{"id":3413,"date":"2017-03-01T15:03:56","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T22:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/3-ways-pokemon-go-evolved-during-development\/"},"modified":"2017-03-01T15:03:56","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T22:03:56","slug":"3-ways-pokemon-go-evolved-during-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/3-ways-pokemon-go-evolved-during-development\/","title":{"rendered":"3 ways Pok\u00e9mon Go evolved during development"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Artworksildenafil<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/spooky-pokemon-300×203.png 300w, order<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/spooky-pokemon-768×519.png 768w, remedy<\/a> http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/spooky-pokemon-800×541.png 800w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/spooky-pokemon-780×527.png 780w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/spooky-pokemon-930×628.png 930w, http:\/\/1u88jj3r4db2x4txp44yqfj1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/spooky-pokemon.png 1440w” sizes=”(max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px”><\/p>\n

\n

Pok\u00e9mon Go didn\u2019t hatch out of a Pok\u00e9-egg looking exactly like how we know it.<\/p>\n

Dennis Wang, director of\u00a0interaction and visual design at Pok\u00e9mon Go developer Niantic Labs, talked Tuesday at the Game Developers Conference about designing the hit location-based game. Pok\u00e9mon Go became a smash success after it launched last year for iOS and Android, achieving over 650 million downloads. Niantic recently added more Pok\u00e9mon to the game, which helped it climb back to the top of the App Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We learned how Niantic changed the look of Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0Go during development, and how its past experiences helped the studio make a more accessible game.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Above: What\u00a0the map looked like at launch.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Jason Wilson\/GamesBeat<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The map used to be a lot different<\/h2>\n

Pok\u00e9mon Go is a location-based game, so its map is one its most important aspects. But that map used to have a different look. The first version featured a mostly white view of the world, with the player and Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0popping off the dull surface with bright colors. Niantic then wanted to make the map feel a bit more, well, Pok\u00e9mon-y. So it made the world feel greener, adding in vegetation.<\/p>\n

It turned out they added too much vegetation, creating a dissonance between the game map and the real world. Niantic settled for something in-between the two styles, a mostly green map that featured simple shapes.<\/p>\n

Niantic also wanted the map to change more based on what was happening in the real world. The game right now can change depending on if it\u2019s day or night, but Niantic tested settings for overcast days and sunsets. Wang noted that Niantic hopes to add more weather interactions to the game.<\/p>\n

The avatars looked more \u2026 anime<\/h2>\n

Every player in Pok\u00e9mon Go has an avatar, a slender, hip teenager that walks around the map, giving you reference for your own\u00a0location in the world.\u00a0You can customize this avatar\u2019s\u00a0appearance, choosing things like hats, clothes, and hairstyles. But while the final character\u2019s have a Western look,\u00a0Niantic\u2019s\u00a0original\u00a0avatar\u2019s\u00a0appeared more like the anime-style characters you\u2019d find in the Pok\u00e9mon\u00a0games and cartoon.<\/p>\n

Niantic moved away from the anime aesthetic to make Go more immersive for audiences outside of Japan. It also wanted the avatars to appear older than the children that serve as the stars in the cartoons and games, to give older players a virtual representation that they could identify more with. Wang also noted that\u00a0Niantic hopes to add more customization options, including more ages and skin colors, in the future.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Above: A screen showing the action in Ingress.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Niantic<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Niantic learned how to make a more accessible user interface from Ingress<\/h2>\n

Ingress was Niantic\u2019s first location-based game. It was much more complicated than Pok\u00e9mon Go, which you can see from its menus.<\/p>\n

Besides being complicated, Niantic learned that these menus were uncomfortable to use. Some of the buttons were places that were hard to reach, like the top right corner of the screen.<\/p>\n

For Pok\u00e9mon Go, Niantic kept most of the buttons on the bottom half of the screen and away from the corners. This made it easy for players to push them with their thumb, even when holding their phone with one hand<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[174,377],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-games-media","category-gaming"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t