[Demo] Pokemon Indigo League

[davidthefat]

I would call it 2.5d, you will be surprised how many games turn out great using 2.5d graphics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6KMAm_228s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PFNILRWz4Y

[Krazy_Meerkat]

Update time!

Ok so I've been busy tinkering away, and now I'm ready for the second public beta *yay*
Firstly, I've done a bit of gfx-ing, and I'm no gfx-er, but I think they turned out pretty well.. You will see a new Tree, a new Grass Tile, fixed colours on the sky panorama and also some new 4-directional House gfx.. The first two were Kyledove-inspired, so he deserves most of the credit.
There is a new poll, please fill it out after playing the beta and I hope you enjoy being a part of the development :D
P.S. The poll is public so that I can credit beta testers, please don't abuse it and only vote after you play the beta.

Beta time! Talk to Professor Oak to toggle the camera mode..

Spoiler:

http://depositfiles.com/files/cdgrqfo49

Thanks for the comments guys,
Biggar, the new beta is in glorious fullscreen.
abcdefg4321, you can play on mac using VirtualPc to emulate windows.
Pokemon_123, you should PM me some examples of your work if you're interested in joining the team.
davidthefat, the map is fully 3d imho, but yes you can call it 2.5d..

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by Krazy_Meerkat

Update time!

Ok so I've been busy tinkering away, and now I'm ready for the second public beta *yay*
Firstly, I've done a bit of gfx-ing, and I'm no gfx-er, but I think they turned out pretty well.. You will see a new Tree, a new Grass Tile, fixed colours on the sky panorama and also some new 4-directional House gfx.. The first two were Kyledove-inspired, so he deserves most of the credit.
There is a new poll, please fill it out after playing the beta and I hope you enjoy being a part of the development :D
P.S. The poll is public so that I can credit beta testers, please don't abuse it and only vote after you play the beta.

Beta time! Talk to Professor Oak to toggle the camera mode..

Spoiler:

http://depositfiles.com/files/cdgrqfo49

I don't like the way you just cut off the map, I think you should atleast add a fog or something more subtle

[Krazy_Meerkat]

I'm devising a map-loading system but was just checking lag for most people.. I figure people are getting pretty good speeds on the map since no-one is complaining..
Maps will be bigger so you won't see the sides, I could also use some mountain gfx in the panorama so it won't just cut into sky after the edge of the tiles.. Oh no sorry I can't do that because the sky panorama moves.. If I find that the map-loading system runs better, then a new map will be loaded before the horizon reveals the edge of tiles (the horizon can be seen by looking out to sea)

[CollosalPokemon]

Hmm...NeoMode7, that looks very impressive. Did you modify it for Pokemon Essentials?

[Krazy_Meerkat]

The short answer is no, it's not really compatible with essentials..
I might see what I can use from essentials when I have more time.. It takes a long time to fix all the errors..
Thanks for your comment btw

[Biggar]

Hmmm...

I really like the idea, but from the other side I think it would be better to keep the angle of view the same. There's is no profit in playing from ground view and those 10 degrees don't make a big difference to the gameplay either. Also, it'll be a lot easier to sprite without making the buildings look like they're going to fall upon you.

The swinging of the camera is great. However, I would stick to a ... and lock movement. This will also provide better sprites. Last point of comment: you should include seperate sprites for mailboxes and signes. It doesn't make sense to post 4 directioned mail =P

[Krazy_Meerkat]

Thanks for posting Biggar :)
I must say that swing & lock is starting to grow on me.. I know you might like the camera best at one angle, but other people might sometimes want a low camera angle, hence the poll.. As for the buildings, I've already reduced the height of the roof so that they look better at some angles and I could make separate sprites for low angles, but I thought it might look weird when you lower the camera angle for the roof to slowly flatten while the front stays the same.. Oh and I will make 4-directional sprites for the mailbox and sign. Please try not to be overly hypocritical of the engine because even the real pokemon games rely on a bit of optical illusion.

I've been working on the npc movement system.. Npc's will wait if their path is blocked, and continue their actions when the path is free. I've finished a dynamic npc, capable of randomly moving between several places of interest and performing actions at each place.
I'm thinking of adding a 1st person perspective, not sure though 'cause people might think "What's the point? I can see huge pixels".. Here's a random screen showing a lovely 4-dir fishing sprite that will be seen in the next beta (it's also animated). The screen shows how close you can get before it becomes hard to see the town due to the horizon.. The horizon also shrinks down as you zoom in (a little too much I think)..
Anyway:

Oh and in the next beta, you will be able to select your map resolution (Currently set to lowest for speed)..

