Released Pokémon Paranormal

Cuprite (Kyu) · Aug 10, 2022

I recognize those RPG Maker MV icons anywhere!
No, but in all seriousness, this looks cool. :)

Tristantine The Great · Aug 12, 2022

I've been looking forward to this.

Can't wait to have the chance to play it!

Thundaga · Aug 12, 2022

I just uploaded Pokemon Paranormal v1.0.1! This is a small update with a couple bugfixes and small QOL tweaks! Please let me know if you have any feedback, and I hope you ~~get spooked~~ enjoy the game!

Thundaga · Aug 15, 2022

I just uploaded Pokemon Paranormal v1.0.2! This is a super small update!

This update just changes the Clefable icons to display the correct Pokemon. They were Blissey before, can you believe I never caught that in testing?

Also I made a very spooky trailer for Pokemon Paranormal, check it out!

TechSkylander1518 · Aug 24, 2022

I usually struggle with exactly this sort of game (first-person and light management - just a tricky combo for me to navigate), but I had a lot of fun with this! (Definitely still got spooked, though!)

I don't think I have the skills(/patience) to manage a 1HP run and get the bonus round.

I might give it a shot later, though!

The atmosphere in the game is excellent! The flickering street lights were a great tone setter, haha, it started off really strong and kept the creepy energy the whole time! I think Haunter and Gengar were my favorite of the ghosts, the shadows always made them scary, even if you kept your flashlight on an approaching one!

I loved the dynamic of the detectives, and the idea of a team of Pokemon teaming up to solve mysteries! It feels kind of reminiscent of Mystery Dungeon and Detective Pikachu, in a great way!

I love the different skills of the detectives! They all work in the Pokemon's abilities perfectly, and they give the player a great variety of playstyles to choose from!

This might just be a limit of the engine, but it felt a little odd having the mouse restricted to the window and having to Alt+Tab to switch to another window instead of just clicking out.

I might have just missed it, but I don't think it's explicitly said this game autosaves? I was a little worried about losing my progress until I figured that out, haha.

I think the guide should be made part of the main menu of the Agency (along with Map/Records/Options), rather than being tucked away under Records. It's not quite the first place I'd look to find tutorials, and there was definitely some things from the guide I wish I knew sooner, like using the flashlight to slow ghosts and their behavior changing over time.
(Honestly, for that matter, Records doesn't seem like quite the right place for Credits, Concept Art, and Rewatching Scenes, it kind of feels like they should all be grouped in a "Bonuses" menu or something. That's not as much of an issue, though, since you're explicitly told to check out the Records page after completing the main game)

Speaking of the guide - there's this part that says "Items" with nothing underneath it - I don't know if it was supposed to be scrollable or if it's just a scrapped section.

I don't think the guide explains how the stars are calculated? I'm guessing it's just time, but I thought other factors like damage taken or amount of batteries taken might also be a factor.

The red around the camera when you take too much damage can block the view of shorter obstacles like the fenceposts. (That one might be intentional, just figured I'd mention just in case)

The controls felt a little awkward - they're kind of in this little cluster of letter keys together, which makes it hard to do multiple actions at once sometimes. Personally, I would change it to this -

Remove the Interact function entirely - the doors open on their own once the player collects the keys, and they can just get close enough to items to collect them. (I'm pretty sure I never actually used it in my playthrough)
- Alternatively, make the Enter key the interact key, so you're using more of the bigger keys on the keyboard for the controls.
In its place, make left click trigger the Pokemon's ability instead. Pikachu and Pancham's abilities have to be aimed with the camera anyways, this combines the whole action to one hand.
Make the space trigger the dash instead of the shift key. Holding shift while you're using WASD to move around is doable, but kind of makes you bend your fingers in a weird position. (at least if you do it the way I did, pinky on shift and middle on W while I used the mouse to turn) I think it's a lot easier to hold the space bar with your thumb with your hand in the same position.
In its place, make the shift key toggle the flashlight. It's still close to the WASD keys, but it uses a bigger key instead. (The pinky issue isn't as big a deal when you just tap it instead of holding it)
- Alternatively, make right clicking toggle the flashlight, since it's also camera-based.

