Outsourcing Pokémon Development

By way of the Pokémon Presents edition just before this year's big anniversary, the long-awaited remakes of the fourth-generation main series games were announced and set for release later this year. Interestingly, these games are also being developed by a company other than Game Freak, meaning that the games are "outsourced", so to speak. I and a friend discussed this outsourcing phenomenon for Pokémon games, in this case the main series games, and what it means for Pokémon and its dazzling array of games; much of the results of that discussion are summarized in this post, along with a few extra thoughts of my own.

Outsourcing the development of Pokémon games is nothing new, of course. The spinoff games are regularly outsourced, with the most famous example being Pokémon Go (which has Niantic as its developer) as the most popular and massive of these spinoff games. It becomes obvious that although Game Freak is the originator of all things Pokémon, they can't do everything - Pokémon is a certain and true priority, but so is stepping out once in a while to try to do other things. And in fact, they have done so occasionally while still working on Pokémon games, which may have affected their work on Pokémon despite being an effort of self-development.

Meanwhile, it seems that development time may be tightening. Those who read my blog might recall my discussion of "industry pressure" with a song from a music group that too was affected by such. That discussion continues to apply, with the implication that reduced time means greater pressure, and "outsourcing" becomes a viable solution for alleviating that pressure. Being that Pokémon is a lot bigger than it was when it started out, it means that the demand is massive (perhaps the driving force behind the "Sinnoh furor"), and that means more pressure; like it or not, Game Freak has to "outsource", and now the case is true for the next main series remakes.

Outsourcing also means that they can focus on the creativity to do something more with Pokémon, like the "open-world proposal" that is Pokémon Legends: Arceus, also part of the "Presents" from the other day. It's been the case that some people regard the ways of the main series games - especially prior to the seventh and eighth generation - as becoming "boring" to put it lightly, and something radical as Legends might turn the tables and pave the success path of Pokémon in the times to come. It can also help them make a more complete game, as in not something that contains seemingly unfinished parts, as the original Sun and Moon seemed to have.

Nowadays, Pokémon is a remarkable thing, and its originators Game Freak have to be just as remarkable in the ways of handling development of this media-mastering franchise. With the "outsourcing" of the fourth-generation remakes, the demands of the masses of fans can be satiated, at least temporarily, while they come up with new concepts such as Legends to satiate further the demands of the masses. Both of these will take time - hopefully time that is unpressured - but at the least Game Freak may have already found a way to "buy time" for Pokémon fans to have a grander time.

One year ago: Cosplay: Robotto no Sekai + SUCOFEST 2020

Two years ago: The Marketing of Expectations

Three years ago: How Many to a Raid?

Four years ago: To Be Continued... maimai ORANGE (PLUS)

Pokémon Go Community Day, 3/6/2021

OK, well, Pokémon Go Community Day is once again early in the month. And that may or may not mean much of anything. But a common thread among many editions of Community Day is that there's some significance with the featured Pokémon species of each. Such remains true with this month's edition, for which the featured species might have Trainers seeing red not because of anger, but in the spirit of bravery. True to that, the Pokémon is highly appropriate.

For this month, the featured Pokémon for this month's Community Day is the venerable Fletchling. It is the first Pokémon of the sixth generation (and from the Kalos region) to be featured in a Community Day in Pokémon Go. It also becomes the debut for its family's Shiny forms, unlike for the past couple of months with an existing-but-not-common Shiny form. For its final evolved version of Talonflame, it gains the Fast move of Incinerate, befitting its Fire type and fiery nature. Talonflame is not exceptionally strong CP-wise, but is exceptionally usable in some different cases, and the STAB framework provided with the special move makes it more so.

The regular bonus this time around is tripled XP for captures, which may be an incentive to just capture as many Fletchling as possible and may befit those who like to collect XP, especially to go up levels. As appropriate for current times, the plethora of incentives regarding Community Day remain the same even today, with extended Incense, snapshots, and so on and so forth, though there is no Timed Research, most likely because the species family is a normal Pokémon species family. The paid Special Research titled "The Bravest Bird" returns to its normal purchase paradigm, but that's not too much a problem; its tale of the characteristics of the Fletching family should inspire quite a bit of bravery itself.