[Biggar]

Well, of course it is a really nice, unique feature, but on the other hand: you could take it easy with the spriting and use that time for other purposes. I doubt if people are really going to use it (I will probably not use it), but it is your game after all... What also might be an option, is a swing and lock system for the angle? Like 30 > 25 > ... This may also save you a bunch of spriting.

Last point of comment: I noticed that you really focused on the lower angles, but what about a 90 deg. mode? Like everything is shown from above?

[Pokémon4ever]

I think it looks very promising, great work man! Just keep working, i know it will be awesome once you are done! =)

[Alliehj]

I just finished the demo, and it was just awesome! The whole episodes came back to me, and the last time I saw them was years, and years ago!
The only comment I have is that there is not mutch controlling your character.. but then again, who wants to control a character when the game
is this fun :D

[Konekodemon]

Yea, it is great. This is good enough to be a real offical game. How did you get animated sences in anyway? I'd like to put some animated videos on my game as well.

[Krazy_Meerkat]

Konekodemon, you appear to be the first poster who hasn't had problems viewing the videos.. They are in divx format so I guess that could be playing a part in it..
Alliehj, that post makes it all worth it.. I was aiming for something along those lines, but I feel like I may have added too much original anime content and it might have killed the replay value a bit.. Not to mention the length of some of those cutscenes.
But I did enjoy the accuracy given by using exact lines/scenes from the series.. It just makes branching harder (alternate storyline options). I'm sure I'll find a happy medium
Pokémon4ever, thanks dude, I'll keep trying hard.
Biggar, thanks man, you're right.. If I wasn't doing all this spriting it'd give me heaps of time to work on the battle system etc. I like a bit of variety though, it keeps the inspiration alive. What you said about the vertical swing&lock, I've considered it before.. I thought it would just make more sense to leave it out.. Oh and the 90 degree viewpoint, interesting in theory but boring in practice, it would look like the first few GTA games.. To sum it up, a lower angle = more detailed sprites, higher = less. It's a good idea, but means more spriting for a less-than-desirable effect.. I have focused on lower-than-normal-rmxp angles because I've really wanted to break free from many of the forcive 2d-rpg mapping methods for years, I found a way to do that with NM7. Again, thanks for your opinion

I'm noticing that a lot of people are voting on 1 viewpoint.. Strange, I was feeling that swing&lock would be the preferred option, I guess I'll just have to wait for some more votes..

Anyway I'd like to thank all those who support this game.. I know other people seem to be jumping on the Mode 7 bandwagon atm, but hopefully they have the decency not to copy from this project.. After all, that's what will makes it so unique..
As for the beta, I was thinking of re-merging the starter kit with the project before release, but I'll be honest here, I only solved about 6-7 problems before I called it a waste of time.. I'll try to persevere the frustration next time, but I do have a very short fuse and I like my laptop in one piece

Also, thanks for abusing the poll, Trizotto you n33b -.-

[Konekodemon]

Even though I'm out voted I still think the Freely-rotating mode is the best way to go so that everyone gets the mode they want, as then your able to switch modes while playing.

[Krazy_Meerkat]

Yeah it was my favorite, I'm thinking I might end up just including all.. If I had sacrificed it for swing&lock then I could remove some of the sharpness from rectangular buildings like Oak's lab by giving the front sprite 8-directions instead of 4, meaning a quarter of the turn at either side would display no image (simulating lag) and making it look much better in transition, but this can be clearly seen with freely-rotate.. I can make it so that it defaults to the 4-directional front sprite if you switch to freely rotate but I don't know whether people would just think it was glitching out or what..
I was thinking that 1 viewpoint can be achieved using freely rotate so it's kind of a pointless answer to the poll, but it's interesting to see how many people would do that.. You're missing out people :\

[jrookie]

I like your idea, but the game is really kinda laggy

1] VERY VERY lag
2] Video not showing. But voice's heard
3] My whole computer was slowed down...

FYI, my comp is window xp pro sp2, pentium 4, 1.7Ghz, 640mb ram

[Konekodemon]

That's weird, I'm not having any problems with it. Maybe you need to install the divx plugins or something.

[Biggar]

I'm not having any problems with that either (except for the videos): no lag at all and my computer as fast as it's supposed to be...

[Krazy_Meerkat]

jrookie, I'm testing it on my laptop which has these specs: xp pro sp1, pentium 4, 2.2Ghz processor (seems to be running at 1.18 though), 512mb ram.. The lag isn't really that bad for me, I assume most people who use their PC's for games would have like 3.5-4.5Ghz processors..
Your HD capacity is also important with lag, I recommend having at least 1Gb free (because I suspect the virtual memory paging file is quite large for games made with the starterkit, and that is just a bit of a guess based on past configurations).. Windows also runs a lot of background-tasks depending on what programs you have installed, try closing all other programs (anti-virus etc.) when playing the demo, because you really should experience it at full speed..

