pokehaven

[pokehaven]

will you be posting updates here when you implement features or will you just kinda stay silent until you're ready to open for beta testing? :o

We can certainly post updates as we implement features, if people are interested in that! We should have lots incoming over the next couple weeks, as I’ve finally got enough free time to dig into more dev work! :D

Some details we’ll stay quiet about to keep things a surprise for beta testing/launch! But we’re totally open to sharing progress updates otherwise!

[pokehaven]

will there be a way to get breeding pairs without having to directly communicate with other people? i have social anxiety, so i'd feel kind of awkward asking people for help with pairs...

also, will wonder trade be a thing in this game?

Yes! A major feature will be the Pokémon Market, where players can put their Pokemon up for sale without having to independently organize the trade! Players can sell their Pokemon for whatever price they like (including for free!). When another player purchases the Pokemon, the trade occurs automatically, so no communication would be required at all. It’s designed to be the easiest way to acquire Pokemon whose Original Trainer (OT) is not yourself, and the easiest way to acquire and sell specials.

Wonder trade will be a thing, though not on launch! I personally adore wonder trade so it will definitely be a feature at some point in the near future, it is just not one that is planned for launch.

[pokehaven]

In light of PFQ’s recent announcement regarding Daycare updates, I’d like to repost PokeHaven’s outline for our own Daycare system and point anyone with questions or suggestions to our askbox! It’s always open!

Core Mechanic: Daycare

One of the core mechanics on PokéHaven will be the Daycare, which will be the one and only way to adopt eggs on the site! This means you are entirely in control of the nature and IVs of all the Pokémon you hatch! No more hunting for your eggs in a crowded shelter. And no more hatching a special with the wrong nature!

There is a limit to the amount of eggs you can hatch per day, which can be raised through Daycare Upgrades. Daycare Upgrades are obtainable with the site’s main currency and are designed to be achievable for any active player.

You can identify matches between pairs of Pokémon at the Daycare and, depending on their compatibility, they’ll breed more or less frequently. The compatibility system will be simple and accessible for all players. Compatibility for a pair will always remain the same once they are matched, so you can trade a match to another player if you like!

The only tough part can be finding that perfect match! If a Pokémon is caught or hatched by you, it starts seeing other Pokémon caught or hatched by you as its family. Because of this, they refuse to attempt to breed. Matches must be found by trading Pokémon with other players! If you put your own Pokémon and another Trainer’s Pokémon in the Daycare together, they will be eligible to breed!

There are also ways to make your eggs hatch faster that are not just limited to clicking—some items and Trainer Skills can make it easier than ever to hatch!

[pokehaven]

when do you think the discord server will be up btw? i know you said it was delayed but do you know how long it will be delayed or will it wait until the game comes out? no rush btw i know this stuff takes time :)

Probably not until more significant progress has been made on the game (with some features being fully implemented), and when we’re almost ready for beta-testing. By then, we’ll be close enough that real anticipation can be built up with updates coming in quite regularly, and we’ll start having some questions for the community that we can put up polls for and whatnot. So when we get to a point where we’re ready for/need regular community interaction in order to continue progressing!

My hope is we’ll approach that point sometime this summer, but that is a rough estimate!

[pokehaven]

I really like the idea of cosmetic bonuses for donors! Maybe a custom sprite for a Pokemon, or higher-up, being allowed to design a fakemon for the site that everyone can enjoy/obtain? :0

Ooh, like different tiers like Patreon? I’d be open to something like that!! I have seen similar models like that with Pokemon Discord bots. I think that would be wonderful idea! I think a custom sprite could be a lot of work for the art team, but I would be totally open for donors to have the opportunity to help design a Fakemon! That would probably be for future releases though.

Ideally, once we have finished adapting all regions, we'd start work on our own original region. But now I'm thinking it may be better to introduce our own region incrementally alongside the other regions' releases. So each time there's a canon region release, there's also a new wave of Fakemon added to our original region. That way, we could add that donor incentive much earlier!

Also, our region’s dex would be completely optional! It wouldn’t count with the canon Pokédex for dex completion. I know lots of people join a game like this because they love the canon Pokémon, so it’d be there as something that’s just for fun!

[pokehaven]

will there be a way to donate money to help the site? :) and will donors get any special privileges or would that be considered pay2win?

Yes! We will need to keep the servers running, after all! We’re striving to make sure the game is not pay to win in any way, so any rewards that donors receive would not give them any significant gameplay advantage over regular players. Right now, the idea is to offer some further trainer/profile customization features for premium currency, and perhaps something special like a donor badge that evolves over time (similar to Discord’s Nitro badges!). We are open to more suggestions to help incentivize players to donate if they are able, without them feeling pressured to do so!

