#stagger engine

another Stagger thing

have fun looking at this on mobile lol

her name isn't going to be shade in this story because of kenpenderisms, but the idea of another echidna clan is taken directly from sonic chronicles for this.

also instead of having weird sci-fi armor, I'm making this echidna clan have a cultural style that parallels the knuckles clan style. which is Maori, because it's ocean based, and this game takes place in an underwater ruin, and it's criminal that the only bit of Polynesian culture is Jungle Joyride, considering how much the Sonic cast just finds little islands. (also I'm from New Zealand)

I think it parallels Knuckles well, with the Knuckles clan being the Mountains, and the (rename nocturnus) clan being the ocean

WIP that probably wont be finished, but the Sonic Stagger Engine takes place in an abandoned ancient mega city that was built underwater, similar to atlantis, the game starts off on an egg fleet in space, that sonic and team destroys and it falls onto earth, the destruction of it opened up an entrance to the ancient city, also activating a core that explodes and shoots a beam into angel island, shattering it and sending the pieces into the city aswell,

Idea for the Stagger Engine

the game is a 3d platformer metroidvania, there are warp rings that take you to stages, in the stage, there are wisps, you can only use a wisp in the main world when you have freed a wisp in a stage. and the wisp can then give you the ability to get to the special stage rings hidden in the main world. entering a special ring would then give you the emerald and a new ability, the special stages are all about escaping quickly, the only thing that's scored is time. the emerald challenge level is entirely focused on the new ability.

also every time you free a new wisp, it'll let you know that you can now find and use that wisp power by showing a little popup on every wisp you haven't used before

retrying a special stage costs rings that you earn by completing a stage, every retry costs more and more rings until you get kicked out, and you lose the emerald. you get kicked back out to the last saved checkpoint with 0 rings. you either have to search around the open world for rings in the platforming areas, or redo a stage to earn more rings as a backup for failing. but either way, you have to do the platforming challenge again just to get back to the emerald ring.

also enemies in the main world that are close to a special ring will have that ability. with there being enemies that try to stomp onto you and crush you when near a blue emerald (I haven't actually decided on what emerald gives you what ability yet, this is just a random example)

seaside hill will be the first level in the Stagger engine!

(edit): no it wont

I really like when water in Sonic is fun, so of course I want to mess around with water stuff asap, and seaside hill has always been my favourite stage because nostalgia, Heroes always my favorite (only) Sonic game as a kid, it's the best Generations level, the music is SO GOOD and it is a completely blank slate with lore, so I get to do some Sonic world building!! :D

also the inside of the temple is water palace from sonic rush, so I get to do some fun indoor level design like hydrocity has!! :D

Shade the Echidna redesign for the Sonic Stagger Engine thing, because I couldn't help but write a story for it

Omega for Sonic Ivory

also played around with Blender a bunch and WOAH LOOK COOL IVORY SHADOW (and Stagger engine model) both are just edited from the DS Olympic games, forgot which one lol

playstyle chart for Sonic Stagger Engine

the vertical playstyle is alot more about climbing high, tails' moveset allows him to go up significantly moe than knuckles, and amy has much higher jumps, and a hammer spin slowfall. amy's wallspin lets her move upwards, instead of forwards like sonic's. vertical levels are less about speed, and more about discovery

the horizontal playstyle is alot more about going forward, sonic's run keeps him charging through a stage at high speeds. and knuckles' glide (functioning like ray's glide) gets him across gaps, more than it does get him up to high skips.

both playstyles allow for both fast vertical and horizontal platforming, but one moveset will always be better for one than the other. for bigger levels, maybe there could be a tag team system, where you switch from sonic to may mid level, to get to someplace high, fast, before you switch back to sonic.

Wisps function like elemental shields, getting hit doesnt cause you to lose rings, but it also removes the wisp entirely, they also have their actions bound to R2, and stop you from being able to use your insta shield

you can collect wisps, some have a meter and run out when an action drains from the meter, or the meter goes down over time, or you only lose the wisp when you take damage (these are the best ones). if you take a wisp to the end of a level, you get a color coin, you can add 3 of any kind to your Wisband, each color coin has a different upgrade that gets added as a passive effect, there arent upgrades for all of the wisps, but some wisps will give you the same type of coins, some coins are more overpowered and can take up 2 slots on the band (you get 3 slots), speed and flight characters have slightly different changes to their upgrades, but the all function the same over characters in the same type, so sonic and amy would have the same wisband upgrades, but the same color coin would be changed to a different upgrade that suits the flight moveset for knuckles and tails

Wisps ==

Boost Wisp, functions like normal boost (action drain)

Drill Wisp, functions like knuckles' battle dig attack; you go underground, you cant see yourself, but there's a little drop shadow for where you are, symbolizing you're underground, the longer you go underground, the higher youll shoot out of it when you surface. you can use this dig to quickly avoid obstacles, or for example, there's a hallway with laser gates completely blocking the way through, you can dig under to bypass that (I hate locking paths off by powerup, so maybe that'll just be an introduction area that teaches how the wisp works) it can also be used the same way on walls and cielings, and it can be used as a slam that does more damage the higher you fall from (damage drain)

Laser Wisp, shows a reticle on the wall your facing, and it will teleport you there, it has a set distance, but you can use it to skip wallspin sections, it also uses the homing reticle and keeps the lazer beam in the entering direction, it can also rebound off of enemies to do a lightspeed attack but you have to aim it differently, it works a lot like shadow's chaos shift ability in sonic dream team (action drain)

Burst Wisp, gives you a dire dash, it shoots you in the direction you hold, if you hold no direction, it bursts up this also keeps your momentum, you can also hold it to charge, giving you a bigger burst, you can charge 3 times, a 3x burst uses all 3 of your normal bursts, but it launches you as high as 4, and a 2x burst, launches you as high as 3, so it could be good to do 1x burst upwards, then a 2x burst forwards sometimes (damage drain)

Spike Wisp, makes sonic's jumpball bigger and does 3 damage, also increases the damage done by spinblade, and makes wallspin lossless, so you dont lose height, its parallel. it also keep ALL of sonic's momentum up an incline or wall when curled, as opposed to before where you lose all of your momentum and traction in a ball (damage drain)

Hover Wisp, when held down, sonic floats, he keeps his momentum, but he loses it slowly over time, you can pair this with different moves to change the trajactory, like doing it right fter a bounce to go upwards fast, or after a ring rush (action drain)

Cube Wisp, alters the slam attack to make a shockwave, the shockwave freezes all enemies in cubes, the cubes make them take more damage, also, just having the shield can turn blue rings into platforms, when you get close enough (damage drain)

Eagle Wisp, gives sonic the flight characters glide (time drain)

Lightning Wisp, allows you to create a burst of lightning that staggers all enemies, also doing a homing attack does damage to surrounding enemies because of the lightning burst, and the magnetizes silver rings as an idle effect, but it sucks up gold rings caught inside the burst, this is so that you can still use a neccesary ring rush without ruining it, just because you have a wisp (time drain)

Ghost Wisp, lets you walk through enemies without taking damage, it can also phase through walls that would normally only be able to be broken by knuckles or amy, and obstacles like spikes (time drain)