Completed Pokémon the Ancient Leaves

Ekat · Mar 15, 2021

Hey, I started playing the game last night! I believe I'm approaching the end, but I don't have the correct badges to use Strength. Is this an oversight, or is there something else I need to do before the ??? area?

Also, I'll just post some of the bugs I found rn.

1. Collision error.
2. Smart quote.
3. I noticed some of the door graphics are cut off when they animate to open.
4. This hiker was a psychic, before.
5. The battle on the mountain can be repeated.
6. Tiling error. (The player's reflection is also visible at the bottom of this room.)
7. Tiling error and the reflection is visible.
8. Collision error.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

AnonAlpaca · Mar 15, 2021

stOAKed best character

Cadeorade5 · Mar 15, 2021

Ekat said:
Hey, I started playing the game last night! I believe I'm approaching the end, but I don't have the correct badges to use Strength. Is this an oversight, or is there something else I need to do before the ??? area?

Also, I'll just post some of the bugs I found rn.

1. Collision error.
2. Smart quote.
3. I noticed some of the door graphics are cut off when they animate to open.
4. This hiker was a psychic, before.
5. The battle on the mountain can be repeated.
6. Tiling error. (The player's reflection is also visible at the bottom of this room.)
7. Tiling error and the reflection is visible.
8. Collision error.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Thanks Ekat! We will get on those issues right away!
As for the strength issue, I'll look into it. I didn't have any issues while testing but it's probably just a small oversight.

Ekat · Mar 15, 2021

Would you mind adding the badges to my save data in the meantime? (You may have not run across it if you were testing in debug mode instead of in regular game.exe. Debug overrides badge permissions.)

Ekat · Mar 15, 2021

I beat the game! Here are some of my thoughts.

Aesthetic

I like the custom tilesets in this game, they're nice looking. That being said, I wish that the game did more to edit the tiles/have more custom ones instead of using a lot of default Essentials stuff. It would have been nice to have a custom protagonist sprite as well.

Most of the maps are nice, the towns especially. However, I did notice that some areas are really open. Woodside forest in particular has lots of open space where nothing is going on. You could condense the map a lot. It would also be nice to see some variations in elevation in the forest, to make it a little more interesting for the player to navigate.

I also would have liked it if the different maps (I'm assuming it's different maps, and not just one with a variable?) in the forest puzzle had variations to them. That way I could know that I was progressing, or at least doing something correctly. If it's all just one map, then ignore me.

The Writing

From a writing standpoint, I wish we got to know more about the class. It also would have been nice to see the class actually help the player, rather than stand around while they do all the work. This is especially because the teacher brings up teamwork being necessary to succeed at the beginning. Meanwhile, the player just sort of plows through the puzzles and battles unaided.

I like the premise of the game, as well as the lore. It's neat to see how the class trip is built up to the player, and things definitely feel cozy at the start. The game's intro is also a fantastic one. I also like the little detail that they bring in an old crt on the cart to show it to the class. Professor Oak pulling a "how do you do fellow kids" is glorious. Really brings back memories of school movies. :']

I also loved the little twist at the end! It made the stories make so much more sense in hindsight.

The Gameplay

Pokémon Stuff
There was a good selection of Pokémon, and there was no point where I felt compelled to grind. I like that there's a good number of trainers that are optional battles. However, in the places where many are mandatory (like the factory and mountain) I would cut back on them. I think places with the cave encounter rate (the factory and mountain) should have their rate lowered just a teensy bit. I ran out of repels in the middle of the factory. Having a wild battle every 5 steps while trying to navigate wasn't very fun.

This is a small point, but something that came to mind as I played the game. Why not make the battles with the class double or triple battles? v18 has the capability to do it, so it seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity. It also gives the player something a little more interesting than a standard trainer gauntlet.

Sidenote: I forgot to mention this in my bugs post, but Nurse Joy in the Pokémon Center doesn't have the healing Poké Ball animation. In addition, she bows down but doesn't revert to her original position.

Puzzles
Out of all the puzzles, I think the number sign was the hardest. But I'm not very good with numbers, so I could probably attribute it to that.
My favourite of the puzzles was the rising/falling walls in the mountain. It was a really neat mechanic. I haven't seen it in any of the others that I played. I also like how you made an overworld version of the magic tile puzzle.

