Pokénet

Pokénet is a fan-made massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), coded using Java, started in February 2009 by former members of Pokémon Global and Pokémon Online Revolution. The first release of Pokénet went public in August 2009.

Official Pokénet Logo

History and development

2009-2010

Pokénet started development in August 2009. The game is primarily a programmed attempt to address design flaws and optimize existing code from Pokémon Global and Pokémon Online Revolution. The project is programmed using the following technologies:

The development team consisted of several programmers, mappers, musicians, writers and graphics artists from around the world. Pokénet made its first release in August 2009 with small upgrades and patch fixes throughout the year.

On April 1st 2010, Pokénet closed its servers and halted development after receiving a Cease & Desist from Nintendo.

2019-present

After 9 years of the closure of Pokénet servers and staff disbanding, 3 members of Pokénets' staff and hardcore fans wanted to reunite the community, to celebrate a massive fan-made project that united the community. Since the resurrection of the private locked community, 60+ members of its staff, including the main hardcore fanbase that genuinely invested their time in the development of Pokénet were found. Every year in March/April, the community celebrates the 'deathaversary' of the game, and the new communities anniversary, with party games and nostalgia deep dives of the history of Pokénet.

This community is purely for keeping in touch and having fun. There are no plans to relaunch or develop Pokénet.

Releases

Pokénet

Majestic Magikarp

Majestic Magikarp was the first release and a rebrand of the previous Pokémon Global Beta 0.5. The project changed names in an attempt to avoid potential copyright issues. The version was very similar to the previous beta, but did feature some nice changes.

  • All of Johto, now including Mt. Mortar, but still no Whirl Islands
  • Aggressive Trainer NPCs
  • Fleeing mechanics
  • Updated user interface
  • Map Loading system was retooled again to hopefully be a lot faster.
  • UI was much better implemented and responded much quicker.

Fearless Feebas

Fearless Feebas was released on December 2009, marking the second release of Pokénet. Features included:

Valiant Venonat

Valiant Venonat is the third release planned for Pokénet. However, the game was forced to shut down by Nintendo for breaking copyright laws before Valiant Venonat was released. Therefore, this version was never seen by the public.

Planned skills system

Under the planned skills system, each Trainer would have the ability to develop skills in different aspects of Pokémon. The skills are planned as follows:

Other additions and fixes

Other than the skill system, other plans for Valiant Venonat were planned.

  • The Kanto region
  • Victory Road
  • An advanced Gym Leader system where the Gym Leaders' teams would grow to match the player.
  • Working TMs
  • A fixed walking system
  • Multiple servers that players could choose from and freely switch to.
Development Team

Fshy94 - Administrator / Lead Progammer
Ryan - Co-Administrator / Senior Programmer
Viride - Co-Administrator / Former Community Manager
ZombieBear - Senior Programmer
TMKCodes - Programmer
Pivot - Programmer / Former Administrator
Sienide - Programmer / Former Administrator
Karai - Programmer
Dragina - Lead Graphics Designer
ObIivion - Lead Quest & Events Designer
Lastplacer - Co-Lead Mapper
LordAdmiral - Co-Lead Mapper / Community Manager
Firefly17 - Mapper
GaMa - Mapper / Server Owner
Perry_ - Community Manager
Latias - Lead Wiki Developer

Pokemonium

Over two years after Pokenet was shut down, a group of developers decided to revive the project in the form of Pokemonium. The new version of the game includes the Valiant Venonat release of Pokenet added with new features.

Revived release (Version 1-1.3.1)

In addition to the changes from Valiant Venonat, these new features include:

  • A trainer level system that grants the trainers themselves exp when they battle NPCs, battle other players, or level up their Pokémon.
  • HMs that are unlocked by raising the trainer level
  • An item mall that allows players to buy in-game items accessible on the Pokemonium site
  • The ability to give Pokémon items to hold
  • Many Pokémon not native to Kanto or Johto
  • Many bug fixes

Version 1.4

The latest release was made public on September 22, 2012.

Version 1.4.1

A patch of 1.4.1 was released September 29, 2012 to add further updates and fixes to 1.4.

Vresion 1.5

After a setback, Version 1.5 was released February 10, 2013. Because of the extra time, many more features were implemented.

  • The Sinnoh region
  • The Hoenn region
  • Tournament and PvP arenas
  • PvP enforced area where players are unable to decline battle requests
  • Auto-updating system
  • Updates to the item mall
  • Kanto Elite Four
  • An entire graphical update to make the game match HeartGold and SoulSilver graphics.
  • Over 100 new sprite characters for players to choose

Source code

The source code to Pokénet is available under the GNU General Public License Version 3 and can be located at the following sites:

External links

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