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Released Pokémon Shrink Demo

This project has a release available. The full version is still a work in progress.
Game Title:
Pokémon Shrink
Shrink Title.png

Game Screenshots:
Shrink Promo1.png
Shrink Promo2.png

Shrink Promo3.png
Shrink Promo 5.png



Game Download:
Download Shrink Here! (Demo v1.0.4)

Made Using:
Engine: Pokémon Essentials v18.1 - RPG Maker XP

Image Editing: Paint.NET
Audio Editing: Audacity

Team:
Dev: @Dedbed

Notes:
"Hired as a Field Research Assistant you are tasked with

finding out why Pokémon in Trino are different than other regions.
Sometimes the only way to move forward...

is to go backward..."

Resource Pack:

Download resource pack here!
Credits:
A game by Dedbed

Shoutout to Thundaga
Shrink is a thing because of you!
thunda2Love

Winter Game Jam 2 Resources: Relic Castle staff

Dark Digital Style UI
Aki

Advanced Flexible Starter Selection
Limnodromus
Shiney570

Name Windows
mej71
theo7722

Simple "Dark Mode" Battle UI
Zygoat

FRLG battle backs
Spriters Resource

Thundaga Sprite
Designed by Emdy, redrawn by Thundaga

Gen 1-5 Pokemon Overworlds-
MissingLukey,
help-14,
Kymoyonian,
cSc-A7X,
2and2makes5,
Pokegirl4ever,
Fernandojl,
Silver-Skies,
TyranitarDark,
Getsuei-H,
Kid1513,
Milomilotic11,
Kyt666,
kdiamo11,
Chocosrawlooid,
Syledude,
Gallanty,
Gizamimi-Pichu,
2and2makes5,
Zyon17,
LarryTurbo,
spritesstealer

FIRELIGHT TECHNOLOGIES PTY LTD. - FMOD Ex API
Enterbrain - RGSS
Nuri Yuri - RGSS Linker, RGSS FmodEx, Audio (FmodEx)
GiraPrimal - LOOP_TABLE

Plugins by Marin
Scripting Utilities
D/P Pause Menu
Better Fast forward

Plugins by Luka S.J.
Scripting Utilities
Modular Title Screen

Voltseon's Handy Tools
Voltseon

BW Save Screen
HDrawer
shiney570 (for the original script)

"Pokémon Essentials" was created by:
Flameguru
Poccil (Peter O.)
Maruno

With contributions from:
AvatarMonkeyKirby
Marin
Boushy
MiDas Mike
Brother1440
Near Fantastica
FL.
PinkMan
Genzai Kawakami
Popper
help-14
Rataime
IceGod64
SoundSpawn
Jacob O. Wobbrock
the__end
KitsuneKouta
Venom12
Lisa Anthony
Wachunga
Luka S.J.
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!

Here's where I used graphics:
itemXXX5 in intro as email alert.
itemXXX3 as Revearse ball first picked up when you return to Professors lab in Lorian Town.
tile and tile_1 used in \PN's House and as the Pokedex respectively.
trchar072_2 and trainer072_2 used as character Newt first seen in Traverse Town.
 
Last edited:

Dedbed

Novice
Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Posts
22
Pokémon Shrink Demo v1.0.1 Update:
Not the biggest update in the world but I did do a Minor Fix.
  • Fixed a house in Accel City with a door passability issue.
  • Accidentally added the Hangout Room to the wrong copy of Shrink... 😞
    However, the Hangout Room is now in v1.0.1 and will be unlocked after beating the Demo!
 
Finished the demo!
I really love how you went all-in on including the graphics- you didn't just put them in once and leave it at that, you even changed the VS transitions and PokeDex background to match them! That was a really fun touch!

I'm not quite sure how to describe this, but I feel like your game has this aesthetic of not trying to replicate Gen 3's style, but instead using its assets to try to innovate with it, if that makes sense? I really like it! Traverse Town's PMC is my favorite example of this, I really like the rearrangement!

I think the choice to make the Regis the ones to power the generators was really clever- since their lore is about them being sealed away for their power, it's fun to kind of invert that and have them seal away other Pokemon's power!

