Weekly Progress 9/25: New Stuff! Starting locations for Creature Universe!

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Greetings! Welcome to another amazing week of Sam and Dan games! Last week we almost completed our goal of releasing both a 1v1 level and a story level but we didn't quite make it. I did release it yesterday night which is pretty close I guess. This week again we will attempt to do a Story levels among other things! We love to give you guys content and we love making it. We will also talk a little bit about the starting towns/cities/villages for the first 3 starters in Creature Universe TD. Sound good? Great! Let's get to it.

New Story Level
This week we will finally get out of New Bark Town and into Route 29! You might have noticed that once you defeat a battle you aren't able to repeat this battle over and over like you could on PTD1. Well on Route 29 you will be able to repeat battles, catch new pokemon, hunt for shinys! I'm looking forward to making this and finally be able to see pokemon walking around in the wild instead of just having random battles. You will also get your PokePad which will act as a pokedex, a computer and it will also heal your pokemon between battles. Along with this I'll be working on getting your first party pokemon to walk behind you. If I have time I'll be adding the first Mystery Gift and the Trading Center for PTD2. Lots to do!

Look! 1v1 is evolving!
I've decided to make some big changes to 1v1, remove a lot of the grinding and focus more on strategy and choices. This requires some shifts on how things work. I'm still thinking about it so not everything is finalized yet. But here are some of the things that will change:
  • There will be no more experience gained from defeating the enemy.
  • You will level up by using rare candies that are given out by beating levels.
  • When you use a checkpoint you will get the same amount of candies that you would have received if you have beaten all the way up to that point. So you can skip the previous levels and still have a powerful team.
  • Every pokemon will now start at level 5 and evolutions will not be available for unlocking.
I'm still figuring out what exactly I will do with the coins, but I have a few days to think about it. My main goal is to make it so it doesn't feel like you need to grind for the coins to be able to beat a level. 

So that is a little preview of what we have coming for you this week. Check out the weekly progress below to see how I'm doing during the week. I also added a new "My Status" which will tell you if I'm currently working or not.

Weekly Progress:

Alpha v1.191 - Bug Fix: Released!
  • Fixed a bug with the pokeballs not showing up unless you saved and reloaded the profile after receiving them from Prof. Elm (100%)
Alpha v1.19 - Route 29, PokePad, Bug Fixes: Released! Yes, Shiny Pokemon can show up in the actual battles in Route 29 but not in the map itself.
  • Fixed some NPC typos
  • Slightly Decreased the HP boost on your rival's starter
  • Made the pokemon in your first party slot follow you in the map - Fun stuff but you won't be able to talk to it like in the other games.
  • Fixed Map Issue in Elm's Lab on Story Mode
  • Fixed Issue with Speed resetting between waves in Story Mode
  • Made Story level music stop playing when you leave story mode
  • New Story Level - Route 29
    • Level Intro
      • Before you get the PokePad
      • After you get the PokePad
    • Implement PokePad
    • New Map
    • Battle Layout
      • Swarm Layout - Normal Tower defense fight
      • Single Layout - 1v1 style fight
    • Battle Waves - Both 1v1 and normal version for each pokemon
      • Pidgey
      • Rattata
      • Sentret
    • Pokemon Map Behavior - how the pokemon will behave in the map
      • Pidgey
      • Rattata
      • Sentret
    • Level Ending
  • Added a Spawning System - This will control how many and where each pokemon spawn in a route. 
  • Saving Extra Info for Pokemon
  • Show Shiny Popup and slow down speed when a shiny shows up
  • After closing a popup window the previous screen will now properly get back focus - When learning a new move or evolving the screen would lose focus when coming back. Not allowing you to use the keyboard shortcuts. This is now fixed.

Creature Universe Starting Locations!
 Like I've mentioned before each starting creature will have it's own starting location instead of have all 3 available in one town. What this means is that we can really do something special for the starting locations. Giving each of them their own unique style and appearance. For Creature Universe we really wanted to do something different. Instead of realistic towns that are... well kinda boring. We really wanted to do something interesting for each town. Below I will show you some sketches that our artist made to create the mood of each starting location. Keep in mind that these are concept sketches they don't represent the final look of the locations. Also some of these are there to strictly show an idea and not intended to look amazing. Keep that in mind!

First is the grass starter zone. The grass starter is the chameleon, they mostly live on trees so why not make the town live on top of trees. Not shown in the concept is the flooding that occurs during the rainy season which is the reason they build higher up and the water that is under the trees.

Work In Progress Concept of the Grass Starting zone
Then we have the fire starter zone. This place is more industrial, more gritty, it's a mining town. The fire starter zone will have a lush reservation area that the creatures live in that will be very contrasting with the rest of the zone. The fire koala family helps with refining the metals and treasures found in the mines. They also help create the steam that gives power to the town. I don't have a picture as the one I had didn't really show off the town it self but a mining cave.

