[Archive] The Pokémon Essentials Wiki

Maruno said:

No Pokémon will ever get its hidden ability naturally, by default. You'd need to set its abilityflag value to 2 (currently it can be 0 or 1 for first or second regular ability). When it needs to be set is entirely up to you, and it's something you'll need to put in.

Click to expand...

That works, though I do think implementing an example for it in the base starter kit would be a good idea, just to explain that the feature DOES exist to newer users.

Maruno said:

I did consider changing the TM roster to the Gen 5 one (not sure about the HM roster), and the only thing stopping me is that it'll take a while. I've got nothing against them being changed; it's just low priority at the moment.

Click to expand...

If you tell me how your TM List is currently set up (If the numbering system is changed or anything), I'd be glad to do it for you, hopefully tomorrow though I've got quite a bit on my plate ATM.

I really hope you get a mod role when the new section comes (I'm guessing coming after christmas/new years).

I've never hidden the fact I ONLY used rm2k3 in my fan game days and never touched Essentials (bit of a lie, I checked it out, but only for half a day or something messing around). I just spent the last 2 hours reading over this thread and going through the Essentials Wiki itself.
Again, being honest, I always respected Essentials, but now I have a deeper level of respect for you and for the people writing the tutorials on it.

The API seems to be handled in a way which is easy enough for young programmers (not age, but young in experience) to understand and start playing with right away.
I think you've done a great job on that respect.

I asked this before in another thread and I believe you said you didn't, but I'll ask again (I couldn't find an answer on the wiki for this) - Is there a road map for planned updates?

IceGod64 said:

That works, though I do think implementing an example for it in the base starter kit would be a good idea, just to explain that the feature DOES exist to newer users.



If you tell me how your TM List is currently set up (If the numbering system is changed or anything), I'd be glad to do it for you, hopefully tomorrow though I've got quite a bit on my plate ATM.

Click to expand...

I'll find somewhere to put an example.

The TMs are in items.txt; I've barely touched it since the last release. Only half the tweaking time will be editing that, though; the other half will be renaming all the item icon files to fit in the extra TMs, and giving them the proper icons. Oh, and then a lot more time for editing tm.txt. It's alright if you can't/don't want to do it, though.

Neo-Dragon said:

I really hope you get a mod role when the new section comes (I'm guessing coming after christmas/new years).

I've never hidden the fact I ONLY used rm2k3 in my fan game days and never touched Essentials (bit of a lie, I checked it out, but only for half a day or something messing around). I just spent the last 2 hours reading over this thread and going through the Essentials Wiki itself.
Again, being honest, I always respected Essentials, but now I have a deeper level of respect for you and for the people writing the tutorials on it.

The API seems to be handled in a way which is easy enough for young programmers (not age, but young in experience) to understand and start playing with right away.
I think you've done a great job on that respect.

I asked this before in another thread and I believe you said you didn't, but I'll ask again (I couldn't find an answer on the wiki for this) - Is there a road map for planned updates?

Click to expand...

Thank you very much. I've always believed that documentation is very important, which is why I created the wiki in the first place. I treat it as a part of Essentials, not as a side project to the kit itself.

I don't have any plans for future changes. It just tends to be what I happen to think about at the time, which can be influenced by what people talk about here (for example, I upgraded the berry planting system because it was talked about in this thread). I have a "To Do" list, but it's in no particular order other than the categories "Essential", "Desired" and "Whim".

I'm hoping that an upcoming update, perhaps even the next one (after the one I just teased about, obviously), will be a resizing of the default screen size to 512x384 (i.e. DS single screen size), and a redesign of all the screens to suit. That'll take a while, obviously, and will be a whole update by itself. Would people want this?

Maruno said:

The TMs are in items.txt; I've barely touched it since the last release. Only half the tweaking time will be editing that, though; the other half will be renaming all the item icon files to fit in the extra TMs, and giving them the proper icons. Oh, and then a lot more time for editing tm.txt. It's alright if you can't/don't want to do it, though.

