Dylanrockin

So, I just wanted to make a quick update for today: I've been working on redoing A LOT of the dialogue in the game, since there is a lot of inconsistencies and plot holes, riddled every which way. So, I've taken up doing that, for this week, as opposed to me doing maps, or finishing up my Character Abilities Project. Having a more clean, and consistent plot seems better to me, since when I was playing back some parts of the game I was just like "dafuq? I wrote this garbage?" So, I ended up changing a lot of the dialogue, so it's more... "up to date" let's say. As for other things, I added in new items and item effects into the game, most of which have their uses, and tend to be leaning themselves towards another mechanic that I may or may not have for SH1. But, these items kind of lend themselves use to that "new" mechanic idea. If I can work out the kinks, I may have it as an added feature, but it depends, I would need some people's inputs on it, once I get around to announcing it.

Yeah, but the one thing I'm worried most about it is people taking that kind of transformation WAY out of context, and disliking the game because of it. It has no purpose other than being a disguise, not me trying to make my game show off it's furry appeal :L Plus it can only be used by very, VERY specific humans. It's literally the same thing as if Zorua, Mew, or Ditto were to transform into a human, it's the exact same thing. No purpose, other than disguise. Which is coincidentally why Vivian's Greninja can Verdant Transform, as opposed to... whatever Ash-Greninja is XD And Verdant Transformation doesn't change the Pokemon's appearance, other than turning them into their alternate colored variant, and giving them bio-electricity around them, with a blue aura. There be no Ash-Greninja in my game, no sir I'm actually contemplating having Vivian fight Ash in some non-canon, cameo battle, for shits and giggles. But, yes, I am going to be watching the new episode, this Thursday as well, and I'm hoping not to be disappointed by the outcome of that fight. I'm still probably going to be hilariously disappointed, and cry myself to sleep. In that order XD

I'm not sure if I'd be able to accomplish that wish of cooperation, but, perhaps for the 2nd game, where I actually plan on working on it from the ground up. But, since this is a Pokemon game that is more focused on the humans, rather than the Pokemon aspect of things, it's mostly the humans that do the work in the overworld; which some people may like, and not like. It made sense to me, at least XD But, there are human -> Pokemon transformations, but it doesn't do anything, since it's mainly used as a form of disguise, and has no use other than just that. But, that's because of plot reasons, not sure if I want to actually use that idea, since it's mainly only used via a mcguffin and can only be drank by humans known as "Planet Heralds" which... and it's main purpose is to use transformation as a means of protection and disguising oneself from danger. But, humans and Pokemon are not the same being, as that would be really weird. I even confirmed that in the game's canon, so that people don't get weird thoughts. Other than that, it doesn't give them powers, and I see it more like that one episode from that anime where Ash got turned into a Pikachu by a Witch, for those of you who saw it. I'm just fascinated by the idea of Transformations, which is why Verdant is a thing, as well as the Herald's Disguise. Why the Herald's Disguise is a thing is because the water that is drank by them grants them special abilities, and one of them is just that. But, I'm still on the fence about that one, because I don't know how people really feel about a Pokemon/Human transforming as a means of disguising oneself, but then again... Pokemon like Mew and Ditto can already do that, as well as Zorua XD BTW's Ash-Greninja is kinda cringe-worthy, and it feels a lot like Verdant Transformation from my game :L It's also funny, because I came up with the idea of Verdant Transformation several months before XY and Z came about. Like it was in... May or so, and that was way before that XD

I have a random question for some of my readers, but, how do you guys like the very... Fantasy feel of my game? Because, sometimes I feel that the main series of Pokemon doesn't fully utilize it's Fantasy themes, because for all intents and purposes Pokemon is a Fantasy series. <---- actually people could debate about that all day, but for me personally, I view it more as a Fantasy franchise with technology-porn™, every now and then. What I'm mainly trying to get at here, is if people like the very Fantasy feel for this style of Pokemon game? It's more delved in the mystical and divine aspects of Pokemon, and the Trainers that use them, along with said Trainers having special abilities/powers that they were innately born with or learned from some higher power. In Hiro's case, she had powers that were passed onto her, and Krista was innately born with healing powers (which she soon lost, thanks to... reasons, but got them back in the story of the game) and having a more... divine relation towards Pokemon. I mainly want to know how you guys feel about my decision in exploring the more deeper, fantasy elements that the main series doesn't explore as much as it could do. Side Note: New Artwork coming in maybe... a few days, which will show the "new" character. I say that in quotes because it's technically the same character, but changes appearance as a means of disguise. New Ability as well: This is a compound ability for Marissa and it's called "Name Pending" because I don't have a name for it yet. But, basically this ability will allow for her Pokemon, once they make a contacting attack, to absorb 2PP from the opponents (randomly), 30% of the time. So, it lends itself use to her very "technical" play-style, as well as being somewhat disruptive. As opposed to Allan, where he is all about technique and skill, with no form of disruption.

