One of the most popular Pokemon romhacks you can play right now meshes the creature catcher with the roguelite genre. While PokeRogue recently hit a significant milestone with the release of fan game’s ending sequence, though, the the project’s creator is stepping away to refocus on faith, family, and their job.
PokeRogue is Pokemon as you know it, but with procedurally generated worlds, so the map and encounters change with each playthrough. You won’t find the sort of permadeath popularised in roguelikes or Nuzlockes, but you’ll need to keep on top of things like resource management as who knows how things will play out. It’s garnered some serious popularity, particularly among Pokemon’s streaming community, but that’s not stopping its creator from stepping away from the project.
“I understand that this project’s growth continues to accelerate, and there is still so much potential in it yet to be reached,” PokeRogue creator Flashfyre explains on Twitter.
“To many, this would seem like the worst possible time to leave. I had so many ideas that I know people would love and make the experience even better. However, after much consideration and consulting with family and close friends, I believe it would be better for both myself and the project’s continued growth for me to step away on a good note.”
Flashfyre goes on to say that they’ve always wanted to work on a project like PokeRogue, though I imagine they’d never have predicted how big it would become. They share that the project began with them taking a 10-year-old project and combining it with roguelite influences until it started to look like what you see today.
They worked on the game solo for nine months, but by the end of it, PokeRogue had become a community project, as its popularity had attracted many people who were only happy to contribute.
“It truly blew away my wildest expectations, and I thank you all for being part of that,” they say.
Despite the good times, the Pokemon fan is moving on “because a project like this isn’t compatible with my intended trajectory in life.” Flashfyre explains that they’ve found it “impossible” to moderate the time they spend on PokeRogue, and other things in life are taking the hit.
“As a hobby, it has become too important and consuming to me and has been hindering the things I value most including my faith, my family, and my job,” they say. “I am first and foremost a man seeking to follow God’s path for me in life, and my short time alive in this world should be spent serving Jesus Christ rather than feeding my own ambitions.
“I suppose with this resignation I am giving back to the world what belonged to the world in the first place, so that I am not responsible if it changes in any ways that do not align with my personal values, rather than choosing to hold what is now a community project to my own personal standards in an effort to preserve a clean conscience for myself.”
Mind you, Flashfyre is keen to state his affection for the project, saying it “really hurts” to leave it behind considering how much time they’ve poured into it. If you’re worried about the future of PokeRogue, though, fret not. While it started as a solo developer’s passion project, it has become a community collaboration. Several other fans who have put a lot of time into the project are now running the Discord and handling the big decisions. While it’s a future without Flashfyre, it’s a future all the same and not an ending.