Caz

July 1

18 minutes ago, bucketheads said:

Reveal hidden contents

Hello everybody!

Playing through this awesome game again i came across more tiles, which u can not pass ( like in the braille puzzle room), i don't know if anybody already said it, but when you go to the celia library and have to talk to jared to distract the dude in front of the archives, you actually can't get to jared.

In the future, put this in the major bugs section. However, thank you for bringing this to my attention - I'll post a small fix straight away.

July 1

20 minutes ago, HippoSheep said:

Would it be possible for me to get an E4 download link? I am unable to load into my game on E5, because I believe I am in a location that got changed (The Manor Basement) during the update.

Post your save and I'll take a look.

July 1

2 minutes ago, JustAnElite_ said:

Hide contents

How about a Nature Changer? Is there a Nature Changer in the game?

Spoiler

Yes, he resides in Cellia South, making him available before the 5th Gym Leader.

July 1

Coming at you with a steaming hot hot-fix build. It seems that a huge number of game-breaking issues only presented themselves after we completed testing (typical), which is made the last twelve hours a roller coaster for me. I hate to deliver a product that contains game-breaking crashes, so hopefully this quick action makes up for it (at least a little).

In other news, andracass made a Mac port of the game (with inhuman speed), so show her some love. She also cut the file size down dramatically, giving those of us with bad internet some much needed breathing room.

Links can be found on the original post.

Here are some quick notes on this fix:

Spoiler

Fixed:
- Surfing in Frozen Tunnel
- Alistair not adding to vendor count
- Darkinium-Z pick up causes crash
- Makuhita crash

- Helix Cave tile passability
- A number of tile errors
- Other stuff that I can't be bothered writing up

Existing issues:
- MKXP does continue to cause crashes and other graphical issues on some computers. Please use game.exe if this is the case
- The switch to Generation 7 resulted in map ID's being changed. Some Pokemon in existing saves will have moves that they shouldn't. Old moves can still be taught again using the move relearner.

Cheers for the support thus far!

June 30

1 hour ago, Chrixai said:

What was easy and what was hard when you proceeded to make episode 5? What did you have the most fun with?

Easy - graphics and battles, because Ruby and Posty did all of it.

Hard - meeting expectations after a multi-year absence, and continuing the story in a way that's respectful to its roots. I don't know if I pulled off either of those things yet.

June 30

Welcome to Pokémon Desolation

- Story -

What is a dream? A series of thoughts? Images? Sensations? No... perhaps it's something more?

Welcome to the Ayrith Region, a large land mass split into several islands. Ayrith is clouded in mystery, with strange, inexpiable events happening in every corner. However, somewhere deep down, there is something more to this mystery. Something unexpected, impossible even. You will uncover this secret, and go down in history.

What is your dream? Is it to be a hero?

The outcome of Desolation is strongly based on the choices you make. Choose wisely.

- Features -

Spoiler

- General -

- An upgradable manor that acts as the player's homestead and business throughout the game.

- A 'Credit' system used for rare items, Pokémon, and Manor upgrades. These credits are obtained by helping people and completing side quests.

- 7 Gyms in the current release.

- A set of new mega evolutions (currently 4) which appear throughout the game.
- Amazing music from a selection of composers.

- 8 Starter Pokémon.

- Guilds and sidequests - You can join a number of guilds that interest you and reward you as a trainer.

- Pokemon up to Gen 7 have been implemented.

- Reputation System -

Many RPG's have you make choices that determine how other characters feel about you, and this can lead to scenarios where characters may act differently depending on how you have treated them in the past. I have added my own variant of this called the Reputation System. Throughout the game, you will be given many choices, some being very important, and others will appear minor. However, all of these will impact your experience. Depending on how you treat a character, your relationship status with them can increase or decrease, leading to them trusting you a lot, or hating your guts. This can and will lead to multiple outcomes to a scenario, which will alter the course of your game. Your actions, and how you treat other characters, will be consequential.

- Obtainable List -

Spoiler

- Episode 5 - Somnium -

Important Note 1: If you are updating from E4, you may continue to E5 content by entering your room in the Cellia Manor.

Important Note 2: Episode 5 runs on a new, faster engine, MKXP. To run Desolation, use 'game-z.exe'. If you have issues with game-z, instead try running 'game.exe'.

Finally, please note that during the update to Gen 7 and the movement to the new engine, many move ID's had to be shifted, resulting in a small number of instances where Pokemon have different moves than they should (ONLY in save files created prior to E5).

