Touhoumon Faith & Prayer Version

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

I didn't really want to post this here until i got my external fixed, but y'know what, there's no real reason not to!

So, I've mentioned before who I am - Derxwna Kapsyla, head of Chaotic Infinity Development, which has several projects under its wings. One such project is a Pokemon Essentials-made project, Touhoumon Faith & Prayer Version.

For a very very long time now, since even my elementary school years, I've wanted to make games. I would envision them constantly, though it was mostly Pokemon-related. It wasn't until Middle School that I discovered Rom Hacks, and I tried my hand at that. It didn't work out so well! Early Hiigh School came and I discovered Pokemon Essentials. I fiddled areound with it, made two projects in it that really only served to further my skill in it. While I was doing this, I was getting into the Touhou Project series, and I had discovered (More like, I discovered Touhou through this) that a fangame that hybridized Pokemon and Touhou existed. I was enamored by it, and over time, an idea sprung in my head. "I should make a Touhoumon game in RPG Maker, using Pokemon Essentials."

And so I set out to make it happen. But first I needed to lay the foundation for it - the Touhoumon Essentials Development Starter Kit was made first, which allowed me to have the foundation I needed to make my ideal Touhoumon game in Essentials. Initially, it was supposed to be a side project to my main project at the time, but the DevKit eventually took all my time and focus, and gave me determination in return. From the foundation of the DevKit came the birth of Faith & Prayer Version.

To me, Faith & Prayer Version tells the story of Touhoumon that I feel it should have had. Until recent, all existing Touhoumon games were just "Replace Pokemon, enjoy your unaltered Pokemon experience" or "ONE TILE FLASH MAZES, LEVEL 40 PUPPETS AT GYM 1, TOUHOU IS HARD GUYS!". There was no real depth! I wanted to change that. I wanted to make my ideal game. But I needed a plot first, and it wasn't until I was browsing Touhou fanfics on fanfiction.net that I found the plot I needed. A one-shot called Touhou Puppet Play - A Viewpoint, written by Lone Wolf Neo, crossed my view, and I read it. It gave me the inspiration I needed to make the plot, and I asked the writer if I could adapt their one chapter fanfic into a game. With their permission, Act 0 of Faith & Prayer Version was drafted, and with it, the rest of the plot soon to follow.

The Plot

"So far, we are unable to determine the cause of this massive outbreak of this invasive species, and researchers are working around the clock to identify these humanoid creatures with characteristics unlike anything we have come across before. Until a conclusive answer can be achieved, we will refer to these creatures as..."

Lots of stuff has happened in the years after Red had beaten the Kanto League and disbanded Team Rocket. Many youths from all over had followed in his footsteps (Even if they didn't quite know it.), such as Gold in Johto. Ruby and Sapphire in Hoenn, Lucas and Dawn in Sinnoh - they all saved their respective regions from takeover by factions that sought to destroy it. Natural disasters have stricken and been recovered from, such as the Cinnabar Volcano eruption, and the mudslide of Route 23. Things have tested the resolve of humans and Pokemon alike in these past 8 years. But none of these events were anything compared to what was happening now - an invasion.

Two years before present day, Professor Oak, head professor of the Kanto region, led an expedition to the Cave of Origin located in Sootopolis City, Hoenn. It was there that the first of the invaders were spotted. Upon first glance, they were mistaken as normal Pokemon, but various tests proved otherwise. Eventually, these invaders started spreading all over.

Eventually, Pokemon were driven out of their habitats by these species, now called Puppets, and their fighting. Pokemon have gone into hiding since then, some even taking refuge in an island preservation south of the Kanto region. Very few trainers have Pokemon left with them, and those that do seldom fight with them.

Within a year, Pokemon became the minority to the Puppets.

Two years have passed since the invasion of the Touhoumon, and humans have adapted to the new ways of life. Trainers capture and train Touhoumon, and enter them into the various Regional Leagues around the planet.

