We make Pokémon Reborn. Ask Us Anything.

[Marcello]

what are your favorite pokemon and generation?

I absolutely loved Gen V. As for Pokemon, It's very close betwen Articuno & (Mega) Beedrill. Probably Articuno.

[Amethyst]

Why hasn't the TM for Incinerate been added??? :c

I have written down that it was added, pretty early on, too.

Apologies if this has been asked before, but what Episode of Reborn would you say had the smoothest/easiest/quickest development?

What field effects took the longest time to think of an effect for?

Episode 1 literally took 2 weeks start to finish. Boom boom.

For the longest-conceptualization, also Glitch Field, because I literally took a list of everything that had changed between Gen 1 and now, and all of the popular glitches from Gen 1, went through them and picked out which ones would be practical/interesting attributes. I mean stuff like the physical/special split and type chart things were a no-brainer but the rest of the stuff was a handful of things from a much larger original concept list.

[Darth Luffy]

EDIT: i'd also like to add (after reading some of the replies ame made) that i loved the field for little ms. Waterrawr erm... T3RR4. The first time i sent out my musharna and used psychic and saw "Too OP... Pl34s3 N3RF" (i think thats how it went, the gist of it anyways) i had to stop playing for a minute to crack up X D

to me its just the small things like that, the things that most creators would just think to be nonsense that give me the most entertainment

Yeah I loved the Glitch Field, I was laughing my the whole time in that place, well atleast until I ran into Mewtwo and he destroyed me because I had a terrible team to go against him

Also since the field made me think of it, what was the inspiration behind Terra? She seemed to be a combination of all the worse things from the internet

[Masquerain]

Will we ever get to know the full details/stories of the real life people behind the characters of reborn? (we already know some of them but there are still a lot of missing details and stories) Will we ever find out how they're doing right now ?

Will the remaining gym leaders retain a charlotte-like difficulty or be more of a serra-like joke?

Would you ever consider making a MD game with a darker plot like reborn?

[Kurotsune]

Will we ever get to know the full details/stories of the real life people behind the characters of reborn? (we already know some of them but there are still a lot of missing details and stories) Will we ever find out how they're doing right now ?

Will the remaining gym leaders retain a charlotte-like difficulty or be more of a serra-like joke?

Would you ever consider making a MD game with a darker plot like reborn?

These I can answer.

Will we ever get to know the full details/stories of the real life people behind the characters of reborn? (we already know some of them but there are still a lot of missing details and stories) Will we ever find out how they're doing right now ?

Yes.

Will the remaining gym leaders retain a charlotte-like difficulty or be more of a serra-like joke?

They'll scale in difficulty.

Would you ever consider making a MD game with a darker plot like reborn?

Someone was already doing that.

[Gaunt]

I always wondered: is Amaria human? I ask because she took a Superpower from a Tyranitar and managed to walk away (with some damage sure but a hit like that would break an iron wall no problem), after that she fell from a waterfall and ended up only with (relatively) minor head trauma. Seriously though how did she survive?

[Kurotsune]

I always wondered: is Amaria human? I ask because she took a Superpower from a Tyranitar and managed to walk away (with some damage sure but a hit like that would break an iron wall no problem), after that she fell from a waterfall and ended up only with (relatively) minor head trauma. Seriously though how did she survive?

I wonder.

[Cobalt996]

Since I've been wondering this for a while...

How do you decide what hidden items to place/where to place them/density of placement?

Pre-Julia makes sense, since shards have no use, and you might need the healing items, but after that... how?

Have you looked back on the maps after finishing them, thought something was missing, and acted upon that thought? If so, what's one big offender?

Edited December 15, 2015 by Cobalt996

[Samtale]

Will we ever see the ferris wheel or will it forever be out of commission?

[Amethyst]

Also since the field made me think of it, what was the inspiration behind Terra? She seemed to be a combination of all the worse things from the internet

All the leaders and most other characters are based off of their counterparts from the online league.

I try to avoid Terra.