Music
The tracks you do have are good, I just wish that you had gotten rid of the default Essentials midis.

The Squad

Overall
I enjoyed the game! It had some neat mechanics, and the premise was interesting. I wish there was more polish, and more custom artwork put into it. But if you look beyond that, this is an enjoyable game.

Good job, everyone!

Cadeorade5 · Mar 16, 2021

Hey all! Version 1.1 is out! Download Here!
The main link has also been updated!

Fixed an issue where players could not use Strength because of a badge requirement
Edited the compatibility with Strength so that every Pokemon can learn the move
Fixed a bug that would trigger the rival encounter twice
Added subtle map changes in the Winding Forest
Fixed an issue that would allow the player to rebattle Nolan
Fixed multiple issues in text that would have a null character appear instead of an apostrophe
Fixed an issue with a Psychic trainer that would turn him into a Hiker after defeating him
Fixed an issue with door tiles not opening completely
Fixed an issue where Nurse Joy's animation would still occur
Fixed an issue that would not initialize the factory puzzle
Fixed a collision error in an apartment in Forest Hills Town
Fixed a tile error in the mountain puzzle room
Fixed a movement permissions issue with a tile in the ice caves
Fixed an issue where the player's reflection would appear in mountain puzzle rooms
Fixed an issue where Gabi would not appear in the mountain puzzle room

Cadeorade5 · Mar 16, 2021

Ekat said:
I beat the game! Here are some of my thoughts.

Aesthetic

I like the custom tilesets in this game, they're nice looking. That being said, I wish that the game did more to edit the tiles/have more custom ones instead of using a lot of default Essentials stuff. It would have been nice to have a custom protagonist sprite as well.

Most of the maps are nice, the towns especially. However, I did notice that some areas are really open. Woodside forest in particular has lots of open space where nothing is going on. You could condense the map a lot. It would also be nice to see some variations in elevation in the forest, to make it a little more interesting for the player to navigate.

I also would have liked it if the different maps (I'm assuming it's different maps, and not just one with a variable?) in the forest puzzle had variations to them. That way I could know that I was progressing, or at least doing something correctly. If it's all just one map, then ignore me.

The Writing

From a writing standpoint, I wish we got to know more about the class. It also would have been nice to see the class actually help the player, rather than stand around while they do all the work. This is especially because the teacher brings up teamwork being necessary to succeed at the beginning. Meanwhile, the player just sort of plows through the puzzles and battles unaided.

I like the premise of the game, as well as the lore. It's neat to see how the class trip is built up to the player, and things definitely feel cozy at the start. The game's intro is also a fantastic one. I also like the little detail that they bring in an old crt on the cart to show it to the class. Professor Oak pulling a "how do you do fellow kids" is glorious. Really brings back memories of school movies. :']

I also loved the little twist at the end! It made the stories make so much more sense in hindsight.

The Gameplay

Pokémon Stuff
There was a good selection of Pokémon, and there was no point where I felt compelled to grind. I like that there's a good number of trainers that are optional battles. However, in the places where many are mandatory (like the factory and mountain) I would cut back on them. I think places with the cave encounter rate (the factory and mountain) should have their rate lowered just a teensy bit. I ran out of repels in the middle of the factory. Having a wild battle every 5 steps while trying to navigate wasn't very fun.

This is a small point, but something that came to mind as I played the game. Why not make the battles with the class double or triple battles? v18 has the capability to do it, so it seems like a bit of a wasted opportunity. It also gives the player something a little more interesting than a standard trainer gauntlet.

Sidenote: I forgot to mention this in my bugs post, but Nurse Joy in the Pokémon Center doesn't have the healing Poké Ball animation. In addition, she bows down but doesn't revert to her original position.

Puzzles
Out of all the puzzles, I think the number sign was the hardest. But I'm not very good with numbers, so I could probably attribute it to that.
My favourite of the puzzles was the rising/falling walls in the mountain. It was a really neat mechanic. I haven't seen it in any of the others that I played. I also like how you made an overworld version of the magic tile puzzle.