- Download Links -

7 Badges are available as of this release.

Version 5.1, 07/07/2020

For those of you updating from 5.0.4/5.05 and want a smaller, manual patch for 5.1 - download THIS file (4 MB) and extract its contents into Desolation's root directory (the one with game.exe), overriding the previous content.

Do not load this update from the Manor Basement, Silver Rise, Bountilia Island OR Odis Village

Windows

Mirror 1: Mega (521 MB)

Mirror 2: Drive (521 MB)

Mac

Mirror 1: Mega (524 MB)

Mirror 2: Drive (524 MB)

Created by Caz, Ruby Red, and Posty

Thanks to andracass for creating a Mac version of the game

Feels good to be back

Want to lend me a hand? Support me on Patreon!

Follow us on twitter!

- Other Screenshots -

Spoiler

- Credits -

Spoiler

~General~

Caz - Creator - Story, mapping, eventing, crying over essentials.
Ruby - Leading artist, spriting + some sidequest writing.
Posty - Battle designer, team balancer, mapping.
Amethyst - The creator of Pokemon Reborn, for the greatly appreciated inspiration and graphics material.
Jan - The creator of Pokemon Rejuvenation, for graphics material and inspiration!

andracass - for helping me immensely with scripting.

Michael_ - for helping me with implementing the MKXP engine.

Alilatias - for helping with conceptual sidequest creation

Big thank you to the developers of Pokemon Essentials, and their continued support.

Smogon X/Y/S/M Sprite Projects.

~Typo Goddesses~

Crimson

IceCreamSandWitch

~Beta Testers~

These guys really helped Desolation come back. Ironing out the game was a tough mission, but I believe that we all made it through. Here they are!

Winter

Azeria

Nick

Hycrox

Azzie

Dreamblitz

~ Other artwork ~

Hyshirey

Nova

Dypatome

Akuma-Tsubasa

~Music~

Vetrom - Absolutely amazing video game remixes, would definitely recommend.
GlitchxCity - Amazing Pokemon remixes, y'all know her.
DJTheSDotCom - Remixes of many battle themes from many different titles.
Mixeli - Excellent Pokemon battle remixes.
Lugigigas - Cinematic themes used throughout the game.
Vanitas Music - Battle/ambient Pokemon remixes.
Kamex - Battle/ambient Pokemon remixes.
LittleVMills - Battle music remixes.

ギンガススム - Pokemon Battle remixes.
Friedrich Habetler - Original compositions.
Zame - Battle/ambient Pokemon remixes.
Blazaking - Pokemon remixes.

Please check out the respective channels, as their work has bought Desolation to life.

- Full Cover Art (downloadable) -

Spoiler

PBS files can be downloaded by clicking here

June 28

Coming VERY soon

June 25

posty midsummer queen

June 16

30 minutes ago, GenEric said:

Is it safe to assume a muscular guy with really beautiful hair will summon a huge rock heading towards the planet

I don't want to confirm anything just yet

June 16

1 hour ago, LightningKillua said:

1) Caz: Do any non-Pokemon games influence your story & game design philosophies? I feel a bit of Final Fantasy (6,7, and 10 especially) in the plot, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in the guild quests. I could see tidbits of Legend of Zelda in some dungeon designs, too.

Final Fantasy 7 for me was a biggie (including its less known baby sibling, Crisis Core), when it came to creating the plot. Another big game for me was actually Dark Souls - not the difficulty, obviously, but the fact that many facets of its story are left to the player to make their own conclusions. While I want the overall story to be digestible, I want to leave a lot of the overarching stuff to the players interpretation. The nature of the side quests isn't really inspired by anything in particular. I just wanted the ability to tell multiple smaller stories that I thought could be fun, but were obviously undeserving of their own individual fan-game.

June 14

On 6/13/2020 at 4:50 AM, Plasma said:

My only question soo far is that will the game have a MKXP port?

We're looking at options like this in the future. It is far beyond my expertise with Essentials, but once we find someone who is able to help us with shifting to a new engine (which I imagine to be an incredibly difficult task), we'll explore this.

11 hours ago, KenKeniff said:

How long will episode 5 be?

As we're currently in beta testing, I don't yet have a reasonable answer for this. Even once I do, it'll depend on whether you complete side quests, or focus entirely on the main story.

10 hours ago, Phi-Bi said:

Hey, great seeing this picking up again~ I wonder just how much further we are into the complete story with Episode 5? I also wonder how you plan the story ahead. Do you plan ahead all scenes up until the end of story before beginning development, or are you doing it in per episode basis?

As an estimate, I would say approximately 55%. I've planned out the entire story from to a fair degree, which means that writing each episode typically just involves filling in the blanks, which I do at the start of each episode's development. I really like being flexible with the story.