Click to expand...

Well, I forgot all the ins and outs of it. However, I'm certainly going to give it a good try.

Perhaps I could also move all the TM's/HMs together to the end of the item list? That way, we wouldn't have to rename icons too much, there would just be a "bald spot" in the items list. Thoughts?

I'm hoping that an upcoming update, perhaps even the next one (after the one I just teased about, obviously), will be a resizing of the default screen size to 512x384 (i.e. DS single screen size), and a redesign of all the screens to suit. That'll take a while, obviously, and will be a whole update by itself. Would people want this?

Click to expand...

I vote yay. Most games made with essentials are DS styled at this point as it is, and it would also save a LOT of pain on users behalf, since as it is, they'd have to go and rewrite everything, forcedly make new GFX, etc. Not to mention, the GBA screen size is a little cramped I feel.

Maruno said:

I'm hoping that an upcoming update, perhaps even the next one (after the one I just teased about, obviously), will be a resizing of the default screen size to 512x384 (i.e. DS single screen size), and a redesign of all the screens to suit. That'll take a while, obviously, and will be a whole update by itself. Would people want this?

Click to expand...

I don't really mind it, so long as there are options to change this resolution to fit the needs of the developers. Providing options is always a plus.

Maruno said:

I did consider changing the TM roster to the Gen 5 one (not sure about the HM roster), and the only thing stopping me is that it'll take a while. I've got nothing against them being changed; it's just low priority at the moment.

Click to expand...

Perfectly okay with me, as developers can define the roster themselves, despite being a horrifically time-consuming process.

How goes this update in terms of fixing moves/abilities? I notice the wiki currently states that abilities like technician and most of the Gen 5 abilities are not implemented.

IceGod64 said:

Well, I forgot all the ins and outs of it. However, I'm certainly going to give it a good try.

Perhaps I could also move all the TM's/HMs together to the end of the item list? That way, we wouldn't have to rename icons too much, there would just be a "bald spot" in the items list. Thoughts?



I vote yay. Most games made with essentials are DS styled at this point as it is, and it would also save a LOT of pain on users behalf, since as it is, they'd have to go and rewrite everything, forcedly make new GFX, etc. Not to mention, the GBA screen size is a little cramped I feel.

Click to expand...

You could just leave the existing 50 where they are, and add the rest onto the end. It'll be a bit untidy, but it'll save renumbering all the Key Items. It's not too important, really, in the end.

The resizing won't just mean a larger screen. I'll take the opportunity to do a bit of redesigning too, such as the party and Pokémon summary screens. It won't end up looking identical to the official games, not least because there'll only be one screen as opposed to the DS's two, but I'll try to make it look nice. This is something that may well cause ripples in the community.

How important is it to you all that Essentials looks identical to the official games?

Ratty524 said:

I don't really mind it, so long as there are options to change this resolution to fit the needs of the developers. Providing options is always a plus.


Perfectly okay with me, as developers can define the roster themselves, despite being a horrifically time-consuming process.

How goes this update in terms of fixing moves/abilities? I notice the wiki currently states that abilities like technician and most of the Gen 5 abilities are not implemented.

Click to expand...

The only screen size change options you're going to get are what you already have. I'm certainly not going to keep the old graphics in and have support for GBA size, because that would be very untidy and time-consuming. There are some cases where "keeping the options in" is just unreasonable, and I think this is one of them.

I haven't made any new effects myself, but IceGod has kindly started working on some of the ability effects which I'm including. It's slow work, and may possibly be the subject of a future release, but the main point I want to put across is that I'm not doing everything. This is still a community project, and other people should contribute too. Contributions aren't just about script changes either.

Maruno said:

This is something that may well cause ripples in the community.

How important is it to you all that Essentials looks identical to the official games?

Click to expand...

