[Released] Pokémon Blooming Beast - Chapters 1+2 (Chapter 3 coming June 8th!)

[KRLW890]

Download Pokémon Blooming Beast v0.2.5

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One year ago, your gym leader title was revoked and you were forced into an early retirement. But now, an old friend from the Hallio region has reached out to you about an opportunity to become a gym leader again in his region. Discover what secrets await you in the Hallio region!

Chapter 3 coming June 8th!

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Pokémon Blooming Beast is a plot-focused fan game that still offers the traditional Pokémon experience. It includes:

• A fully-fledged conversation system with dynamic dialogue that reacts as you learn more
• An original region to explore
• Gen 9 content
• A difficulty curve geared towards experienced fans without being Kaizo levels of punishing
• Over 170 character talksprites
• A diverse regional dex
• Modified pseudo-legendary starters (yes, including Togepi!)
• New regional variants
• HMs usable from the PC, and other quality of life features
• Witty and charming writing alongside an engaging plotline
• And more!

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Woah, what's this "conversation system" in the bullet points above?
I'm so glad you asked, theoretical person! As you meet new characters, you'll have the option to ask them about themselves, the history of the region, their opinion on other characters, and more! As you learn more, either through these interactions or by progressing through the game, the options you can ask each character will expand. Exploring these options will make characters more likely to sponsor you in your goal of becoming a gym leader, while also offering clues to piece together a dark secret that preys upon the Hallio region.



Okay that's cool, but what if I just want to play it like a normal Pokémon game?
That's fine, too! These conversation options are just that: options. You can still get a complete experience (at least up to gym 3, for now) without them.

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Version 0.2.5 is a playtester demo that goes a little past the third gym. It has an estimated playtime of five hours. Included in the game is a link to a playtester survey. This survey is optional, but recommended. 👍 Play a cool game. 👍 Help make it better. Win-win.

This is the second of four planned chapters for Pokémon Blooming Beast. Each chapter is expected to take 8-12 months to develop.
Chapter 1: Hallio Lowlands (released)
Chapter 2: Coreop Canyon (released)
Chapter 3: Hallio Highlands Part 1 (in progress, coming June 8th!)
Chapter 4: Hallio Highlands Part 2 (not started)

The game includes both chapters 1 and 2, which flow seamlessly into each other.

For frequent progress reports on these upcoming updates, please consider joining our Discord server.

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Screenshots:

Spoiler:

Credits:

Spoiler:

Created by KRLW890 using Pokémon Essentials v20.1,
developed by Maruno and Peter O.

Character overworld and battle sprites by Irwiza
Character talksprites by KRLW890
Special thanks to AenaonDogsky and Nephae for talksprites used as bases and reference

Pokémon sprites by:
Gen 1-5 sprites from the official games.
Gen 6+ front sprites by the Smogon community, with minor edits by KRLW890. Special mention to King-of-the-X-Roads for their Gen 9 sprites.
Gen 6+ back sprites by the Gen 4-style Gen 5 and beyond back sprite resource.
Gen 6+ animated menu icons from the Gen 3/4/5-style menu icons for Gen 6+ Pokémon project

Move animations by the Gen 9 move animation project.

Overworld truck sprites by OgJazz.

Music from the official games, Mixeli, Jag 00 and KRLW890.

Speed-up plugin by Marin and PhantomBass.
Essentials v20.1 Hotfixes by Maruno.
Essentials Deluxe, Enhanced UI, and Improved Mementos by Lucidious89.
Bag Screen With Interactable Party by DiegoWT.
Gen 9 Resource Pack by Caruban.

Pokémon belongs to Nintendo, Game Freak, and the Pokémon Company.
No copyright infringement intended.

Want to support me beyond playing the game? Follow me on Twitter or subscribe on YouTube.

 

[professor plum]

Thread approved :)

 

[floodryan123]

wow this looks great. How much is available? Good luck with development!

