Pokeworld (MMOG) Needs Help.

Preface

Hi, for a while I've been working alone on my Pokemon MMORPG, called PokeWorld. I've been slowly pushing forward towards version 1.0. I'm on 0.4 right now. The game itself is currently immobilized, due to upgrades in the battle engine. However I would like to start collecting help for version 0.5, which will be the first full public live beta of the game, I'm pushing to have this ready by the end of February. (Seems like a reasonable goal to me.) I have friends that were supposed to be helping, but they are quite lazy and have very very low attention spans, which is why I come here looking for help.

Stats

The client and server are both written in C#. The game relies on the SlimDX wrapper of DirectX to render. It uses TCP to communicate, (DON'T YOU DARE SAY ITS NOT FAST ENOUGH FOR A TURN BASED GAME.) The battle engine I wrote (currently being upgraded), it uses gen 4 equations. The upgrades I am making now, are to make the code cleaner, support 2v2 battles, and allow for certain attacks that previously werent doable. I'm 18, I've been programming since I was 8, so do the math, thats 10 years. I've spent my whole life dreaming of an MMO, I've read countless articles and books on executing an MMO, I know my stuff. Now, your probably asking, why I used C# if I'm such a vetran, and not C++ or VB. I found that C# although slower in execution speed, has a faster development time, and better core libraries. The game is 2D and tile based, no rapid calculations are needed, so you won't know the difference.

What you can do.

I need artists mostly. I am capable of drawing and doing art (Although not the best, but not as bad as normal programmer art). However it is very time consuming, and is really holding me back from the kind of excellence I expect out of my work. I would really like, mostly custom sprites. (Except for pokemon sprites, theres way to many of them to have to redo them). That means custom tiles, custom objects, custom character sprites. Also, my interface looks like crap... Why? Because it was made in 4 seconds in MS Paint. (Except for the pokemon switch out screen because I spent alot of time on that, screen shot below). So I need some interface artists.

Incase you are incapable at reading a paragraph, however better at art or something. Heres what I need.

• Tile / World Artist
• Character Artist (This is seperate because I want a TON of different character options)
• Pokemon-Data-Puncher-Iner (Someones gotta fill out all the .pkmn files)
• And possibly a C# programmer.*(Astrisk means see below)

* - If you think you are good enough to write C# code, I will need to see some proof. More so than everyone else, perferably, you would be working on the toolset.

THATS IT. No "Mods" or "Beta Testers" or "Idea Makers" or "Thumb Twiddlers" THATS IT.

Which brings me to the way to apply.

How to apply

Simple...

Use this template

Screen Name : Self Explanitory

Job: Pick on from the list, not your real job (if you have one)

Qualifications: This should be a paragraph or more about why you are best for the job, what makes you special for the job. Also why do you want to help.

Samples: If your an artist, I should see at least 5 sample artworks there.

Note: Were doing DP style character sprites, not old style. However, you can still post old style character sprites, but I should see atleast one DP style if your going for character artist.

Note2: Were doing R/S/E Fr/Lg buildings and tiles, they mix quite well wit hthe DP Characters.

Note3: If your applying for programmer, links to a game or something you did would be awsome.

More About the Game

To close I thought it would be best to show some screenshots of the game, and editor to make sure everyone is on the same page. Keep in mind some screenshots are older than others.

First, It has its own editor I've been developing alongside the game. Since it is a tool somethings are a little lacking in it, interface is a little touchy but it gets the job done!

This is the map editor portion, you may notice some of Alistair's tiles. Edit: I just found out that boat is Kyledove's so sorry Kyle.



The editor also includes a pokemon editor:



It has more parts for creating tilesets to use with the editor and world editors to peice map peices together.

The game itself now...

This is the login screen, currently anyway.


Here are some first private tests with, of all people... 4chan (shudder).

In this one they found an exploit to show up as GM's... (I elimated that.. haha)


In one of the tests someone came across a shiny geodude! I later battled him to get a screenshot. You may notice my bulbasaur is shiny. I was feeling special gave the GM's all shiny starters. The battlescreen looks crappy, although I think the HUD looks nice. The background... needs work.



And here is a layout picture of the switchscreen, the yellow tab has changed slightly to show HP IV's and the ability was taken off., I'll show an ingame image later, if nessicary. I spent alot of time on it, the pokemon buttons highlight when you mouse over them. The different colored squares are like tabs and you change the stat view with them. It feels very proffessional.





