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Completed Pokemon Little Academy

This project is complete. Any future revisions will be bug fixes or small updates.
Project Status
Completed
title.png


Pokemon Little Academy

Congratulations! You have been granted entrance to the prestigous Uptown Academy for Pokemon Studies! It's an expensive boarding school that focuses on thorough education in any and all things Pokemon. In order for you to have the best experience and not get overwhelmed to quickly, your Pokemon will be artifically forced to stay at a rather low level. As you navigate through your first week at this new school, you will deal with new classmates, tests, field trips, hazing, and that strange locked door in the basement that you probably shouldn't have opened.

...this is a ghost story now.

About

Well, this is my first Game Jam game. Turns out my Computer doesn't really like the summer heat very much, so this came out a lot less polished than I hoped it would be, but the deadline is fast approaching so here we are. When I saw the theme was Simplicity I thought of a game that would keep your Pokemon confined to comparably low levels, thus keeping things 'simple' for the player. The maximum Level Pokemon will reach in this game is 20, with some other level caps throughout, so you will probably see very few evolutions and need to think outside the box at some points.

The theme is also somewhat reflected in the basic looks and the confined setting, but that is only half-intentional and half-coincidental.

Features

About 2 Hours of gameplay

Focus on battling with low-level Pokemon
Access to Egg Moves through the Move Reminder
High-difficulty Post Game Battles to obtain stronger Pokemon

Screenshots

Credits:
Credits:

Game by: Never_this_again

Made for Relic Castle Game Jam #8

Generation 8 Project for Essentials v20.1

Battler Sprites:
Gen 1-5 Pokemon Sprites - veekun
Gen 6 Pokemon Sprites - All Contributors To Smogon X/Y Sprite Project
Gen 7 Pokemon Sprites - All Contributors To Smogon Sun/Moon Sprite Project
Gen 8 Pokemon Sprites - All Contributors To Smogon Sword/Shield Sprite Project
Overworld Sprites
Gen 6+ Berry Tree Overworlds - Anarlaurendil
Gen 6 Pokemon Overworlds - princess-pheonix, LunarDusk, Wolfang62, TintjeMadelintje101, piphybuilder88
Gen 7 Pokemon Overworlds - Larry Turbo, princess-pheonix
Gen 8 Pokemon Overworlds - SageDeoxys, Wolfang62, LarryTurbo, tammyclaydon
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, LarryTurbo
Icon Sprites
Gen 1-6 Pokemon Icon Sprites - Alaguesia
Gen 7 Pokemon Icon Sprites - Marin, MapleBranchWing, Contributors to the DS Styled Gen 7+ Repository
Gen 8 Icon Sprites - Larry Turbo, Leparagon
Cry Credits:
Gen 1-6 Pokemon Cries - Rhyden
Gen 7 Pokemon Cries - Marin, Rhyden
Gen 8 Pokemon Cries - Zeak6464
Script Credits:
Golisopod User, Luka S.J.
Compilation of Resources:
Golisopod User, UberDunsparce

Gen 8 Move Animation Project by:
Project lead by StCooler.
Contributors: StCooler, DarryBD99, WolfPP, ardicoozer, riddlemeree.
Thanks to the Reborn team for letting people use their resources. You are awesome.
Thanks to BellBlitzKing for his Pokemon Sound Effects Pack: Gen 1 to Gen 7 - All Attacks SFX.

SuperSimple Level Cap System by Clara

Rocker, Painter, Ruin Maniac Overworld Sprite by aveontrainer

Marins Map Exporter by Marin

Marins Scripting Utilities by Marin

Ultimate Move Tutor by Grogro

Music:
Team Plasma Plots
The Pokemon Child, N
Innermost of the Hideout
Old Chateau
from ENLS
"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
Golisopod User
Rataime
help-14
Savordez
IceGod64
SoundSpawn
Jacob O. Wobbrock
the__end
KitsuneKouta
Venom12
Lisa Anthony
Wachunga
Luka S.J.
and everyone else who helped out

"mkxp-z" by:
Roza
Based on "mkxp" by Ancurio et al.

