State of the Game #10

A fan-made Pokémon game focused on open-world exploration and experimentation, built with Pokémon Essentials and PSDK.

NOTE

I've decided to split this blog post into two separate articles. The second half of the original post was more of a rant, and I felt it deserved its own dedicated space. I'll be publishing the second part of the post separately, so stay tuned for that! You can find that article here

Game Development: Decisions and Devices

Well, here we are again — State of the Game 10! A lot has been happening behind the scenes with progress moving forward on the v0.01 Alpha Build. You can check out more details on that in the latest discussion thread here.

That said, this post is less of a traditional progress update and more of a general dev blog entry. I’m covering multiple topics today, so think of this as a casual deep-dive into recent thoughts, tools, and plans.

Hosting the Dev Blog

One thing that’s been on my mind lately is: Where should the TestFlight development blogs live? I’ve been exploring a few different approaches, each with its own pros and cons.

Option 1: Creating a New GitHub Repository

My first thought was to spin up a dedicated GitHub repo just for the blog. There are several blog-ready templates available, but none really suited my style — either they required too much upkeep or just didn’t feel right. More importantly, I didn’t love the idea of hosting the blog outside the TestFlight repo. I worry that linking externally might reduce visibility and engagement.

TL;DR: Too fragmented and high-maintenance.

Option 2: Using Discussions in the TestFlight Repo

This is the method I’ve been using up to this point — and honestly, it works. GitHub Discussions is built right into the repo, which keeps everything in one place. It’s convenient, easy to access, and familiar to people already following the project.

The only downside? It’s a little... plain. The layout isn't ideal for long-form blog content — but hey, it’s functional for now. (More on potential upgrades below.)

Option 3: Uploading a Custom Website to the Repo

The most ambitious idea I had was to build a simple site directly inside the TestFlight repo. It could serve as both the project's home page and a host for the blog. The catch? I’m not totally confident in my web dev skills yet. I also don’t have a clear artistic direction for how I’d want the site to look. Plus, let’s be honest — recent blog posts have been looking a little text-heavy.

Spoiler: Nobody likes reading a wall of text.

Final Verdict

For now, I’m sticking with GitHub Discussions for dev blog posts. It’s not flashy, but it’s simple and centralized — which checks the boxes that matter most right now.

That said, I do want to elevate the visual presentation of these posts. With a bit of Photoshop work and some Googling, I think I can come up with a lightweight template to give these updates a more polished and professional vibe.

Stay tuned — I’ll probably update this post when I have something mocked up.