Caz

~ These are excerpts from a post on our Patreon - you can find the full post there ~ ~ Bringing it Home ~ Reflection About two years ago, we started our first hype posting for Episode 5 of Desolation. This was a really significant experience for me, as it was the first time I reappeared in the public light after a three-year absence. We didn't show much - just a small teaser gif - but it was enough to let everyone know that the rumors were true, and that we were back. Two years later, I am pulling the final threads together on the story for Episode 6, the most expansive episode we've made for this game. Of course, there is still much to be done, even after the story is complete - but that won't stop me from getting excited. In the coming months, we've got a bit to show off, and many more details to give away before the episode actually enters testing (remember to sign up to our Patreon if you want to get involved!) and is released, so stay tuned. This month's update will feature content from myself, Ruby, and Darius. Without any further ado, let's get into it! _________________________________________________________________ Pokemon Desolation Episode 6 Development Progress Old Content #################### | Map Updates (90%) #################### | Script Updates (85%) #################### | Misc (85%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (87%) New Content: #################### | Story (90%) #################### | Mapping (95%) #################### | Scripting (85%) #################### | Sidequests (85%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (89%) _________________________________________________________________ The road ahead, and looking back... This month was important to me, as I ticked off the last of the things I wanted to do with the main event of this episode, that is, Cellia East. Our focus is now entirely set on completing the last major areas outside of the city, their side content, and the story. We continue to be dedicated to having the scripting side of things in order, as well as polishing as many bugs as we can before testing. In testing Cellia East, I was able to visit some of the locations we've created over the last year, and really feel like I was seeing them for the first time again. When we designed Cellia East, we had a very specific goal in mind - this is the place where trainers come to party, and act the fool without anyone finding out. This city is meant to be the nightlife of this game, and I think we've pulled it off well. We took the creation of this district very seriously... although sometimes, we did get a little silly, especially on stream: Outside of the aesthetic of the city, we have not only put a ton of effort into the main story, but also the side stories of Desolation. The game is built upon a foundation and lore that isn't explicitly told through the main story - and must be discovered and worked out for itself. Therefore, the side stories of Desolation aren't just to provide filler - they're to allow you to figure out the world around you. Despite those broader concepts, the focus of this episode has of course been the characters and making sure I do them justice. Yes, this includes older characters that we perhaps haven't seen in some time, and who deserve a fresh chance in the spotlight. Some of those characters form the very core of this game, and were amongst the first characters I ever created. On the other hand, some of them are, well... more or less there to make you slam your head against the keyboard. Whatever the case, I'm looking forward to bringing these characters back to life again, and letting you explore Ayrith with them... it's been a long time coming. That being said, developing based on my own nostalgia alone isn't enough to make the experience that I want to deliver. Of course, there are a handful of new characters set to make their debuts in this episode... we've just been very careful to keep their identities secret until we get closer to release. But I'm in a good mood, so we can give you one. Artem Meet Artem, a Team Crescent lieutenant, and researcher. This character is calculated, calm, and collected. His most useful trait to Crescent is his intelligence and his precision. However, contrary to belief within the organization, Artem is not heartless. He differs from other Crescent researchers in the fact that he does in fact have a strong moral compass, and ultimately wants to do the right thing. While being a significant part of Team Crescent, Artem is equally ambitious to his own causes, that is, his research on the Grid, a mysterious and poorly understood plane of existence outside of Ayrith, and Perfection, a state of being that is currently understood to be related to evolution. Prior to E6, Artem has been in the deeper regions of the Grid, researching the area and trying to better understand it. As always, Ruby has done a fantastic job at designing this character, making him distinguishable, recognizable, and without feeling out of place. I'm really proud of her for helping me make this character feel so unique and turn out so well. $$%%# %&*$&#$*#*# %&*$&%&*$&#$*#*# %&%&*$&%&*$&#$*%&*$&#$*#*# %&*$&#$*#*# > It's time for you to return... I suspect I am almost out of time. %&*$&#$*#*# > Is that so? You wish for me to leave my work, despite my progress? I am closer than you think. %&*$&%&*$&#$*#*# > The grid can wait... with what they have discovered, it would seem that we are looking in the wrong direction. $$%%#%&*$&%&*$&#$*#*# > Meaning? %&*$&%&*$&#$*#*# > It's not what lies beneath that matters... but what HE has discovered above. $$%%#%&*$&%&*$&#$*#*# > Are his intentions so maleficent as you believe? Or is it simply the unknown that you fear? %&*$&%&*$&#$*#*# > We don't have time to find out. %&*$&%&*$&#$*#*# %&*$&%&*$%&*$&%&*$&#$*#*# $$%%#%&*$&%&*$&#$*#*# %&*$&%&*$ Ruby's Plastic Surgery Clinic Welcome back to the monthly reveal of Ruby's surgical candidates. This is a testament to the fact that, yes, Ruby will make alterations to every single character, every single episode. Perfection comes at the cost of sanity. Here are some examples, including Garret, Aderyn, Chad, and Hardy (who looks extra depressed). As per usual, Ruby's commitment to perfecting these characters is part of what makes us feel like this game has such a high potential, and it contributes to me really wanting to do these characters justice on screen. The work that Ruby has done with these characters is what