BlueTowel

Darkness there was at first, by darkness hidden; Without distinctive marks, this all was water; That which, becoming, by the void was covered; That One by force of heat came into being; Hi! First dev blog update post time! Okay! It's been a long while since there's been a real PoA update. This year has been pretty hectic! I think, in the interest of TL;DR, I'll focus this post first on what's coming, then a bit of how the year has been going. I've spoken a bit about my health problems in the PoA thread over the years, and I know some folks are interested in that, but it's a dev blog and not a personal blog. I don't want to reveal everything all at once, so at this time I can talk about... Updating Old Maps! Between the quality updates to e19 and some good feedback I've had from Ep0, I've decided to update some of the old maps for quality and to better integrate them into Reborn. Found at the end of Route 1, a nature spot used by residents of Agate City to enjoy the beauty of the river flowing into Iolia Valley. It also features a vast cave network that seems to spread throughout the region, though all but the most seasoned spelunkers are advised against exploring too deeply. The archaeology team from Episode 0 are still here, having redirected the river to excavate an underwater cave as well as one of those within the mountain. The Undernet caves are being reworked as well. Overall they will be quicker to travel through and more eventful. Besides that, some of the wild areas previously available only through the undernet are being moved and updated, and will be accessible without the caves. I'll talk about those in a future dev blog update! New Altforms! Beta Shuckle sprite made by Pokets3 As is tradition, a new major update means a new wave of original altforms! Due to reasons I'll explain below, there won't be as many new ones in Episode 1 as previous updates, but Aevian forms from Pokémon Rejuvenation are being included with permission from Jan. The overlapping forms are being folded together: The Electric Chandelure line, Snow Palossand line and Cordyceps Parasect line are being replaced with the same type, similar concept Aevian forms. Among others, look forward to Pot Shuckle, The Charming Pokémon. In times past, people would charm Shuckle into living in clay pots to gain better access to the Berry Juice they produce. This Bug/Fairy-type Pokémon offers a new set of tricks and shenanigans to pull off in battle. And I'll talk about more of the upcoming content and features in the next dev blog update in a couple of weeks! So Let Me Tell You About My Year This year started off alright. Sure, I was having some kind of seizure or attack most days from at the time uncertain triggers and an undiagnosed neurological problem, but I felt pretty determined to make something. During the early year lull I tried to organise projects, made a timetable that I just reminded myself of while making this post, and work out which projects I should focus the most on. And naturally that organisation pretty much fell apart as I kept flitting between all of the options instead of focusing on one. I had my app that needed some polish and publishing, I had a game idea that I started making in Unity, and I had PoA. PoA could wait a little at the time, since e19 was around the corner and anything I did would have to be redone anyway. So I focused on my app, then decided the game would be less risky, had a good play of Legends Arceus and got excited enough over it to rush some content in PoA. Then I was invited to alpha test e19! During that time a lot of floating ideas about PoA started to coalesce together. Elements from SwSh and PLA filling holes and strengthening threads. After playing through, I offered to help with development and was permitted to corral some cats (otherwise known as fixing bugs) and implement a couple of QoL features, including integrating Waynolt's unreal time and weather changing mods and creating a Pokégear UI to utilise them. While I'll definitely be making use of timed features in PoA, I didn't really start work on it until after e19's release, while trying to decide how to balance all three projects. I made a kind of pitch document and asked all of the Reborn devs for their blessing to take PoA in a full-on expansion direction, with the episodes of story, extra features and additional worldbuilding. Reception was very positive in general! But I needed to stabilise my financial situation. Still do, to be honest. I wanted to do more with the game I was making. Better graphics, some kind of progression system, a meaningful story and entertaining levels. However, I kept feeling like the app was the stronger idea, and if I still needed to put a lot of time and effort into the game to be happy releasing it, I should put that effort into the app instead. I asked for advice and chose to combine ideas. I started converting my app to Ruby-on-Rails from PHP, so working on PoA and my app would have some crossover of knowledge and skills. Easier to manage. It's ended up with me slipping past my timetable's projections, though, so I'm still working on that app. I inadvertently ended up working on all three projects in a pretty inefficient manner. I also have a burning desire to tell the stories and create the content that's been sitting in my head all this time. Deadass I am releasing Episode 1 by 30th September, but depending on how the app and finances go, much of the planned postgame content may end up in Episode 2, with the previous Episode 2 ideas I'd mentioned a few times on Discord shifted to Ep3. To return the focus to PoA, this means that while Ep1 may be a little lighter than I'd hoped, my improved skills with Ruby will be enabling me to go ham with game mechanics and events in future. All going not-too-badly, this is a longterm project for me. There are a few people helping me to update it now, as well as helping out with and working on future content. I'd like to do some kind of team announcement but not everyone is ready for that yet. That'll be a later dev blog update too! Recently I finished converting the nearly 8000 sprites to the new format, and now work begins on updating the sprites and icons to match e19's quality updates. The eggs and shiny icons will likely be an ongoing project over the episodes. This would be the first of seven dev blog posts before the 30th September. I guess we're all going to find out what those contain, hehe! Let me know if you'd like to know more, or less, about anything and I'll see what I can do.