Lastly the water starter zone. This place is more outdoors in a place surrounded by mountains. Not shown in the concept is a zone that is dried up due to recent droughts. This zone will be divided between a rich part and a poor part. The water buffalo need water to use water so even with them around they don't completely solve the drought problem as they can only use water in their supply to defend themselves and keep themselves hydrated while doing work like pushing carts and what not.
Work In Progress Concept of the Water Starter Zone
So there you have it! Three different concepts for the starting locations. Remember these were just for ideas and should give you a little sense of what each location will be like.

That is all we have for you this week. As always let us know what you think!

Comments

  1. Which starting zone has the most promise? Which one didn't catch your attention? Why?

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  2. do it quickly! pleaseeeeeeeee

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  3. Looks great. The first one reminds me of forrtree city in pokemon. You even get chameleons in both places. I think the fire city needs a redraw though, it kinda confuses me (is the map bird's eye or cut into mountain?) Also, why is the water area having a drought and the grass area flooding. (I realize it's a rainforest, I just wanted to help my point along). Basicly, i like the grass area the best.

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  4. And the Fire are have a lush green reservation? It's part of a theme with the starting areas. You will be confronted with the type that you can beat.

    Again these pictures aren't going to be used as actual game graphics these are just to show the concept of the zone.

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  5. I'm even more happy with my choice of the water starter. That mountainous region looks so peaceful and relaxing. The grass starter town looks pretty cool, as I always enjoyed treetop villages in games. The fire town confuses me though. I like the vision you description provides, but I can't get a sense of what the concept picture is trying to show.

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  6. I dont like the 1v1 idea:( Youll delete Kakuna and Butterfree and Beedrill and Metapod. And no leveling up. Do a poll so see who likes it.

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  7. I think its a good idea for the 1v1, It started to lose structure with the more levels but the new leveling will help with that and the changes.
    Glad you changed it means i can give the levels to the pokemon who need it for the next round.

    Creature Universe :
    I love it for the Grass
    I can't make much sense of the fire picture, but the sound of it is good :)
    Not to sure about the mountains thought, Maybe a River/Lake/Sea/Underwater. Something more watery

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  8. Perhaps we can try it before we dismiss the idea :)

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  9. I like the ideas for 1v1 but I think you should be able to unlock evolutions (even though they still start at level 5).
    I also really don't like how the rival is apparently semi-friendly. In Gold and Silver he was a total jerk, and I liked that. I'm really not a fan of the new friendly rivals in more recent pokemon games. So maybe we can have friendly rivals when we go to those regions, but for Johto, the rival should stay true to the games and be a character you really want to beat.

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  10. Sam, if you change that about 1v1 I won't even continue pokemon tower defense 2 so please, please please! don't make those changes.


    -Pat

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  11. Yes, I agree with this

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  12. hey sam i found a minor bug. when i logged into my profile to vs silver, wen i fought him i had 2 cydiquils. then, wen i did my 2 profile, i had 2 totodiles.(im NOT complaining). i think it is only for people who had a previous file, cuz wen i created a new one, it didnt happen. also where do u access ur pokemon and everything?

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  13. It'd be really cool if the art in picture 3 was how the actual game was going to look.

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  14. The water zone looks amazing, but the fire zone needs to be more detailed, it's confusing

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  15. Those graphics are not the ones that will be used in the game, it is a concept art

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  16. Yeah that is the only one we have so far, we will get more in over time.

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  17. You do level up! You will get free rare candies after beating levels.

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  18. Off topic but I just started watch Doctor Who and saw your icon :)

    Water area is based around Asia, that is where water buffalo mainly reside so we went with that :)

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  19. There will be plenty of people you won't like, the rival is your buddy for now :)

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  20. Try them out! If everybody hates them then we will go back to the original.

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  21. Ah you have like the opposite of what the bug that I mentioned is. You can keep them if you want.. Next update you will be able to access your pokemon with the pokepad.

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  22. You don't know he's friendly yet, just that he seems to be. Maybe he's trying to trick us into doing something we shouldn't.

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  23. On the plus side, you'll have rare candies at the start of the first checkpoint. So, for example, since a caterpie can be leveled with the current mode to a butterfree, I'd expect that we'd have enough rare candies to level caterpie to butterfree from the start. So no, you really won't lose butterfree or beedrill, just the ability to have tons of them by farming coins. This will help balance out the teams a lot. Also, think how close we are to getting Ivysaur and Nidorino!

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  24. I really like the idea of not doing just straight up cities, but actually adding culture and geographic interest to each. I love the grass city the most, though a city in trees is a bit overdone (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Avatar, etc.), so I think that it has the most potential for both being good and being cliche. I think the water city seemed the most natural, and as such, possibly the most boring. That said, all of them have a lot of potential, especially with how you design the inhabitants and their ways of life. World building is so much fun!

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  25. The new 1v1 sounds great! One thing, if the rare candies still double has a revival item, they will quickly become OP, so you should probably make them usable only outside of battle (you've probably thought of this though). As always, keep up the great work, Sam (and everyone else on the team)! This is the first game that I've really watched in development from the very beginning, and it's exciting.