You play as either Maribel Hearn or Renko Usami, two females who are on a search across the Pokemon World to discover why the Puppets have invaded, the rumors behind this mysterious alternate dimension, and how the both of them are connected. However, the questing won't be easy, as corrupt factions from a decade ago -- Team Rocket, Team Magma, Team Aqua, are all beginning to make their return, and embrace this new opportunity with the Puppets, and restart their plans for world domination. Your quest to find the Land of Illusions will be interrupted by Team Rocket, who seek to do the same. And as you do that, Team Magma and Team Aqua rise up from the depths of the earth and ocean, and begin to hatch a scheme to take all of world for themselves this time around. Will they be successful, or will they fall to the might of your team of Puppets?

Terminology

Touhoumon/Puppets:

• These are the invaders that invaded the Pokemon World a decade years after RGB. They are capturable and trainable versions of the inhabitants of Gensokyo, a mystical land that exists on an alternate plane of existence. How they got into the world is not quite know, but due to them being there, Pokemon in general have gone into hiding. Some across their respective regions, some fleeing to the Kokoto Continent, south of Kanto, where they are now under close watch. Regular Pokemon will not make an overwhelming appearance in the wild, but some Pokemon can be found. Also, some people may be willing to trade you Pokemon in exchange for some Touhoumon. After two years' time, Touhoumon are now the dominant species in a majority of the Pokemon World, with Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos being the only regions virtually untouched.

Gensokyo:

• Gensokyo is the mystical land featured in the game series Touhou Project, produced by ZUN. There are a variety of games that extend off this series (Currently up to TH15: Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom), and a multitude of fanmade games (Koumajou Densetsu/Touhouvania, Touhou Puppet Play/Touhoumon, Fushigi no Gensokyo, etc)

Main Protagonists:

Maribel Hearn

One of the two members of the Sealing Club. Maribel is able to see the boundries of all things. She uses this power to try and search for the Illusionary World, Gensokyo. Somehow, she ends up stumbling around in the Kanto region, alongside her friend, Renko Usami, and they both get attacked by a wild CChen near Pallet Town. Eventually, Red comes to their rescue. After spending the night, Maribel obtains a starter Touhoumon from Professor Oak. Maribel and Renko then go out on a quest across the Pokemon World, trying to learn stuff about the Puppets, and more info on Gensokyo. Maribel is one of the two playable characters.

Renko Usami

One of the two members of the Sealing Club. Renko is able to tell the exact position of her location by looking up at the moon. She uses this power to try and locate the Illusionary World, Gensokyo. Somehow, while traveling through Kanto with her friend, Maribel Han, they get attacked by a wild CChen. Red eventually comes to their aid and drives the CChen away. After spending the evening, Renko chooses a starting Puppet at Professor Oak's lab. Maribel and Renko then go out on a quest across the Pokemon World, trying to learn stuff about the Puppets, and more info on Gensokyo. Renko is one of the playable characters.

Notable Features:

Ah, but what good is a fangame if it doesn't have its own features to talk about outside of its own plot! Faith & Prayer Version comes with several features, both unique and similar to Pokemon games as a whole.

• Touhou characters, from Touhou 1 to Touhou 13.5, will all be obtainable within the game.
• Despite being primarily a Touhoumon game, Pokemon WILL make appearances in the game. As of the current release (Demo 6), they can be found in several locations, but they are rather uncommon, and you will not be able to properly obtain one until at least Cinnabar Island.
• Being able to visit regions from Gen III and downward (Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn), as well as the ability to traverse the Land of Illusions, Gensokyo.
• The game runs the Touhoumon 1.8 Mechanics, which means a different type chart (Provided with the downloaded), as well as the Physical/Special Split on moves.
• A Mystery Gift system, which can be accessed as soon as the first town, with already accessible gifts. To use Mystery Gift, you must go to a Pokemart and examine the piece of paper on the counter. This enables the Mystery Gift function.
• There is a fully functioning Speed Button for the GBA-aholics here who enjoy their speed. To toggle the speed up, press the S button while there isn't a dialogue box of sorts on the screen. Preferably on the Overworld. This cannot be disabled unless you repeat in the same manner.
• Game progression is less linear than Pokemon proper. It draws more heavily from the Gamecube games than the actual handheld games. The gym challenge is optional, and the Elite Four is not the End-All-Be-All of the game.
• Since gym badges aren't required for game progression, the use of HMs is replaced with items that don't require badges. Examples of such: An Axe for Cut, a Lantern for Flash, a Pickaxe for Rock Smash.

