There will be few (or none) video game sagas with more worldwide impact than Pokémon. That is why a non -profit version of the Nintendo franchise created by two young Sevillians accumulates about 60,000 downloads in a month. Hispalis: node project (which is only one demo with about seven playable hours), launched on December 20 and emerged from Pablo Díaz’s mind, a 28 -year -old comedian, who also needed talent as an illustrator of Onofre Marín, 35 years The world.
The figure of 60,000 downloads was 10,000 only 48 hours after the launch of the demo, proof of the expectation that creators had generated with the promotional videos they had uploading to social networks for months. Marín described those first days as “crazy”, but Díaz suspected that the game could reach many people. “I have been creating content for companies and for me a long time, so I suspected that I could paste this ball, because also in Seville and in Andalusia we are very intense and we have a lot of feeling of belonging,” explains Díaz. “That’s why I gave importance. The first video we upload is scripted, is well recorded, because it sensed that it was a video that was going to be seen a lot. And so it was, but I could have done a ‘blurred and already. ”
The video game is based on a post -demolyptic Seville set in the year 2030 divided into districts. These are independent, they self -govern and face each other to ensure their interests, in addition to being directed by empowered, which are relevant personalities of Andalusia such as the footballer Sergio Ramos, the former mayor of Seville Juan Ignacio Zoido or the former president of the Betis Manuel Ruiz de Lopera. The game follows the scheme of the Pokémon classics, where the professor who helps you in your first steps in this installment is the presenter Juan y Medio.
Before this, the player faces the “most important” question of the game: if you prefer Betis or Sevilla. In the event that the answer is indifferent, the game assumes that then you are not from Seville and, therefore, “Betis will fall a little better.” Diaz concrete that he has worked hard to “create a story that is enjoyable for everyone, that there are not only famous brotherhoods and people in Seville.” He admits that it is quite likely that players from outside Andalusia escape some reference, but ensures that he has seen several people who were broadcasting the live game that “had the ‘s’ perfectly incorporated into their vocabulary.”
Iñaki is one of them. It’s a streamer De Reus (@nyokey) who discovered the game through a follower from Andalusia and confesses that he has surprised him and that he liked the approach they have given him. “Logically I do not catch all the references, since I really know little about the culture or ‘memes’ that there may be there, but I try to play when the follower is since I tell me the things I do not understand,” he says.
Díaz started with the project in the pandemic, when he was left without work. All that free time allowed him to soak over programming on his account with the objective of creating a video game. “At first it was a closed demo that only some friends of mine played, and when I left work, the thing was stopped until last summer. When I talked to Oni (Onofre Marín) for the project, in principle I thought it would help me with the design of Curro and little more, and in the end we came arrival and in a month and a half we had a Pokédex (electronic encyclopedia in the games) Pokémon’s entire Pokémon inspired by Seville ”.
Díaz explains: “I like to tell stories and have a meaning, that’s why I’m striving that the game has secondary plots for those who want to have another layer of depth.” The comedian emphasizes that the project is designed so that others can enjoy it. “He is open for those who want to edit it and change it as he wants. We are not referring to anything, but the big difference with others fangames is that we have thrown him many hours. “
Marín points out that the creative drawing process loved it. “You think about concepts, ideas, city monuments, some ‘memes’ too. In less than a month we already had 155 Pokémon designs. When work is passionate about it is another story, this part for me was an enjoyment. Paul also gave me some ideas and I drew. To him, for example, it occurred to him that we could put the dog with the mythical series of ‘bandit, ”he says, about the released program in Canal Sur in 2002, which was the first animated series that folded in Andalusian. “The city in the end also gives you a lot of game for the plot. Among the story, myths, black legends … There is a lot of material to get here, ”says Marín.
Something that excites fans now is to know when the full game will see the light, but Díaz is clear not to give false hopes: “I don’t even know if that final version of the game will exist. It depends on having time, desire and dedication, in addition to that I already have many obligations in my day to day. I am half hired, half autonomous, comedian, journalist, announcer, presenter … and who is so many things at once is because he does not live well, ”Razon Díaz. The creators have communicated in their social networks that they have already scripted new progress of the game and have created new characters based on recent Sevillian phenomena, such as the artist Melody, who will represent Spain in Eurovision, or the contestant of the island of temptations, Jose Carlos Montoya.
One of those excited is Álvaro Carmona, a professor at Loyola University (@sdesiensia), who says he is looking forward to it. “As Sevillian the game seems to me a pass, it is full of spinning references and with a plot that hooks since you start the game. Although what surprises me most is that Nintendo has not already got into lawsuit with the tiquisiquis that they are and of course I am looking forward to the game, it is more, it should be paid. These types of projects deserve popular patronage, ”says Carmona.
But Díaz and Marín do not want to hear about money. “In the end we are using a brand that already exists, it does not seem moral nor is it legal either,” says Marín. This demo is free and is available for Android mobiles and Windows computers. The creators confirm that if the complete game sees the light will also be free. Regarding legal problems with Nintendo, creators do not believe that nothing will happen since the game has no profit and also have not received any notice, but they are advising how the Japanese company has acted on other similar occasions. Although they regret that, probably, the only thing they could do would be to close the game if the case occur.
The video game deals with irony some daily issues in Seville, such as when a procession hinders a walk through the city, something that happens more and more outside Holy Week. Another of the players, Inma Boilac, a 39 -year -old brother, was conquered only with the idea of turning Curro into a Pokémon -in the words of the creators, “Our Pikachu” -, but also shows fascination with “The Bugs Brotherhoods”, flag or pickpoke. “I am curious about the complete game, but with everything they have included in the demo, I have entertainment for a while and I don’t have time to think about the next one,” says Boilac.
Hispalis: node project also uses original music created by the Sevillian group Deer, which have created more than seven original songs for the game. In the outpatients where your Pokémon cures you can hear the anthem of Andalusia and in the typical Sevillian stores of the dust a version more in line with the game of the anthem of Spain. In addition, the two young people note that when the demo was announced, they received a lot of messages from people who wanted to collaborate so that the game would take place.
Although the original saga is designed for people of all ages, Díaz marks this version like Pegi 16 (for over 16 years, according to the European classification of guidance information on appropriate age for consumption): “In some presentation that came with parents with children, asked if the children already saw the series of elders with them. My recommendation is that parents play it first and decide, because in the video game there are adult issues: drugs, murders … It is not a children’s game. ” But Díaz has noticed that the followers of the followers “is very wide, from 50 -year -old people to 16” kids.
The creators have also taken advantage of the success of the game to get letters from their universe through the Namek store and highlight the amount of requests they had to do more when they announced the first rough. “The first 3,000 cards we took were exhausted in a day and a half. Now we also organize leisure events with fans ”, such as one of the typical meeting places of the“ geek ”community, such as Checkpoint Arcade Bar.