Sonic Radiance is designed around the idea of what could have been a GBA/DS Sonic RPG. It's inspired by the Sonic Advance saga (especially SAdv3 and Battle), but also by the DS titles.
It also aim to replicate a bit the kind of RPG that where on these console, especially the Pokemon ones (RSE, FRLG, DPP, HGSS, PMD, etc), by having a world offering a lot of stuff to discover and explore, while having a storyline that is simple, yet have stuff to tell.
Samewise, the gameplay aim to not be overly complexe, the game should be easy to pickup and play, but with stuff for people that are ready to get more inside the game. The main story shoudln't be too long to complete for an RPG, but there should be more to do after it.
General game design
The Game is a turn-based RPG, where character can do multiple action per turn.
Overworld gameplay
The overworld will be a top-down zelda-inspired map system, where you can use the different capacities of characters to move in maps. The overworld will aim to give the player a sense of reward for getting somewhere, with some puzzle and mini-challenge.
The character should also be able to take damage on the map, and damage should affect the whole team, adding the possibility of dying on the overworld.
Battle System
The Battle System is a turn-based, Chronicles inspired battle system. Character have QTE in their attacks, making the battle more dynamic. If the player manage to win the QTE, the attack will continue and/or be more powerfull.
It'll also affect the battle ranking and its rewards.
Quest and story design
The game should be semi-linear, meaning that you have a main quest that advance with time, but with possibilities to do side quest, and some of the main quest, with more freedom.
The story take place on a somewhat isolated Island, and is inspired by the Adventure and Advance eras stories. The lore will be created for this story, but will aim to be somewhat connected to some other elements of the universe.
The aim of the story is to combine the strenght of a Sonic Adventure-style game and from a RPG. The main difference with Sonic Adventure here is that as the game is an RPG, all or most characters have to be part of a same team, instead of having too much of parrallel stories. The idea would be instead of having quest that would be part of different story arcs.
Main Quests
The main quests will be the quest revolving about the mysteries of Moonstone Island, driven by the characters. The main quests aim to keep the concept of having a "final story" after completing all main stories by having two kind of main quests :
-
A linear set of main story quests (sometime with two~three objectives to do in any order, but not a lot) that'll go until a "pseudo-final boss" (some equivalent of classic "Sonic Story final boss" like Egg Viper, Egg Wyvern or Egg Dragoon). This set of main story quest would be the equivalent to a combination of Sonic, Tails and Amy storyarc in a more "conventionnal" Sonic Game.
-
A set of semi-mandatory arcs that would serve to unlock the final quests. Sometimes they might halt the progress in order to avoid the player to be too OP for the quest ? These quest would be the equivalent of Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge stories in a more "conventionnal".
-
After all other main story quest are finished, the last story quests can advance. It's a set of final quest that'll aim to tie all the stories together and to finish all plot points.
Support quests
When you have some character, you'll be able to unlock Support Quest. The quest would have mandatory characters, and the quest would aim to work on their relationships and personnalties.
Gameplay
Battlesystem
Characters
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Amy Rose
- Knuckles the Echidna
- Shadow the Hedgehog
- Rouge the Bat
- Espio the Chameleon
- Cream the Rabbit
Story