Pokemon Zirconium Version
- Thread starter T3h Kaiser
- Start date
- Status
Involuntary Twitch
Oripoke
- 658
- Posts
- 18
- Years
- Age 30
- USA
- Seen Dec 10, 2020
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).
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).
T3h Kaiser
Jovial Fool
- 185
- Posts
- 15
- Years
- Age 35
- teh internetz
- Seen Sep 4, 2012
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.
Our spriter actually said he much prefers working with the art, although what you say makes sense to me.
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.
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.
Last edited:
Chrono
\:D/
- 269
- Posts
- 16
- Years
- Age 30
- California
- Seen Jan 21, 2022
Nice work! Looks amazing! :D
T3h Kaiser
Jovial Fool
- 185
- Posts
- 15
- Years
- Age 35
- teh internetz
- Seen Sep 4, 2012
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!
pr0udy
Wannabe Hacker
- 19
- Posts
- 16
- Years
- Age 29
- Seen Nov 20, 2020
Sorry, but I can't be the only one that picked up on this.
T3h Kaiser
Jovial Fool
- 185
- Posts
- 15
- Years
- Age 35
- teh internetz
- Seen Sep 4, 2012
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.
Last edited:
T3h Kaiser
Jovial Fool
- 185
- Posts
- 15
- Years
- Age 35
- teh internetz
- Seen Sep 4, 2012
Thanks a ton, Blazers. You have no idea how much praise like this helps; reassures me that we might actually be doing something right! =D
Yeah, it's a small ponytail. I guess it does kind of look ambiguous. >_>
I'm aware about the stance, but a static sprite is better than no sprite at all. Especially since, you know, there's only two complete fangames out there... comparing games seems a bit silly to me. D=
Yuoaman
I don't know who I am either.
- 4,582
- Posts
- 18
- Years
- Age 31
- Ontario, Canada
- Seen Aug 28, 2023
I can't believe it has taken me so long to check out this thread. The project seems to be incredibly well-planned, and as a writer, I find the story quite intriguing. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for further developments, though I am very impressed at the moment. Good luck with your project Kaiser.
Blue_Bomber
Mega Man Master
- 2
- Posts
- 14
- Years
- Age 30
- Australia
- Seen Dec 17, 2009
That depends. You don't happen to have a spare time machine lying around... Do you?
KingCharizard
C++ Developer Extraordinaire
- 1,229
- Posts
- 14
- Years
- Age 35
- Pennsylvania
- Seen May 15, 2016
Love the fakemon and the main char looks cool....
T3h Kaiser
Jovial Fool
- 185
- Posts
- 15
- Years
- Age 35
- teh internetz
- Seen Sep 4, 2012
Why thank you! I think he looks very cool, too.
Update time, boys and girls! Life has been hell for me this past month or so, and everyone has been busy with end-of-the-semester nonsense... but we persevere!
After what seems like a dozen drafts, I think we finally settled on our region map. For reals, this time! Here it is without labels, as it will appear in-game...
And here it is with labels, to show you guys what is what. Madripoor City is likely going to get a name change, I just needed something that vaguely sounded humid and didn't feel like being clever. Props to anyone who guesses where I got the name from, though.
Three cheers for NikNaks!
You start in Nozori, go down and visit Bistre, then you go up into Cedar Forest, Naetle City and then to Cobalt. You pass through the Treno Mountains and spelunk into the Nibel Ruins on the long trek to Fortuna City. You get to visit the island city of Mardesol, and then return to Fortuna for a brief stay. From there you go south and visit Curia City, the capital of the Kutoh region. Heading further south you'll reach Madripoor City, which is the last city you'll visit. After that, everything comes full circle and you wind up where it all began: Nozori City... after passing through an all new, all different Cedar Forest, of course...
The smaller, nameless towns may or may not stay; I'm trying to think of some more clever landmarks to replace them. I was actually going to avoid the Pokemon cliche of "small useless towns without a gym" and just stick to eight big cities, but certain routes ended up being too long (particularly the one between Treno Mountain and Fortuna City) and needed some filler to break it up. And for those worried that it's just going to be a straight loop the whole way through, never fear; there will be little side areas that can be explored if you wander off the intended path, such as a deep cave within the mountain on the other side of the lake near Fortuna City.
And from the brilliant mind of artist extroadinaire defno, here are two amazing Psychic type Fakemon. The left is the baby form, and to the right is it's evolution.
Going from pencils to pixels, here's some more progress made on the Fakemon front. Some of them may be designs you recognize from previous updates, others maybe not.
Last, but certainly not least, I am pleased to unviel the female protagonist trainer. Well, her front sprite anyways!
We chose to give her bright colors, such as the bright orange shirt and the blonde hair, in order to emphasize heroism. The retail Pokemon games tend to have dark haired female trainers, too, and that kind of bugs me for some reason. I really like how she turned out. If you squint hard enough, too, you'll note that she's wearing a whistle on a necklace. If you play as the female trainer, that may just come into play somehow!
Anyways, I hope you guys haven't forgotten us. We're working on what will hopefully be the final draft of Nozori City and maybe sometime soon we might get a short little video as a proof of progress. We'd certainly have that now if we weren't sticklers for quality; we've tossed out all of our half-assed work. Sometime soon I'm gonna get a blog organized, too, in case anyone digs those... it'll mostly be for organizational purposes (ie; keep me from losing track of stuff), but whatev'.
Fr0ZeN-LIgeR
recovering facebook addict
- 12
- Posts
- 14
- Years
- Sydney, Australia
- Seen Dec 12, 2013
this looks awesome first and will be looks like it will be awesome to play an alpha or beta
but for the pawn pokemon could it be that it is a split evolution were the knight is more attack orriented then a rook/bishop evolution which is more defence/special attack focused??
but for the pawn pokemon could it be that it is a split evolution were the knight is more attack orriented then a rook/bishop evolution which is more defence/special attack focused??
- Status