Pokémon: Crossroads

Engine: Unity3D
Genre: 2D Adventure/Platformer, "MetroidVania," Sandbox
Platform: PC, Mac
Status: Production Stage, scripting the navigation/learning the new engine.


Hello everybody (All four of you!), my name is Ryan but I occasionally go by Cello and several other variations of it on the internet. I know what you're thinking, and no, i'm not really a wooden instrument. Sorry for leading you on.

Pokemon Crossroads was originally a hack of Pokemon Fire Red about two years ago until production stopped when I enrolled in college, majoring in Game Art and Design. Now that i'm nearing graduation, I decided to revive the hobby project, this time using the Unity3D engine to prevent any limitations to what I both originally intended and now plan Project Crossroads to be.

For those of you wondering what Crossroads is:
Pokemon Crossroads is a re-imagining of the Pokemon games, tweaking both the game play and it's genre around. Instead of pitting you in the shoes of a character set on a linear story, you play as one of the many trainers roaming the region freely to do what you want, when you want.
This version of Crossroads differs from the original hack as game play is far different. Instead of being a regular take-turn RPG, it is now a 2D Side Scroller/Platformer/or more commonly called "Metroidvania" as a mix between "Metroid" and "Castlevania."

So, that's it for the introduction, now it's time to get into the information.​

» ( 4 / 1 ) New concept added: Pokemon Information/Stats. Typed information was added in the concept section. «
» ( 3 / 18 ) Switching from Torque2D to Unity3D. Learning Javascript / reprogramming navigation. «
» ( 3 / 14 ) Navigation programming begins. «
» ( 3 / 14 ) Finished all character base animations, which can be viewed in one of my posts below. «
» ( 3 / 12 ) Crossroads moves out of the Concept phase and into Production! «
» ( 3 / 12 ) Four new concept sheets are up with written information in the section below. «
» ( 3 / 11 ) New thread layout up. New information up. Male/Female character art up. «​

In Crossroads, you play the role of a young go-getter looking for adventure. You start by moving out and settling in to your very own house in the Kanto region in high hopes that this may be the adventure you're looking for. To your surprise, upon checking the mail you find it certainly is the adventure you searched high and low for, as your are given the wonderful opportunity to go out on your very own Pokemon Journey by the great Professor Oak.

In Crossroads, you are not limited by one path to follow. Once you are given your very first Pokemon, you're able to set off on your very own Pokemon Journey to do whatever it is you want. While Crossroads does have a few missions/quests here and there, everything is completely option, so a linear story wont hold you down!​

Planned Features:
This is a nerdy bulletin list featuring the features I plan to include so far:

• 2D Adventure/Platformer gameplay. It's no 3D pokemon game, but it's different.
• Sandbox-ey. Start a new game and go wild. Take on any gym you want, whenever you want, or go wherever you want so long as you can get there. A linear story wont hold you down in this game.
• A more detailed Kanto region. This game takes mainly from the Kanto region within the pokemon games, but also mixes in some of the Anime aspects as well as extra stuff to help make the areas much more interesting and explore-able.
• Real-time battle. Nobody takes turns anymore. It's more strategic!
• All Kanto gyms plus extra! Extra gyms seen within the anime are planned to be in the game, though they may come in later patches.
• Stadium Tournaments Such as stadium tournaments in Pokemon Stadium
• Legendary/Powerful Pokemon Legendary pokemon are played out as epic boss battles, as well as the occasional powerful pokemon appearing in routes that are much more powerful than your average wild pokemon.
• Strategic Gym Battles Complete complicated and entertaining puzzles to get to the gym leader, which you'll then be challenged to an intense battle for a badge in a strategic arena.
• Original 151 Pokemon. What's Kanto without the original 151?
• Collectibles. Just kinda... scraping the bottom of the barrel on this one.

Possible Future Features:
If this game ever sees the light of day and gets a finished version, I plan to keep updating it with some other features, such as:

• Other regions.
• Other region's respective Pokemon.
• Morning/Day/Night with shifting trainers/pokemon.
• Seasons
• Trainer customization to a certain extent.
• Custom regions. But no custom Pokemon, because i'm not OK with that.
• Frequent event updates.
• More to come, because I seem to come up with way too many ideas always.