makes them feel so alive in-game, and I can't wait for you to see the content that she hasn't shown yet! DJ Darius' Desolation Delight(s) Darius is back in full with a selection of bangers. Only this time, I've decided not to include the "bangers" per se. I find myself being very careful when I pick which tracks to use in Desolation, as the music is often what separates a scene from being just good, or fantastic. Therefore, it's not always the high octane battle music that makes Desolation what it is, but in fact, the slower, melancholic pieces which pull heavy scenes together. Darius has created a number of tracks like this which really pull both old and new content alike together. On our Patreon, Darius discusses two tracks, but I'll just put one here this time around. Now, at last - I'll hand it over to him. ~ Scarlett's Crescent Theme ~ you can click on the hyperlink above to listen to the track! "Scarlett’s Crescent theme is meant to be played on top of the skyscraper in Blackview City during the events of the main story. The theme is a variation of her regular theme (unreleased as of yet), operating with the same general structure. Unlike her regular theme, however, the Crescent theme is shifted down into A minor which is related by a secondary Dominant to Bb Major (the key of Scarlett’s regular theme). While writing this piece, I tried to think of it from the point of view of the narrative: Scarlett is torn between siding with her friends or siding with what she thinks is right (Team Crescent’s goals). This struggle is signified in the music by the “conversation” between the violin and cello. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear the two instruments passing the melody between each other - almost like they’re fighting with no one gaining the upper hand. The piano and reverb throughout are meant to maintain musical tension since the scene is a pivotal part of the story." And with those final thoughts from Darius, this update is pretty much complete! Thanks for tuning in guys! Thanks again for your support - we're almost there! I'm very excited about the near future for E6 of Desolation, and I can't wait to finally show some content that we've been keeping close. Testing is certainly a discussion we're having now, so again, remember to sign up to our Patreon if you want to get involved! Until next time, Caz

~ Excerpts from Patreon ~ ~ Some Welcome Guests... ~ Hey everyone, it's been one heck of a month, so let's get cracking on what is certainly one of our better updates! To begin, I just wanted to mention I have been spending a significant amount of time playing Elden Ring since it came out. Many of you might know that a lot of inspiration for the story I've been writing has come from the Soulsbourne series, so it's always a great opportunity for me to wrack my brain on how to improve when games like this come out. It's been pretty exciting, for sure. _________________________________________________________________ Pokemon Desolation Episode 6 Development Progress Old Content #################### | Map Updates (85%) #################### | Script Updates (85%) #################### | Misc (85%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (85%) New Content: #################### | Story (75%) #################### | Mapping (90%) #################### | Scripting (85%) #################### | Sidequests (85%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (83%) _________________________________________________________________ Also, wow... Reborn testing is well underway. I just wanted to give a huge shoutout to those guys and all the work they have done. It has been such an enormous undertaking, and it's great to see their hard work finally paying off. Yumil and Cass have both been hard at work on the testing and scripting side of Reborn, but will be returning a bit more here when things are underway in the Reborn HQ. Now, onto business: I hope your manor has enough beds... So, you remember how you used to have those caves under the manor that were particularly great for specialized training, and how they were just automatically ready to be used upon being unlocked? Well, gone are the days of convenience. My first port of call after replaying some Dark Souls was to make things more inconvenient. Just kidding. I saw an opportunity to bring more life to the manor, and I took it. How? Well, breeders for each specialized cave can now be unlocked in Cellia and beyond... and all of them have a variety of stories and quests that allow you to do this. In simple terms, once you find one of these breeders, you can help them with whatever task needs doing (or just outright pay them) and in return, they will provide you with their services, specializing in a particular stat, and populating the corresponding cave with what you need. However, it is worth noting that it won't always be immediately apparent which NPC's are actually breeders, and tasks that lead you to unlock these important vendors are not always what you would expect... So in conclusion... as per usual, while in Cellia it's important to keep your eyes and ears open... you never know who or what might prove to be helpful. As I have stated many times previously - these updates are to bring more life to Cellia, and particularly Cellia East. I can't wait to see people spend hours in Cellia East (just like I've been spending hours in Limgrave). Now, moving on... ~ Nothing to see here, just a brief snippet of one of the new characters Ruby has been designing... perhaps we might see them soon? ~ Finding the perfect note... Speaking of Cellia East, Darius has had the honor of being able to work on its own original track. After all, this was meant to be the first experience of this game that was entirely original, so what better way to commemorate that than with original music? To celebrate, I thought we might just share that track with you all here! You can find it in the link below: --- Cellia East Soundtrack --- I'm really proud of the team for working together to create this experience, and I can't wait for you to all play it later this year. As a little teaser, a few of the new original tracks Darius will be working on include Shiv's theme, Aurora's theme, and Garret's theme! Keep your ears open for those! That's all from Darius for this month, but more is on the way. ~ What's this? Could it be a snippet of one variation of the cover art of Episode 6?! ~ A bright future, after I get out of jail that is... All