"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!

Download:

Download here!

Resource Pack:

Resource Pack here!
 
Last edited:

Porygon2

Novice
Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2020
Posts
16
Played through Little Academy tonight! The Oddish and Diglett in the title screen are cute! I enjoyed the ghost story within the game as well as the focus on lower levels and early evo stage Pokemon. I named my player character LilAcademy.

At the secret room at the end of Act 1, I correctly predicted from the stone in the middle of the room that it would be about Spiritomb! I do wonder at the ending, did the player choose to free Spiritomb? I'm unsure if there was a hint that we did or didn't that I missed, or if it was left to our interpretation. I did see the hammer and chisel item ball on the ground in the last scene, but didn't know if it meant we chose not to free Spiritomb and left the tools behind because we're not going to use them, or if we did free Spiritomb and then left the tools there because they served their purpose and are no longer needed.

Bugs below, separated into sections by the types of bugs:

This wall tile can be walked on:
U5beL4f.png


This poster can be walked on:
4dVVxHG.png

questionnaire should have two ns:
fzRFVar.png


Missing apostrophe in it's:
oxuZkb3.png


The a in introductory here should be an o:
kDjW9cF.png


Missing apostrophe in school's:
3SACvqg.png


Missing apostrophe in school's:
t7luANQ.png


definitely is missing a few letters:
FkVWIUO.png


Missing apostrophe in Benson's:
SbItuvs.png


"one your fellow students" The word of should be between one and your:
DSJ7Q78.png


Missing apostrophe in Cameron's:
z4TX7rR.png


Missing apostrophe in Cameron's:
K1L9bgO.png


lets shouldn't have an apostrophe:
wMTOnU9.png


Missing apostrophe in teachers':
QxFgaeL.png


Missing apostrophe in custodian's:
IP4KBPa.png


The a in Cemetery should be an e:
aH2AJIE.png


Missing apostrophe in Benson's:
TMJAZDL.png


Missing apostrophe in Benson's:
1LXHZRI.png


Two words missing apostrophes here: school's and it's:

pyRVfhd.png


"along trip" should be a long trip:
dbzADL4.png


were shouldn't have an apostrophe:
9mYzwQk.png


Missing apostrophe in yesterday's:
PuRmji4.png


Missing apostrophe in Cameron's:
H3PfN2D.png


Embarrassing is missing one r:
1nU8Jwa.png


save should be safe:
QaJVwkU.png


price should be prize:
AT8hlVu.png


a should be an:
UKOlOPl.png


anyone of you should be any one of you:
8ioAJL5.png


price should be prize:
jbfT96L.png


Missing apostrophe in today's:
kvKT3tM.png


harass has an extra r here:
6ZHM8xj.png


to should be too:
titvE3l.png


come should be some:
xoOitiT.png


save should be safe:
YFXjwU4.png


Missing apostrophe in wanderer's:

yyCHUNy.png


Missing apostrophe in magic's:
2g0P1PL.png


Missing apostrophe in Forbidden's:
9TAD7uf.png


Missing apostrophe in world's:
jW54fbX.png


Missing apostrophe in Forbidden's:
cU6aRhb.png


Missing apostrophe in School's:
E7YEUQn.png


price should be prize:
HLyS7IV.png


The word a should be between as and token. Also, Ms. Collins still says this line on rematches after the first one even though only the first rematch gives the gift Pikachu:
QsLlFeP.png


Missing apostrophe in Today's:
zgXRW4j.png


The first d in gratitude should be a t:
5hCXK2c.png

This feels like what I call a "Forgot to account for other genders moment" that I see in fangames sometimes, like in some where the player character is called he, him, etc. regardless of the gender picked:
kL2cteB.png


Cameron has no dialogue here when it's time to pick a fossil:
8TAiKHy.png


After you do the postgame rematch with Candice, her movement path glitches out causing her to walk into a tree. I think maybe speaking to an NPC makes their movement path start from the beginning after the conversation? But I'm not 100% sure.
dI6j91T.png