I think this might also help people who want to use their left hand to control the mouse - as it is now, if you're using your right hand on the arrow keys, you kind of have to move it across the keyboard for the flashlight/action keys.

This may just be salt, but I feel like the spot behind the baby gates should be a sort of safe space for the player - kind of sucks to grab the last thing you need and then get cornered by the level's ghost, haha.

I feel like fading out the portrait sprites made it a little tricky to notice changes in their expression. The conversations between the detectives tend to involve a lot of visual reactions from whoever's not speaking, which is a great touch, but it's easy to skip over when the visual focus is centered on just the one. (I almost missed Pikachu and Kirlia's reactions to "Maybe we should let Igglybuff get captured again!", which would have been a tragedy) I'm not quite sure what I'd suggest instead, though, I don't think keeping them fully opaque would necessarily be better. Maybe just slightly increasing the opacity from what it is now...?

I wish it was a little more clear that the Thundaga clicks would open a new tab - I went right to spamming it for that speed boost and got 30 tabs at once.

I can't really read any of the text on the initial notes in Concept Art - it might be good to offer an option to scroll through the gallery with the image zoomed in.

I think Pokémon is spelled without the é everywhere it appears.

Ghost would sometimes alternate between being capitalized or not - I assume because sometimes it was referring to the type, and sometimes just to the concept of a ghost in general - but there were some times I thought it was capitalized when it shouldn't be when it was, or vice versa.

2 Ghosts... 3 babies...
a strong Dark Pokemon is controlling these Ghosts
Those ghost Pokemon are on a bit of a rampage

So, what do you think guys? - So, what do you think, guys?
Heck yeah man! - Heck yeah, man!
Oh boy! - Oh, boy!
Oh man - Oh, man
Oh thank you so much! - Oh, thank you so much!
Supposedly there have been Haunter sightings - Supposedly, there have been
Goodbye Pika Detective Agency! - Goodbye, Pika Detective Agency!
all in a days work - all in a day's work
Oh my baby! - Oh, my baby!
Come on Cleffa - Come on, Cleffa!
You're very welcome though - You're very welcome, though
Great work gang! - Great work, gang
I hear you loud and clear guys! - I hear you loud and clear, guys!
I'm mostly in it to help people though! - I'm mostly in it to help people, though!
Don't worry about any payment for now either. - Don't worry about any payment for now, either
but thank you Gogoat! - but thank you, Gogoat!
Alright gang - Alright, gang
Thank you so much for rescuing me Pika Detective Agency! - rescuing me, Pika Detective Agency!
You're welcome Skiddo! - You're welcome, Skiddo!
are blowing my mind Kirlia! - are blowing my mind, Kirlia!
Oh thank goodness you're safe Skiddo! - Oh, thank goodness you're safe, Skiddo!
Come on Skiddo - Come on, Skiddo
Thanks you two! - Thanks, you two!
Thank you again Pika Detective Agency! - Thank you again, Pika Detective Agency!
Let's head out Skiddo! - Let's head out, Skiddo!
Bye friends! - Bye, friends!
Bye Skiddo and Gogoat! - Bye, Skiddo and Gogoat!
Good job team! - Good job, team!
What do you wanna talk about Kirlia? - What do you wanna talk about, Kirlia?
happen any time soon I fear - any time soon, I fear
Thank you Kirlia. - Thank you, Kirlia
Dang though - Dang, though
anything you can sense right now Kirlia - anything you can sense right now, Kirlia
Oh thank you! - Oh, thank you!
You should really be careful around there though - You really should be careful around there, though
Goodbye Pika Detective Agency! -
Alright guys, - Alright, guys
That's the spirit Pancham! - That's the spirit, Pancham!
Alright gang, - Alright, gang
Great work again gang! - Great work again, gang!
We are a detective agency after all! - We are a detective agency, after all!
a family of Wigglytuffand - it looked like a space was missing between "Wigglytuff" and "and", but that might have just been the font making it look like that
Oh thank you so much! - Oh, thank you so much!
Goodbye Pika Detective Agency! - Goodbye, Pika Detective Agency!
Thats a good plan! - That's a good plan!
avoiding Ghost pokemon at this - Pokémon should be capitalized
Did they now? Well that's fantastic! I'm so glad you're safe honey! - Did they, now? Well, that's fantastic! I'm so glad you're safe, honey!
Thank you again for everything Pika Detective Agency! -
Thank you friends! - Thank you, friends!
Have a good one you two! - Have a good one, you two!
Kidding of course! - Kidding, of course!
How about you Pancham? - How about you, Pancham?
This is really good progress though! - This is really good progress, though!

