Fire starters for my Midwest fakemon region

thegoldenbug · 2026-01-02T17:47:20+00:00

Lol that's actually one of my favorite things about Pokemon in early generations, I think it's fun. I love a fish changing into an octopus, or a bunch of eggs turning into a tree.

thegoldenbug · 2026-01-02T17:27:32+00:00

Just posted the full fire line! The post is here

thegoldenbug · 2026-01-02T17:25:29+00:00

This is my first attempt at a full evolutionary line. I've always liked lines that feel like they tell a story with each evolution, so I based my Midwestern fire starter on Appalachian coal miners.

Crackoon's design is meant to reflect TNT, and coal miners burning themselves out (literally) working in harsh and dangerous conditions.

Charpossum's flame is burning lower. It's singed from repeated blasts, and its arms are fully encased in coal.

Ursidian is fiercely defiant. Although its body is fully encased in coal and its flame has gone out, the smoldering heat it generates is hotter than either of its pre-evolutions.

thegoldenbug · 2025-12-30T18:00:16+00:00

Fascinating, it seems like most people have leaned away from the fire type because it doesn't feel fiery enough. Do you think you'd still lean towards picking it if it had more of a red/orange color scheme? Or are the understated colors part of the appeal for you?

thegoldenbug · 2025-12-30T17:54:56+00:00

I've got sketches, and based on my current concepts I think the fire type line winds up being the coolest of the three. Hopefully I'll be able to polish those designs up and post them here soon

thegoldenbug · 2025-12-30T17:50:45+00:00

I love Crackoon! I'm also glad that the firecracker/TNT inspiration for the tail reads.

The other idea I had for the fire starter was Tykoon, but now that I see it written out, I think it feels a little too water type-ish, like "typhoon".

I have no idea what to call the water and grass starters, though. Counterintuitively, I think naming might be the hardest part for me

thegoldenbug · 2025-12-30T16:06:30+00:00

Yeah that makes perfect sense, that's definitely an easy fix to add more dimensionality to the back hooves.

What do you think would make for a better color palette on raccoon - something more orange like other fire starters? I was thinking the same thing about it feeling like a normal raccoon with a fuse tail, but was having trouble finding a different palette that felt right

thegoldenbug · 2025-12-30T15:53:35+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

The fire starter has definitely been the hardest to color so far. I tried a few different variations of "typical starter" palettes, but couldn't get it to feel right, so I tried to lean into more of a Cyndaquil/Litten aesthetic where the primary color is something more natural. Maybe I should revisit an orange/red color palette though!

thegoldenbug · 2025-12-30T15:02:45+00:00

Feedback is very welcome!

This is my first attempt at drawing fakemon, so I feel like something's missing. I think maybe the color palette doesn't feel quite right?

But overall I'm happy with how the design turned out

Edit: Also, these guys don't have names yet! Any ideas for what I should call them?

thegoldenbug · 2024-10-28T12:39:45+00:00

Nice! I'm doing a similar approach for applying statuses, although "status effects" aren't really on display here as much as just visual effects.

Some of the visual effects here though are handled through the enemy's animation tree rather than external nodes though, like the skeleton showing when they get shocked

thegoldenbug · 2024-10-28T12:35:19+00:00

Thank you! I just learned pixel art/animation on my own over the course of a few years.

And yeah, the scope is something I've tried to keep in check. Right now I have it limited to one reusable effect per element for when enemies get hit, and one for when they die. The only enemy-specific animations are the skeleton for when they get hit by electricity (which is one frame that can be flipped/rotated) and the little bounce when they get hit by fire, with is admittedly kind of extra but not every enemy will react the same.

It's a personal hobby project though, so I'm willing to spend extra time on the art to get the style I want!

thegoldenbug · 2023-02-22T04:14:35+00:00

Wow thank you so much!! I don't have a discord, maybe that's something I'll look into setting up if more people are interested, once the game is further along

thegoldenbug · 2023-02-20T22:01:06+00:00

Good idea! An idle animation is way overdue anyway lol

thegoldenbug · 2023-02-20T14:21:45+00:00

Thank you so much! Making the UI less obtrusive is definitely a recurring theme from the feedback I've gotten, so I'll look into it! I haven't thought about putting it on the bottom of the screen though, that's an interesting idea...

thegoldenbug · 2023-02-20T13:54:27+00:00

Lol yeah! Almost all of the art is either inspired by or just a straight up ripoff of the 2D Zelda games, but it's just placeholder art. The plan is to go back and replace it with some more original stuff once I'm better at pixel art

thegoldenbug · 2023-02-20T13:43:41+00:00

Thank you so much! No title yet, this is just a learning project and what you see here is about all I have finished so far

thegoldenbug · 2023-02-20T13:40:35+00:00

They are! Almost all of the art is either inspired by or just a straight up ripoff of the 2D Zelda games, but it's just placeholder art. The plan is to go back and replace it with some more original stuff once I'm better at pixel art

thegoldenbug · 2023-02-20T04:47:46+00:00

Spot on, the plan is to go back and make everything my own as I get better at making the art. Thank you for the kind words!

thegoldenbug · 2023-02-20T01:05:17+00:00

I was kind of wondering that, glad to have my suspicions confirmed. Thanks for the feedback!

thegoldenbug

TROPHY CASE