Pokemon: Azure

DJClass

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    • Seen Apr 8, 2015
    tenFold Studios Presents: Pok?mon Azure
    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure

    ​
    Game information
    DJ Class
    Author
    tenFold Studios
    Team
    Engine Testing
    Status
    N/A
    Release


    "REVAMPED" EDITION! [wip]


    Game Details

    Pok?mon Azure (Previously 'Pacific Blue?) is based on the real-life locations along the Pacific Shore of North America. The towns are heavily influenced by their real life counterparts. The game will consist of counterparts of California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, several territories of Canada, and Alaska. The ultimate goal of this game is to create an engine that allows players to create their own Pok?mon game by using the various tools to create their own locations, or even using the source code itself!


    Azure Plot

    The plot is basically your usual Pok?mon journey - catch Pok?mon, get badges, deal with rivals, go exploring, help take down a villainous team, all that fun stuff. There are plenty of surprises along the way, though!

    Your travels will take you across the Pacific region, a land of highly diverse terrain and weather and a great variety of Pok?mon - over 300 in the Regional Dex alone. From fields and forests to deserts and mountains to tundras and volcanoes, exploring this region is not for the faint of heart! On the other side of the coin, there are lots and lots of other trainers on the road who are just as competitive as you. For the truly brave, there?s even an option to enforce Nuzlocke rules on the game.

    Joining your adventures are your younger sibling and your childhood friend, both of whom are on their own journey. Professor Cedar saw a lot of potential for greatness in the three of you, and however you can, you?re going to prove him right. You?re all aiming to be the best, but your friend is willing to get stronger at any cost - and a certain shady group making the rounds looking for new recruits might just be able to make his dreams come true.

    Characters and Organizations

    Sean/Marina-
    The main characters, two siblings from Orange Town. They grew up a very healthy life in Orange Town, alongside their childhood Rival Chadwick. Now that they are finally of age, they are allowed to choose their first Pok?mon and begin their journey!

    Chadwick-
    The main Rival in Azure, Chadwick is a snarky, mean-spirited boy from Orange Town, who grew up with Sean and Marina. Now that he is old enough to start his own journey, Chad plans on becoming the best trainer ever. But he'll need power to do it. And the mysterious 'Team Toxic' looks like it can offer him exactly what he needs...

    Team Toxic-
    A group of thugs who were once a small time gang, now operate hidden 'Muk Farms'. What the exact purpose of these farms are, no one is sure, but one thing is for sure; Toxic is planning something, and it can't be good!

    North Co.-
    A business Empire known for manufacturing Pok?balls. Headed by the mysterious 'Mr. North', very little is known about this company. But what is it that they have to do with Team Toxic?

    Engine Details

    We are programming our set of development tools and engine in C# using the XNA Framework. We tried using pre-made engines, but decided that those were very general, and the custom engine in development has already so many hours into it, that it would be un-wise to go with a pre-made game engine. Our engine is programmed to our specific performance and platform goals. This engine will be usable on the Windows platform. OSX, iOS, Android, *nix, and XBOX 360 are possible additions, but that is not our concern as of now. The creation of our content lies in the Map Maker that we have designed, allowing us to place building, tiles, trainers, player, weather, scripts, and much more functionalities to bring Pok?mon Azure as a whole to our audience.

    Nuzlocke Mode

    Pok?mon: Azure will have one thing exclusive to it, that no other game before has had (as far as we've seen!); an official Nuzlocke Mode, supported by the creator of Nuzlocking, Ruby himself! Yup, that's right! A real, honest to goodness, Nuzlocke Mode. It will abide by classic 'Ruby' rules.


    • You can only catch the first Pok?mon of each new route.
    • If it faints, then it dies and is released from your party.
    If you don't know what Nuzlocking is, go to Nuzlocke's blog and read his awesome damn comic!

    Online Details

    A complete online trading system powered by RattleSnake & Mercury, two in-house projects. This will allow anyone to upload Pokemon, perform searches, and trade with any other people. It will function almost like Nintendo's GTS system.

    On top of this, there will be online Matchmaking for battling across the Internet, which will not require port forwarding of any kind, allowing anyone to host! The matchmaking will use a point-based ranking system for those matches that choose to allow it. You can also choose to do what Pokemon Stadium allows, and create a "Rental" team instead of transferring your own over.