in all, I'm having a great time working on the game at the moment, and things are going swimmingly. In E6, there is mostly main story content to create, and almost all of the major side content is now complete. I'm just completing some final bits and bobs in the final location in Cellia, the Cellia Outskirts Prison. From there, it will be smooth sailing to the finish line (I hope). As you know, I hate putting release dates on things (the events of the last two years prove that anything can happen), but keep your eyes and ears peeled for updates... they're on the way! I've also had the privilege of being able to work on content in future episodes, designing some areas, and writing story sequences in certain places. Shifting focus and writing other areas has always been a great way for me to de-stress without sacrificing the quality of anything. There's a lot of great stuff coming in future episodes! This concludes this month's update. It's been a load of fun for me working on this game, especially now with Yumil and Cass taking on the scripting brunt of things. I get to enjoy writing and eventing, the two aspects of game creation that I personally get the most out of, so things are pretty great! As usual, thanks for the support! Our Patreon is always available if you would like to be part of our exclusive server, and receive early-looks at updates! Until next time, Caz

~ Excerpts from Patreon ~ ~ New and Familiar Faces ~ Well, it's about that time again. Except... this time it's a little bit different. So, this update is a pretty important one, and concerns steps we felt were necessary for the future of this game. But don't worry - it's all good news! Let's not waste any more time. Myself, Posty, Crim, and Ruby had a lengthy discussion recently about the future of Desolation, and the steps that would be necessary to allow the game to fulfill the potential we believe it has. There is a lot to be done - a lot of updates that are both "catch-up" per se, and also additions that are entirely novel. There was a lot to handle, and not enough of Caz to go around. There was one obvious conclusion that we reached: if we wanted the game to be as great as we thought it could be, we needed help. Furthermore, we knew there were people that were just as willing, and just as passionate about the game, that could help accelerate things, and even improve them. So here we are, at this update. To welcome Desolation into the new year, we are welcoming three new faces, a couple of which you are likely to know already. Andracass Firstly, let's give a warm welcome to andracass, the entity more or less engineering Reborn's and Rejuv's scripts from the ground up, who is now formally on our development team as well. She has been helping us out for a long time, and it made sense that she was given a more formal role allowing her to work with our scripts with ease, rather than having to liaise with my (often small) brain. This has already been super useful for us, and I'm looking forward to how things roll moving forward. You can often find her around the reborn server, or in our Patreon server telling us to use vscode. It's great to have her on board. Yumil 2) The second new addition some of you may already know as one of the longer-term patrons on this server - Yumil. I have been working with Yumil on implementing some of his scripts privately for some time, most of which you will have seen as the Quest Log, which was featured here previously. Yumil has taken some time to briefly re-introduce himself, so I won't steal his thunder anymore: "Hi hello there I’m Yumil. If you’ve been playing Deso for the past year or so you might have run into some of the things I did for the game, like the 100% guide – don’t listen to me telling you to use it, listen to Caz saying he uses it despite, y’know, making the game (or a good chunk of the Wiki, or the tvtropes page). Aside from writing a lot of text, I like coding – I do it for a living and according to my bosses I’m pretty good at it. You might remember back when Caz introduced the Quest Log to you in a previous dev post – yeah, I made that. So, as of today, I’m joining the team in an official capacity after something like, idk, a year of messing around with RPG maker for fun. It’s an honor! I hope you’ll enjoy the stuff I’ve worked to create. Some of the stuff I made you can expect to find in Deso besides the quest log: 1) NPC reactions: yeah I might have taught the NPCs to call you out if you abuse items to win, or to comment that they got swept, or on the contrary, almost had you. They also notice if you changed your team since the last time you fought them in the story. That kinda thing. Here have an example of Shiv commenting a few different things across rematching him: (Ignore the decorum I might have turned the boat cabin into my own little experiment playground.) 2) An encounter rate slider – listen Deso’s encounter rate in silver rise drove me off the wall so I figured I’d be the change I want to see in the world. So yeah, I made a thing where you can set a multiplier to the existing encounter rate, all the way to 0% and up to like, 10K%. You get your shiny hunting QOL and I get to traverse silver rise in a fifth of what it takes now without opening a mortgage on repels, we all win. There's some more stuff it’s prolly best to keep under wraps for now – let’s just say that if at some point the game’s script inflicts mental damage to you personally you can probably blame me for enabling Caz’s weirdest ideas. You’re welcome." And that's all from Yumil - he's done a lot for the game in the past, and I have no doubt he'll continue to take things to the next level in this more official capacity. It's an absolute pleasure to have him. Darius Finally, the newest member of our development team is something we've always wanted to have onboard, and it's incredible slowly seeing that dream being realized - Desolation now has its own musical composer - Darius! Darius joined us recently, and after hearing a few of the tracks he has created, it's become clear that this is the next best thing for the game. We're super excited to have him on board. He's also here to introduce himself: Hey everyone! My name is Darius and I'm a freelance composer for different Pokemon fan-games. I have been writing music for a few years now and have been a musician for 14 years. Music is an interesting aspect of a Pokemon game because it's not necessarily needed for development but adds so