When the developers of Pokémon fan-game, Pokémon Uranium pulled the download links for the game from the official website, there was a lot of consternation from fans around the world, as despite claims otherwise, many were worried that the game's development would halt. That's far from the truth of course, as they just released a new patch for the game, bringing it to version 1.01 and fixing up a number of bugs that had been plaguing players since release.
"A lot of people seem to be experiencing a strong emotional reaction to the news that we decided to remove the official download links—and this was bolstered by plenty of news articles & blog posts about the game claiming we ‘shelved’ the project after 9 years, or that Nintendo’s vindictive corporate suits got the better of us," said Involuntary Twitch, the 22 year old art director and creative lead for the game, said via Kotaku.
"But our own feelings about this situation are completely different. Our game project, the one we devoted so many hours of our lives into and the thing that was for both of us the single greatest creation in our young lives, had been download more than 1.5 MILLION times. That’s an incomprehensibly huge number of people playing our game."
Moving forward they plan to continue working on the game, adding up to eight new Pokémon designs in the coming weeks, as well as fixing bugs and making sure that the servers stay online which makes the online functionality possible. Currently trading and online battling work perfectly, though there may be new features added in the future depending on the whim of the developers and the interest of the fan base.
Have you tried Pokémon Uranium yet? I just earned my second gym badge and feel quite pleased with myself. It's certainly a lot harder than your average Pokémon game.
