Completed Pokémon Seafoam

Tomix9tomix · Aug 11, 2021

I just finished playing this game and what a blast! I'll be going into semi spoilers, but before I do I just want to say this is a great really unique game. It is short so I think if anyone is reading this message, they should just give it a go, it is a nice experience.

I had a few technical problems, but they've already been reported.

First thing first, the music. It's so nice and fitting, it really does the game justice while also being great ear candy. My favourite thing about the game might've been how well the music just makes the whole thing come together. Really top notch.

Other small thing that I think added a lot to the game was all the side missions. The rewards weren't anything too special but just doing them was fun itself. It also gave you a good reason to go back to some of the older levels and appreciate the layout.

The graphics were stellar, you did amazing work with such a limited palette, the pictures of kabuto's past and the picture of the fletchling, it's so amazing what you managed to pull off.

The mix of gameplay was really nice, the 3 main modes kept the game varied and interesting. And I really like that despite the length of the game you managed to have levels which eventually get harder in all 3 modes in the game. The gastlys towards the end of the game really gave me trouble, and there was some tough platforming and side view shooting and dodging too. In my opinion the only place that I felt a bit let down by the gameplay was by the final boss. Really cool in concept, and I loved the cave layout and everything azelf about it. However once I started hitting the boss it got stuck at the end of the screen and wouldn't be able to get close enough to hit me before I hit it again, sending it back. It really wasn't a big deal, It's just that the final boss felt easier than the rest of the game.

I think that's pretty much everything I have to comment on, a very cool deviation from the norm of pokemon games, a nice experience. Oh, also, I actually smiled when the master ball was thrown at the zigzagoon, that was amazing. Keep up the good work Ekat, always love seeing what you make.

whichfahim · Aug 11, 2021

Tomix9tomix said:
I just finished playing this game and what a blast! I'll be going into semi spoilers, but before I do I just want to say this is a great really unique game. It is short so I think if anyone is reading this message, they should just give it a go, it is a nice experience.

I had a few technical problems, but they've already been reported.

First thing first, the music. It's so nice and fitting, it really does the game justice while also being great ear candy. My favourite thing about the game might've been how well the music just makes the whole thing come together. Really top notch.

Other small thing that I think added a lot to the game was all the side missions. The rewards weren't anything too special but just doing them was fun itself. It also gave you a good reason to go back to some of the older levels and appreciate the layout.

The graphics were stellar, you did amazing work with such a limited palette, the pictures of kabuto's past and the picture of the fletchling, it's so amazing what you managed to pull off.

The mix of gameplay was really nice, the 3 main modes kept the game varied and interesting. And I really like that despite the length of the game you managed to have levels which eventually get harder in all 3 modes in the game. The gastlys towards the end of the game really gave me trouble, and there was some tough platforming and side view shooting and dodging too. In my opinion the only place that I felt a bit let down by the gameplay was by the final boss. Really cool in concept, and I loved the cave layout and everything azelf about it. However once I started hitting the boss it got stuck at the end of the screen and wouldn't be able to get close enough to hit me before I hit it again, sending it back. It really wasn't a big deal, It's just that the final boss felt easier than the rest of the game.

I think that's pretty much everything I have to comment on, a very cool deviation from the norm of pokemon games, a nice experience. Oh, also, I actually smiled when the master ball was thrown at the zigzagoon, that was amazing. Keep up the good work Ekat, always love seeing what you make.

Yaasss this is perfect. Also your screenshots look so cool! Nice hook. Me: sees rayquaza hits download.

NocTurn · Aug 15, 2021

Hey, I just finished my playthrough of Seafoam! I had a great time, but it's not fair of me to entirely let this game off the hook for my pro's and con's list I've been doing this jam. So, here are my thoughts organized into an easily readable list!