Music
The tracks you do have are good, I just wish that you had gotten rid of the default Essentials midis.

The Squad

Overall
I enjoyed the game! It had some neat mechanics, and the premise was interesting. I wish there was more polish, and more custom artwork put into it. But if you look beyond that, this is an enjoyable game.

Good job, everyone!

Hi Ekat,
Thanks so much for playing the game and sharing your thoughts! In hindsight, I definitely agree with a lot of the criticisms you've said. It's a shame that you didn't get to play a more polished version of the game but thanks so much for finding some of the bugs that slipped through the cracks! There's a few points I'd like to address specifically. First, because nobody on the team is artistically that talented, we decided to mostly use default essentials graphics. Secondly, I'm glad you enjoyed the aesthetic! We had a feel that we were going and I'm happy to hear that it mostly came through. Thirdly (I'm not even sure that's a word lol), I don't think any of us ever though about double or triple battles! That would've been much more interesting! Finally, we definitely ran out of time, and would have added more music (and more polish as well) instead of the default Essentials stuff. Overall, it's great that you enjoyed the game!

Ekat · Mar 16, 2021

Cadeorade5 said:
Hi Ekat,
Thanks so much for playing the game and sharing your thoughts! In hindsight, I definitely agree with a lot of the criticisms you've said. It's a shame that you didn't get to play a more polished version of the game but thanks so much for finding some of the bugs that slipped through the cracks! There's a few points I'd like to address specifically. First, because nobody on the team is artistically that talented, we decided to mostly use default essentials graphics. Secondly, I'm glad you enjoyed the aesthetic! We had a feel that we were going and I'm happy to hear that it mostly came through. Thirdly (I'm not even sure that's a word lol), I don't think any of us ever though about double or triple battles! That would've been much more interesting! Finally, we definitely ran out of time, and would have added more music (and more polish as well) instead of the default Essentials stuff. Overall, it's great that you enjoyed the game!

Yeah, the time crunch can be rough. I definitely see the potential and talent you guys have with this game, though. I don't typically replay fangames, but I would absolutely replay this one in the future.

PurpleZaffre · Mar 21, 2021

Hey there!
I finished the game and really liked it, so here's some thoughts and feedback:

I really liked the writing! Every character's dialogue felt natural, and if there were any grammar errors at all, they were so little I don't remember them. The overall story was very interesting, but I felt a bit underwhelmed by the finale, since I was expecting a bit of more information and closure on Earth-boy and Star-boy's legend. I think I may be missing or not understanding something though, since Ekat did talk about a "twist" in the finale but I don't really understand what she's referring to. Of course, the finale may have been a bit rushed due to time constraints, so I understand that you didn't have much time to give closure to the legend in the end haha.
I loved the music choice. Every song, be it from Mystery Dungeon or Ranger, or another game, just felt right for the location they were used in, and that worked super well.
The graphics were mostly default essentials, but your mapping was overall very good so it still worked nicely. I really liked the tiles you added, those served to add a nicer feel to the default graphics. As I said, mapping was overall very good: every town and cave's mapping was super solid; the routes were good but I felt like Woodside Forest was a bit too big and open. I know it was that way because it connected to 4 places, but still I think at least the paths could have been a bit more narrow to not give it a super open feel.
The puzzles and the clues were a big highlight for me. Each puzzle was very unique, and challenging but not super super difficult. I loved it! And I also really liked how you onlyknew what the clues meant when you got all of them and understood that they were all connected.
A thing that I disliked, at least early on in the game, was the level scaling script. I could be wrong, but I assume you probably used it in the game to not have to spend much time on balancing, which is fair since you were developing the game on a timer haha. However, early on in the game, I blacked out way too many times because I hadn't caught any other Pokémon yet, and to tell the truth, in most short games/jam games I prefer to go through the whole game with only my starter because I suck at battling haha. I then caught some other Pokémon and after some more levels I breezed through the rest of the game with no problem, though, but I still would have liked the choice to grind a bit and play through the game with just my starter. But like I said before, I totally understand the inclusion of the level scaling script and it wasn't a big problem for me in the end.