There are ways to get around this sort of thing? I remember someone saying that Game Freak allowed for us to use their assets or something, somewhere, but I don't know if that's true or not. But, that's a lingering fear that I have, with my game is it being shut down. However, I know not of what the definition of careful spending is XD But, at the moment I am taking a small break from my game, about a couple days or so, so that way I don't get burnt out. And, I've been catching up on some Tales of TV translations, which... are freaking hilarious, if you have not yet read any of it. If you're a huge Tales fan, READ IT!

I'm probably not gonna tone down my spending, considering spending money on my project is all I can do, now XD But, this game is very valuable and meaningful to myself, and if my game were to get shut down by GF or something, then I don't know what I'd do anymore ;w; But, I am glad that you've and everyone else has been so patient with me, even if I've once before promised time and time again that I would release my game, but didn't. Besides, I've got nothing to lose, and if something does happen, then I'll just use my head like I always do I've gotten out of worse situations before. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Also, as a casual aside to this: I created a new ability for Allan Monochroma, which is called Time Leap, and it does exactly as you think it would do You gain access to this ability roughly around the endgame, and in the story it allows for Allan and his Pokemon to move five-tenths of a second (.5s) through time, which... doesn't sound like a whole lot, but believe me, it is. Especially if you're someone who is as fast as Allan and his Pokemon, which can make great use of that half a second's worth of time. This is Allan's one and only Time related ability, and he can't really use those sorts of abilities, because he's not a "Demi-god" like Hiro is, and doesn't possess powers that were granted to her. Hiro was brought up to Divine power, but Allan was more or less protecting her from anyone who ventured into the City of the Timeless as she did her job. But, that didn't stop him from learning some form of Time Manipulation during a time of crisis, and when put in a critical spot. In-battle this ability has a 10% chance of activating, and will allow you to get the first strike, regardless if they use Protect, Detect, whatever it is, you will get that first hit. Basically, it's Allan ultimate ability and is a huge "F-You" to Pokemon that love to use Protecting moves, or any kind of high priority based moves.

It's fine, I don't mind. I'm glad you appreciate everything that I've done, and that I've been doing this for a long time. In-fact... even longer than 4 years now. I've been into Rom Hacking since I was 11 years old, which was 9 years ago, now XD Indeed. I work hard and am willing to tough through things, even it proves difficult to me. For me, I'm willing to pay several thousand dollars, literally, to get the job done, rather than relying on others. I prefer to work alone, and am willing to show that I can make a game look fantastic without the need of having people do the work for me - it also allows me to further increase my skills beyond what I was capable of, since I don't have someone else doing it for me. Not only that, but paying for these things gives a sense of ownership over the things that I've done, and shows that I'm willing to do anything. It also allows me to meet new people, and become acquainted with folks that other people wouldn't otherwise come across. The artwork and every sprite, and every thing you will find in this thread was paid for, through my own miserable, blood, sweat and tears. And it's because of that reason is why I don't wish to have a team. I can feel proud of what I've worked for, and see how it all paid off, even if I know that paying for nothing more than just a fan-game is going to do nothing for me in the end. It's knowing that I made this all happen with my own hands, through my own image, and that I accomplished and paid for this all on my own. I do it because I respect the series that this game is based off of to a degree that would seem borderline idiotic: Tales and Pokemon. But to those of you who have a team, good on you, but I prefer to make my game the way I see it being. By my own hands, and through my own vision; with the blood and sweat that I put into a job just to get life breathed into the game, because for me... there is no outing. I've chosen the path of a lone game developer, and that is why I prefer to work alone. Sorry if that post sounded a tad ranty, I didn't mean for it to XD tl;dr: I'm a prideful idiot who prefers to work alone, because I want to know that I did this all myself, through my own hard efforts. Even at the cost of me spending 10,000+ dollars at this point. Because, I really don't care how I end up, so long as I do what needs to be done. ------------------------------------------------------ Even still, I also wanted to make mention to that I am now bound to a contract by a certain studio that I'm good friends with, and it's going to be bringing up the budget of my game well past what most would consider to be sane. My work could be considered the work of an idiot, but I don't mind taking the risks that no else is willing to. After all, at this point, I've got not much else to lose, so I might as well make the most of what I can, while I can, before I become a busy sod who is then bound by the sturdy walls of reality that is school and work. But, even if my game does vanish and even if you say my game, for what it is, being as original and as different as it is: there will always be a bigger fish that comes along. Sadly though... I cannot incorporate any new engine for my current game, since I learned all of Essentials only a year ago, and that was around the time that I already created the systems that are currently present now. If there is one thing that I'd like to do, is work on that new engine, for this game, but sadly that wouldn't work out well at all. Lastly, I may go into a period of hiding from the internet for awhile, as I work on my game. Mainly so that I can work in peace, and doing what I do best - being alone as I work to create my vision a reality.