    The matchmaking will also have a friends list system, allowing you to send/receive invitations to battles with friends and even view the profile of who is challenging you (allowing you to "peek" at their team). If you get bored, you can do random match-ups, and eventual support for double and triple battles will occur as well!



    Engine Features

    Engine-Specific Features:
    • Multiple Saves
    • Online Services
    • Innovative Single-Screen UI (unique interface to be used on only one screen)
    • Online Matchmaking

    This list of toolset features are some of the many features in our toolset used to create Pokemon Azure.

    Toolset Features:

    • Custom Scripting Interface
    • Map Editing
    • The Pokemon World is consisted of many zones that are lain adjacent to each other
    • Some zones aren't part of the world (inside areas)
    • Each Zone consist of scenery objects, trainers, tiles, etc...
    • Intuitive graphical interface
    • Drag-and-drop scenery
    • Trainer editing
    Engine Preview



    Online Features

    Online Trading System:
    Filter System

    • Unique Accounts for each person, allowing multiple connections from the same computer. [But not the same game account, so no exploiting for you!] This would actually allow one to trade between accounts easily.

    Matchmaking System:

    • Will not require port forwarding
    As a note, this might slow down response times a small bit, depending on the connection type you have.

    • Random Match ups.
    • Point-based system for rankings.
    • Friend System to keep track of your friends and challenge them to battles.re'
    • Make a "rental" team instead of using your own Pokemon
    • And much much more!

    Finished Artwork

    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure

    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure

    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure
    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure


    Splash Screens

    Carmine Forest

    Morning:
    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure


    Day:
    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure


    Night:
    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure




    F.A.Q.


    Spoiler:


    Support us!

    private message
    email - [email protected]
    skype - pacificcharmilio (username 'Baird')
    IAPL - (removed link due to no off-site linking, but go ahead and google it!)
    NikNaks' World of Region Maps - Pok?community thread
    Nuzlocke -     (removed link due to no off-site linking, but go ahead and google it!)

    Support us!

    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure

    HTML: 
    [URL="https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=257930"][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/Ot3WY.png[/IMG][/URL]
    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure

    HTML: 
    [URL="https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=257930"][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/cx111.png[/IMG][/URL]
    Credits/Thank Yous

    tenFold Studios
    Co-Admin of tenFold Studios - Martialis Raghu (ShinyJirachi)
    Co- Admin of tenFold Studios - DJ Class (Baird, Charmilio)

    Senior Programmer - Martialis Raghu (ShinyJirachi)
    Senior Programmer - Programmah (Willaien)
    Senior Programmer - Upton (Darkkal)
    Senior Programmer - NSee (Ency)

    Senior Scripter - DJ Class (Baird, Charmilio)
    Scripter - Loch Ness Lapras (Parasect)
    Scripter - Desame11 (Lyra's Marill)
    Scripter - Gram (muge)

    Senior Artist - Rayleigh (SoaringSomone)
    Artist - Atlas (KY_GhostTrainer)
    Artist - Gram (muge)

    Senior Musician - Andross (Tortiss)
    Musician - Rocky (Choco)

    Contributors
    Music, Sprites - Aus_Pokeguy
    Scriptwork - Duskull (ShinyGengar)

    IAPL
    CoolTrainerBro
    Fremont
    Anonymousse
    bigplrbear

    Special Thanks
    Secant (Averdak)
    Fenix (Chingling)
    NikNaks
    Everyone at IAPL!
    /vp/
    ~JV~ for the Post Layout
    ​
     
    Last edited:
    UPDATE

    Bolton VS. Sprite added to SPRITES

    (just kidding no links to forums here)
    (thanks awkward squirtle, you saved me an awkward conversation with a mod)
     
    Last edited:
    This looks... pretty awesome. I'm surprised nobody else has commented yet.
    Firstly, I commend you on programming an engine from scratch. Secondly, I'm surprised at how many similarities your engine has with a project I've been working on sporadically (I personally haven't made much progress with it yet, but I hope to resume it soon).
    Anyway... I notice you're using a larger resolution (640x480, right?). The splash screen and larger trainer sprites you have look gorgeous so far. But what's your reasoning for not also increasing the tile size? Judging from the overworld sprites, it's still 16x16... Also, have you got larger Pokémon sprites already (you're not looking for a Pokémon spriter)?
    Next, when you say 'gen 5 graphics', does this include the 3D overworld and battle scene? Or do you mean the 5th gen graphical style in 2D like other games on this forum?
    Finally, is there any particular reason you chose C# and XNA? Neither my desktop nor laptop can run XNA games natively. I've been playing Terraria (a 2D XNA game) through a Mono wrapper on Mac OS X, as it won't run on Windows due to XNA's hardware requirements; I assume Mono is how you're planning to port to non-Microsoft platforms.