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  26. Ah ok :) Understandable! I forgot it was a Buffalo :P

    And Doctor who is Amazing! Which ones are you watching? There are quite alot of them... Worlds Longest Running Sci-Fi Show :D

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  27. Also, i was wondering if you read that mail i sent you on friday? :)

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  28. I'll be paying careful attention to how OP the candy are. I don't mind them as a revival tool since they are limited.

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  29. I started with the recent version of it season 1 on netflix not the old old ones

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  30. I read it but haven't had a chance to reply to many emails.

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  31. It is a fun but loooong process. The grass city will deal with floods so its a bit different to what we have seen.

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  32. i think the grass land on this is the best place it could be but water could have a few tweaks with the ideas and fire i think is close to what it should be but that should be a rock village or something

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  33. Its ok :P Thats what i thought :)

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  34. Good luck! Hope you Enjoy :D

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  35. I feel that the tree one is the only one that accurately depicts its type. I feel that an underground mining town would be better for an earth or steel type town, and the mountain town would be better for and air town (or ice if you raised the altitude). If it's not too late, you may want to set those two aside for later towns and do a town on a volcano for fire and an underwater town or a kamino like city

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  36. Oh than ok! Nice 1v1. But can you still unlock pokemon by evolving but only be lvl5. Youll delete the evo pokemon?

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  37. I love the grass idea. Don't quite like the fire and water, it seems to me like a mine would be better for rock/ground (unless your going with a hunger games approach). And water seems ok, but having a drought in the middle of a place that specialized in a water buffalo. Couldn't they just use the buffaloes to use rain dance (I'm assuming water types will be able to do this), and they wouldn't really need rain in the first place with water gun(This is even more likely for you to keep).

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  38. Thanks for the feedback. The water buffalo need water to keep up with their supply. Not all creatures will have the power to create rain (this isn't pokemon after all) so things like droughts can happen. The mine is more that the fire pokemon help with refining, there will be a volcano area but that is for later.

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  39. The town itself won't be underground only the mining section, that picture doesn't really explain much I'll take it down probably. There will be more mountain zones. This zone is the habitat of the water buffalo in real life. There will be volcano or underwater labs in other areas of the game.

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  40. basically you won't unlock them but you will have enough candies to evolve into them right away once you have unlocked up to a certain level.

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  41. Put up some more info that should explain it better.

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  42. Added some more info to the water and fire locations that should make things more clearer.

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  43. so were do we have to enter the mestery code when it comes out i read some were like in a diffrent update are somewere that you have to be on a sertent website

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  44. I like the idea Sam, but you said, "
    using rare candies that are given out by beating levels" does that mean we get rare candies for free when we beat a level?
    What makes the idea really good is that checkpoints will be much more useful!
    Thanks for this awesome game Sam!

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  45. I agree.
    Although I think it's a great idea!

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  46. Most likely for free I'll be testing out different things to find out what will make it more interesting. Yeah check points will actually work like checkpoints now.

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  47. Its not out yet. Basically like multiplayer that you can only play it on our sponsor's site, the mystery gift will be the same.

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  48. Personally i think the new 1v1 idea isnt to great; i actually love the way it is now; its not to easy not to hard; I have no issue getting past all the levels; Ive got 1k coins or so i believe and thats without even trying and playing tons and tons of times like everyone else. I feel that the new idea would be way to easy.

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  49. hey Sam, here's an idea:


    How about an auto buff/debuff system, if a Pokemon has a move that raises their stat or lowers the targets, they would use it automatically without it being selected so if you for example had a Spearow with peck, growl, and leer and you have peck selected it would still use the other two moves when it can, the global cool down would still apply and if it could use a status move and peck at the same time peck would take priority since it's selected, the same would apply if a status move was selected it would take priority due to being selected. This would save us a lot of trouble since we can focus on the battle instead of watching the cooldown bar, and it would really help those who don't have a standard qwerty keyboard.


    On a side not I really like the new idea for 1v1 mode, I always have a really high leveled Pokemon and a couple low leveled ones due to the high leveled one having an advantage but when the other Pokemons types are needed I am decimated.

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  50. It would eliminate a lot of the grinding but it won't be easier.

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  51. We did something like that for HTD and it was a mess. I like what we have now changing a move is easy enough.

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  52. so sam i read ur watching docter who

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  53. yeah just started.. only seen like 3 episodes, back to work now

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  54. True but the thing with HTD used 5 moves at once, my idea would use just moves that buff or debuff like leer and tail whip and not moves that cause statuses like poison powder or thunder wave or attacking moves that cause debuffs like bulldoze so this would be less moves plus it wouldn't be at once like HTD it would use one, wait for the global cool down then use the next, and don't forget the move currently selected would take priority, some people don't have a standard qwerty keyboard so this would help them a lot, I know that you can change moves by clicking them but it isn't as fast.

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  55. Hi Sam! Im not sure if i like the 1vs1 changes, but ill try them. Hope the current feeling doesnt disappear. I like the fact you can have a better start after every try. To the Story-Mode: Can we already get Shadows via buying in trade-center??