Much like last month, I ended up spending time with a close friend and the lost-but-now-found friend to capture the Fletchling, but not before I made my own ventures to deal with a few friend-related matters and others to make this Community Day work. That included switching to a Mega Evolved Buddy Pokémon to regain the Mega Energy and obtain additional Fletchling Candy, which is now more important than ever: my Candy stock really balooned thanks to this effort. With 20 Shiny Fletchling in my collection, I evolved the "best of the best" (Shiny, for PvP, general use, and others) to result in a host of Talonflame ready for all sorts of occasions.

If Fletchling and its species family are considered the bravest bird(s) of them all, then they're likely to and should inspire Trainers to be all that they can be, and to see red - the hallmark species color - as a mark of bravery rather than anger. Pokémon Go and its Community Day seems to make a fine venue for that, and the significance remains appropriate, whether it's for this time with current conditions, or the next when the bravest of bravery returns.

One year ago: Tell Me Why, My Brother

Two years ago: (Make Way for a) Local EX Raid, 3/6/2019

Three years ago: Bipeds and Quadrupeds

Four years ago: Ride the Pokémon

Pokémon First-Generation Drink Bottle

Years ago, I purchased a Pikachu bottle with a neat component (a freezable insert) to it. While I haven't had a chance to use it as intended, that is still an intent that I'd like to follow through at some point. In the meantime, I've found another similar piece of merchandise that makes for a fine discussion as well as a good addition to my collection. Like the previous bottle, I hesitated somewhat to purchase it, this time not because of the price but because of the best opportunity to purchase it, and I finally purchased it the other day.

This is likewise another bottle for drinks (water, juice, tea, what-have-you) that features Pokémon. Specifically, it's a first-generation bottle because it has an image of a number of selected first-generation Pokémon. There are actually two versions of this bottle with the same body, being one with a flip-top lid and one without. I chose the former because it fits better with the overall color scheme of the bottle - they're both blue - and it fits my needs. It also has to be admitted that the bottles being sold are a little disheveled, and I attempted to choose the one that was the least disheveled to preserve its overall quality over time.

There are plenty of differences between this bottle and the previous one, apart from the colors (blue versus red). The body of this one seems to be sturdier, which is a nice plus, but the capacity is decreased (450 ml or about 15.2 fl oz), which is a bit of a minus. Instead of a ring and carabiner, the lid has a long hook strap, which might demand different usage methods as well. Though the bottle doesn't advertise it, it actually has a nifty inner feature: a strainer that can hold back chunky objects like ice or other solids, which should refine the drinking experience. Also, while the other bottle was made by a local company with Pokémon licensing, it appears that this bottle was made for the Japanese market before being imported, perhaps along with other Japanese goods, as that is exactly where it was present where I bought it.

Despite being smaller in capacity, this bottle might get some frequent use due to its current state. Whether or not that is the case, the bottle is still a nice piece of Pokémon merchandise, especially now that it's in my hands. Likewise with the other bottle, I am privileged as a fan to be able to have something functional to use while showing off my Pokémon influences.

One year ago: Hope For Problematic Pokémon Fans

Two years ago: A Gold and Silver Postcard

Three years ago: Being a Pokétaku

Four years ago: I'm Swept Away

Pokémon, Anatomy, and Books

Some days ago, my raid fellows alerted me to the existence of something unique related to Pokémon. That something unique is called "Pokénatomy", and it takes the form of a book related to Pokémon. The book contains illustrations of the first 151 Pokémon along with - as the key part of this book - depictions of their inner organs. It sounds astoundingly impressive, and it is, to a really good extent. And since I've discovered it as a result of my raid fellows discovering it, it is wise to make a discussion of it in a blog post here.

The book is authored and illustrated by one Christopher Stoll. Remarkably, this book became a Kickstarter project and it was successfully funded in a span of a little more than a month... in 2016, and back then I wasn't paying attention to Kickstarter, let alone have a possible way to back any project on it. Alas, the link on the Kickstarter project page to where one might also be able to obtain a copy of the book points to a dead page, decreasing hope for doing so. It is still sufficiently remarkable that a Pokémon project like this managed to gain enough support as a crowdfunding project on the site and result in a creation that fans and more enjoy.

As for the contents of the book, all the first-generation Pokémon and their innards are depicted in great detail. It could appear as a real-world book of anatomy - or rather, an anatomy book from the realism of the world of Pokémon. To that end, some of my raid fellows have stated that the book creeps them out because of how gory it appears, perhaps in similarity to how some people might say human anatomy books creep them out. It might be that people who are not used to or familiar with anatomy and dissections might find them creepy as such. For me, I still find it very fascinating as with most things related to Pokémon.

