I recently had the tremendous honor of being covered in an interview by GamersDiaries. There's even a stylized cover image with my character "The Creator" from the game, how awesome is that!?! Great BIG thank you to them for all their help and support.
English translation is further down on the page, but I'll post it here, too. Be sure to subscribe to their YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/GamersDiaries) for future gameplay videos. Please don’t forget to try the game and post a review in the forum. Like Pokemon:3DXP on Facebook and add the game to your gamewatch on IndieDB
The original interview:
Hi Zee, it would be nice if you could introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a little bit about you and your life.
For starters, my actual name is Zovon Lee-Mannah, but I commonly go by Zee. I’m a 20 year old full-time college student majoring in Computer Science, a part-time employee at Kroger, and the lone wolf of ZLM Productions. My hobbies are singing, dancing, coding, and PC/PS3 gaming, but most of my time is consumed developing Pokemon 3DXP.
How did you come up with the idea for Pokemon 3DXP and how did the project start?
I started the game during the Summer of 2012. It started as a comment, that became an concept, that has grown into a passion. It all started when I started trying to get my little brother, who is far more artistically inclined than I am, into 3d graphics using Blender. I wanted us to work on a game project together, but he was only 11, so I needed something he could relate to and draw reference from, to make learning easier. He has the big Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver Official Guide Book with the detailed Pokedex of 493 Pokemon. So I suggested we try making a 3D version of our favorite handheld game using it as our guide. The Unity project was even originally called Brother Summer. We started out okay, but sadly my brother is young, impatient and, he won’t dedicate time to the program. This hadn’t discouraged me though, I just kept on learning Blender and slowly building a hint of artistic talent. I later coined the name Pokemon: 3D Experience, which was shortened to Pokemon 3DXP for uniqueness.
Where is the project going, what is your „vision” for a possible final version in the future? Why should gamers play it?
My hope is that Pokemon 3DXP going to be truly 3D, but not just visually. I hope to take the gameplay into the 3rd dimension in real-time. No turns, no grids, just true to life 3D action, such as that in the show. Pokemon will also be for more than just battle or pageants. You’ll need them to solve puzzles and over come obstacles, to go where only certain Pokemon can go and see what only they can. It will be a must play, because I am attempting to put all of our favorite features from the handheld, as well as all the ones we’ve always dreamed of into one awesome game.
Whats currently the biggest challenge?
My biggest challenge by far has been that I am taking on a project bigger than my skill set alone. I can and will self-teach in most areas, but some skills require more innate ability to produce quality game assets. I’m a programmer, but all the sophisticated code in the world means nothing if the graphics are terrible, people would shoot it down at the screenshots alone. I’m learned in the functionality of Blender, but I don’t have the best eye for art. I’m making progress with modeling, but my textures are…less than desirable. As a lover of music, I know music is critical, but I am not properly educated in music theory and digital music software enough to make quality original pieces or quality sound effects myself. Sometimes, even I can’t deal with the silence after the title screen. Furthermore, everything is slower with one person, I amaze even myself with how much I’ve completed in under a year, and the level of support from the community (Special thanks to GamersDairies) has totally blown my mind and thrown me into overdrive. I will push on, alone or not, until my dream of Pokemon 3DXP is realized.
I know this question might not be answerable, but do you have some idea when fans can expect the game to be „playable” with actual gameplay?
The build or two from now will have gameplay elements such as battling(moves, Battle AI, etc), leveling, inventory, NPC’s to talk to. I’m trying to complete essentially the first 5-10 minutes of the game’s scenery and dialog(parallel to Fire Red in Kanto region) Once I have developed all of the most critical gameplay aspects and assets, the game will progress quickly as I just model the Johto terrain and drop everything where it belongs. Hopefully, I’ll be able to add LAN multiplayer. I’ll try to make it soon so friends can explore these Pre-Alpha builds together.
Since we’re a gaming website what are your all-time favorite games and what are you playing right now?
My favorite game of all time…by number of replays, I’d have to say Kingdom hearts 2. I just about achieved everything in that game 2-3 times over, for fun and after save file losses (little brothers…lol.) I also love all of the Pokemon games Generation I-IV. Fan of the CoD series, even though I’m not the best. The best games I’ve played overall have to be from the Assassin’s Creed Series, I’ve completed every one excluding the handheld versions. Everything from the story to the gameplay was beautiful and engaging. Currently, I am swamped in game development, but when I get a chance to play games, I play a game from my extensive game library on Steam, like LFD2 and the Witcher 1 & 2. Recently, got a Playstation 3 and I play Naruto: Ninja Storm Generations, Infamous 1 & 2, Mortal Kombat Vs DC. I play MMOs, like DCUO, SWTOR, CoH, and WarFrame. I love playing games and making games, but sadly there just aren’t enough hours in the day.
Again, big thanks to GamersDairies, be sure to subscribe to their YouTube channel for future gameplay videos. Please don’t forget to try the game and post a review in the forum. Like Pokemon:3DXP on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Pokemon3dxp) and add the game to your gamewatch on IndieDB (Indiedb.com). I’m always open to ideas and if you think you have an idea to further enhance Pokemon 3DXP, post it in the forum and we’ll talk about making it a reality. Thank you all so much for your support.
