Released Pokémon Virion

This game acts as a third act in the Pokémon Colosseum/XD sub-series of games. This project idea is a complete reimagining of an old project of mine that kinda died a little while back using RPG Maker VX Ace. I've now decided I want to bring it back using Pokémon Essentials 16 using Luka's Elite Battle. Credit for the idea goes to PhantomBima.

A stranger plot is afoot in the Fodna Region. The criminal syndicate Cipher has re-emerged after 9 years of inactivity. This time, they've got a new trick up their sleeve, a weaponized version of Pokérus, which transforms any infected Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon. In addition, Cipher is seeking out the mysterious Order Fragments, shards of a strange cube connected to the Pokémon Zygarde.
You're job as the player is to set out and explore the Fodna Region capturing Shadow Pokémon from Cipher members as well as helping find the 8 Order Fragments.

Protaganists:

Spoiler

Player:
A young man/woman from Kuipa Town in the outreaches of the Fodna Region. A shy and reserved individual he/she is initially hesitant in choosing to depart on a journey and is initially indecisive about what to do. It is not until his/her first encounter with Cipher where he/she chooses to join the Pokémon Rangers and save the Fodna Region from the threat of Cipher. He/she always seems to be holding something inside, refusing to reveal it to anybody.

Julia/Caesar:
The childhood friend of the protaganist, Julia/Caesar is everything the hero is not. A confident and decisive person who already has her/his goals set out. While the player is busy saving the Fodna Region,
she/he is busy training in attempts to become the strongest trainer in Fodna. As a result she/he will constantly challenge the player thoughout his/her journey to track her/his progress.

Blake:
An aspiring Pokémon Ranger, Blake is a kind and tenderhearted boy with a lot of energy and passion for nature and for what's right and good. He is always looking out for his friends and won't hesitate to charge into battle to do the right thing, even if it gets him into trouble. Sometimes however, that recklessness can get others into trouble as well.

Aria:
A young upper-class woman who is has grown tired of living the life of the social elite and seeks more adventure in life. Her desire is to explore the Fodna Region to learn as much as she can about the world and the people who inhabit it.

Professor Cedric Juniper:
A professor of Pokémon distribution and biology, Juniper is the Uncle of the protagonist and the brother of the player's late father. He has spent the last couple years going back and forth between Fodna and Unova in order to keep and watchful eye on the player. He is always there to tell the player about his/her current location when called.

Professor Oak:
The world famous Professor Oak from Kanto is visiting the Fodna Region to collaborate on some research with Professor Juniper. Upon arrival, he thanks the player by giving him/her a Pokédex for his/her journey. Throughout the journey will, offer special rewards to the player for catching Pokémona and filling the pages of the Pokédex.

Eldes:
A regional leader for the Pokémon Rangers, Eldes seeks to make the world a better place, as a means to atone for a prior crime, or so he says. He plays a major role in assisting the player defeat Cipher for reasons that he refuses to share.

N:
Once the King of Team Plasma, N has now since left the organization following the revelation of it's corruptions and a newfound awareness to the bond between people and Pokémon. His mission statement is to find and rescue Pokémon who are being abused by their trainers. In addition, he encourages the player to catch and purify every single Shadow Pokémon to ease their suffering.

Colress:
A scientist studying the potential of Pokémon, Colress seeks to discover the nature of Shadow Pokémon as well as the power of Z-Move and Mega Evolution. He will assist the player when necessary and will occasionally employ his/her help to further his/her research.

Cid:
An aviator and mechanic, Cid is the proud owner of an airship that can fly at incredible speeds.
He, however, does not lend his services for domestic flights, he only provides his services for long voyages to and from other regions, such as the mostly uninhabited Frontier Isles.

Cipher Admins:

Spoiler

Miror B:
One of the original four Cipher Admins, Miror B. is back and groovier than ever. This flamboyant dancing king will stop and nothing to achieve Cipher's goals and look fly doing it.

Aelia:
Despite her tender and motherly appearance, Aelia is a rutheless agent of evil and has few qualms about doing harm to people and Pokémon who get in her way.

Edea:
A former member of Team Rocket, Edea is working on excavating the ominously named Ruins of Death. She however, has no regard for preserving the history of the ruins or for the health and well-being of the inhabitants of Scorpious Town.

