5 month(s), 28 day(s), 8 hour(s), 41 minute(s), 22 second(s) to deadline:
Not long afterwards, the young programmer and his roommates found themselves far removed from their workdesks in a barren waste of sand hemmed in by mountains. In the distance, a Trapinch could be seen pawing at the ground outside a sand pit, seemingly attempting to doodle something into the dirt with its feet.
It was far from a boring location- but also far from a comfortable one. The sun beat down on the three men and their Pokémon as they stared wearily at rolling dunes ahead of them
"How on earth did you ever get us into this?" the graphics artist asked while wiping away some sweat from his blueish hairline.
The programmer gave a bit of a sheepish look after seeing a rather visible lack of amusement from the Tropius and Corphish accompanying him, and attempted to check the less-than-welcome reception.
"Well, hey, it's one way to get out of the hotel room, right?"
"Do keep in mind that there is a practical purpose to this. This is field work for getting ideas for the game," the director reminded, his Wynaut being quick to mimic its trainer's feelings by sternly pointing at the young programmer and giving what he presumed was a withering leer like the one the blond-haired man was presently giving.
The graphics artist's Azurill began to tug at its partner's pant leg. He attempted to soothe it with water from a plastic bottle, only to find it bereft of all but a few drops.
"Well, what is there to take away from this aside from deserts being terrible for dehydration?" he said in exasperation, as the young programmer began to climb a dune in front of the group.
"I'm sure there's some sort of history we can take away from he-"
As the programmer neared the top of the dune, he had the misfortune of having a clod of sand from the ridge thrown into his eyes by a strong gust.
"Ackpth! Okay, so that's why they were selling those goofy-looking goggles back at the rest area!"
As the man's Tropius and Corphish rushed to his aid, the crustacean took a perhaps ill-advised attempt to wash out the sand from its trainer's eyes with a water gun. The director glanced at the unfolding chaos, thoughts stirring in his mind.
"Hmm… The sand and wind acting as a barrier… I think that we could use this…"
5 month(s), 21 day(s), 4 hour(s), 45 minute(s), 13 second(s) to deadline:
A few days later, the programmer and his roommates found themselves and their charges walking down a route encrusted in the never-ending rain of light-gray volcanic soot. In somewhat grayed foliage, Spindas with perpetually dazed expressions moved to and fro erratically around their surroundings.
"So… This is where all the ash for those glass blown flutes comes from…"
The young programmer had heard of this place from a travel brochure, but seeing it in person was all the more mesmerizing. The Pokémon with them seemed to likewise find the novelty of the gray land around them entrancing, as they began to lazily make patterns in the soot, trading playful calls with each other.
"It's like a snowy landscape… Except it's hot and muggy and much worse for your lungs."
The director began to notice that the Pokémon playing around them were starting to take on shades of the surrounding soot as it clung to their bodies.
"I notice that the ash tends to stick to you as you move through it…"
"Er, well of course. It's how people around here gather the soot. They carry around a bag and let nature do the hard work," the graphics artist explained.
The episode struck the director as something to mull for filling content.
"Hmm… Seems like it has potential."
5 month(s), 15 day(s), 15 hour(s), 6 minute(s), 40 second(s) to deadline:
A few days afterwards, the programmer and his roommates found themselves at an island town of whitewashed buildings overlooking a caldera lake at its center. The town seemed to be a popular haunt for tourists, given the plethora of eateries and souvenir shops, but was strangely empty.
The reason for the seeming incongruity was soon discovered after the programmer and his roommates found a young child from the area, who told a tale of a particularly stormy night just a couple months before the start of their project.
"And the sky was dark and thundering, and the earth was shaking- And there were these red and blue Pokémon that were all 'Rawr, I'm gonna eat you!' and 'Bump wiggle wiggle' with each other! And then this green sky gecko showed up and the two got bored and left."
The programmer and graphics artist traded blank stares with each other after hearing the child. Even the Pokémon with them seemed to feel as if perhaps this explanation was not quite telling the full, and likely much more concerning story.
"I'm starting to understand why that news coverage of the big storm last year seemed like it was missing something."
"No kidding…" the programmer replied.
