In Pokémon Pokopia, what was the game's original creative inspiration for habitat building?

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire inspired Pokémon Pokopia's original idea of letting players create Pokémon habitats.

During development, Shigeru Ohmori reflected on his earliest work in the Pokémon series as a map designer on Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. He considered how appealing it would be for fans to create and cultivate their own Pokémon environments, and that thought became the foundation for Pokopia's spin-off concept.

This inspiration does not mean Pokopia is a remake or direct sequel to Ruby and Sapphire. The connection is developmental and creative: Ohmori drew on his experience designing maps and imagined a game focused on shaping habitats rather than progressing through a traditional gym-and-league journey.

That idea became a sandbox built around environmental restoration, crafting, and Pokémon community life. The Ruby and Sapphire link is therefore easy to miss, because the finished game is set in a post-apocalyptic version of Kanto and uses a very different style of play.