For anyone who's confused or doesn't know what happened in September 2016!

[MonkeyLord83]

Pokémon Uranium: A Memoir 

(A.K.A. What the heck had been going on with Uranium in September 2016?!)

Hey all, is your resident blabbermouth again! Some of you may already know who I am, some of you may not. In any case, I’m going to tell you my story, no, our story, you’ll be a part of this story after you’re done reading, I’m sure of it! Now I know some of you are impatient and just want the gist, so here a short version of what happened:
- Forum died on Sept.2nd
- Unofficial Fan-server came up on Sept.8th.
- Cody made this forum around the same time.
- We, the Pokemon Uranium Community, have been making various efforts to keep the game alive since then.
- Official statement of JV and Twitch ceasing development came out on Sept.21st.
- Unofficial devs are now official devs, and this unofficial forum is now official forum.
-> Game is DEFINITELY NOT DEAD! Spread the words!

Now, if you're actually not happy with that summary and want to know more in details what happened, read on! But before we begin, those who have been on this journey with me the whole way, or part of the way, this is your chance to chime in in the comment to remember what we’ve been through together. And those who are new and confused about what happened, this is your chance to catch up!

Chapter 1: Uranium, the breedzard known as @Youko, and chatzy.
 
            It was mid-August, and I was on vacation with my family when I read an article about Pokémon Uranium getting released after 9 years of development by JV and Twitch. It’s not the first time I heard of Uranium, I’d heard of it before and I did want to play, but I was busy with college. By the time I look for download links, the official download links were already taken down, but I found the links floating around on the internet soon enough and started playing. I am certainly not the social type, as I focused on game play and didn’t even touch the online features until I reached Tsukinami Village (Eighth Gym). It was then that I registered on Official Forum. But I wasn’t active there at first, I was just lurking around, looking for trade evolve threads to work on my dex.
            But then, on a fateful day, I happen to lurk pass kerners’ Give Away thread, and that lead me to Youko’s Give away and her wonderful Guide to breeding. To be perfectly honest, before that day, breeding to me was just putting something into daycare with a Ditto and get an egg after a while. I didn’t care or know what IVs, EVs were, as I was anything but a competitive player, mostly because I play on emulators and you don’t really get online battle and stuff, and any mons can get you through the gameplay. But while I was trading for dex completion, and reading Youko’s Guide, something sparked, and thus I started breeding Dunsparce with a breedject Selene threw on Wonder Trade and some Freebies Youko was giving away.
            After 2 days of some success, while lurking around Youko’s and Selene’s thread, I found the link to the chatzy room set up by kerners for the breeders to talk about stuff. To be perfectly honest, I was nervous before entering. But as soon as I entered, I felt at home, mostly because people there were being super weird! Just a few minutes after the introduction and whatnot, Youko got a request for a shiny 6IVs Metalynx, along with 2 other pokes in one post on her Give away thread. She said in the chat, “can I just answer ‘Do you think I’m a wizard?!’”, I jumped at the chance (as people will soon realize I jump at all these chances for jokes and teases) and told her to do it so I could go in with a Hagrid meme. And I did, that’s how the whole (Apparently a Wizard) thing started with Youko.
 
Chapter 2: Forum went down, chatzy’s limit, and the Move.
 
            I came into chatzy very often after that, occasionally snipe a request or two off Youko’s and Selene’s thread (when they are sleeping and people were asking for something I bred or was breeding). Talking about random stuff with the people online, mostly Suzaku, she’s really around a lot! But September 2nd, Vietnam’s Independent Day, I might add, forum went down.
            At first, we all thought it was just another ddos, those have happened quite often before. But after 1 day, then 2, then 3, we suspected something more serious in nature. It was around that time that the chatzy room finally had 10 people online at a time, and when the 11th went online (Potato), he couldn’t get in. Thus we had to look for alternatives…
            That was the reason behind the founding of the Breeders Collective Discord. At the time, it was just about finding another chatroom so all the people who hang in chatzy can have a new hangout place. There was just about 15-16 of us back then, and only about one or two channels. But as forum stayed down, we got bored, and while I was finally taking a break from breeding and go train up mons and finish my pokedex, Harbinger and Angan was busy redecorating the server. It was also around this time that we heard about @ReeNormies (L/Unknown Entity) and the unofficial devs’ plans for a fan-server. Channels were added in case forum never returns and we have to run Give Away and trades entirely from the comfort zone of our discord. More and more channels were added as needs change, and the bots were also added. We also prepared to make the server welcoming for new people, even new breeders, with an agreement that we would have roles to separate ourselves from the rest as we have grown to be close as friends and almost family.
 