Meanwhile, the director seemed to be rather enthralled with the child's story. "Bump wiggle wiggle, eh?" he mused aloud, "Very interesting… And I think we have our new plot climax…"
4 month(s), 20 day(s), 5 hour(s), 43 minute(s), 0 second(s) to deadline:
Before long, the programmer and the others on the development team completed their last-minute inspiration gathering and returned to the thick of virtual battle with the different builds of their project.
The game was finally beginning to show vestiges of being more than a handful of test results from a compiler, and it was finally robust enough to host a battle between the graphics artist and the programmer through two devkits linked with a cable.
At that time, things were still rudimentary- all of the sprites other than those for the menu were still placeholders. Still, that did not stop the graphics artist as he moved his selector icon twice to the right over along a 2-line list of attacks and made a final, decisive move.
"Whoo! And another victim is claimed for the champion!" the artist crowed.
His Azurill happily cheered him on, while the programmer's Corphish seemed adamant on protesting his trainer's loss. The Tropius quizzically tilted her head and tried to examine the machines in the hands of the programmer and graphics artist, as she was at a loss for just what the two Pokémon and their companions were so worked up about.
"Yeah, yeah. When are you ever going to hurry up and implement character sprites instead of these floating question marks?"
"You can't rush art or battle prowess, young grasshopper," the graphics artist tut-tutted.
It was then that the director, attracted by the ruckus the two made, came in and after a little chin-scratching, questioned the emergent victor over some. "Hmm… That's the tenth time that you've been able to defeat him with more than half a team left… What is the team that you've been using?"
"Ah, just something thrown together with later game monsters.
My star has four offensive moves, a recovery, and a status move," the graphics artist replied, beaming.
"Thing's a blasted juggernaut. I honestly don't know how you're doing that," the programmer replied. A comment which made the director pause and mull something about the graphics artist's string of good fortune.
"Hmm… What would happen if we cut things down to only four moves each again…? Can you quickly reset the match so that the last two moves of each monster have no power points?"
4 month(s), 20 day(s), 5 hour(s), 32 minute(s), 12 second(s) to deadline:
Once the director's limitations were imposed, the young man was pleasantly surprised to find that luck had shifted in his favor, "Whoo! Knew that things would finally turn around!"
Much to the dismay of the graphics artist, who was quick to bemoan his loss.
"Nooooo… My winning streak…"
The director began to ponder the implications of what he had just witnessed, and mused "Hrm… Maybe it is a little unbalancing to be adding more moves to monsters…"
3 month(s), 30 day(s), 11 hour(s), 48 minute(s), 5 second(s) to deadline:
Two months after the field work was completed, the project was beginning to remotely resemble a game, and the programmer found himself with a bout of free time. While an amused Tropius and Corphish watched a young trainer on the sidewalk below toss small blocks from a dispenser to a Zigzagoon, the trainer of the two snooping Pokémon found himself checking up on the graphics artist.
"Hey… Still working on those sprites?"
"Yeah, I just finished up the final form of one of the starters."
The programmer looked at the screen, confused- this was not what he thought the starter his colleague had sprited would look like.
"Eh? I thought this one was supposed to be the 'Latiiken', though."
"Got a memo stating that it didn't seem to mesh well with the other two, so… We have this instead."
"Hrm… Shame. I kinda liked that overgrown bird," the programmer mused while looking over the screen.
The artist realized that the programmer was uncharacteristically away from work...
"Wait, so what are you doing right now?"
"Oh, just waiting on the sound team for something to make up for them tricking me into running a script with a hidden recursive delete command and wiping out a night's worth of work…"
"Just what would that be?"
Just then, the abrupt sound of a cacophony of MIDI instruments could be heard coming from the room next door, all tuned to a singular, distinctive instrument. Much to the displeasure of some voices from next door, both human and Pokémon.
"Hey! This is supposed to be a test of the entire soundfont! Play one of the other instruments already!"
"That's what I've been doing!" another voice cried, "Everything's playing brass!"
As the artist and the other Pokémon in the room turned towards the programmer and began to piece together just what he had been waiting on, the young man gave a contented smile and chuckled while giving an explanation.
"Why, hearing their reactions to having some more trumpets in their lives."