[Discussion] Was the Essentials Wiki taken down?

[IlligalBeagle]

I feel like something like this was a long time coming, what with fangames getting taken down in the past...

I agree with you as well....
And it does make sense that Nintendo would have spies here too (or at least employees on break or "working" right now reading what we are saying). We should have some secure way of conversing about things like this instead of on a forum. Also, they might be watching us to see what our next move will be. If we are going to recreate the site or export it on here (which we already know we are not doing). Maybe we could have some way to change this end of the Pokecommunity forum to block any access to people in a certain location (like the location of Nintendo of America's and Pokemon Co.'s HQ and side locations). I have seen other sites do it. Though I highly doubt that they would be fooled that easily and will probably use some type of proxy system to change locals. But then maybe we could have it so that if it had tried to access the site before from the blocked locations. the IP address would be blocked as well forever. But if they found that out they would probably have a bunch more computers to put the proxy on firsthand and then try to access. So even that might be bad. And maybe someone just lives next to the locations and they want to make a pokemon game but can't (the location things can be too wide and too secure sometimes) But maybe that is justified and really one of the Nintendo or Pokemon Co. workers are standing outside the building. We can really never know. And besides, its not like anyone here can do something as advanced as that (unless you can?).

The site should be hosted in a country where DMCA doesn't work, e.g. Russia is good.

Makes sense. Do they have some sort of copyright take down policy thing over there though (because they might just file one in Russia). We could also try a really obscure country, like Yugoslavia (no offense to anyone living there).

 

[olderpokemonfan]

If anyone from Nintendo is reading this, you aren't doing what makes sense for the fans. We are the consumers who are supposed to enjoy your products. A lot of us grew up playing Nintendo games, and you could handle this whole issue a lot better than you have. By banning and shutting down fan games, you are sending the message that, one you don't care about your fans and what they want, and two, you don't care how talented a new game creator is. If that game creator doesn't already work for you, their talents are not going to be recognized.

That doesn't seem like a good marketing strategy. How about instead of getting mad at the fan game makers you actually use us? You see how popular something like Pokemon Essentials was, how about making complete Pokemon editing software, even better than Essentials, that's been given your green light and selling it to us? How about creating a paid online community for us to share our fan games and ideas with you and other would-be developers? That way, you wouldn't put yourselves in danger of losing your talented dedicated fans. I don't know what you guys plan to gain by alienating some of your biggest most passionate fan base.

Sorry, but the days of just being content with playing a game are passe for some of us. Some of us are much more interested in how to make the games than just playing them. That's not going to change, either. You can either consider it a threat and discourage people from promoting your products and turn them to the indie game design where they can become your legitimate competition or you can accept them as your fans and find a way to use them.

 

[Mewtwolover]

Maybe we could have some way to change this end of the Pokecommunity forum to block any access to people in a certain location (like the location of Nintendo of America's and Pokemon Co.'s HQ and side locations). I have seen other sites do it. Though I highly doubt that they would be fooled that easily and will probably use some type of proxy system to change locals.

TOR Browser is all they need for bypassing that block.

Do they have some sort of copyright take down policy thing over there though (because they might just file one in Russia).

AFAIK they don't.

 

[olderpokemonfan]

This might be a little off-topic, but since the creator of Pokemon Essentials requested it not be used to develop commercial works, does anyone know where I can find other good scripts and demos for RPG Maker XP?

 

[Rex Aron]

R.I.P. hopefully it survives somehow

 

[BadSamaritan]

This might be a little off-topic, but since the creator of Pokemon Essentials requested it not be used to develop commercial works, does anyone know where I can find other good scripts and demos for RPG Maker XP?

It's a moot request. Essentials is built on the work of 10's of 100's of people, not just Maruno. Unless every single person whose work is in the kit is asking it, it's not a valid request.

Not to mention, I'm not sure how many people are gonna be buying a commercial work made with a kit restricted to Windows that plays anywhere from 5 to 40 fps at will, in the first place.

At any rate, to answer your question, Save-Point 's forums are your best bet in terms of a friendly, English speaking community with a database of rpgmaker xp scripts.

 

[komaoto]

Makes sense. Do they have some sort of copyright take down policy thing over there though (because they might just file one in Russia). We could also try a really obscure country, like Yugoslavia (no offense to anyone living there).

Where's it located? Thats pretty obscure for me.
It's the first time I heard from someone that Yugoslavia still exists.

 

[tustin2121]

I maintain that Essentials could rise again if we work to remove all the copyrighted and trademarked material from it ^{(and offer said material as a separately maintained drop-in replacement via torrent)}. All the assets ^{(on the public download)} would need to be community made, and the logo would have to be something different enough from the trademark. Here's my (rough) draft proposal for the logo and name...

Yay for knockoffs........

 

[CodenameD]

I have the 17.2 backups (along with another copy that includes the Universal Plugin Installer scripts) before it got shut down too.

Now I need a dump of the Wiki and it'll be good to go.

And I totally agree that they should host this one a different country where it's safe from attacks like this. Heck I don't think actual Nintendo of Japan would mind something so harmless as Essentials.

