[Developing] Pokémon: Secrets of the Ages

[Boonzeet]

The winds of change are blowing and this world struggles with the evolution of tradition into modernity.

After a chance discovery on your family farm of a mysterious gemstone, and a subsequent burglary in the night, you find yourself thrust into an exploration of the region, hot on the trail of an elusive, secretive organisation with elusive leaders, motives and goals.

Through chance or fate you enter the Pokémon League, a recently created elite battle network. You may find some of the more... traditional leaders haven't taken too kindly to your presence. Fight, explore and learn about the mysteries of Rian.

Strange events start occurring around the region - reports of strange, maddened people, Pokémon arriving where they've never been seen before and people, vehicles and even entire places disappearing into thin air!

What is the Syndicate? Who is the enigmatic Count Furness? And what connection do they have to the strange events?

This is an ongoing project and we'd love it if you got involved and joined our Discord!

Spoiler:

• An all-new region based on a fusion of 1920's America, Britain and South Africa, featuring 8 new gym leaders.
• A unique time setting, based in the past, with a hidden mechanic to allow a connection to the modern-day Pokémon world...
• Character customisation engine! Choose every aspect of your player and customise the colours however you'd like, with an array of clothing to purchase around the region
• Mega evolutions make their return! Several new Mega evolutions to bring life to old Pokémon, as well as new evolutions, are planned!
• Phenomena make their return from Generation V, with shaking grass and dust clouds enabling players to snag rare items or Pokémon.
• Rian Forms - unique appearances and evolutions for several Pokémon, including the starter Pokémon Totodile, Cyndaquil & Chikorita. But some of these forms are different than the others in a special way...
• And many more, including an unreal time system, Gen 8 quality of life improvements and a carefully-chosen mix of Pokémon from all generations.

New Pokémon
Rian will include tons of new Pokémon to discover. What will you choose for your team?

Spoiler:

Chikick / Sektretair
Scrappy Pokémon / Striking Pokémon

Flying/Fighting

Dracozen
Thunderous Pokémon

Electric/Dragon

Tweetleaf / Excalibird
Apprentice Pokémon / Noble Pokémon

Grass/Flying

Swermin
Neglected Pokémon

Poison/Steel

Rian Forms / ??? Forms
There are also unique versions of many well-known Pokémon, a phenomenon similar to that seen in Alola and Galar. But some of these unique versions have something... special about them.

Spoiler:

Trubbish & Garbodor
Odious Pokémon

Steel

Timburr
Troglodyte Pokémon

Fighting
EVOLUTIONS TO BE REVEALED SOON

NEW: See our first ever trailer here!. Thanks to the guys who organised the Expo which featured it.

We hope to be able to provide a demo for the game by early next year. Currently the first 4 towns and a city with 3 gyms are mostly finished, with progress rapidly underway for the next areas. A demo will be made available for testing once 6 gyms worth of content is completed!

WE ARE RECRUITING!
I'd love to hear from you if you could help us with any of these roles.

• Composer: Able to write pieces in a Gen IV/V style
• Artist (pixel art): If you've got skill with trainer sprites or tiles, get in touch!
• Writer/Planner: someone with great command of English and experience writing the many events and dialogue boxes that you'll see in the game
• Eventer/Map Designer: To plan the many routes and cities of the region

Boonzeet - Art, music, programming, direction
Saucecoie - Game direction, music composition
Flaradar - Sugimori art, character design, Fakemon design
GoldLeafSnivy - Fakemon design
G.E.Z. - Fakemon & Regional variant sprites, OW Pokémon sprites, other art
Antiant - Battle sprite animations
Melon Pope - Planning, music
Scarlet Spectre - Fakemon design
AnonAlpaca - Trainer design and sprites, planning

With thanks to, for art, music, Essentials and help with code:
Maruno, Marin, Ham, Asdren, LuxDiablo, FL, KleinStudio, Luka S.J., Nuri Yuri, GiraPrimal, Flamguru, Poccil, BR0DE0, Snivy101 and the SOTA community

 

[Urusius]

Approved

 

[ArchangelLoki]

This seems awesome! Looking forward to a demo.

 

[cloversho56]

Nice idea!. Really like the 1920s setting since it helps make the game unique.