Bugs I found:

When the player starts collecting the clues, if they black out before healing Pokémon with a Nurse Joy, they get teleported to the starting town, leaving the player stranded there.
When the player first goes to the camp, if they choose to interact with their bed and sleep immediately, they can skip the whole nighttime campfire cutscene.
The player can go right away to the end: when starting to collect clues, I went left to Woodside Forest, and then just happened to choose the path that led to the Winding Forest because I thought a clue was hidden there. Even though I didn't have the clues yet, nothing stopped me from entering the forest and find out the way to the end through trial and error (the number of bushes in each room helped a lot). So then I entered the cave, completed the notes puzzle, went down, taught Strength to my Aipom and completed the puzzle, and then I was immediately at the end of the game and very confused haha.

Final Team:

Ambipom, Lv. 34
Boldore, Lv. 33
Petilil, Lv. 31
Larvitar, Lv. 29

Again, overall I loved the game. You did a great job with it, so thanks for making it, and congratulations!
If anyone is reading this and haven't yet played it, I really recommend it! Give it a chance :)

Cadeorade5 · Mar 21, 2021

PurpleZaffre said:
Hey there!
I finished the game and really liked it, so here's some thoughts and feedback:

I really liked the writing! Every character's dialogue felt natural, and if there were any grammar errors at all, they were so little I don't remember them. The overall story was very interesting, but I felt a bit underwhelmed by the finale, since I was expecting a bit of more information and closure on Earth-boy and Star-boy's legend. I think I may be missing or not understanding something though, since Ekat did talk about a "twist" in the finale but I don't really understand what she's referring to. Of course, the finale may have been a bit rushed due to time constraints, so I understand that you didn't have much time to give closure to the legend in the end haha.

I loved the music choice. Every song, be it from Mystery Dungeon or Ranger, or another game, just felt right for the location they were used in, and that worked super well.

The graphics were mostly default essentials, but your mapping was overall very good so it still worked nicely. I really liked the tiles you added, those served to add a nicer feel to the default graphics. As I said, mapping was overall very good: every town and cave's mapping was super solid; the routes were good but I felt like Woodside Forest was a bit too big and open. I know it was that way because it connected to 4 places, but still I think at least the paths could have been a bit more narrow to not give it a super open feel.

The puzzles and the clues were a big highlight for me. Each puzzle was very unique, and challenging but not super super difficult. I loved it! And I also really liked how you onlyknew what the clues meant when you got all of them and understood that they were all connected.

A thing that I disliked, at least early on in the game, was the level scaling script. I could be wrong, but I assume you probably used it in the game to not have to spend much time on balancing, which is fair since you were developing the game on a timer haha. However, early on in the game, I blacked out way too many times because I hadn't caught any other Pokémon yet, and to tell the truth, in most short games/jam games I prefer to go through the whole game with only my starter because I suck at battling haha. I then caught some other Pokémon and after some more levels I breezed through the rest of the game with no problem, though, but I still would have liked the choice to grind a bit and play through the game with just my starter. But like I said before, I totally understand the inclusion of the level scaling script and it wasn't a big problem for me in the end.

Bugs I found:

When the player starts collecting the clues, if they black out before healing Pokémon with a Nurse Joy, they get teleported to the starting town, leaving the player stranded there.

When the player first goes to the camp, if they choose to interact with their bed and sleep immediately, they can skip the whole nighttime campfire cutscene.

The player can go right away to the end: when starting to collect clues, I went left to Woodside Forest, and then just happened to choose the path that led to the Winding Forest because I thought a clue was hidden there. Even though I didn't have the clues yet, nothing stopped me from entering the forest and find out the way to the end through trial and error (the number of bushes in each room helped a lot). So then I entered the cave, completed the notes puzzle, went down, taught Strength to my Aipom and completed the puzzle, and then I was immediately at the end of the game and very confused haha.

