Hello everyone!
Time flies... It's been 12 years since the last version of Sonic The Hedgehog 3D was released. Lately I've been browsing files on my PC, found the STH3D content folder, and got really nostalgic. I've spend almost 5 years making this project (2009 - 2014), the longest I've ever spend on a single game, and a lot of memories from my youth are connected to this period. This little Sonic fan game greatly affected my life and is part of my DNA at this point. It's also the one I've had the most fun making, especially the first demos. I remember my absolute joy when I first discovered that I can take Build Engine, which is made for first person shooters, and use it to make a 3rd person 3D platformer game.
I've decided to complile every playable version of this game (besides the last) I could find. Most of these versions were available many years ago, but I've found some that were never uploaded to the internet, and also, almost all links are dead anyway. I don't know if many people still remember this game, but if you do, hope you'll enjoy the look back at this old fan project and its various stages of development!
Please note, most of these are made in 2009-2010, and may not work properly on modern PCs. For example, on mine, the screen doesn't show properly, and I had to right click on the .exe files and then select compatability issues > diagnostics > program doesn't show properly > test program > save. That fixed it.
This achive contains:
Demo 0, released in a month or two before demo 1. This demo had a very limited release on Duke Nukem 3D fan forums, and had some issues that were quickly fixed in demo 1;
Demo 1, released in june 2009, first one released on Sonic fan forums, and I think I also send it to SAGE 2009 (where one of the reviewers noted that some enemies from Ancient Palace Zone look like basketballs, I still remember that comment 😀);
Demo 2, released in june 2010;
Demo 3 (SAGE 2010 version), released in september 2010. This package also includes some mods that I've made for this version. To play them, simply click on according .bat files.
Version 3.0, released in april 2013.
This archive contains:
Beta 0, date unknown, but definitely made before demo 0. This version is special, because it requires the player to place the Duke Nukem 3D data file (duke3d.grp) in the folder in order to play it. This is because, at this early stage of development, this game was, basically, a mod for Duke 3D.
Beta 1, date unknown, but definitely made before demo 0;
Beta 2, date unknown, but definitely made before demo 0;
Beta 3, date unknown, but definitely made before demo 0;
Beta 4, date unknown, made somewhere between demo 1 and demo 2;
Beta 5, dated may 2010;
Beta 6, dated may 2010. Not very different from beta 5 in terms of development progress, but this version is special, because it's the only one that survived in a form of development build/kit. There's a ton of files in there, even a level editor (use mapster32.bat to access it)! You can still play it as normal by clicking on Sonic3d.exe.
As a bonus, in the archive I also included some screenshots, and a video of the first ever trailer of the game (in potato quality), from the early stage of development, when it still used SRB2 sprites for characters. Oh how I wish I still had this version...
