The lead developer of the popular Pokemon fan game, PokeRogue, has suddenly resigned from the project. PokeRogue describes itself as a "fangame heavily inspired by the roguelite genre," although it will now have to finish development without its original creator and lead.

Over the years, there have been a ton of amazing Pokemon ROM hacks from talented developers who want to put their own spin on the classic series formula. These fan games aren't official in any way, but allow for an uncompromising vision for the developer to try out new features that might never make it into a Pokemon game. As a result, these titles are often more unique than the official Pokemon releases themselves, making them a popular choice for gamers who want to try something fresh in that universe. PokeRogue is one of many, but it has been growing in popularity of late.

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The developer, who goes by FlashfyreDev on Twitter, confirmed they were leaving the PokeRogue fan game project, citing a number of reasons for doing so. They pointed out that "a project like this ultimately isn't compatible with my intended trajectory in life," confirming that they have "found it impossible to be moderate in the amount of time I spend on something like this." All is not lost with the game, with FlashfyreDev confirming the two developers that are now in charge of PokeRogue going forward, asking fans to "respect their decisions in regards to the direction of the project."

PokeRogue Lead Developer Leaves the Project

Ultimately, the reasons for FlashfyreDev leaving PokeRogue are totally understandable. Making one of the best Pokemon fan games around takes a lot of work, and doing it for free while maintaining a career elsewhere would be extremely difficult. It is always a problem with projects like this, whether it be Pokemon-based or not, and can often hold back the scale of fan games out there. Often, fan games like this are a good way for talented developers to get noticed by larger companies, but that doesn't seem to be the case here, unfortunately.

With PokeRogue left in safe hands, hopefully, it will continue on its previous positive trajectory going forward. It has the potential to be one of the best roguelike games around, especially with the unique Pokemon twist. However, Nintendo has been known to take down fan games like this in the past, especially when they grow too large in popularity, so hopefully PokeRogue proves to be the exception in this regard.

Pokemon

Pokemon is a franchise that needs no introduction. One of the most successful media empires in history, Pokemon spans games, television, films, manga, merchandise, music, and more.

Created by

Satoshi Tajiri