4 hours ago, Matt_ said:

Will the gameplay from the previous episodes be changed at all or will the Episode 5 update only include the next episode?

All content from prior episodes has been changed significantly, and E5 will contain these changes, as well as E5 itself.

June 11

17 minutes ago, Norm said:

Good to see Caz and the bad boyz working to bring us the heralded V5!

Couple of questions

- How much has the scope of Desolation changed? Last time I played, there was a heavy emphasis on a branching story, which is an incredibly ambitious project for any game, and something Desolation did rather well, all things considered. Has it stayed mostly the same, or has the design philosophy changed in the last five years or so?

- When will the Obtainable list come out? I'm an absolute sucker for team building and over-preparing. Also have the changes made to the obtainable mons been influenced by balance, flavor, or a mix of both?

- This is in all likelyhood confidential, but what changes are you most excited about making from V4 to V5?

1) The scope remains mostly the same. You're right, a branching story is a really ambitious task to undertake, but it's still at the forefront of what I want to do, especially in future episodes. I feel like what I want to achieve with deso is a lot more reasonable than what I had planned some years back, and I suspect that fans will enjoy it more. I'd rather not say more on the topic.

2) The obtainable list will come out just before Desolation drops, which is sometime at the end of this month. Yes, obtainable mon availability has been influenced by the balancing of trainers and Gym Leaders.

3) For me, everything is just better, and I'm excited about seeing how people respond to the quality overhaul this game has gone through. In terms of E5 content specifically, I'm excited to see discussions on the story elements, especially considering how the story has progressed since E4. I'll keep it at that, I think.

June 9

1 hour ago, SilverZephyr said:

will you be making the level cap a hard limit, unlike in previous versions (i have bad memories of my moxie sandile (pls don't remove him ) being disobedient in the first gym fight)

Yes, there will be a hard level cap.

June 9

8 hours ago, Ermac said:

Which pokemon gonna be axed in the version 5?

I'd rather not say until the obtainable list is out, but I can say that Posty is being axed in Episode 6.

June 1

15 minutes ago, J-Awesome_One said:

This may have already been asked but has the music in the game been changed or has it been kept the same more or less?

I would say that approximately 50% of the music has been changed. The music in most environments is the same, but the music in battles has been changed significantly.

May 28

7 hours ago, Maneeee said:

So glad this project is continuing, it has unlimited potential!
Question is, with some starters being axed, does this mean that other obtainable mons will also be axed? I recall reading something like this previously but I just want to make sure since there are some real stinkers in the game rn ~~deino, scyther, sneasel~~

Yes, some obtainable Pokemon have been axed, and replaced with others. I won't delve into which have been replaced.

1 hour ago, inktalegaster said:

will our mansion/base have more upgrades in the next update?

(edit) will we recieve gen 7 starters (the pokeballs on the beach)

The manor will have a small handful of upgrades in E5, but nothing extravagant. I suspect that the whole manor system will change dramatically in the future, particularly in E6.

1 hour ago, BRS swag said:

A question to the team here: Were you ever/Will you be open to ideas for fan-based mega evolutions? I'm asking coz I have some ideas...and I totally dig the mega mightyena. The only reason I kept it in my team.

Thanks! For now, we won't be accepting new ideas for custom mega evolutions. We want to be really careful with how we put custom megas into the game. I want them to feel authentic, and not out of place. For this reason, we're being very cautious in our approach as to how they are implemented. We have a small catalogue of mega evolutions in the works, but we'd prefer to keep it small.

May 26

15 minutes ago, J-Awesome_One said:

This is a question all 3 of you can answer. Out of all of the characters we've interacted with so far, which 1 is your favorite?

Mine has to be ~~Jarred~~ Garret. Even though his type of character isn't particularly unique (rowdy, hotheaded, charismatic, optimistic etc.), he's a character that I've had loads of fun with, and have really enjoyed writing.

May 26

1 hour ago, ThyMajicConch said:

Sorry if this is a stupid question but will there be a way to change difficulty from stuff like Easy, Normal, and Hard? (Kinda like Rejuv) The challenge is fun but I personally enjoy the story without getting my ass kicked for hours on end *Cough* Tristian *Cough*

Thanks for the question! We won't be adding difficulty options in E5, nor are there any planned for the near future. That being said, Desolation has undergone extensive balancing, courtesy of Posty, which has hopefully removed most of the 'ass-kicking' dished up by opponents like Tristan. The most unfairly challenging battles have been nerfed. That being said, some of the easier battles have also been made more challenging. While we want Desolation to be fairly challenging, we don't want it to be absolutely gruelling.

