Now What?

[Silver]

I've been coming here more and more over the past few months, hoping there'd be even a tiny bit of activity. Hell, I don't even know if this will be read by any members but the question is, now what?
Are we really going to let this place, no, this 'Shell' of what used to be Topaz rot? I, personally have had memories made here, Topaz was one of the first sites I joined and looking back on older posts from when I was like, what? Eleven? Just looking back I can see how much I've changed and grown, I'm not the same stupid kid who thought he was the only one who knew what Serebii was, I'm still stupid, but less so.
I've always wanted to be able to play Topaz as a game on my computer, I messed around with Poccils Essentials for a while and thought I could make something for fun and of course it didn't work out (I'm getting off topic, sorry)
Today when I logged on I saw that there was '14 users online. 1 members and 13 guests'
I was the member but still, 13 guests, more likely than not they were bots but still, 13.
I didn't want to be the one to suggest it but maybe we should shut Topaz down, officially.
I want to see some feedback and hopefully not from just Cyn, he seems to be the only one who checks the site as far as I've noticed.

[ImmunityBow]

I've said it again and again and again. If you want activity here, all you have to do is do something, say something, show something, and I'll be here. In fact, it's pretty much the only effective way to get any activity around here. I've tried stimulating it myself, but unfortunately I can't hold conversations with myself. I can demonstrably not do anything to generate activity around here. So if you want to see things on Topaz, make something and I promise you you won't be unnoticed or unreplied to.

[Eduardo]

The forum is dead?

[Cyndadile]

There are still people here, but a lot of us don't have the time to dedicate to making new content for Topaz right now. We're still able to comment abd give feedback, but without anything new. As IB has said, if you can make something, people will come. But to be perfectly honest, making something is the hardest, most time-consuming part.

[Eduardo]

So, the project is still ongoing? Are you guys facing any trouble or dead end? Or the free time to work on the project is the only issue?

[Cyndadile]

Time is really our main issue. We have quite a bit done graphics-wise and concept-wise, but putting it together is time consuming.

[Inferno001]

ive been here a while and honestly have done absolutely nothing besides lurk and say im willing to help with anything that needs doing and i think that was back in 2012. Either way, i for one would love to see this project restarted, i just dont know what all has been done and what is available to work with. So my questions are, whats done? what needs doing? and what materials are necessary? Was this being put together on some complicated software that would alot of time to learn and money to buy? or could this be finished by a bunch of people with Unity 3d and a bunch of free time. Let me know. I for one have a massive amount of free time and am very willing to help revive this project. i was in love with it before and still am. Amongst the 3d mmo fan made poke games i still feel like this, which keeps pokemons original style, would stand out as a well-made and enjoyable game, plus id love to see my name in the credit line (hehe). So yea... reply... im eager to begin.

[Cyndadile]

Glad to hear it! Although keep in mind that this isn't in 3d or an MMO; we aim to keep in the style of the original 3rd gen games as much as possible. The game is actually being built in RPG Maker XP, using a version of Pokemon Essentials (http://pokemonessentials.wikia.com/wiki/Pokémon_Essentials_Wiki). We have a lot of the sprites and maps here on the site, but the issue is putting them in RPG Maker and scripting the events - most of which is described in that link above.

There are a few more complicated scripts that would need to be done in Ruby programming language, but none of that is (IMO) a priority at the moment.

If you want to find a copy of RPG Maker and try out Pokemon Essentials, that would be awesome. Once you get a feel for it, I can start pulling together what we've got, and answer any questions you have. "A bunch of free time" is really the most important part here.

Just a note on our use of RPG Maker XP and Pokemon Essentials: the reason we're going this route with the game is that Pokemon Essentials basically has everything we need already laid out. It sets up the battle system, pokemon, moves, items, wild encounters, trainers, etc. I personally am not extremely attached to the layout; if you happen to know of another engine that also has a library containing all of this stuff required for a Pokemon game, I'm all ears. However, it would take a lot longer for us to script an engine with all of that ourselves, which is why we're sticking to one that works right now.

