POL Progress Update 5/1/12

Hey POL! Time for the next progress update! Before I get too into it, though, I want to apologize for the lateness of this post. Unfortunately, there were some login problems on our forums, and I wasn’t able to log in to POL for the past week or so. But now, they’ve all been fixed, and everything seems to be working again!

Also, I think that y’all are going to be happy with the update for this month. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve had several staff members return from hiatus, which has led to an increase in productivity. In Mapping, Trinity has been heading up the final push to finish Kanto. I’d say we have about 15 more maps we need to make before we’re done. Those 15 maps have all been designed, but they need to be made into a form usable by the game.

As for graphics, I finally have some numbers about how our progress is going, which I know a few of you have been waiting for. For the player sprites, all 225+ player templates have been completed, but we still need to do a lot of work on play apparel. Only 2 out of 320 have been completed thus far, but I am hopeful that we that number will grow in the next month! For Kanto NPC sprites, over 50% have been completed, including almost all of the Overworld sprites and Battle Front sprites (the front of their body that you see during a battle). We’ve also finished about 2/3 of the Pokemon sprites and Items sprites, we just have a few more to go!

If you guys have any questions about the numbers, just let me know and I can go into more detail if necessary! Also, any other questions/comments/concerns/suggestions are always welcome!

POL Progress Update 4/1/12

Hey POL! It’s April 1st, which means it’s time for another progress update!

I don’t really have too much to report this month. Unfortunately, I had a really busy last couple of weeks, so I haven’t been very active in talking to people. However, it seems like we’re still pushing forward with mapping and graphics, as we have been in previous months. I don’t have any specific numbers this month, but we are continually getting closer and closer to finishing everything with the Kanto region. I hope that over the summer, we’ll start to work more quickly when people have less work associated with school!

This is all I have to say for today. If anyone has any specific questions, I urge you to ask them here! Similarly, all comments/concerns/suggestions are always welcome. And as always, if you’re interested in helping out at all, just let me know and I’ll be happy to give you more information!

POL Progress Update 3/1/12

Hey POL! I hope all of you enjoyed your extra day in February! But now it’s time for another progress update!

As usual, this will be a bit on the shorter side. Mapping and graphics are still moving forward. In the Graphics side, we’re still stalling a bit, though we’re making small amounts of progress. In the Mapping department, we have a few major assignments left for Kanto, but I haven’t seen the people who are working on those in a couple of days, so I’m not sure exactly how close they are to finishing! I’m confident that they will get done soon, though!

With the POL Wiki, Creoix let me know that he’s currently working on a list for people who want to help, so if you’re interested in helping out with the Wiki, or if you have any questions about it, just post here or send a PM to Creoix! He said that he’ll be out of town for a bit, though, so he might be slow to respond, but he also let me know that he has big plans for the Wiki in the coming months!

That’s about all I have for this week! As usual, if you have any questions/comment/concerns/etc, just post them here or send me a PM! And if you’re new and interested in helping out, don’t hesitate to ask!

Have a great month!

POL Progress Update 2/1/12

Hey POL! Because of the technical difficulties with the site that we were having last month, unfortunately there wasn’t a progress update for January 1st. However, now it’s February 1st, and I’m happy to say that we’ll resume the monthly updates starting now!

Unfortunately, some personal things happened to me over the end of December and into the beginning of January, (which about coincided with when POL was down) so I missed some stuff in that time interval, but I’m back now and everything’s all better with that! The rest of the staff, however, made really good progress over the past 2 months. When the POL forums went out, the wiki and other resources that we use also went out, so for a while we were unable to get much done. However, Platinum set up another place where we could coordinate stuff and transfer files easily, and once that was in place, we were able to get a lot more done.

Mapping-wise, the POL-exclusive maps are finally being made. We have several tilers and mappers who have taken on that task, and they’re getting done at a pretty good pace. Other than those, the Kanto maps are complete and ready to be put in game!

The wiki has made a lot of progress, too. Now that it’s up and running, the team is able to continue adding information for POL. They recently found copies of a lot of the coins that they were looking for, as well as some other items that have helped expand the resources that we have for POL.

