Pokemon Zirconium Version Page 2

Started by T3h Kaiser September 1st, 2009 1:17 AM
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Age 34
Male
teh internetz
Seen September 4th, 2012
Posted August 29th, 2010
185 posts
14.2 Years
Isn't the last drawing supposed to be our legendary?
Yeah, I believe so. Still not sure if we really need our own legendary, though. There's enough as it is. D=

Argh, I'm so indecisive.
www.xugogaming.com
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Age 34
Male
teh internetz
Seen September 4th, 2012
Posted August 29th, 2010
185 posts
14.2 Years
Updated all the new art to the first post! The redrawn Buffiro and Buffaloven are both up, as well as the second and third forms for the Water Starter and the Knight Pokemon. Also, since I forgot to update progress here... have some sprites!


Eukhay, Grass Starter


Buffiro, Fire Starter

We hope to have the map of the starting city done soon... communication with our mapper/programmer hasn't been the best, but that's to be expected sometimes. School and work is rough for all of us, yo.
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Involuntary Twitch

Oripoke

Female
USA
Seen December 10th, 2020
Posted September 2nd, 2019
658 posts
17.7 Years
Nice project :3 You've got a decent thing going here, just make sure you get some actual progress done and don't get bogged down by stuff like making tons of fakemon art and things.

...However, your fakemon don't seem entirely creative. :/ I can't tell you how many grass-type Koala starters I've seen named Koalyptus (although yours is the first grass/electric I've seen, the typing doesn't make much sense-- it seems as if you just made it electric because it had yellow on it.) And you have a fire ant line that has "Pyrant" and "Infernant" which makes me want to punch a wall.

However, despite the pervasive boringness of 80% of your fakes, they are offset by the awesomeness that is GARfetch'd. Your artist deserves a cookie. Make that ten cookies. Is your sketch artist different from your sugimori artist? Because I like his/her designs a lot better-- they're better drawn and flat-out more creative.

...Sorry for slamming your fakes D: I oughta offer more in-depth critique, I know. I'm glad you're making such an ambitious and well-thought-out game project, but I suggest you get it under development soon (as in, start making the actual game and mapping/scripting and the like), otherwise it'll never get off the ground.
Age 34
Male
teh internetz
Seen September 4th, 2012
Posted August 29th, 2010
185 posts
14.2 Years
Nice project :3 You've got a decent thing going here, just make sure you get some actual progress done and don't get bogged down by stuff like making tons of fakemon art and things.
Thanks! Truth be told, we had some decent mapping and programming progress for awhile, but... after playing through what we had done we decided to take a completely different approach. The towns got redesigned and the intro scenario was entirely rewritten. It's much better now, but... unfortunately, now we're all much busier than before. Real life is bogging us down more than fakemon art, for sure. But no worries! We never set out to rush the project or nothing, good pacing is key.

...However, your fakemon don't seem entirely creative. :/
Oh my, defno's first critic. D=

I can't tell you how many grass-type Koala starters I've seen named Koalyptus
Good thing ours is named Eukhay, eh? Eheheh... >_>

(although yours is the first grass/electric I've seen, the typing doesn't make much sense-- it seems as if you just made it electric because it had yellow on it.)
Other way around! He's yellow because he has Electric in it. O_o

And you have a fire ant line that has "Pyrant" and "Infernant" which makes me want to punch a wall.
Yeah, I know, the names were kind of obvious. Renaming those two is probably in our best interests, I guess.

However, despite the pervasive boringness of 80% of your fakes, they are offset by the awesomeness that is GARfetch'd. Your artist deserves a cookie. Make that ten cookies. Is your sketch artist different from your sugimori artist? Because I like his/her designs a lot better-- they're better drawn and flat-out more creative.
Yeah, we had one Sugimori-style artist (defno) and several different sketch artists (RamenGaiden, No Limitz, Poison Jam, WeakendArc and -Axle-). GARfetch'd was done by the wonderfully eccentric WeakendArc, who is unfortunately no longer a member of the team.