After accepting Mr. Benson's postgame rematch, his dialogue changes from the blue text used for male NPCs to the red text used for female NPCs. I think this line might be copy/pasted from a different NPC? I definitely remember someone else saying "Woo! Let's go!" at some point.
VbvZFt2.png


With the other postgame rematches, you get their gift Pokemon once the first time you rematch them, but with Mr. Benson, every rematch gives the gift Dratini, so you can get infinite:
QR5lEmX.png


Ben still says this line on rematches after the first even though only the first rematch gives the gift Carvanha:
zycyBND.png


Ben is here at the same time he's on the highest floor in the postgame:
RrmURA9.png


Darren is here at the same time he's outside the school with Violet in the postgame. He's also talking about Violet getting sick days out of her sprained ankle when she's recovered:
xLpKUo7.png
 
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Finished Little Academy! I had a really fun time!
1660803631646.png
(I put all my screencaps in thumbnail form in the hopes that it would make things a little easier to read but if they're too small you can click on them to get it full sized lol)
The title screen is really cute! I love that little chalk writing for Press Enter!

All the default assets are put to really good use here! (And I like seeing the Bill and Daisy sprites being used, too!) The characterization is all really nice, too, I felt like it was pretty easy to get a hold of the different characters and their interactions!

I like this starter lineup! I know it's very minor to the game as a whole, but I think it's fun when you can tell that a game's come up with a new pattern to pick existing mons for their starters.

Also minor, but I appreciate every trash can having an item, haha

I felt like all the battles did a really good job at challenging the player to manage resources well and strategize with the limit mons and moves they had! When I saw the egg tutor, I kept thinking I'd come across some exploit that would let me cheese the game, but even moves like Brave Bird and Teeter Dance managed to just open up new strategies rather than just sweep every battle!

I LOVE the exam minigame, I always think niche Pokemon trivia is fun

It's really fun getting to see Spiritomb at the center of a horror story! I love the edit mashing it with that PokeStar creature, too! (The tile puzzle for it is also very cool, but I'm a little bitter about that bottom right corner, haha)

The light/shadow effects in the school and grounds came out really nice!

I liked all the little details put into how the academy worked, it felt like a nice dive into how it would actually work!
After seeing that cute title screen, it felt a little disappointing to just see the default load UI! Honestly, I think just a blank version of the chalkboard would work great as a background, like this -
1660774947745.png

I feel like the name windows script would have suited this game well!

A small thing, but I think you could have changed the badge count on the

This is literally the most minor thing but I feel like this should have been three lines -
1660797971846.png


This is similarly minor, but I thought it was a little weird that there wasn't any noise from the healing machine when you used it lol

The wording of the questions could be a bit confusing at times -
  • The first Stunfisk question asks how many types it can have, but it's specifically asking how many types it can have of its own accord - Soak or Trick-or-Treat could add the Water or Ghost types when used against it, and it could turn into any other type with Reflect Type given the right opponent. It's the sort of thing
  • I felt like "takes the first action" was a little confusing - I was thinking that it was in terms of actually carrying out the move and not just preparing it. Maybe "starts its effect first" would be more in the spirit of the question? It also kind of keeps up that trick with Endure and Snatch, like "Hey, Endure has to start its effect before Snatch can steal it, right?"
  • The "which move should not be used" feels a little subjective - I think it would be better as "which move would still have no effect?"

I absolutely loved the beach scene, but when I first came across it, I honestly thought I had stumbled into a secret, not the main story - I feel like it should be a little more clear the player is dreaming and being railroaded to the beach. (Maybe fences in the schoolyard instead of just blocking off the door? That way it's more obvious things have been closed off to the player)

I don't think there were repels anywhere in the game? This usually wasn't much of an issue, you'd have to intentionally enter most patches of grass, and the beach's encounter rate wasn't particularly high, but the caves and the one patch of grass in the dreams got a bit annoying for me - I felt like I had a pretty solid at that point, so the wild Pokemon were just a bother.

