What do you think of the Evening Star 2.5d Sonic prototype pictures?
I don't want to run my mouth too much, because I've talked about the things I've overheard before from people close to the subject and I expect people at Evening Star see that and frown (both at me, and at each other).
And what I'd heard is there were at least some people, in the days before they became Evening Star, that were worried about becoming Sega's next Sonic sweat shop (a known problem). I don't know if that person was speaking for the whole team, but it sounded like they wanted to keep Sega at arm's length if they could. And, wouldn't you know it, eventually it was revealed that Evening Star's first game was not a Sonic game. They did something else.
But then we got word, either right before Sonic Superstars or right after, that Sega and Evening Star did actually try to make a Sonic Mania 2 work, and for unknown reasons, they couldn't get the project off the ground. But there was no bad blood.
And to me, that feels like trying to get out ahead of the stupid fanboy assumption that Sega somehow resents Evening Star for "making the best Sonic Game" and wanted revenge. I've heard that before, from many different people, and it always sounds crazy to me. Sega wants money. Sega likes money. Sega is not going to be upset or angry if something you make for them brings in a lot of money.
But seeing Christian Whitehead and Takashi Iizuka together also feels like a response to the things I've said, because I can assure you, they came from a very real place. It's not a "I heard from a guy who heard from a guy who heard from a guy" sort of thing.
And it's like, okay, what is this? To me, this is a playable prototype game. Evening Star has done this before; the original pitch for Sonic Mania was apparently a game actually called "Sonic Discovery" and featured a fully playable Studiopolis Zone. It is reasonable to assume that what we're looking at here is a fully playable pitch for Sonic Mania 2, featuring one zone -- this Australian type world.
The rest of the post by Christian Whitehead suggests that this Mania 2 pitch prototype became Sonic Superstars, and Sonic Superstars does indeed credit Sonic Mania's Retro Engine for some part of its code, even though the game was built and runs inside of Unity.
Obviously, Evening Star are Sonic fans. I do think they would want to continue working with Sega, even if they were skittish of some things. I think there are one of two likely outcomes:
Evening Star outlined a budget for Sonic Mania 2 that was significantly more than Sega was willing to pay. Evening Star knew what they were worth and tried to get Sega to go bigger for the next game. Sega did not accept that offer.
Sega gave Evening Star a contract that would have locked them into a multi-game deal and they did not like the feel of that, because they were too afraid of becoming "The Other Sonic Team."
Christian Whitehead posting this sort of feels like throwing Sega under the bus. Because while Sonic Superstars was not a bad game, it was extremely underwhelming. It was like, Sonic 4: Episode 3 in all the most derogatory ways. A $20 Xbox Live Arcade game slapped on a $60 disc. Plenty of weird, sloppy, clumsy ideas and overall, really flat, lifeless art direction.
Whereas Christian Whitehead's pitch images... like, we don't know what the game plays like, but just right away, the art direction is INCREDIBLY strong. That's a game with an identity. I want to play that level more than anything in Sonic Superstars. Any complaints I had about the lighting and contrast in Sonic Superstars are not an issue there. It looks gorgeous.
And, as it turns out, it sounds gorgeous, too. Tee Lopes has since removed this track from his Youtube channel, but he apparently composed a song for this pitch prototype:
I assume he had to take it down because maybe Sega owns it now and he doesn't have permission to post it anymore, even if it's something he composed.
Ultimately the thing is I wouldn't expect anything to come from this. Evening Star sounds like they're staffing up for another project right now -- they're looking for people who are good with anime-style designs, not Sonic characters. This Sonic Mania 2 pitch prototype stuff is what could have been, and what will probably never come to pass.
It's best to just let it go.