Graphics is still the slowest section, but from what I’ve been hearing, it’s starting to pick up a little bit, which is a good sign!

As always, if you have any questions or comments or anything, just post them here! And if you’re interested in helping out, just let me know and I can answer your questions and get you set up with that!

Site Back Up, Forums Back Up... Wiki Still Down.

So after an unexpected chain of exceptionally annoying complications with the server transfer, the main site and forums are back up and running. The wiki however, has been less fortunate. We are currently doing our best to get it back up and functional again, however at this time I can only ask for your patience.

As of January 17th, we are still restoring certain elements of the site, it may take up to 72 hours for the entire thing to regain full function.

POL Progress Update 12/1/11

Hey, POL! It’s a new month, and that means a new progress update!

As in recent updates, I don’t have much to say this month. We’re slowly but surely making progress with finishing and perfecting all of the Kanto maps, though for some of us, school has been pretty demanding lately. Unfortunately this means that we have less time to give to POL, but hopefully once the winter (or summer, if you’re in the southern hemisphere!) holidays will bring an increase in productivity.

In the graphics department, we’re still having trouble finding motivated people to work on accessory spriting. There is a small amount of progress being made, but it’s not yet at the level that we’d like it to be.

That’s about all I have to say this month! If you have any questions/comments/concerns/suggestions, as always, you can post them in this thread or send me a PM!

POLWiki Lockdown

The POLWiki Lockdown is now over, we have had to disable account creation, so there is a new rule to follow. I need to stress that this is for Wiki accounts only, and you do not have to message me for a forum account. Wiki only. To create a forum account, you can go here.

If you wish to have a Wiki account created, here is how you do it:

• Email us, this email address is to be used when you cannot get a hold on any of the following people.
  
• PM Damo
  
• PM Platinum
  
• PM Travonte

All messages sent to the above accounts must include:

• (In case of email) Forum name
• (In case of forum PM) Email address for confirmation email to be sent to
• Desired POLWiki account name and second choice in the case said name is taken
• More to be added when I think of it

If you have any issues, please do not hesitate to message the above people. The email address listed above will also be used for anything POLWiki related including queries and complaints.

Thank you for your patience during this downtime

The POLWiki Staff

POL Wiki Editing

Editing of the POL Wiki is going to be disabled for a while until we find a way to upgrade the security to stop bots from spamming the wiki pages. Feel free to PM one of the staff if you have knowledge of how to protect a wiki from this kind of spam.

Member Rewards Results 2010

The Member of the Year of 2010:
First Place: Furs
Second Place: A tie between Platinum and Firerush
Third Place: Joe Schmo

The Members
-Coolest Member: Platinum Followed by a group tie
-Smartest Member: A group tie consisting of Reaver, Platinum, Dennon, Joe Schmo and Pandepic
-Nicest Member: A group tie consisting of Joe Schmo, Furs, Dibardi, Misery, Kanefails and Dragonair
-Funniest Member: Sato Followed by a group tie
-Most Bizarre Member: Sato Followed by a group tie
-Best Personality: A group tie consisting of Cactus Jack, Travonte, Damo, Kiyo, Kanefails and Dragonair
-Most Helpful Member: A tie consisting of Damo and Joe Schmo Followed by a group tie
-Best Female: Kiyo Followed by a group tie
-Best Male: Joe Schmo Followed by a tie between Kiyo and Platinum
-Best New Member: Travonte followed by Aamelo
*Joined in 2010.
-Most Improved Member: Travonte Followed by a tie between Phoenix Wright and Mudkip
*Who has improved the most since they joined.
-N00b of the Year: A tie between Damo and Phoenix Wright Followed by Dennon

The Arts
-Most Creative/Talented Member: Platinum Followed by Furs
-Best Drawer: Furs Followed by Platinum and Darklion
-Best Graphics Artist: Furs Followed by Misery and Darklion
-Best Spriter: A tie between Furs and Platinum Followed by Blake
-Best Avatar: Damo
-Best Signature: Dennon
-Best Pokemon Author: Reaver
-Best Original Author: Lampshade
-Best Roleplayer: xUknownx

The Support
-Best Debater: Sato Followed by a group tie
*Regardless of right or wrong, who hold the power of persuasion.
-Best NBL Participant: Xadow
*Who is the best Netbattler on POL?
-Best Tactician/Strategist: A group tie consisting of Xadow, Sandstorm and Pandepic
*Who has the ability to battle and overcome opponents.
-True Pokemon Fan: A group tie consisting of Negima, Dragonair and FireRush
*Who is a real, true, die hard fan.