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  56. I could also add support for different keyboards :)

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  57. You can't get any new shadows in the trade center for ptd2 only the ptd1 ones.

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  58. That will be cool then. By the way, if there's any way to get in on the world building, I love to help.

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  59. Since now we finally have a rival who gets the "advantage" starter, what will happen to the "disadvantage" starter? Will there be another person to get this from Elms lab? Or are you keeping it a secret for later on in the game? :P

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  60. I actually didn't think you'd reply to me <33 I suppose i misunderstood the concept you were getting to; Either way i will continue to play this game. Think long and hard about the decision you make. But your true fans will continue to follow even if its not a decision they enjoy. Best of luck to you.

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  61. hey sam if all pokemons in 1vs1 mode will be level 5 will beedrill and butterfee be level 5 or we will have to evolve caterpe and metapod?and how is it possible that a pidgey and rattata both appears in johto because you did say that in johto we will be able to catch only generaton 2 pokemons/johto pokemons?

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  62. Somebody will get it, whoever that Zai person is :)

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  63. I'm sticking to the original game there since there isn't that many to go around in johto.

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  64. I don't know why I thought that the water village would be like, underwater or in small islands.
    The only thing I don't like is the types of the 3 starters (water/grass/fire). Every single pokemon game has had those exact types (except for Yellow version).
    I know you wanted to have it be "rock, paper, scissors", but maybe it would've been more interesting if the 3 types were unrelated and weren't super effective against each other.
    I'm just super tired of always having those 3 types as starters.

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  65. sam what is the next mystery gift?

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  66. do more storymode cause 1v1 sucks and ANPO lokks great!! realy looking forward!!! :)

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  67. just as you mention nidorino it reminds of what i thought when we got jigglypuff: when are items(moon stones) going to be implemented into the game?

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  68. David Tennant was an unbelievable Doctor! :D :D :D

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  69. I also enjoy the current 1v1. It's very well done, and I've never had to grind yet.. only time I had to grind was to get Butterfree and Beedrill, which was my own choice. I can get to lvl8 on my first or second try if I want. and I only have like 40 coins.

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  70. Hey Sam, I don't really like the idea of making evolutions not be able unlocking and that there is no exp gain anymore. In my opinion this is one of the best and most important reasons for still playing with the first available, weak pokemons in 1vs1 to make them stronger and therefore to have a stronger team overall and to fully complete the pokedex.
    Otherwise I understand your problem with grinding.

    So what's about the idea, to save the highest level a pokemon reached in 1vs1?
    Next time playing this mode you would be able to increase the pokemon's level step by step from the standard level up to that level which was reached before. Every new level would cost a certain amount of money but would last forever.

    Btw: Great work you're doing with your team! :-)
    Greetings from Germany

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  71. Okay Sam, and OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG you replied to one of my messagess!!!!!!!!!!!! I agree that that's a good idea, and I mean to apologize for saying I'd quit playing just because of that, I realize I didn't really mean it.

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  72. Oh yea Sam, I know most people call him Silver, and I'm not saying your incorrect, but in the TCG for gen 2, I have some cards from it, the card for him is Seer. Ok just wanted to say that, and sorry if I was being rude.

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  73. Yeah, but where the BIG problem arises is when 1vs1 has about 100 levels and if you start from the checkpoint, you'll have to buy pokemon who have the starting levels. Or else you'll have to play forever to get to that level.
    With Sam's amazing new idea, :) we get to level them up some levels for free.
    The current way is good for now, but it'll get worse when there are many levels.
    Right Sam?

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  74. I'm thinking the exact same thing (first sentence). : )

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  75. There isn't enough experience to level up a full team(I've only beaten the latest level using potions). I think you're treating 1v1 like story mode when you want to save the highest level a pokémon reached and when you think of completing the pokédex in 1v1, that's not the point of the mode at all. Let's see how the rare candy system works in the next update and hopefully it'll improve what is already looking like a great game mode.

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  76. Grass Land - Leave
    Water Land - Move into the center of the lake or something like that
    Fire Land - Move to a completely new area and make the area you designed to be rock land instead so it doesn't go to waste

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  77. Agreed with this :)

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  78. is level 29 next week or this week? it sounded like you released it this week but I can't find a way for

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  79. It's not out yet, only the Rival fight.
    The new story level, route 29 is being made this week and will likely be released at the weekend, or if late, next week. Just depends how busy sam is and how many other things he has to fix.

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  80. for the new 1v1 system theres only like 6 trainers so it would mean 6 rare candies (assuming 1 per trainer
    ) but then that will only make 1 poke lvl 11 while the latest trainer will be 2-4 lvls higher :/
    to counter this you may put 1 per poke or 2 per trainer which will make 1 poke OP which isnt good... :/
    a suggestion might be to put a cap in each level like what youre doing in story so it will be a challenge and no OP

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  81. What if soon into the story you choose a second creature that isn't from the three starting types, like dark or poison.