(The main issue I saw coming up - and the main grammar issue I see in a lot of fan games, honestly - is skipping a comma when a sentence is directed at someone. It doesn't usually cause any confusion because you have the context implying it, but if you look at just the sentence on its own, you can see how it helps to have it there to make it clear. I'm gonna try to do some goofy examples (like Eats Shoots and Leaves) to explain a little better -

"Let's head out Skiddo!" - Telling Skiddo to leave, or telling someone to leave through Skiddo?
"Great work gang!" - Telling the gang "great work", or just shouting the name of the great work gang, the group known for their quality efforts?
"That's the spirit Pancham!" - Encouraging Pancham, or identifying which Pancham is a ghost?
"Thank you so much for rescuing me Pika Detective Agency!" -Thanking the detectives, or a pirate thanking someone for rescuing his detective agency?

Tomix9tomix · Sep 19, 2022

Just finished streaming the game!
Some thoughts:

I had a lot of fun and a lot of struggle. The first time I tried to clear the cave mission was hell for me, I just got pounded and pounded! But eventually I did it, and when I came back again to do it on 1 HP it didn't take me too long, which is a sign that I actually got better which is pretty cool.

I ended up 100%ing it and doing the secret mission on 1hp too, it was really fun, and damn that "ghost" in the secret mission is SUPER fast.
I really don't have anything bad to say about this game, I found it very reminiscent of the early Slenderman games which felt quite nostalgic for me :)
You really stepped out of your comfort zone and made something super unique, and it was 100% worth it! I'm looking forward to whatever is next :P

Here are my records, nothing fast but to be honest I'm just proud that I managed to clear it.

Thundaga · Sep 22, 2022

TechSkylander1518 said:
I usually struggle with exactly this sort of game (first-person and light management - just a tricky combo for me to navigate), but I had a lot of fun with this! (Definitely still got spooked, though!)

View attachment 12105

I don't think I have the skills(/patience) to manage a 1HP run and get the bonus round. I might give it a shot later, though!

The atmosphere in the game is excellent! The flickering street lights were a great tone setter, haha, it started off really strong and kept the creepy energy the whole time! I think Haunter and Gengar were my favorite of the ghosts, the shadows always made them scary, even if you kept your flashlight on an approaching one!

I loved the dynamic of the detectives, and the idea of a team of Pokemon teaming up to solve mysteries! It feels kind of reminiscent of Mystery Dungeon and Detective Pikachu, in a great way!

I love the different skills of the detectives! They all work in the Pokemon's abilities perfectly, and they give the player a great variety of playstyles to choose from!

This might just be a limit of the engine, but it felt a little odd having the mouse restricted to the window and having to Alt+Tab to switch to another window instead of just clicking out.

I might have just missed it, but I don't think it's explicitly said this game autosaves? I was a little worried about losing my progress until I figured that out, haha.

I think the guide should be made part of the main menu of the Agency (along with Map/Records/Options), rather than being tucked away under Records. It's not quite the first place I'd look to find tutorials, and there was definitely some things from the guide I wish I knew sooner, like using the flashlight to slow ghosts and their behavior changing over time.
(Honestly, for that matter, Records doesn't seem like quite the right place for Credits, Concept Art, and Rewatching Scenes, it kind of feels like they should all be grouped in a "Bonuses" menu or something. That's not as much of an issue, though, since you're explicitly told to check out the Records page after completing the main game)

Speaking of the guide - there's this part that says "Items" with nothing underneath it - I don't know if it was supposed to be scrollable or if it's just a scrapped section.
View attachment 12106

I don't think the guide explains how the stars are calculated? I'm guessing it's just time, but I thought other factors like damage taken or amount of batteries taken might also be a factor.