Final Team:

Ambipom, Lv. 34
Boldore, Lv. 33
Petilil, Lv. 31
Larvitar, Lv. 29

Again, overall I loved the game. You did a great job with it, so thanks for making it, and congratulations!
If anyone is reading this and haven't yet played it, I really recommend it! Give it a chance :)

Hi Zaffre, again thanks so much for playing the game! I'm glad you enjoyed it! You're right that we decided to use the level scaling script so balancing would be easier, but the levels are set up to encourage players to use more than one Pokemon. We also intended for the player to be able to get to the end right away, but obviously more difficult without the clues. Again, thanks for playing the game and I'm so happy that you enjoyed it!

Cadeorade5 · Mar 21, 2021

Hi all! Version 1.2 of Ancient Leaves has been released. Download it here!
The main link has also been updated.

Fixed an issue where the player would black out during the scavenger hunt and transfer back to Forest Hills Town
Added a message dissuading the player from continuing through the Winding forest if they don't have all 3 clues
Fixed an issue where you could skip the campfire scene by sleeping in your bed

ThatWelshOne_ · Mar 28, 2021

Hello! I've just reached the ending of your game. First off, congratulations on submitting a game for this Game Jam! I enjoyed the premise of your game being more puzzle-based than your average Pokémon game. Speaking of puzzles, these were really well done and my personal highlights of the experience.

I have a few suggestions that Ekat and Zaffre may have also mentioned:

Many of the areas were just trainer gauntlets seemingly for no reason. I thought the worst offender of this was the factory area. I didn't really understand why there were 15 trainers just standing around in an old factory. Were all of those people there to stop me from getting the clue? If so, why? What did I do as the player to annoy all these people? Are they protecting a secret?
Similarly, the forest area had a lot of trainers doing nothing else other than standing around waiting for, well, I don't know what. Are all these people part of some kind of cult to protect the legend's secret? I know you would have been pushed for time, but maybe these things can be explored if you choose to continue developing your game after the Jam.
Like Zaffre, I don't think I quite caught a twist at the end of the game. Although, I will admit that I stumbled upon the end of the game before finding any clues (apparently I skipped the dissuasion text you added in the last update). I think you could block off the path to the end of the game completely or have some other quest to "unlock" the entrance to the end of the game.
As others have said, I loved the mapping, but Woodside Forest needs some work.

1. Top of the trees are cut off.
2. No battle bases in this trainer battle.
3. This trainer transformed into a different trainer class after the battle.
4. Its.
5. These NPCs have no dialogue after the cutscene.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Fluffy, Paul and Cabbage really carried me through this game. Stunky was there to be cute.

Overall, a very enjoyable entry. I'd echo Zaffre's comment about trying this game out if you're looking for some great puzzles.
Thanks again!

Cadeorade5 · Mar 30, 2021

ThatWelshOne_ said:
Hello! I've just reached the ending of your game. First off, congratulations on submitting a game for this Game Jam! I enjoyed the premise of your game being more puzzle-based than your average Pokémon game. Speaking of puzzles, these were really well done and my personal highlights of the experience.

I have a few suggestions that Ekat and Zaffre may have also mentioned:

Many of the areas were just trainer gauntlets seemingly for no reason. I thought the worst offender of this was the factory area. I didn't really understand why there were 15 trainers just standing around in an old factory. Were all of those people there to stop me from getting the clue? If so, why? What did I do as the player to annoy all these people? Are they protecting a secret?

Similarly, the forest area had a lot of trainers doing nothing else other than standing around waiting for, well, I don't know what. Are all these people part of some kind of cult to protect the legend's secret? I know you would have been pushed for time, but maybe these things can be explored if you choose to continue developing your game after the Jam.

Like Zaffre, I don't think I quite caught a twist at the end of the game. Although, I will admit that I stumbled upon the end of the game before finding any clues (apparently I skipped the dissuasion text you added in the last update). I think you could block off the path to the end of the game completely or have some other quest to "unlock" the entrance to the end of the game.

As others have said, I loved the mapping, but Woodside Forest needs some work.

1. Top of the trees are cut off.
2. No battle bases in this trainer battle.
3. This trainer transformed into a different trainer class after the battle.
4. Its.
5. These NPCs have no dialogue after the cutscene.