    EDIT: It mighr be in your interests to move the forum links to your signature - posting forum links is usually considered to flout the 'no advertising' rule ;)
     
    Last edited:
    Firstly, I commend you on programming an engine from scratch. Secondly, I'm surprised at how many similarities your engine has with a project I've been working on sporadically (I personally haven't made much progress with it yet, but I hope to resume it soon).
    Click to expand...

    I had no idea; never actually heard about another engine similar to ours [well there is one, but it's in C++ and has a ways to go], but then again, I do live under a rock [well, that translates to "doing a lot of programming and has little time for much else"].

    Next, when you say 'gen 5 graphics', does this include the 3D overworld and battle scene? Or do you mean the 5th gen graphical style in 2D like other games on this forum?
    Click to expand...

    3D over-world. I'm not sure about the battle scenes though.

    Finally, is there any particular reason you chose C# and XNA?
    Click to expand...
    Ease of development, and the fact that all the developers involved know C#, kind of makes it an easy pick :P


    I've been playing Terraria (a 2D XNA game) through a Mono wrapper on Mac OS X, as it won't run on Windows due to XNA's hardware requirements; I assume Mono is how you're planning to port to non-Microsoft platforms.
    Click to expand...

    Honestly, I didn't even know there was a Mono wrapper for XNA games...the more you know :P

    It was talked about porting, and while it is something we'd like to consider, as of right now with just four developers, it'll be awhile in the future before any talk of porting goes through.
     
    First thing's first:

    Awkward Squirtle said:
    The splash screen and larger trainer sprites you have look gorgeous so far.
    Click to expand...

    Thank you very much! :)



    Now, to answer your other question:

    Awkward Squirtle said:
    Anyway... I notice you're using a larger resolution (640x480, right?). The splash screen and larger trainer sprites you have look gorgeous so far. But what's your reasoning for not also increasing the tile size? Judging from the overworld sprites, it's still 16x16... Also, have you got larger Pokémon sprites already (you're not looking for a Pokémon spriter)?
    Click to expand...

    Yes, the resolution size will be 640x480. The tile sizes are actually slightly larger than the standard Black and White tilesets (I believe they are 30x30, ours are 32x32). The overworlds themselves are also a max size of 32x32 (Again, Black and White ones are 30x30, I believe GBA OW's are 16x16). We will be using the standard Black and White Pokémon sprites for our battles since recreating 649 front and back sprites and then animating them would most definitely push our project into the dangerous HL3 zone.
     
    Neato. As I said, my engine hasn't made much progress either... This project should give me some motivation :P

    I just looked at Four Star Mon's forums (this is the C++ project you mentioned, isn't it?). It looks like I'm using the same language and media library as them now (C++ with SFML)... This should be interesting.

    How are you doing the 3D map editor? Is it tile-based?
    I started work on a map editor for my engine; the plan was to render it orthogonally from an angle, then stretch it to give a square grid. I'm still unsure on how to handle changing and representing z-values (maybe some kind of brush tool that you drag up/down to raise/lower terrain?). I was planning for tiles to be assigned as 'hill tiles' which would automatically raise/lower terrain when placed in a closed loop; user-defined height changes would be added on to this 'default' heightmap.
    I may as well describe my map system (most of it isn't done yet). Each tile has a z-coordinate applied to one corner; the other corners use z-coordinates of neighbouring tiles. As well as basic flat tiles, I also have a type of tile that would be stored in map data as an ordinary tile, but rendered as a 3D model (used for things like cliffs and fences), and a type of tile that would be billboarded (used for grass and small rocks). In addition to multiple tile layers (currently 2, but in theory, unlimited), I also have three more layers: a tree/simple object layer, a building/complex object layer, and an event layer. The tree and building layers are similar, and store the IDs of models to be rendered as part of the terrain; the difference is that the tree layer stores them as tiles (in an array the size of the map), while the building layer stores them in a list (each building stores its own coordinates). Buildings also affect passability differently (depending on relative z-coordinates; this makes bridges quite simple). The tree layer is static and loads/renders faster and uses less memory than the same number of objects in the building layer; the building layer is more flexible. The last layer is the event layer, which simply stores any NPCs and interactable objects.
    How does your map system work?

