Pokémon: Generations Windows game

64 comments by PokeGenSkatter on May 5th, 2013

As we've had a lot more attention than I think any of us anticipated, we decided an F.A.Q. might be in order, that could be updated over time. The good Professor has a great thread already up on the forum, so I'll be copying and pasting that here.

 What is this game?
On the portal page, there is a section entitled "What is Pokemon Generations?" which will tell you a few basic things about the game.

When is the next update?
This one is also paraphrased to  “release?” or “when’s the date for release, please tell us in hours and minutes!” and even “tell us release now!” and a copy straight from ModDb of “WHEN DOES THE UPDATE COME OUT PLZ SAY IT :( NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!”
There are two answers. The answer that you want is that it will be ready as soon as it is ready. The answer that’s honest is that we aren’t certain enough about it to give an accurate estimation. That said, the more often development members have to answer that particular question, the more time it takes away from actual active development. These good people will put forth the update as soon as they feel it’s ready to be put forth, and are genuinely more anxious about progressing than you are, whether you believe that or not.

What will be included in version *.*.*?
As an update nears the state where it’s polished enough that it feels playable without presentint too many undesirable side-effects, and we’re sure about the list of features included, a wild NEWS POST will appear, letting everyone know what to expect in the next patch. Some updates may be a bit bigger than others, and will include a small video update to show some of the progress. Some updates may just be minor bugfixes, and on that note won’t really require anything more than an explanation.

 Will Pokemon Generations feature every Pokemon?
This one has been asked quite often, although I’m not really certain why, as it’s a fairly accessible point mentioned in many places throughout the forums and Moddb page. Pokemon Generations will ONLY certainly feature pokemon numbering 1-251, or from Bulbasaur to Celebi. It’s also been asked if we’ll include later incarnations of these pokemon, and the answer can be found in the last sentence. Though they’re based on forms from these generations, they aren’t from these generations. Pokemon Generations will only feature Pokemon #1 through Pokemon #251. It is POSSIBLE, but very unlikely that Generation 3 will be considered, but beyond that is certainly not happening.

 Can I be a beta tester?
But my friend, you already are! There will come a time in the future when we need a more focused group of people to test certain things extensively, communicate with us on a very regular basis about those things and provide general feedback about other issues, and when we do, we’ll be doing our best to gather testers that can provide us with the kind of feedback we need in order to continue to shape things properly.[/spoiler][spoiler]But for now, testing the current version and reproducing bugs help keep us from having to do just that, giving us more time to work on many other things! So battle your friends, explore, and try all sorts of things!

 Will Pokemon Generations have ______ or ______?
Pokemon Generations will be focused primarily on Generations  1 and 2. This means that most of the features taken from the games will be features taken from these two. If it was in those games, there’s a good probability it will be included in Pokemon Generations.

 Can I help?
On a case by case basis, sure! As we get closer to the point of needing assets, like art or any sort of voicework, we’ll be sure to let people know. Currently, there are a few people helping out with models, and we’re doing well on sounds. Pokemon has a pretty good range of music, so we aren’t really hurting for plenty of samples and arrangements, and given the nostalgic nature of the project, it might do more harm than good to the atmosphere by including original tracks rather than sticking with source material.

There is a thread with more information about helping out here.

 I can’t play the game!!!
That isn’t a question. However, a general play guide is posted here and there’s a guide on playing over hamachi here. On specific issues, try reading through the forums and making sure your issue hasn’t already been addressed, and if it hasn’t, make sure your topic is helpful, and provide those trying to help you with as much information about any errors or problems you have so they don’t have to guess for you.

 Also, we’ve noticed lots of donation-related questions.
Let me answer that in this manner. We’re doing everything we can to make sure we don’t incur any costs in the process of development-other than bills required to keep our computers and internet going. That said, we’re starting to see that people want things like always-on, official servers, and server/file hosting would require money. In the event that we start doing something of that nature, we might consider adding donation support on the basis of keeping those things going, but for now, things are set up in as cost-free a manner as possible, and we’re hoping to keep it that way.

Now that the F.A.Q. is out of the way, the update is getting closer to release. We've decided to add Mac support, so with that, some things have taken a bit longer. We ultimately went through a few launcher designs and approaches but we're finally settled on one.

As far as content goes, polishing is happening on the catching system, Rattata and Pidgey are being worked in, and Squirtle's getting a little more love. The new map is coming along well, and bugs are being squashed. There are a few new UI elements, that aren't fully working yet, but the idea and direction is there. Saving is working, too, so you don't have to re-catch your pokemon(although once we move past testing pokemon toward story I hope we'll clear that data ;P)