Aftermath

[Gary, the Magic Fairy]

Intro:

It happened 4 years, 7 months, and 23 days ago. That much is certain. What happened? Well, that's open for interpretation.

Some say it's the end of the world. I say it's only the beginning. The beginning of the end sounds like a good compromise.

Millions were killed, buildings crumbled, the dead walk the earth. Who would've thought that those would be the least of our worries?

The survivors... well, we're all different. Some lost their minds. Some lost their hearts. Some were just lost. I think I've found a decent balance between total lunatic and emotionless robot. I'm probably better off than most. Growing up in this crazy land has made it easier to adjust.

Well, I should probably tell you a little about the land. You should follow a few rules:

Do not call attention to yourself.
Stay away from the others.
Trust no one.

If you obey these, you should be fine.

Welcome to Nowhere. Try not to get lost.

Story:

They speak of a place where there is nothing to fear. No one is crazy. No one is lonely. It's safe to walk the streets. People smile. Children play in the grass. There's abundant food. Clean water. Inside the walls of this magic kingdom, nothing can hurt you. I'm not sure how anyone would have heard of this place – surely once you were inside, you wouldn't come back to this wasteland. Maybe it's just a dream; the last glimmer of hope that keeps people alive.

Of course, what stands in the way is said to be worse than anything you can imagine... and in this world, that's really saying something. The weak cannot fight this evil; only the strong are able to resist it.

This place... they call it Haven... Sanctuary... Home.

Now, all I need is something to help fight off the creatures that stand in my way. It's times like these that make me wish Pokéballs still existed...

Info/Features:

• Hack of FireRed.
• "New" Region.
• "New" Pokémon.
• Non-pokémon enemies.
• Very challenging.
• Extremely limited items.
• Limited places to heal.

[Spherical Ice]

...wow. I'm hooked.

I WANT MOAR

Honestly, I really like the sound of this. Sounds a bit like Fallout 3. Erm, what ROM are you using?

[Gary, the Magic Fairy]

Oh, duh. I knew I forgot something. FireRed. XD

*Adds to first post*

I'm glad you like the sound of it. Hopefully the hack itself will meet your expectations. :D

[bbigman76]

WOW THIS SOUNDS EPIC!!!!!

[Spherical Ice]

Oh, cool. By the way, if you are, what're you going to replace the Pokéballs with?

oic wut u did thar. The banner scared me when I saw it animate. o.O

[Gary, the Magic Fairy]

Originally Posted by Spherical Ice

Oh, cool. By the way, if you are, what're you going to replace the Pokéballs with?

oic wut u did thar. The banner scared me when I saw it animate. o.O

I'm not replacing them with anything. It's just a story. You can't take everything said as fact. :3

They are quite rare since it happened, though.

And yeah, I tried not to make it distracting. It waits just long enough to surprise you. XD

[Aljam]

Good story is good. Maybe make the story text a little smaller cause for some reason I like it a bit smaller

[Aljam]

Originally Posted by .Seth

It seems so interesting. But, I wouldn't play it. If the world is so perfect, so safe, why do you need to fend off monsters?

Also, it sounds boring. Living in a perfect place. It's the imperfectness and differences that makes life entertaining. When you make a perfect world, you take out the very factor of individuality, thus leaving the game/world stale and dull.

You need to get to that perfect place. You have to go through what is left of the world to get to this sanctuary.

[Gary, the Magic Fairy]

Originally Posted by .Seth

It seems so interesting. But, I wouldn't play it. If the world is so perfect, so safe, why do you need to fend off monsters?

Also, it sounds boring. Living in a perfect place. It's the imperfectness and differences that makes life entertaining. When you make a perfect world, you take out the very factor of individuality, thus leaving the game/world stale and dull.

The world isn't perfect. It's nearly as far from perfect as it can be. You set out to find this perfect place. A place, I might add, you aren't even sure exists.

