longtime PokeMMO enjoyer and active member of the client customization community here.
I'm part of the Archetype team which is responsible for the theme and counter of the same name (and contributor to several other mods).
Like for every other Pokemon game the demand for mods is very high in the PokeMMO community.
However despite this there hasn't been much development in this area of the game in recent times.
As a matter of fact there have been several regressions that affect our ability to make mods, which have not been fixed in years.
While modifications are supposed to prolong a game cycles and increase the enjoyment of the game, these recent developments have sucked out all the joy for me and many other mod makers.
As a result I would like to highlight some of these shortcomings that could vastly improve the experience of the whole community if fixed:
Themes:
Sprites like the type icons used to be part of themes. They were separated in one of the recent big updates. Not only does this make the installation process more complicated for endusers (can only have one sprite atlas at a time; location isn't as clear cut and straightforward as themes; constantly gets overwritten during updates) but it also makes maintaining a theme hell. Updating now takes hours instead of minutes because the whole atlas shifts around if only a single icon was added. These icons should be part of themes, while stuff like particles, that constantly gets updated cause of new additions can be its own thing.
Theme support for android (and now ios) has been a desired feature for a long time. It is currently only possible to edit the mobile theme on pc cause editing it on phones would require repacking the apk.
Native support for modifying the battle backgrounds + platform are also commonly requested features and would make these mods safer than the current implementation of patching the rom.
Music:
On many systems ogg files cause constant stuttering during gameplay (literally every step). This can be solved by using wav files, but since these are uncompressed you get HUGE mods.
Another thing people are desperately waiting for is loop point support for non-midi files. There are basically no midi music mods. Not having loop points makes it necessary for mod makers to create super long music files instead, which makes the music mods even larger in size and causes more stuttering once again.
Battle Sprites:
Probably the most popular mod type. It is hindered by having multiple screens where scaling the sprites doesn't work, e.g. the pokedex and the field move popups. Another problem is that the sprites are anchored to the middle instead of to the bottom. As a result mod makers have to add huge variable empty spaces to the gifs and offset the sprites in the text files. This creates further problems though cause as a result particles and pokeballs go through the floor. Another minor problem is that while the default sprites have random starting points while modded sprites don't. This is noticeable during hordes where modded sprites will have 5 pokemon cyclinc through the animation at the exact same time like they were mirrored.
Follower sprites:
While ds regions correctly scale follower pokemon depending on the png size, you can only have set size in gba regions. Large pokemon look comically tiny in those regions as a result.
Also one of the updates in the last years caused followers to "float" in the ds regions. They are a couple pixel higher with a mod than they are without a mod.
Menu Sprites:
Using anything higher than the default resolution causes the pokemon menu sprites to go out of bounds. However since the menu sprites are scaled up on mobile systems it makes them look extremely blurry. It would be nice to have the option to deviate from the current resolution (36x36px) while still fitting the borders.
Tile and npc sprite mods:
These 2 areas used to be moddable too. Enabling us to do tile and npc sprite mods again would allow these users to completely overhaul their game feel by redesigning the reason or using higher res versions.
I am aware that the devs have other priorities and adding everything stated here is a huge undertaking. This is only an attempt to highlight the deficencies in one very popular area of the game that has constantly been neglected over the years. The current trajectory makes me worry that the mod maker community will decrease in size. Expanding on the mod making functionality would attract more users and extend the playing time of the existing user base.
Question
realmadrid1809
Hey there,
longtime PokeMMO enjoyer and active member of the client customization community here.
I'm part of the Archetype team which is responsible for the theme and counter of the same name (and contributor to several other mods).
Like for every other Pokemon game the demand for mods is very high in the PokeMMO community.
However despite this there hasn't been much development in this area of the game in recent times.
As a matter of fact there have been several regressions that affect our ability to make mods, which have not been fixed in years.
While modifications are supposed to prolong a game cycles and increase the enjoyment of the game, these recent developments have sucked out all the joy for me and many other mod makers.
As a result I would like to highlight some of these shortcomings that could vastly improve the experience of the whole community if fixed:
Themes:
Sprites like the type icons used to be part of themes. They were separated in one of the recent big updates. Not only does this make the installation process more complicated for endusers (can only have one sprite atlas at a time; location isn't as clear cut and straightforward as themes; constantly gets overwritten during updates) but it also makes maintaining a theme hell. Updating now takes hours instead of minutes because the whole atlas shifts around if only a single icon was added. These icons should be part of themes, while stuff like particles, that constantly gets updated cause of new additions can be its own thing.
Theme support for android (and now ios) has been a desired feature for a long time. It is currently only possible to edit the mobile theme on pc cause editing it on phones would require repacking the apk.
Native support for modifying the battle backgrounds + platform are also commonly requested features and would make these mods safer than the current implementation of patching the rom.
Music:
On many systems ogg files cause constant stuttering during gameplay (literally every step). This can be solved by using wav files, but since these are uncompressed you get HUGE mods.
Another thing people are desperately waiting for is loop point support for non-midi files. There are basically no midi music mods. Not having loop points makes it necessary for mod makers to create super long music files instead, which makes the music mods even larger in size and causes more stuttering once again.
Battle Sprites:
Probably the most popular mod type. It is hindered by having multiple screens where scaling the sprites doesn't work, e.g. the pokedex and the field move popups. Another problem is that the sprites are anchored to the middle instead of to the bottom. As a result mod makers have to add huge variable empty spaces to the gifs and offset the sprites in the text files. This creates further problems though cause as a result particles and pokeballs go through the floor. Another minor problem is that while the default sprites have random starting points while modded sprites don't. This is noticeable during hordes where modded sprites will have 5 pokemon cyclinc through the animation at the exact same time like they were mirrored.
Follower sprites:
While ds regions correctly scale follower pokemon depending on the png size, you can only have set size in gba regions. Large pokemon look comically tiny in those regions as a result.
Also one of the updates in the last years caused followers to "float" in the ds regions. They are a couple pixel higher with a mod than they are without a mod.
Menu Sprites:
Using anything higher than the default resolution causes the pokemon menu sprites to go out of bounds. However since the menu sprites are scaled up on mobile systems it makes them look extremely blurry. It would be nice to have the option to deviate from the current resolution (36x36px) while still fitting the borders.
Tile and npc sprite mods:
These 2 areas used to be moddable too. Enabling us to do tile and npc sprite mods again would allow these users to completely overhaul their game feel by redesigning the reason or using higher res versions.
I am aware that the devs have other priorities and adding everything stated here is a huge undertaking. This is only an attempt to highlight the deficencies in one very popular area of the game that has constantly been neglected over the years. The current trajectory makes me worry that the mod maker community will decrease in size. Expanding on the mod making functionality would attract more users and extend the playing time of the existing user base.
Sincerely,
a fan of the game
Link to comment
11 answers to this question
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now