As you can gather, theres alot of the core engine there, it just needs some cosmetic work. And I hope I can find some help for this!

Thanks,
Tocs

Double Post to bump. Apologies, but I still need help here!

In other news I've been hard at work on the item system, now featuring items scripted in Lua and this spiffy new Item Screen!



*Note I don't have a bag sprite. If you want to make one then awesome if not, more work for me!


Next up on the chopping block are those crummy looking Attack, Switch, Run, Item buttons!

Looks pretty interesting so far. Not all too amazing in the graphical sense, but finding artists is most likely easier than finding programmers.

What I'd really suggest though is to make 'egg group' and 'ability' drop downs, instead of textfields. I'd also suggest using multiple layers for your maps, which does not seem to be supported by the actual editor, yet the screenshot of the map with a lot of GMs on it does show grass on a sand tile.

Is that an actual 'tile' (grass on sand tile) or is it a combination of a sand tile and a grass object? Because if it's the first, you're going to end up with a -lot- of double tiles. (Floor with rock on it, sand with rock on it, grass with rock on it, etc.)

Three things. You can't have drop downs for ability or egg group. One I'm not typing in all the ability names, they are referenced by a string. There can be more than one egg group, so they are separated by commas in the text field. The egg group is just a string anyway it matches to a list. Making a drop down with an add button would be extra work for me and the user.

The graphics are pitiful because...I am a programmer not an artist and I did everything myself. I'm getting better I hope the newer interfaces, the switch screen and the item screen, look a lot better. I'm redoing the icons on the item screen for the tabs they look like vomit.

The maps you see are maps I threw together really quickly without thinking. I was running a private test without about 100 people and needed a map quick. So I just plopped trees down and grass and other junk. They were simply engine tests. I have no official map yet. I have someone named Trace who is now doing maps.

I wish I had an official map to show but I don't, I've been working on the core of the game a lot, not the outward feel which I'm focusing on now. Hence the menu upgrades. I'm going to make everything appear a lot easier on the eyes. The tiles shown in the editor are rubbish, except for the trees which I borrowed.

The mapping system has two layers. One which is the tile layer which is always rendered underneath of the players. And the Object layer which sits under a player a player standing on it, and above the player standing behind it. So yes it is a grass object and a sand tile. It really needs 3 layers. One for being on top of players while they are standing on the tile. But mapping improvements are inline for work after I finish the battle engine and connect everything to a database.

What I'd really like is opinions on the Item Screen above, just the fancy looking portion. And the Switch Screen. With an Ingame shot right here.


I thought they looked high quality, but my thoughts run away some times. The switch screen is incomplete. The colorful buttons next to the picture are to change the tab which is below. So far I only have the stats tab. That Charmander has a 255 EV because I'm a GM and I was a jerk to my testers. And yes the red X button is obnoxius and will be promptly removed for a more fashionable version.

Looks kool.
What exactly does the Character designer have to do? OWs, Battlepics, others, all together?

Three things. You can't have drop downs for ability or egg group. One I'm not typing in all the ability names, they are referenced by a string. There can be more than one egg group, so they are separated by commas in the text field. The egg group is just a string anyway it matches to a list. Making a drop down with an add button would be extra work for me and the user.

Click to expand...

Wouldn't it simply be an array with all the possible options? There wouldn't actually need to be an add button, it would be the same as the Pokémon's types. I suppose a string you enter would work as well, but in terms of user-friendliness a dropdown would be a lot handier.

Now that I've actually slept though, I do notice there's some things lacking you're going to need later though.

Egg groups can be two different ones, for example, Fairy/Plant for Hoppip. The same goes for abilities, which would be Chlorophyll / Leaf Guard in the case of Hoppip.

Then you're also missing something you'll need later for your EV system, it's effort yield. (1 speed in the case of Hoppip).

Some other things you might end up needing:
Gender ratio, time to hatch an egg of this kind, how much base exp the type gives, how much exp is needed for level 100 and catch rate.

What I'd really like is opinions on the Item Screen above, just the fancy looking portion. And the Switch Screen. With an Ingame shot right here.

Click to expand...