[Eeveon]

The story reminds me of I Am Legend. lol

But, this sounds interesting. I hope you actually complete this hack, and I will be watching all the way through. The only version I'll play is the final version, because I'd rather just download the whole game instead of bit by bit. Anyway, good luck, Gary~

[Chibi Robo]

I see were going to the darker more emo hacks are we gary?
Anyways sounds great but are you gonna do this alone again or are you gonna get some help with the scripting and stuff :l
But the story is very compelling and really hooks you into it.
Its good (b'')b

[Gary, the Magic Fairy]

Originally Posted by Chibi Robo

I see were going to the darker more emo hacks are we gary?
Anyways sounds great but are you gonna do this alone again or are you gonna get some help with the scripting and stuff :l
But the story is very compelling and really hooks you into it.
Its good (b'')b

lol emo

Anyway, I'm learning scripting, though I'll probably end up needing a bit of help on this one. This will be way more difficult than Pikachu Yellow. XD

The main thing I'll probably need help on is spriting. There's a lot of that in this game. 85% of it can be edited from existing sprites, though. If anyone's interested, drop me a PM and I'll test your skills. Or you can add me on MSN and IM me or something.

Thanks for all the nice comments :D

I'll show you the starters' sprites tomorrow. Oh, and I forgot to mention one other little "feature":

(Nearly) All pokemon in the game will have 5-stage evolution lines. So basically, your caterpillar evolves into a cocoon, then a butterfly... then into a dragon and again into a hideous, bloodthirsty monster.

[Tropical Sunlight]

Kenji you just finished one hack and you're starting another?

[Gary, the Magic Fairy]

Originally Posted by H2O Turquoise

Kenji you just finished one hack and you're starting another?

Uh... yeah. Since I finished the first one. That's how these things work. :P

[bbigman76]

Originally Posted by Naoi

The story reminds me of I Am Legend. lol

But, this sounds interesting. I hope you actually complete this hack, and I will be watching all the way through. The only version I'll play is the final version, because I'd rather just download the whole game instead of bit by bit. Anyway, good luck, Gary~

dude i was thinking the same exact thing

[Gary, the Magic Fairy]

Well, preliminary sprites for the starters:

As you can see, the pokemon that once existed have... changed, a bit. And it's not just in appearance.

[Haku.]

wow.. nice recolours..Thumbs up!
Oh yea what do you mean by non-Pokemon enemies?

wow.. nice recolours..Thumbs up!
Oh yea what do you mean by non-Pokemon enemies?

[~Teh Panda~]

Well then that has to be the most epic thread opening ever! I was drawn in immediately. I wish you the best luck and I cannot really crit now due to the lack of media and stuff so yeah, good luck

[Gary, the Magic Fairy]

Originally Posted by xmouvelianx

wow.. nice recolours..Thumbs up!
Oh yea what do you mean by non-Pokemon enemies?

Oh, they were done in like 30 seconds on Photoshop. XD

Well, there are lots of things that were awakened or unleashed after it happened. Supernatural beings. It's hard to classify some of them. I mean, just because someone drinks your blood, it doesn't necessarily mean they're a vampire. Or if someone transforms into an animal and tries to kill you, you wouldn't necessarily call them a werewolf. And just because someone's spirit or soul has been separated from their body, they aren't always a "ghost". And if that empty body proceeds to try and eat your brain... well, you see where I'm going with this.

Originally Posted by ~Teh Panda~

Well then that has to be the most epic thread opening ever! I was drawn in immediately. I wish you the best luck and I cannot really crit now due to the lack of media and stuff so yeah, good luck :)

Thanks. :D

[Pink Parka Girl]

Reading over this thread, I was immediately reminded of a flash game called Eversion. In that game, you start out playing as a cute little flower in a happy, 8-bit pixel world, but the more you use your special ability to "evert" the world to get around obstacles, the more disturbed things start to get. The palette gradually gets darker. The music less chipper. The enemy sprites simply stand in place, not moving. By Level Four, you're in a bloody nightmare zone (which is where I got too scared to play it any further, because I'm a chicken ' ), and any semblance of what you once knew...is gone. I was instantly reminded of that because your game here is like an "eversion" of the relatively happy and pleasant Pokemon world we all know - revealing, and indeed, reveling, in its dark and twisted underbelly.