Thank you for your support! So, I've come to the realization that I haven't thanked everyone here on the Reborn forums enough for bringing me this far into my game's development. Even though I only just recently decided to make a forum post for my game, I've been working on this project for 4 years now, ever since I was a Sophomore in High School, when I was starting to like the idea of making my own Rom Hacked Pokemon game. It turned out that idea didn't go so well, because of my lack of knowledge with hex editing, and now I do know how that all works, so go me XD Over the years I started out as a noobie with no real idea for how my game would go, or what kind of ideas I wanted to incorporate into it, but as time went by, I learned new things, new techniques, and the ability to understand programming. At the same time, I met some wonderful people along the way - many of whom I never thought that I'd become friends with. All of which are people who I commissioned for artwork, anime stylized animations that come from an actual animation studio, and other things related. Also to some very dedicated fans! To all of them I am infinitely grateful to meet and become friends and close acquaintances with. So, I wanted to let everyone know how truly grateful I am for everything that you guys have done. If it weren't for a lot of you, I probably would've quit making my game 2 years ago XD Even though around that time I hadn't nearly spent as much money on the project as I have now. It's up there in the 5 digits now, thanks to last years commissions ;w; I know this was a tad sappy, but, I kinda felt that I needed to get that out there, after awhile. Heheh ^^; So, to my fans, and friends who've helped me along thus far, thank you very much! If by some freak chance that I stop making my game, let it be known that there is probably a bigger fish out there for you guys to follow. It's been a really stressful year for me, tension and expectations have been high, so to those of you who've been following me for awhile, I hope you all understand if the game may get delayed from time to time. I'm starting to get old and busy, and with it my time for my game is starting to dwindle. So, I will attempt to make as much progress as I can with my game, before life starts intervening and I begin to lose progress on my game because of it.

The second game will have the characters after what happens in this game. And no, 2 is going to be using a completely different system, and will have more playable characters. Especially since I know how Pokemon Essentials was built, and how everything functions from one script to the other; the game will be built from the ground up. Among other things that I can't say much of, since that game isn't going to be worked on for another year or so; despite the game already being written. I will only collab with select people, and that's a hard maybe. And even then, something that won't happen for years, since I spend my time working hard on my game and not hastily working on it. That and I have to spend a lot of money on my game, several thousand dollars (literally), and I prefer working alone on my game.

Anywho, here is the final version of Horizon City: I may make some changes in the future, but for now, this is what I've got so far. To the south of this area is a boat dock, where is essentially the place to go, in order to go to and from the first and second continent. Also, continent != region; it's just another continent within the same region.