Chapter 3: Fan-server, Androziel, and the departure of a friend.
 
            It was on September 8th that we heard about fan-server being out. It was developed by L and some of the folks at Official Uranium Discord. Of course, back then you don’t just patch the game to get online, you had to manually change a line in your hosts file so that game would get redirected to the fan-server. I woke up, came into Discord, and was pleasantly surprised by what was going on. I quickly made the needed change and got online, to find Wonder Trade flooded with high IVs mons and shinies. Yes, guys, that day was what inspired us to bring the idea to @CodySP for the Forum Event on Sept. 24-25th!
            I started writing comments advertising the fan-server on Uranium wiki around this time. A lot of people were skeptical, but some tried it anyway. It was a start, and it did feel good that I was doing something, being part of something bigger, a movement of reviving Uranium and spreading words of what was happening.
            The Tweet from Twitch came out around this time, it was a vague tweet saying sorry for keeping everyone in the dark and something about the greater good. If you have visited our discord channel, that tweet was the origin story behind our bot command “!gg”, be sure to try it if you ever visit our Discord, mostly my idea, btw.
            A few days after that, maybe 1-2 days, @Androziel joined our Discord, and just a day or two after that, we had a vote to let him into the “inner circle”. A few days later, a huge misunderstanding occurred that shook the world as we knew it. Now back then, we haven’t known Andro like we know him now, unofficial dev turned official dev and what not. Back then, he was just a regular guy who knew about coding, much like gayanjX was. So when he came in one day telling us that he just found some cool stuff he could do with the debugger, some of us were confused, some of us didn’t know what it was, some of us didn’t know how to feel, but one of us felt really strongly about that…
            That was the day that Suzaku left us. When Andro talked about the debugger, Suzaku felt she was undermined, she felt like it’s hacking and she was mad/disappointed when the rest of us (confused, absentminded and some not really at keyboard) didn’t response in support her that she left the Discord and never returned. After that day, we decided to keep what Andro was doing a secret, as we didn’t want any more misunderstanding with anyone else. Another reason why Suzaku left, which I was originally reluctant to tell, was because she believed there was another hacker in the group, namely @RizlaTokes. Though at the time, we didn't have hard proof/evidence, and the game was having no devs, we just sorta let it slide. After the rule about insta banning hacking/cheating in the discord was finally put forth, Rizla was ban-hammered, and shortly afterward, he was banned from this forum as well, though that is a sad story, to be told at another time. In addition to the fact that I believe the situation could have been handled more peacefully/smoothly than how it was handled...
 
Chapter 4: Cody’s forum, Breeders Discord grew, and Andro finally coming out.
 
            Around the time of Suzaku’s departure, we also found out about Cody’s forum. Well, Youko did, and then she told the rest of us. But there was a problem registering at first as the automatic email just wouldn’t come, so it took me a day I think before I could successfully register and posted my first post, which is a blatant advertisement for the Breeders Discord. XD
            My next post on Cody’s Forum was an ad for Potato’s Tourneys, which are also now held in our Discord server. I do post a thread or two from time to time after that, and you probably have seen them all since I’m all over the places.
            That advertisement apparently worked, as more and more people started to flow into our Discord and the server became more and more lively. Cody also joined, along with many other breeders, which lead to the creation of the rules channel and more role tags to separate people. Andro’s work, however, was still being kept a secret from the general public at this point, as at the time, he hadn’t quite proven his abilities to L and was not quite ready to show off anything of the things he was working on.
            This is when I started to pile together a post of all the links to the efforts that was made by everyone in the Uranium community and spam that post on wiki, and Facebook wherever relevant. The post can be found here if anyone is interested. I was basically blatantly advertising both the Discord server and Cody’s Forum at this point.
            Then one day, good news came in the form of a surprise visit from L. He came into our Discord server, and I alerted Andro of his arrival. Many of you know what happened next, Andro’s work was finally being acknowledged, and he finally came out of the closet as an unofficial dev of Uranium. Days later, Andro released the first patch. And I was once again busy going around wiki and Facebook updating people of the news. Most people on wiki trust me by then, I hope. But regardless, it’s something I felt I should do.
 