[Inferno001]

im c̶u̶r̶r̶e̶n̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶d̶o̶w̶n̶l̶o̶a̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ just finished downloading pokemon essensials and rpg maker xp. ill probably spend the next few days/weeks playing with it. as for trying to gather all thats been finished i havent found much aside from all sprites and most sound files (couldnt find dungeon or pokemon cries). As far as i can see many of the towns still require mapping. and does the main character have a sprite map? ill also say that im a complete beginner but with all the free time i have ill definitely be attempting to learn whats necessary. Also this was probably just me doing the unnecessary but i made a group just to see who was still actively checking this forum and who possibly had the time to continue with help.

[Cyndadile]

Sweet; give me a day or so and I can set you up with our current RPGMXP Project. It's rather sparse right now, but I know that it has some maps and pokemon in it already.

The female protagonist has its overworld sprites right bow, but I think the male is incomplete. I'm not a particularly talented spriter, but that's something I can take a shot at later in development if someone more experienced doesn't pop in.

[Inferno001]

Your awesome, thanks :cool: . Ill go on and mess around a bit, try to get a feel for the program.

[MewLoverEX]

Hey guys. I'm really glad to see some familiar faces are still around (IB, Cyndadile, it's great to see you). I'm now a sophomore in college studying creative writing with a job that I sort of hate, and I'm attempting to get some of my novels published in the mainstream arena now that I have a few self-published. I miss you guys. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to stick to a schedule for being on, but if you'd like, I can try to help with whatever's left and rejoin the process. Long live Topaz.

[Cyndadile]

Nice to see you again, MLEX! And good luck with the publishing! I remember reading something of yours back in the day, and it definitely seemed interesting!

A little has changed since you've been gone; We got the start of the TRPG going (I'm still keeping an eye on it, though there haven't been posts lately). Activity has been low lately; I haven't been able to contact IB recently, although SilentSentinel (you may remember him as RagingPrimeape) has been lurking around. Also recently Inferno001 has been taking a crack at the demo, and it seems like he's doing an impressingly good job ironing some stuff out.

If you're interested, we've got a page here (http://www.pokemontopaz.net/forums/showthread.php?1159-Graphics-Needed-For-Demo) of some of the things art-wise we need for the demo.

[MewLoverEX]

Thank you! I'm glad you remember reading it. I'm waiting to hear from a magazine about two of my short stories right now, so when I hear back from them, I'll have to let you know how it goes.

I'm glad the TRPG is up and running. I'll probably join in, after I read up on it and figure out how to jump in. I do remember RagingPrimeape, and I'm glad he's still about, too. Welcome Inferno001, and it's great to hear the demo's making progress. I'm in the process of spriting the hero's overworlds (16 of 32 done), and they should be finished before I sleep tonight.

[ImmunityBow]

I am in the middle of stuff right now. I will be back on the 18th to do things. Nice to see you all again!

[Cyndadile]

Sweet! Awesome to see you, and hope you're doing well!

Gosh this week has been like Christmas for me <3

[Blade Flight]

Am I dead?

NOPE

I do have to admit, I like the attitude we have here when you guys post encouraging things X3

Can I just say that I DO NOT like the database errors I keep getting every time I click something here, though? =c

[Cyndadile]

Awesome to see you!

As for the database errors, I have no idea what's up with that. I haven't had any issues like that until today; hopefully it's a passing issue? Perhaps IB will know more when he returns.

[Inferno001]

i just finished eventing all the way til Willow gives you your pokemon. it runs smoothly and all boundary issues are fixed. only issue i still have is that you can move during the cut-scenes. Currently working on importing the region map and pokemon. Do we have a map that was made at 480x320 pixels? with the towns set on 16x16 squares? if not ive found one that works but its i had to resize it so its not perfect. also softwind city needs mapping. i might try to do it myself but im not to confident in those skills. Thanx:)

[SilentSentinel]

We had an old map for softwind somewhere but I'm not sure if it's the one we are using. I'll try to find it for you.

[Cyndadile]

I'm on mobile right now, so I can't check sizes, but this is the one we were planning to use:
http://cyndadile.webs.com/Caldera%20Kirant%20Map%20Revised.png
Too large/small? If it's only a little off, I can edit it when I get to my computer. (Note that a lot of the graphics, like the tiles for the map, are resized to double their original size before use)

As for moving during cutscenes, I know that if an event is "autorun" then you can't move, but if that won't work we'll have to come up with a more clever solution.