Okay, so, here's a little update for today. First off, I made some changes to the game's skit mechanics, in that, before you COULD, if you were clever and thought outside the box, activate a skit while you're already talking to someone. That has been fixed, and you could also activate a skit while you were fishing or doing any kind of thing that isn't event related, like starting up a hidden move animation or whatever. Now, that is not possible and can no longer be activated, unless you are in full-control of the character. So, sadly people, no bugs or exploits for you there Secondly, I added the Gels into the game, but, are mainly used as late game items, that you get on the second continent. On the second continent they are sold more commonly than Potions, since they are much more of a commodity there, and that they are multi-use, in that, they can be used as a substitute for food. But, as Lloyd Irving himself once said, and I quote: "Gels provide enough sustenance to get by, however, their price makes their use as food uneconomical compared to standard dishes that can be prepared using common ingredients." So, the people of the second continent find them to be quite a lot more useful than Potions, since they can also be used as food for both humans and Pokemon. And how they work are as such: As a side-note: There are no gels that can heal you 100%, so you have to make do with percentages that are there, otherwise, well... Apple Gels heal - 20% Lemon Gels heal - 60% Orange Gels heal - 20% of PP Pineapple Gels heal - 60% of PP Melange Gels heal - 30% of HP and PP Miracle Gels heal - 60% of both HP and PP The calculations for the Gels, for those of you unfamiliar, doesn't heal you by a percentage of a percentage, because that's just bad. It heals you by adding a percentage, rather than a percentage-percentage. Think of it like this: If you have 30% HP, and you use a Lemon Gel, it will heal you up to 90%. But, if it were a percentage of a percentage healing, it would instead do this: 30% (let's say 119HP) + Lemon Gel = roughly... +71HP, which is a lot less than if it were just adding a single percentage rather than calculating based off of your current percentage of health. (My math was probably a little bit off, but eh, I'm sure you get the idea. Calculating based off of percentages of percentages are bad.) Speaking of the Second Continent, here is the first area of the Second Continent that you will arrive at, once you head there. This is Horizon City, also known as a small port city that people often travel to and from at. Currently this map is still a work in progress, because I have a little bit of a headache coming on, and I've been in front of my computer all day, doing this. But, when this map is finished, I will show off the final results. It is also the first place that you can go to that has a Day Care, so that's good ;D For those of you, who're into that kind of thing. inb4 someone mentions: Can you put your characters Partner Pokemon in there, i.e. Eevee, Umbreon, Dialga, Lucario, Zorua, and Gardevoir? The answer is no, I did in-fact think ahead for that one. Again, no bugs for you people Last thing: I decided that this game will be a Reborn exclusive game, because trust issues with other fan-game websites. Plus, I think a lot of the people here on the forums are very trust-worthy folk That said, I hope no one makes me think otherwise.

Hmm... I may just make the gels as an extra form of healing, but are a bit more expensive, and have different additional properties to them, like raising happiness or something. I never really planned on excluding them, since almost all the extra content in the game is related to extra parts of those characters development, past what they've already developed. Besides, I think that some people will really enjoy doing the movies and the upcoming new content that I will announce in about a month or so.

That is true... Hm... maybe I won't use it, after all. It would be nice, if the stats were scaled up to a higher level, mainly the HP. To where HP could exceed 999 and go to 9999, while the other stats would stay the same. But, that ain't happening, because screw that noise. The game starts you off at level 7, with an Eevee that has slightly higher stats than a normal one.

What you say is very true, but sometimes I feel those LP'ers don't do the game justice by just going to complete it, and not doing even a percent of side-stuff, but that's just me tho. But, I put in extra content into the game to give an incentive for the player to learn more about the characters, and how much they know about the world around them; as well as giving opportunities for cameo fights from other parts of the franchise, such as Alain being an optional boss. But, I do this stuff because I want people try and do more with the game, and understand the level of depth and emotion that the characters possess, even on the optional aspect of it all. As for Gels, you do know they add +30% and +60% of your total max HP right? So, basically it doesn't just heal only a percentage, it adds a percentage that is based off of your total max HP. So, if you have used a Lemon Gel, which heals 60% HP, and you have currently 50%, it will heal you up to 100%. It adds a percentage that is based off of Total Max HP and TP. I wanted to use them as a way to make the gameplay feel a little more varied, and not so samey as other games, while also being geared towards the main goal of making this a hybrid Pokemon-Tales game. So, even when the game is done and over with, the characters will be fully developed, and will still have more to show for themselves in the extra content. Some of which hints at the next game. What I was thinking is this: Potions would heal - +20% Super would heal - +40% Hyper would heal - +70% But again, even I'm on the fence about using the Gel mechanics for my game.

Oh, and one other thing I wanted to ask: I was planning on changing the mechanics for the Healing Items, such as Potions and whatnot, to closely match how they work in the Tales series. For those of you who're unfamiliar with Tales, basically there are Gel items that are essentially used as means of healing HP or TP. Each gel heals a set percentage of HP/TP - Apple Gels heal 20%, if memory serves me correctly, and so on. Basically what I'm trying to get at here, is that I'm going for authenticity, instead of going with the standard Pokemon Potion functions, which heal a set number of HP. But with this, I feel that having it heal a set percentage would be okay, depending on how it is used. What do you guys think?