There is one more reason why I find the book fascinating: the book itself represents something that I myself would like to make (or at least very similar to that), with a focus on Pokémon but not on the same topic as what was made on this book. And while I might have the core visions of the book and how it should be structured, since Pokémon is partly visual, I'd need help on the art direction since my artistic visions tend toward the abstract. Therefore, I might need to team up or collaborate with someone on this matter. If not with someone like Christopher Stoll, it would have to be someone who understands Pokémon (and my vision) like I do.

Regardless, this project is impressive - I can't say that enough times - even if I discovered it a few years too late and the realism might not suit everyone's tastes. For a Pokémon book, it seems to encapsulate many things that make something like that a keeper for its fans, and it has been proven with the project on Kickstarter becoming funded successfully and resulting in a creation that fans can and do keep. That has to be quite inspirational for myself with my own aspirations and should be too for my raid fellows, who too were captivated.

One year ago: The Ups and Downs of Showdown

Two years ago: A Mew Pouch

Three years ago: How Do I Live, Without You?

Four years ago: Two Pokémon Notebooks

More PokéStops in Specific Areas?

An "incident" recently transpired in Pokémon Go over PokéStops and Gyms in a certain area. Simply put - without too much detail of what the incident involved - a good number of them were lost. Yet it may be the case that a good number of Trainers would have benefited from them, especially if the PokéStops are truly relevant according to the guidelines of good PokéStops. The area also happens to be a dense historical complex, which conceivably could have many places as possible PokéStops or Gyms. This leads me to propose the idea of certain places being granted the possibility of having more PokéStops than normal.

The places that would benefit from this arrangement would be places where people gather - or would gather, if it were not for current conditions - and then do things like play Pokémon Go. The dense historical complex above would definitely fit, and so would parks of different kinds as a general place of congregation. Some of these places might have objects that are close together and yet equally deserving of a nomination (for example, a basketball court close to a major statue in a park) but cannot be both nominated for that very reason. Increasing the number of allowable PokéStops in the area should allow both objects to be nominated, and this would be a win-win solution for those who expect both.

A possible additional condition that could be imposed is that these places would be guaranteed at least one Gym, whether newly created by nominations or selected from an existing PokéStop. This would prevent efforts that are too intense in creating Gyms, particularly at the expense of other PokéStops or Gyms, whether near or far. I've been a witness to some of these efforts, and I can say that they don't turn out pretty well - in fact, they turned out for nothing. For a park, this would likely mean a possible EX Raid Gym as well, which is very much coveted and could have been the rationale for the efforts discussed above. The condition might be a difficult one to fulfill as with the core possibility, but it could make a difference as well.

A simple reason for supporting this possibility is that PokéStops are always in demand, and this is even more of a truism for heavy adventurers who like to seek out new places for their Buddy Pokémon, for the purpose of progressing the Sightseer medal, for good places to set up Lure Modules, and so on and so forth. The demand may be justified, but the mechanism of implementation for this possibility is just as important, for it had been said that one reason the PokéStops above disappeared is to keep things tidy. Therefore, some kind of a solution must also be considered in this regard, being how to keep things tidy while still having the additional PokéStops. I'm certain that some kind of a solution can be devised.

By now, the "incident" is gone and done, and the area is a shadow of its previous self. But that "previous self" still represents a kind of wonder for any specific area that could possibly have such a setup with its PokéStops and Gyms, meaning more of them in the area. Considering that, it may be well worth the consideration to try to realize the above possibility in such a way that everyone can benefit and it can be maintained as well as possible. Hopefully, that can prevent similar "incidents" from occurring in the future and realize great areas for playing Pokémon Go to the best extent.

One year ago: Re-Experiencing Main Series Battles

Two years ago: Cosplay: Daisuki! Japan Fest x ICGP Regionals 2019

Three years ago: Investing for PokéCoins

Four years ago: To Pre-Order or Not to Pre-Order?

Make It Make...: Pokémon Presents, 2/26/2021

So, the thing that I haven't bothered to discuss in detail since it happened is the edition of Pokémon Presents from Friday, and yet I've mentioned it in the Pokémon Day post for this year's anniversary. Any time an edition of Pokémon Presents comes up, it's always intriguing and special, but this edition is more intriguing and extra-special because of its proximity to the big anniversary this year. True to that, it's got some pretty big news on new games and a few other special features. And all of that needs to be explained somehow.

