Wanted: Playable Prototype

It's time to step things up around here. If we're going to design a Sonic game, we need to actually do some freaking game design.

So how do we prototype something like this? How do we create something to test and iterate upon? The sooner we can put gameplay ideas into a physical space and throw them out into the real world, the sooner we'll see progress in the game's design.

We might need to procure an actual 3D game engine. Not to create a whole freaking game, but to use as a testbed for design ideas. Something ultra-basic that we can use to experiment with the simplest game mechanics. That's one option. Failing that, we can look into other forms of prototyping - paper, if need be.

One way or another, we need something to obtain feedback with. We can argue forever about what we think is right for this Sonic game, but we'll never know until we make something and give it to players. We'll just never know.

We can continue to hypothesize, but a playable prototype will become our greatest asset if we can get one.

...Are there any programmers reading this that have some spare time?