    For events, I see you're using scripting. Is this difficult to implement? At the moment, I'm using a system like RPG Maker that has a bunch of preset commands. This has the advantage of being quite easy to use, but isn't as flexible (a good selection of commands, including things like selection and iteration, should mitigate this).

    Also, in the first post, it mentions an 'innovative UI'. Am I correct in saying this will be mouse-controlled?

    There's a library called Monogame (I think) that lets you port XNA games to *nix systems, which was what I was referring to. You could look into that later.
     
    Awkward Squirtle said:
    How are you doing the 3D map editor? Is it tile-based?
    Click to expand...

    This is probably the hardest part of this whole project, and its really the main tool that is driving success at the moment.

    It is mainly tile-based. Currently we can freely place trainers, npc's, and objects (trees, buildings, etc...) around on the map. Each thing we can place, including the tiles, can have a script assigned to them. Scripts can be accessed on touch or on activation.

    Depth is one thing we're still mapping (dohoho) out. I had an idea that before placing a 3D object, you could use the mouse-wheel or something to adjust the height. Pathways can probably use some small tool that would create a ramp, in which you could adjust the length and or height, and be able to place tiles onto it.

    The last thing i want to do is re-create hammer editor from the Source SDK, but as we near our alpha release, it may seem like a viable development path to head toward.



    Awkward Squirtle said:
    For events, I see you're using scripting. Is this difficult to implement?
    Click to expand...

    The Lua library we're using makes things a blast. Our goal is to make scripting easy for the mappers so they dont have to worry about learning some huge language in order to get things done. Implementing it took some research, but it wasn't difficult at all.

    Awkward Squirtle said:
    Also, in the first post, it mentions an 'innovative UI'. Am I correct in saying this will be mouse-controlled?
    Click to expand...

    Sure, you can use your mouse for the UI. You don't have to, but it's an option. The innovative part is to make the transition from the DS to the PC a comfortable one. Elements in the UI will definitely be a plus for users with a mouse, but it should be accessable to someone who is playing just on their keyboard, or if they wanted to use a gamepad to play with as well.

    Awkward Squirtle said:
    There's a library called Monogame (I think) that lets you port XNA games to *nix systems, which was what I was referring to. You could look into that later.
    Click to expand...

    Monogame is definitely blooming as a very respectable tool for porting XNA games to *nix; however, porting the game to another system is the last thing to do (and it might not even be on our list). If fans are serious about playing this game, they will either already be using windows, or they can go through the trouble of getting it working on their system.
     
    UPDATE

    Updated F.A.Q. to reflect what's been said in the thread, added SUPPORT BARS, and added the Concept UI and Pacific Region map (Special thanks to NikNaks!) to ARTWORK. Added a link to NikNaks' World of Maps in LINKS/CONTACT METHODS.
     
    Last edited:
    UPDATE

    Added a CHARACTERS box that adds some character summary, added the Chadwick VS. Sprite to ARTWORK, and added a new userbar in USERBARS.
     
    UPDATE

    Updated the main post with a preview of the Live MapMaker, which can now place and automate NPCs. Here's some words from one of our programmers, Darkkal.

    check it!
    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure


    'NPCs and their respective animations now work in game and in the mapmaker. Still trying to get the player to work with it, but it's really just a couple of dimensions changes. The wall and door is tiled as a place holder, they will be 3d in the future (when we start hauling in assets).'

    Also, massive overhaul to the main post, various edits.
     
    Nice engine, I'm always interested in engines like this. I've started my own yesterday in c++ using OpenGL. Engines take long to make. I think maybe you should have made your engine completely first before you put this topic up. It looks like you're pretty set on making overworld maps, but what about battling? Have you guys started on that at all? Will it be 3D too?