much to the atmosphere of a game. My specialties are Area and Encounter themes, but I really like writing battle themes as well! I'm so excited to join the Deso team and make a lot of really cool music for you all! Feel free to reach out to me or check out my portfolio at: http://dariusmusiccompany.org/ https://musescore.com/dariusm Once again, it's a fantastic privilege and opportunity to have a composer like Darius on the team. Just to tide everyone over, we'll show a pair of Darius' recent tracks: Firstly, we have the first rendition of Ava's theme. Themes such as this are planned to fluctuate somewhat under different circumstances, which is a pretty cool thing to work with. - Ava Theme - Secondly, we have one of Darius' recent works on another fan-game. This is one of the tracks he has been working on. It represents where he is at from a fan-game composition point of view pretty well. - Mt Athreos - Once again, I am super pleased to have Cass, Yumil, and Darius on the team. This allows the experts to focus on their fields and optimize them far better than I could, and also allows me to focus on what I do best - the story. The future is pretty exciting. ~ A peek at Crim's new Ace Trainer sprites ~ That pretty much concludes my update for the new year. Things are pretty exciting around here, but there is still much to be done. We'll be in touch guys. Cheers, Caz

~ A Team Effort ~ Howdy folks, long time no see. It's been a long couple of months, that's for sure. I finished up my final exams earlier this month, so that's a huge relief. As discussed a number of times previously, this is a great thing for this game, as a huge amount of my time was just dedicated to studying for the latter half of this year. Anyway, you're not here to listen to my ramblings about life, so I may as well get to rambling about the game. In fact, you'll find later that I got two others to ramble with me! Let's get started with one of these things, as I know a number of people attach sentiment to these numbers: Pokemon Desolation Episode 6 Development Progress Old Content #################### | Map Updates (80%) #################### | Script Updates (85%) #################### | Misc (85%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (83%) New Content: #################### | Story (70%) #################### | Mapping (90%) #################### | Scripting (85%) #################### | Sidequests (80%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (82%) We're certainly getting there. As you can see, a lot of recent time has been going into scripting, more of which I will cover in this update. ~ A snapshot of Aaron, as part of character art for the game. ~ To begin with, I have been working on what I believe to be the most tedious part of development, at least personally. Scripting. Yes, I am currently in the developer depths updating the game to gen 8, as well as updating to the new version of the engine employed by other favorite fan games. It's a long and frustrating process, but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. With this, we can finally work on updating our battles, encounters, and quest rewards to accommodate for gen 8. With the engine optimizations, this should allow for greater performance in larger areas, allowing me to fill up new areas, such as Cellia East, with more content without sacrificing performance. Here's more or less what I'm working on: After this is done, my focus will return to the main story, as well as the last major sidequest that I left half-finished before realizing it was time to get to this new engine. I hope you guys are excited about seeing a much-improved engine for Desolation. Now, as promised, I didn't come alone! Next up, I brought Crim along to discuss the creation of remakes for old/entirely original NPC's. Today, we're going to be talking about the new Ace Trainers - the trainer class I've been the keenest on giving a new identity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi, I’m crim I draw stuff sometimes! The process, at least for NPC classes is mainly wanting to make them match together yet still be distinct. A lot of personality can be communicated within the sprite so I’m quite excited to work on these, even if they’re just NPC classes it’s fun to give little bits their own personality through expression, or pose/ trying to make their poses fit together. The process for these concepts wasn’t really anything pointed, but I definitely wanted to make them look well-dressed / kinda classy— especially since Ace Trainers are a step up above the rest. Also because people in suits are pretty. For colors, I just sort of what I think looks nice - palettes are fun to pick. I didn’t want to make them too outlandish since they're NPC's, so keeping bright accent colors subtler- things like that, are important. That was a lot of words for “hairstreaks pretty hehe”. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ That's it from Crim in this update, now, we'll hear from Posty's side of things! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Howdy folks! It’s your local Postman delivering you some juicy Devsolation updates straight to your doorstep! Caz gave me a little segment on this post to talk about what I’ve been up to these past few months. Well besides sitting at home browsing the job market 24/7 to being in gacha hell trying to pull one specific character pain and suffering incarnate, I’ve been expanding my role a lot more on the team and have now dove headfirst into eventing! When I first joined the team back in 2019, the main tasks that I took on were balancing the game in terms of battles and the availability of Pokemon, a true text file editor. Then I began learning the ropes with mapping (which is now what I’m looking to do for a job!), and now I’m taking a crack at eventing. Now why am I telling you all of this? What relevance does this have to this update? Well, I thought I would share with you all a little sneak peek at what I’ve been working on! With my new eventing powers, I have been working on sidequests, and will be working on more with future releases! It has been quite the experience and honestly enjoyable to be working on this side of development, and I seriously can’t wait to show off all of this to you all! This quest in particular focuses around the Visinite Current, a new area that is accessible within Episode 6. Sadly, this is all I can show you of the quest, guess we’ll have to leave what happens for you to discover! Anyways, that wraps up what I have to offer, I’m really excited to soon be able to share with you all what myself and the others have been working on. Until then, I’ll pass it back to Caz to finish off this post… (see what I did there, post, posty, haha okay goodbye). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Big thanks to Posty and Crim for writing sections for this post - I assumed y'all weren't too interested in seeing me in scripting hell, so I'm glad they gave you guys something cool to check out. The point is, I'm really proud of the work everyone is putting in, and I'm excited for the future of this game. ~ The new badge Ruby has created for E6, can you guess the Typing? ~ That'll wrap up the update for this month guys. As I've said, I'm excited about the future, especially after we've got this shift to the new engine and gen 8 complete. There's an exciting world in E6 for everyone to explore, and we're getting closer to that being realized. Until next time, Caz

~ Shrouded In Mystery ~ Hey everyone! It's good to be back giving you all an update on things! I couldn't really organize our inner workings into a single theme, so you'll just have to bear with a smattering of... well, things. Due to the chaotic nature of everyone's lives at the moment, we've all been working on different stuff at different times. This means there aren't really clear sections on what I'll be talking about, so I hope you like... uh... words. Let's get started. - A very early WIP concept Ruby has been working on - For me, life has been pretty crazy lately. I'm about to sit my final exams for medical school, so my life has consisted of essentially living in the hospital, then working when I'm not there. The most exciting part is that the end is in sight... but I'm just not quite there yet. This has meant that I haven't had ample time to stick to one task (like I usually do) i.e. main story, longer side quests, and questlines, etc. Instead, I've been working on a lot of 'stuff' throughout the month. This includes shorter side quests, scripting, and graphical updates, as well as some general tinkering. It's all useful stuff that I've more or less been procrastinating, really. On the bright side, I have had some pretty great output on the writing side of things, but I'll leave that for another update. Now, enough of me moaning. I've stolen the spotlight ranting about myself long enough, so I'll show off some of Posty and Crim's work too. Posty's been busy working on many of the new areas that we will explore outside of the city in E6. He's beginning to deeply expand his role, and I'm pretty proud of the guy. Lately, he's started branching out into side quest building as well. This has sped things up more than you can imagine. We're working at slightly different points of the game, but it means that the gaps are being filled in far more quickly. Speaking of side quests, I just wanted to mention that there was a wee update to the quest log look. It might stand to change some more, but I thought I'd keep you all in the loop. Finally, I'd like to touch on an area Crim has spent a huge amount of time working on, and it definitely paid. It's definitely the highlight of this monthly update, which again makes me super grateful to have her around. The colors and atmosphere in this area are pretty great, and I can't wait for you to see it in E6. Note: A gif version of this area showing the animations can be found on patreon! Yeah, it's pretty good fun bringing this area together. What's it meant to be used for? Well... we'll leave that in mystery just for the time being. Once again, super proud of Crim's work. Well, that's it for this month's update. Once again, I apologize for the disjointed nature of our inner workings. It's just been a chaotic time outside of development. We're hanging in there, and I'm glad you're hanging in with us. Till next time, Caz

~ Excerpts from Patreon ~ ~ Urban Smoke and Nature's Bliss ~ Hey everyone, long time no see. It's that time of the month again where I jumble together a number of items we've worked on, and try to find a theme that links everything together. It's certainly a reach to call that process a success this month, but it's the thought that counts. Today, I'll briefly discuss our inner workings in a number of locations, including Cellia East and some... well, areas we've decided to leave unnamed. - A snippet of one of Ruby's masterpieces that will appear in-game. - To begin with, let's take a step back to see how the greenery has been growing: Old Content #################### | Map Updates (80%) #################### | Script Updates (55%) #################### | Misc (65%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (67%) New Content: #################### | Story (65%) #################### | Mapping (90%) #################### | Scripting (55%) #################### | Sidequests (75%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (71%) Yup, it's getting there. Bear in mind that these parameters are educated guesses more than anything. Anyway, now onto the actual update. Big Smoke and Blinding Lights Work continues on the bright lights of Cellia East. Only now, the end is actually within sight. Frankly, it's very comforting to actually see that nightlife coming together exactly as intended. It's been a long time coming, but it's definitely getting there. Thanks for hanging in there, you must be... The last few bits and pieces in Cellia East includes completing and tidying up some sidequests, and finishing the eventing processes within the Prison. These are all areas that have been previously revealed. After that, we can finally say with certainty that we're proud of the overall package that we call "Cellia", which is an exciting prospect. There's also a lot of balancing that still needs to go in within this area, including battles, item placement, quest rewards etc. It's the largest city area that has been created for the game thus far, so there's a lot of tweaks that need to be done for us to avoid things going awry at launch. A final reason as to why Cellia East has taken so long is one that I have iterated many times before. This district is my first real attempt to nail the world outside of the main story. Not just NPC's, but characters within sidequests, and the stories they have to tell. I want to make sure that every story is interesting within itself. This is something that I'm dedicated to, in order to reduce filler, and increase the