May 25

58 minutes ago, Shard_ said:

In v5 will we be able to do the side quests with the legendary hunter and the guy in route 2 since were getting 2 more badges?

No. Side quests involving legendaries will typically occur later down the track (especially later than 7 badges).

May 24

13 minutes ago, Azeria said:

all three of you enter a hunger game

who comes out alive

These are the real Q's

The answer is Ruby, unless Posty betrays her at the last moment. I'd be disqualified for literally disappearing into thin air.

May 24

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the support that you guys have given Ruby and Posty, it's really cool to see get such a warm welcome. I hope you'll really enjoy their work in the coming weeks.

Here are some of my answers to the frequently asked questions regarding Desolation.

Q: Okay, so where have you and Desolation been over the last three years? Did you go into a coma or something?

A: The most important factors were ~~unsurprisingly~~ time and money. I started university straight after E4 dropped in 2017. At that point, I had made it clear that I wouldn't be coming back to work on this for a while, as I didn't think I'd have enough spare time to keep at it. I wanted to become a doctor at the time, so I immaturely thought that if I focused on pre-med, and got into the actual med course, then I could chill out a bit more after that and work on the game. Unfortunately, that really wasn't the case, and after getting into medicine I quickly realised that there's MORE work, not less (holy cow, what a surprise). Fast-forward to now, and I find myself with just a bit more free time, at least to the point where development is no longer impossible.

The other major factor was money - rent in New Zealand is notoriously expensive, that's why I've been working two jobs to keep up since 2018. Working has been the most difficult problem, as after work I've got to come back to my flat and study most of the night to catch up, which leaves little room for Desolation. I've found it really hard to find a balance between work/study/desolation/actually living life, which has just really made things difficult over the last few years. It would be awesome to drop one of those jobs, but that's still a ways off.

The future is particularly uncertain, with both time and money, but with Ruby and Posty working alongside me, I'm sure we can make it work.

Apart from that nonsense, life has been good. I still love doing medicine, and I still want to be a doctor. I'm in my clinical years now, so if any of you are living in New Zealand, you better hope that you don't see me in the hospital.

It's weird to think that I joined the Reborn Community when I was a kid, and that now I'm an adult. I'm glad to know that the community is still very welcoming.

Q: Have you updated the game to gen 8?

A: The game has been updated to gen 7, which includes Z-moves. We've had discussions about gen 8, but it's currently regarded as one of those 'in the future' things. The update to gen 7 affects gameplay elements as well, as events/trainers etc. have been re-done to make gen 7 feels as though it was always there.

Q: What's up with the engine?

A: While Desolation has gone through a huge scripting update, including an improved AI (pretty much thanks to Ame, her team, and Reborn), Desolation remains on the same engine. I'm not big brain enough to transition onto a newer and better engine, but we'll consider it in the future, especially if we manage to land someone who is much better with this computer stuff than me. I would really like to make this kind of change in the future, especially after seeing how well Reborn runs, so I'll be working hard to make this happen further down the track.

Hahahahaha engine update go boom mkxp cool.

Q: Has previous content been significantly altered, and should I start from the beginning?

A: There have been changes to the first 4 parts of the game, yes. I have more or less re-written the first half of the story, and have generally polished everything else, eventing, balance, etc. With the contributions of Posty and Ruby, there has been a significant overhaul to gameplay and graphics as well. The maps have been improved slightly, but not to the point where they have been significantly re-imagined. This may change in the future, especially as my standards get higher and I look at my old desolation work with contempt. In that regard, you don't have to start from the beginning, especially if you don't have the time. However, for those that do, we would encourage it.

Q: What's going on with the Gym Leaders?

A: Yes, you may have heard that the Gym Leader count has been reduced from 16 to 12. I made this decision as I really wanted to reward the player for building a relationship with the Gym Leaders, and give more time for them to develop and be a part of the overall story, as opposed to having their own short segments. Furthermore, with the story that I originally planned out, 16 Gym Leaders is far too many. While I enjoy the complexity of the story, I don't want it to be pointlessly convoluted just to allow for the inclusion of more Gym Leaders. Long story short, the number of Gym Leaders has changed to match the story, rather than the story changing to match the Gym Leaders. It wasn't difficult to make this adjustment, as there were a handful of Gym Leaders that had only made it as far as concept art and a general personality.

Q: How many episodes will there be?

A: While I have the overall story fleshed out, I never know exactly when I want to end an individual episode. As many of you will know, I've deviated from ending an episode at the end of a Gym, which makes answering this question particularly difficult. Since the episodes are based around a particularly part of the story, their length is inconsistent, which makes this estimation even more difficult.. For example, episode's 3 and 5 are much longer than all other episodes. A placeholder number that we often throw around is 10, but this shouldn't really be taken seriously.