    Does using Lua mean that you're interpreting Lua in your engine? If I want to use an interpreter with a lot of features, I would have just used GameMaker or something of that sort.

    By the way, you made your OS look old. lol It looks like Visual Studio 2010 in the background.

    Good luck with your project!
     
    >but what about battling? Have you guys started on that at all? Will it be 3D too?

    Our battle system is working, we just need to get in the nitty gritty details

    >Does using Lua mean that you're interpreting Lua in your engine?

    The only reason why we're using lua is for small events.

    >By the way, you made your OS look old. lol It looks like Visual Studio 2010 in the background.

    :P that was on my netbook, and its running XP.
     
    Howdy guys.

    Yes, Darkkal is right, the battle engine is somewhat functional after a fair amount of hair-pulling and debugging. However it is still in early stages of development, and has no gui as of yet. Though the mechanics are acting more or less as expected.

    Lua is being used mainly for interactions - specifically pokemon moves, and interactions with scenery on the map. As it is a lightweight and relatively simple language it will allow non-technical people to create content in the engine quite easily.
    We're using an open source Lua implementation for .NET that just rocks, because it can import C# functions and objects into the Lua runtime.

    To Awkward Squirtle i've noticed that Gen 5 tiles are always flat. The exception is if you are walking on a model. I think this is the case, unless I'm going blind. So tiles can be drawn as flat squares, but can be made transparent if slopes or complex objects need to be walked on.
    Also, there are no explicit layers, just a single grid of tiles on each map. Scenery and trainers and so on are stored as lists, with the tiles containing references for the purpose of interactions. This allows me to be efficient, because I can sort them by model and draw them multiple times without having to load different information to the video card. I haven't actually done this yet, but I was planning on doing it when the optimisation stage started.
     
    Last edited:
    This is really cool how you decided to make an engine from scratch (: I would like to commend you on this, as I would never be able to do something like this.
     
    UPDATE

    [PokeCommunity.com] Pokemon: Azure


    nice little update on the battle engine, updated the main post. if we keep it up at this rate, we may be able to move to Showcase.
     
    Looks pretty good. I assume most (if not all) of the graphics are placeholders for now, so I won't comment on those.
    Firstly, you might want to improve your text rendering - you're rendering fixed-width, but the Pokémon fonts are variable-width. It's a small change, but variable-width fonts usually look more professional.
    Secondly, the player and opponent HP bars have different sizes, which looks strange.
    Thirdly, you might want to make the move selection buttons bigger, so you can include the move's PP and type (does the colour of the button represent type?). This will also give you more space for the party Pokémon list and items list.
    And finally, you might want to display the back sprite zoomed even further (or the front sprite at normal size) to get some perspective.

    Also, good idea with the tabs. I'm also using tabs for the battle menu (independently of this game; I got the idea from various Pokémon battle simulators such as Pokémon Online); it's (in my opinion) a lot more convenient than a separate screen for each type of battle command.
     
    You acknowledged the fact that the graphics are placeholders, yet you commented on them? that's just silly. All the graphics there were done by us programmers, used so we can visualize our work in progress

    Awkward Squirtle said:
    Looks pretty good. I assume most (if not all) of the graphics are placeholders for now, so I won't comment on those.
    Firstly, you might want to improve your text rendering - you're rendering fixed-width, but the Pokémon fonts are variable-width. It's a small change, but variable-width fonts usually look more professional.
    Secondly, the player and opponent HP bars have different sizes, which looks strange.
    Thirdly, you might want to make the move selection buttons bigger, so you can include the move's PP and type (does the colour of the button represent type?). This will also give you more space for the party Pokémon list and items list.
    And finally, you might want to display the back sprite zoomed even further (or the front sprite at normal size) to get some perspective.

    Also, good idea with the tabs. I'm also using tabs for the battle menu (independently of this game; I got the idea from various Pokémon battle simulators such as Pokémon Online); it's (in my opinion) a lot more convenient than a separate screen for each type of battle command.
    Click to expand...
     
    Darkkal said:
    You acknowledged the fact that the graphics are placeholders, yet you commented on them? that's just silly. All the graphics there were done by us programmers, used so we can visualize our work in progress
    Click to expand...

    He might have meant the sprites while offering critique on the layout of the interface.
     
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