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

VisualJae said:

I'm actually quite far removed from my teenage years.

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Yeah, recalled reading your earlier post about having a business trip and figured that. That's one of the reasons that I think this will be better than the stories I've seen. That and the fact that it's a game. The player gets to choose the route, not the author.

Anyway, character dialogue is one of the more difficult things with writing. You either get it right or you don't. I myself have been studying creative writing for a year and a half now, and I still have a hard time with that.

I'll see if I can't find some examples for you. It's been a while since I last dropped by there, so I'll have to do some digging to find the ones I was referring to. I do recall maybe one or two good ones (I never read them myself, but they had a big following), it'll probably be harder to find those. Give me a few days and I'll see what I can pull up.

Ahhh, all right, just gonna blast a few updates here for the sake of making them.

Lucas, Dawn and Barry character artwork are all done. Maybe I'll post them tomorrow after I get back from work.

GUI was pretty much overhauled. I streamlined them so that all options, saving/loading, etc. are all grouped together within the same screen zone, which should make it easier on the eyes. Maybe screenshot references tomorrow if I get to it.

I implemented a "text history log" as well, which allows you to re-read earlier dialogue if you think you missed something. The best use for it would likely be to check what choice you made before if you want to reference it for a later time (shrug).

A lot of older dialogue lines have been rewritten as well. Content is more or less the same; just a lot of syntax, descriptions, word choices, etc. have been tweaked.

As soon as artwork for Candice and Maylene are completed (should be sometime this week) and the dialogue gets another review, plus some last minute debugging... the prologue demo should be ready for the public.

Okay! Following up with my last post, I decided to do a development vlog instead because I find it more entertaining to show than tell.



And I said I was going to show Lucas's, Dawn's, and Barry's character art, so here they are:

GAHHHHH.
Prologue Demo v1.01a is here.
↑ Download Page ↑

Relatively big file, but it's mostly due to archived images (the game uses... a lot of images). For this particular demo, it features the entirety of the prologue segment. No crazy plots yet because it covers the first day. The segment is designed to introduce some characters and allow the player to get used to the setting and how the game progresses.

1. Player arrives at the academy
2. Player matches with a roommate
3. Player wanders around a bit
4. Player attends orientation
5. Player chooses class electives
6. Opening credits roll
7. First day begins
8. Demo ends

Again, to summarize, in case new visitors didn't bother reading the original post... this is Pokémon Academy Life, a visual novel. A visual novel is a form of storytelling that is usually more engaging than reading a standard novel. Some call it interactive fiction, some call it "choose your own adventure." This means the game progresses based on the decisions you make.

Things to note:
- If some stupid game-breaking bug shows up (anything that literally prevents you from progressing any further), please let me know ASAP so I can re-upload a new build.
- If you're into the whole testing thing, thank you! I would like it if you could try your best to be ridiculous and break the game. If you do, let me know what you did so we can try to fix it.
- Sometimes a sprite may or may not flash while transitioning between expressions. If it happens, please mention when it happens (who's the character, what was the line, what was the scene?). I think I fixed this before, but I may not have picked up all instances.
- Dialogue tone may not be consistent across the board. This is because we're currently still revising all existing dialogue lines. And speaking of which, if you catch a blatant grammar/spelling mistake, let me know.

Wow this game is really just beautiful I love the artwork - looks amazing! :) Think I'll give your demo a go.

Nice Bro, I'll be giving a try and after my first proper playthrough of it, I will put on my Fedora and go glitch hunting

Mana said:

Wow this game is really just beautiful I love the artwork - looks amazing! :) Think I'll give your demo a go.

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Biogoji said:

Nice Bro, I'll be giving a try and after my first proper playthrough of it, I will put on my Fedora and go glitch hunting

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Thanks guys!

I saw someone make a YouTube video on this already (which is awesome) and noticed that the game lagged for him during the opening credits.

If you guys get up to that point, let me know if the video lags.

VisualJae said:

Thanks guys!

I saw someone make a YouTube video on this already (which is awesome) and noticed that the game lagged for him during the opening credits.

If you guys get up to that point, let me know if the video lags.

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I tested the opening to see if I could run it, and it worked fine for me (I have a 4 year old laptop lol). Looking forward to recording the game in the next couple days!

dhogan said:

I tested the opening to see if I could run it, and it worked fine for me (I have a 4 year old laptop lol). Looking forward to recording the game in the next couple days!

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Hey, I appreciate the check!

What you checked was the "splash" video. I actually meant this part:


...which shows up at the end of the prologue. But considering the splash video and the opening credits video are both the same file formats, the latter should play properly for you.

Maybe it's just a codec thing. If it really is, I'll have to consider packaging the codecs with the build distributions next time. We'll see.

Edit: I've tested on my desktop PC, my spare Windows laptop, and my Macbook Pro. All have worked properly so far... hmmm...