...Sorry for slamming your fakes D: I oughta offer more in-depth critique, I know. I'm glad you're making such an ambitious and well-thought-out game project, but I suggest you get it under development soon (as in, start making the actual game and mapping/scripting and the like), otherwise it'll never get off the ground.
Thanks! Suggestion duly noted, I plan on pestering our programmer as soon as I spy him online, for sure. Hope to see you posting support more. Um, if you want to, that is. Please love us. D=
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Editor-In-Chief
Male
Seen September 5th, 2011
Posted December 17th, 2009
31 posts
14 Years
I gotta say, what you've presented so far as your story is somewhat... intriguing. You've definitely captured my interest in seeing where this project eventually goes.

Now to speak as my inner critic, I do see some stuff that I both love and hate.
Bad news first, and it seems I'm not the first to comment on this, but those fakemon are... typical. Unimaginative, so to speak. You need to stretch the concepts you create. Take an animal, disassemble it, add to it, and replace. Take an object and do the same. Pick a type at random and see how you could twist it around. Just stop being so... bland.
(^Also, names are pretty sad, people's too.)
Obviously the story so far seems to be your strong point, and I can see several differences and similarities between your idea and the official games. Time will tell if I really will enjoy this. Just remember that it's still a game, and you don't want it to turn into an interactive picture book. Keep your game and your cutscenes moderated.

Anyways, can't wait to see where this eventually leads.
Age 34
Male
teh internetz
Seen September 4th, 2012
Posted August 29th, 2010
185 posts
14.2 Years
Take an animal, disassemble it, add to it, and replace. Take an object and do the same. Pick a type at random and see how you could twist it around. Just stop being so... bland.
Oh, if you only knew! We're aware of this pattern, yes, and it's something we're trying to work on. Are there any in particular that we could perhaps have the artists spice up a bit?

(^Also, names are pretty sad, people's too.)
Ack, I'm hurt! I'll be the first to admit that some of the Fakemon names are horrible (I didn't name them, so it's okay for me to admit it!) but I rather like the NPC names. Any I should think about changing? D=

Obviously the story so far seems to be your strong point, and I can see several differences and similarities between your idea and the official games.
Yeah, I wanted it to be different but at the same time I found room for alot of homages to the traditional Pokemon formula. It's funny how well of an allegory the Pokemon franchise makes for so many different things!

Time will tell if I really will enjoy this. Just remember that it's still a game, and you don't want it to turn into an interactive picture book. Keep your game and your cutscenes moderated.
Oh, definitely. In fact, there's one crucial scene specifically that I've been trying to work in my head for weeks that happens later in the game. Trying my best to make it as interactive as possible, got some ideas in mind. It might be a bit text heavy, but anyone who has ever played a Shin Megami Tensei: Persona game will be able to fit right in. There's a good balance between playing and reading, I'll make sure.

Anyways, can't wait to see where this eventually leads.
Thank you kindly! Hopefully we'll have more for you to look at, rather than read soon enough.

My interest has been piqued by your project as well, by the way! Really dig the way you're shaking things up. Best of luck to you and your team.
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Where The Carrots Be
Seen April 10th, 2019
Posted September 11th, 2013
583 posts
14.1 Years
I hadn't really noticed before, but now that I've seen it pointed out, they're right: some of your Pokemon designs suffer from the "it's just a purple rat" problem. Fakemon usually fall into one of three categories; oddly-colored animal, overly complex, and that's-no-Pokemon.

These all exist within the official designs, of course. Rattata's just a purple rat, Dialga and Palkia have way too much detail crammed into them, and Magmortar... Wait, that's just Gutsman's Halloween costume. You have to find a balance between simplicity and originality. I'm not sure what Munchlax is, but it has a definite Pokemon feel to it.
Male
Seen September 5th, 2011
Posted December 17th, 2009
31 posts
14 Years
Oh, if you only knew! We're aware of this pattern, yes, and it's something we're trying to work on. Are there any in particular that we could perhaps have the artists spice up a bit?