1.View attachment 3226
2.View attachment 3227
3.View attachment 3228
4.View attachment 3229
5.View attachment 3230

Fluffy, Paul and Cabbage really carried me through this game. Stunky was there to be cute.
View attachment 3231

Overall, a very enjoyable entry. I'd echo Zaffre's comment about trying this game out if you're looking for some great puzzles.
Thanks again!

Hey ThatWelshOne, thanks so much for playing the game! It's great that you enjoyed. In retrospect, I agree that a lot of the areas seem to be trainer gauntlets, and that was definitely a mistake on my part. The same is with Woodside Forest. While we were trying to go for an open area, it seems like we left the area too open. I'm sure Falcon will love to hear that you liked all the puzzles! He worked hard on them, and he'll be glad to see that they're getting recognition. Again, thanks so much for playing the game!

Cadeorade5 · Mar 30, 2021

Hey all! Version 1.3 of Ancient Leaves is out! Download it here!

Fixed all battleback issues
Fixed a grammar issue with a Hiker in Mt. Corvallis
Fixed an issue where you couldn't talk with Gabi or Maya in Mt. Corvallis
Fixed a tile issue in Corvallis Village
Fixed an issue where the intro would not play in 1.2

luxdiablo · Apr 2, 2021

Hey Cade! I got around to playing your game, so I thought I'd leave my thoughts:

For starters, I really enjoyed the custom tiles that you included. I don't know if you made them yourself or if you found them somewhere, but regardless, it was a nice touch. The mapping was pretty well done too. I think the main thing I'd comment on is the Woodside Forest map being a bit too open, but the people above have already touched on that. Another thing that I noticed is that some of the overworld sprites were inconsistent with trainer sprites. I noticed it with the Psychic trainer class mainly, as well as with the Cheerleader. I'd recommend looking into that. Another thing that I wanted to bring up is the NPC placement. I love how in the first town, the kids are huddled in circles as if they're talking in friend groups. It was a neat touch. I also really enjoyed the polish with the campfire and the trippy colors in the last puzzle. Another minor thing I noticed was that when leaving an indoor map, you get transported in front of the door, when in reality, you should probably get transported onto the door event, so it looks like you're actually leaving the house. The final thing I wanted to mention is that it was hard to differentiate the player's house and bed from the others. I'd recommend using just a recolored house and a recolored bed, so it's easier to point out what belongs to the player.

I think in terms of gameplay, I didn't notice anything too jarring. I loved the puzzle ideas, especially the one where I had to interact with the NPCs to figure out the number puzzle. I think the main issue I take here is with the battles, a lot of the areas felt like gauntlets, especially the mountain. Additionally, I'm not the hugest fan of level scaling, but that's probably not something you should change, considering the game can be done in any order. Also, Naomi (I think that's her name? The girl from the factory with the Elgyem) is EXTREMELY hard, IDK if it was just me, but I spent way too long trying to beat her. The lack of Dark-types makes it really difficult to win. Aside from some balancing things though, I think the gameplay was solid overall. The puzzles were amazing, definitely the highlight of the game IMO.

I freaking LOVED the story. Where do I even begin? The first thing right off the bat was Professor StOAKed, who was absolute comedy gold. Then, we had little interactions between Shawn, Jenna, and the player. And then when exploring the first town, there's so much neat little worldbuilding. I love how the trip to Mt. Corvallis is a tradition, and the older NPCs are like "Yeah, I remember that field trip." It really hits that aesthetic home, I love it so much. And then, on the trip itself, there was SO much cool stuff going on. I loved how each character, despite feeling like a basic NPC, had some sort of character trait, and they all represented different school stereotypes. I also love the little reference with the "Technology is amazing!" guy, nice one. I think I'm still a little confused on where the whole Star-boy thing came from, and right now, I'm just kinda in an empty void with Shaymin, so I guess some closure to the story would be neat. Maybe showing the player planting the leaf and returning to school would be fine. But other than that, the story was brilliant. Well done.

|

I like the OST choice for the areas, but for battles, I wish there were actual battle themes instead of the default Essentials MIDIs.
I think adding looping music would be nice.
Snap Edges isn't necessarily a good call, especially if it's not consistent. You'd be better off just trying to fill the map with trees.
I think when leaving for the trip, it felt a little weird because we never saw the kids actually leave. I think you could've maybe used the Seagallop script or Cable Car script to create a neat little animation for the bus leaving the school, or something like that.
It'd be neat if you could interact with the beds and heal
If you choose the wrong item when trying to get a clue revelead, they just respond with "Have a nice day!" Maybe they should say something like "Oh, this isn't a clue..." or something.