Jack:
A seeker of Powerful Pokémon, Jack has goals to awaken the many Legendary and Mythical Pokémon in the Fodna Region in order to capture them and turn them into unstoppable Shadow Pokémon.

Ein:
Another one of the original four admins, Ein has continued his Reseach and Development of the Shadow Pokémon creation process to where it can be spread from Pokémon to Pokémon like a virus.
He, in addition, has begun work on continuing Lovrina's XD-Line of Shadow Pokémon who are impervious to purification, even to the way that XD001 was purified.

Shadow Pokémon: Shadow Pokémon are Pokémon that have had the door to their hearts closed by artificial means. This once used to be only possible in Cipher's sinister labs, but now can happen anywhere due to Cipher's new little virus. To purify a Shadow Pokémon, the player must battle with and carry a Pokémon on hand intil it is ready to purified. Once that point is ready, a Shadow Pokémon can either be purified via the Purify Chamber or at the Lake of Purity.
Poké Pager: The Poké Pager acts as the replacement for HMs in the Fodna Region. It allows the player to page Special Help Pokémon to help clear obtacles in his/her way.
Birthsigns: Pokémon now have special Birthsigned based on which month is was born in. Each birthsign grants special benefits to the Pokémon.
Pokémon Following: Pokémon can now follow the player around like they did in Heart Gold and Soul Silver. The following Pokémon can find items for the player as they travel around the Fodna Region.

Note: Some screenshots may be outdated.

Spoiler

Field:

Battle (Luka's Elite Battle System):

Menus:

Other:

I need the following:

• Spriter to make UI Elements for the Game
• Person capable of creating Gen 5 Overworld and Trainer Sprites
• Someone able to compile overworld sprites of all the Generation 6 and 7 Pokémon
• Eventers to help me create NPCs
• Possibly a scripter who is more familiar with the Essentials Engine than I am

Spoiler

Demo: Version 2.08
Known Bugs:

• There is a slight graphical hicup when the player player crosses a map boundry with a following Pokémon
• Generation 7 and Alolan forms do not have sprites and will not display correctly as followers, this is due to not having sprites for them yet.
• When crossing a bridge or traversing up and down stairs there is some issue with the following Pokémon following behind the player.
• The game may occassionally crash upon start-up citing an error in the script "Resource_SmartDownload." Ignore this, it occurs randomly and can't be traced easily. (I think this is fixed, but I'm not 100% sure)

Credits:

Spoiler

Idea:

• Crystal Noel
• PhantomaBima

Source Research:

• Serebii
• Bulbapedia
• Pokémon Database
• Smogon

Scripting:

• Crystal Noel
• Luka S.J.
• Nuri Yuri
• GiraPrimal
• FL
• Mej
• KleinStudio
• shiney570
• rigbycwts
• Richard PT
• Lucidious89
• ForeverZer0
• Black Eternity

Audio:

• smashcustommusic.com
• khinsider.com
• th3shark
• Phasma
• Nanashima

Graphics:

• pokecheck.org (site now defunct)
• Pokémon Showdown Sprite Repository
• Pikachumazzinga
• Crasher TN
• darkKitsuneoflight
• CharlieDawg
• Vendily
• shiney570
• Vannah☆
• redblueyellow
• UltimoSpriter
• SpartaLazor
• RadicalRaptr
• princess-phoenix
• Manuxd789
• Eli-eli76
• necrolichmon
• Rayquaza-dot
• Kyle-Dove
• BoOmxBiG

Mapping:

• Crystal Noel
• Ras!

Writing:

• Crystal Noel
• PhantomaBima

Elite Battle System:
Sprites:

• GameFreak | Original sprites from B/W/2 games
• Pokecheck.org | Ripping the sprites from B2/W2 roms
• Luka S.J. | Indexing and formatting the sprites
• PinkCatDragon | GIF to PNG conversion
• Tebited15 | B/W styled trainer Red sprite
• Spriters-Resource (redblueyellow) | Gen 5 ball sprites

Battle Backgrounds:

• Eli | Ripping and compiling the backgrounds
• lilatraube | Some B2/W2 battle bases
• Custom UI:
• Luka S.J. | Design, formatting and implementation

Scripts:

• Luka S.J. | Elite Battle System
• Maruno | General help and support
• PinkCatDragon | GIF to PNG converter
• Pokémon Essentials (Maruno + Poccil + Flameguru +contibutors) | Base system