The Gossip
-Cutest Couple: FireRushXDragonair Followed by Phoenix WrightXMudkip
-Good Looking Female: A tie between Misery and Dragonair
*Who's the best lookin'?
-Good Looking Male: A tie between Kanefails and Kiyo
*Same as above.
-Jealous Idol: Furs followed by a tie between Misery and Joe Schmo
*Which member are you most jealous of, for any reason.
-Trend Setter: Damo
*You can vote for the trend or the person who started the trend.
-Dedicated Member: A tie between Joe Schmo and Platinum followed by FireRush
*Which member is dedicated to the forum?
-Wish You Were Here: Nobodyreally followed by a tie between VataniJ and Darklion
*Of all the members that have left this year, which one’s do you want back? This year only, if you can.
-Wish You Were More Active: A group tie consisting of VataniJ, Furs, Lightfairy and Darklion
-Best Comeback: A group tie consisting of Furs, Sato and Phoenix Wright
*Who disappeared for a while then came back bigger than ever?

The High Stakes
-Quote of the Year:
*Pick a favorite quote you remember.
-Best Moderator: FireRush followed by Damo
Best Administrator: Platinum
-Best Supporter: Joe Schmo Followed by Furs
*Vote for a member, non-Mod, that has been of helpful support to the Mods.
-Award for Outstanding Contribution to: Pandepic Followed by a group tie
-Unsung Hero: trinity_pt Followed by a group tie
*Vote for someone that has not received enough credit for his/her contributions to the forum.

Looking for something to do?

Due to the amount of people complaining about POL taking too long, I have a list of positions available within the Staff ranks. These positions are as follows:

POL Spriting Team
- NPC Minisprite Creation (POL Template provided, character assignments are in a priority list) Aiding in the completion of this task gets you first-ins on the Player Minisprite Styles/Clothes/Accessories' Development process.
- NPC Battle Sprite Creation (DPPt/HgSs quality 80px by 80px size sprites) Aiding in the completion of this task gets you first-ins on the Player Battle Sprite Styles/Clothes/Accessories' Development process.
- Pokémon Minisprite Creation (Adapt HgSs minisprites using a pre-organized guideline to POL scale and quality.)
- Pokémon Battlesprite Creation (DPPt/HgSs quality two-frame 80px by 80px size sprite sheets. Limited tasks currently open. Position includes sprite adaptations such as Pinkan stylings, and rare Event sprites.)
- Tile Development (Design area tiles for use in POL maps) Aiding in the completion of this task opens up for opportunities in Map Development tasks.
- Map Development (Design area maps from scratch based on assigned sample references and resources. Not related to the POL Mapper Team position.)

POL Graphics Team
- NPC Character Animator (Develop high-resolution artwork in the Sugimori style for important NPC dialogues. Requires Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Flash, and Adobe Photoshop.)
- Sequence Animator (Join in with the Animation crew to help in the creation of anime-grade sequence animations for use in events. Requires Adobe Flash.)
- Web Graphic Development (Create Raster and Vector graphics for future use in POL's web designs. Requires Adobe Illustrator, or Adobe Flash.)

POL Mapping Team
- Area Mapping (Recreate maps using the POL Mapeditor and provided outlines to make them usable in-game. Also identify and report missing tiles to Tile Development team.)

POL Databasing & Wiki Team
- TCG Data Compilation (Gather and compile data on the Pokémon Trading Card Game for use in POL on the POLwiki)

If you are willing to apply for any of these positions, please do not hesitate to PM Platinum. If you have any questions, you can also contact Joe Schmo. You may also find us on Skype.