Pokemon X and Y Player Builds Automatic Shiny Finder

[roseofbattle]

Pokemon X and Y Player Builds Automatic Shiny Finder

<youtube=moBGHUfw-Ho>​

Perfect for multitasking, one Pokemon X and Y player built a hands-free shiny finder that notifies him when the game encounters a shiny Pokemon.

With a state machine and less than 300 lines of code, one Pokemon X and Y trainer, going by the online handle dekuNukem, has built a way to hunt shinies, Pokemon with rare coloration, while he is away from his 3DS.

Shiny Pokemon are very rare to simply happen upon by chance. Using a newly added mechanism that increases the rate of shiny Pokemon when successfully chain fishing in X and Y, dekuNukem decided manually fishing over and over was a bit tedious. "Why spend stressful hours trying to fish for just a single shiny when you can sit back and watch it do exactly that, at full speed, without fail, and alert you when it's done?"

With that question in mind, the shiny finder was born. He connected a micro controller to a 3DS to automatically fish and reel in Pokemon. The bottom screen of the 3DS has a different set amount of time of blackout around 11,383 milliseconds. The duration of blackout is slightly longer at 12,623 milliseconds when encountering a shiny Pokemon. A light sensor measures the blackout to determine whether the wild Pokemon is a shiny. If it's not, the microcontroller is programmed to press down, right, A to select the run away option, and then the process begins again. If the wild Pokemon is a shiny, a buzzer sounds to notify the user.

To do this, dekuNukem directly soldered wires onto the motherboard, making the 3DS believe someone is physically pushing a button. He recorded one case of the shiny finder in use. That case took 81 chains to find a shiny, but he said in other cases 50 chains were more likely, and as few as 20 chains occurred. Check out the build in action on YouTube. The source code is available on dropbox. [https://www.dropbox.com/s/rr4wmukjxougpo5/shiny_catcher.c]

Source: YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moBGHUfw-Ho]

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[Imperioratorex Caprae]

that just sounds like it breaks the spirit of playing the game. I really detest automated players...

 

[Story]

that just sounds like it breaks the spirit of playing the game. I really detest automated players...

I kinda feel this way too, then again I just spent 2 hours chain fishing the other day just to get my first shiny. It's very taxing. If I could come up with an easier way to do it, I would sure as hell use it.

Edit:
Also, I really liked the data he came up with. Interesting to learn that at 50 tries its more likely to show up.
My first shiny was on my 9th try and my second was on my 75th or so, I thought it varied wildly.

 

[Scarim Coral]

This is ingenious! I wonder if he going to make one for the grass/ cave encounter aswell?

 

[Falterfire]

that just sounds like it breaks the spirit of playing the game. I really detest automated players...

Yeah, screw that guy for using his intelligence, creativity, and real world skills to determine a way to more effectively complete a task. He should do things the way skilled gamers do them: By repeating a banal action over and over again until rewarded by the RNG. After all, that's how we rank the skill of players: Based on how many times they press a button before giving up.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

that just sounds like it breaks the spirit of playing the game. I really detest automated players...

Yeah, screw that guy for using his intelligence, creativity, and real world skills to determine a way to more effectively complete a task. He should do things the way skilled gamers do them: By repeating a banal action over and over again until rewarded by the RNG. After all, that's how we rank the skill of players: Based on how many times they press a button before giving up.

And giving him an advantage of using a 3rd party program/hardware peripheral that isn't available to everyone to get things that the rest of the gaming world who play the game actually have to put time and effort into. I didn't say anything about "skilled" gamers, just that it feels on par with folk who use extra programs to do work they can't be bothered to do. It would be akin to using a self-developed x-ray-ish tool to sift through Magic boosters to find foil rare cards or WoW TCG boosters to find loot cards. Takes away from the random aspect.

 

[PrimePowerOn]

that just sounds like it breaks the spirit of playing the game. I really detest automated players...

Yeah, screw that guy for using his intelligence, creativity, and real world skills to determine a way to more effectively complete a task. He should do things the way skilled gamers do them: By repeating a banal action over and over again until rewarded by the RNG. After all, that's how we rank the skill of players: Based on how many times they press a button before giving up.