To give you a direct answer, about 5.5/10

To give you the more informative anser, I wouldn't say it's exactly mandetory - but I believe the kit should at least imitate a smi-current official DS game decently closely; I lean towards Pokémon Platinum personally, as aside from the Pokétch, Platinum is nearly a reskin of 3rd gen which would leave the updating process relatively simple, but still make it current-looking enough, in addition to not practically requiring a touch screen.

Unfortunately, in a community based on a modifyable kit, there will be a "Ripple effect" like you mentioned. But as I said, most games are already trying to mimick DS games. Those who really want GBA-styled games would still be able to adapt the older scripts to the current version as it is anyway, since the scripts for 3rd-gen styled UI's exist as it is.

Maruno said:

I'm hoping that an upcoming update, perhaps even the next one (after the one I just teased about, obviously), will be a resizing of the default screen size to 512x384 (i.e. DS single screen size), and a redesign of all the screens to suit. That'll take a while, obviously, and will be a whole update by itself. Would people want this?

Click to expand...

If it would be optional, I'd say yes.

Maruno said:

The resizing won't just mean a larger screen. I'll take the opportunity to do a bit of redesigning too, such as the party and Pokémon summary screens. It won't end up looking identical to the official games, not least because there'll only be one screen as opposed to the DS's two, but I'll try to make it look nice. This is something that may well cause ripples in the community.

How important is it to you all that Essentials looks identical to the official games?

Click to expand...

If you need graphics for those redesigns, I'm willing to help.

P-Sign said:

If it would be optional, I'd say yes.

Click to expand...

Well, it's technically optional regardless; after all, it's a starter kit, everything is optional. However, if he does go through with this,then it won't be an option in the kit, simply because that's way too much work to do for the starter kit that's going to be down to the user just choosing one anyway. He would have to code basically entirely separate starter kits - a rather unnecessary pain considering the GBA game are out of date - Not "bad" but out of date.

It's because they are out of date I say do it. Nobody is expecting a PC version of Black & White, but this kit deserves to be more visually up to date than it is.

With that said, if you need any help getting Graphics or anything, I'd be willing to help too.

What IceGod said. The "option" will be the same as the "option" you already have for turning Essentials into a DS- or other-sized game, i.e. a lot of effort. There's no way I'm supporting more than one screen size.

I've had a think, and the screens that would need to be adapted in a greater or lesser way to suit the new screen size are as follows:

• Pokédex
• Nest map
• Party
• Pokémon summary
• Bag
• Pokégear
• Region map
• Radio
• Phone
• Trainer card
• Options
• Splash screens
• Load game screen
• Professor's intro
• Help (adventure, controls)
• Text inputting (both kinds)
• Credits
• Mart
• PC Pokémon storage
• PC item storage
• Evolution screen
• Trading screen
• Triple Triad
• Duel minigame
• Battle
• Transitions into battle
• Cave entering/exiting transition
• Shadow Pokémon purification screens (Relic Stone, Purify Chamber)

If anyone has any concept art they'd like to offer for any of the above, please post it in this thread. Don't be afraid to use one game's graphics and another's layout, or even invent something a bit new (such as party balls at the bottom during battle). At the moment I'm just looking for something that looks good.

Someone requested concept art?

P-Sign said:

Someone requested concept art?

Spoiler:

PokeDex Concept

Nest "map" concept

Party Screen Concept

Summary screen concept, note that this is the quick overview page.

Bag concept

PokeGear main menu concept.

Click to expand...

I admire your initiative, but wouldn't it be best to follow the designs of the base game a bit more accurately for the starter kit?

I would actually suggest following Pokémon Platinum's interface for as much as possible, as it looks more up to date but still follows the Pokémon formula. As for the non-platinum content, I think that is where our newer ideas should come into play.

I do not like you party screen either, it is far to basic and shows essentially no information.