Anyone who is having problems viewing the videos, do you have divx codecs installed? It's merely support for your media apps (which rmxp uses) to play files compressed in divx format. I'm pretty sure it was divx and not xvid.. Actually, the files ended up being a certain kind of AVI file, but they had to be compressed in a certain manner to get the filesize I wanted.. You'd be better off downloading one of those huge codec packs, I think the one I have is called Ace codecs or something..
I was assuming that since they ended up back in AVI format, everyone would be able to see them, but I guess I must have chosen a special kind of AVI file, or it's kept some of the previous compression somehow (I don't really know how that stuff works)..
Anyway, if you do all that and you're still having problems, I'm sorry because I don't know how else to help. But I'm sure there's a good reason why it works for me and Konekodemon..

Will post a game update later on today, I've been torn between working on the battle system and fixing the starter-kit related errors.. So many things I want to do and not enough time..

[Microchip55]

i will be willing to join as a mapper. i am also a un-expierenced(i have only done it in my own game) spriter(just started) and scripter(just started). i have not made any hacks that i am going to upload yet(im making one). so i will be willing to join the team.

[krillian]

My download didn't work isn't it because I downloaded it form RapidShare

How far does this beta go?

[Pokemon_123]

Are you still working on this?

[Krazy_Meerkat]

Yeah.. But my life has become much more complex.. I will probably work on the game as more of a hobby rather than a mission like when i started the thread..
I'm going to see if I can start working with a similar engine soon, and failing that, I will resume work on the original starter-kit aka 2d version.. Give me about a week and I'll have a better idea what's going to happen..

[Pokemon_123]

Ok, no worrys, its totally your decision

P.S I've never played an anime adaptation game with such depth, great work and also don't rush it as it'll make the game worthless.

[Krazy_Meerkat]

Final engine beta!!!


Ok well I've had a real lot going on, sorry about the lack of updates.. I'm glad everyone understands the stress and pressures of life which often consume me. This is the last beta of the 2.5D engine I've been developing (it also has an ABS which has never been demonstrated..) Maybe one day I'll continue this little side project, as for the moment.. Simply enjoy the features it has to offer.. I couldn't be bothered adding a final camera control system, but I had planned a "follow" camera, capable of auto-rotating based on the direction you press. It isn't really necessary at the moment..
*Hint* To see the NPCAI (which will be in the starter-kit version) simply watch the old lady for a while.. All npc's in towns will have their own random tasks and routes like this. (Ok, when I say this has never been done before in an rmxp game, I mean it..)
Anywho, here ya go everyone:
http://depositfiles.com/files/u37977nsk
http://www.2shared.com/file/yT3ToyTd...go_League.html

Previous news:

Spoiler:

After much thought.. I'm deciding to return to the original starter kit version..
This was an interesting idea, but I don't have a whole lot of time to work on the new engine and with no scripters offering to help (instead just stealing ideas), I've decided the game would benifit most from the old version..
Lol.. I know it seems like a hell of a tangent, but I may eventually return to this engine.. Depending what happens in the future..
I'll release the final beta of this engine (the one i was talking about before) so you can check out the "3d" animated fishing sprite and also the npc AI idea I came up with..
Anyway.. I'll upload when I have some spare time.. I'll pick up where I left off (which was nearly at the end of episode 2) and continue the storyline until the episode where Ash catches a krabby and learns about the 6-pokemon rule.. At this point in the game, you will be able to catch your own pokemon (although, you may be required to have a certain pokemon in your party to progress further in some storyline events) and will be able to complete various side-quests and mini-games, I've been working on an arcade which will include cool games you can unlock and play.. You will still be able to experience random storyline branches and I hope to add lots of replay value to this game :)
I haven't done any gfx in a long time.. So I guess some new gfx might be seen soon..
I may update the scrolling background in the title screen.. I'm currently happy with the pokemon yellow theme, but I want to add a bit more colour to it (like a sparkle that moves with the pokemon or one falling from the title gfx, not really sure yet)..
So that's all the updates for now.. I'll start by fixing the glitches seen in the demo, and I may go back over the start of the game replacing videos with cut-scenes.. Because I want the game to be logical for everyone playing (and it will reduce filesize).. I'll update as soon as I resume work..
I have some newfound inspiration, so look forward to screens and the usual stuff.. Might just take a little longer, but these things take time :)