Pros:

The writing! Always a nice staple of Ekat games. It's lighthearted, funny, and endearing. The story is simple but I don't mind, especially when the characters of Rayquaza and the Zigzagoon pal you get are so funny. They bounce off of each other well and have some great team building moments.
The mapping and graphics are, as always, on point. Even within the limited pallet you managed to draw out the best in the GBA front and I'm really happy that you got to explore a new medium here.
I love that you experimented with all sorts of different gameplay styles here! The flying sections, the combat sections, platforming sections, and the exploration portions. They all meshed together pretty well!
Fast travel! This game would have been a lot more tedious without it.
Side quests! I loved how there were a ton of them to encourage you to go back to old areas and explore them again.

Cons:

The bugs. There were way too many of them to not note it here. Coins not detecting being grabbed, movement speeds being cut, dialogue repeating, events not working, etc. Normally your games are pretty bug-free but I had a hard time with this one. But I totally get it, this is a new engine for you!
Music. It's a GBA soundfront, you don't have a lot to work with, I get it. But after a while the music starts to get really repetitive and at a certain point I just turned it off. This was especially true for the exploration area themes.

That's it, really! Not a lot to dislike here. I just wish it was a bit longer, maybe? But that's personal preference and this is a jam game so I have no room to judge length. You should give this game a try, and as always, I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future Ekat.

There's a lot of known bugs so I won't repeat them here.

This event repeated itself multiple times for me! Not sure why.

Sometimes Azelf just forgets their face at home! That's okay. Happens to the best of us.

KennyCatches · Aug 16, 2021

Hey Ekat! I just finished Seafoam, and I really enjoyed it!

I'm not usually a big fan of gen 1/2 graphics, but I really like the tiles you used. The GBA music was wonderful, and the Pokémon sprites were cute!
The minigames were fun and interesting, and I couldn't stop spamming x because the hyper beam was so satisfying to use haha.
And, of course, the writing was excellent. I loved Rayquaza's personality, and a small detail I really liked was the screen shakes! It really supported the dialogue and cutscenes.

Again, I really enjoyed the game. It must've been really hard learning a new engine. Good on you!

N E S T B A L L !

Ekat · Aug 17, 2021

KennyCatches said:
Hey Ekat! I just finished Seafoam, and I really enjoyed it!

I'm not usually a big fan of gen 1/2 graphics, but I really like the tiles you used. The GBA music was wonderful, and the Pokémon sprites were cute!

The minigames were fun and interesting, and I couldn't stop spamming x because the hyper beam was so satisfying to use haha.

And, of course, the writing was excellent. I loved Rayquaza's personality, and a small detail I really liked was the screen shakes! It really supported the dialogue and cutscenes.

Again, I really enjoyed the game. It must've been really hard learning a new engine. Good on you!

N E S T B A L L !

Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the game!

Ekat · Aug 17, 2021

NocTurn said:
Hey, I just finished my playthrough of Seafoam! I had a great time, but it's not fair of me to entirely let this game off the hook for my pro's and con's list I've been doing this jam. So, here are my thoughts organized into an easily readable list!

Pros:

The writing! Always a nice staple of Ekat games. It's lighthearted, funny, and endearing. The story is simple but I don't mind, especially when the characters of Rayquaza and the Zigzagoon pal you get are so funny. They bounce off of each other well and have some great team building moments.

The mapping and graphics are, as always, on point. Even within the limited pallet you managed to draw out the best in the GBA front and I'm really happy that you got to explore a new medium here.

I love that you experimented with all sorts of different gameplay styles here! The flying sections, the combat sections, platforming sections, and the exploration portions. They all meshed together pretty well!

Fast travel! This game would have been a lot more tedious without it.

Side quests! I loved how there were a ton of them to encourage you to go back to old areas and explore them again.

Cons:

The bugs. There were way too many of them to not note it here. Coins not detecting being grabbed, movement speeds being cut, dialogue repeating, events not working, etc. Normally your games are pretty bug-free but I had a hard time with this one. But I totally get it, this is a new engine for you!

