Pokémon Amethyst

[Wichu]

I know I said I'd update 2 days ago, but unfortunately, there were a few setbacks. Also, I didn't want the update to get lost at the bottom of the previous page... But anyway, here it is!

As I said, I've been working on the Pokédex. Does anyone remember when I did an update on it? That was a few months ago.

So, what's changed? First off, the animation is a bit better, and the frame rate now stays consistently high. Instead of the entries being arranged in two diagonal lines, as previously, they're now in a smooth curve.
More importantly, though, I've done some of the graphics for the actual Pokédex entries. Those being the Info and Area pages.

Anyone familiar with Essentials will know that the area is bought up by pressing C on the Info page, like in FR/LG. I've recoded that part to be more like R/S/E/D/P; the different functions of the Pokédex are now on different pages which can be changed using the arrow keys.

The first page is the standard Info page. For this update, I've replaced all 386 GBA Pokémon entries with their Emerald entries.* The D/P entries are too short, so will be rewritten. I'll probably eventually rewrite the Emerald entries, too. Secondly, I've added the Pokémon's type, which is missing from the Pokédex in Essentials. And finally, I've resized* and added each Pokémon's footprint, thanks to legendarypokemon.net.

The Area function has been upgraded too, in both looks and functionality. The area highlights now fade in and out, and "Area Unknown" is displayed in the centre of the screen. The town map has been revamped, and a border added. Function-wise, I've modified it to display locations correctly on large routes spanning multiple tiles on the town map; this was rather tricky for routes with turns in them, such as Route 50 (north-east of Hazelet Town).

Finally, I've implemented a regional dex which is independent of the national dex. The screenshots and animations don't contain any new Pokémon; however, they reveal some of the old Pokémon returning in Amethyst.

A few things are still missing; notably the words "Shika Pokédex" which are at the top of the old animation, and the "Z: Search" text at the bottom. The current dex isn't final; those will be added eventually. There is a small glitch where the "é" character doesn't display; I'm hoping to have this fixed soon.

And, what you've all been waiting for: screenshots!

Spoiler:

The Info page in the Pokédex. I created a script which applies an 'emboss' effect to the footprint.

Area Unknown? Damn, I wanted a Heracross...

The revamped Shika region map, complete with border.

Which still supports zooming.

The Pokédex animation; you may notice that it's a lot smoother than previous animations. This is because I found a way to decrease the slowdown when using the animation script.

Transition between main Pokédex screen and a Pokédex entry. Also shows the Area animation.

You may have noticed that the sprites have been recoloured; if you did, you have a good eye for detail. All Pokémon sprites in Amethyst will be recoloured slightly.

Spoiler:

*Whenever you see me boast about accomplishing a long and tedious task, chances are that I actually wrote a script to do it for me :P

[Lady Berlitz]

Beautiful! Wow, very nice updates, Wichu! It looks wonderful, everything is smoother and a lot lighter to the eye. I love the Pokédex animation, as well, and the Region Map looks a lot better. Very nice job, Wichu!

Also, have you already implemented that NPC I sprited for you? And were there any errors or oddities?

[InMooseWeTrust]

Wichu, if there is a game developer of the year award someday, you deserve it.

[Vampire://Krimm]

@____@

-sits on ground and blinks-

Beautifully done! You could easily put numerous people out of business with an update like that XD The animations are a nice touch, and the PokeDex set up is just gorgeous~!

Well done Wichu <33

[PokemonOI]

^lol what krimm said. that is gorgeous man!keep it up.

[Wichu]

Thanks for the encouragement. Esmas, the NPC is good, but a bit too short; he's an adult man, yet the same height as the player. Maybe make him a pixel or two taller? Also, is there any chance of you spriting him in his original clothes, rather than your ones?

[Neo-Dragon]

Excellent overall style to it Wichu. I loved the animation of the dex "flowing" (yes- I just used that word to describe it lol).
Also, new version of the region map? Looks much better.
Love everything you do in this game. Huge supporter.
Good job.

[Atomic Reactor]

wow. the pokedex screen is mazing ^_^
keep up the marvelous work :)

[Fangking Omega]

Whoa... exceptional. Simply exceptional. Incredible work on that Dex, I can't think of another game developer who's achieved what you've achieved.