It worked fine for me when I played through it. I'm about to go on a glitch hunt, so I'll post any findings I come across

Ok my first catch of the day involves the character flashing problem.

When I had Calem as my roommate, during the Cafeteria scene, Serena and Shauna flashed a couple of times during their expressions. They both flashed when they left and Shauna flashed when she said was too Excited to Eat and got up close with the player, when I said I was excited as well. Serena and Calem both flashed when they were saying "Anyway" and "You have to eat Shauna".

Biogoji said:

Ok my first catch of the day involves the character flashing problem.

When I had Calem as my roommate, during the Cafeteria scene, Serena and Shauna flashed a couple of times during their expressions. They both flashed when they left and Shauna flashed when she said was too Excited to Eat and got up close with the player.

So are these meant to happen or are they glitches.

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Yep, that's a known issue. I think I know the cause based on what I see in the code, so I have to take a look at each scenario to see if there are any patterns. Characters shouldn't ever flash!

Thanks for catching that one!

Edit: I didn't run my version of the game yet, but can you clarify if it's:

Scenario A:

Scenario B:

Edit 2: Shauna does not flash for me when she approaches after saying she's too excited to eat. Hmm.

I did get Serena and Shauna to flash when they leave the scene after Calem. That falls in line with the pattern I've discovered and I should be able to fix that easily.

Only Shauna flashed but after she backed off, Serena and Calem flashed when they began to talk.

All three of them flashed when they left.

Biogoji said:

Only Shauna flashed but after she backed off, Serena and Calem flashed when they began to talk.

All three of them flashed when they left.

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Just for additional clarification, you're experiencing something like the following?

(Cheren "flashes" after the guide leaves. This particular example should be fixed in the demo build)

I haven't been able to recreate the one with Shauna zooming in and out. I have seen the one when everyone (Calem, Serena, Shauna) leaves the scene. That should be fixed internally on my end.

VisualJae said:

Just for additional clarification, you're experiencing something like the following?

(Cheren "flashes" after the guide leaves. This particular example should be fixed in the demo build)

I haven't been able to recreate the one with Shauna zooming in and out. I have seen the one when everyone (Calem, Serena, Shauna) leaves the scene. That should be fixed internally on my end.

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Yeah that's it.

Welp, I crashed. Here's the traceback:



edit: Also, a glitch: if I skip through a fade-through-black transition, the background fails to change.

IggyKoopa said:

Welp, I crashed. Here's the traceback:

edit: Also, a glitch: if I skip through a fade-through-black transition, the background fails to change.

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For the crash, were you able to replicate this every time? I just tried on my end and was not able to replicate that. Were you also rolling back the file? Did you try saving and reloading before making the choice in that scene?

^ For this above scenario, for anyone testing, this is during the second meeting with Misty. Let me know if this also happens to you, what you did to cause it, and if you were able to replicate it.

As for the background transition, which scene was this? And were you just clicking really fast or were you actually using the auto skip option?

Yep, happens every time if I retrace my steps. Pick Brendan as my roommate, blame Misty for running into me, go to check on my belongings, crash.

The transition is when I go back to the academy building after breakfast, and I'm using auto skip.

IggyKoopa said:

Yep, happens every time if I retrace my steps. Pick Brendan as my roommate, blame Misty for running into me, go to check on my belongings, crash.

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Got it, thanks!

I was looking at previous lines of code and not the scene afterward. It should be working properly now. I'll try to upload a new build as soon as I can.

As for the background transitioning one, that should be fixed, too.

Minor update to version 1.01b.

Download page here
People who have previously downloaded v1.01a will need to download v1.01b in its entirety if they wish to test any fixed content.

CHANGELOG:

• Fixed an issue with Misty's second scene that could potentially crash the game
• Fixed an issue that prevented certain backgrounds from properly transitioning
• Fixed a few instances where character sprites would "flash" while transitioning between facial expressions

KNOWN ISSUES:

• There may still be instances where character sprites would "flash" while transitioning between facial expressions. If you catch one of these situations, please reach out and report the details so we can fix it!
• Some players may experience lag while watching in-game videos (these include the splash screen at the start, the opening intro/credits, and the demo credits). The videos are in ".webm" format so first check to make sure your system is able to play these videos. If they are and you still experience lag, please let us know! We are still trying to determine the cause.

MISCELLANEOUS:

• Dialogue is currently undergoing many revisions
• Many scene transitions are still being streamlined

I never played these kind of games but I went on ahead and gave it a shot.I fell in love with the demo.This game is in my top 10 favorite Pokemon games and I have played a lot of Pokemon games(Pokemon Conquest is the first best in my opinion which is a Nintendo game.)I wanted to roomate with the music dude but his good friend came with him from Kalos and I didn't want to be a buzzkiller so I choose Brendan by random.Good luck with the game development and looking foward to the game completion in the future.