Music. It's a GBA soundfront, you don't have a lot to work with, I get it. But after a while the music starts to get really repetitive and at a certain point I just turned it off. This was especially true for the exploration area themes.

That's it, really! Not a lot to dislike here. I just wish it was a bit longer, maybe? But that's personal preference and this is a jam game so I have no room to judge length. You should give this game a try, and as always, I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future Ekat.

There's a lot of known bugs so I won't repeat them here.

This event repeated itself multiple times for me! Not sure why.
View attachment 6239

Sometimes Azelf just forgets their face at home! That's okay. Happens to the best of us.
View attachment 6240

Thank you for the feedback!

(It's not really fair to state my fangames aren't buggy. My works have bugs, just like any other. It's only plenty of help from my playtesters that keeps them above the water!)

Yeah, the game is pretty buggy. It's a weird situation where depending on the emulator, people come to me with different bugs. On top of that, there are some issues that I just can't resolve/replicate. Ex: the Kabuto issue (listed in my known bugs section) is an event set up like literally every other sidequest in the game. I've done everything under the sun to make that quest not behave strangely - rebuilding from scratch, new variables, switching maps, etc. However, I can't stop it from happening.

At the end of the day, though, I'm not to broken up about the bugs/issues. I have no plans to revisit the engine. While it was fun to try something different, I just ran into too many issues with it.

Armin · Aug 20, 2021

Hihi! I played your game, thought I'd write something here!

I love this game! I had such an enjoyable time! These old-school game modes brought back so much nostalgia and gave me just the right amount of challenge... plus, I can't exactly place a finger as to why, but your choice to incorporate newer Pokémon like Cutiefly and Fletchling really upped the charm a lot for me.

I think that the writing and humor truly shined the most here - very witty, very clever, and very, very delightful to read and play through. And Rayquaza, protector of the skies, so on and so forth, is such a precious bean. I love how unabashedly (obliviously?) dorky he is when he's being all proud and regal, a refreshing take compared to how he is usually written - is what I wanted to say, but then this exists, which made me realize that yours might just be his most accurate portrayal to date.

Some game design nitpicks
- I'm aware that when working with a grayscale color palette, there's bound to be limits on how distinct you can make individual objects. But I have to admit that I had quite a bit of trouble differentiating between the various kinds of Pokémon (Ducklett or Farfetch'd? Kabuto or a rock?) + distinguishing stationary interactable objects from the ground itself, especially in places where the ground patterns are more complex (like the Oddish in the picture below).

- It's rather questionable (?) that healing in the later areas uses up 40 coins, when it's easy for the player (the map's literally right there!) to do a quick travel to an earlier area to heal for 10 coins. But you wouldn't do that either, because... I don't know whether it's intentional, but falling down a hole in a platformer level restores your health with no cost at all, so why use a berry when you can use... holes?

Thank you so much for making this fun little adventure of a game! Also, mad respect for the challenge you put yourself through for this jam! I'd say your experimentation was a success for sure.

Ekat · Aug 21, 2021

Armin said:
Hihi! I played your game, thought I'd write something here!

I love this game! I had such an enjoyable time! These old-school game modes brought back so much nostalgia and gave me just the right amount of challenge... plus, I can't exactly place a finger as to why, but your choice to incorporate newer Pokémon like Cutiefly and Fletchling really upped the charm a lot for me.

I think that the writing and humor truly shined the most here - very witty, very clever, and very, very delightful to read and play through. And Rayquaza, protector of the skies, so on and so forth, is such a precious bean. I love how unabashedly (obliviously?) dorky he is when he's being all proud and regal, a refreshing take compared to how he is usually written - is what I wanted to say, but then this exists, which made me realize that yours might just be his most accurate portrayal to date.