This edition began with a video segment to look back on the creations and innovations over the past 25 years of Pokémon, and it's a pretty impressive thing. This and the previews of the games to follow are also available on their own on the official Pokémon channel on YouTube, for those curious. Then, just before the big news on new games, there were a few updates on anniversary specials across current games, in case those who play the games haven't taken notice of them to celebrate. That's important, of course, but the big news is arguably about the new games to come.

The first game is one of the "old new things" from the past: New Pokémon Snap. The big news for this is the region it will take place in, which is the Lental region, as well as what one can do to make Pokémon more inviting and more photogenic. Taking pictures, especially of Pokémon, is always fun, but what is more fun is sharing them with others, and the game will allow for that. It will also include a slew of photo editing tools, including stickers to enhance the photos. Pokémon fans who are photo enthusiasts should be rather eager for this, and the wait won't be long now - it comes out next month.

Those who have observed Pokémon interactions on the Internet will know that one region has been a recent furor time and time again: Sinnoh, particularly for those who demand remakes of the main series games featuring it. Now, they have finally gotten their wish, in the form of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The two games are billed as faithful remakes of the Diamond and Pearl games, but on the Switch, and from the preview, that should be accurate. Hopefully, this will put (much of) the furor to rest, especially by the time it comes out, which will be later this year.

For those that still can't get enough, they'll like another Sinnoh game, this time something new and completely different: it's called Pokémon Legends: Arceus. This is the other kind of "Legends" I hinted yesterday. The game takes place in Sinnoh, but in a time long gone. The mechanics are what make it different, as it is an open-world game like many games that are popular nowadays; it is therefore what I call the "open-world proposal". Likely because it's so different, even the Pokémon logotype appears in inverted colors for this game. Fans will also have to wait longer for this one, as it comes out next year at the earliest.

Given the news above, it's not hard to see why I annotated the title of this post as above. One of the new games demands fans to make pictures, while the remakes fans have demanded are being made, and it even comes along with an innovative "premake" that has captured the attention of fans. In effect, there was a "make it make (things)" thing going on in the Pokémon Presents from several days ago. One thing is for sure: everyone is demanded to make it big for this year's big Pokémon anniversary, and the above is surely the case.

One year ago: Making Game Journeys... Literally

Two years ago: Winds of Changing Teams

Three years ago: Pikachu Cable Holder

Four years ago: Love My Life - Pokémon Too

The Season of Legends

After a run of celebrations, it seems wise to start off by discussing something "in the pipeline", so to speak, for Pokémon. A new season for Pokémon Go has begun, and as can be expected, that season is called "Legends". While it does suggest that what may be expected from that is obvious, it is just as well to try to figure out what else can be expected for Pokémon Go as well as Pokémon in general, for the concept of "Legends" is familiar to practically anyone who is familiar with Pokémon.

To kick off the season, Pokémon Go has appropriately scheduled a bevy of Legendary Pokémon in its Legendary raids. They would be the "Therian trio" of Thundurus, Tornadus, and Landorus, starting with the Incarnate Forme for a few days each - with Shiny being a possibility - and then their Therian Forme for somewhat longer. It is worth noting that the Shiny Incarnate and Therian Formes are essentially their debuts. After not seeing them for some time, it becomes a really wild start to this new season. The Shadow versions of the three Kanto birds are also due out over the course of this season. Then there are also other change-ups similar to the start of the "Celebration" season, though that's pretty much a given.

As for "Legends" outside Pokémon Go, there's one major thing that I haven't bothered to reveal for discussion on this blog, and it's somewhat overdue by now. That thing will color Pokémon discussions for some time and is therefore a priority for discussion at the soonest opportunity possible. Of other kinds of "Legends", there are other kinds, like the musical kind. One of those is Post Malone as discussed in the anniversary post, and another is Katy Perry, which I dropped on the "road-to" post in January. Along with the just-announced J Balvin, they are or will be part of the "P25 Music" project, and at the end of this year, this will result in album of the same title due out at that time. The album might just turn out to be "Legendary", in a way.

The season called "Legends" that starts today is primarily a Pokémon Go thing with a neat selection of Legendary Pokémon over the next few months. However, with the onset of the big Pokémon anniversary, it has also become apparent that a few other things will have the flavor of "Legends", especially of the major thing that I haven't dealt with and the music that will accompany continued celebrations throughout the year. With that, it's time for the season to get going and manifest itself truly.

One year ago: Cosplay: March Funtastico

Two years ago: In Living Galar

Three years ago: Can't Get Enough of Pokémon (and Pikachu) Stickers

Four years ago: Posters