Screenshots and Videos

Honestly I need to get better screenshots for the thread, but I promise you I will get them at some point! Until then, have several videos showcasing the game in action.

Credits:

...This might have been a good time to wait for my data to be recovered, but I do have a preliminary set of credits here.

• Flameguru, Pocill, Maruno: Development of Pokemon Essentials
• HemoglobinA1C: Touhoumon in general.
• Maralis: Title screen, PokeXtractor tools, various graphics
• Kasael: Various graphics, spell and grammar check
• Irakuy: Various graphics
• Agastya: Development feedback, permission to use his game as the base for my game, Touhoumon sprites
• LModesto: Converted Touhoumon item graphics and various other graphics
• Stuffman: Five Magic Stones Touhoumon Sprite
• Aquamentis: Overworlds
• FL: Tutorials for numerous scripts, specifically the "How to toggle the Running Shoes like in HgSs" tutorial, which was used to toggle the speed button.
• KleinStudio: Numerous scripts, including but not limited to: DS Evolution Scene, In-Map Animation Fix, Unlimited Autotiles
• Nuru Yuri: RGSS Linker and FmodEx script compatibility for Pokemon Essentials
• Unknown People: Tilesets. If you see anyone's tiles in here and know who they are, please tell me so I can properly credit them.

Special credits go to:

• Game Freak: Developers of Pokemon
• Enterbrain: Developers of RPG Maker Series
• ZUN: Head and sole developer of the Touhou Project series.

For more information about the game, future news and updates, the following blogs are where I post more information about the game. You can usually hit me with a message there when it comes to bug reports or feedback.

• http://chaoticinfinitydev.tumblr.com/ - Specialized blog for ChaoticInfinity Development related projects, mostly used to post releases or important and critical information regarding future versions and releases.
• http://derxwnakapsyla.tumblr.com/ - My main blog, more generalized, but gets more information about smaller the game updates

Those two blogs are where you can keep up-to-date on all the information regarding Faith & Prayer Version.