 

[Mewtwolover]

Nintendo shut those fan games down which were getting more popular than the original games. (Of course everyone has heard of Uranium and Prism)

Actually Uranium and Prism are still available, Uranium is even being actively developed.

Heck I don't think actual Nintendo of Japan would mind something so harmless as Essentials.

True, let's not forget that TPCi usually does DMCA requests and sends C&D letters about Pokémon.

 

[Damien.aspiring.fandev]

UPI version contains the last version of various plugins distributed by the Universal Plugin Installer which has gone offline since the end of July 2018. It contains scripts like Luka's Elite Battle System etc. I couldn't find a stand-alone copy of that anywhere else.

oh, hey, Luka's plugins! That's nice I guess, however the plug-in installer took the scripts from
an online source that was removed by LukaS.J. (that felon...)
Wait, did Luka actually upload up-dated releases for v17,2 before disappearing?[/FONT]

 

[Marin]

Reminder that Pokémon Essentials may not be distributed anywhere on PokéCommunity. Doing so will immediately result in an infraction.
This includes PMs.

 

[Damien.aspiring.fandev]

Sorry, mea culpa

 

[Orondhor]

It IS the end of an era.
Now Essentials basically is a rom in term of legality, which means you can't discuss about how to obtain it, nor download it safely without having a doubt in mind you might be tracked. And more of that, while rom hacks are viable because they're sharing only PATCHES and not the game itself, if you make a game with essentials, you basically have to share the whole game, including every file from the essentials engine, in other words, you're hosting an illegal content that you're distributing illegally to people who will download illegally your content.

Not really, the code and most of essentials is legal. The name and Nintendo-made assests (sprites, sounds, etc.) are the the main issues. Thus sharing a stripped down version would be fine from a legal POV.

My suggestion for the creator of Essentials is to give us a "code only" stripped down version of the program, or even a version with the codes changed, if need be (even though I don't think that's really an issue) for the fans to do whatever they want with. You might even be able to charge a fee if there's no copyright to contend with. That might be a winning situation for everyone.

That would be the easiest way. But Essentials could also instead come with/use fan-made content (either fakemon or sprites made by fans and not stolen from Nintendo). Although, as I mentioned before in this thread, I believe a name change is required to placate Nintendo's lawyer. Pocket Monsters isn't trademarked in the US, but maybe something less obvious would be better.

The site should be hosted in a country where DMCA doesn't work, e.g. Russia is good.

Agreed.

 

[00.Archer]

Now I need a dump of the Wiki and it'll be good to go.

https://web.archive.org/web/2018042...ntials.wikia.com/wiki/Pokémon_Essentials_Wiki

 

[LucarioTheGreat]

Oh great, just what I needed...

 

[remer]

So from now on, Can't we make any fan games with ripped stuff?

 

[olderpokemonfan]

It's a moot request. Essentials is built on the work of 10's of 100's of people, not just Maruno. Unless every single person whose work is in the kit is asking it, it's not a valid request.

Not to mention, I'm not sure how many people are gonna be buying a commercial work made with a kit restricted to Windows that plays anywhere from 5 to 40 fps at will, in the first place.

At any rate, to answer your question, Save-Point 's forums are your best bet in terms of a friendly, English speaking community with a database of rpgmaker xp scripts.

Thanks. I guess I'll look there.

It was in the user agreement that we weren't to use it to develop commercial works because maybe original source code was involved or something? I'm not really sure.

Sheesh, at this point, I think it would be great if they re-worked some of the codes so that there wasn't any source code from the games to be found but the mechanics were kept intact, erased all of the Pokemon related stuff, repackaged it, and actually sold it to us this time, instead of just giving it away, under another name with the commercial restrictions removed. I think that would be fair retribution from the creator of the product, and, as long as the creator of the product made sure there was no borrowed source code from Nintendo, no references to Pokemon, and the product was offered at a reasonable price for commercial use, say $5-$10, I don't think anyone would have a legitimate reason to complain. The creators of Essentials could get some of the money they invested in developing the project back, and Nintendo of America wouldn't be able to pull this kind of stuff.

 

[Marin]

So from now on, Can't we make any fan games with ripped stuff?

You can still post your fangames in the Games Showcase forum.


On another note, people offering download links in private messages will also be warned and infracted if it happens again. Don't risk it.

 

[DJTiki]

Having known this news a whiles back, it does sadden me that PC are taking steps to disassociate with Pokemon Essentials, but I completely understand. I do think that the phrase "businesses are not your friends" rings more true than ever. Nintendo was and has always been about protecting the IPs with their designated "Official Nintendo Seal of Approval" you saw on every boxart for their games. And I do think this was a wakeup call for everyone in the Essentials / fangame development community.

But for as sad as the hardwork for the devs to be taken down from Wikia, the internet still exists and their work isn't lost to the DMCA void. For me looking from the outside, I felt the engagement of the community being to slow into near stagnation but now that Essentials to PokeCommunity is a goner, this'll only make way for future kits and tools to have the spotlight. It was a long time coming but now I think (and I'm just a guy with a bad take) that the community should start considering a new shift in perspective instead of trying to figure out the contrived ways to distribute Essentials on PC without getting handed a fat L (infraction).