    Gorfon
    ___________
    _________
    _______
    _____
    ___
    _

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  82. sam can you pleae make a event to get legendary pokemon or shiny pokemon also can u have the next level come out soon cause im just so excited and i can't wait

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  83. Yes but right now is is very cumbersome to keep changing moves but you have a point about it being messy so how about being able to select one move as an "auto execute" of sorts, the move would be used automatically if and only if the global cooldown is not active and the said move is not on cooldown itself, the selected move would take priority over the "auto execute" move and it would not be messy thanks to the global cooldown keeping the 2 moves at whatever the global cooldown timer is at apart, and it's only 1 move instead of HTDs 5.

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  84. You will get to catch some on the next update.

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  85. I'll have to rebalance the game a bit or give out more candies.

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  86. Thanks Jack for answering :)

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  87. I'll be making events like that but they will come later on :) Level should be out by friday

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  88. It's one of those things that if I do add it, it won't be for a while

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  89. The more you add to the game? E.g. New level for 1v1, Story mode and so on. Will it make the game take longer to load?

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  90. Hey Sam,


    I don't really like the way 1vs1 is going to change, I think that we should should still earn the experience that we earn in battle. Here is an idea, if you choose to go through all the levels then you don't receive the rare candy's, but if you use the check point then you receive the rare candy's as compensation.


    Thanks

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  91. Sam, how about instead of giving rare candies if you pick a checkpoint how about giving a certain amount of exp points you can assign to each pokemon equaling the amount you would normally get from the levels leading up to the checkpoint. It stops players from just spamming rare candies on just one pokemon and also means you'll have more flexability with the upcoming battles.

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  92. I forgot to proofread that and realise it was horribly worded... If it's unclear what i was getting at could someone let me know and I'll repost.

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  93. I think rare candies is more straight forward and easier to understand. With specific experience now you have to know how much your pokemon needs to evolve and I need to make new menu screens (which i hate (: )

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  94. I say we see how it plays out and then from there we decide.

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  95. Yup, that is more data, pictures, sounds so the file gets bigger. PTD1 was 10MB this one so far is like 5MB

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  96. His default name in the games is silver, his name in the manga is silver... personally i think silver is the most correct because Sam is making his game more based along the lines of the games rather than the TCG.

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  97. Don't base the show on Eccleston... I'm not saying he's not good, but
    Tennant and Smith (I still think that it would've been better if his name was
    John (props if you get the reference)) are just plain awesome.

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  98. Will the mystery gift come with it?
    No hurry Sam
    Just wondering...

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  99. Wanted to check because it doesn't say in the blog, but will an alert still pop up to tell us when a shiny pokemon appears? I really hope you keep this feature.

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  100. something else that affects load time is that every time a new version of the game is added, your computer has to download all of it over again, and it loads faster once it is in your cache. So once you've loaded the current version once, you don't have to wait near as long to play it again, unless you clear your cache.

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  101. I feel like more candies than one per level is necessary (at least in the later levels), but there is no point in using all the rare candies on one pokemon because you will need more than one leveled up pokemon to beat all the trainers. 1 OP poke won't matter against something thats super effective against it, like bulbasaur ripping through your geodude (since that seems to be a 1v1 favorite) so you need something like butterfree or spearow.

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  102. Sorry for the long read in advance, I just wanted to put a thought down and kept coming up with more to say.

    Not sure how I feel about the change in 1v1, as I see positive and negative aspects of both the current and the future forms of it.


    One of the things I like about the current 1v1 is that there isn't really grinding, as progress is always being made forward as you battle. Instead of running a level over and over again to level your pokemon, you are always forced to go to the next level, and you strategically choose pokemon you want to fight based not only on types but also which pokemon you want to level up. To me, this adds an interesting dynamic to the gameplay.


    What I like about the new version is that it effectively solves the problem of untrained pokemon when skipping to checkpoints, which I viewed as a big upcoming problem in the current version, and you still have to think strategically with how you spend your rare candies. What I dislike about it is that you can level up stronger pokemon that require more experience to level (snorlax) at the same rate as weaker pokemon that require very little experience (weedle).


    The aspect of the current version that I will be most upset to see disappear is the unlocking of evolutions, because I really liked that a lot as it added the sense of collectibility to 1v1 mode that is generally intrinsic to pokemon games.


    While I'm here talking about evolution in 1v1, how will stone evolutions are going to work in 1v1? Looking forward to the new 1v1 despite my apprehension, and especially looking forward to the new story mode and shiny hunting for sentret! Keep up the amazing work, Sam!

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  103. will there be a link to the site's version in-game?

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  104. I don't think its that big a deal. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, rare candies just seem to make more sense in the long run of the game. Say you have beaten the 8th gym and the elite 4 comes out in a level. Would you rather start from the beginning to train pokemon to be strong enough to fight them, or just go to the 8th checkpoint and use a bunch of rare candies? Keep in mind that that will be 70 or 80 levels to go through.

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  105. We still don't know about this zai fellow...

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  106. I like the idea of the fire starters industrial town that is in stark contrast to the preservation area beside it. Only one idea I wanted to throw out is that there should be something physically seperating the air of the two, like a plexiglass dome over the preserve to keep all the smog and industrial waste out. It would look cool and it would make having coal mining and burning next to a nature reserve more feasible and realistic(coal mining and burning is horrible for the environment).