Edit: Alright, I took some quick pictures - I can't call them concept art due to the fact that they aren't concept art at all, just pictures taken from an emulator with the bottom screen trimmed. The intended purpose here is just to show that many aspects of Pokémon Platinum's UI would need little or no alteration to work perfectly with one screen.

First up:

The only difference is that the top screen was black and had a Textbox saying "Your name?" I simply moved that to the bottom screen and centered it, and no one would even know.


Pause menu sample. This works well because it's not bulky, but it's still very visually appealing. The little pictures jiggle left and right when their respective option is selected.


Here, the only thing missing is a set of buttons on the touch screen that you can touch to quickly view any given party members summary.


Only thing removed is a few buttons on the touch screen to quickly jump to a given pocket. Not necessary in the least.

This is all the basic stuff - Things such as the Trainer Card and Pokédex will take a little more work to figure out and even some actual design, but those are easy bridges to cross.

EDIT: It's been a few days without any posts, so I decided to post a few more examples.

Summary screen:












Noting that ribbons and contest stats are here as well - This might be a good incentive to look into them on a later release. As usual, no information was lost removing the bottom screen.

And not for something I threw together that actually took some creative work:

Pokémon Platinum's trainer card scene was not single screen friendly, so I'm fixing that. First thing of note is the pen on the lower left: It's intended function is to edit the different editable attributes of the Trainer card: Particularly the Trainer Class, Nature, and flavor text.

The middle button will flip the trainer card and show the back, which I will be making once I get yay or neigh on the Trainer Card front.

The rightmost button is just another close button, which works just as well by pressing x when not in editing the card.

And not for something I threw together that actually took some creative work:

Pokémon Platinum's trainer card scene was not single screen friendly, so I'm fixing that. First thing of note is the pen on the lower left: It's intended function is to edit the different editable attributes of the Trainer card: Particularly the Trainer Class, Nature, and flavor text.

The middle button will flip the trainer card and show the back, which I will be making once I get yay or neigh on the Trainer Card front.

The rightmost button is just another close button, which works just as well by pressing x when not in editing the card.[/QUOTE]



You should make it so you can Type your motto in the Trainer Card instead of having the slightly terrible Preset Mottos.

And not for something I threw together that actually took some creative work:

Pokémon Platinum's trainer card scene was not single screen friendly, so I'm fixing that. First thing of note is the pen on the lower left: It's intended function is to edit the different editable attributes of the Trainer card: Particularly the Trainer Class, Nature, and flavor text.

The middle button will flip the trainer card and show the back, which I will be making once I get yay or neigh on the Trainer Card front.

The rightmost button is just another close button, which works just as well by pressing x when not in editing the card.

You should make it so you can Type your motto in the Trainer Card instead of having the slightly terrible Preset Mottos.

Click to expand...

First off, you should've put my post in quotes, remember that in the future.

Second, I've already discussed this with Maruno; This "flavor text" Will not be on the card. However, you do bring up a good idea; perhaps a preset text entry just for the sake of example would be a good thing to eventually add.

My current designs look like this:

IceGod64 said:

First off, you should've put my post in quotes, remember that in the future.

Click to expand...

I did use a qoute I think I removed it while deleting the other parts of the post.

I suspect the majority of screens will be based on DPPt. Some features will be excluded, though, such as the contest-related pages in the summary (there are no contests in Essentials).

I have attached my concept of the trainer card, which is obviously based on the FRLG one.

will contests be added in a future version of essentials?

Maruno said:

I suspect the majority of screens will be based on DPPt. Some features will be excluded, though, such as the contest-related pages in the summary (there are no contests in Essentials).

I have attached my concept of the trainer card, which is obviously based on the FRLG one.

Click to expand...

I like it - The only thing I would suggest is move Red's/Leaf's sprites down some to be more centered.

will contests be added in a future version of essentials?

Click to expand...

That is unlikely unless someone other than Maruno has the skill to do it and wants to go through all the effort. It would be nice I suppose, but I myself don't care about them enough to go try to implement them unless a lot changes between now and then.