Hi! There has been one of these projects for every generation, but not for converting old shinies to the new format. Custom shinies would have to be converted to the new format. If the sprite poses are the same, it should be fairly easy to copy-paste them in and place them over the top of current shinies for in-game positioning.

Thanks! I think I'm going to leave these in e18 for now since they're not gamebreaking. They should be incidentally fixed in e19 from converting to the new sprite format!

Hello! I can now announce one of the things! There is now a club for Plates of Arceus! I will probably cross-post news to this thread still, but it has a dev blog and threads for different things! You can find it here:

Hey! I thought it'd be neat to do a community shiny project for 8th Gen for Reborn, especially since there's at least four mods being worked on that add it in! I asked Ame for permission to do this so here we go! Here is a list of ideas for shinies! If you have any ideas, I can add them to the list! The ideas in the list are not absolute, feel free to try new ideas! These are just a starting point! But be ready to accept that they may not be used! Everyone is encouraged to offer feedback and ideas! And here are the Gen 8 sprites in the new Reborn format! Reborn Gen 8 Shiny Project Sprites.zip These include default shinies and placeholders for new ones. Reborn has shiny icons, including for eggs, so placeholders for these are also included. There are no sprites for Pokémon that debuted in Pokémon Legends: Arceus at this time since not all of them have backsprites available yet. We can do those later! Here is a brief guide to the new sprite format: And here are the same sprites separated out individually if you would prefer to work with single images! Reborn Gen 8 Shiny Project Sprites (Individual).zip

Ever since this mod started as the Alternate Form Pack, people from the community have been submitting sprites for the alternate forms included. Information about these sprites is available on the Sprite Status Spreadsheet which is continually being updated over time, at least whenever I have time to do so. If you're interested in contributing a sprite to the project, you're welcome to! But please bear in mind these are regional forms, not empowered or enhanced forms. Additions of auras, accessories, and elemental effects can make a Pokémon sprite seem out of place. Also please check out the notes section on the spreadsheet to make sure your designs stay on-concept.

Hi! Bugs, cats, catbugs, bugcats, you know all those kinds of game errors, crashes, etc. For Episode 0, the Reborn e18.4.1 version of Plates of Arceus! Post about them here! Major ones will get fixed, but minor ones will likely be left until Episode 1.

Duskull is actually a more complicated Plate Transformation because of it being a strong form accessible early. You gotta go under the Grand Stairway at night to Plate Evolve it! Where Unown can be found. I gotta refine this stuff for Ep1! How would you guys feel about only being able to Plate Breed at Isolated Farm, and have to Plate Evolve until then? Stronger forms would be locked behind Plate Breeding instead of funky Plate Evolving location requirements. Damn, thanks for the list of sprite errors! I'll fix these and I guess update the main download with the other bug fixes over the weekend. Still setting up the club!

I hate obligatory dev blog tracker graphics thingies now. Pokémon Reborn: Plates of Arceus, Episode 1 #################### | Total (???%)

Hi! We're still working on the implementation of Gigantamax so what I say may change by release, but at the moment the plan is: The Gigantamax Pokémon Forms to have stats and abilities that reflect the effects of Dynamax and their exclusive Max Moves. Dynamax will be added at a later date, and Gigantamax Pokémon will gain their exclusive Max Moves at that time as well. If they feel too double-dipped, they'll be returned to a more canon implementation with the addition of Dynamax. Speaking of plans, I'm currently making a forum club for Plates of Arceus! We need more threads to separate out news, discussion and bugs! I just need to quantify the development plan so I can do a dev blog with one of them fancy hash bars. Well, a bunch of them fancy hash bars. There's some exciting announcements to come!

