Aki

Sorry if I told you that my game had a Discord, sometimes I think I'm funny. Anyway, check out the "servers" on the sidebar! The "channels" are your quick jumps to help navigate the current page.

Aki

I hope that if you come across this site and see it's unfinished, just know that it's not because I stopped working on games, but actually the opposite- I've been so busy making a game that I haven't made time to play and record my logs ;P

Aki

I've been wanting to write up some walkthroughs because I think they'd be fun, but I also love developer insights so they'll be like half and half.

Aki

My language and terminology flip-flops all over the place while writing these btw, sorry. It's partly because I'm half writing a walkthrough as I play, and half posting directly from my design docs so it's coming from me in multiple different mindsets.

When I'm writing a design doc I allways make a clear distinction between the Protagonist and the Player as separate entities, because it's important to me to be aware of the differences in motivation and knowledge.

But then when I'm playing it's so much more casual lol

Aki

I love fandom and the fanartists who make it such a nice place to be.

I make fangames because I love the process from writing the design docs to playing with new plugins, to setting up the tilesets and cleaning up my codes.

Aki

Anyway since this is the main page, here's a brief timeline of me

I discoverd a fangame and thought my heart would break if it didn't get completed, so I jumped from never having done pixel art to becoming a sprite artist on my favorite project.

When it ended, I just couldn't stop and had to make my own projects. So I joined this new forum for fandevs.

I had no experience with games but I was so active on the forums that I became the top poster and then got a position as a mod.

This next screenshot is from the Relic shoutbox; the messages at the bottom were posted first

I released my very first game during the very first Relic Castle Game Jam, and it was an instant hit?!

This next screenshot is from the Relic shoutbox; the messages at the bottom were posted first

Forums and Skype were fun, but eventually we upgraded to a new site and joined this new thing called "Discord".

The community was still pretty cozy and I think I did a good job as staff.

The Relic Community kept growing and I kept making games.

I left the staff when I wasn't needed anymore but I still love the community that raised me.

Aki

Since this is kinda my thing, I wanna share some resources (and maybe have some links handy in one place all for myself bwahaha)

Aki

First of all, I've gotta give a link to Pokemon Essentials on Github. There are other links I'm sure but I think this one is good for long term linking. This is the kit that I've used to make so many games! You'll need a copy of RPG Maker XP (Yes, that specific version of RPG Maker. The other versions aren't compatible) but otherwise this kit has everything you need. Compared to other pokemon starter kits it's the most complete, especially where it counts. And when I say that I mean the battle system. There's so many times I've seen kits that claim to run smoother or look prettier or be easier to use, but they're little more than a pokemon graphics pack in another engine. I'd love to be proven wrong though, and the PSDK kit has come a long way.

Aki

This Stardex tool is great for balancing. The site i just linked has gone up and down since I've first heard of it, so I wanna be sure to link directly to the Github too.

Aki

This NPC Text Generator is great for playing around with and getting ideas. It's generic of course, and I really believe that NPCs should have interesting/usefull dialogue and avoid being just space filler buuuuuuut I also struggle sometimes. With trainers usually, but sometimes you get a little fried after writing so many NPCs in a row you know?

Aki

The Random Region Generator is another really fun randomizer tool. It comes up with a region name, rivals+ their personalities and partner Pokemon, and a summary of every route, town and gym leader up to and including the Elite Four and rivals final teams. It's just insanely fun to see a whole game layed out by this thing. Now I'm pretty sure anyone with the dedication and drive to make a full region Pokemon game is gonna have their own ideas and not just use a randomizer, but again it's just fun to play with. Or use it for a couple jumping off points, or when you're about to make a jam game. I bet it's also a great starting point for a tabletop roleplay game, there's just enough there.

If you want even more specific ideas, this same site has a Location Generator to help you get ideas for a specific route or type of environment. Honestly check out the whole rest of the site, it's full of fun info.

Aki

Here's one that might catch you off-guard, but if you're looking for inspiration while designing certain parts of your region... maybe try something like Window Swap. Just chill out and see the kinds of places people live. Maybe this won't apply to most devs, who go in with strong ideas about where their region is based, but I allways prefer a fantasy approach where I'm not tying myself down to "This Pokemon region is a recreation of my home state" or something. Forgive me then for sharing a link to a cozy and transient site, but this is Neocities so I feel some obligation to send you through unconventional rabbitholes in the web.