Yes, I boxed my starter. Yes, I misspelled Mario on my Nosepass. Gloom was freaking OP and outclassed the rest of my team, LOL.

Overall, I really really loved the game, and I think with a little more time and polish, you can definitely make this even better. Good job on releasing a game, this one is definitely one of my favorites so far from the jam!

Cadeorade5 · Apr 3, 2021

TheLuxDiablo said:
Hey Cade! I got around to playing your game, so I thought I'd leave my thoughts:

For starters, I really enjoyed the custom tiles that you included. I don't know if you made them yourself or if you found them somewhere, but regardless, it was a nice touch. The mapping was pretty well done too. I think the main thing I'd comment on is the Woodside Forest map being a bit too open, but the people above have already touched on that. Another thing that I noticed is that some of the overworld sprites were inconsistent with trainer sprites. I noticed it with the Psychic trainer class mainly, as well as with the Cheerleader. I'd recommend looking into that. Another thing that I wanted to bring up is the NPC placement. I love how in the first town, the kids are huddled in circles as if they're talking in friend groups. It was a neat touch. I also really enjoyed the polish with the campfire and the trippy colors in the last puzzle. Another minor thing I noticed was that when leaving an indoor map, you get transported in front of the door, when in reality, you should probably get transported onto the door event, so it looks like you're actually leaving the house. The final thing I wanted to mention is that it was hard to differentiate the player's house and bed from the others. I'd recommend using just a recolored house and a recolored bed, so it's easier to point out what belongs to the player.

I think in terms of gameplay, I didn't notice anything too jarring. I loved the puzzle ideas, especially the one where I had to interact with the NPCs to figure out the number puzzle. I think the main issue I take here is with the battles, a lot of the areas felt like gauntlets, especially the mountain. Additionally, I'm not the hugest fan of level scaling, but that's probably not something you should change, considering the game can be done in any order. Also, Naomi (I think that's her name? The girl from the factory with the Elgyem) is EXTREMELY hard, IDK if it was just me, but I spent way too long trying to beat her. The lack of Dark-types makes it really difficult to win. Aside from some balancing things though, I think the gameplay was solid overall. The puzzles were amazing, definitely the highlight of the game IMO.

I freaking LOVED the story. Where do I even begin? The first thing right off the bat was Professor StOAKed, who was absolute comedy gold. Then, we had little interactions between Shawn, Jenna, and the player. And then when exploring the first town, there's so much neat little worldbuilding. I love how the trip to Mt. Corvallis is a tradition, and the older NPCs are like "Yeah, I remember that field trip." It really hits that aesthetic home, I love it so much. And then, on the trip itself, there was SO much cool stuff going on. I loved how each character, despite feeling like a basic NPC, had some sort of character trait, and they all represented different school stereotypes. I also love the little reference with the "Technology is amazing!" guy, nice one. I think I'm still a little confused on where the whole Star-boy thing came from, and right now, I'm just kinda in an empty void with Shaymin, so I guess some closure to the story would be neat. Maybe showing the player planting the leaf and returning to school would be fine. But other than that, the story was brilliant. Well done.

|

I like the OST choice for the areas, but for battles, I wish there were actual battle themes instead of the default Essentials MIDIs.

I think adding looping music would be nice.

Snap Edges isn't necessarily a good call, especially if it's not consistent. You'd be better off just trying to fill the map with trees.

I think when leaving for the trip, it felt a little weird because we never saw the kids actually leave. I think you could've maybe used the Seagallop script or Cable Car script to create a neat little animation for the bus leaving the school, or something like that.

It'd be neat if you could interact with the beds and heal

If you choose the wrong item when trying to get a clue revelead, they just respond with "Have a nice day!" Maybe they should say something like "Oh, this isn't a clue..." or something.

