What more would you like from Pokecharms.com?

[Doctor Oak]

As indicated in the news, another Pokecharms relaunch is incoming. This go around I have the time to focus on getting everything completely perfect and no other major commitments right now to get in the way.

As the article suggests, there's at least one in-demand feature on its way back to the site at last, and I can confirm that a new Pokedex will be joining it, but I'd like to field out your opinions on what you think the site is lacking or what you'd like to see expanded on or improved as we go into the next era of Pokecharms.

This question was already put out to the staff a while back before work on the relaunch started, so a lot of what came up then has already been put in motion. Therefore, I'm expecting that there's going to be a fair amount of cross over between stuff suggested here and stuff already done or being worked on. That said, I still want to see what you guys have to say, make sure we haven't missed anything and ensure that you guys get the kind of Pokecharms you want.

I'll try and let you know how likely or not your suggestion is, but I won't be able to address every suggestion as there's some stuff we'd like to keep under wraps for now.

So, suggest away!

 

[Sir Red]

One of the big things I would love to see is a return of a chat function on the forums. Chat is always the same two/three dozen or so of us and hardly ever anybody new. It would just be nice to have some new people drop in mix things up again.

Other than that I really can't think of anything off the top of my head right now.

 

[Picnicker Virgil]

I liked when the Pokedex showed the same Pokemon sprite as the Dreamworld art. I know it's not really big or important but I thought it was really neat

I'd like to see the chat feature return, like Red mentioned.

Other than that I'm just excited to see what features get added that I would have never thought of before. And also that news post got me all giddy, I can't wait :}

 

[Shiny Motley]

I have to agree with Red about implementing the chat function back into play. I'd love to see some new people, and perhaps some of the regulars on the forums would like to join the regular chatters. ^^

I liked that thing from a long time ago with the User Spotlight or whatever it was, where Katie interviewed some people who had contributed quite a bit to the community, be it through spriting, writing, or whatever. I also liked having a little section for all the staff members, like what we had... last year, I think? Or the year before? I remember we had something where we could click on some button with the admin's name on it, and be able to see, say, Nem's Pokecharms Chronicles, or some of Sem's writings, and whatever.

I can't think of anything new that I want back, but I would definitely like those things. ^^

 

[Carmen Lopez]

As everyone as mentioned so far, I definitely miss the chat button being in prominent display. I'm fairly sure you already mentioned it would be back though. I just think it makes Pokecharms more like a community, plus it's so fun to see new faces. I'm not sure if any other suggestion of mine has a shot of being added (i.e. the recent post box) so I'll leave that out. Otherwise I'm very much looking forward to the finished product! :-)

 

[Doctor Oak]

Re: The chat thing:

So, I think that pretty much covers that.

(That's a button to a chat page btw )

 

[Doctor Oak]

I liked when the Pokedex showed the same Pokemon sprite as the Dreamworld art. I know it's not really big or important but I thought it was really neat

I can confirm that there won't be a randomly featured Pokedex sprite this time. It's simply not feasible. You'll see why when you see the new design, but rest assured you'll still get your randomly assigned Pokemon fix on every page either way.

I liked that thing from a long time ago with the User Spotlight or whatever it was, where Katie interviewed some people who had contributed quite a bit to the community, be it through spriting, writing, or whatever.

I believe Database agreed to continue this feature a while back, but we've all been a bit slack at getting articles and stuff out consistently since, so it's no surprise it hasn't happened. It's really gonna be up to him or Katie to determine whether or not either have the time to sort out anything for this feature again, so I can't really say anything one way or another about it. I would like to see it return myself, though. So, if there's ever an opportunity for it to return, you can be sure that it will.

I also liked having a little section for all the staff members, like what we had... last year, I think? Or the year before? I remember we had something where we could click on some button with the admin's name on it, and be able to see, say, Nem's Pokecharms Chronicles, or some of Sem's writings, and whatever.

The plan was always to expand the news system into replacing the 'Staff Showcase' section once we'd worked with it for a while and got settled into it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that point ever actually came with most of the staff, and even if it did, I wasn't really available to organise the creation of this section on it anyway.

The groundwork for its return is definitely there, but it won't be returning in the relaunch unless there's a huge upswing by the staff in preparing stuff for it before then.

I'm not sure if any other suggestion of mine has a shot of being added (i.e. the recent post box) so I'll leave that out.