Q: Will there be an obtainable list?

A: Yes. Posty has been working quite hard on making this happen. It follows the format of Reborn's colour-coded obtainable list, so I hope you will all find it useful!

Q: PBS?

A: I won't release the PBS for episode 4, but I will for episode 5.

Thanks again for all the support you guys have given this project! I'm super excited to see where it goes in the future.

Caz

May 22

1. A Small Update

Oh man, it's definitely been a while since I wrote one of these. It feels weird to disappear for three years and then to abruptly come back and suddenly say "Hi guys, I'm back!", but here we are.

Hi guys, I'm back!

I want to start by giving a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone that has supported this fan game in not only in its absence, but also in it's resurrection in the 'coming soon' post. It really does mean a lot, and has really contributed to me bringing this project back from the dead. I also want to give a big thank you to both the forum staff and community that offered me support! I know that many people are wondering what happened to Desolation - where it's been all these years, how far away it is from coming out, and what it's looking like at the moment. I plan on releasing a FAQ within the next couple of days that will answer most of your questions. Once again, I am truly apologetic for how long this project has taken to come to fruition.

2. Huh? There's a team now?

Yes, I am no longer a solo developer with no internet friends. The return of Desolation, as well as its complete overhaul, is equally in part due to the immense work that has been put in by two community members:

Prepare for trouble!

And make it double!

To protect the world from devastation!
To unite all peoples within our nation!
To denounce the evils of truth and love!
To extend our reach to the stars above!
RUBY!
POSTY!
Team ~~Rocket~~ Desolation blasts off at the speed of light!
Surrender now, or prepare to fight!

Yeah, so this happened - Desolation has its own super cool friend circle. In all seriousness, the contributions of these two to have allowed Desolation to reach a much higher quality, one that certainly wasn't possible when I was working on this alone. It'd make more sense to talk about their contributions separately, so here we are - MEET THE HOMIES:

Ruby Red

Ruby approached me when Desolation was more or less on its last legs. At this point, I was very much considering just pulling the pin, and locking the thread for good. Ruby offered to do some sprite work, and after seeing the awesome quality of her art, I said screw it, and gave it a shot. Turns out, Ruby then went on to re-imagine every single character in the game, creating new sprites for each and every one of them. She went on to create a whole lot of extra artwork for the game as well, that we'd prefer to keep to ourselves until the episode releases. Long story short, Ruby is pretty cool, and basically saved Desolation.

Here's a couple of fan favourites that have undergone Ruby's plastic surgery:

Furthermore, Ruby has created the cover art for Desolation E5, which can be seen here:

Spoiler

Here's some smaller versions, if you'd like to download them:

Spoiler

In conclusion, Ruby has given Desolation a complete makeover, and a much needed boost in its overall graphics!

Here's some of her links, if you're interested in her work:

Instagram
Twitter

Reborn Art Gallery

Posty

With Ruby, came an unexpected, yet persistent, presence. It was, indeed, your local delivery boy, Posty. Posty has probably done one of the most excruciating components of E5 development - a complete overhaul of every wild encounter and trainer battle within the game. Yes, b a l a n c e has potentially finally been granted to the game in E5's release. In other words, Posty has basically remade anything Pokemon related within Desolation - battles that were previously too easy are now more difficult, and battles that were completely broken are now, well, beatable. With Posty's work, the game play of Desolation is now a lot more enjoyable.

Posty has also been involved in a fair amount of mapping for Desolation, which will be evident in a few areas that are accessible within E5.

Here's some of his links: ~~which he threatened me at gunpoint to add~~

Twitter

Twitch

3. Last Thoughts

Finally, Thanks again for the amazing support that you guys have given on this project. I really hope that Episode 5 will reward the enthusiasm that you guys have had for everything that's been put out so far. It feels really good to finally be back, and it's even better that I'm not working on this alone. Make sure to give Ruby and Posty lots of support!

Again, a FAQ will be posted soon, answering many of your questions.

Laters lol

~~I thought coming up with an original poem for Ruby and Posty's intro, but that would've delayed the game another year haha~~

May 15

Update: 30/06/2020

Desolation has been UPDATED to Episode 5 and MOVED!

ALL NEW INFORMATION AND GAME UPDATES CAN BE FOUND BY CLICKING THIS LINK!

Thank you SO much for your ongoing support!

May 15

All future information and discussion about Pokemon Desolation can be found at this open club link:

We back babeeey

May 15

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