Everyone has been asking for months for updates and progress reports and screenshots etc. There seems to be some bitterness among some members and a lack of understanding among other members about what is happening to this project.

Here is an explanation of where I stand on how this project is going right now.

I'm going to make some things -very- clear to this community and I don't want to hear more arguing on this topic. I'm going to tell everybody how it is and considering that I am the sole funder of this project and I am the person that built it, you will all listen to what I am going to say and at least attempt to understand.

Basically, this project is most definitely not dead, it is just going to take a long time to be completed. To me this project is not just another MMO to be played for a month and forgotten about, it is something big and amazing to be proud to work on, and so we are not in any hurry to finish

Personally I don't care about having the project finished because the point of it is to have something amazing to work on, and that is how I hope all of our volunteers will feel. When this game is eventually finished it will be something that we were proud to work on, not just some game we wanted to play.

For all of you that just want an MMO to play, there are many thousands of them all over the internet. This project is for people that want to be a part of something ambitious, and for people that want to have something to be proud of and a way to show their abilities. This is not a project for people that just want a game to play, those people are missing the point and what makes POL an amazing project to be a part of.

Also I don't want to get any more complaints about me working on other projects. I spent a year working full time on POL and I ran out of money to keep doing that. I now have to give priority to things that give me an income so I can you know... survive.

I hope this post helps people to understand the way I look at this project. The point of POL is not to play an MMO, it's to make an MMO.

Amen, brother. Testify!

Hell yea! Thats why i'm still here, to be part of something amazing! Other wise I would have be gone 4 years ago lol. Take all the time you guys need to make POL awesome

That's good to hear. :)

Sounds nice.

Thanks, Pande, I think it was good for the community to hear this from you. I hope that the community sees where you're coming from (It seems like 4 people already have) and we can use this as constructive towards our goals of eventually finishing the project.

To everyone who might be skeptical after reading that, don't worry, there will be a playable version of POL. It's not gonna be like "Oh okay we finished it, good job everyone, time to close everything down." You will be able to play POL, and it will be awesome and significantly better than our competitors' games.

Pande is right, this is going to take a long time to finish. I'll try to release my first progress report today or tomorrow (It just depends on how long it takes me to get in contact with other staff members) so that people can have an idea of where we stand there.

Expanding on what Joe said:

To those who are just here to play the game:
Keep in mind that having the goal be to make an MMO will make the final product be of so much better quality than one just made to be played. Their goal is to get something playable out as fast as possible. Our goal is to make the best game possible. So even though playing the game may not be the point, the game will still be epic when it is released.

Word up, brother. Thanks for posting this. As a zillion people have already said, the community absolutely needed to hear this from you. Hopefully this clears up a lot of concern and skepticism, and reignites some sort of confidence in the project.

Cratesh'ya likes this.

Seriously, I don't understand why people are whining in the first place. This is a volunteer game. If you don't like the slow progression, I suggest YOU try and handle EVERYTHING about a fake game...music, tiles, minisprites, battle sprites, and most importantly, the game engine and general programming. Yeah, good luck on that, guys. It's not easy.

Thanks for putting people in their place, Pandepic. I'm all over quality over quantity as an artist, and as a Pokemon appreciator. I'll wait for this game, because it'll be so satisfying when it is actually done.

Agreed with cratesh'ya; Some people make rants that "POL is dead", "the developement progress is declining", "we're not given enough progress reports on the developement!", and what not. Yes, the game is a far way away from being in a playable state. Constant complaining won't speed up the progress at all. People complain as if it's their game, when in fact it is not, and they don't have to make this game for us, but they're doing it anyways through volunteer work.

Anyways on topic: Well said Pandepic. I've been beginning to enjoy contributing to the project more than actually playing other pokemon MMO's myself. Not only am I helping work towards a quality pokemon MMO which I may play one day, but when it is playable, I can see aspects of the game that I've helped work on myself, which is something else . Also, contributing to the project in its early developement days help me grow as a staff member, whether its towards wiki work, working on tilesheets, or any other tasks I might take on one day, I've actually found it more interesting helping working on this game more than playing games itself. I'll be able to take pride in how I've been growing as a staff member here.