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  107. *like*
    to be honest Sam, I think the idea of different starter beginnings is awesome, and it reminds me of SWTOR, another game which I waited in anticipation for. To see the progress you are making is epic, and it shows that you not only take in our feedback, but make it even better into games like anpo td will be.

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  108. Gotta love the John Smith episodes. I always thought Martha was an underrated companion!

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  109. Never commented on your blog before Sam, but I've been a follower of yours ever since the first six levels of PTD1 and I'm a huge fan of your work.

    What prompted me to comment (finally) was to thank you for all the effort you make and all the time you spend on PTD, and on the upcoming Creature Universe.

    But anyway... I had a few concerns with the changes to the 1vs1 mode that you'll be implementing soon, but I'll save my judgement until I've tried it. I guess that I'm reluctant to have it change because I can't see its flaws, but as always you know best.

    With regards to creature universe, I think the starters are interesting-- it's nice to see the starting areas, the starter creatures and the types. I particularly like the designs for the fire and water types, but I think that the grass/leaf one is a bit uninspired to be honest. Reminds me of one of the fakemon images that went around the internet a few years ago, not that it's a bad idea. I just hope your reasoning for using the chameleon (considering that Pokémon has already milked that animal throughout the generations already) and that it has maybe a specialised attack or relevance to the plot to justify its use.

    (Thought: If you're doing the Fire starting area in an Industrial place with nearby forests, I take it that you'll be using a mix of flame, toxic and grass creatues to fight? That to me, seems to be the most interesting starting idea so far if that's true.)

    My thoughts on the typing of the creatures: I'm a bit worried that you could end up too close to Pokémon. I understand that there's a limited amount of things you can do with types and elements, but I think you should try and stay as far away from the weakness/strengths of Pokémon as you can. Maybe referring to dark types as shadow, or light types as holy? (As in some of the Final Fantasy franchise). This could at least help distance yourself from Pokémon a bit. Possibly Frost instead of Ice? As an alternative to grass/plant, maybe Flora (the term for a collection of plantlife in a region or time)?

    Also I'm not sure neutral/normal is even worth including. I actually think that having types that are "normal" and "regular" actually stifles creativity, and might make your creature's designs suffer. I mean, with creature designs in games such as Pokémon the type usually has a bearing on how regular animals are changed when combined with elements such as Blastoise, who is capable of shooting water out of cannons on his back. By having neutral/normal you are usually left with Pokémon with bland designs such as Bibarel. It can be argued that normal/neutral designs and ideas can be interesting and innovative such as with Jigglypuff being a balloon (with a cute tuft of hair) capable of singing enemies to sleep. However I do think it's a dangerous trap that you could fall into.

    I don't think my suggestions for typing are any better/worse than what you use already, but I do think that maybe some thinking outside the box could help in distancing your own creations from that of Pokémon (despite how amazing the games are).

    But anyway, best of luck for future with your work and I hope that you don't see what I've said as a criticism.
    (READ: I love everything that you've done so far, and can't wait to see what you'll do next.)

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  110. Apologies for my essay/short story.

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  111. Just an idea:
    if the creature universe ideas aren't subject to big change, that's fine. however, i was thinking that the locations should be a little more interesting. it seems bland to put the grass starter in a forest; it's too predictable. what if it were locations that needed the type that your starter is. for example: water starter in a city going through a major drought, fire starter in the arctic, grass in a place with little to no vegetation.

    As far as how the plot will make this work, I think that the main character could find the starting creature and save/help the town.

    the problem with that idea, is that the hero will have no reason to explore the creature universe with his creature if his town needs it. so, I think that the main character could find a nest of his starters near his town, and become the hero. he could take a low level creature for himself, and still save his town.

    I just think that if you plan on making a game similar to Pokemon; you should spice it up when you can and not make things too obvious.

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  112. Sam, if you change the gameplay of 1v1, how are checkpoints going to work? Will we start with a bunch of rare candies?

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  113. It is kinda obvious that you would start in a town that represents the starter. But these creatures need to be able to live in that locations. For example fire won't be able to live in the arctic for a long time. There will be chances for you to help out locations with your creatures like you mentioned and the starting areas do have some problems happening.

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  114. Hey no problem I love these types of feedback :)

    I can see what you are saying with not staying too close to pokemon. We have a lot of new ideas that will help it stand out on its own, we just haven't talked about them yet. I see that you have provided some feedback on type names (I like shadow instead of dark and frost instead of ice). The chameleon is pretty cool, we have a really good backstory for him and his evolutions are pretty slick too. I think opinions as to which location or starter is best and why I should change them varies a lot. Some people don't like the fire area because its very different and at a glance doesn't match fire for example.

    Also our normal/neutral is a special type, you really won't see it that much actually in the wild. Very few creatures will have it.

    My job now is to read your feedback see the general message that you are trying to give me and try to see how that message applies to what I'm trying to do and ask myself do I agree with what you are saying and apply that in anyway in the game itself.

