Windows and Wallpapers

[Amethyst]

With the last of the shiny sprites knocked out and into place, it's time to move on to the next component of graphic updates this episode. Specifically, (as a certain thread in the past has already brought up once or twice), I'll be redoing the options for customization of the message systems and PC boxes.

This has three parts:

• "Menu Frames," one of two Windowskins selectable in the options menu
• "Speech Frames," the second of the above, which is separately selectable for a reason I still don't understand.
• The Wallpapers players can choose to colour their PC boxes with.

To touch on why this is being done, it's because Ame generally hates anything being totally default when working from an editor. My goal with redoing these things is to make the customization options feel a little more consistent, deliberate, and closer to home (i.e something that actually feels like it's from Reborn). Not to mention, it helping us stand out from the rabble of Essentials games is a nice plus too.

So what's this topic for? Brainstorming.

There are exactly 24 Wallpapers. The number of Menu/Speech Frames can be changed, but right now sit at 21 and 28 respectively. Currently, there's no real coherency between the menu/speech frames despite having similar purpose, so one of my thoughts is to make those match. They'd still be separately selectable, but it would look more coherent. If anyone has a reason why I shouldn't do that, I'd be interested to hear it.

Anyway, that's a lot of things to sprite without knowing what I'm shooting for. Here are my current thoughts on potential concepts for these:

• Default black/silver
• Generic Reborn motif
• Team Meteor motif
• Arceus motif
• Amethyst/Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald themes
• Wallpapers based on in-game locations: Reborn City/Apophyll/Byxbysion/Ametrine etc-- where else speicifcally?
• Motifs based on individual leads: Chess Wallpaper for Radomus, Rainbow windowskin for Terra, etc. Specific other ideas?
• A few windowskins to be homage to other popular fangames- Rejuventation/Insurgence/Uranium

So what I'm looking for here, is ideas on fleshing these out, if any of the above sound like you'd really want them, other potential ideas, and so on. I'll also say that as of now, I'm not intending to keep any of the existing wallpapers or windowskins (they might be edited), so if you feel really strongly about any of those staying, now would be the time to champion for its protection.

Over to you.

[BIGJRA]

I can't really say too much about my opinion on the speech/menu frames -- I usually don't touch them that much.

Looking at the PC wallpapers, I think it would be pretty cool if you reserved eighteen of the twenty-four boxes for gym leader art. The first ideas that popped in my head would be minimalist wallpapers, a la this, but perhaps with each of their ace Pokemon and maybe some kind of homage to their respective fields?

The other six could be basically anything you mentioned in the bullet points. My votes for those six (Maybe boxes 1-6 in PC?) would be Team Meteor motif, generic reborn, and of course the Amethyst/RSE themes. I personally wouldn't be too fond of external homage PC Boxes, but for speech and menu frames I think that would work great.

[Pixl]

I do like the idea of the gym leader motifs--I really do. If that were to be the selected thing I would agree and say it's best to have some stylized version of their ace + field.

However, I also really like the idea of telling a story through pictures. Which is why I'm torn between doing the gym leader thing and doing all the environments (Reborn (maybe a separate Railnet), Apophyll (beach/dojo and a separate for the volcano), the island that I forget the name of, Chrysolia, Tanzen, Byzbyx, Ametrine (Route 2 area, and a separate for the snowy peak/city), Route 1, Circus, T3RR4 PC world, etc... It would go in the order you go through them though).

Putting the gym aces could either be really cool or really weird for people starting out. Since they would see these wallpapers with certain Pokemon on them, I'm not sure if they would feel out of place in the beginning, if they would seem like spoilers, or if they would provide an excitement of curiosity to find the source of the wallpaper (for me, it would be that).

As for menu/speech frames, I always had a problem with the normal games when they had some menus that didn't really go well with any speech frames, so if it's possible, I would suggest doing them in pairs, at least mostly in matching pairs. But the cool thing about these is that, assuming you go with the Gym leaders or something else for the PC box, this is definitely a place you can incorporate the environments; Make a border like those areas; Reborn City like gray bricks with a little more in there etc, Chrysolia like grassy, Ametrine cave system like rocky, etc. It would take creativity to remind the player distinctly of that area, but it could work.

[Commander]

• Default black/silver

For default, I'd probably think of something like this site's layout so maybe. You just get used to the color scheme and anything else feels unnatural.

• Generic Reborn motif

I'm not sure what you mean here. It kind of sounds like the Ruby/Sapphire/Amethyst/Emerald type deal...which would be the same as below. If it's different, then I'd be for it.

• Team Meteor motif

This is kind of a bit...complicated one. Meteor doesn't really have a symbol...or anything that sticks out like the main games. Is it just going to be a meteor type pattern? Not really sure how this would work and I'd kind of like to see an Admin type thing for the wallpaper similar to the main game Plasma Wallpaper.