Aside from the berries you can pick on the farm, it doesn't seem like there's any held items available for the player to use. (unless I missed some?) This is made more noticeable by how pretty much every Pokemon you face is holding a Berry Juice or Oran Berry. Maybe the player could buy Berry Juices from the chefs or the groundskeeper? You could keep it at a higher price so that players don't rely too heavily on them, but still give them an opportunity in a pinch.

Fletchling and Larvesta had a strangely small movepool from the beach man?

It was kind of annoying hearing the same lines about "I'm just having a rest" every time I left the beach map and came back to the man.

The player's Pokemon often aren't healed after major story events, even when the player's explicitly said to have gone to sleep. It was a little bit of a hassle to have to check my party to see if they had been healed and/or trek back to a healing station every time I forgot.

I honestly don't think I would have solved the descending stairs puzzle without poking in the files. (Honestly, I wasn't even checking for the solution in the files, I had just figured that there had been an error in one of the events that I could fix) I think the main issue is that it takes five loops to even have the initial hint - I think you could work around this by adding some more little changes to the map with each loop - maybe the tint changes slightly, maybe some objects rearrange themselves, etc. (I think you could change the door's charset to be slightly more open on a couple loops, too, although that might be a bit on the nose) That way, the player at least knows that descending the stairs is doing something, and they can try to poke around some more with each descent.

The bright key item jingle kind of kills the mood of "ancient evil draws you deep underground". (Honestly, since it's the only key item you receive, you could just edit that ME directly, or you could use the add silent command and just play a custom ME)

I think there should be an option to just go straight to the dorm room after the field trip and the surprise test - I get having the option to let players run around a little more, but I was left with the impression that there was still something left before bed, so I wasted some time running around trying to find the next step.

The 100 frames stillness in the final cutscene felt a little too long, but that might just be personal taste.

After the player tells the other dorm kids about the secret room, it feels like the ghost plot and the main school plot ended up separating. Like, when I saw the wild Pokemon and items in the dreams, I was like "Oh, cool, physical evidence that I can show to my classmates to tell them something weird's going on," but the subject just totally dropped from there. Apart from the mentions of the player sleeping late and their weird behavior on the dig site trip, I don't think it ever comes up again. I think both stories were still perfectly enjoyable on their own, but I had kind of hoped that they would have interacted a bit more.

Between the posters in the bedrooms and Giovanni's sprite being used for the player's dad, I was thinking the player had some Rocket-related backstory that was coming into play, so I was a little confused when nothing came of it, haha. (I think it's probably more the posters than Giovanni that gave me that impression, honestly)

It felt a little weird to me that Cam didn't act as a standard partner trainer in the dig site, but I understand why it was done, so I'm putting it as a critique instead of an error lol.

Minor, but it also felt a little weird that Cam didn't acknowledge the tablets completely breaking down - felt like that was toeing the line of "We might get caught".

I think my late-night playing habits were partly to blame, but there were some ways where I felt like the Spiritomb fight crossed over from "hard" to "annoying". I think the main issues were:
  • It wasn't really communicated that Spiritomb has Magic Guard. I ended up wasting a lot of time trying to incorporate Leech Seed into my strategy before I ended up checking the PBS.
  • It's difficult to try to teambuild at this point in the game. The only PC is way back in Dorm?, a long walk away, and there's no move reminder, which has the trouble of
    • a) keeping you from any past moves that you know could be useful - I knew I should have had Stun Spore instead of Leech Seed, but no chance to change that now
    • b) making it a little more of a hassle to experiment with different movesets. ("I can replace this move with a TM for now, but what if I want to use the move again later? Better just soft reset every time so I don't forget the move permanently")
The link to the Essentials wiki is still in the game's folder

The show choices command in the intro isn't placed directly after a text command, so it looks like this
1660720761626.png

Ashlyn moves weird when you go up stairs, but I think that's an issue with followers in general.
1660797796723.png


Fletchling isn't compatible with Aerial Ace? I know moveset errors are a whole ordeal in a game, especially a jam game, but in this case it kind of stands out because they're some of the earlier TMs/Pokemon.

