FireRed hack: Pokémon Astral Version

[Jcool]

IF YOU ARE ABLE TO SCRATCH SPRITE AND ARE WILLING TO HELP DESIGN SOME FAKEMON/TRAINERS PLEASE PM ME.

INTRODUCTION

Spoiler:

My name is Jcool, and I have been lurking the Pokecommunity Forums since 2008. I have low-key attempted to make a few Rom Hacks in the past, with no success. Over the past year I have obtained enough knowledge to fulfill the vision of the Pokemon Rom Hack I want to create, and started very small amounts of work on it in December of 2014. I have barely worked on it at all since then, but now that I have a lot of free time on my hands, I plan to start grinding out hours of work to create this game. Unfortunately I do not come with a patch for the game yet, and I may never, until the game is 100% complete. I have friends who will test for bugs for me so that I don't need to post it until then, and the amount of mystery I want this hack to have pressures me to limit the amount of content I spoil. My primary interest with making this post now, is to reserve the name for the hack because there is really no other name I would rather this hack be called. And if I manage to spark even a small amount of interest within the community with my feature list and bare-bones screenshots, all the better. It would definitely be great if any pro scratch spriters would be willing to contribute to this hack, because that is the only thing I cannot do myself.

BACKSTORY

Spoiler:

Approaching the final months of completing your last year at a Pokemon School, your class has taken a road trip to Aptos, a "science camp" of sorts filled with adventure and Pokemon. Things seem to start off smooth, with your professor surprising you and your friends with three Pokemon, of which one is chosen by you. But very quickly, you will experience a negative turn of events that almost never seem to let up, starting with your class's bus breaking down upon attempting to return to your hometown. Before you have time to change your path, you will be dabbling in affairs unfathomable, many that are out of the scope of this planet. The ordeals that you will experience will make you question right from wrong, all while uncovering the mysterious secrets of the world which seem to have been concealed for almost forever.

PLANNED FEATURES

Spoiler:

I HAVE tested all of these features already so I know I can implement them
3 Part Game (1st part main story (1-8 badges, elite four, etc.), 2nd part post game, 3rd part main story pt. 2)
Three Regions (Cali, ???, Zona)
Generations 1-4 Pokemon, moves, and abilities as well as new starter Pokemon and a few new Legendaries (A little over 493 Pokemon)
Physical/Special Split
Custom Tiles
Custom Music (An Entire Soundtrack Consisting of rearrangements/remixes of real songs, and a few original songs)
Custom Title Screen
A GIANT Easter egg puzzle
Multiple rivals (will try to build the characters very well so you will be familiar with and can actually distinguish everyone by time you are done with the game)
Pokemon Zona Tournament
Day/Night

ALPHA 0.53 SCREENSHOTS

Spoiler:

Since I don't have much to offer at the moment, here is one of many songs out of the Pokemon Astral Soundtrack. Sound familiar to anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBkgxi1iC-w

Also not to crush anyone's hopes, but despite the space themes, no, you will not be travelling to another planet.


​

 

[Mr_Pokedex]

looking good) keep it up))

 

[Coffee]

I love the look of this! It has a lot of potential! :)

 

[SuprSushil]

this looks pretty awesome

 

[Fun Size]

This hack looks pretty good. Your story is very intriguing and I'm definitely excited about the fact that you're adding three regions in your hack.

 

[RustboroCityMafia]

Hey, your screenshots look like they have a LOAD of potential for the mystery-ish type approach yous eem to be taking (judging by the back story). The story itself sounds very interesting. I'm going to be following this hack

 

[chrunch]

Your mapping needs some work, there are a lot of empty areas. For example with this map:

You can see there's a huge empty space around the house. Use some flowers (they should be in small bunches, not just by themselves), or some trees to add a bit of structure. That house doesn't look great either. It's pretty bland and very different from the other FR houses you're using.

 

[Luxas]

Name is sweet and the screenshots look nice. Good luck with this hack, looking forward to see it progress!

 

[Reject217]

I believe this has a lot of mystery to it, which intrigues me so. I'll be lurking on this thread to see new posts and, perhaps, updates...

 

[SleepyTrainer]

Your mapping needs some work, there are a lot of empty areas. For example with this map:

You can see there's a huge empty space around the house. Use some flowers (they should be in small bunches, not just by themselves), or some trees to add a bit of structure. That house doesn't look great either. It's pretty bland and very different from the other FR houses you're using.

Yes I agree. to fill it up more, try to add tiles with fallen tree branches on them,
and like chrunchy says, more trees. also don't be afraid to fill wild pokemon areas with a load of tall grass.
Stuff like lakes, rivers and dirtpaths shouldn't be missing too.

 

[curiters]

looking forward

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

I'm a bit surprised with how long you say you've been ROM hacking, and the work you show here.

I'm going to be honest and say there's a lot of room for improvement. You need to look over some mapping tutorials, and also share with us some screenshots involving your scripting abilities as insofar there are none.

I don't know whether you have or not, but it's important to create a document detailing your hack's canon. Major headings to flesh out include background, character biographies, a rough event flow, and details of events that progress the story. Just a thought.

Nevertheless, I really like the idea that you've presented for a story. I hope it can succeed as it has the potential to very well do so if executed right. Good luck!

 

[Jcool]

Thanks for all of the feedback so far. For some odd reason, many people who make Pokemon Rom Hacks jump all over the place with the parts of the game they are working on. Make a few maps, add a few new Pokemon, write the first few scripts, etc. and I'm assuming its their eagerness to post the game for the rest of the world to see. I feel like creating a hack with that mindset is setting the creator up for a lot of bugs, as it is a lot more parts of the hack to keep track of. I'm going to finish creating every map for the game first, then move onto adding new overworld sprites, and then scripting. I will try to post my progress in the future.