It's like a thought experiment on the deterioration of the innocent; an exploration of expectation; an opportunity to get our minds totally warped. I've never said this about a ROM hack before - and indeed, it never even occurred to me before that it could even be possible to achieve in a Pokemon-based setting - but your game seems genuinely...frightening. Like Eversion above, playing through this would very likely give me the creeps. The oddly colored pokemon are only slightly unnerving - they're a little weird, but no more weird than your average Shiny. But as they grow in power, they'll become less and less like what we know, and come to embody more and more a terrifying unknown and a loss of control over our expectations. Doubt could exist as to whether the NPC you see is a normal human being who might be willing to assist you in some way; or if it's actually a dangerous monster in disguise - making even the typical Pokemon game action of chatting it up with every person we see something we can't take for granted. The post-apocalyptic wasteland has obliterated the familiar and left us only ruins and remains of what we once knew; gone are references to the world as it should have been, and we are left only with the freakshow that it is. Does that Heavenly vision of a perfect world even exist - and even if it does, would it really be perfect? This game is twisted; it's tainted; it bastardizes what a Pokemon game is and spits all over its remains - but that's exactly why I think this is one of the most promising ideas I've ever seen. And boy howdy, would it be a great game on just an artistic level alone...even if it left me crying for mommy. XD

I'm really impressed on how much thought you put into this; especially in your first post's presentation. I'm a sucker for anything with a good story; and the fact that you gave us a real sense of plot; and an introduction that read just like the prologue to a fanfic - you could have finished up your thread saying your features included beating the Eight Gyms of the Apocalypse League, foiling the plans of the dastardly Team Atomic, and trouncing the Elite Half-Life of Uranium 241 and I'd still be really excited for playing this. XD Absolutely stellar execution; and a real standout in the Scrapbox.

I can't wait till we see some screenshots of this thing, and I can get a good look of what the game's true style and atmosphere will feel like (Or do you want to keep the mystery alive by not showing us anything and making us "play blind?") Keep up the good work! More clever and creative ideas like this are just what this section needs

[Gary, the Magic Fairy]

I love how you completely understand what I was going for with the little teaser story I gave. XD Thanks for this wonderful reply.

Trust will play a major part in this game. If you trust the wrong person, it will have consequences. But at the same time, isolating yourself from the remnants of the human race will make things more difficult in a world that is already more than any one person can handle alone.
Risks may pay off, or they might nearly kill you. There isn't a happy ending to every story.
Saving a little girl from a monster might not get you a reward. You might not even save her. She might stab you in the neck afterwards.

Hell, sometimes you can't even trust your oldest friend... you may be better off trusting the mysterious stranger you met 30 seconds ago.

Update: the Apocalypse League and Team Atomic!

[jq]...well, that was unpleasant, but at least I have a pocket monster for protection now. It's kinda funny, before, I didn't understand that term. It seems far more appropriate now.

That girl in the red dress told me of 7 creatures that are stronger than all the others, that I must get past in order to make my way to Haven. She called them "Leaders of the lost." The scariest part was that she said they can be anyone. They feed off paranoia, terror and chaos.

I don't mean that literally, of course. They eat humans, not feelings.[/jq]

[Glitch.]

now this is what i call a hack XD.
Compared to that pikachu thing.....

[Gary, the Magic Fairy]

Originally Posted by mrhaxmaster

now this is what i call a hack XD.
Compared to that pikachu thing.....

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Praise the hack I've done basically nothing on, but insult the one that's completed.

Anywhoo, here's a little... teaser for the tileset.



Who wants to go for a swim? :D

[~Teh Panda~]

Originally Posted by Kenji~

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Praise the hack I've done basically nothing on, but insult the one that's completed.

Anywhoo, here's a little... teaser for the tileset.



Who wants to go for a swim? :D

that looks disgustingly awesome ,. And since you are a spriter I presume the whole tileset will be edited?

Anyways i love the quote in your sig

[pokemonleaguechamp]

This sounds like a movie. I wanna see more!