Some game design nitpicks
- I'm aware that when working with a grayscale color palette, there's bound to be limits on how distinct you can make individual objects. But I have to admit that I had quite a bit of trouble differentiating between the various kinds of Pokémon (Ducklett or Farfetch'd? Kabuto or a rock?) + distinguishing stationary interactable objects from the ground itself, especially in places where the ground patterns are more complex (like the Oddish in the picture below).

View attachment 6433

- It's rather questionable (?) that healing in the later areas uses up 40 coins, when it's easy for the player (the map's literally right there!) to do a quick travel to an earlier area to heal for 10 coins. But you wouldn't do that either, because... I don't know whether it's intentional, but falling down a hole in a platformer level restores your health with no cost at all, so why use a berry when you can use... holes?

Thank you so much for making this fun little adventure of a game! Also, mad respect for the challenge you put yourself through for this jam! I'd say your experimentation was a success for sure.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I'm glad you enjoyed the game!

Yes, I just loved the idea of making Rayquaza seem really imposing to others, but on the inside, they're just a big softie/bluffing. It was also fun to write a character who's response to any problem - be it major or minor - is to attempt to annihilate it.

Quick response to both of your points:
1. The colours thing killed me too. NPCs can only have 3 colours in their overworld sprites. (Unlike everything else, where you can have 4.) On top of trying to sprite the characters to look somewhat recognizable in 16 x 16, I had to limit their frames. To save space, I couldn't have all characters be animated all the time, especially on maps where there were many kinds of Pokémon. On top of that, the limit of unique animation frames you can have on one map at any time is 25. Otherwise, I'd absolutely have everyone bouncing around.

2. My reasoning with the coins is that it takes less time for the player to go to the healing spot than it does to find the nearest platforming level, die, and then return to the top-down area. I'm not trying to make the player's experience suuuper hard, after all. Just give a little sense of purpose to doing the extras of the game. Originally, I wanted NPCs to give more interesting rewards, but I was feeling pretty burned out near the end. I decided to leave it as coins. That's just my reasoning, though, not me trying to excuse it. I definitely could have thought of other solutions/approaches.

Thank you again! ^^

Joshtj123 · Aug 23, 2021

I have my boy emulator and i dont see the file when I open my boy can anyone help me

TechSkylander1518 · Sep 10, 2021

Seafoam was really fun! It's super impressive that you managed to put all this together on a new engine in such a short time!

The art looks really nice, I'm amazed you managed it on what would just be a Gameboy!

The gameplay was simple but fun, and definitely stood out as unique!

The writing was really sweet! I especially loved the scenes with Buddy and the trainer, of course, but I remember that Sandaconda scene stuck out to me as being cute as well!

The grass tiles didn't quite match up with Rayquaza's movements, it seemed like it was made for a different grid of movement.

The water tiles weren't animated at the beach- I don't know if that's even possible in this engine, though.

I don't think you can turn Oddish down the first time you meet it?

In the overworld levels, it was Z to attack for me instead of X? All the other controls matched with what Buddy said, that was the only one. (I played using a VisualBoy- maybe that had something to do with it?

When I selected to return to the beach immediately, Raquaza's initial dialogue replayed. (Didn't mess up the story, though.)

This last one's critique but I didn't have any other critique points so I'm leaving it with the errors lol. I felt like it wasn't quite clear where to head next move after the rocky peak- I thought I had to backtrack to the boulder rather than jump off the perch.

Quiet small fry! - comma after quiet
Well no one's - comma after well
Rayquaa used Fly! - Rayquaza

Completed Pokémon Seafoam

Tomix9tomix

The beetle is waking up

whichfahim

average Pokemon enjoyer

NocTurn

Hoothoot enthusiast

KennyCatches

can he catch his?

Ekat

That One Guy's GF

Ekat

That One Guy's GF

Armin

☆★★☆

Ekat

That One Guy's GF

Joshtj123

Rookie

TechSkylander1518

Wiki Dweeb