 

[KRLW890]

It goes up to the first gym right now. It has 4 towns, 7 routes, and 2-4 dungeons, depending on how you count.
Glad to see that people interested :)

 

[WolfffRoxx]

Fun game so far. Beat the first gym vjust walking around now leveling up my pokemon.

 

[Concord1a122]

Just downloaded it now! I would be lying if I said I was not excited!!! Will keep you updated!! :)

 

[.hack]

Looks cool, keep up the good work!

 

[KRLW890]

Just released the v0.1.1 patch, which includes a bunch of minor changes which I hope all add up to a significantly better experience. Although it still only goes up to the first gym, the Hallian forms have been redesigned, some routes have been revamped, quite a bit of new optional dialog has been added, if you know where to look, as well as a bunch of other stuff, which you can read about in the update log on the main post. Hope everyone enjoys the patch :)

 

[KRLW890]

v0.1.3 patch

I wasn't planning on patching the game again until part 2 was ready, but someone pointed out a softlocking glitch, so I decided to go ahead with another patch to part 1. However, since I'm updating the game anyway, and I already have a bunch of Gen 9 content working for part 2, I decided to copy that over to this patch in addition to the bug fix! There's also a handful of QoL and UI plugins I added; you can read the complete patch notes in the update log on the main post.

And like always, save data is automatically carried over from previous versions.

 

[KRLW890]

Pokémon Blooming Beast Part 2 release and v0.2.1 patch

Part 2 is here! This update adds the second and third gym leaders, doubles the number of explorable areas, and introduces a system I've been very excited to share: the dynamic conversation system! Talk to gym leaders and other major characters to piece together the secrets of the Hallio region, with your options expanding as your character learns more.

While v0.2.0 was the initial release for part 2, I delayed announcing it here because some bugs were very quickly found. These bugs have been fixed in v0.2.1, so I hope everyone enjoys!

 

[KRLW890]

Pokémon Blooming Beast v0.2.2 Patch

A small patch releasing alongside our feature in Eevee Expo. It features some minor bug fixes, some new dialogue, and most notably, an update to the conversation menus; options will now appear faded if you've already selected them, and they'll even go back to indicate when you can get more information by selecting an option again.

 

[commiecommiecommie]

can you get hidden abilities on pokemon like rockruff?

 

[KRLW890]

can you get hidden abilities on pokemon like rockruff?

Sorry I didn't see this until now. No, you can't get Pokemon with hidden abilities yet, though Rockruff in particular is an exception; it has a very rare chance of having Own Tempo, the odds of which increase a bit at dusk (5:00-7:59 PM).

 

[KRLW890]

Pokémon Blooming Beast v0.2.3 Patch

Hello everyone! I'm back again with a big patch for the game! This is technically a minor patch, since it's not adding part 3, but it's almost definitely going to be the biggest "minor patch" the game ever sees! Here's what's in it:

Character portraits!
I've been wanting to add these for a long time! I've gone back through the entire game and added talksprites to dialogue for every major character. There's over 170 of these just across the 7 characters currently in the game, spanning a wide range of different expressions. They add so much life to each scene, so even if you've already played an earlier version, it might be worth replaying to see these in action! If you're not so keen on doing that, though, I've compiled a video of all the cutscenes in the game as of this version, which you can see here.

Climb the Astilba River
Fun fact: I originally planned for part 2 to include more of the Astilba River, but ended up removing it for time. But most of the River is still supposed to be in the Coreop Canyon (part 2's namesake), so I've added it back in! This tags a new extended area to explore for about an extra 20 minutes of content, even if you've already completed part 2! Consider this part 2.5, though this is not going to become the norm. After this, new areas won't be added until part 3.

(Also, for no reason in particular, I highly recommend not muting the music when climbing the river 😉)

Fodil Town cutscene overhaul
After careful consideration, I've decided to completely rewrite the cutscene with Max/Gabriel in Fodil Town. I really don't like overhauling important scenes like this, but the writing here was just inexcusably bad, and no amount of fun, expressive talksprites were going to save it. It still covers all the same points the original scene did, so players who only saw the original won't be lost when Max/Gabriel becomes relevant later on. But this is another reason you might want to replay the game or at least watch the cutscene video.