View attachment 3398

Yes, I boxed my starter. Yes, I misspelled Mario on my Nosepass. Gloom was freaking OP and outclassed the rest of my team, LOL.

Overall, I really really loved the game, and I think with a little more time and polish, you can definitely make this even better. Good job on releasing a game, this one is definitely one of my favorites so far from the jam!

Hey Lux!

Thanks so much for playing the game. I'm glad that you (at least seemed to) enjoy the game! There were definitely a lot of things that could have been done with a little more time, and we definitely didn't get everything we wanted to out of this game. The trainer sprites for the students are completely my fault lol, I chose them pretty early on based on the overworld sprites, not their trainer sprites. This might sound like a cop out, but I feel like the issues you were having with Naomi and the difficulty of the game could have been fixed with having your starter on the team, since we buffed them so they would be good in this game, though I did buff the general difficulty pretty late in development so we might've not been able to test it enough. Obviously the trainer gauntlets were a horrible idea on my part, and I'd definitely fix that in the future. Storywise, I'm glad that you mostly enjoyed that! The ending came from a lack of time and we didn't have a super solid grasp on what we wanted the end to be like. I'll be sure to tell Falcon about your review, because both the puzzles and Prof. StOAKed were completely him! Music is another thing we kinda ran out of time with, but that's no excuse for leaving the default battle theme still in there lol. Finally, the cable car script is a great idea! I haven't looked at that yet, but it's definitely a good idea! Thanks so much for writing this massive review, there's a lot of good feedback in there!

luxdiablo · Apr 3, 2021

Cadeorade5 said:
Hey Lux!

Thanks so much for playing the game. I'm glad that you (at least seemed to) enjoy the game! There were definitely a lot of things that could have been done with a little more time, and we definitely didn't get everything we wanted to out of this game. The trainer sprites for the students are completely my fault lol, I chose them pretty early on based on the overworld sprites, not their trainer sprites. This might sound like a cop out, but I feel like the issues you were having with Naomi and the difficulty of the game could have been fixed with having your starter on the team, since we buffed them so they would be good in this game, though I did buff the general difficulty pretty late in development so we might've not been able to test it enough. Obviously the trainer gauntlets were a horrible idea on my part, and I'd definitely fix that in the future. Storywise, I'm glad that you mostly enjoyed that! The ending came from a lack of time and we didn't have a super solid grasp on what we wanted the end to be like. I'll be sure to tell Falcon about your review, because both the puzzles and Prof. StOAKed were completely him! Music is another thing we kinda ran out of time with, but that's no excuse for leaving the default battle theme still in there lol. Finally, the cable car script is a great idea! I haven't looked at that yet, but it's definitely a good idea! Thanks so much for writing this massive review, there's a lot of good feedback in there!

I definitely enjoyed the game, it's probably my favorite entry so far, along with Quantum and TLNJ. And I completely understand, and yeah, IDK why I benched Aipom, I just wasn't keen on any of the choices, so that's probably my bad. But yeah! Great work, I absolutely did enjoy it, I just tend to focus more on my criticisms rather than the things that I enjoyed. Most of the stuff that I did mention was just minor stuff that I noticed.

Devinator · Sep 12, 2021

So hows the game going now?

Cadeorade5 · Sep 12, 2021

Devinator said:
So hows the game going now?

The game is completed and we don't really have any plans to update again, barring important bug fixes.

Completed Pokémon the Ancient Leaves

Attachments

Ekat

That One Guy's GF

AnonAlpaca

Why Do People Call Me A GOAT

Cadeorade5

Content Creator

Ekat

That One Guy's GF

Ekat

That One Guy's GF

Cadeorade5

Content Creator

Cadeorade5

Content Creator

Ekat

That One Guy's GF

PurpleZaffre

surprised pikachu in disguise

Cadeorade5

Content Creator

Cadeorade5

Content Creator

ThatWelshOne_

Champion

Cadeorade5

Content Creator

Cadeorade5

Content Creator

luxdiablo

Berserk Inferno

Cadeorade5

Content Creator

luxdiablo

Berserk Inferno

Devinator

Novice

Cadeorade5

Content Creator