After much deliberating I have decided to put PokeWorld on hiatus. After I went to GDC I learned and saw a lot of things. I met many developers who were far more successful and smarter than I was. This really inspired me to be a better developer and to challenge myself. Unfortunately with PokeWorld as my current project I felt like I wasn't really challenging myself and making something that was going to benefit me in the future. PokeWorld is really a long term project and it's not something that you can just _finish_.
If you don't like to read, you can watch the video which explains it as well.
I really want to thank the Fan-base for sticking with us for so long and being a great community. I would like to talk about two things, the first being is that just because I'm not working on PokeWorld doesn't mean it has to end. PokeWorld, along with the Valkyrie engine are both open source. Anyone can pick up the project and continue working on them. I hope my game will serve as an inspiration and motivation to all the half-done Pokemon clones out there. Don't sacrafice quality just so you can throw your game on the internet as fast as possible! Really strive to be better designers and developers and make fun games for people because the rewards are greater.
I'll probably write up a Post-Mortem because a few people have asked me to do so so they can see what challenges I faced while building PokeWorld.
My last thing I wanted to talk about is my new project using the same engine. I plan to build a new game that revolves around the idea of a competitive overhead 2D team-based fantasy action game where you can play online and compete with other people by playing by yourself or using split screen to coop with your friends and play online or versus bots. It will be available on the Xbox 360 and PC. It'll most likely be sold on the Xbox live indie game channel for a couple of bucks and free for the PC. Look for more information about that on ModDB soon.
Thank you ModDB, you have been very supportive and awesome!
GDC really changes your perspective on things doesnt it?
It definitely does, I would encourage anyone that has an interest in the industry to go there. It really opened my eyes.
Really sad to hear, but ill keep the tracking, if you ever are going to make it again ; )
Same here
aye
GDC makes me feel like an epic failure with no talent, then motivates me to do better
Don't worry, it's lots of talk but only some stuff of it is actually really true. Just go your way and don't listen all the time what others say. Just don't forget to listen when it really matters ;)
Very well said Dragolord. That's the bottom line.
Me too. Was a very nice concept.
I'm still gonna leave this on my tracking list in case you ever decide to pick it back up. Good Luck with whatever the future brings you =)
too bad, but I hope that you future projects will be more learnful for you
oh man you have to end your projects and not to stop on the half way...
you will never become a good developer if you stop your projects..
I agree with that.
The first thing you have to learn as a developer is to bring your projects to an end - or at least - make it opensource.
He did make it OpenSource though.
Stopping with projects doesn't have alot to do with being a good developer, at least if you're not planning to into the industry.
Thing is, if you do it just as a hobby sometimes you want to do something else and what you were doing will start feeling like work, in the industry it IS work and you can't cancel it, so I guess in that sense it does make you a bad developer... that would be without a job then xD
But really sometimes people want to do other things and since it's not a "job" he's free to do what he want, he even made it open source and all those people that will now be saying it's "easy" to finish it can take a shot at it themselves.
In terms of "smelling the money" consider the game he intends to make will be free on PC, but not Xbox live it doesn't sound that much like money hunger to me.
I'd like to wish NullSoldier the best of luck with his future projects and hope the fans here will realize the chance he's giving others to continue with the project with the bulk of the work probably done for them already.
aww man, well that sucks and its a shame but while you were working you did a bunch of great work, sucks to c u go
(buried)
It was going to fail anyways.
Cancelling projects is why your feeling bad if you keep stopping things it will eventually get to the point were you have nothing to show or you can finish this game and have something interesting to show. I think people keep on putting themselves down in the industry just because someone else has a better portfolio. I say stick with it and then do something better. You won't learn if you keep stopping.
I'm surprised you felt that you could not learn anything from this. Assuming your next game is still in 2D (since you mentioned same engine) I would think that you could still implement knew things into this project that would help you learn. I've been learning a lot of SDL and SDL_Net on my own time and it seems that anything no matter how useless it might seem when your done gives you great experience, practice, and forethought for the next implementation. PokeWorld seems like it would be a great learning experience even after completion, the concept is very popular. I'm looking forward to the post-mortem to see what you thought you weren't doing. Best of luck.
I think saying, "I can't learn anything from this" is a bit drastic. I learned how to build an engine and the problems that I can run into while doing so. I also learned plenty about network and server programming. I really did learn quiet a bit in the process.
Oh, well that is good :) I would love to start a big project like this, something with replay value and a strong community base. I'd think it would be a grand resume builder (If you are going into the industry). Can never find graphic artists though :P
Nooooooooooooooo!
I hope to hear much about your new project!
As soon as ModDB approves it. They are a bit slow..
Sad to hear, but good luck on your new project
If only this was posted 3 days from now :(
This is sad for the fans
Actually, I see this is a good thing, perhaps "Growing the Riker Beard" if you will. If you ever did actually finish it, being stuck in legal hell afterward with Nintendo/Game Freak is not going to be a better alternative.
Good luck with the next, non-derivative thing!
You can vote me down all you want for "conspired anti-Pokemon heresy", but would you want this happen to poor null?:
Joystiq.com
OHH nooooo...
i enjoyed it while it lasted! Thanks for submitting anyway!
(buried)
It got canceled because the kids who liked pokemon grew up. this game is for age range of 7 to 12 years old kids.
I'm 19 and I am playing Soul Silver right now. Pokemon is still a big thing amongst kids. When I was queueing to buy Soul Silver there were young kids buying it looking forward to discovering Johto, as they missed it the first time around. There were also plenty of young adults and teenagers in the queue buying the game because of the nostalgia factor, or the fanboys and fangirls within them. Pokemon is not dead even now, there is still a plentiful fanbase, and I'm sure an MMO based on the original Red/Blue/Green can't do too much harm either, in fact I think it would have done rather well.
it's a shame to see it end here, and I can only hope that NullSoldier, or another talented developer picks this up sometime in the future.
thats bad
Sorry to hear that bud. But I can see where you're coming from. Hopefully this will get to be brought to completion at a later stage. Best of luck for the future project :).
really sad, i would love to see this game finished
I hoped to play it someday.
God dammit! I did my best to get a beta key but I couldnt, and then it just gets cancelled. :|