Chapter 5: From then till now
 
            We’re close to the present now (or at least the present when I first wrote this thread), and though I believe that my story, our story is far from over, it is coming close to the unknown area where I cannot tell you much more. With the first patch coming out and more advertisement, more people were drawn in. The community really have regrown a lot after the blow that was official server/forum being taken down.
            As of September 21st (22nd for me, but 21st for many of you), after the official announcement of JV and Twitch ceasing updates, we, the Breeders Collective and Forums members, took it upon ourselves to come out and shout throwing every links, spamming everywhere relevant, telling anyone who may be interested that it is not over, that there are still people stepping up, that the Uranium community stands strong, that although the original creators and developers of Uranium can no longer work on it, L and Andro had stepped up, to take over the mantle, the wheel, to drive us all forward, and keep the legacy strong!
            As I’m writing this on September 22nd (23rd for me, 22nd for many of you), our Discord server have had even more people joining than before, there are new spriters, new possible translators and a team is growing! The Breeders Discord is no longer just a home for breeders and combatants, it’s now a base of operation for all Uranium fans who wishes to be there to share, to help out, or to chat with the breeders, forum and reddit mods, or the new Uranium team. Don’t expect them to tell you everything though, they’ll hint, but they won’t tell you all they plan…
            A lot have happened since then, all the ups and downs, with @Selene returning and @Androziel's bug fixes (some of which didn't gain him a lot of fans  ), Twitch finally explained what happened, and I'm once again here, editing this thread to fix the links @CodySP broke by changing the forum address. 
            So if you’re here right now, reading this, then know this, you are also part of this story now! You have found this place, you have read this story all the way through, which means you care about Uranium, too! You can be part of this community, of something bigger, if you’re not a part of it already. So join us in the effort to spread the word, retell the story, so that other fans who may not be as lucky as you are would also know that it is not over! Far from it! This is OUR story to tell, and to live!

[CodySP]

This is quite well written and contains a lot of information.

It's worth noting that prior to the creation of these Forums, I was a freshly promoted forum moderator at Pokemon Uranium's official website, given the task of watching over the Help Desk and Suggestions Forum by Twitch and Iron. Iron of course being the Super Moderator and main point of contact. I had taken on the responsibility for a little over a week and half before the Official website went down for good.

I used my position as motivation to create the Unofficial Forum you see before you today. It runs on the same software the previous forum did and has been custom designed to look exactly like the original - no easy task when you're working with a website that no longer exists. I kept the development of this forum a secret originally as I wanted to wait until Official Word had come from Twitch and JV before I made this forum available to the public. But before I knew it someone had managed to find the website and proceeded to Register. Immediately after, realizing the cover was blown, I shared the link on Reddit, explained who I was and what I had done. I received surprisingly positive reception and the Forum officially opened.

After the Official Statement had been made on the 21st of September, I spoke with Twitch directly for the first time. I expected her to disregard the forum completely, instead I was met with many thanks and her blessing to continue running this forum in order to give all of the wonderful Uranium community a place to gather, discuss the game and make friends.

When the dust had finally settled, @Androziel @ReeNormies and I had a brief discussion and agreed on a few points.

1. All current and Future patches provided by @Androziel and @ReeNormies (L, Unknown Entity) would be dubbed official and be pushed through the Pokemon Uranium Patcher for easy access.

2. Development would continue on Pokemon Uranium and the Forum would stay open and Operational.

3. We needed to act quickly and perform damage control. We needed to get the word out that Pokemon Uranium wasn't dead, far from the fact, not only was the game still alive, but it was thriving, it was growing and showed no indication of slowing down.

Having had that conversation, I immediately E-mailed Patricia Hernandez a journalist and Editor at Kotaku who had written This article regarding the fate of Uranium. As you can see, the article has since been updated and a link to this forum has been provided through Kotaku.

There's still a lot of work to be done and we still have so much room to grow. I'm very eager to see where the road takes us from here.

[Lord Windos]

Honestly, compared to you two guys, I have not done much in the way of fanning the flames, as it where. I discovered the game through a clickbait link, was vaguely interested in the IP, and decided "Why not?" After dithering about and making sure I got the right updates in place, I played through the game, ghosting through the reddit and wiki to build my dream team. Then I discover this site, clicked the Breeder's Discord Link, and got started right away.

They were super helpful in getting me started on the breeder path (my doesn't that sound prestigious?), and they got to come out of my shell and become a social butterfly. Monkey was a big help in that regard. His/her enthusiasm and helpful advice really got me to invest in the game more, and subsequently the community at large. My story would have ended there, if I didn't notice the competitive sub-forum. That sparked the idea for my guide for my Dunsereph guide, and the beginning of many guide by other people. I can at least claimed I paved the way for competitive guides, at least.

Other than that, I just been hanging out around the forums, trying to help people with their problems and greet people, veterens and new comers alike. I am going to try to breed some 5-6IV pokemon, but with college, that will be difficult to find the time...
Regardless, I want to continue helping out around here, and have fun with the colorful personalities here. With that, I bid ado.

[Spiritmon]

Well, i dont have much to say. I discover the pokemon uranium when i watch the brazilian YouTube Hagazo, and then i was surprised by the quality of the fangame, the gameplay, the history, everething.