Your project file and everything's still in the folder- this tutorial can show you how to compress that all! Makes your game file smaller, and makes it harder to manipulate your game!

I'd suggest putting a new line in the closing of Professor Booker's letter- it took me a moment to realize it was
"See you soon,
Professor Booker"

, like a letter, and I thought he was calling me Professor Booker for some reason.

The TV is covering the window here-
1616124955553.png


If you lose to Houndoom, there's no change in the story.

The player said that the professor lived next door, so it seems a bit weird for them to not know who he is. ("I take it you are the professor, then?")

When receiving the Exp Share, you used pbItemBall rather than pbReceiveItem, so it says that the player "found" the Exp Share.

Obviously it'd be unbalanced to give the player all three starters, but it feels odd to not have any explanation in-game as to why that is. Maybe throw in a line about how Booker still wants to study the remaining two, or even just, "Hey, I gave you one free Pokemon, don't be greedy!"

The woman who suggests you visit Cam to find the professor still says the same thing if you talk to her after finding the professor.

It seems like there's nothing at all to be found if you backtrack up Route 102- that seems like a missed opportunity, and it could be a bit frustrating if a player walked all that way and found nothing there.

Lorewise, it's a little odd that everyone has Reverse Balls and they can be bought at any Mart, since Booker says he just recently invented them.

Pokemon Tamer Felix's "All your base are belong to us" line feels really out of place with the rest of his dialogue.

Similarly, Factory Worker Jensen's intro dialogue is about how you shouldn't be here, if you talk to him after battle he says you shouldn't be here, but his lose dialogue is a good natured "Guess I need to work harder!"

I know this was done to make a barrier, but it feels weird to have that case just slightly away from the wall. I'd personally suggest just moving it and the desk up a tile.
1616130040531.png



Newt seems considerably younger than Professor Booker, but Booker said he worked until he grew old to develop the Reverse Ball- it seems a little strange that he's the cause of a problem in the region that's been around for a while. (Of course, this is just a demo, so I might just not know about a plot point you have planned! Plus, since the idea is that evolved Pokemon are weaker but prevos are stronger, Newt might be dealing with something similar and getting younger as he ages!)

I know the lose dialogue is defined in the trainer class, and it'd be strange to make a trainer class just for one line of dialogue, but Newt's dialogue in the generator room goes from "I won't let you touch Registeel!" to "Not too shabby" to "Registeel, take care of him!", which feels a little awkward.
1616128801199.png

Houndoom kind of looks like it's clipping over the trees here

1616128774079.png

This guy doesn't have any dialogue after meeting Newt, even if you interact with him.
Come on there has to be something! - comma after on
Conducts research throughtout the region- throughout
After reviewing your application I have decided to hire you! - comma after application
Can you come up here please? - comma after here
stepping on your games huh? - comma after games
Morning Gram! - comma after morning
Why good morning \PN. - Why, good morning, \PN.
the local Pokemon professor. - Pokémon
What the Professor? - comma after What
Oh no I'm late! - comma after no
If you are late you better get going! - comma after late
For some reason Gram is watching - comma after reason
Alright that enough of that- Alright, that's enough of that
Wait \PN I forgot to give something to you- Wait, \PN,
are pretty worn out so here is- comma after out
Oh what a pieceful day- Oh, what a peaceful day. (Also, Elder is misspelled as "Ekder" in her name window)
I think Cam might know however. - comma after know
hanging out with me and I hope everyone has a good one! - comma after me
You must be \PN right? - comma after \PN
I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself- comma after sorry
Ah that must be the professor- comma after Ah
Yea he is here with me- comma after yea
Come on Larvia we got- comma after Larvi
No stay back I said! - No, stay back, I said!
I left some pokéballs over there! - Poké Balls
I take it you are the professor then? - comma after professor
I have to ask exactly how- comma after ask
fully evolved pokémon?- Pokémon should be capitalized
For some unknown reason in Trino- comma after reason
evolved Pokemon are weaker then non-evolved Pokémon- Pokémon for the first one, "than" instead of "then"
Lucky for us we have these! - comma after us
by the time I finally made these I grew too old - comma after these
Alright I'm in! - comma after Alright
Man you sure - comma after Man
fine out why Pokémon in Trino - find, not fine
"How to make a Pokemon game - Pokémon
Wild pokemon can pop out and - Pokémon
Would you like this Pokemon egg? - Pokémon
I wish Zach was could see this place- delete was
Alright I'll be there soon- comma after Alright
Where you eavesdropping on me- Were, not where
Hey listen I didn't mean to- Hey, listen,
Seems like my pokémon- Pokémon
If I catch you eavesdropping dropping again- delete "dropping"
Maybe here in Trino my pokémon will be stronger!- Pokémon
Just be careful of the flowers okay? - comma after flowers
You sure now how to fight!- know how (this is on three trainers- Worker Alex, Worker Zach, and the CEO
Without that generator my Pokémon- comma after generator
I know it helps your Pokémon but what about us? - comma after Pokémon
Our Pokemon are weaker because of your plan- Pokémon
Well yes...- comma after Well
I must weaken every thing else- "every thing" should be one word
If you wait a bit longer I can get some Pokémon from my region who are not under the affected by the generators for you. - comma after longer, delete "under the"
Is Newt the reason the Pokemon in Trino- Pokémon
It seems we have a visitor Mike- comma after visitor
my pokémon stood no chance- capitalize Pokémon
Newt your generators ruined my team- comma after Newt
Okay Registeel calm down! - Okay, Registeel, calm down!
Dang it Regi! - Dang it, Regi!
Calm down Regi its alright- Calm down, Regi, it's alright.
Regi take care of him!- comma after Regi
You won't win again \PN! - comma after again