I might be thinking of the wrong day, but I think it's the first day in class - the camera has moved a bit to show the class in full, but then the player moves, and the camera snaps over to center on them again, instead of panning back over.

The battlebacks in the schoolyard still displayed the daytime graphics when I battled at night. (It seemed like night encounters were working fine, I caught a Poochyena, it just didn't display at night)

Resting in the dorm room at night resets the screen tone until the player steps out of the room.

The transition out of the nurse's office at night gets janky, probably something to do with how the alternate music and fog is set up.


Sometimes the railroading switches between "You should go the library with the others" and "I should" ("I should check out the library")

On hazing night, Evie talks with blue text.

I'd have to rewatch to be sure, but I think that the door in the occult room reset itself after creaking open on its own.

The kids all pass through the player on their way to the farm.

In the cutscene where the player recounts the night, someone tells Cam to shut up - the text says it's Evie, but it's Ash who turns to Cam.

Wild encounters in the player's dreams use the right background, but the battlebase still uses the standard grass.
1660797727066.png
On the day of the first exam, Wallace is in the cafeteria and the classroom at once.

Ms. Collins lists Cam, Violet, and Evie as the missing students for the exam, but there's only two empty desks?

When she collects the papers, she starts with the leftmost desk in the front row, which is empty.

The lose text still says you go to a Pokemon Center, but none of the locations you heal at are ever described as a PMC.

There wasn't any rumbling noise after solving the Spiritomb puzzle.

That one archeologist still says "we might have visitors today" in the evening, after the tour's concluded.

Even though Cam says they don't let you keep your fossils, the fossil is still in your bag.

The overworld tint gets messed up exiting the first aid tent in the evening. (not any of the others, weirdly)

With some of the dream maps, something about the map transitions - maybe the change tone? - temporarily showed color
1660797927994.png

If the player enters Dorm? from Forest?, it will be storming inside.
1660773440644.png

Spiritomb's sprite is just a little too big for the battle scene.
1660798072182.png

In the postgame, Darren and Ben can still be found in the library, even though you can also find them outside and in the auditorium.

On rematches, Ms. Collins still says "Let me give you this as token though". (She doesn't give you anything, though)

Mr. Benson doesn't have a separate event page for rematches, so he'll give extra Dratinis. (and increase the Postgame fights variable repeatedly)

Ashlyn's spritesheet seems to be just slightly out of line from the others - it's only noticeable in this scene when everyone's lined up -
1660797634593.png

In the postgame, talking to Darren starts with Violet's dialogue, which makes it look like it's the wrong NPC -
1660804338940.png
1660773392823.png