Will we ever get to know the full details/stories of the real life people behind the characters of reborn? (we already know some of them but there are still a lot of missing details and stories) Will we ever find out how they're doing right now ?

Will the remaining gym leaders retain a charlotte-like difficulty or be more of a serra-like joke?

Would you ever consider making a MD game with a darker plot like reborn?

Their lives are their own and I promised them privacy. Nonetheless, I might say some stuff here and there particularly when I do my LP of the game once it's complete.

We might disagree about Serra being a joke... different leaders are easier or harder for different playthroughs. Nonetheless the average difficulty of each gym battle is, like stated, intended to follow a fairly continuous line.

Nope. After Reborn it's all about Starlight.

I always wondered: is Amaria human? I ask because she took a Superpower from a Tyranitar and managed to walk away (with some damage sure but a hit like that would break an iron wall no problem), after that she fell from a waterfall and ended up only with (relatively) minor head trauma. Seriously though how did she survive?

I'm not so sure it would break an iron wall... super effectiveness aside. Nonetheless, how hard would you have to punch someone to kill them? There are some key points, for instance. The throat. The spleen. If their rib cage is shattered and punctured their vitals. A person isn't going to stay still when a Tyranitar is swinging at them though so it's unlikely that that big slow thing is going to hit key points with its hulking hands. It's harder to imagine it would kill her than the reverse.

Water breaks a fall-- still hurts though.

How do you decide what hidden items to place/where to place them/density of placement?

Pre-Julia makes sense, since shards have no use, and you might need the healing items, but after that... how?

Have you looked back on the maps after finishing them, thought something was missing, and acted upon that thought? If so, what's one big offender?

For items that are visible on the overworld I mostly figure out where I want them as I'm doing the mapping, and build in those nooks and crannies.

For all hidden items, I have a list of items that are eligible to be found on the ground, plus a lot of duplicates to handle probability, and each time I finish eventing a map I plug that list into a randomizer and just go down it and drop the hidden items according to the list, wherever looks good on a whim until I feel like it's sufficiently dense.

Will we ever see the ferris wheel or will it forever be out of commission?

I really don't feel like making a Ferris Wheel graphic set tbh, especially since it's not really important to the story. Once it's back in commission there'll just be a long line of guests blocking it off.

[Tringus]

I kept speculating that we would have to ride the Ferris Wheel in order to get to the Glass Workshop or something. Since it will be permanently blocked, does this mean we have to find another way to get to the Glass Workshop? (Now that I think about it... Isn't there a rock-climbing wall nearby the Ferris Wheel or something?

[spark95]

Who designs the puzzles?

How hard is it to make, and how long does it take?

Will we ever be allowed to play the "online game" in the game corner?

Will the gang leader opposing the gang you joined ever come back for the side quest?

[Lostelle]

Are the characters names in-game their actual names?

Besides first names for example, is Corey's name actually Corey Molinar? Blake Whitaker? etc, or did you change them for sake of privacy?

[GenOneRaisedGenY]

I'm not so sure it would break an iron wall... super effectiveness aside. Nonetheless, how hard would you have to punch someone to kill them? There are some key points, for instance. The throat. The spleen. If their rib cage is shattered and punctured their vitals. A person isn't going to stay still when a Tyranitar is swinging at them though so it's unlikely that that big slow thing is going to hit key points with its hulking hands. It's harder to imagine it would kill her than the reverse.

Water breaks a fall-- still hurts though.

I hate to be "that guy," but one of TTar's canon Pokedex entries (DPP series) does say "If it rampages, it knocks down mountains and buries rivers. Maps must be redrawn afterward."

But it is your game, and besides I've never personally imagined Pokemon to be that strong. Realistically too, at 6'07" standing upright, TTar isn't any bigger than a grizzly bear, and people survive bear attacks.

Edited December 15, 2015 by GenOneRaisedGenY

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

Considering what happened to Corey and Kiki in-game is actually what happened to them, was it emotionally difficult to make those scenes?