I don't know if you intend to include the dev's house in the final release, but if you do, in one line, Tristan's dialogue calls \xm instead of \xn, so it looks like this
1616129733572.png
 

Dedbed

Novice
Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Posts
22
Finished the demo!
I really love how you went all-in on including the graphics- you didn't just put them in once and leave it at that, you even changed the VS transitions and PokeDex background to match them! That was a really fun touch!

I'm not quite sure how to describe this, but I feel like your game has this aesthetic of not trying to replicate Gen 3's style, but instead using its assets to try to innovate with it, if that makes sense? I really like it! Traverse Town's PMC is my favorite example of this, I really like the rearrangement!

I think the choice to make the Regis the ones to power the generators was really clever- since their lore is about them being sealed away for their power, it's fun to kind of invert that and have them seal away other Pokemon's power!

Your project file and everything's still in the folder- this tutorial can show you how to compress that all! Makes your game file smaller, and makes it harder to manipulate your game!

I'd suggest putting a new line in the closing of Professor Booker's letter- it took me a moment to realize it was
"See you soon,
Professor Booker"

, like a letter, and I thought he was calling me Professor Booker for some reason.

The TV is covering the window here-
View attachment 2973

If you lose to Houndoom, there's no change in the story.

The player said that the professor lived next door, so it seems a bit weird for them to not know who he is. ("I take it you are the professor, then?")

When receiving the Exp Share, you used pbItemBall rather than pbReceiveItem, so it says that the player "found" the Exp Share.

Obviously it'd be unbalanced to give the player all three starters, but it feels odd to not have any explanation in-game as to why that is. Maybe throw in a line about how Booker still wants to study the remaining two, or even just, "Hey, I gave you one free Pokemon, don't be greedy!"

The woman who suggests you visit Cam to find the professor still says the same thing if you talk to her after finding the professor.

It seems like there's nothing at all to be found if you backtrack up Route 102- that seems like a missed opportunity, and it could be a bit frustrating if a player walked all that way and found nothing there.

Lorewise, it's a little odd that everyone has Reverse Balls and they can be bought at any Mart, since Booker says he just recently invented them.

Pokemon Tamer Felix's "All your base are belong to us" line feels really out of place with the rest of his dialogue.

Similarly, Factory Worker Jensen's intro dialogue is about how you shouldn't be here, if you talk to him after battle he says you shouldn't be here, but his lose dialogue is a good natured "Guess I need to work harder!"

