THE EMERALDS' AWAKENING: AUGUST SAGE 2012 DEMO (JULY-AUGUST 2012)

**INTRODUCTION**

This is the second TEA build based on the last (hopefully) major update of the Sonic Worlds fork I've been working on. We made an enormous effort to make this game as pretty as possible. We also upgraded a lot of gameplay features and increased the number of gimmicks. Two levels you're going to see in this demo (Moonlight and Sky Haven) are almost 100% original. In addition, the game contains four pseudo-3D Special Stages which you can access through giant rings in the levels or from the level select screen.
This build features a noticeable number of shader effects - background distortion, underwater effect, etc. In order for these to work, you will need a graphics card with Pixel Shader 2.0+ support (pretty much anything can handle that, even Intel GMA 915). The effects can be turned off in the options.
Please make sure you have DirectX 9.0c installed before launching the game!
You can also play with any Windows-compatible game controller - just make sure it's first on the Windows Game Controllers list, and select "Controller: On" in the options.

**CHARACTER CONTROLS**

Default keyboard controls:
Arrows to move
X to jump
Z to perform shield actions

While we're trying to make it feel as "classic" as possible, there are some additions and changes to the original gameplay, including:
Fire dash (Flame Shield) - press Z while on the ground
Homing attack/Air Dash - press X when jumping

**LEVELS**

The following zones are available in this version:
Moonlight Act 1 (Sonic)
Moonlight Act 2 - boss only (Sonic)
Sparkling City Act 2 + boss (Sonic)
Sky Haven Act 1 + boss (Sonic)
Sky Haven Act 2 (Sonic)
Special Stages 1-4 (entrances in Sky Haven Zone Act 1, Act 2 and Sparkling City Zone Act 2)
If you want to check out all the levels without playing the game through, press F12 during the initial "This demonstrates work in progress" screen. It will open a level select menu, from where you can teleport to any zone or Special Stage.

**SPECIAL STAGES**

Use arrows to rotate the playfield. You can jump one square forward by pressing the X button.

Here is a list of objects in the Special Stage:
Blue Sphere - collect them to pass the stage and obtain the Chaos Emerald.
Ring - gives you 1 ring which will be added to your ring counter when you exit the Special Stage.
Black Sphere - if you touch them, you lose 1 Blue Sphere.
Red Sphere - kicks you out of the Special Stage.
Yellow Sphere - acts like a spring up. Useful to avoid Red Spheres in rows of two or more.

**HOW TO BEAT THE BOSSES**

If you are having trouble beating the Moonlight boss, here is a hint: jump or do a homing attack on his head when he puts it down to shoot lasers. When the metal cover opens, it will reveal his brain which you are supposed to hit. It requires you 3 hits to destroy the head. After the head is destroyed, you simply have to attack the floating ball a couple of times to finally beat the boss. After this, Tails will come to pick you up.

If you can't beat the Sky Haven boss, look at the spikes on the right. They're there for a reason :)

**TROUBLESHOOTING AND PERFORMANCE ISSUES**

If the game does not occupy the whole screen in the Full Screen mode, try selecting the "full screen - stretch" mode instead of "fullscreen - on" in the game options (warning: this option can slow down the game on some systems). Pressing Alt+Enter switches to this mode by default. If you're still having problems, you should check your graphics driver settings. Most drivers have a setting to stretch the image in full screen or keep the aspect ratio. You could try changing these.

In case you experience slowdowns or graphical issues, try disabling effects in the options menu. You could also try running the game .exe with the following command line switch: /MIS1.

**ENGINE**
TZ Astra is a fork of the Sonic Worlds engine. It is an enhanced version of Sonic Worlds with more gimmicks, different character animations, improved controls, new objects and special effects. This engine was designed for use with TEA.

**ABOUT TEA AND THE BLUEFOX TEAM**

If you want to learn more about TEA, visit my blog at http://bluefoxteam.wordpress.com (use Google Translate if needed)
Russian-speaking users can join our VK club: http://vk.com/club346166
As of July 2012, our team has 3 members: PkR, SteG and ElDeus.
We are looking for pixel artists, experienced MMF2/Adobe Flash users, level layout designers, etc.
You can always reach me (PkR) by email: pikranus<at>gmail.com

We hope you enjoy this demo!

Yours truly,
**The BlueFox Team**