Pokémon Reborn Plates of Arceus, Episode 0 [E18.4.1] Pokémon Reborn: Plates of Arceus is a content mod for Pokémon Reborn. It adds: Generation 8 Pokémon, Moves, Abilities and Items from Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee, Sword & Shield, Isle of Armor, Crown Tundra and Pokémon Legends: Arceus. New Areas New Sidequests And optionally also: Hundreds of new regional variant Pokémon forms New game mechanics based around Arceus Plates (Form Shifting and Ability Interactions) Experimental PLA-style Pokémon battle mechanics Downloads & Installation If you already have Pokémon Reborn or an older version of Alternate Form Pack, use the patch. Updated with bug fixes 12th Jun '22. Main (Ep0) (ONLY for Windows, until I get around to freeing up upload space) (.zip, 622.3 MB) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HeWHQDizoS5hNA7ubaOVRwtzoeNCDfr-/view?usp=sharing (Google Drive) Extract and play from Game or Game-Z. Patch (Ep0) (for Windows, Linux and Mac! Reborn E18.4.1 ONLY) (.zip, 162.4 MB) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EuPksJQ-nLTxhQ241Ixm5pehjcIs3fTn/view?usp=sharing (Google Drive) Extract into Pokémon Reborn game folder, overwrite and replace files when asked, play. PBS Files (For modifying Plates of Arceus for personal use) (.zip) PBS (PoA Ep0) (446 kb, .zip) (Google Drive) Patch Installation Picture Guide For Windows 10 Save Compatibility Yes - Default game name "Pokemon Reborn" Want Alt Forms to be a separate save file? Use the file below! Mod Compatibility Likely incompatible with more mods following PLA Stage One addition. May cause UI glitches with Pyrolusite's UI mod. Let me know! I'll try to create and release fixes. SWM's modular modpack [E18.4.0] (Mostly Yes!) Use the scripts.rxdata that comes in Plates of Arceus. It is compatible. Set Weather causes problems. Use the version below for that specific mod SWM - SetWeather.rb (10kb, .rb) (Google Drive) Aironfaar's Mod Box [E18.1][Updated 2018-09-05] not entirely compatible (Mostly yes!) Fabulous Transformations causes problems. Use the version below for that specific mod AMB - Misc_FabulousTransformation.rb (35 kb, .rb) (Google Drive) Debug Menu does not display remote Pokémon storage. Use the files below for your convenience. AMB - AddOpt.rb (6kb, .rb) (Google Drive) AMB - AddOpt_DebugMenu.rb (42 kb, .rb) (Google Drive) DreamblitzX's Battle Music Pack (Yes!) Add the Audio/BGM/ from the music pack as appropriate, and use the trainertypes.dat linked below. trainertypes.dat (8 kb, .dat) (Google Drive) Pokemon Reborn: Sandbox Mode (No!) Not currently compatible with Sandbox Mode. Not compatible with Azery's Pokémon Memeborn. Both mods extensively alter the base game. Combination mod by Specific, Memeforms, can be found here! But it is not updated to v0.6 or Episode 0. Not compatible with Commander's Pokémon Reborn Redux. Both mods extensively alter the base game. Credits Additional Music Special Special Thanks (Seriously I would not have made this mod or gotten this far with it if not for the influence of these people) The whole Reborn team for creating this amazing game and generous mod market! Andracass, Amethyst, Azery, Cervys, DemICE, DMBY, Ghost141, Janichroma, Kixur, Marcello, Mikey57, Mu7e, origami_dragon, Player_Null_Name, Pyrolusite, Smeargletail, Specific, Starry_Knight_Constellations, Swampellow, Waynolt, Reborn Discord, URPG

Whoops I accidentally made it still require an eclipse but in a different way. Take this Scripts.rxdata and maybe now it should finally be normal Chingling + Happiness + Meadow Plate at Night?

Mega Stones are shared between forms, so you only need Venusaurite to Mega Evolve either normal Venusaur or Bangkai (Spooky) Venusaur into their respective Mega.

Hi! It is a known error but a very uncommon one, I'm not sure why it only affects few people. For a while I thought it was just me getting it and assumed it was because of all the development copies! I'm afraid the fix requires moving some files around. It looks like you're on Windows, which makes it easier! You need to edit Game.ini (with Notepad or similar) and change the game name to something else, like Pokemon Reborn Altforms, and then you need to move your saved game to the new folder for it in Saved Games. e18 seems to get that error when loading e19 save summaries at the main menu. There's also an edited copy of Game.ini in the first post if you're not comfortable editing files. The Saved Games folder should be somewhere like C:\Users\Your Username\Saved Games. The save file will be Game.rxdata or Game_number.rxdata like Game_2 or Game_3, and you'll also need to rename it to just Game.rxdata. Let me know how it goes and if I can help any more!

Oh man, I missed one! That was happening with a couple of other sprites a while back, one of which was the normal Firecracker Sunflora frontsprite. Basically they were made with a particular mobile graphics program, iirc, and the sprites saved with that all create this error. You can fix it by opening it in a more mainstream graphics program and saving it again as a .png, if you get any others. I've done that with the one in question, so hopefully you can just put this in your /Graphics/Battlers/ directory to replace the one giving an error. Not yet! I'm still in the process of updating it.