[Gaunt]

I'm not so sure it would break an iron wall... super effectiveness aside. Nonetheless, how hard would you have to punch someone to kill them? There are some key points, for instance. The throat. The spleen. If their rib cage is shattered and punctured their vitals. A person isn't going to stay still when a Tyranitar is swinging at them though so it's unlikely that that big slow thing is going to hit key points with its hulking hands. It's harder to imagine it would kill her than the reverse.

Like someone already said it is a little unrealistic but in the end we're talking about imaginary creatures so that's ok (though i liked Kuro's answer more)

[Caz]

It's pretty common to form some kind of attachment to characters in video games - how attached are you to characters in Reborn, being the dev, do any seem more one dimensional than others to you? Also, how do you manage the stress of having an Episode finished within a fair time frame?

EDIT: How do your friends outside of the Reborn community feel about the game and your massive role in it? (even if they don't know/play Pokemon)

Also, smooth or crunchy?

Edited December 16, 2015 by Caz

[IdleThoughts]

What's your strategy when designing field effects? Do you lean more towards covering a gym leader's weaknesses, building an environment, or giving the player a new strategy for playing?

Additionally, will we see more ways to transform the field effects at will? Personally, I'd like to be able to go from Corrosive Mist, to the Burning Field, to the Mirror Field, to the Crystal Caverns all in one battle. Also, will we see any instances of general NPCs learning to manipulate the environment instead of just accepting that they're using an ineffective Pokemon for their terrain? I really love the concept of field effects, but currently, they seem to come across more as a gimmick in some cases than as an actual layer of strategy (especially in field effects that appear only once, like the Mirror Field, and the Chessboard Field).

Was I asking a question or making a suggestion?

[Gaunt]

Is Terra ever going to return from the matrix?

[Kurotsune]

It's pretty common to form some kind of attachment to characters in video games - how attached are you to characters in Reborn, being the dev, do any seem more one dimensional than others to you? Also, how do you manage the stress of having an Episode finished within a fair time frame?

EDIT: How do your friends outside of the Reborn community feel about the game and your massive role in it? (even if they don't know/play Pokemon)

Also, smooth or crunchy?

Nah.

And the way we handle stress is by shouting out loud "EVERYTHING IS FALLING APART" then running in circles. Then crying in fetal position for roughly half an hour.

And my friends think it's pretty cool.

And peanut butter is weird and I dislike it.

What's your strategy when designing field effects? Do you lean more towards covering a gym leader's weaknesses, building an environment, or giving the player a new strategy for playing?

Additionally, will we see more ways to transform the field effects at will? Personally, I'd like to be able to go from Corrosive Mist, to the Burning Field, to the Mirror Field, to the Crystal Caverns all in one battle. Also, will we see any instances of general NPCs learning to manipulate the environment instead of just accepting that they're using an ineffective Pokemon for their terrain? I really love the concept of field effects, but currently, they seem to come across more as a gimmick in some cases than as an actual layer of strategy (especially in field effects that appear only once, like the Mirror Field, and the Chessboard Field).

Was I asking a question or making a suggestion?

1 -> All of the above.

2-> That greatly depends on improving Essential's AI, which is inherently flawed. The only way the general NPCs would learn that is if we could improve the way the game "thinks" for them, which right now is not a priority, since other things - such as making the NPCs not suck period - are our first and main concern.

Once/if we can improve the AI in that regard, then it could be feasible for us to upgrade the general AI to be mindful of field effects, though that'd be a complex and case-by-case scenario that could still be unreasonable to try ever after/if we get to it.

[Sheep]

I have a list of TMs ordered by (very very) approximate competitive strength so each time I need a new TM to put in I just pick from the next few things on the list.

Leader TMs are exempt from this, and are chosen per whatever suits the leader best. All of those were selected in advance, aside from a few cases that got changed retroactively (Florinia/Shade/Julia/Radomus)

Also, I'll say this again as I have a number of times: I've been very restrictive of TMs so that there's still team development to be done in the end-game after all Pokemon have evolved and learned their moves. Now that we're at that point and I need to be a lot more liberal with TM distribution, it's entirely possible that I'll find I have too many left to put in, and that some of the present list will have to backwash into earlier parts of the game with coming releases.