Here's a question for those who keep up to date with my game: When the game is released, and I want to know what you guys think, do you plan on playing to just beat the game, or do you intend to play the additional content that I put in it? Because, there are, surprisingly, a lot of people who play Pokemon fan-games to just play and beat, but don't bother too much with the additional, optional content. And, for those of you who know me, I love putting in pointlessly optional stuff into my game, especially cameo bosses and whatnot (see Allan vs. Alain video ;D). But, I was just wondering, because, I spend a lot of time putting in really fun, optional stuff that a lot people would enjoy, but when I watch LP'ers play other people's games, they don't really bother with it, and I wanted to know how you guys would feel about it. Plus I'm from the J-RPG camp, where optional stuff is always fun to do, regardless of how challenging it is. --------------------------------------------- As an aside to that, I plan on giving all 6 characters 2 new sets of costumes, which will be the final 2 sets for the entire game, minus their Christmas and Halloween clothes, which will come at a later date. As well as announcing a plethora of new characters, and a new transformation that has no gameplay significance whatsoever, but it has a lot of plot significance. If you thought a human with a Pokemon tail was weird, just wait till you see what's coming up, next week

SO, I actually did a stream, for once in a long while, and got a lot of progress done. I got a whole map completed, and several NPC Events finished. The finished product is below. This is the Horizon Valley area of the game, which leads up through Horizon Fields, and ultimately to Renma, which is a large city, just like Skycrest, but not nearly as taxing on me to make. This is one of the many 2nd Continent maps that I've been working on, but at the moment, mapping isn't my biggest concern at the moment. Progressing story events are.

It is quite a lot, considering. Most of the dialogue is well spread out, so that the game's pace doesn't drag as a result. That said, I had to make the Hidden Potential arc entirely dialogue, for the sole reason of one thing: I can't make the player do arbitrary tasks as a means of training. That is something that would have no meaning and no value, and I'd rather not make the player do ridiculous objectives, for no reason. And I don't want to cut that dialogue out, either, since the characters unlocked powers would raise further questions. Rather than leaving the attaining of their new abilities up to player speculation, I had no choice but to make it a long scene so the player wouldn't question where they came from. At that point, doing something like that would be considered horrible writing, and is a bold yet pretentious move, on the writers part. Indeed, that and I've been working on my game for years now, about 4 to be exact, but I didn't start taking it seriously until I understood the ground work from which I was working with. It wasn't until 2 years ago that I started working more intensely on my game, and making decent headway. The first 2 years was a lot of learning, mapping, and writing.

So, I wanted to make a huge update for today. First off: I've programmed in new stuff for the Ability Matrix, and spent a lot of my day eventing more story stuff. However, I wanted to update a lot of you of new content that will be available, when the game comes out. And just to let a lot of you know where that is, word count wise: My whole game is comprised of more than 300,000+ words, if not more at this point, what with additional content, currently I am at the point in the story where the word count extends past 160,000 words. So, a little over half way done with the entire game. As far as story arcs and saga's are concerned, even though it's never addressed in-game which arc or saga you are in. These are the ones that are currently completed: These are rough estimations, since I'm too lazy to highlight everything in word and see the word count at the bottom. Sue me uwu Dark Fang Resurrection Saga: Awakening Arc - Completed (Word count 0 - 60,000) Attack on Namira Village Arc - Completed (Word Count 60,001 - 130,000) Hidden Potential Arc - Completed ( Word count 130,001 - 160,000) - Literally one big cutscene, there is very little user input, aside from getting out your reading glasses and let the plot unfold. Monochroma Siblings Saga - Northern Continent City of the Timeless Arc - In progress (Word Count 160,001 - 190,000) So, that is where I am at in the story, so far. The word count excludes NPC dialogue, and optional bosses and other stuff dialogue. I am also not going to post future sagas or arcs so that way you don't get spoiled, too much of what to expect. Secondly what I wanted to make mention to were the future "Movie" sagas. Where, in the Load screen for the game, after you get to a certain point in the story, you can activate optional sagas that are extremely long and are, "mostly", non-canon to the story of the game. They are essentially just the equivalent of Pokemon movies, except without the movie part. Some are canon, but below here I will be posting the current movies that I will be working on, once I finish the Monochroma Siblings Saga. I will be soon posting more information on this, as the artwork becomes available. They are NOT actual movies, and are is just a creative way of saying "New stuff, now go play." Symphonic Horizon - Movies The first two movies will be available after completing the Monochroma Siblings Saga So, that is something to expect for when the game finally is release. I know there is a lot to swallow here, but, with all this new content that I've been extremely hard at work to produce, it will all be worth it in the end d=u=b If I continue to work, undisturbed, then I will hopefully be able to start on newer parts of the game.