San Vitalia City redesign
This was one of my first maps ever, and it shows. I've made it more compact and added some more details, which makes the city feel a bit larger and more alive. No real functional changes, though.

Other changes:

• Fixed a bug where the game would crash when trying to sell items.
• Fixed a bug with collision in Hidden Sanctuary.
• Added soft Exp caps for each gym leader; Exp gain is significantly reduced for Pokémon at or above the level of the next gym leader's ace.
• Added a small 2nd floor to East Coreop Mine.
• Gave some UI to Amy's Beast investigation dialogue.
• Updated a few Pokémon menu icons.
• Lowered encounter rates in caves.
• HMs can now be forgotten anytime as long as the player has another Pokémon that knows the move.
• Added various softlock prevention measures.
• Fixed a bug that was affecting Pokémon happiness upon level up.
• Updated the Enhanced UI plugin; friendship meter now appears in a Pokémon's summary.
• Added the option to immediately check a chosen starter's summary if the game has been loaded once before.
• Professor Orchid in Fodil Town now gives the player the Shiny Charm if they've registered 213 Pokémon, the maximum for this point in the game.
• Renamed Shadow Assault to Spectral Assault.
• Adjusted some trainers.
• Tweaked some dialogue.
• Fixed some move animations.
• Added some secret sauce.
• Other minor changes.

 

[wildchild1]

Do you have a Discord?

 

[KRLW890]

Do you have a Discord?

Yes! https://discord.gg/2FUqPaSvfs

 

[KRLW890]

Pokémon Blooming Beast v0.2.4 Patch

In contrast to the massive patch that was v0.2.3, we have an extremely minor patch in v0.2.4, which is a small handful of bug fixes. In particular to address some bugs that were crashing the game in some niche circumstances. No new content, but it's worth the update if you're still playing through it.

 

[DarkDemonAngel]

Honestly having a lot of fun so far! I know the starters normally have very different evo levels/methods, do those same methods apply to this game(I'm looking at you togepi)

 

[KRLW890]

Honestly having a lot of fun so far! I know the starters normally have very different evo levels/methods, do those same methods apply to this game(I'm looking at you togepi)

All the starters evolve by level-up, though a bit later than typical starters, since they are pseudo-legendaries (Togekiss is rebalanced with 600 BST to match the other two).

 

[KRLW890]

v0.2.5 patch and chapter 3 news
The last patch for chapter 2 is here, mostly as a little thing in preparation of chapter 3. It overhauls a lot of stuff under the hood, but in terms of actual content, not too much has changed. Though there are a few noticeable additions:

• Revamped the Coreop Watch cutscene. If you really have nothing better to do, I guess you can replay the game to see this? It takes about 1.5-2 hours to reach, and the new sequence is only about 10 minutes long, so you can decide for yourself whether you think that's worth it. This was mostly added for new players.
• Added Dipplin (technically Hydrapple too, but you won't be able to evolve again until chapter 3)
• Revamped move reminder functionality. Talk to the general tutor in any Pokémon Center to get the details.
• Added a new control binding menu, accessible anytime from the start/pause menu with the "Controls" option. The old F1 menu is technically still there since that's something that comes with RPG Maker, but don't use it because it's completely ignored and overridden by the new system.
• The Exp. All can no longer be accidentally skipped. It can still be turned off, but it's now mandatory to at least receive it.
• New sprites for Possite, Posselganger, and a few others.
• Added Marks.
• Fixed the Jaboca Berry glitch.
• Minor dialogue tweaks.
• Probably some other stuff I'm forgetting.

In addition to that, chapter 3 now has a trailer and release date! The new trailer is linked at the top of the post, so please check it out. See you in June :)