I just released a remastered version of WoC episode 1. I plan on remastering episodes 1-5, adding interactive battles and computer voices. I'm redoing these because I still get requests to upload 1-5 to youtube, and I originally didn't because there were no voices, just text. But these releases will all lead up to the release of episodes 9 & 10 (FINALLY)!

Sorry about the 5 year hiatus. Not really much to say about it. Lack of motivation, full time job, time flies, etc. But I really do want to finish the series.

I'm using computer generated voices now, I know it's a step down, but I have 16 more eps to make (not counting the remasters of 2-5) and I'm already 5 years behind. Doing my own computer voices is just easier and faster. Sacrifice quality for speed, you know how it is. I am including a button on the menu in the SWF version to change the dialogue between voices, gibberish, or none.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/692496

Anyway, go check out the new version and let me know what you think. Again sorry to any remaining fans for the hiatus.

Yes, ep 9 & 10 of WoC are coming. Slowly but surely. I didn't work on it over the summer like I hoped. Mostly just a lack of motivation coupled with my full time job as a manger leaves me exhausted after work. So on and so forth.

I'm not really impressed with Pokemon Go for a few reasons.

1: It's heats up my phone and eats up my battery, even in battery saver mode.
2: It doesn't explain how to play it. I had to watch videos online to learn the game.
3: I drove around Greenville the other day to get out of the house and find some Pokemon. I found none. Apparently Poke don't appear in parking lots. Found two gyms, but no wild poke. All the pokemon I have caught so far has been sitting at home. Except for a Scyther I caught at my real life gym. Apparently they expect people to hike into to the woods with real life beasties to find the Pokemon.
4: Kind of glitchy. Sometimes it freeze right after I catch a poke and I lose them. I tried to challenge one of the gyms, but my char kept running all over the place even though I was standing still, and it kept telling me "too far from gym".
5: This is likely intentional, but the amount of Pokeballs you have won't keep up with your level and you'll will have to pay real money for them eventually. Especially if you can't find any new Pokemon

Maybe I'm just doing something wrong. Once, I think the game was designed for use in Japan just like StreetPass. It's a small country and most people walk everywhere, whereas in America, unless you live in a big city, you'll probably have to drive to get around.
 

Hey, just a quick update for anyone who still cares about my Pokemon: World of Chaos series. I can confirm that episode 9 & 10 are both in production at tandem and I've finished scene 2 on both.

Sorry for the four year hiatus, I'll give a more in depth explanation of what took so long when I release ep 9 & 10. In a nutshell, I was planning on remaking the series fully animated, but my lack of skill held me back (among other things), and I eventually realized it would never happen. I love Pokemon and I got sick of the bitter feeling in the back of my mind everytime I saw something Pokemon related, especially Gardevoir, so I decided to finsh the series with sprites.

I'm dropping the voices and going back to text boxes so that I can finish the episodes quickly. I am working on programming a "gibberish generator" similar to animal crossing for the voices though.

Again, sorry for the wait and I appreciate the patience of my fans.

*ep 9 & 10 will feature interactive menus requiring you to watch the film to unlock scenes etc. etc.*

It's kind of annoying when people make alt accounts just to praise their own work. Also, I thought it says in the PM that managers are supposed to be able to respond to reviews? But in all the projects I've been a manager for (not owner) I can't reply to comments.

So it's time for me to get a new PC. My Alienware laptop has served me relatively well for the last 5 years, but it is starting to really show it's age. Unfortunately, I can't afford another $2500 laptop. So the best option for me to get a new PC is to upgrade an old desktop I built in 2007 by replacing the core parts. Back then, I got all my parts from a local PC store, but it has long since closed. (Being located next to Best Buy probably didn't help.) So my best option was newegg.com. I've purchased one or two things from them before.

Anyway, so I ordered about $800 worth of parts, including motherboard, CPU, graphics card, SSD, etc. All of it should make for a decent PC. However, I want this PC to last, and although I don't game on the PC much, I would like to start working with Blender and Unity soon (on top of flash and atfer effects), so I need a PC that can handle 3D animation rendering. I purchased an Intel i3 dual core CPU and a friend of mine who is good at this shit hit me with a baseball bat and said "You idiot! You should have bought AMD!" (Because that's supposedly better for 3d graphics). Of course, to switch to an AMD would require exchanging the motherboard, CPU, and graphics card (the AMD motherboard I liked didn't have PCi 3.0 slots required for the graphics card I bought). So I decided that it would be easier just to get a better Intel CPU ( an i5 quad core this time).

But this is where the problem started. I planned to simply return the i3 and get i5 but it turns out that CPUs are non-refundable on Newegg! Why you ask? I don't know. I asked support and they simply said "it's just how we roll". Yes, this is my fault for not paying attention to the return policy, but wouldn't logic state that you should be able to return anything un-opened? So I went a head and ordered the core i5 anyway, but now I will have to sell the core i3 on Amazon or something. And it takes Amazon over a week to get your money to your bank account after you ship the item, it would be better if they just put it into paypal right away, (but Amazon doesn't put any money you make into Paypal because Paypal is ebay owned I think).

