#dev talk

[achivement-unlocked]

Oh boy! I got a package! Seems trustworthy :)

[sensepi]

Doing some design change, still a work in progress so the final result may differ, or not, let’s see how lazy I can be

[toxartsukagakas]

I'm a bit surprised how easy this turned out! It's a (very) simplified version of the hacking minigame from FNV for SSP! This is just a sneak peek of it functioning, but I have a lot planned for how it'll be used...

[pokemonfangame]

How has ROM hacking and fangames progressed and advanced within the past decade or so, from your perspective? What are some of the most impressive developments and implementations?

How'd you know I've been in the community about a decade? :3c

Anyway, I'm from the Pokemon Essentials side of the community, so I can really only talk about those advancements. For reference, 'Pokemon Essentials' is a base game kit that a lot of devs build their games from; most of the games featured on this blog actually, since that's the part of the community I'm tapped in to!

This is gonna get nerdy, but oh my gosh when a new version of Essentials drops, reading this changelog is like Christmas. Thanks Maruno!

I think one of the biggest recent changes is the Plugins folder. Adding new community-made scripts used to be ever-so-slightly intimidating for newbies, especially when these involved editing in small changes to other scripts. If you don't know anything about coding languages (which you can make a game with Essentials while knowing nothing about coding!) it can be really hard to understand what it means to 'Go to This Script and find This Block, and replace with This Line'. Devs were allways encouraged to make their scripts plug and play, but now that we have a physical Plugins folder, it's just so much easier for everyone. Want to add a feature like Following Pokemon? It's literally just drag and drop now! When I joined the community that was a rare feature in games, just because it was so many tiny script edits that many newbies like me couldn't properly pull off. Once I managed to install it a single time, I kept that copy of Essentials clean of anything else and would just use a copy of Essentials+Following Pokemon over as a dev kit, and a couple other devs asked to use it too, since installing Following Pokemon was that much of a hassle.

This next one might just be me, but I think we've yet to see the potential of a certain new generation plugin really take off. For a few years, everyone was installing Luka SJ's Elite Battle System (EBS) in their games. If you've played an Essentials game with animated battle sprites and a dynamic camera, that was EBS. But EBS isn't supported by the latest versions of Essentials; instead we now have the option to use Lucidious89's Deluxe Battle Kit (DBK). Now, EBS was allways intended to be a visual overhaul of the battle systems while only adding small quality of life improvements, but DBK is more focused on giving devs more direct control on what happens in battles. Now, your dev does need to know a little bit about coding to really utilize this system, but it just has so much potential to add character and challenge to Pokemon battling.

Like, for example let's say I've set up a rival battle in basic Essentials. I can give them a team of Pokemon and a pool of items to use, but I can't guarantee what the trainer AI will do in real time when battling the player. Will they waste their items early? Will their ace Pokemon be underwhelming? With DBK, I can directly tell that rival to do things like :

"During this battle, if your Squirtle takes a critical hit, use this extra Full Restore."

"On your third turn, send out Flygon and Mega Evolve it."

"If your Flareon takes a Super Effective hit, switch out to Leafeon."

"When you send out your last Pokemon, use this XSpeed immediately."

"Once the harsh sunlight ends, attempt to use Sunny Day immediately."

"If the Player sends out their Mudkip, switch out to your Treeko."

"If the Player is down to their last Pokemon, come onscreen and taunt them."

"To the Player's starter Pokemon: If you're the last Pokemon unfainted, boost all your stats to go all out against the rival."

There's just so much potential that I think we aren't even going to see for awhile, because devs need to make the most of he system for themselves. Just check out this demo contained in the DBK code!

This is a battle where a Rocket Grunt doesn't care that the cave around them and the player is collapsing, and the battle actually has a time limit! Falling rocks hit the player's Pokemon and do a bit of damage during one of the later turns! These kind of niche applications can make for some really cool scenarios, if people can just think them up.

Dang I went off on a tangent there.... uh, overall the Essentials kit has just gotten faster on the front end and more efficient on the back end. To the point where I think the base quality of games made by newbie devs has risen.

[tales-from-the-borderblog]

Enjoy this incredibly crunchy image as Eric deleted his twitter 😩 (I have no idea what its referencing to on the forums 😭)

[radicalfemmefatale]

i just want a perverted, weird, calm, authentic, loyal, honest, empathetic, cool, sexy and cute boyfriend with a little bit of anger issues, jealousy, a huge obsession over me, lots of passion and desire who‘s also insane/ mad / crazy ( especially about me ) who gives me space and also peace but also a LOT of attention and who‘s absolutely into me. A man who can’t keep his hands off of me. A guy who would fuck me anytime and everywhere no matter what. Someone who studies me like his favourite book. Who wants to know EVERYTHING about me. Who respects and values me. Someone i can do anything with. A man i can grow with and learn from. A funny guy who makes me laugh. A man who is faithful to death and never fucking CHEATED. I want a man who is my biggest supporter, fan and also best friend. Someone who takes many pictures of me just because he thinks i am pretty. A guy who keeps complimenting me, who never stops showing me affection and never stops fighting for me. I want a man i have things in common and also have our differences. A guy who will always be honest and direct so i wont have to fucking question his thoughts and feelings. Someone who can handle my trauma’s, diagnosis and my energy. SOMEONE WHO MATCHES MY FREAK, MY HEART, MY ENERGY

I want a man who takes time to really get to know me, works on himself, has his own life, is independent yet very clingy and falls in love with me- loves me to death and back in a way i wont ever feel like i am not good enough. Whi treats me like the fucking GODDESS I AM thank yew bye

You think those are high expectations?

Well, they may are

But i always settled for the fucking BARE MINIMUM, sometimes not even THIS

Now i love myself enough to know what i am giving and what makes me special so i wont EVER SETTLE FOR LESS ANYMORE

Once you learn to be alone, you wont get attached that easily.

I know exactly what i want ( FINALLY )

And with over 8B people on this planet, I KNOW there are men who can live up to my expectations.

I gave idiots too many chances

Never doing that again

So if i can’t get this, i dont want it.

Dev Out 🍒

[fallenkels]

how much customisation is TOO much customisation?

[landofobscurepotatogames]

Hey hi hello I’m actually getting back into game development. Once I get enough done I’ll expose it to the world… but for the time being, here is a picture of my cats while you wait for more info.