State of Topaz: August 5th, 2010
It's been a while since I last wrote an SoT, no? Anyhow, lots of stuff has happened since then, let's get started!
Let's start off with a nice piece of art from puppytoast, Blitzfaust!
http://i948.photobucket.com/albums/a...zfaustcopy.png
Okay, now that you've been treated to that piece of eye candy let's move on to the news:
Unfortunately zeroality has left us to pursue a career in web design. While this is a huge blow to us this is a great opportunity for him so wish him well with his life! neon, while technically a temporary admin, has been staying on for the past while to offer his leadership experience and informed opinion.
Among the Topaz Central forums, a pretty large storyline rehaul has been taking place, things are going to be changed and remade to make more sense, be better in general and the plot will probably be 3 or 4 dimensional this time rather than the 2 dimensions it's been skirting for so long. I'll keep everyone not in on it updated on this forum, several characters (Simon, Bradley and Willow especially) have had major backstory changes and are sure to be much more interesting characters now!
In the Pokemon Topaz forum, we've had plenty of progress in the past few months. Thanks to Quinn, zeroality and MewLoverEX' hard work we've basically gotten Shiny sprites for each Pokemon except Kraklaw, whose sprite we still are in the process of revamping. It was rough but it was done in record time due to the enthusiasm of all involved.
Reliabilty, on the other hand, has provided us with a full 16 backsprites, an endeavour that is certainly worthy of praise, especially with the quality of some of them. We'll just have to see if he managed to make his goal of 30 this summer! Of course, he needs feedback and people to help edit his sprites to make sure they're all up to the high standards that Topaz fortunately/unfortunately has, so check them out here. Here are some of the gems, just to showcase:
http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/4634/161mirrust.pnghttp://img707.imageshack.us/img707/3697/76mallarge.pnghttp://img541.imageshack.us/img541/7694/118destado.pnghttp://img295.imageshack.us/img295/5527/68skalloy.png
The Graphics Forum has had enough activity that I can't actually link and comment on all of them separately, so I'll just list them out and you can check them out at your leisure:
Quinn has created a music player interface
Quinn, neon, BTG and others have been working on some excellent maps, in particular Roothaven City, Dynamo Gardens, Colossus City, Abaddon Swamp and some other nice routes.
MewLoverEX has made some nice overworlds for the demo
Quinn has also been working on plenty of trainer sprites
Along with what's been done, however, comes a request. Move. Animations. These are so important for the demo and we haven't really had much progress on them. Read the tutorial and try to make some, it's fun people! This is the single most important thing we need right now, I'm going to keep stressing this as we go on with the summer.
On the sound side of things, STT has been gracing us with some awesome music arrangements, which are available for download, along with everything else we have sound-wise. These are linked in this handy topic
In Moves/Items, other things have been stirring. The Little Corrections Topic has been remade and opened. Feel free to post anything you feel is off or that could be changed for discussion.
We've also been working on some item sprites, of which several seem to be working. Here are some:
Burning Coal: http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/3585/burningcoal.png
Blessed Ankh: http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/8784/blessedankh.png
Plain Stone and Magma Stone: http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/3237/plainstone.pnghttp://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2227/magmastone.png
Dairy Incense: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...iryIncense.png
Iron Incense: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...ronIncense.png
Resist Scarf: http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/9232/resistscarf.png
Calopa Berry: http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/2011/calopaberry.png
Storm Ball: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../StormBall.png
Solar Ball: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d.../SolarBall.png
Arctic Stone: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/d...rcticStone.png
While revamps aren't super high priority right now since all the ones needed for the demo are done, for those who are interested, the Clefairy Line and the Slo Line are undergoing revamps and require opinions. If you want to do something but can't seem to find anywhere you can help, here's the place for you.
As for Pokedex Entries, Tauros, Miltank, Misdreavus, Spoink, Growlithe, Ampharos, Mareep, Sandshrew, Grumpig, Flaafy, Pineco, Arcanine, Murkrow and Forretress were done in the past 4 months. However, their momentum has been petering out. I think most of the demo-related ones are done by now but there's lots more to be done for the full game. Feel free to come and contribute here!
A few things in Topaz need renaming, which is precisely what the Renaming topic is for. The current discussion is about renames for the blandly named Frost Town and Champion's Tower. Current winners seem to be Las Nieves/San Nieva and Dream/Triumph Spire. Disagree? Voice your opinion!
And of course, the Suggestions topic has been receiving lots of activity lately, mainly discussion about interspersing the gym leaders better and balancing the game competitively. However, I must add that when suggesting something that would require a fair amount of discussion, it's a lot more efficient to make your own topic in Topaz General or any relevant forum, so your suggestion doesn't get lost in the huge topic.
So, I'm sure there's been some stuff that I've missed, but the main gist of things is there. If you have any questions, just put them up here. Thanks for sticking by!