Changes in the Current Build

June 9th 2015: Demo 6
- Fixed several bugs where HM order uses was granted by the wrong badge. The final order should look like this (12/28/2014)
    BADGEFORFLASH = Boulder
    BADGEFORCUT = Cascade
    BADGEFORFLY = Thunder
    BADGEFORSTRENGTH = Rainbow
    BADGEFORSURF = Soul
    BADGEFORROCKSMASH = Heart
    BADGEFORWATERFALL = Earth
- Fixed a bug with Misty where she would automatically give you her badge if you spoke to her without battling any of the trainers in the gym. (1/24/2015)
- Fixed the door in Pallet Pokemon Center not animating on exit. (1/24/2015)
- Pokemon and Puppets now have a different breeding table, so they can not breed out of their native species. (2/12/2015)
- Pokemon and Puppets now have a different gender classification; Pokemon use traditional Male/Female, Puppets use native Yin/Yang (2/12/2015)
- Diva, Mystia's signature ability, has been modified to couple up with Attract now. It allows Attract to bypass Gender checks for a 100% Attraction Effect. (3/14/2015)
- Egg Hatch level was set to Level 5, to prevent Puppets from evolving into shard evos and learning all their tutor moves at once. (3/16/2015)
- The Core Essentials build was updated to Essentials v14+. This will be the final Essentials update. Anything beyond this point will be cherry picked from future builds and miraculously made to work. (3/15/2015)
- The volume on the fainting sound effect was lowered (3/17/2015)
- Several warps were modified, both for sounds and locations. (4/5/2015)
- Some stray capitalization issues were rectified. (4/5/2015)
- The Safari Zone, Route 23, and Indigo Village have had some Black Void issues rectified. DO NOT SAVE AT THESE LOCATIONS BEFORE UPDATING. (4/5/2015)
- The bug in the Cinnabar Gym with the trivia machines has been fixed. (4/5/2015)
- In the Week Siblings house, Santos now checks if you have two or more Red UFOs instead of just more than two. (4/5/2015)
- Several typos and grammatical inconsistencies were fixed. (4/5/2015)
- Wrong percentages in Locations.txt have been rectified, and now display their proper values. (4/5/2015)
- The Red 1 fight in Pallet Town has been further nerfed; his Chibi Chen no longer has an Oran Berry. (4/21/2015)
- Several sound effects and music files have been lowered in volume. This is still an ongoing process of volume regulation. (4/21/2015)
- Fixed the bug on Route 23 that would restart the Rival battle, a flag wasn't set properly. (4/21/2015)
- Several NPCs now mention the Pallet General Store across various points of the game, it may be worth checking it out when they mention it! (4/21/2015)
- Related, the Pallet General Store is now properly set up! As you clear certain plot events across the game, the store gets a larger and much more diverse stock, and older products go down in price! Useful if you find yourself strapped for cash, or for some reason want to buy 300 Pokeballs for just 30,000 (100 per purchase) as opposed to 60,000 (200 per purchase)! (4/22/2015)
- Fixed the bug which mixes up Safeguard's messages when it wears off. (4/22/2015)
- The Regional Uplink Terminal can now be entered! All you need to do is complete the Cinnabar Island event and it'll be unlocked! (4/22/2015)
- The Nyoom Mystery Gift event now shows the proper pokeball it's in. (5/23/2015)
- TMs and HMs have been renamed to Skill Cards (SC) and Hidden Skill Cards (HC) to differentiate them between regular TMs and HMs. Dialogue will be fixed for this across the game over time. (5/23/2015)
- Fossil restoration is now unlocked, and is located on the bottom floor of Silph Co. (5/25/2015)
- Several proper songs have been set up. (5/25/2015) These songs include:
    * Victory! Vs Tohjo Powerful Trainer (Kanto and Johto Gym leader/Elite 4 victory theme)
    * Victory! Vs Tohjo Trainer (Kanto and Johto Trainer victory theme)
- Several new Puppets have been added to the game! (5/27/2015) These puppets include:
    * Attack Miko - evolves from Chibi Miko with a Power Shard
    * Defense Miko - Same, but from a Defense Shard instead
    * Attack Kokoro - evolves from Chibi Kokoro with a Power Shard
    * Technical Kokoro - Same, but from a Tech Shard instead
    * Technical Kyouko - Evolves from Chibi Kyouko with a Tech Shard
    * Helper Yoshika - Evolves from Chibi Yoshika with a Support Shard
    * Speed Seiga - Evolves from Chibi Seiga with a Swift Shard
    * Speed Tojiko - Evolves from Chibi Tojiko with a Swift Shard
    * Technical Futo - Evolves from Chibi Futo with a Tech Shard
    * Defense Mamizou - Evolves from Chibi Mamizou with a Defense Shard
    * Chibi Kokoro and Evolved Kokoro have also been modified to match their Shoddy/Touhoumon Unnamed Stats and details.
    * For detailed information about these puppets, please consult the Shoddy Touhoumon wiki at http://thpp.supersanctuary.net/wiki/Touhoudex
    * I've also updated the Stone Evolutions text file to reflect these changes.
- The bug with fly has been fixed. (5/27/2015)
- I forget when I added it but Capture EXP is in the game, how did I forget to list this. (5/27/2015)
- FIxed several surf passability bugs (6/9/2015)
- Several type chart alterations: (6/9/2015)
    * Pokemon!Rock now resists Touhoumon!Fire
    * Touhoumon!Steel is now weak to Pokemon!Fire
    * Pokemon!Rock is now weak to Touhoumon!Dream
    * Touhoumon!Miasma and Touhoumon!Fire are now immune to Poison and Burn, respectively. Touhoumon!Nature is also immune to Leech Seed now.
- Decision and Thief, two Touhoumon Skill Cards, are now available ingame. Thief is in Celadon Game Corner, Decision is now in Mount Moon. (6/9/2015)
- I have modified the rate of which Odd Keystones appear in the mining game, so now it is much lower. (6/9/2015)
- Evolved Cirno and Evolved Letty now will have proper movepools if caught within Seafoam Islands. (6/9/2015)
- Sabrina has had her team modified. (6/9/2015)
- Maribel's rival fight in Route 23's gatehouse has been modified; Levels now match what the "Important Trainers Level.txt" file says.(6/9/2015)
- Kasen now has a menu icon, and no longer gives out 2 EVs for every stat. Her EV distribution is now 2 Attack EVs and 1 Special Defense EV. (6/9/2015)
- Kokoro's Mystery Gift event has ended. (6/9/2015)
- A new mystery gift event, "A-No-Ne-Ga-N-Ba-Re" is now active - from it you get a Hidden Ability Yamame! (6/9/2015)
- Demo ends on Route 32, just outside Union Cave, which is blocked off. The western half of Route 36 is also blocked off until Demo 7.