The sprites for the item screen could use some work, but the Pokémon switcher looks very nice.

The red X button actually looks pretty nice if you ask me.


On a more 'Help I actually want' note, I might be able to pitch in some spriting. =)

Theik said:

Wouldn't it simply be an array with all the possible options? There wouldn't actually need to be an add button, it would be the same as the Pokémon's types. I suppose a string you enter would work as well, but in terms of user-friendliness a dropdown would be a lot handier.

Click to expand...

I still don't see how you can select MULTIPLE ITEMS with a drop down menu. As far as I know a drop down menu can only select one item at a time. Which is great but abilites and egg groups need the option to select one or more. Which limits which widgets I can use. And no way am I putting every possible combination of egg groups and abilities in there. Thats like a whole day of typing. I know that sounds lazy but that wouldnt be user friendly either. Scrolling through all the junk to find it.

Now that I've actually slept though, I do notice there's some things lacking you're going to need later though.

Egg groups can be two different ones, for example, Fairy/Plant for Hoppip. The same goes for abilities, which would be Chlorophyll / Leaf Guard in the case of Hoppip.

Then you're also missing something you'll need later for your EV system, it's effort yield. (1 speed in the case of Hoppip).

Some other things you might end up needing:
Gender ratio, time to hatch an egg of this kind, how much base exp the type gives, how much exp is needed for level 100 and catch rate.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the stuff I left out of the pokemon editor. Effort Yield I actually found an equation for that fits, most things. Occasionally though, they don't seem to fit in with the equation. Like it works for most pokemon but not all. I guess I'll just put it in the editor. I can't beleive I forgot gender chances. They are on the server side of the game....I guess I can fill up that little whole you see in the screenshot =P

The thing about Abilities and Egg groups being multiple. Is exactly why its a textfield. You enter them with standard capitalization convention and comma seperated. "Fairy, Plant" "Chlorophyl, Leaf Guard". The game will server will parse the list at start up, and connect the names of the abilites to actual coded abilities. Or rather scripted. Like Items, Abilites will be written in lua, same for attacks.

The sprites for the item screen could use some work, but the Pokémon switcher looks very nice.

Click to expand...

The Item Switcher Sprites for the icons are terrible. I guess I'll have to try again. I thought the pokeball one was nice... Hurrah Circles.

On a more 'Help I actually want' note, I might be able to pitch in some spriting. =)

Click to expand...

If you wanted to do some spriting, you could redo those silly icons on the item screen. Sprite an OW. Or I need a sprite ,for the first town, of a Statue and a Boat. Odd things but The statue is for credit to who ever's tileset I pick, and the Boat is where you start.

Looks kool.
What exactly does the Character designer have to do? OWs, Battlepics, others, all together?

Click to expand...

The character artist will have to make overworlds and trainer backs / fronts. Depending on the lazyness of my friend, who never does anything, you may occasionally get a drawing of a trainer to sprite. I'll be working on the trainer sprite editor in just a couple days. With an easy way to look at the animations and such.

The thing about Abilities and Egg groups being multiple. Is exactly why its a textfield. You enter them with standard capitalization convention and comma seperated. "Fairy, Plant" "Chlorophyl, Leaf Guard". The game will server will parse the list at start up, and connect the names of the abilites to actual coded abilities. Or rather scripted. Like Items, Abilites will be written in lua, same for attacks.

Click to expand...

Ah, then that explains the choice. What I was basically suggesting was to replace the one text field with two dropdowns, but this works as well. Slightly less fool-proof, but should easily do the trick.

The Item Switcher Sprites for the icons are terrible. I guess I'll have to try again. I thought the pokeball one was nice... Hurrah Circles.

Click to expand...

Are you trying to make them custom? Else you could just opt to use the same ones as diamond/pearl uses.

If you wanted to do some spriting, you could redo those silly icons on the item screen. Sprite an OW. Or I need a sprite ,for the first town, of a Statue and a Boat. Odd things but The statue is for credit to who ever's tileset I pick, and the Boat is where you start.

Click to expand...

As one part of your features, you stated that you want to make players capable of picking their looks. Have you considered an overlay system?

A quick example of a chat program I made once:

It's obviously not Pokémon style, and eyes might be obsolete in D/P sized sprites, I also didn't properly align everything, but the basic idea should be understandable.