That's not a promise though, and it probably won't apply to anything earlier than Agate if it happens.

I understand that what I say isn't likely to change your opinion, and I'm almost certain that you've heard it before but eh. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the idea of delaying great TM's towards the end of the game to encourage the continued progression of teams in the late game. However, why don't you consider putting the bad TM's in the early game, rather than adopting your current stance of putting next to no TM's in the early game at all, and delaying even the bad ones until well into the late game? I don't honestly see what possible benefit these less viable TM's confer onto any pokemon which has already gained access to the suite of moves available by level up. As an example: Rock Tomb. The occasional Breloom out of the mystery egg aside, I don't think there's a single pokemon that would benefit from the implementation of the Rock Tomb TM at the current point in the game. Therefore implementing it now will result in no effective team progression, counter to your current intentions. The way that seems logical (from my standpoint) to achieve continuous team progression, including integration of TM's along the way, is to implement TM's at a point in the story at which these moves are likely to be useful, rather than waiting until most pokemon have exhausted their options by level up, and find the moves being added not useful at all. The same goes for many move tutor moves, like Electroweb. I'm sure middling power, speed dropping, electric type special coverage would be very useful for some pokemon. But it's much less likely that it's still going to be useful for those same pokemon by the time you reach 7th street in my opinion.

tl;dr why not keep the likes of Ice Beam, Thunder Wave, and Stone Edge until late in the game, but not doom Snarl, Flame Charge, and Aerial Ace to a life of inactivity because pokemon that would once have benefited from them are too busy using Dark Pulse, Flare Blitz, and Acrobatics by the time you get them?

Sorry Not sorry about the mini rant but does anyone with influence over this sort of thing feel like commenting on it?

[Exalted]

I'm not so sure it would break an iron wall... super effectiveness aside. Nonetheless, how hard would you have to punch someone to kill them? There are some key points, for instance. The throat. The spleen. If their rib cage is shattered and punctured their vitals. A person isn't going to stay still when a Tyranitar is swinging at them though so it's unlikely that that big slow thing is going to hit key points with its hulking hands. It's harder to imagine it would kill her than the reverse.

Water breaks a fall-- still hurts though.

like gen i hate to be that guy but i like to reference this entry "In just one of its mighty hands, it has the power to make the ground shake and mountains crumble" yeah the only way im buying she survived that hit from a superpower is if she is a pokemon or cyborg created by team meteor to slowly manipulate the gym leaders from the inside to weaken them and eventually cause the the elite four and the gym leaders to collapse as the true antagonist is revealed to be

you amethyst as you twist our fate by the fingers of your hands and witness our spite and destruction woven by you just to see us suffer or i need to stop watching anime and coming up with these far fetched theories or are the far fetched da da da daaaa

and youre game youre physics i guess

[Kurotsune]

I understand that what I say isn't likely to change your opinion, and I'm almost certain that you've heard it before but eh. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the idea of delaying great TM's towards the end of the game to encourage the continued progression of teams in the late game. However, why don't you consider putting the bad TM's in the early game, rather than adopting your current stance of putting next to no TM's in the early game at all, and delaying even the bad ones until well into the late game? I don't honestly see what possible benefit these less viable TM's confer onto any pokemon which has already gained access to the suite of moves available by level up. As an example: Rock Tomb. The occasional Breloom out of the mystery egg aside, I don't think there's a single pokemon that would benefit from the implementation of the Rock Tomb TM at the current point in the game. Therefore implementing it now will result in no effective team progression, counter to your current intentions. The way that seems logical (from my standpoint) to achieve continuous team progression, including integration of TM's along the way, is to implement TM's at a point in the story at which these moves are likely to be useful, rather than waiting until most pokemon have exhausted their options by level up, and find the moves being added not useful at all. The same goes for many move tutor moves, like Electroweb. I'm sure middling power, speed dropping, electric type special coverage would be very useful for some pokemon. But it's much less likely that it's still going to be useful for those same pokemon by the time you reach 7th street in my opinion.

tl;dr why not keep the likes of Ice Beam, Thunder Wave, and Stone Edge until late in the game, but not doom Snarl, Flame Charge, and Aerial Ace to a life of inactivity because pokemon that would once have benefited from them are too busy using Dark Pulse, Flare Blitz, and Acrobatics by the time you get them?

