[Released] Pok?mon Academy Life (Visual Novel) - DEMO v1.0.3a LIVE

Pokémon Academy Life (Visual Novel) - DEMO v1.0.3a LIVE

Pokémon Academy Life is a non-profit, fan-made visual novel that takes you into an alternate Pokémon world that doesn't send 10-year-olds off to fend for themselves. Here, characters from the core series games are put together in a more realistic high school setting. Rather than the player character leave on a solo journey at a young age, he (in this case based on Red from Pokémon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow) attends school like any one of us and learn about the Pokémon world from there.

Prior knowledge of the Pokémon franchise is very helpful, but not necessary.

The majority of your time will be spent in the Kobukan (koh-BU-kahn) region—name taken from Japanese kanji, elements of 'inspiration' and 'feeling'—located fairly equidistant from the six regions. As Red (or custom player name), you are the dynamic protagonist who will interact with a plethora of characters. The story will progress in different branches depending on who you choose to talk to, who you try to befriend, pursue as a romantic interest, who you choose to help, and much more.

At the core, the game is a social simulator with dating elements. Its content will mainly be slice of life and school life. However, as the protagonist you have your share of opportunities to participate in all sorts of different story arcs with the characters you interact with. I'm going to mainly focus on male characters that the protagonist will be close with and the female character(s) that the protagonist decides to pursue.

Because this takes place in an academy, you will take on the role of a student. This includes socializing with your classmates, studying and taking exams, participating in extracurricular activities and other school-related events. Outside of school, many random and scripted events can occur depending on the characters you choose to engage throughout the story.



Currently known issues:

6/7/16+
Currently working on:
- Two new writers are now on board to assist with writing
- Battle engine in continued development
- Pokémon and additional NPC artwork

Postponed:
- Promotional video (~60% complete)

My hype levels are overflowing. Any idea of some sort of release date yet? I want to get this right when it gets released XD

No release dates planned at all, unfortunately. I'm a ways away from the finish line. However, I can guarantee working on this on a daily basis, but since the story is meant to span three years, it'll take a while before it's completed.

I'm pretty much getting the boring part out of the way first (day one prologue partially seen in the alpha demo video). After that it's full on story time.

Currently working on getting as many character arcs and routes down in writing.

I will keeping a very close eye on this, I've always wanted to see something like this.

Apparently the artist was not satisfied with Leaf's expressions so he redid them last night.

Honestly, I can't tell the difference, but here's the current version of Leaf in her casual outfit... and a bonus swimsuit MistyTsundere-chan (yes, she will be on a swim team) for closet pervs:


FYI, I listed Leaf's hometown as Cinnabar Island in the character briefs in the OP. Plot reasons. That's all I can say right now.

P.S. How the heck do you wrap text around an image here?

VisualJae said:

-Snip-

Click to expand...

If you mean "floating" then I hope this is it:
https://www.pokecommunity.com/posts/5329093/

Also I'm really liking where this is going. It's quite amazing think about how much time you've probably put in this game and it really shows. All the people, all the paths you can take, not many people can pull off what you're doing. I'm definitely excited for this. :)

Fun Size said:

If you mean "floating" then I hope this is it:
https://www.pokecommunity.com/posts/5329093/

Also I'm really liking where this is going. It's quite amazing think about how much time you've probably put in this game and it really shows. All the people, all the paths you can take, not many people can pull off what you're doing. I'm definitely excited for this. :)

Click to expand...

Yep! That does get closer to what I want to do. The images I post will usually be rather large so it turns out wrapping doesn't help all that much sometimes. Still useful stuff, though.

And thanks. It's a rather large endeavor, but it's a lot of fun to do. I may end up stalking some of those always heated shipping threads for potential ideas ;)

It certainly helps that the artist (my brother) tends to work very fast. Now if only I can get my background artists to do the same...

VisualJae said:

Yep! That does get closer to what I want to do. The images I post will usually be rather large so it turns out wrapping doesn't help all that much sometimes. Still useful stuff, though.

And thanks. It's a rather large endeavor, but it's a lot of fun to do. I may end up stalking some of those always heated shipping threads for potential ideas ;)

It certainly helps that the artist (my brother) tends to work very fast. Now if only I can get my background artists to do the same...

Click to expand...

Haha. I wish I could help, but as a person with no abilities whatsoever, I couldn't do much other than cheer from the sidelines. Just curious though, I'm assuming the -deres will be in this hack?

Fun Size said:

Just curious though, I'm assuming the -deres will be in this hack?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean by hack as this is being created from scratch via Ren'Py and Python language... however!

You're looking at one of the -deres above. And she's not the only one of that type. Coincidentally the other one also happens to be a redhead.

I'd like to try using tropes only in moderation, but it's just so tempting sometimes. All in good fun, though.

VisualJae said:

I'm not sure what you mean by hack as this is being created from scratch via Ren'Py and Python language... however!

You're looking at one of the -deres above. And she's not the only one of that type. Coincidentally the other one also happens to be a redhead.

I'd like to try using tropes only in moderation, but it's just so tempting sometimes. All in good fun, though.

Click to expand...

Ugh sorry bout that >.< I frequent the rom hacking section more, so it's like a habit calling something a hack.

Oh! I just noticed that you added Misty. It's gonna be quite funny to see how you make each character's personality. But like I said, this is amazing and good luck with it and I'll definitely swing by once in a while to see the progress. :)

Magical girl Sabrina.

...I wish.


All I'll say for now is that she's not going to be much of a talker.

I feel like they all have the same face just different hair and clothes :(

PokeTwerp said:

I feel like they all have the same face just different hair and clothes :(

Click to expand...