So in the end of all this hullabaloo, I'm going to lose money, and several of my pc parts will arrive at different days. And I'm going out of town next week, I was hoping that I could get all the parts this week ( I spent extra money on faster shipping) but I'm not sure that will happen. So yeah, I guess when you order stuff online, you better make damn sure you get everything right the first time!

So in Pokemon Breeding, Gardevoir is part of the Amorphous type egg group. Which is defined as "Pokémon in this group are amorphous, having no definite form."

WHAT? So (Gothitelle) is in the Human-like egg group but (Gardevoir) is in the Amorphous egg group? This is very strange. My research seems to conclude that Gardevoir was originally supposed to have no legs, just a dress that hangs down (like Frosslass) and so was slotted for Amorphous egg group. But they ended up giving her legs except didn't switch her egg group. Maybe they did it on purpose to try and stem the tide of people who fantasize about Gardevoir. 

So then:

 (Gardevoir) sex with   (Gengar) = Perfectly okay!
(Gardevoir) sex with  (Magcargo) = Acceptable!
 (Gardevoir) sex with    (Muk) = Totally Understandable!
BUT....
 (Gardevoir) sex with    (human) = WEIRD! GROSS! BESTIALITY! POKEALITY!

I guess it's fair I explain why I choose a Gardevoir as the potential love interest for my self insert in WoC. To be honest, I have a fetish for girls that aren't quite human. Usually this means things like mermaids, fairys, elves, etc. That's why if I ever do self inserts, you'll probably see my love interests being not human. Like Lucia-arah in my Star Wars game. Plus I'm kind of a fan of risque relationships. Gardevoir is on the edge of what I consider acceptable as far as not being human though. If Gardveoir didn't exist, I probably would have gone with a human girl.

Before you go calling me furfag, I'm not really into furries. I do not consider Gardevoir a furry, no more then I consider Liara T'Soni (Mass Effect) or Aylaa Secura (Star Wars) to be furries. (Krystal from Star Fox is a furry). Not that I think people who like furries are wrong, if that's what they like. There are some fetishes I find weird, but I'm more likely to just ask why rather then harass them about it.

Honestly, I don't get why people even complain about it in the first place. Does it make their balls bigger or something?

Well production of ep 9 & 10 is just getting into full swing. It had a bit of a slower start after my WoC game then I had hoped.  But we're on track now. That being said, neither are close to being done. I'm working on both simultaneously because I want to do a double release.

I'm also working on rewriting the scripts a bit. So I'll probably call for VAs soon. Since it's been so long since my last ep, I hope I can get the some of the people I had picked out back then.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited for these eps and I hope I can get them finished before too long. I think that they are cool enough that people will forgive me for the delay.

pic below: Teejay and Jenny20 face down Colress in ep 10.

A plot device is anything that keeps a story moving or creates/resolves a conflict. Writing a good story can be tough. There are lots of factors that need to be woven together to make the story worth a persons time. Factors like the goals of the heroes and villians and what the consequences of failure will mean (the stakes). If the stakes are too low or the villians are too incompetent, then the reader will probably get bored. If the opposite is true, the stakes are too high or the villain is unstoppable, the reader may have a hard time believing any of the heroes victories. In either case, you may have to resort to some lame plot devices to make it work. Here are 3 of my least favorite plot devices and shame on anyone who relies on them.

#3 - Prophecies or Chosen Ones
A Prophecy is a prediction of events that will unfold in the future. Usually given to the reader/characters by a prophet, ancient writings, or dream.

Example - Zelda 64 - Zelda has a dream that predicts a boy with a fairy (Link) will come from the forest and defeat the evil shadow hanging over the kingdom (something like that).

Why it's bad - 
Because these plot devices are completely unnecessary. Why make a prediction about events that are supposed to happen in your story instead of just making them occur naturally? Why would Zelda need to have a dream about Links arrival to save the day when she could have just asked him to help when she first met him in the garden? You don't need to prophesize that the hero is supposed to save the day when the reader kind of already knows that's supposed to be the case. The same thing goes for "chosen ones". Think about my WoC series for a second. Is it really necessary for me to have a prophecy for Teejay that says something like "A chosen one will challenge the chaos master to save the world." I kind of already established that struggle when I introduced the main conflict of the series and made Teejay the main character. Why would I need a prophecy? 

You might say, "but Teejay, having a prophecy/chosen one makes the hero feel more pressure to fulfill it and thus adds to their struggles." Well what is the consequence of their failure to fulfill the prophecy? Let's just say world is destroyed. That right there is enough motivation for the hero, you don't need to add "fulfilling a prophecy/role as chosen one" to it.

When it's okay -
The only time I can think of prophecies being okay is if the prophecy fails or if it benefits the villain. Then the heroes are left to their own devices to try and save the day. This takes away the readers sense of security and may make them eager to find out what happens. But once again, if your story is good already, you shouldn't need to resort to this kind of thing.