It doesn't really matter if it's gonna happen or not, feel free to make the suggestion anyway. If it doesn't get done by the relaunch, it can always be done later if it's a popular enough suggestion anyway.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

All righty, I'll give it a shot then xD

In the future, it would be cool to see a mobile version of the site--or at least the main page to make it easier to access from smartphones.

 

[Doctor Oak]

I can confirm that there will be a mobile version and a 3DS Browser version of the home page and at least some features.

 

[precita]

I always wondered why there is an "anime" tab on the main site with absolutely zero content. I know a few of the staff members still follow the Pokemon anime, so why not some info or editorials or whatnot? Granted other websites have much more info on the anime, such as Bulbagarden, Serebii, and pocketmonsters.net....do you guys just not want to compete with them?

Best Wishes would have been the perfect time to do a fresh start since the anime now feels like its been rebooted as a clean slate, but Japan is already 40 episodes into this saga already.

-mod edited because we are seriously getting tired of you bringing up Brock in nearly every post.-

 

[Shocari]

I'd like it to show the gender of the member underneath their avatar and stuff, like it did for a while on the old forums. Makes it slightly easier in responding to people and not having to check their profile, methinks.

 

[Doubled]

Well, I was thinking, since so many people ask about certain Pokemon in the Doctor's clinic, maybe you could add in a feature to the Pokedex (of course, this would take time, and I wouldn't expect it to be done anytime soon) that shows the preferred natures and move-sets for said Pokemon. Like showing Pikachu's Hasty move-set.

It wouldn't totally replace the clinic, but I think it would help for the more frequently asked questions.

 

[Doctor Oak]

I always wondered why there is an "anime" tab on the main site with absolutely zero content. I know a few of the staff members still follow the Pokemon anime, so why not some info or editorials or whatnot? Granted other websites have much more info on the anime, such as Bulbagarden, Serebii, and pocketmonsters.net....do you guys just not want to compete with them?

Best Wishes would have been the perfect time to do a fresh start since the anime now feels like its been rebooted as a clean slate, but Japan is already 40 episodes into this saga already.

-mod edited because we are seriously getting tired of you bringing up Brock in nearly every post.-

It's never been our intention to cover the anime like that. We don't have the right number of people interested in doing that material on a consistent basis (especially since two of the few members of staff that follow it the most are also the two busiest) and, like you said, that material is covered as well as it pretty much could be elsewhere. It's the same reason we won't cover TCG material.

The anime category in the news was mostly just to cover big anime news, such as movie information or the start of the Best Wishes series etc. Like most of the news material, it's been a struggle to get enough manpower to actually keep that up to date, though. Again, it falls down to the fact that the two members of staff most viable to cover the anime are also the two busiest with the least time to put towards it.

We never say never, but the chances of us covering the Anime and TCG in the same way we cover the games is -extremely- slim.

Well, I was thinking, since so many people ask about certain Pokemon in the Doctor's clinic, maybe you could add in a feature to the Pokedex (of course, this would take time, and I wouldn't expect it to be done anytime soon) that shows the preferred natures and move-sets for said Pokemon. Like showing Pikachu's Hasty move-set.

It wouldn't totally replace the clinic, but I think it would help for the more frequently asked questions.

There won't be anything like this ready for the relaunch, but you're not too far off from something that's been planned for the site for a while now. In the meantime, we do have the Clinic articles as well as the Clinic itself.

 

[Toastie]

I'd like the news section to be re-integrated with the forums a bit more, because no one seems to be bothering to comment because they have to fill in this form and can't just post in their forum account.
Also, I'd like to see the Pokedex and the Wiki merged, because I don't think it makes much sense to have all the in depth Pokemon info in a separate place to the other info.
Other than that, I can't think of anything else

 

[Doctor Oak]

I'd like the news section to be re-integrated with the forums a bit more, because no one seems to be bothering to comment because they have to fill in this form and can't just post in their forum account.

It was always, always the plan to allow people to use their forum account on the Wordpress. However, the only Wordpress plugin that would allow this didn't work. Like, at all. It'd just break on activation and be impossible to do anything with.

I'll be doing what I can to sort this out, but because of the lack of support for a Wordpress/SMF hack, I can't make any promises. I'll work something out one way or another though.

Also, I'd like to see the Pokedex and the Wiki merged, because I don't think it makes much sense to have all the in depth Pokemon info in a separate place to the other info.

The Pokedex and the Wiki will be technically separate, but they will link between each other. You'll be seeing a lot more cross-feature connectivity in general across the whole site.

 

[Linkachu]

I liked that thing from a long time ago with the User Spotlight or whatever it was, where Katie interviewed some people who had contributed quite a bit to the community, be it through spriting, writing, or whatever.