Agree. And with the level of snark.

I wish I had an Arduino, and a breadboard. The code should be pretty simple. But I think I'd need a little EE brush up to do the wiring.

Every time I have to do a boring action in an RPG I think of a way to do this. Autoleveling with an autofire controller and strategic rubber bands was my go to, but on the handheld it is more difficult. I even bought a lego mindstorms kit to try and actually do the button pressing, but that didn't pan out. I'm not much of a mechanical designer.

Being able to program actual electrical logic, that should make this easy. He basically made AutoIt for his DS.

Cudos to that guy.

 

[Falterfire]

And giving him an advantage of using a 3rd party program/hardware peripheral that isn't available to everyone to get things that the rest of the gaming world who play the game actually have to put time and effort into.

Ah! I think you may be laboring under a misapprehension about what is being accomplished: Shiny Pokemon provide no benefit beyond looking pretty. All the shinies in the world gives him no advantage over any other player.

Which is part of the reason I have no problem with this: He cannot use this technique to gain an edge in battle against other players.

 

[2HF]

And giving him an advantage of using a 3rd party program/hardware peripheral that isn't available to everyone to get things that the rest of the gaming world who play the game actually have to put time and effort into.

Ah! I think you may be laboring under a misapprehension about what is being accomplished: Shiny Pokemon provide no benefit beyond looking pretty. All the shinies in the world gives him no advantage over any other player.

Which is part of the reason I have no problem with this: He cannot use this technique to gain an edge in battle against other players.

Playing devil's advocate, he could trade shinies for quality Pokemon to people would rather not do the work for shinies and are willing to pay a premium for them...

 

[NightHawk21]

that just sounds like it breaks the spirit of playing the game. I really detest automated players...

I kinda feel this way too, then again I just spent 2 hours chain fishing the other day just to get my first shiny. It's very taxing. If I could come up with an easier way to do it, I would sure as hell use it.

Edit:
Also, I really liked the data he came up with. Interesting to learn that at 50 tries its more likely to show up.
My first shiny was on my 9th try and my second was on my 75th or so, I thought it varied wildly.

I think this is the what most games ultimately come to. You get to a point where you can do anything in the game and its not particularly relevant to your progression (as its just a small goal you set for yourself). In that regard I don't think it breaks the spirit of pokemon cause you'd be doing the same thing anyways, the fun lies in doing it easier and better. You see this a lot in open world games where you're given a lot of freedom. I'm playing terraria now and half the fun at the end is setting up farms so you never have to venture far from home base.

 

[deathbydeath]

I know Pokemon's more popular than Jesus and shit but the fact that people want to find something else to entertain themselves while playing a game is quite a design flaw.

 

[Terminate421]

I know Pokemon's more popular than Jesus and shit but the fact that people want to find something else to entertain themselves while playing a game is quite a design flaw.

Logic: Using an RNG that can generate a really rare (REALLY) rare pokemon and someone did a non-legitimate method to getting it counts as a bad design flaw?

Gamefreak had no intention of anyone altering their game/3DS for this. How is that a bad design?

 

[SonOfMethuselah]

I've not touched my copy of Pokemon Y in a week or two, but the last thing I did was catch a couple of shinies. One was a shiny Volbeat, which was my very first. It took me roughly ten minutes of chaining to come across it. The second was a shiny Magikarp, because I wanted a red Gyarados. That one took me closer to fifteen. As far as I can tell, the new games have made it immeasurably easier to find shiny Pokemon, so I feel like this would have been more helpful in one of the older Pokemon games.

Now, that kid who finally found his shiny Ponyta? He sure as hell could have used something like this.

 

[deathbydeath]

Logic: Using an RNG that can generate a really rare (REALLY) rare pokemon and someone did a non-legitimate method to getting it counts as a bad design flaw?

Gamefreak had no intention of anyone altering their game/3DS for this. How is that a bad design?