Here is an image of our design for Softwind - I don't believe any changes have been made to it:
http://www.pokemontopaz.net/uploads/maps/softwindcity.png
I'm not sure if we have it actually mapped in RPG Maker yet; perhaps SS will find one.

[Inferno001]

ok, thanx, also im currently re-sizing the world map to fit the proper dimensions. Not doing it was bothering me too much hahaha

[SilentSentinel]

That was the map I was looking for, I don't think it's been mapped into XP yet. The 3 towers aren't supposed to be enterable yet, and the building in front of them might not be either.

[Inferno001]

i remember seeing those towers so i think its been partially mapped. as for the map ive been resizing its almost dome but im afraid i did i different one. should i switch?

[Cyndadile]

Can you post a picture of the one you've been working on? If it is too different, I'll work on resizing the new one, since it looks like it'll require a bit or resizing. Unfortunately, Topaz has a rather large pair of regions, so (as I'm sure you've noted) resizing may require a bit of fiddling.

[Inferno001]

its the one we have on our regions page on this site. i just split it into layers and resized each piece individually.

[ImmunityBow]

Hello all. I'm also getting the database error thing. As far as I can tell it's because we're on a fairly old version of vBulletin by now and it needs to update from 4.0.3 to 4.2.2. We might need to contact zeroality.

[Cyndadile]

Inferno: It seems like most people were in favor of switching to the new map format, so I'll try to work on making the new one work. I'm having a hard time visualizing what you did with the "layers" though - could you expand on that?

IB: Awesome! (Not that you're getting the error, but that you seem to know what the issue is.) I've PM'd you regarding Zero. Also, I've noticed the issue seems to really be affecting the forums more around midnight EST, if that makes any difference.

[Inferno001]

Yea, i did some digging and looking at the new map i like it better too. and of course though to be honest i probably made it more difficult then necessary. I took the map and made several copies. then i created a 16x16 grid as a top layer. All the copies went under it and i resized all the layers to the closest i could to the right size. Then i erased everything on each layer except a specific element (towns, water, routes) and rearranged then on the grid as close to their original form as i could. then i merged them all together and was trying to redraw the background to merge in but since im switching to the newer map (with an easier background) i stopped and am currently doing all that to that map

[Inferno001]

yea the map is massive. perhaps a multi region game? split the map up? should be possible and the only issue i can imagine with that is using FLY

[Inferno001]

do all of those cities even have names????

[SilentSentinel]

Yeah the cities should all have names, stuff that is supposed to be in them, and general themes for mapping. Are there any particular ones you need the names for?

[Black Temple Gaurdian]

I'm not dead (yet). There was a long string of "you have x." "We removed X successfully." "We found Y in X when we dissected it." "We removed Z as a saftey precaution against Y, by the way you're failing Uni now." (Yes, cancer, yay.)
But hey, I'm now all of 21 (birthday yesterday), and I've a year off Uni (taking a year out because I missed so much), so I should be able to return to working on Topaz.

[Inferno001]

Perhaps im looking at the wrong version of the map? It looks too massive...

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk123/NikNaks93/Topaz3.png

[Black Temple Gaurdian]

Yeah that's the full map. Eventually it may be the game map but... Note Kanto on the right, connecting to Johto. Our regions are left of Johto.

[Cyndadile]

Wecome back BTG, and happy birthday! I'm sorry to hear about all that; my grandfather suffered from cancer for quite a while, and I know it's a hard thing to go through.

And Inferno, as BTG said, that's a much more complete map that we won't be needing unless we want to patch to add moroe regions later. That map covers Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, the Sevii Islands, and our regions: Caldera and Kirant. Yeah, you won't need to deal with nearly that much stuff :P

Here's the map with just Caldera and Kirant (and two towns from Johto, which will also be included in Topaz):
http://cyndadile.webs.com/Caldera%20Kirant%20Map%20Revised.png
It's a fair bit smaller, but still fairly large. I'm not sure, but we still may end up needing to split it into two regions, which would still be fairly straightforward, since we already have Caldera and Kirant as two different continents.