• Arceus motif

I could see this as being El's type of Wallpaper/Theme and it'd really work out better given he's the first to really mention the said legendary (the others are kind of implied).

• Amethyst/Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald themes

I'd kind of like seeing crystals similar to the crystal plug we recieve in the game where each corner is a different colored gem sticking out. I forget which RPG I played did something like that, but it looked really cool.

• Wallpapers based on in-game locations: Reborn City/Apophyll/Byxbysion/Ametrine etc-- where else speicifcally?

I know we're not there yet, but the dessert would definitely be one (we've seen it plenty though). Agate Circus, Calceneon City Attack, 7th Street, Apophyll Volcano (or whatever it's called), one of the Pulse Tangrowth Wards, and uh...I think that's it...Oh Beryl Bridge!

• Motifs based on individual leads: Chess Wallpaper for Radomus, Rainbow windowskin for Terra, etc. Specific other ideas?

I'll get to this below as it's a little bit bigger than the others

• A few windowskins to be homage to other popular fangames- Rejuventation/Insurgence/Uranium

I have mixed feelings about this and it's similar to my belief on including references on other fan-games. I could see Rejuvenation as it has ties to Reborn, but generally I believe trying to avoid referencing another game as much as possible. It's kind of how you'd feel if you saw a wallpaper of Reborn in another fan-game. I mean I'm not against it, but it might leave some people confused what it's referencing.

Now onto the leaders. Everybody has a favorite leader so I kind of would like to see something for every leader (Samson is still growing on me). For the text screens/frames I don't know if it is possible but it'd be cool if you could replace the down arrow thing with a symbol for that leader. For example for the Radomus frame, if he had his mad hatter hat there, (I'd freaking love you forever) it'd be seen when there's more text left in a string of dialogue. I don't know if it's possible, but if it's too hard don't worry about it. This is the arrow I'm talking about to get a better idea:

(I'm not really sure if you can replace that...but a hat would definitely be more interesting than an arrow.

I'll start with the Episodic Leaders then to the Rivals then to the Meteors/other characters for ideas:

Reborn Leaders:

Julia- Wallpaper: more or less just some explosions or an exploding Electrode can't beat explosions

Frame: Either some kind of big spikey type explosions (like in the old cartoons) or just a couple bombs/voltorbs

Florinia - Wallpaper: I'd just go for a classic Cradily in the dessert here or a pic of Flo and Fern

Frame: Considering she's the dessert rose, why not have a frame of them to symbolize her?

Corey- Wallpaper: I'll get back to this one, but something can go here

Frame: I'd say some type of poisonous gas surrounding the text considering his field effect

Shelly- Wallpaper: Maybe a Volbeat and Illumise type deal...not really sure honestly

Frame: Just a classic bookshelf would fit remembering her

Shade- Wallpaper: A black screen with only his face on it...smiling. He's always watching you even when you think he's not

Frame: A dark shadowy type screen that fades out more the further away from the text it is. (Kind of hard to think of something for a shadow)

Kiki- Wallpaper: I'd really like to see the Academy or a Medicham meditating. Just something to show her Meditation

Frame: Apophyll Sands surrounding the screen.

Aya- Wallpaper: All I can think of is Aya and Cain on a screen...I'm not very good at this

Frame: Squiggly waves of sludge to represent the wasteland and maybe some kind of junk in them if possible

Serra- Wallpaper: Probably just a shattered/cracked mirror

Frame: Either mirror shards surrounding the mirror or just a simple mirror reflecting with one half blue the other half purple (I suppose it could be cracked)

Noel- Wallpaper: Don't got anything other than Nomos and Jirachi on the same wallpaper

Frame: Uh...probably just a Clefairy type design as there's not much else to associate with Noel

Radomus- Both Wallpaper and Theme: A chessboard is perfect for him. Not much else is needed (Except maybe a hat)

Luna- Wallpaper: I'd really say some type of Alice in Wonderland for this...it's almost needed

Frame: I suppose Umbreon color scheme would work best given she likes the dark and Umbreon is her Ace

Samson- Wallpaper: I'd like to see a big top kind of thing or at least the test your strength thing (why are my words failing me today) with a broken bell

Frame: Sexy Muscles. I'd just say the red and white big top colors would work for him since it kind of fits him best.