I know this was done to make a barrier, but it feels weird to have that case just slightly away from the wall. I'd personally suggest just moving it and the desk up a tile.
View attachment 2980


Newt seems considerably younger than Professor Booker, but Booker said he worked until he grew old to develop the Reverse Ball- it seems a little strange that he's the cause of a problem in the region that's been around for a while. (Of course, this is just a demo, so I might just not know about a plot point you have planned! Plus, since the idea is that evolved Pokemon are weaker but prevos are stronger, Newt might be dealing with something similar and getting younger as he ages!)

I know the lose dialogue is defined in the trainer class, and it'd be strange to make a trainer class just for one line of dialogue, but Newt's dialogue in the generator room goes from "I won't let you touch Registeel!" to "Not too shabby" to "Registeel, take care of him!", which feels a little awkward.
View attachment 2977
Houndoom kind of looks like it's clipping over the trees here

View attachment 2976
This guy doesn't have any dialogue after meeting Newt, even if you interact with him.
Come on there has to be something! - comma after on
Conducts research throughtout the region- throughout
After reviewing your application I have decided to hire you! - comma after application
Can you come up here please? - comma after here
stepping on your games huh? - comma after games
Morning Gram! - comma after morning
Why good morning \PN. - Why, good morning, \PN.
the local Pokemon professor. - Pokémon
What the Professor? - comma after What
Oh no I'm late! - comma after no
If you are late you better get going! - comma after late
For some reason Gram is watching - comma after reason
Alright that enough of that- Alright, that's enough of that
Wait \PN I forgot to give something to you- Wait, \PN,
are pretty worn out so here is- comma after out
Oh what a pieceful day- Oh, what a peaceful day. (Also, Elder is misspelled as "Ekder" in her name window)
I think Cam might know however. - comma after know
hanging out with me and I hope everyone has a good one! - comma after me
You must be \PN right? - comma after \PN
I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself- comma after sorry
Ah that must be the professor- comma after Ah
Yea he is here with me- comma after yea
Come on Larvia we got- comma after Larvi
No stay back I said! - No, stay back, I said!
I left some pokéballs over there! - Poké Balls
I take it you are the professor then? - comma after professor
I have to ask exactly how- comma after ask
fully evolved pokémon?- Pokémon should be capitalized
For some unknown reason in Trino- comma after reason
evolved Pokemon are weaker then non-evolved Pokémon- Pokémon for the first one, "than" instead of "then"
Lucky for us we have these! - comma after us
by the time I finally made these I grew too old - comma after these
Alright I'm in! - comma after Alright
Man you sure - comma after Man
fine out why Pokémon in Trino - find, not fine
"How to make a Pokemon game - Pokémon
Wild pokemon can pop out and - Pokémon
Would you like this Pokemon egg? - Pokémon
I wish Zach was could see this place- delete was
Alright I'll be there soon- comma after Alright
Where you eavesdropping on me- Were, not where
Hey listen I didn't mean to- Hey, listen,
Seems like my pokémon- Pokémon
If I catch you eavesdropping dropping again- delete "dropping"
Maybe here in Trino my pokémon will be stronger!- Pokémon
Just be careful of the flowers okay? - comma after flowers
You sure now how to fight!- know how (this is on three trainers- Worker Alex, Worker Zach, and the CEO
Without that generator my Pokémon- comma after generator
I know it helps your Pokémon but what about us? - comma after Pokémon
Our Pokemon are weaker because of your plan- Pokémon
Well yes...- comma after Well
I must weaken every thing else- "every thing" should be one word
If you wait a bit longer I can get some Pokémon from my region who are not under the affected by the generators for you. - comma after longer, delete "under the"
Is Newt the reason the Pokemon in Trino- Pokémon
It seems we have a visitor Mike- comma after visitor
my pokémon stood no chance- capitalize Pokémon
Newt your generators ruined my team- comma after Newt
Okay Registeel calm down! - Okay, Registeel, calm down!
Dang it Regi! - Dang it, Regi!
Calm down Regi its alright- Calm down, Regi, it's alright.
Regi take care of him!- comma after Regi
You won't win again \PN! - comma after again

I don't know if you intend to include the dev's house in the final release, but if you do, in one line, Tristan's dialogue calls \xm instead of \xn, so it looks like this
View attachment 2979
Thank you for the feedback! It really means a lot! :D I am currently working on an update and will work on the stuff you mentioned <3
 