#2 - Mind Control
Mind Control is when a character(s) are being forced to do something they wouldn't normally do because another character is directly controlling their mind. This is different from brainwashing or deception.

Examples - Avengers movie, Loki uses his staff to mind control several characters into helping him instead of tricking them (Loki is supposed to be a master of deception).
                How to Train Your Dragon 2 - The Alpha Dragon (Bewilderbeast) Mind controls Toothless into attacking Hiccup and serving the villian.

Why it's bad - 
Because it's lazy. Their are other ways to manipulate a character into doing something against their will. You could use deception or threats. In Wreck-it-Raplh, King Candy uses Ralph to stop his friend Vanellope by convincing him that her safety was in danger. How much lamer would it have been if King Candy had just mind-controlled Ralph into helping him? It can also make for some one dimensional characters. Characters who get mind controlled lose that internal struggle (I was in control but made a bad choice opposed to I wasn't in control so it wasn't my fault). Theres not much satisfaction in a character redeeming themselves if they weren't to blame to begin with.

You may say "But Teejay, your WoC series is all about Pokemon getting controlled by the Chaos Master to kill humans." Well, that is true. But the Dark Pokemon are a faceless horde as opposed to a developed character, much like a zombie outbreak. And the criteria by which someone changes from a Human/Pokemon into a zombie/dark pokemon is stable (gets bitten/loses their pokeball) as opposed to a character just randomly changing. How lame would it be if normal pokemon just suddenly became Dark Pokemon (or vica versa) whenever it was plot convenient?

When its okay - 
A character getting possessed by another character can be okay, as long as it's established that the character can do that, and there is a limit (ie: only one person at a time).


#1 - Dues Ex Machina
Dues Ex Machine (God of the Machine) is a plot device where a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly (and often unexpectedly) resolved by a previously unmentioned or infallible resolution (IE: God fixes everything, it was all a dream, etc.)

Example - Donita K Paul's DragonLight book. The heroes are facing a powerful evil dragon called Mot Angra which has already destroyed one world, and one of the heroes is suffering from a nervous breakdown. God gives them a magic egg that both kills the dragon and cures the nervous breakdown. The egg is not mentioned in the series prior to them getting it.
              James Cameron's Avatar - The planet summons up all the animals to help fight off the humans. Animals that previously hated one another suddenly began working together.

Why it's bad - 
Because it's lazy, boring, inconsistent, and just downright unfair to you readers. Are you so poor a writer that you can't think of a way to resolve the very conflict you established without resorting to some cheap trick? Do you hate your audience so much that you spend all this time developing your characters abilities only to not need them at the moment of truth? I imagine we all felt some anxiety when we first climbed that staircase to Ganondorf's room in Zelda 64. How lame would it been if the Triforce had just stopped him before Link even got to fight? Or what if Ganon had won and Link suddenly woke up and it was all a dream? Would you not be outraged? If your villains are too powerful or the problem is unsolvable without using deus ex machina, then you need to rethink your story.

You may say "But Teejay, seemingly invincible foes or insurmountable problems make a story more exciting." Well that's true, but not when it reaches the point that the heroes need a miracle or a cheap plot device to succeed.

When its okay - 
Never. Let's take the dragon/egg story I mentioned above. That might have been acceptable if the God egg had been mentioned in previous books, maybe a some holy relic, like the Ark of the Covenant. It wouldn't really be considered a Dues ex Machine in this case however, because it was previously mentioned.

Another thing that can be acceptable is transformations. I'm a fan of heroes changing into more powerful forms, so I can see how that might pop up unexpectedly. It can be okay if the hero had given it their all up to that point, and/or the transformation doesn't solve everything but rather just evens the odds. IE: When Goku first became a super sayain while fighting Freiza, Freiza was still far from beaten.

In closing...
Well, thats my list of lame plot devices. I'm open for discussion on these. Are there times you've seen these used poorly? How about times you think they actually worked? Are there any other plot devices you think are lame?

There have been some concerns about my WoC Stadium game. Here are the most common so far.

1: Can't get past create trainer page.
    - Not sure what's wrong here. When you hit the confirm button on the create trainer page, it creates the new save file on Newgrounds and won't advance unless the save is successful. Make sure you are logged into NG and connected to the internet while you play the game. If nothing works, try playing my Deviant Art version.
http://fav.me/d7il5n5

2: The graphics suck.
    - This was a 6 week project, and it was never intended to be this big to begin with. As I said in the description, some of it IS unpolished because I didn't want to spend all summer on it.

3: Not enough Pokemon
    - There are over 600 pokemon (not counting x & y). So if I had made 50, people would have said "what? Only 50?". So if I had made 100, people would have said "what? Only 100?". You get the idea. Plus, this isn't a rom hack. It's a flash game. Every Pokemon I add requires a lot of animation and coding. Which of course increases the file size. I think the game has more then enough.

If you have any other concern, just ask about it here and I'llt ry to address it. I plan to make two more games like this as my series progresses, so I want to know what to improve on.