Charlotte- Wallpaper: I'd probably say a combustive or something flamey to bring back memories of her battle on how she like fire

Frame: Hmm...I'd say flames or cigarettes/smoke would fit here. Just something to show fire

Terra- Wallpaper: Glitch City. I know she likes rainbows...but that hacking really shines out in memory

Frame: I'd say make some wonked up tiles to make it look very disorderly kind of showing Terra's crazy side. (though rainbows could work too)

Ciel- Wallpaper: Maybe some type of Cloudy day or an Altaria to represent her ace. I could also see Big Top as a whole Wallpaper

Frame: I suppose a puffy cloud frame would have to be here. Maybe some of those trapezes things (words failing me again)

(I'm not going to get into the other leaders until we fight them but others can make suggestion)

Rivals and Allies

Fern: Wallpaper: I suppose a Roserade would pretty much be best here...not the best with these at all

Frame: Thorns and Roses. Thorns at the very least as it suits him and how he always manages to be a thorn in your side.

Victoria: Wallpaper: N/A She doesn't deserve one (but Kiki does)

Frame: Ying-Yang type of deal given her clothing.

Cain: uhh...the only frame idea that comes to mind is music notes. I know Cain's awesome, but I don't know how to show it (maybe his clothes design for a frame instead?)

Cal: Wallpaper: Obvioiusly a Volcano or the Volcano he stands on

Frame: I'd try and make it a Volcano type deal with lava on the top and rocks on the bottom. (Or I'd make one half of the frame fire and the other Ice to represent the brothers)

Laura: Wallpaper: I'd go with a flower type deal here

Frame: This frame should have a field of grass with flowers, but there should be 4 on the top row and 4 on the bottom row. That's the best thing I can think of to symbolize Laura

Anna: Wallpaper: (See Noel)

Frame: I'd say a Jirachi type fram would work best for her

Enemies/Team Meteor

I'd love to see wallpaper for each of the admins or at least Solaris, but I'll skip wallpapers here and mostly focus on Frame ideas

ZEL - The best I could see is for a Black, Blue, and Pink border to show the three's different aces and steel at the top to represent Magneton or Sludge for the Pulse Muk.

Taka - The best I can think of is Scarves with Music Notes or something along that. A chatot scheme would be the next best thing, but there's not too much other than Chatot to distinguish him by.

Sirius- Another hard one really, but I'd rather see a Chandelure/Seviper wallpaper than a frame for him. If I had to give him one, I'd try to make it half blue flame, half fanged snake to show his deadly sides.

Solaris- I can't really say, but a wallpaper with his Garchomp would definitely be the best to describe him

Just a note: since the meteors are all fictional, it's kind of hard to find something to tie with them so it might be okay to skip them. Now onto easier ones:

Sigmund- Wallpaper: I'd give him a shocking or plasma type design due to his work and his battle strategies.

Frame: I'd honestly say a simple pole with electricity surrounding it or an electivire cable design would suit him best.

El- Wallpaper: I'd pretty much say give his wallpaper to the lord and savior as that's what he'd probably do

Frame: I'd go with some bright looking design similar to the holy field effect.

Blake- Wallpaper: I'd honestly go for a fire vs ice type of deal there given the Winston family history

Frame: (See Cal) or just a frozen frame...NO NOT THE MOVIE! basically a big ice chunk around the text

Bennett- Frame: I'd give him a Volcarona styled frame as he kind of looks like a Volcarona and his ace is...a Volcarona.

I'm not really expecting any or all of my ideas to be accepted, but it's a way to get the ball rolling. I also spoilered the leaders because this post is super long already.

Edit: I almost forgot. It might be a cool idea to turn wallpapers for the PC into field effect styled background so that there is one field to kind of represent each type (or close) which would be a fun little addition to organizing Pokemon.

[Lupo]

What about Titania and Amaria?

[Commander]

What about Titania and Amaria?

(glares) I wasn't going to do them as I'd kind of would like to see them in full action before making a suggestion, but...I suppose I can do something:

Adrienn: Wallpaper: I'd kind of like just a screencap of Adrienn ordering Florinia and Julia around to kind of show what we missed (or maybe something mystical and pink looking)

Theme: This is a hard one. I'd have to associate cleaned up or purified reborn with Xem, but I can't figure anything to associate with it. All I have is time...which wouldn't work too well with Adrienn

Hardy: Wallpaper: Truthfully, I could see a simple Solrock and Lunatone combo here and that'd really be it.

Theme: I'd kind of like seeing some type of guitar design given his love of rock maybe guitar strings on the borders

Amaria: Wallpaper: Hmm...I suppose a water type theme would be best here

Theme: This is hard as simple water wouldn't do her character justice. My idea is for one side of the water to be crystal blue while moving to the right it starts to turn gray. This is a better way to portray what has happened to Amaria over the game and pre-starting the journey and how her life really did turn grey.

Titania: Wallpaper: Warning! Minor Spoiler:

If the scrapyard still exists, I'd easily give her that for the theme.