Dedbed

Novice
Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Posts
22
Pokémon Shrink Demo v1.0.2 Update:
  • Fixed Elder's dialogue in Lorian Town
  • Fixed locked door in Traverse Town
  • Changed frequency/speed of Absol Girl
  • Increased money gain
  • Changed intro dialogue a bit
  • Changed Exp All text to "received" instead of found
  • Removed Reverse Balls from Trainers
  • Changed the Blocker NPC a bit in Lorian Town
  • Change player meeting professor dialogue a bit
  • Moved some tiles in Accel Factory F1
  • Added SE to an event in Accel Factory F2
  • Changed some trainer dialogue
  • Added dialogue to NPC in Traverse Town Gate
  • Lowered required steps for Egg received in Traverse Town
  • Changed Newt's movements in Traverse Town Event
  • Made Houndoom disappearing a little nicer after starter battle
  • Changed the end of demo scene a little bit
  • Fixed an overlay problem with Houndoom in Traverse Town
  • Fixed multiple typos and dialogue problems
 

Joroma

Novice
Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2021
Posts
17
Hey Dedbed! I'm loving this game so far! I just wanted to let you know that I ran into a bug where I can't walk over any bridges, leaving me stranded on the route South of the second town. Here is a screenshot, in the area by the daycare.
Shrink2.PNG

Let me know if it's a mistake on my part or if there is something I can do to fix it. Excited to continue playing if we can work it out!
 

Dedbed

Novice
Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Posts
22
Hey Dedbed! I'm loving this game so far! I just wanted to let you know that I ran into a bug where I can't walk over any bridges, leaving me stranded on the route South of the second town. Here is a screenshot, in the area by the daycare. View attachment 3038
Let me know if it's a mistake on my part or if there is something I can do to fix it. Excited to continue playing if we can work it out!
Oh crap I think I know what happened there. Did you go into the daycare? I must have forgot to put the bridge on in that part which makes you stuck. I’ll push an update soon here with that fix.
 

Joroma

Novice
Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2021
Posts
17
Oh crap I think I know what happened there. Did you go into the daycare? I must have forgot to put the bridge on in that part which makes you stuck. I’ll push an update soon here with that fix.
I did enter the daycare, yes. I was wondering if that was a problem D:

Thanks!
 

Dedbed

Novice
Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Posts
22
Pokémon Shrink Demo v1.0.3 Update:
  • Fixed not being able to use bridges after entering Daycare on Route 103 (to get it working again either enter and exit the door or stand in front of the door to trigger the bridges again)
  • Changed Daycare music to the same as Route 103
  • Added a recover all after a certain battle for a more seamless transition
 

Dedbed

Novice
Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Posts
22
I did enter the daycare, yes. I was wondering if that was a problem D:

Thanks!
If you download v1.0.3 I should have fixed that bridge issue. Run infront of the daycare door and it will turn the bridges back on for you! Thank you for letting me know! :D
 

Joroma

Novice
Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2021
Posts
17
Just finished the game after going at a pretty slow pace (about an hour and a half total). It's a very charming game and I genuinely enjoyed playing the game, even though it was just a short demo! Great job making an interesting jam entry! Ekat let me borrow this format so here goes:

There's not a whole lot to say here, but it had a nice, cute aesthetic. The maps are decent size and I like the natural shape of the bigger route. The custom tiles that were included worked very well with the tileset, but the tileset was a pretty standard issue tileset. I did think that the road tiles were a little dark and saturated and didn't really look good against the lighter grass, though. I think you could lighten it up a lot and even just go with a slightly dark gray. The factory thing in the final town also seemed a little strange because you were using furniture like walls instead of using furniture as furniture. Don't be afraid to put some walls or change the shape of rooms. I would also suggest putting a railing or something next to the staircase here (notice how there is shadow on the stair but not on the floor at the bottom part, suggesting that the stairs are almost underground):

Shrink1.PNG

Finally, when naming a Pokémon, the music loops a little early and we don't hear the music resolve the way we are used to. It's a little trippy }:

Overall not too shabby; the map design was good and the tiles were good enough to not distract from gameplay.
I love the mechanic in play here and I actually thought it provided a fresh playstyle. Even though it's relatively similar to normal play, I found it to be unique and interesting, so good job. I think the variety of wild Pokémon is pretty good for the few routes in the game and would like to see even more variety if you were to continue developing the game (the trainers weren't too interesting since they mostly had the same Pokémon as the route). I think that the towns were pretty decent but would suggest a little more NPC interaction and more houses. Especially with the final town, you just get done fighting trainers on the route and move straight to fighting more trainers. Since it's a demo, I get it, but feel free to slow it down a bit and have a little more happening in the towns (I was surprised you couldn't go in the green building in the bottom right of the final town). This also goes along with writing, but just finding a natural progression and making sure the player has a reason to find all the juicy secrets. Another minor thing for me was premier balls. Yeah, premier balls. I was too paranoid of using them because I was worried they wouldn't let the Pokémon devolve or they wouldn't be effective at catching them. Giving a head's up early on would be a luxury, but that's just my brain being weird. Overall, I did have fun despite the game being fairly short. Great work!
I thought that the little details you added and the humor was really good and would like to see more of it. I definitely laughed at some of the references in the room and was absolutely mortified when I stepped on my video games. Like I said, I want to see more of it when the player interacts with random things. There's a lot of room for more NPCs in the towns, interactable computers/TVs, and trash cans/paintings that you could incorporate your humor into. A good example of this I found in this jam was The Quest for the Perfect Jam. In terms of the plot, it's definitely interesting for everyone to find out why these Pokémon are different, but I didn't get enough information about the characters (except Cam, lol). The story also had a strange progression because you just barge into the factory in the final town. A simple cutscene outside the factory would help with that. Just give a little more context to each interaction and try to build up the characters more, which I'm sure would easily happen if this wasn't a demo. Very clean writing that was detailed for the most part; most of the feedback is just in regards to the plot being rushed because of this game being a demo.

Here are some typos I wrote in my notes:
One word is spelled wrong when interacting with the computer in the room
A typo with the person under the umbrella in the first town
A couple typos with Booker when getting your first Pokémon
It seems as though the speed up button is the same button as the registered item button, without the means of changing keybindings (not a big deal for the demo though)
Random gray pixels in the first town (I guess I could put this in aesthetic but whatever)
You can run from Registeel which doesn't really seem fitting
I can pass through the tile I'm standing above (North-facing cliff)
Shrink3.PNG

Overall, a very fun demo with a unique gimmick that would be very interesting as a full game! Do you think you'll continue working on it? If you do decide to carry on making this, I'd be excited to play!
 

Dedbed

Novice
Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Posts
22
Just finished the game after going at a pretty slow pace (about an hour and a half total). It's a very charming game and I genuinely enjoyed playing the game, even though it was just a short demo! Great job making an interesting jam entry! Ekat let me borrow this format so here goes:

There's not a whole lot to say here, but it had a nice, cute aesthetic. The maps are decent size and I like the natural shape of the bigger route. The custom tiles that were included worked very well with the tileset, but the tileset was a pretty standard issue tileset. I did think that the road tiles were a little dark and saturated and didn't really look good against the lighter grass, though. I think you could lighten it up a lot and even just go with a slightly dark gray. The factory thing in the final town also seemed a little strange because you were using furniture like walls instead of using furniture as furniture. Don't be afraid to put some walls or change the shape of rooms. I would also suggest putting a railing or something next to the staircase here (notice how there is shadow on the stair but not on the floor at the bottom part, suggesting that the stairs are almost underground):

View attachment 3041
Finally, when naming a Pokémon, the music loops a little early and we don't hear the music resolve the way we are used to. It's a little trippy }:

