DEVBLOG #12: GENDER REVEAL!?!?!? (+ Space Handling + Post-Shipping + Thanks)

CHECK OUT DESKTOP POKEDEX ON ITCH.IO :)

Heeeey! Long time since last one (yikes!) Fortunately I’ve a LOT to share!

WE FINALLY SHIPPED DESKTOP POKEDEX! IT’S ON ITCH.IO, SO GO CHECK IT OUT TO TRY IT OUT FOR YOURSELF!!!

I created an entire itch.io page for it… ahhh, finally, I get to make an itch.io page for something after a LOOONG time! It looks pretty comfy!

It’s been one hell of a journey just to ship a small godot project on floaty pokedex on your desktop…infact, isn’t it bit too much of an effort for a small project like this…?

But whatever, IT’S (almost barely) DONE!!! I’m still planning to bring new updates and patches whenever I get time, and also there’s still a LOT of stuff I can implement to make this even DOPER than an IRL pokedexes. (see my first ever devblog to see what I mean, I dropped my big plans in there)

SEARCH POKEMON OF DIFFERENT GENDER ENTITIES (Like Nidoran)

In the pokedex, earlier you couldn’t search nidoran or any pokemon with seperate male-female entries because they were under a special naming convention inside PokeAPI; I FIXED IT! Now my pokedex shows a cool looking “Choose Gender” Panel on top of the Search Bar and now you get to choose red pill or blue pill (or should I say, blue pill or pink pill? TADUMTISHHH )

SETTINGS GOT VOLUME CONTROLS LESGOOO

Thx to my friend, who wants to say that;
without it, my soul punched outta my body like how doctor strange punched spidey's when I heard pikachu's cry

You can hit up settings from the Side Panel popup > Pokeball Icon > Right-Click > Settings > Cry SFX Volume

ADDED A SNEAKY EXTRA SPACE WHILE TYPING? IDIOT! (but we fixed it)

Yes, the title says it all. Idiot

THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE, THAT’S KINDA A WRAP

When I shipped the project, I was in bit of a hurry due to IRL stuff, so here’s the list of gratitude that I forgot to drop in

1. Godot Engine : This is the game engine that helped me shape my ideas throughout my game-dev journey; it took me nearly 5 years to realize that THIS is my perfect tool to make games (and more), and I was almost too late, but all the time I spent here is sooo EPIC! I virtually (and actually rn) bow before the community that shaped the engine what it is now

2. Hammy : The person who told me a program called something like “Stardance Challenge” exists, and her friend is in it, so maybe I could try it too. And I was just starting to talk to her back then, but working on this project and helping me test it really helped me build a strong bond between us, so I owe this project that :) (She’s also the one who helped me work on the volume slider btw)

3. Stardance and Hack Club: For organizing such a program like this; let’s be honest, as much as a pokedex floating around our desktop for no reason sounds a li’l bit stupid, it’s something that I ALWAYS want to build. And without y’all, I wouldn’t have tried to make it. So thank you SOOOOOOOO MUCHHH for building up this opportunity (yes, y’all get the most gratitude of all, you’re welcome )

If I’m ever working on this project again after this, I’ll try to create a whole new blog page somewhere else, HECK, I’LL MAKE AN ENTIRE VIDEO ABOUT THIS ON YOUTUBE, but until then, this is prolly the end (aside from fixing bugs and stuff)

Sooo, yeah… that’s it!
Toodles

DEVBLOG #11: Wild Dino Appeared, because your internet sucks

I realized my dex used internet, and all this time I never checked if it was connected to the internet or not So I fixed it!!!

Also, I added a Pokedex scan complete sfx too! Classic

And the settings has new options: Show Shiny Sprites or Legacy Cry!!!

Small updates, but we’re wrapping it up!!! Time to ship ship ship!

Sooo… yeah, that’s it!
Toodles!

DEVBLOG #10: SHOW ’EM YOUR MOVES, BRUV

Alright alright, we’re so back, I guess…progress it bit slow, but I’m trying my best too!

Check your Pokemon’s MOVES

A new section is finally unlocked in the dex; MOVES! Check out all the movesets and its description entries in the dex!!!

We’re so close, yet so far…dang

Sooo… yeah, that’s it!
Toodles

DEVBLOG #9: The Pokedex…is actually almost done!

I don’t believe it…but within 1 hour…I think I achieved the most difficult task of this project; the PASSTHROUGH HANDLER

Basically, all this time, the passthrough wasn’t being handled, and so the desktop interactions were blocked…that’s why I was trying to close the program by Alt+F4 or by switching desktops. But now? Since now we’ve a separate passthrough handler, we can use our dex, while we use our desktop for daily use!!! 🔥

Obviously, it’s little bit glitchy…and I’m trying to understand the flow chart of the program so I can tackle this, until then, bear with it. But WE DID ITTTT!!! THAT’S WHAT MATTERS !