Theme: Other than the above, all I can think of is an Aegislash sword with blood on it...which would be hard to make. Titania is more of a gladiator type character so giving her an armor type frame or an Aegislash would probably work best.

Saphira: Wallpaper: I'd kind of like to see a Wallpaper that represents all three of the Belrose family instead of something just for Saphira.

Theme: The bubbles. Hmm...I'd just do a split color scheme here of light purple and dark purple to represent her colored hair. Maybe make the frame look a little beat up to show some of Saphira's rage.

Edit: I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT ARCLIGHT!

Arclight: Wallpaper: I'd give him the nightclub given it's his type of club

Theme: I'd either try to make some headphone styled text box or some DJ Scratchboard or just a simple Vinyl Record...just something with music please.

[Anvilicious]

Although I really like the idea of gym leader themes, it does pose the problem of spoilers. I think if there are leader based themes, they ought to be unlockable with badges/plot events or something along those lines. It'd avoid giving away anything about them that way.

[Masquerain]

absol wallpaper

[Amethyst]

With the references to other games, they would definitely be limited to windowskins. The idea is they should be subtle enough that you wouldn't think twice about it unless you'd played those games.

I'm also not looking to get too detailed, but something like the minimalist art posted above shouldn't be a problem.

[wytch_doctr]

I think a minimalistic theme would work great for this.

Maybe have a theme for each PULSE too.

Tangrowth: The eye with a green background

Just as a quick idea

Muk: Eyes again, maybe with a sihouette of its steel arm

Abra: The steel helmet with some fading out yellow areas

Avalugg: Purple eyes with a big peak-thing behind it

Swalot: glowing green mouth with green whiskers

Edited October 22, 2015 by wytch_doctr

[Foamy]

How about sets of menu frames with motifs or color schemes from each of the wards? Peridot, Jasper, Coral, etc.

I like the idea of PULSE wallpapers, but that might spoil upcoming events for players who are just starting the game. Could players potentially "unlock" them upon completing said events, or is that not possible within the parameters of RPG Maker/Pokémon Essentials?

[Dragon116]

Areas to consider for wallpaper:

- Radomus's Maze/Castle

- Luna's Cave

- Belrose Mansion

[ZEL]

This is kind of a bit...complicated one. Meteor doesn't really have a symbol...or anything that sticks out like the main games. Is it just going to be a meteor type pattern? Not really sure how this would work and I'd kind of like to see an Admin type thing for the wallpaper similar to the main game Plasma Wallpaper.

The red-gray thing is Meteor's symbol. I remember being shown a graphic of it but it's been a while and Skype isn't being helpful in finding it again :c

Give Meteor-themed things \o/

That said, I would probably miss the gray-yellow border above.

[Guest MegaMagikarp]

MIltank. Only Miltank. And maybe one Kingler. Problem solved.

[Fumble]

Besides the ones above, maybe one for Team Aqua/Magma Gangs? There was another idea I had, although I forgot what.

[Flux]

For a potential window border, I was thinking you could play off of the Reborn logo. What came to mind for me was the idea of alternating diagonally slanted stripes. For example, the grey-black Reborn background color, followed by blue, back to grey, red, back to grey, purple, back to grey, green, and repeat. I'd imagine the grey stripes would be a bit thicker than the colored stripes as well. Hopefully that makes some sort of sense.

[Hexagoen]

not sure this has been said yet (sorry i it has :x) but what if the certain gym leader window skins/text skins will be available to the player once they have defeated him/her/xyr.

of course the graphic is in the game folder. it just cannot be used (by some magic coding) until it has been 'given' to the player. the unaccesable ones (from the players progress) i am guessing can be accessed and used by some cheaty hacking :/

just a thought on how this could work.

[Samtale]

kinda like the idea of a ghost pokemon themed wallpaper kinda cematary themed as well for those who do nuzlocks this would be fitting

and maybe a Citae- Arc-d'Astrae themed wallpaper as well.

Baby shiny reborn arceaus sounds good

megastone themed speech box and menu

I think you said somthing about this but speech pl 12 isnt an option in game so that would be nice to be added

[Shadolance]

I would really like the 3rd gen theme as it's always been my favorite, but some other ones might include:

-Darkrai vs Crescellia theme

-Midnight Island theme

-Gardevoir vs Dusknoir theme

-Theme based on Underground tower earlier in the game

-Titania + Aegislash theme

-Gym leaders theme

-Electivire/Magmortar/Tangrowth theme

Just ideas. I'm happy with whatever. My personal favorites are the midnight island and 3rd gen themes, but the titania one would be cool too.

[IdleThoughts]

All I really desire is some type of frame or windowscreen which embodies the PULSE program, although something simple and nonspecific. Like the symbol emitting a strange glow or etc.