1660797699666.png

This one might be intentional, wasn't sure - a little bit of reflective void visible here
1660773466662.png
Pokemon is missing the é everywhere, but I figure you're aware of that
  • its not complicated - it's
  • the schools Nurse - school's
  • If you want one regardless, you only need to ask though. - to ask, though.
  • schools default Running Shoes - school's
  • in this area I'm afraid - area, I'm afraid
  • you'll definetly get some - definitely
  • Mr. Bensons classroom - Benson's
  • I'll have one your fellow - one of your fellow
  • Camerons new roommate - Cameron's
  • for everyone including \PN - everyone, including
  • Camerons absence - Cameron's
  • open your textbooks on page - to page
  • Don't invite it though - invite it, though
  • Join the Class President Election -
  • locks all the medicine cabinets though - cabinets, though
  • a little early for dinner though - dinner, though
  • If you're hungry you can - If you're hungry, you
  • locked at night though - night, though
  • let's me eat early - lets me eat
  • keep it quiet though - quiet, though
  • custodians room - custodian's (or custodians' if there's more than one)
  • Bite me Ashy - Bite me, Ashy
  • for you Cam - for you, Cam
  • dinner together I guess - together, I guess
  • okay Ben? - okay, Ben?
  • Well you best start - Well, you best
  • What did you think by the way? - think, by the way?
  • can probably break it though - it, though
  • Mr. Bensons classroom - Benson's
  • Mr. Bensons field trips - Benon's
  • As you know we had - As you know, we
  • Oh for crying - Oh, for
  • to hurry along though - along, though
  • I..., - no comma
  • Chroma Caves here we come! - Chroma Caves, here
  • the schools berry fields - school's
  • its always nice - it's
  • be along trip - be a long trip
  • We we're down there -I think you meant to delete the first We
  • Just a heads up though - heads up, though
  • did Camerons snoring - Cameron's
  • you thought you were save - thought you were safe
  • I'm terribly sorry you may be taken off guard by this - I'm terribly sorry, you may
  • you will receive the special price - prize
  • todays unannounced exam - today's
  • As per the rules the next exam - As per the rules,
  • but it doesn't open either - open, either
  • Uptown Schools boarding program - School's
  • you need to question your life choices \PN - choices, \PN
  • Alright \PN - Alright, \PN
  • go without saying though - saying, though
  • If they wanna chat with you that's fine - with you, that's fine
  • If you need anything I'll be in the main - anything, I'll be
  • Yeah, they're so boring Candace - boring, Candace
  • way to warm for this - way too warm
  • if this is come kind of - some kind of
  • Do you need like water or - Do you need, like, water or
  • we should join the others at the bus though - at the bus, though
  • leave now, alright kids? - alright, kids?
  • Mr. Benson can we go - Mr. Benson, can
  • was no one save and - no one safe
  • a fervent wanderers will - wanderer's
  • was under magics mighty - magic's
  • The Forbiddens - The Forbidden's
  • come our worlds most - world's most
  • The Forbiddens fullest - Forbidden's fullest
  • Come on now - Come on, now
  • After that there will - After that, there
  • If you change your mind we'll be here - your mind, we'll be here
  • Hi \PN. Todays food is great so look forward to it. - Hi, \PN. Today's food is great, so look forward to it.
  • Let me give you this as token though - as a token, though.

Also,
Is there any bonus for completing all the postgame battles? I didn't quite have the energy to track down and beat everyone just for completion, but I'd be down to do it if there's a bonus scene or something I'm missing out on, haha
 
Last edited:

Never_this_again

Trainer
Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2021
Posts
79
Thanks for your comments guys!

And thanks for the typo's/Errors, I'll release a new version fixing those things one of these days.

At the secret room at the end of Act 1, I correctly predicted from the stone in the middle of the room that it would be about Spiritomb! I do wonder at the ending, did the player choose to free Spiritomb? I'm unsure if there was a hint that we did or didn't that I missed, or if it was left to our interpretation. I did see the hammer and chisel item ball on the ground in the last scene, but didn't know if it meant we chose not to free Spiritomb and left the tools behind because we're not going to use them, or if we did free Spiritomb and then left the tools there because they served their purpose and are no longer needed.
A lot of the story is left up for interpretation, but I intended the ending to be that the player does not free Spiritomb and leaves the tools behind because they won't use them.

The wording of the questions could be a bit confusing at times -
  • The first Stunfisk question asks how many types it can have, but it's specifically asking how many types it can have of its own accord - Soak or Trick-or-Treat could add the Water or Ghost types when used against it, and it could turn into any other type with Reflect Type given the right opponent. It's the sort of thing
  • I felt like "takes the first action" was a little confusing - I was thinking that it was in terms of actually carrying out the move and not just preparing it. Maybe "starts its effect first" would be more in the spirit of the question? It also kind of keeps up that trick with Endure and Snatch, like "Hey, Endure has to start its effect before Snatch can steal it, right?"
  • The "which move should not be used" feels a little subjective - I think it would be better as "which move would still have no effect?"

For the Stunfisk, I totally forgot that it could change types via moves as well, I'll change it accordingly. As for the other two questions, I tried for some time to word the question in a way that you could notice there's a trick to that question, but not be super obvious about it. But I like your wordings, I'll look into changing them.