[pokehaven]

Development Update

Hi, everyone! It’s about time I shared a few updates on development of PokéHaven! :D

Production has begun on all areas of game—the database, the API, and the user interface are all in active development as I write this. We have pretty much finalized conceptualization of our features that will be available at launch, so now we’re getting into the nitty and gritty of actually implementing those features we’ve defined. We have also entered the phase where we can start doing data entry for things like Pokémon information and sprites!

We have also finished working out an affordable solution for our server and web host! It was very exciting to deploy a live site to interact with for the first time recently. It can’t do much other than switch between a few different pages at the moment, but it exists, and that is a huge step toward making this project a reality!

That’s all I have for the moment! We have put a pause on making a Discord server for the time being, as we’d like to concentrate all our energy into making the game before we introduce community management into the mix.

I do check this blog daily though so please feel free to send in asks about whatever you like!

[pokehaven]

super excited for the game! do you think you'll be posting any preview screenshots of the general layout and look of the site for feedback before it properly releases, or are you planning on keeping it a surprise?

I’d like to keep it all a surprise until we get to the beta testing phase! After receiving feedback from that, I’d be open to start posting screenshots of some of the general layout to share with everyone!

What I can share now is that a great deal of the UI is very much inspired by modern Pokemon games. The goal is for the layout to be intuitive, user-friendly, and optimized for all screen sizes, as well as generally fun and appealing! One of my biggest gripes with some fangames are that their designs feel like they’re stuck in 2005, except without any of the charm. UI design is a huuuge passion of mine and it brings me a lot of joy to put thought into making a design look nice and perform well for everyone!

[pokehaven]

hi! This project seems pretty interesting! Will there be some sort of mechanic that let's you befriend other users or something similar?

Not anything that’s a planned feature for launch! The closest thing would be the ability to make custom clicklists, and putting your friends on them. I would love to add a friending feature in a future release though! I know for sure that’s something we want to incentivize in future releases (helping others in general, not just friends) so I’d like to bring some perks to it too!

[pokehaven]

Core Mechanic: Explore

We’re very excited to introduce the Explore feature on PokéHaven, which allows your Trainer to go on their very own Pokémon journey throughout the regions! Once you set foot on Route 1 with your Starter, you’ll be able to initiate an encounter with a wild Pokémon. Use your battling skills wisely, and you may come out the other side with a new friend to add to your team!

Explore is designed to be your main way to obtain Pokémon throughout the game, and you can initiate as many wild encounters as you like! Defeating wild Pokémon grants experience to participating party members, as well as some items that may prove useful in other areas of the game.

As you travel throughout the region, you’ll encounter many people that may need your help. These side-quests can help you gain valuable Trainer Skills that can be used to create a unique gameplay experience that caters to the things you like most about the game! More on that later!

There is also the main quest, which involves an engaging story that will follow you throughout your entire PokéHaven journey, spanning multiple regions! It will include the familiar Gym challenge as well as other quests to unlock access to certain key items and legendaries.

Overall, there’s so much here it’s hard to sum it up in a few paragraphs, but I hope it teases enough to get you excited!

[pokehaven]

Hi hi hi hi! I just read through the entire blog and i am SO excited!!! I have a few suggestions actually for various little things 👉👈

Okay okay so like, one of the things that keeps me coming back to PFQ is.. Boxes. It’s the boxes. I love hoarding boxes and then opening them all on special occasions! I like the concept of finding summoning items and it scratches an itch in my brain and boxes are The reason i use the scouring system.

And on that note; oh my god the PFQ scouring system sucks. It could be worse, but it’s something you just click refresh on and walk away. Boring! (Shoutouts to back in the day when you could overwork your Pokémon and they’d run away LMAO 😭😭😭) I think a good alternative would be some sort of (semi?) interactive treasure hunting system/minigame! Maybe taking cues from PMD? 👀 Send your little guys on little adventures!

This is more of a small thing, but since there’s no shelter system (from the sounds of it there’s going to be a mechanic for obtaining new Pokémon another way? Other than trading) maybe a small(?) chance to find “abandoned” Pokémon eggs/nests you can collect the eggs from! (With a chance to get attacked by the parent Mon maybe?) Though i dunno how well that’d fit the Vibes.

Also something something the mining minigame from D/P/Pt to get various stones maybe.

You can tell i like scavenging and collecting things. I’m a Murkrow at heart lol 😂 anyways thank you for your time and thank you for making this 🫡 doing Arceus’ work

Hi, anon!! There really is something about lootboxes that scratches that itch in a lot of our brains—I love it too! One of the purposes of our core features (which also happens to be very interactive!) is meant to be used to gather items/loot. Some of these items can be very rare, such as materials for crafting items for legendaries! This feature can be used as often as players like, and is meant to be used as another way to hunt specials and gather items.