The red around the camera when you take too much damage can block the view of shorter obstacles like the fenceposts. (That one might be intentional, just figured I'd mention just in case)

The controls felt a little awkward - they're kind of in this little cluster of letter keys together, which makes it hard to do multiple actions at once sometimes. Personally, I would change it to this -

Remove the Interact function entirely - the doors open on their own once the player collects the keys, and they can just get close enough to items to collect them. (I'm pretty sure I never actually used it in my playthrough)

Alternatively, make the Enter key the interact key, so you're using more of the bigger keys on the keyboard for the controls.

In its place, make left click trigger the Pokemon's ability instead. Pikachu and Pancham's abilities have to be aimed with the camera anyways, this combines the whole action to one hand.

Make the space trigger the dash instead of the shift key. Holding shift while you're using WASD to move around is doable, but kind of makes you bend your fingers in a weird position. (at least if you do it the way I did, pinky on shift and middle on W while I used the mouse to turn) I think it's a lot easier to hold the space bar with your thumb with your hand in the same position.

In its place, make the shift key toggle the flashlight. It's still close to the WASD keys, but it uses a bigger key instead. (The pinky issue isn't as big a deal when you just tap it instead of holding it)

Alternatively, make right clicking toggle the flashlight, since it's also camera-based.

I think this might also help people who want to use their left hand to control the mouse - as it is now, if you're using your right hand on the arrow keys, you kind of have to move it across the keyboard for the flashlight/action keys.

This may just be salt, but I feel like the spot behind the baby gates should be a sort of safe space for the player - kind of sucks to grab the last thing you need and then get cornered by the level's ghost, haha.

I feel like fading out the portrait sprites made it a little tricky to notice changes in their expression. The conversations between the detectives tend to involve a lot of visual reactions from whoever's not speaking, which is a great touch, but it's easy to skip over when the visual focus is centered on just the one. (I almost missed Pikachu and Kirlia's reactions to "Maybe we should let Igglybuff get captured again!", which would have been a tragedy) I'm not quite sure what I'd suggest instead, though, I don't think keeping them fully opaque would necessarily be better. Maybe just slightly increasing the opacity from what it is now...?

I wish it was a little more clear that the Thundaga clicks would open a new tab - I went right to spamming it for that speed boost and got 30 tabs at once.

I can't really read any of the text on the initial notes in Concept Art - it might be good to offer an option to scroll through the gallery with the image zoomed in.

I think Pokémon is spelled without the é everywhere it appears.

Ghost would sometimes alternate between being capitalized or not - I assume because sometimes it was referring to the type, and sometimes just to the concept of a ghost in general - but there were some times I thought it was capitalized when it shouldn't be when it was, or vice versa.

2 Ghosts... 3 babies...

a strong Dark Pokemon is controlling these Ghosts

Those ghost Pokemon are on a bit of a rampage

So, what do you think guys? - So, what do you think, guys?

Heck yeah man! - Heck yeah, man!

Oh boy! - Oh, boy!

Oh man - Oh, man

Oh thank you so much! - Oh, thank you so much!

Supposedly there have been Haunter sightings - Supposedly, there have been

Goodbye Pika Detective Agency! - Goodbye, Pika Detective Agency!

all in a days work - all in a day's work

Oh my baby! - Oh, my baby!

Come on Cleffa - Come on, Cleffa!

You're very welcome though - You're very welcome, though

Great work gang! - Great work, gang

I hear you loud and clear guys! - I hear you loud and clear, guys!

I'm mostly in it to help people though! - I'm mostly in it to help people, though!

Don't worry about any payment for now either. - Don't worry about any payment for now, either

but thank you Gogoat! - but thank you, Gogoat!

Alright gang - Alright, gang

Thank you so much for rescuing me Pika Detective Agency! - rescuing me, Pika Detective Agency!

You're welcome Skiddo! - You're welcome, Skiddo!

are blowing my mind Kirlia! - are blowing my mind, Kirlia!

Oh thank goodness you're safe Skiddo! - Oh, thank goodness you're safe, Skiddo!

