The Overworld

The overworld of D-Series: Black & Blue is, for the most part, multilinear. And by that I mean that you have to travel from one place to another on foot, but there are multiple branching paths. Until late into Chapter 1, this is the only way to get around. When the alternate mode of transportation becomes available, you can only travel to locations you've already explored.

For the most part, when you are on any given island/planet/etc you cannot leave to return to another (i.e. you can't go back to South Island while you're in the middle of an important story part on Westside Island). There are instances in the game, however, where you can move freely throughout Sonic's world to go to previous destinations.

Chapter 1 takes place on South Island, the location of the events of Sonic the Hedgehog. For the most part, Blue Side and Black Side have identical map setups. There are exceptions, of course, but Sonic and Robotnik will move around in the same fashion. Sonic starts off his adventure in Green Hill Village, a tiny settlement on the southern shore of South Island. Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik starts his game in Scrap Brain Research Laboratories, which are located atop Gimmick Mountain on the northern end of the island.

Most of the Zones from Sonic games that reside on South Island are included. That's right, folks, it's not just the Genesis Sonic stuff, we've got some Master System stuff thrown in too.

Although graphically the game is to be Paper-style, there will be no (or next-to-no) gimmicky paper stuff (i.e. Mario turning into a paper airplane in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door). All the Zones will be recreated in Paper-style, as will Sonic, his allies, and his enemies.

Sometime into development of Chapter 1, a South Island Overworld Beta will be released.
Later on, there will be another overworld beta released to test how Parties work.