The Pokedex is 90% complete…and right now it is technically testable…however though, there’s still the 10% that I personally want in V1 (excluding fixing the glitchy passthrough handler). All such changes are probably implemented by the next (and maybe the final) devblog. But for now, I need a break. So again, devblogs will be non regular as usual

And I need to probably update the github page further…add some cool banner and logo and stuff…but that’s prolly for later!

Sooo… yeah, that’s it!
Toodles

DEVBLOG #8: It feels like it’s part of the OS!!! (and settings)

One of the things that inspired me to make my pokedex a floating desktop application is those “Windows 7 Gadgets”; these tiny floating applications, similar to how my pokedex worked. I especially loved the “Picture Puzzle” gadget, which is basically a mini game itself!

And so, one of the main objectives in this project was definitely making it AS MUCH AS CLOSE to the original gadget feel, and it being part of the hidden icon tray was very crucial.

As always, Godot Engine makes me speechless yet again, because would you believe that there’s ACTUALLY a seperate node just for this ? Introducing… StatusIndicator

StatusIndicator Node

Basically this creates that tiny hidden icon for your Godot application on both Windows and MacOS (idk about mac, but it definitely is the case for Windows )

And this allowed me cool stuff like;

1. Hide the Dex when the icon is clicked
2. Right click to find options like Settings, Help and Quit (and maybe more?)
3. Settings menu can be enabled
4. Quit the program (because, let’s be honest, WHERE’S THE CLOSE BUTTON??? )

Q: Oh wait...there's settings?
A: Yes.

Settings is being…set?

As you can see, we made a settings menu…but let’s be honest, I forgot why do we even need settings for
Sooo, until I remember, let it exist

Now I’m gonna work on the passthrough handler, so we can actually use both the dex and desktop at the same time…infact, that’s another IMPORTANT aspect of the program. But it’s complicated, sooo…idk.

Sooo… yeah, that’s it!
Toodles

DEVBLOG #7: INTRODUCING…STATS

I thought of adding stuff like progress bars to make it look cooler….but it’s bit too hard. Again, I suck at Control nodes a bit. But I’m happy I did pulled this off!!!

As a tiny fix, if a data is still loading, unless it’s complete fetching, you can’t search the next one, orelse it might break the program

Sooo…yeah, that’s it!
Toodles

DEVBLOG #6: More, MORE tiny stuff

Pretty much nothing else…unfortunately, for reasons that cannot be explained, my time to keep on working on this project is looking REALLY dim, so I have to wind it up. FAST

So devblogs from now on are short and effective

1. Flip Button for Sprites

Now you can see the rear of your pokemon…? (weird…)

2. GENERA Data of Pokemon

You know how Pikachu is a Mouse Pokemon, and Jynx is a Human Shaped Pokemon? Yeah, that.

3. Seperate Area for name and ID

Yippee! They got a new home!

4. Working Pokemon Info

With an all new and working navigation button

Sooo, yeah that’s it!
Toodles

DEVBLOG #5: Jynx’s Beauty Secret EXPOSED*

(not really, but listen)

After the last blog, I decided to add passthrough desktop mechanic… only for that to actually not work. I realized that I have to set the passthrough regions AFTER building the entire pokedex, or else if unexpectedly I need to extend the search bar panel (which I did), I need to edit the polygon and reincorporate it in almost every single line of code

And another thing I realized is that since the Kanto pokedex is a fictional device, THE BUTTONS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE AT ALL, LIKE, THEY DO NOT SERVE ANY PURPOSE So I realized that I’ve to redesign the dex inbetween the process.

Plus, in doing so;
1. We gave pokedex a new and cool closing button
2. We added the Pokémon Type(s) Icon
3. Sickass shiny effect on the big blue button 🤌
4. Added a work in progress option button for each information
5. Extended the screen size for both the pokemon image screen and the entry screen (RIP, sickass scrolling marquee effect 🌹 )…

(A totally accurate graphical representation attached below)

Remember when I said the search bar extended a bit? Wondered why though?

INTRODUCING… SNAP TO SEARCH (It’s not implemented yet though)

One of the things that makes the pokedex…a pokedex, is image recognition of a pokemon! However, since this is an app, the only way of getting an image is through something like screenshot…sooo…

…what if you CAN screenshot the desktop via the app, and send it to a Computer Vision based AI model (like Gemini) to identify the name of the pokemon, and search the information about it?

For safety reasons, the user has to provide the AI model’s API key in the settings panel (which rn does not exist) to try this themselves, so for now, it’s locked.

And finally…the biggest, simplest (and probably the dumbest) quality update…

…I changed the screen stretch mode from canvas to viewport (which, in simple terms, means the setting in godot that changed the screen quality of my app 100x better) so yippee!!!

As you can see, though it seems a huge makeover, it’s still incomplete, and I’m still incorporating more features and stuff… so patience is the key I guess… 😭🥀

Sooo…yeah, that’s it!
Toodles

DEVBLOG #4: Addressing the Snorlax in the Room 😭

As the development for the pokdex progresses, it’s pretty obvious from the start that issues are about to rise, especially on a project that actually break traditional window-based programs…

In the last DEVBLOG, I mentioned about creating a GitHub repository for the project…however though, hours later, I realised in doing so, I accidentally created a new copy of the current project, and Hackatime considered this as a NEW PROJECT, meaning my project in Stardance is stuck with the initial 6 hours of progress before creating the repo…it was an easy fix though; adding the NEW project along with the old one in the project settings over here.