Sound Effects:

• GameFreak | Original sound effects from B/W/2 games
• BadSamaritan | Ripping the sound effects

Other:

• AceRidley406 | For move animation reference

"Pokémon Essentials" was created by:

• Flameguru
• Poccil (Peter O.)
• Maruno

With contributions from:

• AvatarMonkeyKirby
• Luka S.J.
• Boushy
• MiDas Mike
• Brother1440
• Near Fantastica
• FL.
• PinkMan
• Genzai Kawakami
• Popper
• Harshboy
• Rataime
• help-14
• SoundSpawn
• IceGod64
• the__end
• Jacob O. Wobbrock
• Venom12
• KitsuneKouta
• Wachunga
• Lisa Anthony
• xLeD
• and everyone else who helped out

"RPG Maker XP" by:

• Enterbrain

Pokémon is owned by:

• The Pokémon Company
• Nintendo
• Affiliated with Game Freak

This is a non-profit fan-made game.
No copyright infringements intended.
Please support the official games!

 

[spaceshipearth]

I love this demo and can't wait for the next release

 

[Charizardthree]

Playing through it now, while it looks fantastic I've noticed a few things that may need fixing.

- On Route 1 is there a tile error for the seashore?
- are the umbrellas supposed to appear behind player?
- in the "Fan" house you can walk to the left and right of the exit spot
- Palm tree's appear in front of the menu with the time/date
- After you deliver the professor the people standing to the north of route 1 disappear and you can walk up to see no map present.
- fletchling still has white appearing in the gaps on its tail

i've not played to much into the game but I thought I'd let you know what i've noticed so far, otherwise cracking game!


Quick edit:
I think I broke the game. I followed the beach around the 2nd town. The game crashed and now it displays an error when ever I try to replay the game

Script 'Sprite_Resizer' line20: TypeError occured.
no implicit converstion from nil to integer

 

[Crystal Noel]

I love this demo and can't wait for the next release

Thanks! That really means a lot to me.

Playing through it now, while it looks fantastic I've noticed a few things that may need fixing.

- On Route 1 is there a tile error for the seashore?
- are the umbrellas supposed to appear behind player?
- in the "Fan" house you can walk to the left and right of the exit spot
- Palm tree's appear in front of the menu with the time/date
- After you deliver the professor the people standing to the north of route 1 disappear and you can walk up to see no map present.
- fletchling still has white appearing in the gaps on its tail

i've not played to much into the game but I thought I'd let you know what i've noticed so far, otherwise cracking game!


Quick edit:
I think I broke the game. I followed the beach around the 2nd town. The game crashed and now it displays an error when ever I try to replay the game

Script 'Sprite_Resizer' line20: TypeError occured.
no implicit converstion from nil to integer

Most of those errors, I've now fixed and will include in the next iteration of the demo. As for the graphical errors on the battle sprites are the same as the ones used on Pokémon Showdown, since that's where I got them from. I'll look into that one and one I've noticed on the Eevee sprites.

Edit: Ready for the irony with the Fletchling Sprite. Only the normal version had the graphical issue. The shiny sprite was just fine. XD

 

[Killerbash9000]

Hey whenever i try and play the game it says:"script 'script_resizer' line 20: type error occured.
no implicit conversion from nil to integer" and i can't play the game,what do i do?

 

[Crystal Noel]

Hey whenever i try and play the game it says:"script 'script_resizer' line 20: type error occured.
no implicit conversion from nil to integer" and i can't play the game,what do i do?

I've just released an update to the game. No new story or gameplay yet, but some bugs have been addressed including this one. Give it a try. I can't replicate, but I think I found the cause for it.

 

[Marin]

I've just released an update to the game. No new story or gameplay yet, but some bugs have been addressed including this one. Give it a try. I can't replicate, but I think I found the cause for it.

From my experience with errors in the Sprite Resizer, it used to be because of my save file. Maybe it's the case here, too?

 

[Crystal Noel]

From my experience with errors in the Sprite Resizer, it used to be because of my save file. Maybe it's the case here, too?

Maybe. I don't mess with my screen size when I test it, so that might be why it hasn't happened to me. As I said, I put an algorithm into the game that if that error would be triggered it escapes with the normal screen size so the game can still be played.

