Entry 10
Half a year has passed since the last entry in this journal. The reason for this is that I've been throwing all my energies into tasks that are not tangible from the public's point of view: the creation of databases and the coding of features planned since the birth of the project.
As a result, there have been no public updates in all this time, and it was pointless to keep players waiting for the fangame, given that my roadmap made any new release impossible for a long time.
Many Ideals realized behind the scenes
And things happened! To avoid making a long text, I will make a list of all the new features:
– Move database completed.
– Progress on the Pokémon database, with almost 210 forms coded. Missing creatures will be coded as the need arises.
– Fully functional Shadow and Light Pokémons.
– New item database, including HD mugshot system
– Integration of Sacred Mega Evolution (possible thanks to the new item database).
– New database for wild encounters, with dynamic operation according to season, time and weather + random double battles.
– Integration of Alpha Pokémons (which have a one-in-128 chance of appearing randomly)
– Integration of the first regional forms, Mega-Evolutions and Fakemons of Keltios, some of which can be obtained as early as Route 1. (The public demo of February 2023 has none of this!)
– Integration of the first Pokémons from the last two generations (around thirty are planned). New abilities and moves are also included.
– Mapping of almost the entire exterior of Eleanor + macro-mapping of the next 4 Shires (all their maps are schematized in OW and geolocated on the worldmap thanks to a hand-crafted database).
– Thanks to Altarax, forging crafting is now functional, and the option menu has been improved.
– Translation of the
Game design document about friendship (including some game design adjustments).
– And the latest addition: Pokémon Reborn-style
Field Effects (including a weather system with 15 weather conditions in addition to terrains) are now fully coded, including a 90-page game design document written (and translated) for the occasion.
For all the details, I refer you to
the official changelog.
A break in recruitment
After a fairly successful recruitment campaign launched last spring, I realized that it was difficult to keep new recruits motivated, for one simple reason: from their point of view, they don't see any progress on the fangame. This nuance is important and legitimizes their feelings, since there have been no public updates to Sacred Phoenix for 11 months. This gives them the illusion that nothing is moving forward, and that their contributions will end up without a destiny.
In truth, all my energy in 2023 has been devoted to coding and creating databases, which is a non-tangible aspect of fangame development. Now that this is largely achieved, I will finally be able to focus on progressing the scenario, that is to say tangible content from the point of view of the players (and team members).
In the meantime, I'm taking a break from recruiting (although any spontaneous applications will still be gladly accepted) and will relaunch a campaign when I'm really in a tangible creation phase. I may even ask for an RPG Maker mapper, something I never thought I'd delegate.
This month's goals
First thing I'm announcing: a fangame update will be released tomorrow! It is both shadow and light, because so much has changed:
– All the features listed above are now in game.
– … but there's still no additional scenario (apart from the beginning of an interior in Kerdus Manor).
That said, things are going to speed up from now on! I've got all the scripts I need to finish Chapter 1, and the wild encounter zones are all done for the first three routes. In concrete terms, all I need is the artwork for the score book (even if it means using a placeholder) and a few tiles for the Tintignac interiors, but a second update with real additional content is likely to arrive in less than a month's time.
We look forward to seeing you at Keltios. Now that the tree has taken root, it can grow!