Hmm. I'll have to say that's literally the first time I've heard that one.

Edit: Yep, not sure where you're coming from. I duplicated the expressions layers for some of the characters and swapped them with each other and the results are clearly different. If you want to point out the specifics, by all means share the details so I can pass them along to the artist.

Don't know why, but Sabrina looks more flat-chested in that school uniform :D

Janp said:

Don't know why, but Sabrina looks more flat-chested in that school uniform :D

Click to expand...

Edit: Artist's explanation is that the casual outfit is skin-tight, which would accentuate the bust more. On the other hand, the school uniform is multi-layered so it's natural that the same "roundness" doesn't come out.

I can confirm based on the art assets I have that the anatomy did not change, only the outfits. It'll be less apparent in the game when you don't see both the casual outfit and uniform versions side by side.

Added brief character route descriptions in the OP. I'll update them usually after I feel it's in an "okay" place (meaning I am thinking about using the idea as a game route).

A couple of things to note. The first is that they're very vague descriptions. I wish I could include more details, but I feel that really spoils the effects of discovery so I'd like to keep that to a minimum, even while under spoiler tags. Another thing to note is that none of the content is guaranteed to be used. They're here mostly for feedback purposes and as notes for myself. If I think I can do better, I'll make changes without hesitation.

Sounds interesting! I haven't seen any visual novel games with the Pokemon cast, and this looks like a good amount of thought is going into it. The art is also pretty nice - are you guys making everything? The backgrounds look really polished.

That said, there are a few things I find odd. Firstly, do you have permission to use the Pokémon Reorchestrated music? You also really shouldn't be using official music or sound effects. An original soundtrack, or royalty-free music/effects, would likely suit it better.

I'm going to mainly focus on male characters that the protagonist will be close with and the female character(s) that the protagonist decides to pursue.

Click to expand...

Erm, does that mean there won't be any focus on platonic friendships with female characters? Also, you can't pursue male love interests?

Lastly, it doesn't sound like there's much emphasis on the Pokemon, which is a shame since this is taking place in the Pokemon world. You don't necessarily have to incorporate catching and battling imo, but it would be nice to have to cultivate relationships with Pokemon as well. It would be pretty fitting with the slice-of-life nature of the narrative, and I personally always like seeing the relationships between humans and Pokemon.

Janp said:

Don't know why, but Sabrina looks more flat-chested in that school uniform :D

Click to expand...

Probably because there's a bow over her chest?

Good luck,

~Psychic

Psychic said:

Sounds interesting! I haven't seen any visual novel games with the Pokemon cast, and this looks like a good amount of thought is going into it. The art is also pretty nice - are you guys making everything? The backgrounds look really polished.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll do my best to answer every point.

Right now it's just me writing everything and coding everything, though I occasionally do get some volunteers who pitch in some ideas. My kid brother is doing all the character art and I have a couple of artists currently working on backgrounds. The vast majority of the current backgrounds used are placeholders.

Psychic said:

Firstly, do you have permission to use the Pokémon Reorchestrated music? You also really shouldn't be using official music or sound effects.

Click to expand...

The Reorchestrated tracks are fan content themselves and are licensed under the CC (NC/ND) for reuse without sale/modification. I've paid for the music myself because I fully support the creators.

As for any official-sounding music in general, it's under Copyright Disclaimer Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, under "fair use."

Biggest caveat is that this project is not for profit and "fair use" leans heavily in favor of non-profit endeavors. Same applies for most fan content, despite some occasionally getting C&Ds. It just happens. Considering this isn't bringing any profit, does not charge, does not put TPCi or Nintendo in any negative light, I personally don't see too much risk in pursuing this. But as always, no one ever really knows.

Psychic said:

Erm, does that mean there won't be any focus on platonic friendships with female characters? Also, you can't pursue male love interests?

Click to expand...

For the former, I fully intend for the player character to befriend without romance involved. For the latter, the farthest I'm going with it is bromance for now. If I have time toward the end of this project, I can always squeeze in more scenarios, but it's not in the works at this time. I have a few ending scenario ideas that don't involve romance at all and are based on friendship, camaraderie, and all-around "warm feelings."

It's a topic that has come up quite a few times already, though, so it's something that I will keep in mind as the project develops. And if—big if—the project turns out to be popular enough in the future after completion, if there are any programmers who wish to continue the work, I will be more than happy to help create an option to play as a female character, which would more or less turn this into an otome game (or yuri-jam, however you want it). But that's definitely not in the works at the present time.

Psychic said:

Lastly, it doesn't sound like there's much emphasis on the Pokemon, which is a shame since this is taking place in the Pokemon world. You don't necessarily have to incorporate catching and battling imo, but it would be nice to have to cultivate relationships with Pokemon as well. It would be pretty fitting with the slice-of-life nature of the narrative, and I personally always like seeing the relationships between humans and Pokemon.

Click to expand...

Currently planned are a series of general activities you can participate in during your "free time." Most involve personal stat boosting through events and challenges, relationship building with characters, and exploration. I'm certain I can fit interactions with Pokemon anywhere on that list. For example, one way to increase affection points with other characters is for both members to own a Pokemon of the same species. That's a good excuse to place the Pokemon up front and center.

That's a good idea in general, though, so thanks for that.

I'm currently wrapping up the prologue, so once I get into the meat of the game, it should be interesting just how much I content I can stuff in during the initial development phase.

Again, thanks for the feedback and for asking.

Flannery art done!


Her character is meant to be on the hot-headed side. But as a nod toward her in-game character, she's making an effort to just be herself. Whatever she feels, she expresses.