[GuyNamedSean]

I will help with spriting!
Do you have a list of Pokemon that are sprite-less?
If not I'll just start with the Bug-types.

[Lady Berlitz]

Originally Posted by Wichu

Thanks for the encouragement. Esmas, the NPC is good, but a bit too short; he's an adult man, yet the same height as the player. Maybe make him a pixel or two taller? Also, is there any chance of you spriting him in his original clothes, rather than your ones?

Ah, yes. I forgot that the template you gave me was for the hero. I'll change it when I can. Good luck, Wichu.

[Konekodemon]

the main male hero character looks like Richie, lol

[Wichu]

GuyNamedSean, if you'd like to help, PM me some examples of sprites you've done before, so I can see whether you're good enough.

Anyway, I've been working on the Pokédex script again. I've slightly revised the appearance, and added the Cry and Size pages. They're not finished yet; however, I'll show some screens of the Size page anyway.


New appearance; better or worse? I'm going to re-add the Seen and Owned text, as well as the other missing text, later.

The Size screen compares the size of a Pokémon's sprite with the trainer sprite, as well as the Pokémon's and trainer's actual heights, to display the silhouettes correctly. It works for both large and small Pokémon. The Pokémon and trainer's height will be displayed at the bottom.

However, the script is inaccurate when dealing with snake-like Pokémon with long bodies, as their 'height' is actually the length of the extended body. Since the body is usually curled up or otherwise posed to fit the 64x64 limit, the script calculates the wrong size. There's nothing I can really do about it; for now, just avoid giant Gyarados.

[Alistair]

Here are my two cents: Instead of using the size of the sprite, try using/writing a system that compares the measured height in the Pokédex entry to the height of the trainer, and have the sprites scaled accordingly. That could be a bit more accurate.

[LightBender]

whoah, how did you do the menu thing, it must take one heck of a hack to do that! :O

[Mitchman]

This sint a hack buddy. Anyway wow giant gyarados. I so want one. Ailstars theory is correct in a way try it. Also man if you cant then i can wait to see what happens for pokemon like seviper.

[Wichu]

The size is already based on the Pokédex size. However, it has to be based partly on the sprites, as a Pokémon with a small sprite would appear too small otherwise.
The resize takes into account the dimensions of the image file (usually 128x128), the height of the actual sprite (i.e. not counting pixel rows with only transparent pixels), the height of the trainer sprite, the height given in the Pokédex, and the trainer's height (currently the same as in D/P; i.e. 1.4m).
It's an issue with how the Pokédex height is measured on long Pokémon and their poses in the sprites, not with the script. If I resprited Gyarados with its head at the top, tail at the bottom, and body straightened out, it would appear at the correct size. However, it would then look really really awkward; would you rather have a slightly inaccurate Size page, or a ridiculous sprite appearing in battle, the summary screen, and Pokédex? :P

Unless I can get hold of the data controlling this used in R/S/E, I'll leave it like this.

[ChronicEdge]

This looks better than sex. A question, though: When will we be able to actually download a demo or beta?

[Anuhrima]

don't ask that kind of question. he is working at a steady pace

[<<Haruki Adachi>>]

I can't wait for it
This will be a game I support
anyways if you need any Attack Names,City Names,or NPC Names just PM me

[Vampire://Krimm]

Nice update~ :D Annoying problem though.

And personally, I prefer the first design on the PokeDex. Dunno why, but I like the new way as well. I guess it just reminds me a bit more of R/S/E for some reason @-@

Anywho, keep it up <3

[Neo-Dragon]

Originally Posted by Vampire://Krimm

And personally, I prefer the first design on the PokeDex.
Anywho, keep it up <3

I agree.
I liked the first one more. The brownish whiney colour really looked well.

[Rabla]

wow this game is the best one i have seen anywhere

wichu, DONT EVER give up on this

ill be taking a supporter userbar now......

[Tropical Sunlight]

Originally Posted by ChronicEdge

This looks better than sex.

No, it's not!

On-topic: I'd rather have a screw-up Pokedex than a scrwe-up Gyarados sprite...

[Wichu]

Okay, I'll add that back in. Thanks for the support and feedback!

EDIT: This any better?

Ignore the seen and caught numbers, I forgot to tell it to only count the regional dex Pokémon :P