As for the pokedex, the codebase is getting larger, and we are almost 40% closer to finishing V1…I’ve sooo many of these cool ideas that makes this project (and me) stand on….however, due to time constrains and other issues…maybe it might be postponed for a veeeerry long time…I’m even skeptical of finishing the V1 too, at least, the way I want it to be. But as Toby Fox says, “Despite everything, you’re filled with DETERMINATION” 💪❤️

By the next devblog, probably I’ll be finished integrating every single collected data onto the pokedex, and (or by next devblog after that), the pokedex would be handling passthrough stuff, and THEN, it might be safe to say V1 is available to test… 🤞

Here’s the last video I recorded of the current working dex. As you can see, I’ve officially hidden the placeholder search bar, so that’s a start!

Sooo….yeah, that’s it!
Toodles

DEVBLOG #3 - Gotcha! You caught Octa! ⭐

As the name suggest, I finally created a GitHub repo for the project, and all the current progress is in the repo rn!!! I would not suggest you to check the project now…since I’ve uploaded the janky version…I’ll update it before the next devblog is out…

Today I had waaay to much free time, and I woke up early in the morning just so I can work more on this…because I believe we’re almost reaching the end of VERSION 1!!! That is, a working pokedex that’s worth showing others…the “VERSION 2” is supposed to contain stuff like Search by Snippet, Pokemon based desktop pets (which sounds bit complicated rn…so maybe nope), and text to speech.

The Pokedex officially collects 💯% of all the data we need! And I made it to show the description of the pokemon, and show it in the screen, while it scrolls slowly like a marquee!!!!!!!! And it’s sooooooooooooooo smooth!!!

And I worked on the banner too for the repo.

Now before I end the day, I’ll probably integrate the pokedex with transparent dragging feature we did on the first ever devblog… and also add some sound effects, so the JUICY opening of pokedex is EVEN JUICIER 😌🤌

So… yeah, that’s it
Toodles

DEVBLOG #2: Farfetch’d gets them datas!

Alright! Like any day 2 of any project, progress is going pretty…well…progressive. 🫡

For starters, I started shifting my focus from transparent movable objects in desktop to the thing we actually wanna move; the pokedex itself.

I started thinking about how to receive inputs and search the pokemon for its data from PokeAPI, so for the sake of it, I created a placeholder field where we can search in the name of pokemon and get the id and name (and also other stats, but that’s in the output field). Again, this is a placeholder, and I’ll scrap it out once the dex is complete!

I created a placeholder pokedex sprites based on the original kanto pokedex (see below), and chucked it into the editor.

Secondly, I started finding the datas we need from PokeAPI and started storing it inside variables dedicated for it, so we can show these values once we finish the pokedex! For now, it’s printed out on the output field.

I would say about 80% of datas are only collected; ID, Name, Height, Weight, Types, Abilities, Moves, Base Stats like SPEED, DEFENCE, ATTACK, HP, SPECIAL ATTACK AND DEFENCE. The other 20% includes the image, cry and description of the pokemon…

And as for the pokedex…well, I made some quick open and closing animations…which works for now. 👍

Sooo…yeah, that’s it!
Toodles

DEVBLOG #1: A wild Pokedex appeared in your desktop…?

Owning your own complete pokedex is a dream of any child as well as of any Pokemon geeks, and I’ve been both once. However though, spending money on a toy-pokedex is not something wise 😭. So why not build one?

But I suck at anything electronics… so I decided to make a virtual pokedex for my desktop, inspired by those cool widgets we had in ol’ Windows 7! 😌

I started off by planning how the final project must look like (check it below), though I’m pretty sure it’s a bit over-ambitious, but it’s worth a shot! 👍👍

Then I opened Godot 4 (yes, you can make non-game applications in it, its bit popular for that) and started working on the first thing; TRANSPARENT INTERACTIBLE WINDOWS.

It wasn’t a huge hassle, since Godot offers transparent, borderless window settings out of the box, and takes up 50% of the work… but there’s still the other 50%; handling interactions of both the desktop and the pokedex.

See, either your Godot game must be opaque and clickable or, it must be transparent and clickthrough-able. It’s possible to make the window transparent and clickthrough-able, while making the pokedex interactable, thanks to “passthrough polygons”: these are areas where the game window can detect interactions and inputs, instead of ignoring it.

By setting a demo sprite’s area passthrough and making it draggable, I accomplished my first step of the pokedex; making sure that a transparent floating pokedex is actually possible in Godot (here’s a demo of how it looks like!). And Godot never fails to baffle me. 📈📈📈

I don’t get much time to work on this, and I might give up after making a barely working prototype… but let’s see how long I would work on it until I do so.

Sooo… yeah that’s it!
Toodles