"There was neither death nor immortality then; No distinguishing sign of night nor of day; That One breathed, windless, by its own impulse; Other than that there was nothing beyond." Hi! I thought I'd give you guys an update on how things are going updating to e19! My process right now in Cycle 1 is to get everything imported before bugfixing, since some things may be dependent on others and I like to work in sections. The next section being, of course, bug fixing. As for the importing, the game mechanics are in for the Pokémon, Abilities, Moves, Items and game mechanics from Sword & Shield, Isle of Armor, Crown Tundra and Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I'm currently in a long process of importing the altform data. The MultipleForms format changed enough that it's not straightforward to copy-paste in the old data, even with a bit of find-and-replace, although I had an idea on how to get a bit more automation going on to speed up the rest of it. Today I finished up to Gen 4 + evos, so there's still 5-8 of altforms left to import data for. Besides that, I've been organising plans and ideas for moving forward. I've been jokingly calling it a DLC/expansion kind of mod because it keeps growing, but I'd like to seriously take it in this direction and focus up on the core features and concepts. The story is also being refined to try to match e19's quality, though the story is still generally the same from Ep0. My hands may be in Cycle 1 but my head is in Cycles 2-3. I want to share more about what's coming but I want to be closer to releasing first. Cycle 2, I suppose? That said, perhaps there is something new in Spinel Museum that may be of interest...

Whoops! I made a typo in the daycare code for it! Put this Scripts.rxdata in your /Data/ directory to fix that! There's no Plate Evo for it right now, though. They are!!

Hey! At the moment only the e18 version is available, I'm still updating it to e19 and then will be adding new content. Currently: It has content spread throughout the game, the last of which can technically be accessed as soon as you reach Tourmaline Desert. e19 release: I'd really like to release once I've implemented new content throughout the main game and postgame, but I also don't want to keep people waiting too long so I may release something once the main game content is done. Like with e19's release, it'll be better played with a new game but you can continue from a previous save if you prefer.

Thanks! I will leave that problem for now and fix it for Ep1. :)

Headbutt trees in Once Upon a Waste of Time (Titania's gym)

Hi! I'm a little reluctant to release a formal patch to fix these, since they're not gamebreaking, a new version is underway and any update short of an e19 update is going to cause some disappointment. There will still be awkwardness with shiny Alcremie for now. I gotta redo and update this code to fix it, I think. But in the meantime, here's a PoA Ep0 minipatch.zip to fix this and some other bugs: Chansey can now Plate Evolve into Pixie Blissey. Plate Breeding Deep Dive Dewpider with an Iron Plate fixed. Plate Evolving Chingling to Wood Chimecho no longer requires a solar eclipse. Galar Slowking evolution fixed.

"There was neither non-existence nor existence then; Neither the realm of space, nor the sky which is beyond; What stirred? Where? In whose protection?" Episode 1 when??? First off, hi! The short answer is 30th September. The longer answer is that I have big plans and seem to always be working, and I'm working out a production cycle that lets me try to deliver the content I'd like to do in a timely manner. The plan is to work in the following cycles: A straight update that adds in everything that was in Ep0 (except, well, see 4.), with updates to old content so they fit in better. The Digsite? It's going to be at the end of Route 1. New altforms, new sidestory content throughout the main game. Additional postgame sidestory content, including many Gen 8 legendaries and a couple of altform legendaries. A crafting system and a new Plate Interactions system. Plate Interactions will be left out until this cycle. New Mining Stones, crafting recipes and a final sidequest to conclude Episode 1. At the end of each cycle, I intend to leave the game in a state where I could release it as-is if the next cycle isn't complete by 30th September. I would really like my bare minimum to be 3. Some of that sidestory content has been sitting in my mind for years now and I'd really like to get it out! If I finish Cycle 3 early, I may release or start testing early, and add the rest of the cycles in as updates, perhaps with some more content to make them more meaningful. If it looks like Cycle 3 won't be finished by 30th September, I will release something sooner. A couple of weeks after Reborn officially publicly releases, I'll start a PoA dev blog. :) When Episode 1 releases, I'll make a Plates of Arceus club on the forums too. I'll give an update every couple of weeks or so on how it's going, and talk about some of the upcoming content and features.

Yes to both. :) Actually, Dark has one fewer according to the spreadsheet, but that includes new forms coming in the next episode.

Hey! I'm afraid you can't go back to normal Reborn with a PoA save. There's too much new content in both! With early altforms saves you can at least have the save fixed to do so, but once Gen 8 was added it seems there's no going back. Unless someone knows how to really scrub a save file. You can select a different save file from the main menu without issues, though. Besides that, you could move the save files to a new directory and rename it, then name the game the same as the directory in Game.ini - it'd be easier to do that with PoA than e19, since e19 will probably keep replacing the Game.ini with the updater. I'm looking forward to Ep1 too! At the moment I'm working on a couple of things for e19 updates, then I'll be starting the direct work on Ep1. It's all planning at this stage. :) (And a little graphics work.)

This is not compatible with e19. I will be developing a new version of this for e19, and will most likely release it around Sept/Oct out of respect for the game and its developers.