I absolutely loved the beach scene, but when I first came across it, I honestly thought I had stumbled into a secret, not the main story - I feel like it should be a little more clear the player is dreaming and being railroaded to the beach. (Maybe fences in the schoolyard instead of just blocking off the door? That way it's more obvious things have been closed off to the player)

I tried to alter some things in the schoolyard map for the first nightmare scene, like making the fence blue instead of brown, making the flowers partially white, flipping the lamp posts and a few more minor things. But if that's not noticeable enough, I'll try and see what else I can do with it.

I don't think there were repels anywhere in the game? This usually wasn't much of an issue, you'd have to intentionally enter most patches of grass, and the beach's encounter rate wasn't particularly high, but the caves and the one patch of grass in the dreams got a bit annoying for me - I felt like I had a pretty solid at that point, so the wild Pokemon were just a bother.

I don't wanna lie but I'm pretty sure there's a repel or two lying around somewhere, I'd need to check though. If there aren't I'll add a few.

Fletchling and Larvesta had a strangely small movepool from the beach man?

I tested most Pokemon and they all had a decently large move pool, (some better and some not so good) and then I just assumed that every other Pokemon had that too. I'll look into Fletchling and Larvesta and see if I can find any other like them.

After the player tells the other dorm kids about the secret room, it feels like the ghost plot and the main school plot ended up separating. Like, when I saw the wild Pokemon and items in the dreams, I was like "Oh, cool, physical evidence that I can show to my classmates to tell them something weird's going on," but the subject just totally dropped from there. Apart from the mentions of the player sleeping late and their weird behavior on the dig site trip, I don't think it ever comes up again. I think both stories were still perfectly enjoyable on their own, but I had kind of hoped that they would have interacted a bit more.

That was intentional. My original plan was for both the stories to kinda mash into each other with Spiritomb crossing into the real world and the final battle taking place at the school instead of a nightmare, in a mirror of the hazing sequence. But then I was like, if Spiritomb is powerful enough to possess real people to battle for it, why can't it just use one of those to smash the rock? So I went the other way and made it so it's never really clear if what's happening is real or just in the players' head.

I think my late-night playing habits were partly to blame, but there were some ways where I felt like the Spiritomb fight crossed over from "hard" to "annoying". I think the main issues were:
  • It wasn't really communicated that Spiritomb has Magic Guard. I ended up wasting a lot of time trying to incorporate Leech Seed into my strategy before I ended up checking the PBS.
  • It's difficult to try to teambuild at this point in the game. The only PC is way back in Dorm?, a long walk away, and there's no move reminder, which has the trouble of
    • a) keeping you from any past moves that you know could be useful - I knew I should have had Stun Spore instead of Leech Seed, but no chance to change that now
    • b) making it a little more of a hassle to experiment with different movesets. ("I can replace this move with a TM for now, but what if I want to use the move again later? Better just soft reset every time so I don't forget the move permanently")

I had a feeling that might be the case. Maybe I'll put the move reminder somewhere in the nightmare, for you to at least have access to that.

Is there any bonus for completing all the postgame battles? I didn't quite have the energy to track down and beat everyone just for completion, but I'd be down to do it if there's a bonus scene or something I'm missing out on, haha

There was supposed to be, but I ran out of time to implement it. After beating all the trainers you would've gotten the Untethered Spiritomb in a small scene in the occult room. Not that there'd be anything for you to do with that, but it felt fitting as a 100% reward. But as it stands now, there's no reward.
 
Just finished the game on stream! Here are some fresh thoughts!
I had a great time playing this game, I really appreciate how complete it feels. Often when playing jam games you can tell that they feel a bit rushed, or incomplete. But the pacing of this game was really solid and I loved how it set everything up. The setting of the school was great and I feel like it was really well utilized. Going on field trips, getting up to hijinks with my friends, it all felt really nice. Overall this game sells a really nice complete package.

