Hello there PokeWorld watchers and Pokemon fans. I know last PokeCast I promised that PokeCast #3 would be coming soon showing some of the tons of new features and game tools we have been working on. I actually decided to hold off on showing you these new features in PokeCast #3 until we have a solid engine and networking base for our MMORPG. That's because essentially I came to the conclusion that, "Nobody really cares until networking is in." Luckily, networking IS in and we do have things like a data driven back end for character storage and authentication.
Anyway, so I wanted to kind of talk about some decisions about the project I have made. I've always talked about how the project is going to be open source and open tools built around the engine so that anyone can use them to build their own project from the exact same tools as the PokeWorld team. I came to the conclusion that this will no longer be the case for now. I believe that if I always focus on developing generic code that works independent of PokeWorld and tools that are scalable to any project I will never finish and none of you will ever be able to play this awesome game with me! Therefore I am changing my methods. I will be closing the source and instead be promoting my game as a stand alone MMORPG. When I believe the game is solid enough in content and features I will be re-opening the source for the tools and engine. So in the next few days you'll notice the Assembla repository go down which isn't that big of a deal because I stopped updating it anyway in favor of a new private repository.
Other than that? What has the PokeWorld team been doing? Well, I'm extremely excited to say that we now have 80% of the Kanto region done. I personally believe this is because our mappers are on steroids and continue to produce maps through enforced slave labor happy volunteer work. They are doing such a great job and I know we all look forward to demonstrating their work on a live test client for you all. I also plan to interview the lead map developer for you all in an upcoming Pokecast. Besides that things we are currently working on or have finished are...
- Finishing the Kanto region (80%!)
- Smooth and secure network movement
- Re-writing the engine (I've learned a lot since I started)
- The engine now supports camera based cinematicsHere's a video I made about the network prototype I've been working on. I've made a lot of improvements (and regressions) since then.
The last thing I wanted to talk about are the things that are taking so long and delaying the project so you can get an idea of what's going on because we aren't dead! I've personally never written network code before, and writing movement code that's both smooth and secure is not an easy task for me. In fact, it is the reason why the project is taking so long! (Besides the Engine re-write I am currently in the process of doing) I want to provide our users with the smoothest and most latent experience I can give to our users so I'm going to spend time and make sure it's done right, but when it's done you can be sure it will be amazing. Also, school has been taking time away from the project as well so I'm looking forward to my vacations so I can pump out a lot more code for you all!
Well, that's all for this minor update I look forward to seeing you all in game. Here's some of the screenshots from the latest build!
Thanks to our testers for all of their time!
Pretty nice looking. I might get interested in this.
Could you give a rough percentage of how much of the game is done?
I can't do that sorry but if you keep watching our updates you can get an idea. :) You can also test out the alpha clients if you hang out in our IRC.
Keep up the great work!
I love you.
Is the pokemon scripted yet tho?
If you mean combat, then no. We need a solid platform to work with before we can start working on the game-specific features. Hopefully soon enough we will though.
Pokemon Global is a Pokemon MMO. You might check them out for ideas to help develop what your doing. Just google Pokemon Global
fully emersed 3d pokemon world mmo!
That is a really cool concept man, and a great update. I appreciate your honesty, and it's good that you're doing it for your own enjoyment, that's how it should be anyway. Good that you're staying true to the glory days of the gameboy counterparts. Nice going :)