[Eduardo]

Hey Inferno001, if you need a more detailed map, with city names and stuff, here's: (I don't know if it's an old version)

http://www.pokemontopaz.net/uploads/maps/fullmapthumb.png

[Inferno001]

Thanx guys and yes eduardo that is the old one but as far as i know most of the info is still valid so thanx. As for the smaller map that is a huge relief. i can resize that but my issue is setting all the towns and routes in the exact center of a 16x16 pixel grid and then redrawing the pieces of the background that no longer fit... its just alot to do and ik im not artistic enough to do the redrawing. I should be able to get the routes and maps at least if someone else could resize the map, erase all the routes and lines, and then redraw the maps outlines and such i should be set. If someone does take on this task the dimensions are 480x320.

[Inferno001]

Well no matter how hard i try i cant bring myself to resize this map so ig im leaving the thing up to you guys. Ill start creating the dex

[Cyndadile]

Working on it. I have the routes laid out nicely; just need to adjust the landscaping.

[Inferno001]

awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MewLoverEX]

Welcome back, BTG! Hey guys, I'll be around as much as I can with the first week of classes going on. Over the last couple of days, I've had to travel across two states to get from Mom's back home (annoyingly, by car), go through a ridiculous prep procedure for my medical test today, and get up at 5:15 to have it done and finally get my stomach problems diagnosed. So I've been a combination of tired and a little fried on anesthesia, but hopefully by tomorrow evening I'll be good to work again.

[Will]

Hi everyone

If you remember I tried having a go at programming some of this a year ago. I had a little bit done, actually I was about up to the point inferno appears to be now with programming the demo. I can have a look to see what I've done and see if that may help. However things are very busy with university at the moment so don't really have much spare time but if I do I'm happy to help out on some programming stuff (very very basic!) or whatever else needs doing.

[Eduardo]

I'm Happy that a post I wrote set the forum on fire again :D

[Inferno001]

same thank u

[Cranky Guy]

I'm Happy that a post I wrote set the forum on fire again :D

Let's hope it stays that way.

[Cyndadile]

Sorry for the delay.
Normal size:
http://cyndadile.webs.com/Maps/Caldera%20Kirant%20Map%20Squished.png
Doubled size (for use in game):
http://cyndadile.webs.com/Maps/Caldera%20Kirant%20Map%20Squished%20Doubled.png
Anything need changing?

Also, uh, funny story. I worked on making it shorter, since squishing things is really the part that requires a lot of rearranging. But it looks like I forgot about the width; the dimensions are 416*320, so it's 4 grid blocks too thin. Any suggestions on dealing with that? Should I try to rearrange the routes to be longer East-West, or add more "blank" land on either side? We could also probably add some flavor to the edges without expanding the map, like how in FRLG the map had the edges to the map (http://www.spriters-resource.com/resources/sheets/4/3864.png).

[Eduardo]

I like the "Frame" idea for the Map, it's an easy and classy way to solve the resolution problem without the redrawing

[Inferno001]

everything seems to fit close enough to work. a few things appear off by a very small amount but its remarkable how well it fits. even the tiny little green dots fit somehow. thank you

[ImmunityBow]

I'd be happy with a map frame if it's necessary.

[Sev]

I don't have much to offer skill wise, but I can definitely tell you everything you're doing wrong! Kidding, of course. I can try my hand at any graphics that are still needed, but don't expect much. I do better spriting when I'm editing a WIP sprite.

[BaconGod2]

I'm back too. Although probably less excitement about that around here. :D

[epicpokenerd!]

So how's the progress coming along on this? Sorry I've been really inactive recently, and I probably won't be super active for a while with school and all, but what free time I have will be dedicated to helping out! So what all needs some help finishing?

[Cyndadile]

Hello! I don't know what you're interested in, but if it's anything graphics-related, this thread is basically a list of what our priorities are: http://www.pokemontopaz.net/forums/showthread.php?1159-Graphics-Needed-For-Demo

[MewLoverEX]

I'll get back on the graphics I haven't finished as soon as I can. The semester is winding down and my free time should increase again. Sorry, guys. It's been a mess of a few months with 15 credit hours, my job, attempting to get things published (one of my short stories is in a magazine coming out this month), and dealing with the health issues. The test I mentioned in my last post diagnosed me with ulcerative colitis, which I've found out is essentially Crohn's but confined to one area. The medication the doctor gave me put me in the hospital with heart problems, so I had to switch again, and it's been ridiculous. It's made class/work/career harder to manage than they would've normally been. But it's looking like things are improving, so I should be around more soon.

[Cyndadile]

Ooof that really sucks, glad to hear things are improving though!