Something to address before the download link. This is relevant if you are updating from Demo 1 or 2. Demo 3 should be fine

I am going to say this now to get it out of the way: You will need to start a new game - there is no getting around it. I have edited something in the Intro phase of the game that will be required for a later segment of the game. It's not yet implemented, but a precautionary measure - better to have it now and force people to restart while we're in Demo 2 than we implement it in Demo 10 and force people to restart that late into the game. There are a few other things which may break if you don’t start a new game, so I will restate what I said: YOU WILL NEED TO START A NEW GAME - THERE IS NO GETTING AROUND IT.

Another thing I want to address is: Read the Readme included with the game! I'm not writing it for my own benefit, as I know what's going into the game. I write it to keep the user base informed on what was fixed from previous versions, as well as ways to get in contact with me if there are bugs. Heck, it's even broken up into Table of Contents so you can skip to the section you want without scrolling. It's for the convenience of you guys that I made the readme! Sometime after I release Demo 2, I got complaints about bugs and issues addressed in the readme - as a developer, the last thing I need to be is reminded about bugs I know exist when I'm the one informing you of their existence.

If you're updating from Demo 4 to Demo 5 or onward, please read this:

Demo 5 onward fixes the Black Void border around Kanto's exterior maps. Due to how I did it, maps are going to be shifted around a bit. To be sure you don't get stuck in a new area: PLEASE SAVE INSIDE A BUILDING BEFORE UPDATING BEYOND DEMO 4

Touhoumon Faith & Prayer Version Demo 6 - Mediafire Link

Quick Patch Fixes:

The following links apply ONLY to Demo 6.

Demo 6 has two rather inconvenient issues in them. The first of them is an RGSS104E.dll error, the second is a warping issue. This quick patch fixes both of them. Apply ONLY to Demo 6. Instructions on how to use them are provided in the folder. Other issues made themselves apparent after Quick Patch 1 was released, and Quick Patch 2 is now available down below.

EDIT: Another bug was discovered and fixed, so Quick Patch 3 is now available too.

Download Link for the Patches:

• Quick Patch 01
• Quick Patch 02
• Quick Patch 03

The rest are for legacy purposes, and will not work in later versions. The download links are set to private.

It's come to my attention that Demo 5 has several bugs I wasn't aware of, probably due to my lack of testing of certain things. I apologize for this, I should have been more thorough with my checks. All I can do now is try to do better in the future and hope it doesn't happen again.

In the meanwhile, for Demo 5, there will be no new recompilations of the build. I've prepared quick patches that should fix the smaller, individual issues.

Download Link for the Patches:

• Quick Patch 01 - EXP Share, apply to Demo 5
• Quick Patch 02 - Route 7 Gatehouse, apply to Demo 5

These patches fix the EXP Share not being obtainable, and fix the gatehouse on Route 7 linking into trees instead of Saffron City. The installation for these is simple, but easy to get wrong. All you need to do is extract the contents of EXP Share Fix and Route 7 Gatehouse Fix into the "(Game Folder)/Data" folder. I'd say do it in order of patch number, just to be safe, but I haven't really tested out what happens if you do the second patch first.

This demo picks up where Demo 4 and 5 left off, at New Bark Town, and goes into Johto Proper, taking you all the way to Route 32's end. Ruins of Alph is explorable, the east half of Route 36 is explorable. Dark Cave is not explorable.