 

[Mozart]

Minor nitpicks with writing: when playing the female protagonist and talking to Caeser's mom, she says "My son was looking for you. SHE said—" so might want to keep that in mind, as well as minor spelling errors like "deam" instead of "deem", "lose" "loose" mixups, etc. Aaaand entering the professor's lab I can't advance any further than the entrance, so I can't actually play any more of the demo and give feedback, I tried versions with and without the "update files" and still ran into that "I am walled in at the entrance of the lab" bug.

 

[DestinyBond]

Uhh, I kept running into this bug, can you please help?
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_GRfBznz4JRME00YTJFdFlITzQ
I continuously couldn't get past this point

 

[Radical Raptr]

I remember a while back when you were working on VX Ace, it's cool to see you switch over to Essentials now.
I have to say I love the Colosseum/XD games, so this game is particularly interesting!

Do you not have a snag machine? You don't have it as part of the protagonist's design, and none of the characters make mention of the creation or improvement on the snag machine or Aura reader - and going off that, how are you going to be purifying the Pokemon?

A lot of your menus seem to be making use of stock resources rather than changing them to fit your style, though it seems you're looking for someone to do that for you. However, you basically have changed nothing - we know what almost all of these menus look like and what they do, so we don't need to see them in such great details. We know what EBS looks like, you don't need to dedicate so much time showing us what it looks like, we don't know what your maps look like, yet you only dedicate 4 screenshots to showing off that.
Yours maps seem to be blocky and boring looking with little interesting decorations, or map details that keep it looking empty - also why is the path tile for the town that blue/white checkered pattern? it feels a little out of place and looks weird to me. Another thing, in the PC, you shouldn't have those crosses there - it makes the map look too busy, having a simple white wall separated with the vertical red lines is fine enough.

It feels a little weird to include so many existing characters inline with new ones you've made - a few like Colress and possibly N actually work well and would be interesting to try and develop, but others seem tacked on or not worth it at all. Characters from the Orre region made sense to come back in XD like Mirror B or Duking, but that was because they lived there, it's odd to have a completely new region and these characters just decided to come there. You would have an easier time developing plot elements and creating character arcs with original characters so you don't have to step on any toes and make it fit their own already developed characters.
I also find it weird to include Ein, it makes no mention of Lovrina's development of the XD series, and instead presents it as though Ein created it - I love the idea that it has been spread as a virus on Pokerus, but a completely new scientist could have done it, why does it have to be Ein?

 

[MadDeodorant]

My god, the soundtrack for this game is (sorry for the explicit word, but) orgasmic. I know they are not custom, but the selection is soooooooooo freaking good!

 

[one00410]

Hi guys. I need some help, I open the game, but it can't launch. I try so many way to fix it (reinstall/repair file) but the game won't launch at all.

 

[Cyber_Unova_President]

When i try to start up the game, the entrance of the lab is broke. any way to fix it?

 

[Spedoinky]

So.....the lab entrance is broken......

 

[Crystal Noel]

th

I remember a while back when you were working on VX Ace, it's cool to see you switch over to Essentials now.
I have to say I love the Colosseum/XD games, so this game is particularly interesting!

Do you not have a snag machine? You don't have it as part of the protagonist's design, and none of the characters make mention of the creation or improvement on the snag machine or Aura reader - and going off that, how are you going to be purifying the Pokemon?

A lot of your menus seem to be making use of stock resources rather than changing them to fit your style, though it seems you're looking for someone to do that for you. However, you basically have changed nothing - we know what almost all of these menus look like and what they do, so we don't need to see them in such great details. We know what EBS looks like, you don't need to dedicate so much time showing us what it looks like, we don't know what your maps look like, yet you only dedicate 4 screenshots to showing off that.
Yours maps seem to be blocky and boring looking with little interesting decorations, or map details that keep it looking empty - also why is the path tile for the town that blue/white checkered pattern? it feels a little out of place and looks weird to me. Another thing, in the PC, you shouldn't have those crosses there - it makes the map look too busy, having a simple white wall separated with the vertical red lines is fine enough.