amount of interesting and thought-provoking plotlines to explore. A Breath of Fresh Air Some of you may recall that we actually ventured outside of the dark and catastrophic atmospheres of Cellia and the Dreamscape in a past update. Well, we figured that it's been long enough since we broadened our horizons, and decided to share that with you. Obviously, it's clear that we've kept everything outside of Cellia and the Dreamscape pretty carefully under wraps, and we'll continue to do the same... at least for a little longer. But... there's definitely room here for at least a couple of screenshots. Yeah... your eyes aren't deceiving you. There's actually a world outside of the city! Firstly, you'll immediately note that the general aesthetic of this area is pretty unique, especially compared to past areas. This is because the talents of Crim, both from a graphical and mapping perspective (with help from everyone's favorite post-man, Posty), have allowed this entire section of the game become a unique area with its own personal feeling. I'm really proud of the work they've done on this, and following, areas. I can't beat around the bush - there's still lots to do. From the main story, to side quests, to general world-building... it's a lot. However, I feel like I can express some genuine happiness in saying that the end is actually within sight. There is an endpoint, and I feel as though we are no longer lost within a swamp of dev tasks. I find that pretty exciting, and I hope you do too. That'll be all for now, folks. Cheers for sticking with me! Till next time, Caz

~ Excerpts from Patreon ~ ~ New Frontiers ~ It somehow feels like forever since I last posted on this blog, even though it's just been a month. It's been a busy time, both in the deso dev-verse (expanded universe with myself, Posty, Ruby and Crim coming soon) and just general life. I'm in the last half-year of my medical degree, so times have been pretty hectic. Regardless, I'm here to bless you with content, not my life story (which is much less interesting. Here's another wee update into our inner workings! It's a pretty short wee update, so I may as well just get into it and not mess around. To begin with, lemme drop some bars real quick: Old Content #################### | Map Updates (75%) #################### | Script Updates (50%) #################### | Misc (60%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (62%) New Content: #################### | Story (60%) #################### | Mapping (80%) #################### | Scripting (55%) #################### | Sidequests (65%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (65%) Anyway, now onto the actual update. Moving onward and upwards To start with, I'll keep it straight - the Dreamscape has been 100% completed, which makes me pretty happy. The Dreamscape was a huge undertaking this time around, and I really think that it's paid off to continue in that direction. I'm much happier with the sidequests, the exploration, and the continuing lore that's developing there. Now, it's time to focus on new (and some old) frontiers. This month I'll be focusing my efforts on the cityscapes we will be exploring, expanding the outer districts of Cellia, and giving them the background they deserve. I'm working my hardest to make these areas as vibrant and full of character as I can. I don't have too much more to expand upon in my explanation of the Dreamscape - only that there's far more optional and explorative content than there's ever been before. Make sure you have a look around and talk to the locals! - A WIP version of one of Ruby's in-game artworks - Ryding into the sunset With the redesign to the Rangers Guild (discussed in last month's update), we decided to keep up the tradition by giving some love to a character that... kind of just accidentally stumbled into existence. Yeah, I mean Ryder. In fact, here's his new look. Don't be too judgmental - some of us believe in form over function: Yes, he has bright pink slippers. Okay, so when I created Ryder, he was more of just a character to introduce a story arc rather than anything else. He had no purpose, and almost all of his dialogue was contrived memery at best. But... something happened. I enjoyed writing his character and his dialogue far more than I should have. Furthermore, the general audience really seemed to enjoy him. So... plans changed. Reality can be whatever I want. I rewrote things just a bit to make an allowance for this wonderful gentleman to make his return. Whether you like Ryder or not, he and his pink slippers are here to stay :) A word from the balancing trenches To finish things off, here is a brief message from Crim and Posty, hot from the game-balance trenches: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi everyone! Crim and Posty here. As you might know, we’ll be adding Gen 8 in Episode 6! As a result, the both of us have been going back through the old encounter tables and adding some Gen 8 mons into the encounter tables to spice things up— trying to keep both balances, thematics, and fun events in mind when rebalancing and reworking some of the encounter tables. Not all Gen 8 mons will be available in Episode 6 to start with, of course! We’ve also been trying to keep in mind the current balance and mons that are overused or a bit too good / slightly unbalanced for where they are currently in the game. We want to keep the episode a fun and diverse experience, yet preserve some of the challenge within the game as well! You might even see some new mons in the starter selection as well! We’ve also been thinking about reworking and adding Gen 8 as appropriate into battles, too— again, not every trainer will have a mon from Gen 8, but if we think there’s room for a bit of balancing for the fight (stares directly at Aderyn) or if their team needs a bit of a rework otherwise we’ve been addressing those issues as well! If there’s any feedback you have about anything relating to balance or encounter tables, or anything of the sort, feel free to let us know as well! We hope you enjoy the revised tables and battles and that they provide for an improved and updated experience in Episode 6! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that'll about round things up for now. Once again, cheers for sticking with us! Can't wait for y'all to see what we have in store. Next month, there'll be loads of screenshots of the goss' in Cellia East. Get ready for that! Until then, Caz