Sorry Not sorry about the mini rant but does anyone with influence over this sort of thing feel like commenting on it?

While I get what you mean, this is still a non-competitive game. Yes, some moves that could see use were they to be introduced later are outclassed by the available TMs by the time they do, but is that really a problem?

It's not like anyone downright loses by not having this movepool available; They still get the TMs, albeit later, and admitedly after they're past the point where they'd be most useful, but eh.

The moves are still available early on through other means - such as breeding - so it's not like you're locked out of having them in a radical fashion.

That said, it could be interesting to scrutinize with further detail moves that could be placed sooner into the game as to give higher tactical advantage to early game teams - "tactical advantage" being the keyword here, as I'd think something like thunder-wave would be more benefitial in terms of rewarding players for thinking strategically than, say, snarl.

But, well, we'll see. Stranger things have happened.

[Amethyst]

Who designs the puzzles?

How hard is it to make, and how long does it take?

Will we ever be allowed to play the "online game" in the game corner?

Will the gang leader opposing the gang you joined ever come back for the side quest?

I do.

Depends greatly from puzzle-to-puzzle depending on the complexity. Gym puzzles aren't usually that bad (shelly's excepted, fuck shelly's puzzle) but with puzzles like WTC/Route 2/Aventurine Woods where the entire map is basically a bunch of puzzles (often connected in one big meta puzzle-- I love that, by the way) it's pretty significant. I spend a lot of time drawing layouts for those on paper, then I map it out in-editor and try to fit everything into what I had in mind, and then I do the eventing and inevitably find scenarios/issues I didn't account for in design (such as places to get stuck) and so on and have to redo stuff a lot until I find a way that works.

Nah, that's like 90% just a LoL reference + something to make it more like an arcade and less like a casino

I intended that last appearance to be the final one-- but it's not impossible.

Are the characters names in-game their actual names?

Besides first names for example, is Corey's name actually Corey Molinar? Blake Whitaker? etc, or did you change them for sake of privacy?

Nope, they're changed for #puns of damage

Surnames are less puns and have other very obscure meanings which I can neither remember, nor subsequently comment on.

What pokemon would you consider the most beautiful and graceful? Basically if Ciel could have any type pokemon, which ones would they be in your opinion?

I really like the depth of the game. I absolutely adore it and I adore the exploration of psychiatric, identity, social and ethical problems. God, I'm gettin' over-hyped just from writing this. If you could include any other theme of any of those categories or philosophy in general, not only ethics, in the game, which one would it be and do you fell it would tie up with the rest of the plot?

As far as grace, stuff like Gardevoir, Meloetta... come to mind at once, idr feel like searching through the whole list atm. But types aside Ciel's team would be about grace secondarily and firstly about what can have grace in the air since her shtick is Aerial Ballet as opposed to the grounded variant. So that would primarily open up stuff like, yeah, Meloetta, maybe Mienshao/Blaziken, Lucario, stuff that can move swiftly, even just between ribbons in the air.

I'll say if I could have gone about it with any of those things in mind from the start, it would have been great. Unfortunately since this story is made from stitching pre-existing characters and scenarios together I wasn't really able to do that, so whatever is included is just what came out of the things that inspired the game. Also if the protagonist weren't silent I would love to have an over-arching theme for their development-- but alas, 'tis not in our source. But because of those things no single aspect can really tie up the plot itself. There's too many things to bring together.

Considering what happened to Corey and Kiki in-game is actually what happened to them, was it emotionally difficult to make those scenes?

Sort of. A lot of it was actually me feeling guilty for making their struggles into a game, something for entertainment value. I've often felt like it disrespects them, or diminishes their memory. I don't think I regret it though.