I believe Database agreed to continue this feature a while back, but we've all been a bit slack at getting articles and stuff out consistently since, so it's no surprise it hasn't happened. It's really gonna be up to him or Katie to determine whether or not either have the time to sort out anything for this feature again, so I can't really say anything one way or another about it. I would like to see it return myself, though. So, if there's ever an opportunity for it to return, you can be sure that it will.

Just to touch on this: time is definitely an issue for me, and that's why I passed the hat off to Data originally. That said, if we could figure out a new way to retool such a feature, there's always the possibility that it could be revived either by myself, Data, or both of us. If we did do a revival I'd like to improve on the original concepts, so I'll poke Data about it sometime and see what we can come up with.

 

[Stark]

I don't have any new ideas as such, a lot of what I'd have wanted off the top of my head has already been said by others (The genders, chat, mobile).

Although, I'd like to also state my support for the user showcase idea - I remember when those were around, I loved to read them. It really gave insight to some of the members who contribute well or do their own individual thing, or those who are maybe a little underappreciated in some regard.

I'm totally for contributing something towards helping that idea back onto its feet again if it would make things any easier, too.

 

[Sir Red]

Although, I'd like to also state my support for the user showcase idea - I remember when those were around, I loved to read them. It really gave insight to some of the members who contribute well or do their own individual thing, or those who are maybe a little underappreciated in some regard.

I'm totally for contributing something towards helping that idea back onto its feet again if it would make things any easier, too.

I'm definitely all for the member showcase as well. I wasn't around for the original run of it, but I would love to see it make a return and show off some of our more awesome members to the rest of the community.

And as LoN said I'd also be willing to help with the Member Showcase idea if it is needed.

 

[Teapot]

Seeing as the lack of member showcases is wholly my fault: Sure, I'll bring 'em back. Expect one with the relaunch.

 

[Secad MS]

One aspect I liked from the previous version of 'Charms was the larger, more in-depth profiles. It had 'buddies,' or people you interacted with most on Pokecharms, hobbies, favorite sites, and so on. It allows new users to more quickly integrate themselves into this community.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

I can't believe I forgot about that. The more in-depth profiles were definitely fun so I agree with Secad in wanting at least some aspect of them back. I can understand if that's beyond your control though.

 

[Doctor Oak]

The reason they were dropped before was because the modification that added them had a known error in it that caused it to not function correctly. I don't know if it's been sorted since, but if it has, it's always a possibility.

 

[precita]

The anime category in the news was mostly just to cover big anime news, such as movie information or the start of the Best Wishes series etc. Like most of the news material, it's been a struggle to get enough manpower to actually keep that up to date, though. Again, it falls down to the fact that the two members of staff most viable to cover the anime are also the two busiest with the least time to put towards it.

I understand, but maybe one brief editorial about the anime every 2 months or so couldn't hurt? I'm curious, is it because a lot of people don't like the anime on this website? The anime discussion thread is always dead on this forum.

Best Wishes, aside from the annoying Ash reboot, has had the best group dynamics in the show in years. The staleness of Brock is finally gone and Dawn's personality got too bland and one-dimensional halfway into DP and she never recovered afterward. Iris and Cilan are vast improvements in terms of personality, humor, and character interaction.

Nick Fury, have you been following Best Wishes at all? It seems your enthusiasm for the anime dropped since DP ended. I remember reading a lot of your posts on the old DP anime thread on the older forums. This is why I asked if you liked the anime with NO Misty or Brock, now that both of them are gone from the anime for good.

 

[Doctor Oak]

I still watch it, I just don't comment on it because by the time I get around to watching the episodes, they're a number of weeks old.

And again, it really falls to the fact that there just isn't the drive or need to cover the anime on the main site that we don't. I don't really see what a random article on it every couple of months would really acheive. Where we can, we like to keep people up to date with the big news - like movie announcements or when the new series is starting etc etc, but even that is really down to the few of us who bother with the anime getting around to doing that.

IF there was a huge upsurge in the amount of members wanting anime coverage - especially to the point where notable members were capable of being tapped on the shoulder to provide the content themselves - then we'd consider a greater presence on the site. But that's not the situation now, and I don't really see that changing.

