has is there, we moved onto the stage designs. The stage that sonic dashes through is designed to show the change the view rapidly from 3D to 2D every 15 to 30 seconds. On each 3D and 2D area, the course is carefully laid out with various geographical elements such as uphill, downhill, bank, loop, valley, wall, ceiling, floor, grind rail, spring and jump bumper.

In this title the speed in which player travels in game is actually multiplied compared past Sonic titles. Since he’s so fast, each action stage is as long as 10~20Km. Our artists worked so hard to put together these massive geography. And one day we finally saw Sonic running in these courses. Even though the control is pretty simple, Sonic runs around freely in the beautifully elaborate background in his super speed. Camera is looking good and the change between 2D/ 3D is pretty smooth and dynamic.

“Wow! This is so fun! And feels good!” All our staffs are excited too. Sonic is finally freed from the heavy chain and started shine in his true color. This is the moment when finally Sonic is Unleashed.

[Hedgehog Engine and its visual quality]
We also have “stunning visual beauty” as a major theme in Sonic Unleashed. I was not interested in making “average-quality visual” at all. I set the target of the visual quality to that of “pre-rendered CG animation” and wanted to achieve this goal in this title. Now that we have high-end hardwares such as Xbox 360 and PlayStation3, it’s the right time to achieve this goal. at

Back in 2005, I was able to see new games from other studios for Xbox360 and PlayStation3 and I remember always feeling that something was not right. “True, they’re looking better than past-gen games. But I feel something is missing.” “They are doing stuffs with Shadow Map, Normal Map, HDR… shaders and everything. Ok, lighting is richer. But it’s not blended enough. It just looks flat as a whole. I think the users’ expectation is much higher.” So we need graphics with “pre-rendered CG animation” level.

So I started thinking about what is need to achieve this; what does pre-rendered CGs have that game graphics lightings doesn’t? I went on to make it a habit to observe many games, a lot of pre-rendered graphics and real-life sceneries. As a result, I came to the conclusion that “the effect of light reflecting from one object to another” was what was completely lacking in gaming graphics. I realized that this was what I felt was “missing.”. This is a concept called “Global Illumination” in the field of pre-render CG.

After much struggle, we finally developed a Renderer that calculates Global Illumination by our 100% original algorithm. To cover the vast amount of calculation that needs to be processed, we also improvised a system that connects 100 PCs in the team to distribute the work load, which enabled us to complete all the lighting calculations for an action stage which goes as long as 10~20Km in 2,3 days.

At the same time, we developed a technology called Light Field, which used to ensure that the lightings on Sonic, enemies and objects are naturally blended to the background under Global Illumination environment. The result of Global Illumination and Light Field was brilliant. Graphics with the quality which was only a dream just a few years ago start to move before my eyes.
I remember watching the prototype graphics with my artists who worked on background and characters when their eyes started to glisten as they looked at the screen with such intensity. That’s when I became sure of our success.

As you all know, We have Sonic in Sonic Unleashed. The overall taste of graphic is rather cartoonish. Usually people don’t associate high-end visual technologies from these cartoony graphics. But we have set the ground to make the world-leading quality visuals that could be applied to the hardcore FPS or racing games with “real” taste.

We made no compromise in visual quality and/ or game mechanism. This is Sonic Unleashed.

[Back to Origin?]
I’ve been asked a lot of times if “Sonic is back to its origin” in interviews. My answer is always “No.” Sonic Unleashed has essence from Genesis, which is his origin. But it’s only one part of many charms of Sonic Unleashed. We are “learning from” “taking good bits of” origin but we are not “going back” at all. Actually, I wanted to “go beyond” the origin.

I’m confident that this one is so good that everyone will say “Sonic is back!”. This title has the best of SEGA, the passion of Sonic Team. I can’t wait the to have everyone see and play this newly unleashed Sonic. Stay tuned!

There will be more of the developer’s diary. So look forward to the next one, too!

Zombies, Brains, and Halloween – three great tastes that go great together… (If you’re one of the undead, anyway.)

This Halloween, we’ve got a special treat for all you House of the Dead Fans – a brand new video for House of the Dead: Overkill has just gone live at GameTrailers! Check it out and add a little fright to your day here!

Happy Halloween everyone! (And especially to you, Agent. G.)

Mark O’Connell and Kieran Brigden from Creative Assembly were in town last week to preview some gameplay from Empire: Total War. After seeing the release of the new campaign mode trailer, we watched a demonstration of a naval battle between the American and French fleets, with Keiran discussing the physics, tactics, and AI of the new Total War naval combat.

We got a chance to watch the virtual ships manuver to take advantage of wind and trap their targets, watched cannon balls rip through sails hull and crew, and saw the effects of morale as panic caused crews to dive off their burning ships in the futile hope that they might survive the open sea (spoiler: in Empire, all sailors die after they abandon ship).

Land combat was also demonstrated with a North African desert battle between the French and Turkish armies, which highlighted the flexibility of the AI general. As Mark’s Turkish forces maneuvered into a U-shape and tried to lure the french in a trap, the french cavalry was able to outflank and tie up the turks best troops and routed Mark’s army.

While we will be bringing you more details about Empire: Total War  game play soon, the real battle tactics demonstration took place out on the bay, as we split up to crew two 18th century tall ships, full size reproductions of the revolutionary war privateer the Lady Washington and a trading ship the Hawaiian Chieftain, and participated in a game of mock combat to learn more about naval combat.

Sailing out onto the San Francisco bay under perfect weather, we were pressed into service to man the lines and get the ship up to speed. We watched other ships clearing the area as the coast guard circled round to make sure our upcoming battle went undisturbed. As we reached the combat zone, the Hawaiian Chieftain kept it’s distance, and the captain of the Lady Washington explained the game they were playing.

Lesson 1: Wind

Both Keiran during his game demo, and the Captain of the Lady W. while maneuvering his ship on the bay, described position relative to the wind as equivalent to the effects of elevation in land combat. The more maneuverable Chieftain stayed far upwind and held the high ground, and the Lady W. had to wait downwind for the lighter ship to make it’s move. One advantage the Lady W. had was that it was a more “weatherly” ship and could sail harder into the wind if needed. When the Chieftain made it’s attack run and the two ships skirmished, this allowed the Lady W. to take the high ground and hold it until the end of the game.

Lesson 2: Cannon

Cannons are loud. Even the small 3 pound cannons and stern mounted swivel guns were deafening up close, and the shots (blanks) echoed for leagues over the bay. We learned that ships are weakest at the bow and stern, as a cannon ball will do a lot of damage if it crosses the length of a ship, so crossing closely in front or behind another ship allows you to do the most damage.

Lesson 3: Crew

Empire: Total War will have a crew experience system, and reward players who can keep their crews intact over a long campaign. The dueling on the water was all in good fun, but we did discuss their crew training.  We got to know a bit about the crew of the Lady Washington and the incredible “Two Weeks Before The Mast” program that turned many of them into sailors.

The crew were very diverse, and the main duties, other then keeping a tight ship, are to educate and entertain the public. The ships are run by the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority of Washington State, a not-for-profit historical preservation and education group.

“Two Weeks Before The Mast” is their intense volunteer training program. Although a smelly and sweaty two weeks on a tall ship is not for everyone, hundred of volunteers have gone through the program, and many stay on afterward as crew.  While volunteers have to pay for their two week expenses, this is still an incredible opportunity to learn about sailing and a good word from the program director can get you on crews sailing all over the world.

Check out the rest of our battle sail photos and keep an eye out for more news on Empire: Total War, as the game reaches it’s final stages we hope to bring you a lot more specifics about the nations, units and campaigns!