It feels a little weird to include so many existing characters inline with new ones you've made - a few like Colress and possibly N actually work well and would be interesting to try and develop, but others seem tacked on or not worth it at all. Characters from the Orre region made sense to come back in XD like Mirror B or Duking, but that was because they lived there, it's odd to have a completely new region and these characters just decided to come there. You would have an easier time developing plot elements and creating character arcs with original characters so you don't have to step on any toes and make it fit their own already developed characters.
I also find it weird to include Ein, it makes no mention of Lovrina's development of the XD series, and instead presents it as though Ein created it - I love the idea that it has been spread as a virus on Pokerus, but a completely new scientist could have done it, why does it have to be Ein?

1. I don't have all of the normal sprites for the hero just yet, so that's why I don't have the Snag Machine on the sprite. Once I have all of the sprites (surfing, fishing, bike) I will ask my spriter to go back and add the Snag Machine to all of them. As for the Snag Machine, I have plans for how the player is going to obtain it. I was going to include it in the current demo, but what I have planned didn't create a good stopping point at where Chapter 1 is supposed to end.
2. I understand what you mean, so I have added a ton of new screenshots showing off various locations. At this point, they kinda all look very similar due to a large portion of Chapter 1 taking place on coastal routes and towns. I have fixed the PC change by removing the crosses from the tileset. Hope that makes it look better.
3. I understand your concern and don't worry, the role of the Professors won't be that big. They largely exist to catalyze the start of the player's journey and perform the functions generally associated with a Professor (starter and Pokédex).
4. I get your concern with Ein and I understand that you think it should be a new Cipher scientist. At this point, I already have Ein's sprites, so I'm probably just going to stick with Ein for the time being.

My god, the soundtrack for this game is (sorry for the explicit word, but) orgasmic. I know they are not custom, but the selection is soooooooooo freaking good!

Thank you! I'm glad you like it.

Minor nitpicks with writing: when playing the female protagonist and talking to Caeser's mom, she says "My son was looking for you. SHE said—" so might want to keep that in mind, as well as minor spelling errors like "deam" instead of "deem", "lose" "loose" mixups, etc. Aaaand entering the professor's lab I can't advance any further than the entrance, so I can't actually play any more of the demo and give feedback, I tried versions with and without the "update files" and still ran into that "I am walled in at the entrance of the lab" bug.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check for that. I'm not the best speller, so thanks for that.

When i try to start up the game, the entrance of the lab is broke. any way to fix it?

I've updated the game with a few new changes:

1. The bug that caused a lag when selecting on and off the continue tile in the load screen is now gone.
2. The unintentional wall tiles in the lab have now been erased as well as a couple modifications to the tilesets.
3. Minor tweaks to the battle system.
4. New battlebacks for the battle system that resemble the generation 5 style.

As per usual the two graphical issues with the Pokémon Following still stand and still don't have a solution looming on the horizon.

 

[Spedoinky]

After my Pokemon fainted I blacked out and was taken here.....

 

[Mozart]

Entering the wrong set of stairs in the professor's lab just to explore that side triggers the "ah [player] come in" but leaves you stuck!

Edit: Also entering battle with schoolboy Alan on route 2 throws up...a portrait of Blue? So it looks like you're entering a special battle, but it's just a common trainer so that's a little odd.

 

[GalaxyInfinity]

there an error when i try to change text speed

 

[Mozart]

I'm back at it again with annoying nitpicky opinions!

Except actually I've played a reasonable amount now, I think, so it can be a bit more rounded.

Technical stuff: Talking to the trainer with the Pikachu in the third town causes it to crash, I quote "error: cry 'PIKACHU'". The game also seems to run at a choppy pace now for reasons I don't understand (though as a note I have battle animations turned off and text speed set to fast.)

I can't comment on tilesets and maps and stuff like that because I'm not a game maker, just a consumer, and I'm pretty sure you're already aware of the other fiddly stuff and it's just a demo, so let's get down to the honest bit: I like it! I find it really engaging, the clock with unreal time is an interesting mechanic, is there a possibility that there will be time-based mechanics later on? Not by dates or days of the week like the mainstream games, but time of day or night in general. Another nice touch would be if people behaved differently at night, like going to bed or closing up shop (not the Pokemon Center obviously since some people do canonically stay overnight there, at least in the anime.) It always kinda bugged me that even at night NPCs would be out and about in the games. I also find the star signs aspect of the Pokemon pretty interesting, and the "pre-Gym" idea to get you leveled up on trainers moving forward. I'm looking forward to seeing what else you bring to us down the line!