    Thanks!

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  115. Thanks! Yeah different starter locations is very MMOish :)

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  116. One thing to note here is that in PTD and PTD2 every pokemon requires the same experience to level up.

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  117. Yeah it will be a big glass dome :)

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  118. Sam, what held items are you adding next week?

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  119. no offense but what the hell do you mean no evolution purchase i spent a hour getting butterfree and beedrill

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  120. How dare you waste programing time having a life?!?!?!? JK, do what you want.

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  121. I agree. The whole rare candy idea will make it better for progressing further in the 1v1 mode. It certainly will make the checkpoints a lot more valid in comparison with the useless ones we have now. I can't do anything with the current checkpoint because the pokemon are still too weak.

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  122. i have an idea you can use the coins on 1vs 1 mode to buy potions,items,and rare candies so what do u think about it sam?

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  123. I know, I was just pointing it out

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  124. -__- That's already in and I do think that could make coins still have use I guess

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  125. yeah I'm pretty bummed too I spent 2-4 hours coding that

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  126. Sam, I think for PTD2 1v1, for pokemon you get like x free pokemon for beating a level, although I do think it would be super hard to implement but x=star difficulty of 1-5 based on level, current pokemon in party, and the pokemons' levels

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  127. Wont that mean that after say, 5 levels, you will have a full party, with a constant flow of pokemon you don't really want? And what about leveling, experiance or candies? I think the current coin system for the pokemon is fine

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  128. sorry about that because im new here

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  129. sam on ptd 2 are u gonna create pokemon centers and pokemarts for each town?

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  130. I'm guessing he will be doing that due to the way the game will be played. But Pokemon Centers may have a different function to healing since your pokemon will be healed before each round.

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  131. Sam, what was the results for the Nights Poll you did months ago?

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  132. Ok, I don't mind waiting for a while for it, I'm a patient person. I would also like to take the moment to thank you for taking the time to respond to me, I know you have a lot to do with PTD 2 and collage and yet you took the time to talk to me here and a couple other messages I wrote a long time ago. On a unrelated not just out of curiosity, what's your favorite pony or do you now watch MLP?

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  133. Well I'm glad to hear that about the normal/neutral at least. I always feel like they're shoved in as fillermon for the sake of bulking up numbers as a variety of different domestic animals (cats, dogs, mice).

    I did remember one thing I also wanted to say... in the original post I made I mentioned type's strengths/weaknesses and how I thought they should be different. I just wanted to elaborate on that. One way of distancing yourself from the Pokémon world would be to have the Air type weak against Fire. I mean, logically oxygen feeds fire, making it stronger so in this match up fire would be the winning element. Whereas in Pokémon it would just do it's base damage.

    Another way would be to make Ice (or potentially frost? haha) strong against Water. Again, water's effectiveness would drop against ice as ice could freeze water in it's tracks.

    Gotta be honest, I'm less enthusiastic about the Ice>Water idea than Air>Fire, but it's still an example of how a different way of thinking could create an entirely different game. (Funny thought: make ice weak to toxic and fire and make an eco-friendly game by demonstrating the disastrous effects of melting permafrost, lol)

    I just hope that you can make the game your own, instead of a Pokécopy- which is a hard task considering how much it's influenced modern rpg strategy and that sort of thing.

    But anyway thanks for reading/replying Sam.

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  134. 1.thank you for responding 2. Yay im excited and 3.I can't wait and just thank you so much for working on it, also you should make it so people can test what you have so far i meen i would love to be a tester for the game (hint, hint :D) you should maake like a secret link just for those people that really want to be a tester for the game, also if you do do that then you should give a reward after the testing is done:D anyways thanks SO MUCH ;D P.S. you are awesome and if u want to trade pokemon(not HACKED) with me my name is Hmma2 or here are some of my trade links :150651f3f98040 1506520a26e3b4 15065217523358 im kind of picky on which pokemon i get but anyways please trade with me because i just really(like RRRREEEEAAAALLLLYYYY) want those pokemon cause they are my favorite and if you do i would be so greatfull because that means i have more pokemon to help me win :) and i would just love it anyways till next time -hmma2

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  135. i dont judge im kind of new too :)

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  136. how about you make the NPC trainer join the player's journey so the NPC trainer can help the player defeat lots of shadow pokemon

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  137. Oh,and one more thing sam,could u build PTD 2 hacked version please?

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  138. No way!
    Don't do it Sam!
    I know I'm not a lone voice against hacked version...
    It makes the game too easy and its called CHEATING.
    And Sam doesn't like it either. Right?

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  139. Hi Sam!!

    Youre really fast now with programming and releasing. Cant say i dont like it =) Say, do you accept even Story-ideas at that early stadge? For PTD1 i was kinda disappointed by the end. It was very funny, but looking at how the story developed, it could been epic. I thought from the beginning that after you beat the final LVL, in the endingscene, Mewthree will still be to strong and than Mewtwo and Mew join their forces to overcome him. I always thought on something like that. I had the line from Mortal Kombat Deception in mind "A new alliance was born out of deception". I always shiver at that line =D To make it short (well...to late =D ) I got some ideas and would love to tell you. BUT!!! I can totaly understand when you dont want such suggestions, cause that might lead to even more Mails to you and you already got alot to do besides the games. Looking forward to PTD2 and wish you luck and success.