~ Excerpts from Patreon ~ ~ Old Times ~ It is now July... which makes this a pretty important month for us in the ol' dev team. In fact, this month celebrates one year since we put our hearts on our sleeves and revived Desolation by dropping Episode 5. Boy, time has really flown. We feel extremely privileged to have received such incredible support from everyone since the initial release, and during this long development period. Honestly, thank you guys so much! On the theme of reflecting on the old times, I thought I'd spend a bit of this update looking back on some old locations and people... and how we've modernized them just a bit. The New Let's begin with some new stuff. Well, work continues on the eventing side of the Dreamscape's new area, the Waterscape. It's much larger than the Dreamscape we are used to in E5 and full of new stories to hear... and secrets to unfold. As was the goal for the original Dreamscape - exploration outside of the main course is paramount and will be greatly rewarded. Besides, there's nothing like helping some folks in need, or spending some time to prove that you're the best, I guess. You won't travel to every area in the Dreamscape in the new Episode of Desolation, so make sure that you take some time to have a look around... it might help you out later! This part of development is taking a long time, as it is much less linear than most other areas we are used to, meaning there are a lot more gaps to fill - I want this area to feel like it's full of content, rather than just empty space - every corner should be well-utilized! In conclusion, it's an experiment that I still want to realize to its maximum potential. In my mind, the Dreamscape is a mostly open-world experience, and Ayrith is pretty linear, and E6 will mostly reflect this. Moving quickly on... The Old(?) I query whether this is actually 'old' content... because it isn't really. We've done a bit of overhaul work recently on the majority of the outdoor maps on Amaria Island, just to help bring them to the polish of newer locations such as Cellia East. It's come along rather nicely. This one just reflects some changes to trees, a new sand tile, and some better transitioning between the grass and the sand. This one is more comprehensive, featuring increased detail, some new tiles, and an overhaul of the existing trees. This one just has some logs lol. Yes, a bridge exists here but events don't appear on the view I used to get these screenshots. Don't harass me for this error pls xo But for real, it's nice to see some of these areas look just a wee bit sharper. Speaking of old stuff looking sharper... this brings us to the fun part of this update... an update to the Rangers! Ruby has gone ham once again and redesigned the existing Rangers that you may remember from early Rangers quests. With their increased future importance, it felt fair to give them more familiar faces going forward. For now, I'll simply share with you the concept sketches that Ruby created: The three characters (from left to right) are Myrtle, Dan, and Lucas. I'm as excited to see them in-game as I hope you are! Again, I'm very excited to see these characters feature in the E6 update, and feel just a bit more alive. Anyway - that concludes the update for today. In a general sense, development is going well, and I'm extremely happy with our current progress. We're getting there, and we're proud of what we're creating. It's a fun ride! Again, thanks for the support from everyone here. I can't believe it's already been one year since we came back - here's to many more! Until next time, Caz

~ Excerpts from Patreon ~ ~ Third Act ~ Hey everyone! Just thought I'd check in with you all in a super quick update. There's not much spoiler-free stuff to report on today, so I'll keep it super brief. To start with, here's this little graphic that gives everyone a bit of reassurance that things are ticking along... Old Content #################### | Map Updates (70%) #################### | Script Updates (50%) #################### | Misc (50%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (57%) New Content: #################### | Story (55%) #################### | Mapping (70%) #################### | Scripting (50%) #################### | Sidequests (50%) -------------------------------------------------- #################### | Total (56%) Eventually this thing will be finished up. Otherwise, things are coming along slowly, but definitely getting there. In the meantime, here's a wee snippet of something Ruby has been working on: Okay, this one is pretty fun. I recently played through Crisis Core: FFVII and noticed that they concluded significant events in a really cool way - using a stylized snippet from the previous events that really help you reflect on everything that's just happened. I thought this would be an excellent feature, and with Ruby's skill and our own self-moderation, we planned exactly how this would play out in-game. Each 'Act' in the game is actually very long, and there are only a total of three Act screens thus far. For example, the first act begins after the events on the boat, and is only completed after the events that transpire shortly after Emily is defeated. These screens, therefore, signify a short segment to sit back and reflect when truly story-altering events have just occurred. We've had a lot of fun with these, and I'm sure you will too. As it stands, I'd say that Ruby is about 75% done with these (although this is completely a guess as, surprisingly, Ruby and I are not the same people), so there's definitely some cause for excitement. Again, show her some love - it's so cool for me to see these characters bought to life in such a dynamic way, and it's one of the things that really gets me motivated. Here are some maps that Posty has worked on recently from the prison area, just to illustrate some of his work. They're a WIP, and will have some additions soon: Anyway, that's it for today! Apologies that it's a bit of a short update. I've been working heavily on story, which I try to keep pretty separate from these updates. Thanks for stopping by, we'll be back soon! Caz

Everyone else has tracked down all the tracks except Feeling - Beauty. I did modify some of them to fit a bit better. As for Feeling - Beauty in 5.1 and before, I'm actually not certain of the source. I believe it was from Alex Roe (RoeTaka), but I can't be certain. For that same reason, this track is one of many that has been replaced for Episode 6.