After that, i try search about every information, and later i discover the take down of the links (fuck you Nintendo). But after a little search i eventually find a site with the link to the game (version 1.0.0). Then i begin to play, and i fall in love with game, and play for hours and hours, beggining to discover the best mons to add my team. The first one was my dear Electrux, who i named Netune. Then i caugh Dunsparce, and her Angela, and not much time later i caugh a female Ekkans and named her Medusa. The others come time much later: Afro the baaschaun, Pandora the masking and finally Ay'la'lau the Tikiki (the one who wondering, Ay'la'lau its the name of hawai deity, "the one who devoure the forests).

A normal i was trying a friend of mine, a YouTube called Wmsplays, to trade some mons to help him. But then the online system was down, along with forums. In the beggining i was think that was a temporally problem, but everyday i try to access the forums. Some time later i discover the unfficial site, and how they creat a online fan system, and after that i discover the unfficial forum, and the News about cease the updates. I honestly never was a guy who wanderes in the forums, but i begin to eager to interact with others, to ask. And then here i am. I a brazilian with a basic english language. I will try my best to update my speaking. The name Spiritmon, nice to meet you all.

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Don't have much to say, just "That thing you wrote must have taken quite a while and effort. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT. Good job, there MonkeyLord83" ^-^

Feels good to have our forum back, though. I've never been the social person *f#ck you, outsides - I can have my own adventures in my room!*, but being here is just... great! I guess?!
AND IT'S MUCH MORE FUN TO BE PART OF THE FANDOM BECAUSE URANIUM DESERVES A FANDOM. It's more of a serious and darker version of the official Pokemon games. I still like them, though, and am very hyped for Sun/Moon! Well, you know, because of all that nuclear power - radiation - meltdown - Lucille died (OR DID SHE? dumdumduuuuuum) - nuclear Pokemon could attack their trainer - stuff. That all was what made me start playing Uranium by myself after hearing its release after 9 years, it sounded hell of interesting!

Oh, and the Tandor Pokedex got me after watching through it for the first time. So many inspired design, so many interesting type combinations.

[Spiritmon]

Don't have much to say, just "That thing you wrote must have taken quite a while and effort. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT. Good job, there MonkeyLord83" ^-^

Feels good to have our forum back, though. I've never been the social person *f#ck you, outsides - I can have my own adventures in my room!*, but being here is just... great! I guess?!
AND IT'S MUCH MORE FUN TO BE PART OF THE FANDOM BECAUSE URANIUM DESERVES A FANDOM. It's more of a serious and darker version of the official Pokemon games. I still like them, though, and am very hyped for Sun/Moon! Well, you know, because of all that nuclear power - radiation - meltdown - Lucille died (OR DID SHE? dumdumduuuuuum) - nuclear Pokemon could attack their trainer - stuff. That all was what made me start playing Uranium by myself after hearing its release after 9 years, it sounded hell of interesting!

Oh, and the Tandor Pokedex got me after watching through it for the first time. So many inspired design, so many interesting type combinations.

That make me remember: You ask for a Devimp. Do You still have interest?

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

Don't have much to say, just "That thing you wrote must have taken quite a while and effort. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT. Good job, there MonkeyLord83" ^-^

Feels good to have our forum back, though. I've never been the social person *f#ck you, outsides - I can have my own adventures in my room!*, but being here is just... great! I guess?!
AND IT'S MUCH MORE FUN TO BE PART OF THE FANDOM BECAUSE URANIUM DESERVES A FANDOM. It's more of a serious and darker version of the official Pokemon games. I still like them, though, and am very hyped for Sun/Moon! Well, you know, because of all that nuclear power - radiation - meltdown - Lucille died (OR DID SHE? dumdumduuuuuum) - nuclear Pokemon could attack their trainer - stuff. That all was what made me start playing Uranium by myself after hearing its release after 9 years, it sounded hell of interesting!

Oh, and the Tandor Pokedex got me after watching through it for the first time. So many inspired design, so many interesting type combinations.

That make me remember: You ask for a Devimp. Do You still have interest?

Did I? Where? Sorry that I forgot...
Hmm, maybe. Let's see what the offer looks like, because I got a nice IV one + an egg containing one during the WonderTrade Event.

[MonkeyLord83]

*sigh*
Well, I guess this thread served its purpose, even though there weren't a lot of additional stories told...

[PhantomUnderYourDesk]

There's the story Iron shared recently. He opened an own thread for it. Not much to say about this though, or rather... simply keeping quiet and whishing her all the best .

[xX_Qu1cksc0pr_Xx]

Im glad that such a small group of individuals can keep a game, and the community, from extinction.