I do have a couple criticisms though, part of this is because I am a rather casual player, and not great when it comes to competitive battling. But a lot of the fights, in particular the final gauntlet again the 4 trainers in the "dream", felt rather harsh. The pokemon are loaded with rather competitive movesets. And while we do have the move teacher on the beach, and a couple TMs, it doesn't really feel fair.

And I really did like the homage to PT in the dream, however I think that puzzle could use a bit of tweaking. I kind of screwed myself over, because while I did keep on continuing the loop, I also kept checking my bedroom behind me to see if anything would change in there. And unbeknownst to me, going backwards actually resets the counter. So I didn't realise how things operated until I actually took a peak into the game files to figure out what to do.

All that being said, this was actually a really good, complete and whole experience. I genuinely had an amazing time and loved the story that you told, and how you told it. Great work, you should be proud.
 

Never_this_again

Trainer
Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2021
Posts
79
Thanks! After looking at your VOD, maybe the hallway puzzle is indeed to cryptic if you don't know what you're supposed to do. I'll look into that, as well as the battle difficulty for an eventual patch.
 

Kyogesh

Trainer
Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2020
Posts
54
Can you tell me what to do in this dream, when i cross the down staircase i will reach my room door , there is no hint to find what to do?
 

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Can you tell me what to do in this dream, when i cross the down staircase i will reach my room door , there is no hint to find what to do?
You need to go through the door to the left many times, I think about 8, without going back in your room door. Then the door in the middle of the hallway above you, which used to not be able to go through, should be open.

If that isn't too clear, this video of mine shows how to do it at around 30 minutes in
 

Never_this_again

Trainer
Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2021
Posts
79
Well, now that the Game Jam is over it's time (and totally not because I didn't get around to doing this earlier) for an update.

What changed:
  • Name Windows.
  • The Hallway Loop puzzle has been made a little easier and there's now a visual tell towards the solution.
  • Some of the test questions have been reworded.
  • Some Pokemon in the later game no longer hold items to make those battles a little easier.
  • The Move Tutor can now also be found in the final game area, in addition to that.
  • Some different Items are now available, and the Berry guy has an additional purpose now.
  • Some more very minor changes as well as typo fixes.

The Download Link has been replaced, have fun with the new version!
 
Hey, I just played your game and I made a video about it which you can find here! I'll leave some thoughts here, but I think the video goes over it better.

Overall, I thought this game was really fun and very underrated! I love the dialogue and aesthetic of the game a ton, I think that it really feels like what I imagine a boarding school environment feels like. Additionally, I think that the plot is pretty good, and I especially loved how the Forbidden is written, I think the tone makes the player think introspectively and fuels the mystery behind what's going on. Finally, I just want to point out how polished the entire experience is! I can tell you're a great dev, and this game was great in pretty much every aspect!
 

Never_this_again

Trainer
Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2021
Posts
79
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the game. To answer at least one question from your video:
The reason why Cameron (or Ashlyn in act one for that matter) doesn't act as a partner trainer is pretty mundane: I didn't have a backsprite for him, and I didn't know if I could make one that would look okay-ish within the time I had left (or just generally one that looks okay-ish).
 

safr

Elite Trainer
Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2021
Posts
323
It's pretty rare seeing game with school background, if you have time maybe in the future i hope you can visit this and expand this amazing game and it idea
 

Never_this_again

Trainer
Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2021
Posts
79
how to do a screenshot
Generally with your regular screenshot button. Iirc there is a button for screenshots that's specific to Essentials (I think F9 but I'm not sure) but I never used it so I couldn't tell you.
help on the areodaytle puzzle
The puzzle should always be the same, so the below is one possible solution.
2023-06-14.png


Just click those tiles in this order.
 

dragonlord765

Rookie
Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2024
Posts
1
Generally with your regular screenshot button. Iirc there is a button for screenshots that's specific to Essentials (I think F9 but I'm not sure) but I never used it so I couldn't tell you.

The puzzle should always be the same, so the below is one possible solution.
View attachment 18502

Just click those tiles in this order.
for the first cave puzzle in pokemon little academy would you please be able to send the picture of the puzzle please
 
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