I hope you all enjoy the game, just as much as I enjoy making it. I’ve hammered out a majority of the bugs that my testers have reported. If you find a bug or inconsistency, please contact me with where the bug is, so I can get on fixing it. The same goes for typos and grammatical errors. I've done my best to iron out as many kinks as I have for the public release.

- DerxwnaKapsyla

Edited October 16, 2015 by DerxwnaKapsyla

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

Well, hopefully when I find out more information about my external, I can get back to proper work on it! Believe me, not being able to work on it is something akin to withdrawal. It's one of the few things that really keeps me going throughout the day, even if I'm not working on it.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

I've played Faith & Prayer before up to the end of the current version, and I think it's really neat with the crossover, items that replace HMs, and the new types. All the Touhoumon are so adorable. I've never played Touhou, but this game makes me want to try it.

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

The official Touhou games themselves are rather enjoyable if you enjoy curtain-fire shooter games (Like Gradius and Ikaruga). They're rather difficult to handle though, but they come with four difficulty modes so anyone can play!

[BIGJRA]

Hey Derxwna, do you have a list or place to find all the HM-item locations?

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

I do indeed! This list contains some spoilers for stuff much later on, but it shouldn't change much! The only thing here is that the Viridian City Gym Leader gives you the Waterfall HM.

Edited October 31, 2015 by DerxwnaKapsyla

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

So, I don't update forum posts very often - it's better to get news from my blog (or work blog) directly, but I'll summarize the past few months.

Around the start of October, the very start of the month, while I was working on Faith & Prayer Version, my external fried and broke on me. I mentioned this in the first post. Recently, I got some information on my external - the Read/Write head on it was broken, and would need to be replaced. The rough quote estimate was around 600~1500 dollars. I opened up a donation pool to try and help me fund the data recover (because there's other important stuff to me on there that can't be replaced even if I had all the time in the world), but I'm not expecting a miracle of it being under 900 dollars, nor am I expecting people to donate such great sums of money. So I spent the past 3 months in a hyper-depressive slump, gradually getting worse and worse as time went on.

I decided it was time to put an end to that.

On the 25th, I reopened RPG Maker XP and my backup of Faith & Prayer version for the first time in 3 months and started to try and recover my groove. Since then I've added a few small things, such as an EV/IV check screen. I'm also not entirely ready to rework on the maps I had lost, so I'm doing a play through of the game once more to try and find some earlier bugs and issues, and as I play I'm touching up the maps. I've grown a lot since I started working on Faith & Prayer Version back in, and I've noticed some of my older mapping decisions are a bit tacky, as well as some of my balancing decisions. In the balancing department, I have changed Curator Miles's battle around. This change was made because I felt having Chibi Suika with Minimize was godawful and this wasn't my idea in the beginning. This is currently up to a suspect test, but I haven't had any real issues with the new fight. As for the maps, I've touched them up in a way that I think improves how they look, but keeps the design the same. For example. This is Pallet Town in Demos 6 downward

And this is how it looks in Demo 7 now.

The same type of changes have been made to Route 1 and Viridian City so far. Expect the new Demo to have revised maps along these lines. As a result, you'll need to save inside buildings before updating, but that's something to worry about when the update happens.

I also made some tweaks to the trade script! It's not very big, but it adds some more life to trading I'd say. I'm looking into revising the trade segment some more, so it looks prettier. The only real changes to it right now are a bgm during trade and a fanfare when you finish a trade. An example video can be found right here.

So, while progress on Demo 7's actual content is... well, near-non-existent (I had some D7 stuff before I lost the external, but mostly some framework scripts, such as music looping), I'm slowly working myself into being able to actually work on the game again. I can't tell you when Demo 7 will be done (i never could tell you when any demo would be done), but I can tell you that progress is being made once more.

I haven't gotten proper word back about if the external data is recoverable yet, as it was Christmas Weekend so the repair place was closed, but I'll call in later today and see what I can find out. If you want to donate money to help me recover my data, please hold onto it until I find out more - I don't want people donating their money only for me to find out that I can't recover the data, then sitting there with money stockpiled in my account. I'd honestly feel terrible. If you really want to though, there is a link to my paypal donation button on my blog.

I'll try and keep people informed on the updates to Faith & Prayer Version as time progresses. Until next time folks, stay magnificent!