Come on Skiddo - Come on, Skiddo

Thanks you two! - Thanks, you two!

Thank you again Pika Detective Agency! - Thank you again, Pika Detective Agency!

Let's head out Skiddo! - Let's head out, Skiddo!

Bye friends! - Bye, friends!

Bye Skiddo and Gogoat! - Bye, Skiddo and Gogoat!

Good job team! - Good job, team!

What do you wanna talk about Kirlia? - What do you wanna talk about, Kirlia?

happen any time soon I fear - any time soon, I fear

Thank you Kirlia. - Thank you, Kirlia

Dang though - Dang, though

anything you can sense right now Kirlia - anything you can sense right now, Kirlia

Oh thank you! - Oh, thank you!

You should really be careful around there though - You really should be careful around there, though

Goodbye Pika Detective Agency! -

Alright guys, - Alright, guys

That's the spirit Pancham! - That's the spirit, Pancham!

Alright gang, - Alright, gang

Great work again gang! - Great work again, gang!

We are a detective agency after all! - We are a detective agency, after all!

a family of Wigglytuffand - it looked like a space was missing between "Wigglytuff" and "and", but that might have just been the font making it look like that

Oh thank you so much! - Oh, thank you so much!

Goodbye Pika Detective Agency! - Goodbye, Pika Detective Agency!

Thats a good plan! - That's a good plan!

avoiding Ghost pokemon at this - Pokémon should be capitalized

Did they now? Well that's fantastic! I'm so glad you're safe honey! - Did they, now? Well, that's fantastic! I'm so glad you're safe, honey!

Thank you again for everything Pika Detective Agency! -

Thank you friends! - Thank you, friends!

Have a good one you two! - Have a good one, you two!

Kidding of course! - Kidding, of course!

How about you Pancham? - How about you, Pancham?

This is really good progress though! - This is really good progress, though!

(The main issue I saw coming up - and the main grammar issue I see in a lot of fan games, honestly - is skipping a comma when a sentence is directed at someone. It doesn't usually cause any confusion because you have the context implying it, but if you look at just the sentence on its own, you can see how it helps to have it there to make it clear. I'm gonna try to do some goofy examples (like Eats Shoots and Leaves) to explain a little better -

"Let's head out Skiddo!" - Telling Skiddo to leave, or telling someone to leave through Skiddo?

"Great work gang!" - Telling the gang "great work", or just shouting the name of the great work gang, the group known for their quality efforts?

"That's the spirit Pancham!" - Encouraging Pancham, or identifying which Pancham is a ghost?

"Thank you so much for rescuing me Pika Detective Agency!" -Thanking the detectives, or a pirate thanking someone for rescuing his detective agency?

Tomix9tomix said:
Just finished streaming the game!
Some thoughts:

I had a lot of fun and a lot of struggle. The first time I tried to clear the cave mission was hell for me, I just got pounded and pounded! But eventually I did it, and when I came back again to do it on 1 HP it didn't take me too long, which is a sign that I actually got better which is pretty cool.

I ended up 100%ing it and doing the secret mission on 1hp too, it was really fun, and damn that "ghost" in the secret mission is SUPER fast.
I really don't have anything bad to say about this game, I found it very reminiscent of the early Slenderman games which felt quite nostalgic for me :)
You really stepped out of your comfort zone and made something super unique, and it was 100% worth it! I'm looking forward to whatever is next :P

Here are my records, nothing fast but to be honest I'm just proud that I managed to clear it.

Thank you so much for the well thought out feedback! I really appreciate it, this is awesome stuff! I'm happy you enjoyed the game and had a ~~spooky~~ fun time! I agree with the critiques as well, I can look into adjusting some of the more awkward bits of info and controls!

Also thank you for calling out the typos, I'd love to do a pass on these sometime!

Released Pokémon Paranormal

Cuprite (Kyu)

Novice

Tristantine The Great

Thunderfist

Thundaga

Tutorial Guy

Thundaga

Tutorial Guy

TechSkylander1518

Wiki Dweeb

Tomix9tomix

The beetle is waking up

Thundaga

Tutorial Guy