I really love that abandoned Pokémon eggs/nests idea, omg! We might have to implement that, I think that could work well with the vibes we have!

A mining minigame inspired by DPP has been tossed around by our staff before, so I’m sure that will be something that gets implemented down the line! Pretty much all of us adore minigames so it won’t be an at-launch feature, but I promise you minigames WILL be on PokéHaven!

[pokehaven]

hihi, PMD anon again!! The main part of it I love are the randomized jobs & such... and exploring dungeons! There was this other Pokemon online game I liked a while back that I cannot for the life of me remember or find again, but it had dungeons built automatically out of users' Pokemon in boxes, and you could get little rewards for going through them, which was really cool! I also liked [clicker game that shall not be named]'s very short-lived spinoff where you could make a base & it had the really strange realistic art for Pokemon? idk if anyone remembers that one though, I only have faint memories of it...

Oooh I like these ideas! Having dungeons automatically generated from the user’s Pokemon in their boxes is also a really cool concept. We will definitely consider something like this when coming up with minigames! We hope to have at least a few after some time (though they wouldn’t be available at launch) as another way to earn currency and items!

I’ll add this to our feature requests! Thank you, anon!

[pokehaven]

I would just like to say that I've been begging for a pokemon clicker game with some kind of PMD-inspired minigame or something, so if PokeHaven ends up having that I would cry tears of joy. I understand that making an entire site from the ground-up is very difficult, however, so even if that never gets added, I will still join & have plenty of fun :]

Oh, I LOVE Pokémon Mystery Dungeon! What ideas do you have for a minigame inspired by it?? 👀📝 Or what aspects of PMD do you enjoy a lot that you’d also like to see in a clicker game?

[pokehaven]

will you be opening the site for alpha testing? I think it would be pretty cool to allow users to sign-up via email for an alpha test code or something just to give further feedback on the site and to help bug test features perhaps i'd definitely be interested in assisting with something like this personally

Hi there!! We will probably be doing alpha testing internally while we implement features. However, because we have a smaller team, we expect we won’t be able to cover all scenarios where bugs may arise. So we will rely on an extended beta testing period to help with that!

For beta testing we would be asking for volunteers from the community to register for the site, test features end-to-end, document bugs, and give us as much feedback as they can about the overall user experience!

Once we get closer to that period we will begin outlining what that recruitment process will look like and what exactly will be expected of beta testers. Right now we are getting our API up and running and beginning implementation of very basic features! We have a live site now so that is very exciting, but we still have quite a lot of work to do!

[pokehaven]

Feature: Trainer Customization

On PokéHaven, you’ll play as a trainer on their own Pokémon journey—so we wanted to make sure you could customize that trainer to make them entirely your own! We’ll be offering some basic customization options from the beginning, very similar to the options the canon games offer. Certain locations in-game will allow players to purchase more accessories or different outfits for their trainers, and the options available will grow as time goes on!

Additionally, if players want to customize their trainer even further, they will be able to pay for “trainer skins” to apply to their character, which are layered over their trainer’s sprite. Trainer skins must be submitted for staff approval to ensure content is appropriate. This offers limitless potential for players to customize their trainer to their heart’s content!

[pokehaven]

In love with the server Porygon being called Joan, such a fitting name /pos

Oh yes, this feels like a perfect time to officially introduce J04N, our Server Porygon! J04N can be pronounced like “Joan” or “John” or some secret third thing, whichever tickles your fancy. J04N is every gender at the same time, so feel free to use any pronouns for them—they will always be correct!

J04N keeps the whole site running and is always there to share a helpful bit of information (may or may not be relevant to the task at hand) or some incoherent babbling for your reading pleasure. Once we have our Discord server up, J04N will also be present there in bot form! We have a dev who should be finishing up work on her soon.

We hope you will love J04N as we do!!

[pokehaven]

Hihiii! :) just read through thr whole blog and i gotta say,i am SO fucking excited for Pokèhaven! you don't know (or maybe you do,if you've played PFQ XD) how refreshing it is to have The Owner/The Staff that would actually listen to their community,god.

Oh also one thing that really caught my eye as i was going through your blog: "However, we won’t be doing any “color math” and instead our artists will just be focused on making sprites look good by picking whatever colors their hearts desire!" THIS. I literally thought of applying to be on PFQ Art Team so i can do this since i proud myself in being able to work with colors very well,but y'know!

Anyway,sorry for the ramble. It's just,seeing this is like a breath of fresh air after playing PFQ for years. Rock on,y'all!

Thank you, anon!! We really hope the love we pour into this project will produce a result that the community also loves! You guys bring meaning to the game, so without your feedback we wouldn’t have much of a game! So please continue to share your thoughts and feedback, we will always welcome this! 💜