The whole RNG bit doesn't bother me much, especially for cosmetic effects such as shiny Pokemon. Let me elucidate my point: If grinding in Pokemon was fun, then the "Automatic Shiny Finder" would not exist. My point isn't that devs should mitigate console hacks, my point is that a game is flawed if people need to do something else to entertain themselves while "playing" it. It doesn't matter if they're grinding for uber-rare accomplishments or strolling through the story, as the gameplay is the same either way.

 

[Ftaghn To You Too]

Logic: Using an RNG that can generate a really rare (REALLY) rare pokemon and someone did a non-legitimate method to getting it counts as a bad design flaw?

Gamefreak had no intention of anyone altering their game/3DS for this. How is that a bad design?

The whole RNG bit doesn't bother me much, especially for cosmetic effects such as shiny Pokemon. Let me elucidate my point: If grinding in Pokemon was fun, then the "Automatic Shiny Finder" would not exist. My point isn't that devs should mitigate console hacks, my point is that a game is flawed if people need to do something else to entertain themselves while "playing" it. It doesn't matter if they're grinding for uber-rare accomplishments or strolling through the story, as the gameplay is the same either way.

Are you interested in playing any game, even your favorite, for hours and hours and hours at once?

 

[The Apple BOOM]

that just sounds like it breaks the spirit of playing the game. I really detest automated players...

Yeah, screw that guy for using his intelligence, creativity, and real world skills to determine a way to more effectively complete a task. He should do things the way skilled gamers do them: By repeating a banal action over and over again until rewarded by the RNG. After all, that's how we rank the skill of players: Based on how many times they press a button before giving up.

And giving him an advantage of using a 3rd party program/hardware peripheral that isn't available to everyone to get things that the rest of the gaming world who play the game actually have to put time and effort into.

You do realize what game you are speaking of correct? What the "pro" players of the game you are speaking of do, correct?

Because that statement actually manages to subtract whatever number of legs you may of had to stand on, right down to 0, if not below it. I say that because:

1) Shiny Pokemon only have a different appearance. It's (in my personal opinion) a lazy way to fluff out an already bloated list of check off boxes. What little "spirit" there is exists solely in catching all the Pokemon, shiny or not. In no way does this really affect anyone or anything.

2) Pretty much all hardcore Pokemon players who actually compete in leagues use 3rd party devices. None of them bother with breeding, trait hunting, EV training, or any of that. Nintendo (and Game Freak) themselves have come out and said that as long as your Raichu doesn't know Surf and Flame Thrower and as 999 in every stat, it's perfectly fine as well. As long as the end result is possible naturally, they allow them to do it.


So yeah... two legs, gone. And here's a bonus one.

3) Yes, shame on him for being an "automated player" because he totally made an autonomous robot to play the game once he has found a shiny. Shame on him, shame! I mean, its not like there are millions of games out there that are truly autonomous, and that when you usually see that in a game it's provided by the game itself rather than through hard work on the players behalf. But shame!

Nintendo is actually starting to crack down on hacked pokemon, but to go along with that, they also made breeding 'perfect' one a realistic proposition instead of insane luck. They gave us easy ways to find perfect IV pokemon, friend safari, and gave us the tools to pass them down, destiny knot.

 

[MrMixelPixel]

I can't say I blame anyone who does this.

I love Pokemon to death, but I hate everything about grinding in it. Call it cheating if you want, but I prefer to just make the Pokemon, transfer them to my DS and battle with friends. I don't have the patience for breeding the right natures, grinding for the right iv's and ev's. Heaven forbid I go looking for a shiny Pokemon.

Looking forward to when I can do that for X and Y. Come on hackers, make it happen.

 

[deathbydeath]

Are you interested in playing any game, even your favorite, for hours and hours and hours at once?

Depends on the game. Maybe not hoursX3, X2 sounds more like me, but if we're accounting for small breaks here and there for the necessities like eating, pooping, and fighting off ninjas, then yes I've done it before. Neither often nor recently but I have moments of my life that were dense with gaming.

Besides, Pokemon lends itself well to (gasp) casual play, aside from the occasional long-ass battle. I don't understand what uberdense okaying has anything to do with using one's time more efficiently.