 

[Cycloneblaze]

TCM3@@@

But seriously, the Staff Showcase. Where the hell did that go? Nemesis's new Pokédex thing, and earlier his interpretations of the new (at the time) Gen IV Pokémon, sprites etc. There was this guy called The Blue Avenger, he did a sprite comic, it was awesome. Then he rebooted it, it was still awesome. But it's gone and, though I don't look much outside of the General Writings board, I haven't seen the fella for a while. Is he gone, I dunno. Anyway, I don't care if nothing new will be added, I would love to see the old staff showcase (around the time of the TCM version 1) return with all the old stuff that was in it.
I'd also support a chat function, glad it'll be there =D Never saw it before on the actual site. Also the member showcase sounds cool. Would like to see that.

Also will those buttons that slide out when you mouse over 'em be redesigned? I go to click "forums", and the thing moves away from my mouse. What? That, in particular really irks me.

 

[Linkachu]

The anime category in the news was mostly just to cover big anime news, such as movie information or the start of the Best Wishes series etc. Like most of the news material, it's been a struggle to get enough manpower to actually keep that up to date, though. Again, it falls down to the fact that the two members of staff most viable to cover the anime are also the two busiest with the least time to put towards it.

I understand, but maybe one brief editorial about the anime every 2 months or so couldn't hurt? I'm curious, is it because a lot of people don't like the anime on this website? The anime discussion thread is always dead on this forum.

I'm actually a massive fan of the Anime series, but I don't reply to our thread that often because I fear reading the almighty spoilers of doom (and I watch fansubs, so I'm always a bit behind Japan's latest episode). :x

Regarding Anime coverage... DoctorOak has said it all really. Me and him are probably the two best suited for the job, but we're busy and would rather put our energies towards other aspects of the site/news. With other web communities dedicating themselves to Anime coverage, there's just not a huge call for it on Pokecharms right now. That said, if someone else we trusted ever stepped up to actively cover it I wouldn't be against it.

 

[Rayn_Shyu]

This is more with just forum organization...
So... I was looking in the Pokemon Chat forum and I noticed that a good chunk of them are "Who is your favorite X". Dunno if it'll make any difference or if anyone else cares, but I think 'Charms could benefit from a Favorite/Polls forum, because that seems to be a popular topic for discussion. Hopefully Pokemon Chat won't die from it though...

 

[C0nf1n3d]

This probably wont happen any time soon on the site, but I have a small suggestion.

Being able to customize a trainer on TCM. I think it's a great idea but I also think it will take time, patience, and lots of people to pull it off. Or maybe a separate feature called PCTM (Pokecharms Custom Trainer Maker) It's just an idea though.

And along with me, my friends also get on this website. We all have a question for you, Will this overhaul to the site with new features come before October?

 

[Teapot]

And along with me, my friends also get on this website. We all have a question for you, Will this overhaul to the site with new features come before October?

From what I've heard, I believe so.

 

[Doctor Oak]

This probably wont happen any time soon on the site, but I have a small suggestion.

Being able to customize a trainer on TCM. I think it's a great idea but I also think it will take time, patience, and lots of people to pull it off. Or maybe a separate feature called PCTM (Pokecharms Custom Trainer Maker) It's just an idea though.

It's a fun idea, and technically workable on some level, but it'd require a lot of effort from someone a lot better at spriting than I am to be able to provide all the material for it. The nature of submitting trainers as it stands now also probably wouldn't work in that situation due to the huge difference in styles and skills - it'd just make things look extremely disjointed. There's also the question of just how much custom detail you can make for a sprite no bigger or wider than 80 pixels - to the point where you can easily chop and change bits anyway.

So, I don't think it's that feasible - BUT if anyone DID want it done, the best way for that to happen is approach me with the materials (sprites) to make it happen. If people can cover that part, I have no qualms in coding it together for people to use.

That all said, there is a new expansion to the TCM in the works that does go beyond the usual cards format. I can't really say much more on it, 'cos there's no way it'll be ready soon - but when it finally shapes up, I think people will be satisfied by the level of customisation they can explore with that.

And along with me, my friends also get on this website. We all have a question for you, Will this overhaul to the site with new features come before October?

Yes. You really will not have long to wait now.

 

[PokeGirlPraure]

I'd like to be able to insert your own sprite into TCM. NOT customize, but to have an option 'Insert your own sprite' or something along the lines of that. I think it would be cool

 

[Doctor Oak]

I'd like to be able to insert your own sprite into TCM. NOT customize, but to have an option 'Insert your own sprite' or something along the lines of that. I think it would be cool

Won't be happening. The set up for submitting sprites to the TCM is there to ensure quality control and that the right type of image is used. There'd be more to lose by allowing that than there would be to gain.

Any sprites you'd like to use on the TCM should be submitted to the topic.