It's pretty common to form some kind of attachment to characters in video games - how attached are you to characters in Reborn, being the dev, do any seem more one dimensional than others to you? Also, how do you manage the stress of having an Episode finished within a fair time frame?

EDIT: How do your friends outside of the Reborn community feel about the game and your massive role in it? (even if they don't know/play Pokemon)

Also, smooth or crunchy?

Many of them seem very one dimensional to me, but that's because they were written to be that way in the first place. The original goal of the online league was to mimic the in-game experience with a human-level of difficulty. So, back in the day every leader had a set of quotes like the leaders in-game do. Quotes for when you win, lose, after the first hit, when they're down to one pokemon, etc. Those would be used every battle. When writing their quotes with them, I also had them deliberately choose lines and personalities to be a bit one-dimensional, because we were trying to express a clear character all within the span of a trainer card + one fifteen minute gym battle.

Compared to knowing the actual people behind them, it all seems very watered down to me. I'm very much looking forward to writing for more interesting characters in Starlight.

-

That's been a huge issue for me, especially with these last two episodes where it's taken 6 months/6+ months to get anywhere. I've had to let go of a lot of my expectations and constantly remind myself that this is something I originally just did in my free time and there is no actual development. Quality over speed. No rush, no need to hurt myself. ... But, doing that is a work in progress, and on the whole it's something I still do stress about multiple times a day.

-

I really only have one friend who's not at least somewhat around the community tbh. She hasn't played the game, but some of her friends have (and they don't believe her when she says she knows the person who made it, lol rip). She's encouraging, but I don't think she pays it much mind. She says I work on it too much. I disagree.

Smooth, and highly recommend the Peanut Butter Co. brand's White Chocolate Wonder or Dark Chocolate Dream. The former is like eating Reese's filling. The latter, nutella.

What's your strategy when designing field effects? Do you lean more towards covering a gym leader's weaknesses, building an environment, or giving the player a new strategy for playing?

Additionally, will we see more ways to transform the field effects at will? Personally, I'd like to be able to go from Corrosive Mist, to the Burning Field, to the Mirror Field, to the Crystal Caverns all in one battle. Also, will we see any instances of general NPCs learning to manipulate the environment instead of just accepting that they're using an ineffective Pokemon for their terrain? I really love the concept of field effects, but currently, they seem to come across more as a gimmick in some cases than as an actual layer of strategy (especially in field effects that appear only once, like the Mirror Field, and the Chessboard Field).

Was I asking a question or making a suggestion?

I usually pick out attributes based on the environment, and then occasionally add some stuff for the major battles it'll be used them/balance numbers for that, whatever.

I don't have any specific plans for increasing transformative effects but the item I'll be announcing shortly will help in letting players use their own fields more.

Field-specific AI is planned to be included in E19.

Is Terra ever going to return from the matrix?

spoilers????

words words words

Sorry Not sorry about the mini rant but does anyone with influence over this sort of thing feel like commenting on it?

A fair point and it's for that reason a lot of that stuff might backwash. However, I wanted to air to the side of being too restrictive with those things at first so that I don't run out of material to reward players with. If I find I have too much I can move it earlier. I think players will prefer that change to the reverse where I run out of TMs to give and up axing some.

like gen i hate to be that guy

Fair- but honestly I put limited stock into Pokedex entries...

I'd think something like thunder-wave would be more benefitial in terms of rewarding players for thinking strategically than, say, snarl.

Thunder Wave is common in competitive as stuff like Flamethrower though. It's something that's really strong itself and I sort of consider a no-brainer, so it'll be held off for later

[Kurotsune]

Probably something a lot of people are also thinking, but I'll just ask it. What's the holdup on E16? I've noticed a relatively linear pattern on Episode release when looking back on the older updates. But....it's prolly some technical stuff.

Use this thread to ask anything you'd like to any member of the development team, active or non, and should they feel like it, they'll respond. Cool? Cool.

Just one thing;

Don't ask anything directly related to the next episode of Pokémon Reborn (Especially not release dates!), as the Episode Discussion threads already exist for that subject.