 

[Linkinglinkingking]

very very interesting idea, the screenshots are gorgeous as well

 

[Tenshi333]

Heyo, Angie here!
The game looks awesome! I love the tiles used in the screenshots, they are really well done!
The setting also seems to be really elegant, so that's a plus. The things I'm most excited for are the regional forms, that's for sure.
Sadly, I can't help you very much, since I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed for, well, anything. Good luck on the project though, I'm sure it's bound to be great!

Ciao, Angie out.

 

[Ahmad Adnan]

Is this made with psdk the screenshots are beautiful

 

[Boonzeet]

Is this made with psdk the screenshots are beautiful

Thank you! It's in Essentials 18.1, but all the art is 100% custom :)

This seems awesome! Looking forward to a demo.

Thanks! Hopefully looking to have a 3-gym demo done by early next year.

Nice idea!. Really like the 1920s setting since it helps make the game unique.

Thank you! I'm hoping that it will feel like something totally new and interesting :)

very very interesting idea, the screenshots are gorgeous as well

Thank you!

Heyo, Angie here!
The game looks awesome! I love the tiles used in the screenshots, they are really well done!
The setting also seems to be really elegant, so that's a plus. The things I'm most excited for are the regional forms, that's for sure.
Sadly, I can't help you very much, since I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed for, well, anything. Good luck on the project though, I'm sure it's bound to be great!

Ciao, Angie out.

Thank you - the tiles are all custom so that means a lot. If you ever have a good idea for a regional form, ping me a message and maybe I'll make it!

 

[Inner Rhymes]

I really like the mapping you have done for the towns, they loo really nice! I am not too sure about the new Fakemon you have showed off so far, especially the kite looking one, Nonetheless, goodluck!

 

[Boonzeet]

This thread has been a little outdated so we've given it a great big spring (well, summer) clean.

What have we got that's new?

NEW Team Members!
Flaradar & GoldLeafSnivy (Fakemon design), GEZ and Antiant (sprites and animations) join myself and Saucecoie in developing the game.

NEW Pokémon!
Meet Tweetleaf & Excalibird, Dracozen, Chikick & Sekretair, Rian Trubbish & Garbodor and more! Read about these and more in the top post.

NEW Screenshots!
The game's art style continues to improve and evolve during development. Check out these all-new screenshots!

And an update on progress. We've added 6 new areas, planned the entirety of the first 6 gyms from towns to routes and developed almost everything in the lead up to Gym 2. We're working towards the release of a demo of the first two gyms plus a sneak peek of the towns and areas following the second gym.

 

[16Gabs]

Looks really good!
Looking forward to the demo release =)

 

[Corveone]

The fan-made Pokémon and regional variant artworks look awesome. And I like the setting of the game as well, looks promising.

 

[Shishiboo]

Looking forward to this!

 

[Boonzeet]

Looks really good!
Looking forward to the demo release =)

Thank you! We'll be posting monthly updates from now and will hopefully have a timeline towards the private demo (Discord server-only) and a public demo to follow later.

The fan-made Pokémon and regional variant artworks look awesome. And I like the setting of the game as well, looks promising.

Thank you! The new fakemon artists have put a lot of good work towards it 😁

Looking forward to this!

Thank you 😊

 

[Outwitter]

The new pokemons are looking gorgeous, especially the birds! The artist that has designed them must be a pro! Are you going to share the later evos of starters before the demo or at later stages of development? The game looks promising nonetheless, and looking forward to the demo release. Good luck with the project!

 

[Boonzeet]

The new pokemons are looking gorgeous, especially the birds! The artist that has designed them must be a pro! Are you going to share the later evos of starters before the demo or at later stages of development? The game looks promising nonetheless, and looking forward to the demo release. Good luck with the project!

Thnak you - I will pass that on- to them! We will be doing fortnightly (or more frequent) updates on our Discord server revealling new Pokémon, new regional forms and eventually the mid stages and final evos. If you're interested check us out! Otherwise we'll aim to update the forum thread every month or so with new updates as they come :)

 

[Mudkip604]

This looks amazing the art style is distinct and very beautiful best of luck to you and this project would love to help but I don´t think i could be of much use.

 

[WildShiro]

oh wow this looks absolutely gorgeous. I am pretty found of the johto starters and your new versions of them look amazing. Good luck!

 

[spottedfirestar]

Woah! this looks like so much fun, I'll have to give it a go soon!

 

[Troothseeker_7]

This project looks amazing. Love the unique forms and art style. I'm excited to try it out!