    P.S: will we get the "new shadows" like the old ones? or will there be a "buy Shadow PTD1" and "buy shadow PTD2?".

    29 of 300

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  140. No Hacked Version. PTD2 will be two good for that and dosn't deserve having a hacked version destroying all sam's time and effort.

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  141. Thanks for replying, i never thought about it from that perspective and agree the rare candy way is more straight forward.

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  142. The point of the hacked version in ptd1 was to appease hackers but it didn't work(we still have fake pokémon being traded) so I think another approach is needed to cut it out . . . unfortunately I don't have any suggestions.

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  143. I'm open to ideas and it's probably easier for me to see them and reply to them here instead of email. I'm not sure exactly how we will get the shadows in ptd2.

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  144. You will get a companion :)

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  145. I don't watch MLP :)

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  146. Yeah for HTD we really looked at it like that. Like water can be easily corrupted so things like toxic and shadow are strong against it. I like your fire > air reason. We are def looking at every piece and saying what did pokemon do and could it be better somehow.

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  147. hey sam can you make the avatar from ptd2 move around by clicking rather thn by arrow keys just like in avatar chat?

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  148. Excited! Still playing the first, it's kicking my butt like none other. Forcing me to work on more than one pokemon, as I usually do. Happy to be a part of this new chapter!

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  149. Ok sam but how many companions will join my side?

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  150. 4 hours and 37 minutes EST until your time quota for route 29 is not met. HURRY SAM!!!

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  151. What a waste of space

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  152. Thanks :) Just checking

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  153. Hehe... i'm staying up :D refreshing every 10 mins :P

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  154. Same! forget fifa 13, this is the biggest game release today :D

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  155. Really? You should give it a try, you can watch it free at http://www.watchcartoononline.com/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-episode-1 just change the 1 at the end to get different episodes. For season 2 go to http://www.watchcartoononline.com/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-season-2-episode-1 just like before just change the number at the end and you also need to remove the title that appears at the end. Give it a try, it's not girly like it sounds.

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  156. getting close now . . .

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  157. The hell was the point of this?

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  158. lucky me, it,s 7:24 am here

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  159. A few hours and counting!

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  160. Can't find any pokeballs to use... :(

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  161. Ah, had to save and re-enter it :)

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  162. I don't have any pokeballs? how do we get them?

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  163. I just saved and quit, and loaded again and they was there.

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  164. Thank you sam!
    One question, the pokemon in the wild you have to encounter to start a battle, will any of them ever appear as shiney?

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  165. Alpha v1.19 - Route 29, PokePad, Bug Fixes: Released! Yes, Shiny Pokemon can show up in the actual battles in Route 29 but not in the map itself.

    So thats a no. Only in the battles will they be shiney.

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  166. sam we didn't actually get pokeballs, is that intentional?

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  167. You have to save, leave and re-enter the game for now untill the bug is fixed to get the Pokeballs

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  168. sorry bout that sam! just saw your tweet on my NF :D

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  169. It's fixed now anyways :) Sam fixed it quick

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  170. Is it normal in 1.19 that I have two Cyndaquils and no pokeballs?

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  171. Great to hear!

    I'm majorly reassured by this news. Also wanted to congratulate you on your fantastic new update to storymode. Well done! Very impressive stuff as always.

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  172. Okay so i noticed i also have a second starter; And Not sure if the pokemon disappearing was intentional just figured id say it; And also wondering the shiny rate cause i raided every moving pokemon and hadnt gotten one, has anyone else?

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  173. And also; For some reason after saving and going back into the game my character wouldnt stop moving down until i went to the top of the map

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  174. New Wild Pokemon level AI is perfect. Instead of them just standing there, you gave them a sense of realism. Best update yet, Sam! Keep it up!

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  175. oh it will change dynamically

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  176. Thanks! I appreciate it :)

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  177. Hey Sam! I love the game so far. One thing I might suggest for the next update is a release button for pokemon. I know you're planning on doing this anyway but now that we are allowed to catch pokemon I thought it might be necessary for things like this to be implemented soon. Thanks again. The game is awesome and I can't wait to see how 1v1 mode turns out

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  178. Two cyndaquils is a bug but keep em :), no pokeballs is fixed just save and log back in

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  179. I'll check this out, shiny are pretty rare I posted some info on the FAQ page on the blog with some answers.

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  180. Yeah def need a release button.

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  181. Sam your PTD games are awesome! I feel more people will play this if it was sent to kongregate! someone stole your game and Ruined it's reputation. Please put PtD 2 on kongregate! (btw kong members dislike signing up to play, give them a demo or something before having to sign up) Please! if you put PTD 2 on kongregate, it will easily become some of the top games, and it will recieve more players as it deserves!

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