Hm...
This sounds promising, and it looks like you've go a semi-proffesional team up. The fact that the leader of the project is a programmer is also a good sign, since programmers usually know what's possible and what isn't and rarely bite off more than they can chew. I really hope this project is succesful and I think I'll apply as a spriter/ideas guy after I finish this post. Before that though, there are some questions I have about the game.
1. Some die-hard fans of the old Pokemon system may be against this, but I really want to see a new battle-system, something that involves more than just select this move and watch it happen. Also, I believe Speed should play a greater role, not just affect turns (ex: should have a little effect on evasion/accuracy). Anyway, my basic question is, what's the battle system going to be like for this game, if you haven't decided yet, say that.
2. Since you're having player housing, will the mailboxes finally server a purpose? XD I'd like to see in-game mailing via pidgeys and such. I mean... the Pokemon games had mail things, but you rarely ever got the chance to use them and even if you did it was fairly pointless. It'd be cool to be able to send off your pidgey to deliver a message to a friend in another city and tell them you're on your way or something and they could send a reply mssage back.
3. Is Sandshrew one of the starters!? If it's not..I'll be really sad. T_T Sandshrew's my favorite along with Mew (but that's obviously not an option) sooo yeah. Just curious. OH! Please tell me you'll fix some of the things that just didn't make sense in the old games, like Sandshrew not having Dig as an ability it can learn naturally. >>
4. Will your game have the system where pokemon become magically uncapturable after they faint or will it go like the anime and finally allow that?
5. Am I annoying you with all these questions?
Hehe, okay I'm done. I hope the answer to #5 is No, but eh. *shrugs* Now I guess I'll apply and send a little sample of my work for the spriting position... although I'm good at ideas as well if you couldn't tell. ;P