Ack, I'm hurt! I'll be the first to admit that some of the Fakemon names are horrible (I didn't name them, so it's okay for me to admit it!) but I rather like the NPC names. Any I should think about changing? D=
For designs, you need to spice up Arboala, Medalyptus, Embison, and Buffaloven, down play most of your evolutions of existing Pokemon as they all look like humanoid steroid abusers (infact, most of the ones standing on two legs look evil and pumped full of steroids), do something with the pawn/knight ones because they're just bland, and the Marionette one looks reeeaallllly familiar... I think it's a Digimon, but I'm not sure.

As for names, I'm looking at the ones that are just way out there, particularly Janus, Odessa, and Tobias. I've never heard of anyone named that, (though I know Bill Cosby's son was named Ennis, and Alice Cooper named his daughters Calico and Sonora, but those are about the strangest I've heard in a typical english oriented society.) Also, Maple is an incredibly common professor name in the world of fangames.

Thank you kindly! Hopefully we'll have more for you to look at, rather than read soon enough.

My interest has been piqued by your project as well, by the way! Really dig the way you're shaking things up. Best of luck to you and your team.
In that order, good to know and glad to hear.
Age 34
Male
teh internetz
Seen September 4th, 2012
Posted August 29th, 2010
185 posts
14.2 Years
o hai! Just to eliveate fears that all of our Fakemon would be based on real world animals (and to remind people that we're not dead yet), I present to you... well... this guy! No name yet, but he looks pretty amazing!



Art done by the ever-fabulous defno!

Funny story about this guy; he was actually drawn from a misunderstanding. I had the idea for a Dark type guy with that kind of face and really long arms. I was pretty vague with the description, but defno ran with it like a trooper. Turns out that I forgot the part of my description where I mentioned he was suppose to be short and impish, so defno made him real big and tall. But, luckily it still turned out really awesome! I almost prefer him like this, he has a nice goofy charm to him; clearly a Dark-type and thus potentially eeeeeviiiiil, but I can't help but want to give him a hug. We will probably go with the original imp design as a pre-evo for him.

Should have a map to show everyone soon, just gotta tweak it a bit.

EDIT: Here's the first form!



Really like how he turned out!
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deeelove

Dradradra drama BEATZZ

Male
Seen March 31st, 2016
Posted December 27th, 2009
78 posts
14.8 Years
this just sounds awesome! good luck on it
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Involuntary Twitch

Oripoke

Female
USA
Seen December 10th, 2020
Posted September 2nd, 2019
658 posts
17.7 Years
Great job on the newest fakes-- now THAT's more like I was looking for. They remind me of the little forest spirits from Princess Mononoke; the face is similar.

Although, if I were you, I'd focus on getting sprites BEFORE the Sugimori art. You can't really use that art in-game, see, and if you try to finish your dex before you even start making what's, y'know, useful, you're going to run into some serious trouble.

...Also. I know it'll be hard to accomodate this, but: writers, spriters, artists, and visionaries do not good project leaders make. The simple truth is that most of the big projects have a very small team with the programmer as the project leader. If you're amassing and directing everyone and the person who's actually making the game game is just part of the process, you run the risk of them missing the boat, or not making it entirely like what you want, or quitting like artists, spriters, and writers tend to do. So I'd bring your programmer in a little closer, or take over programming yourself. (Can't be that hard, plenty of idiots manage it, and you seem savvy enough).

Sorry if I seem cynical; I've been lurking in game dev for much too long, and I've been part of multiple projects like this one. I hate to see people running in circles with sugi art and perfecting fakemon's designs and all that (although by the same token, I hate seeing fakemon that are just colored animals; I guess the middle ground is hard to find).
Age 34
Male
teh internetz
Seen September 4th, 2012
Posted August 29th, 2010
185 posts
14.2 Years
Great job on the newest fakes-- now THAT's more like I was looking for. They remind me of the little forest spirits from Princess Mononoke; the face is similar.
Why thanks! I'm sure defno will love to hear that. Princess Mononoke was a great movie - Miyazaki is the man - but the inspiration actually came from Arakune of BlazBlue.