Overall not too shabby; the map design was good and the tiles were good enough to not distract from gameplay.
I love the mechanic in play here and I actually thought it provided a fresh playstyle. Even though it's relatively similar to normal play, I found it to be unique and interesting, so good job. I think the variety of wild Pokémon is pretty good for the few routes in the game and would like to see even more variety if you were to continue developing the game (the trainers weren't too interesting since they mostly had the same Pokémon as the route). I think that the towns were pretty decent but would suggest a little more NPC interaction and more houses. Especially with the final town, you just get done fighting trainers on the route and move straight to fighting more trainers. Since it's a demo, I get it, but feel free to slow it down a bit and have a little more happening in the towns (I was surprised you couldn't go in the green building in the bottom right of the final town). This also goes along with writing, but just finding a natural progression and making sure the player has a reason to find all the juicy secrets. Another minor thing for me was premier balls. Yeah, premier balls. I was too paranoid of using them because I was worried they wouldn't let the Pokémon devolve or they wouldn't be effective at catching them. Giving a head's up early on would be a luxury, but that's just my brain being weird. Overall, I did have fun despite the game being fairly short. Great work!
I thought that the little details you added and the humor was really good and would like to see more of it. I definitely laughed at some of the references in the room and was absolutely mortified when I stepped on my video games. Like I said, I want to see more of it when the player interacts with random things. There's a lot of room for more NPCs in the towns, interactable computers/TVs, and trash cans/paintings that you could incorporate your humor into. A good example of this I found in this jam was The Quest for the Perfect Jam. In terms of the plot, it's definitely interesting for everyone to find out why these Pokémon are different, but I didn't get enough information about the characters (except Cam, lol). The story also had a strange progression because you just barge into the factory in the final town. A simple cutscene outside the factory would help with that. Just give a little more context to each interaction and try to build up the characters more, which I'm sure would easily happen if this wasn't a demo. Very clean writing that was detailed for the most part; most of the feedback is just in regards to the plot being rushed because of this game being a demo.

Here are some typos I wrote in my notes:
One word is spelled wrong when interacting with the computer in the room
A typo with the person under the umbrella in the first town
A couple typos with Booker when getting your first Pokémon
It seems as though the speed up button is the same button as the registered item button, without the means of changing keybindings (not a big deal for the demo though)
Random gray pixels in the first town (I guess I could put this in aesthetic but whatever)
You can run from Registeel which doesn't really seem fitting
I can pass through the tile I'm standing above (North-facing cliff)
View attachment 3043

Overall, a very fun demo with a unique gimmick that would be very interesting as a full game! Do you think you'll continue working on it? If you do decide to carry on making this, I'd be excited to play!
Thanks for the feedback!

I actually didn’t have as much time as I would have liked due to life getting in the way so detail events and more NPCs around the region didn’t make release but I do plan on adding them. Shrink is planned on getting a full version of the game. However, I’m not sure I can release it until after the Jam spotlights are fully done.

Thank you for letting me know about the bugs! I will look into them and push an update soon here! (I forgot I changed that scene slightly and the run away feature came back into play)
 

Dedbed

Novice
Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Posts
22
Pokémon Shrink Demo v1.0.4 Update:
  • Removed the option to run away from a certain fight
  • Fixed cliff faces in Routes 102 and 103
  • Removed random gray pixels from Lorian Town

I am working on a QoL update with more NPCs and exploration events but this will come after the Winter Game Jam 2 has ended!
 

ThatWelshOne_

Champion
Member
Hey there! I've just finished the demo content for Shrink. I really love what you have so far. The premise of your game is pretty unique, so I'm excited to see where you take this game in the future! I enjoyed the cameo from, well, Cam and friends. I think it's cute that you guys appear in each other's games.

Anyway, I don't have much feedback to add onto what Joroma has already given. I would reiterate the point about having more downtime between trainer gauntlets to allow the player to digest the story a little. Other than that, I spotted a few small things that might be helpful to you:

1. An extra "I" at the start of this sentence + continue mispelt.
2. I know it was a simple colour change, but I liked the Pokédex UI. I was wondering if it would make sense for the top bar to be blue as well?
3. If you whiteout before getting to the Pokémon Centre in Traverse Town, the starting over autorun event thingy plays when you enter the Pokémon Centre. I lost to a random wild Pokémon on the first route (after also losing the very first battle). I guess the "starting over" switch wasn't turned off when I whited out?

1.
ss1.png

2.
ss2.png

Overall, a neat little demo with an intriguing game mechanic. I'd highly recommend anyone reading this gives Pokémon Shrink a go.
I'll look forward to more content from you, Dedbed. Until next time!
 
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