It makes for far more customisation options than just picking a sprite.

Actually I had concidered this. Interesting you suggest that. I failed to make a DP "Naked" doll. The other trouble is the trainer back sprites and front. Although they could work the same. A "Paper Doll" system would make the editor even more crucial. I might save that system for the release after this one. Which reminds me I'm shooting for a public test in 2 days. Might not happen, depends on what trouble I run into. You could do that if you wanted XD. Or I'll get around to it. Either way It will probably get implimented for the true MMO experience.

Back/front sprites can be done in exactly the same way. I recall seeing a naked DP spritesheet somewhere on this forum, I think it was the resource sticky.

You can, however, opt to forfeit a 'paper doll' for a 'put together from bits system'.
Basically you'd take the head and the body and put those two together. Saves the effort of a naked sprite and allows for more body types, but will make skin colours a no go for the future, not without doing a -lot- of sprites double, at least, or making all clothing skin covering so the body has no skin colour to it.

As I'm not doing anything useful at the moment, I'll see if I can throw you some doll sets together right now.

Screen Name: Uhm... Bombah! ?? (Or did I get that wrong?)

Job: Character Artist

Qualifications: Hmm... I´m a spriter with no work atm. I may not be the best around PC, but I´m not bad either^^

Samples: Go to my thread (in my signature. You can also comment them ;))

Greetz,
Bombah!

How's that? Tried to design the base with enough detail/shading so that it could also be used as a bald swimmer. ;P Clothing layers over the base, as does hair, combining into what you see at the bottom row. Obviously you'd need more hair colors, hair styles and different kinds of clothing, but yeah. :P

The idea's there, no?

HOLY HE-Hockey Stick-Hockey Stick

That's awesome. Thankyou so much! This will make things go a whole lot faster.

I'm thinking of a duel charactersprite engine. The one i have now which uses the whole sprite, this will make special characters and NPCs easier. As well as the paperdoll mode.

Paper Doll like characters just moved up the priority tier thats for sure.

And bombah you stuff looks nice, but I'm gonna wait for a final desicion if others don't apply your in but I like to see my options :P nothing personal, your sprites look good though.

Just let me know whenever you need some help. xP Can always freelance a bit on the side. Good luck with implementing that paperdoll system. =)

Hey, no problem, I expected smth like that^^
Just tell me, when you know it. I´ll be there ^^

Whoops PMed you
well heres my application
Screen Name:darkerarceus (ingame? cause I don't have the game)

Job:Mapper

Qualifications:I want to be a Mapper because
its really nice of how people go
to your map and appreciate it.
you should choose me because
I am good for the job and since
I am learning C++ I may be
able to be a scripter as well
soon enough,maybe you could
teach me a bit over PM.I think
I am special for the job because
1.I have a unique view of the map.
2.My real life name means unique(its true)
so there are my reasons why thy to pick
me as a mapper.
Sample: This one I made in RM2K3,It is just a test map that I made along time ago for a game.

OffTopic:Since im an Aussie I get new years day in excactly 3hrs 48 about!

Why would you pick anybody based on the meaning of their real-life name? :P

Also, your map has no entrance, the tall grass stuck under the ledge tiles look silly, your map has no clearly defined path and looks more like random tiles thrown down.

Everything is perfectly lined up giving it a very bland, artifical feel to it. Doesn't exactly feel like an impressive map if you ask me, anybody with RMXP/RM2k3 and the tileset could have thrown it together in half a minute.

Well we have already found a mapper, however, since you know a little C++ you might be able to script items, and later attacks (Once I get the system in) And it really burns me to say, I'm gonna have to agree with some things Theik said about your map. I really hate putting people down =(.

Shading large sprites isn't exactly something I'm good at, so the shading is a bit off, but I'm sure you can find somebody with enough patience to get some proper shading going on the base. Either way, figured you might want it. :P

My pc is broken and this laptop is terrible for working with (stupid Vista, who uses this? x_x), but when I feel like it I'll throw you together a hair and clothing set to go with the overworld I made you. Then you can test with that. :P

Uhh... Theik its just a test map so there is no need for an entrance
oh and my dad has a Laptop with vista too and I hate it, and
Tocs1001 um scripting items? Would it be like for a potion you add something to a variable and
change the picture or something PM what it would be about.