Although, if I were you, I'd focus on getting sprites BEFORE the Sugimori art. You can't really use that art in-game, see, and if you try to finish your dex before you even start making what's, y'know, useful, you're going to run into some serious trouble.
Our spriter actually said he much prefers working with the art, although what you say makes sense to me.

...Also. I know it'll be hard to accomodate this, but: writers, spriters, artists, and visionaries do not good project leaders make. The simple truth is that most of the big projects have a very small team with the programmer as the project leader. If you're amassing and directing everyone and the person who's actually making the game game is just part of the process, you run the risk of them missing the boat, or not making it entirely like what you want, or quitting like artists, spriters, and writers tend to do. So I'd bring your programmer in a little closer, or take over programming yourself. (Can't be that hard, plenty of idiots manage it, and you seem savvy enough).
I actually tried programming for awhile, but depending on someone who is learning the process as he's going is much worse than depending on someone who knows what he's doing. I guess I could if it comes to that, but our programmer is happy enough. He is involved with the team and contributes a fair number of ideas, he's just a very busy guy IRL, pops in and out... he's involved when he's here, though. I'm thinking once this school semester ends, things will be better for him; I know him rather well so I don't think he'll abandon us.

Sorry if I seem cynical; I've been lurking in game dev for much too long, and I've been part of multiple projects like this one. I hate to see people running in circles with sugi art and perfecting fakemon's designs and all that (although by the same token, I hate seeing fakemon that are just colored animals; I guess the middle ground is hard to find).
Nah, don't worry about it; cynicism has it's place. I've done my fair share of browsing here, too, so I think I know what you mean about other projects...

I may be an idealist and a dreamer, but I am 100% confident in this project. I don't care how long it takes, too much passion has been put into it for it to disappear. :)

EDIT: While I'm at it, here's some updates!

Introducing... Janus, best friend and rival extraordinaire!


He has a classy look befitting his wealth and pampered upbringing. The way he points his finger out as if he's challenging someone makes his experience and trainer pedigree clear, but his calm expression lets you know he's not intentionally showy; it's just in his blood.
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Age 34
Male
teh internetz
Seen September 4th, 2012
Posted August 29th, 2010
185 posts
14.2 Years
Nice work! Looks amazing! :D
Thanks Chrono. <3

To counter our previous efforts of going with a more abstract approach to Fakemon designs, I'm pleased to unveil two more of defno's creations! Don't worry, folks, we'll go back to being abstract after this; even if they aren't as unique as the mask duo, I still think they're fantastic.

Introducing... Cauldrunt and Cauldrath!



They're Poison/Steel type, and I think they're mighty creative. Humorously enough, I had a little cousin of mine looking over my shoulder when I first clicked the link and saw them. The cousin, with an impressed tone in his voice, asked me if that was "one of the new Pokemon"; I think that means defno is too good at his job.

Once we start filling in these last few spots in the Fakedex with some more abstract, original creations, I think that'll be it for the Fakemon. We need to start focusing on strictly spriting them soon. Still, there's some type coverage to think about, we don't want to leave certain types out. I wouldn't have thought it before getting into this fangame business, but there's alot of thought put into each generation!
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deeelove

Dradradra drama BEATZZ

Male
Seen March 31st, 2016
Posted December 27th, 2009
78 posts
14.8 Years
you defiantly did an awesome job on this one!
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Age 34
Male
teh internetz
Seen September 4th, 2012
Posted August 29th, 2010
185 posts
14.2 Years
Sorry, but I can't be the only one that picked up on this.
No, you're definitely not the only one. D=

I was inspired to name him Janus, as it's the birth name of Chrono Trigger anti-hero Magus. Unlike Odessa, who was named after the person she was with reason, I simply chose the name Janus because I think it sounds cool... "anus" aside.
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