A beta stage of my next Sonic the Hedgehog themed Desktop Wallpaper. This time it's gimmick Mountain from Sonic 2 on the Master system and Game Gear.

So why a level from a smaller game compared to others? Well, I like Gimmick Mountain. I'm a lover of the colour teal, and Gimmick Mountain has it in droves. It also had some nifty area features I felt would look amazing in a 3D perspective, such as the Hamster-Wheel platforms (Seen at the very front of the picture) and expecially the Rotating Cyclone Cylinders (As seen as the main piece of this image).

I like how the Cylinder has come out, it really pulls your eye into the centre of the image, which is something I'm really proud of. Sonic jumps up the cylinder in the games, so I made a jumpable gap for him to get through, the central pole is also based on the original backdrop. I took the basic black and teal bold lines and turned them into mouldings, so it appeared the core was clamped into place by several layers of mechanical shielding.

The rest of the image will have different parts of detail, in the purple gap the other side of the cylinder I might add the spikes (There's a preview screenshot in the bottom right showing the spikes) and in the foreground I want there to be a drop and have the rocky cavernous walls on either side.
The rocks are what's taking the time. I want to make them look just right, and it's taking me alot to get them there. I'm also going to experiment with my brand new shading style on the rocks, an experimental technique for pixel art where you shade with the opposing colour.

For example, the rocks in the actual level bg are purple while the entire rest of Gimmick Mountain is teal. This was to differentiate the two so you could actually see where you were going. My plan is to make the purple rocks and highlight them in teal to give a cyberpunk lighting effect (If it's successful I may name it Cyberpunk Shading) and really bring an otherwise lifeless cliff to life.

I hope you guys like it, I have plans to do more because they're really very enjoyable I might do Sunset Park or Aqua Lake next. Sunset Park would look amazing with Cyberpunk shading (And obviously the famous train scene ) but Aqua Lake will be more interesting, challenging and include more interesting design and colours. We shall see. I need to finish this one first lol!

Roareye Black.