AIGHT

~ Excerpts from Patreon ~ ~ Starting your Quest... ~ Hey Reborn! New month, new update! So let's cut to chase and talk about what's new. Spoiler alert - there's some cool stuff in this one. This month's update is particularly important, as we have taken a broader look at things that we have needed to improve from both a UI and RPG perspective in order to make the game run more seamlessly. Two major ways we've decided to increase accessibility to the game's RPG elements is through character selection and an in-game quest log - both of which being completed features that are ready to go for Episode 6! So, let's dive in... ~ Ruby's WIP of Hardy, after he becomes a lieutenant of the Black Foxes ~ Character Selection ~ To kick things off, I had best talk about how we have altered character selection and the role of gender. From E6 onwards, your character look and gender will be completely separate variables. Initially, we settled on having two new non-binary protagonists, which were unveiled by Ruby some time ago. However, it seemed obvious later on to completely separate these altogether. You can now, for example, select your gender as 'female' or 'non-binary' and continue to select Chad or Diego as your character model. To celebrate the full extent of these changes, we have decided to completely overhaul the character selection menu at the beginning of the game. Let's see what Ruby's been up to: After introducing yourself to Rosetta, you will be brought to this elegant menu in which you can choose your starting character - be it Daniela, Sienna, Robin, Chad, Diego, or Avery. If these profiles aren't enough for you to make a decision, you can feel free to select one of these characters and bring up a secondary menu (shown in Patreon only just for now). From these selections, you can see your transition sprite, trainer sprite, and overworld sprite. Ruby has made a great stylized template for all six characters. If you feel like you'd like to change characters later on, this remains a feature in Cellia Central. For those of you who are worried about the selection of your gender in your E5 save - the game will ask you to clarify your gender when you begin E6 content. There's more to characters in E6 - including features that we are keeping closer to the chest for now. It's an exciting time to be working on the game, that's for sure. ~ Quest Log ~ Oh boy, it's happening. One of the most HEAVILY requested features in Desolation has been to implement a Quest Log for the game that informs the player of what they have done, and where they need to go next. I put this off the longest period of time, mostly due to my own technical limitations - however, we were 100% saved by one member of the Reborn community - Yumil. Yumil has been working on the Quest Log for some time, alongside his other fan-game additions, so we would like to give him a massive shout-out from us for pioneering this component of the game and getting it to work so well. Feel free to send a thank-you his way for the effort he has put into this. That aside, let's get into what he has created... Firstly, the menu can be accessed in the PokeGear, as shown here: At first glance, the menu doesn't really show much of anything - as undiscovered quests will appear as '???' until they are discovered later on. When you are exploring the in-game world, you will interact with NPC's and other characters that will trigger quests to be started. Once a quest is started, or an objective is complete, you will be prompted with this update: After you are prompted, you can access the Quest Log to see your newly discovered quest... When you access this newly discovered quest, you will be met with your completed objectives, and the next objective you need to complete, as prompted by the quest-giving NPC you previously interacted with: Orange represents an incomplete quest or objective, and green represents a completed quest or objective. For better representation of this, this is what a completed quest looks like: When a quest is completed, it is shifted to the bottom of the Quest Log and marked "DONE": So yeah - that basically explains it. It was originally intended to exclusively track side-quests, but as we developed it further it was clear that it could be certainly used for main quests as well. As such, the side-quest and main-quest tab has been separated and can be switched between. Finally, we've also decided to have a bit of in-game fun with the quest log... you'll certainly find out how so soon enough! Again, massive shoutout to Yumil for all the work he has put into this feature. We wouldn't have been able to bring in this awesome feature without him. It's been super fun writing and implement the main quests for this game (although I'm not sure how much fun Posty has had to do the same with the side quests). Also a wee shout-out for Ruby and Crim who worked on many of the sidequest names. This pretty much wraps up our content for this month. I've been working on the story on the side, of course, but for obvious reasons, I am keeping that in-house for the moment. Cheers for the support everyone, let's keep this going! xoxo Caz

~ Excerpts from Patreon ~ ~ Justice is Served ~ Hey Reborn, it's been a good ol' month, so we are BACK at it. I hope everyone enjoyed the stream we conducted over on the Reborn server some time ago - we had a load of fun with that. We've also just had a load of fun in general on development for this month, so without further ado... let's get started! As the developers, we've really been doing the time this month when it comes to bringing this game to life just a tad more. So, to repay you, the fans, we thought you'd do the time too... in prison. Episode 6 drops you into the midst of Cellia East, a sprawling developmental marvel of Cellia that features the best the city has to offer... but not everything is perfect on that side of town, as it also features two other locations that are somewhat less welcoming - the Cellia Dockside and Cellia Outskirts. These locations serve to temper out Cellia East the slightest bit and let you know that the foundation of every beautiful location in this game has, at its core, a sinister undertone. The Foxes? Team Crescent? Or more? For now, it's hard to say what's unfolding on this side of town. Whatever the case, something in this town is not as it seems... It might feel like Cellia East keeps increasing in scale to the point where it'd be the largest city content drop of any episode... and that feeling would be right. Cellia East is doubtlessly the most ambitious cityscape that I've built, and seeing everything fit together so well is truly satisfying. Within the heart of the Cellia Outskirts, you'll find the Cellia Prison. How, or why, you end up here... is up for debate. Whatever the case, it looks like when Episode 6 drops, we'll all be doing some time here. It's not so bad, really. For now, that's it from me. Cheers again for the support, and we'll be in touch soon! Caz