Click to the thumbnails to view a larger image!​

CONTROLS:​

Pokemon:
Left Mouse Click: Target a Pokemon.
W: Look Up, Climb Up (Ladders n stuff), Entering Background areas (Doors and the like).
A: Move Left.
S: Look down, enter foreground areas.
D: Move Right.
Space: Jump... if there's any reason to jump. I've yet to decide.
E: Interact with NPCs.
Esc: Game options, lose target.
Enter: Dat menu. This is also undecided. I may go about the menu another way.
1 (Human): Sends out the first Pokemon in your party.
2 (Human): Sends out the second Pokemon in your party.
3 (Human): Same but 3rd.
4 (Human): Same but 4th.
5 (Human): Same but 5th.
6 (Human): Same but 6th.
Tab: Switch between human and Pokemon. Also switches the control scheme.


Pokemon:
Left Mouse Click: Target a Pokemon.
W: Look/Aim Up, when in battle it aims your attacks at an angle.
A: Move Left.
S: Duck down/Defend. Can be used to avoid attacks in some situations.
S (Double Tap): Jump back. Range differs based on Pokemon weight, as the engine features a physics system.
D: Move Right.
Space: Jump, for aerial attacks.
E: Basic attack. Every Pokemon gets a basic attack with unlimited use, such as Tackle or Scratch depending on the Pokemon. Though not very powerful, they can also be used to bust combos.
Esc: Game options, lose target.
Enter: Dat menu. Undecided.
1 (Pokemon): Uses first move. Some moves have cool down effects.
2 (Pokemon): Uses second move.
3 (Pokemon): Uses third move.
4 (Pokemon): Uses fourth move.
5 (Pokemon): Not usable.
6 (Pokemon): Not usable.
Tab: Switch between human and Pokemon. Also switches the control scheme.


And yes, whatever you're not controlling follows you. That means whatever Pokemon you have out follows you.
If you press the key that Pokemon is set to, it sends them back to where no Pokemon is following you.

POKEMON STATS AND ATTRIBUTES:​

Crossroads differs from regular Pokemon games in that the Pokemon don't level up in this game, rather they have "rotating stats." This system is used to give the trainer complete and total control over how their Pokemon as raised, as well as allows your Pokemon to be constantly used without having a limit (Or level cap), and enables lower form Pokemon to stand a chance against higher evolution Pokemon. Ever saw a Pokemon with high special attack who got a really good physical attack move and wondered "Why the heck does it learn that if it can't effectively use it?" Well, now you can build your Pokemon so it can use it! Rotating stats don't last forever, as they gradually reset to the Pokemon's base stats, but if you keep battling with that Pokemon you can maintain it's stats! Here are more details on the information Pokemon will have (view alongside of the concept above to get a better feeling of the idea):

Status:
Every Pokemon has a status tab, letting the trainer know about their mood, gender, nature, original trainer and other related information. Some of this wont be expanded upon until later, but that's basically all the information this tab will hold.


Attributes/Stats:
This is the section of your Pokemon's information that the Rotating Stats takes place in. Your Pokemon's Stats will be split into HP, Attack, Special Attack, Defense, Special Defense, and Speed onto a Radar Chart. Every Pokemon's stat can have a max of 25 points in each stat, or around 25 depending on what evolution stage it is, or what it's better at (such as better at attack than special attack).
Obviously a Magicarp is not going to be able to get the same amount of Defense as a Steelix, so their Max stat level in Defense will be significantly different for both.
A Pokemon will have a base value in each of these Stats relevant to what they're better at. You'll find that the more your Pokemon battles, it begins to gain points you can freely allocate into any one of these stats, allowing you to completely build your Pokemon your own way. You can even choose to max out all of it's stats if you use that Pokemon enough to get it there.
With all that being said, this is where the word "Rotating" comes in to "Rotating Stats." Your Pokemon's stats slowly revert back to their default value overtime, so any changes you make in the Attribute chart is not permanent.
This is meant to make sure your Pokemon is not held down by a level cap, so you can continue to train and use your Pokemon for as long as you'd like without feeling like there's nothing more to be done with them. It also helps to give first forms more of a fighting chance, and you the opportunity to raise a Pokemon your own way.

Example:



Skills/Moves:
In addition to the points your Pokemon gains for raising Stats, it also gains "PP" which can be used to unlock Moves on your Pokemon's move list.
Your Pokemon starts out with a list of all the moves it can learn, kinda like a skill tree, only you can save up these PP points to unlock any move on the list at any time. Once you've unlocked a move on the list, it's yours forever. Since your Pokemon can only have 4 moves equipped at a time, you have to go through the list and choose what moves to set to the 1, 2, 3, and 4 button for battle.

Not everything on the Skill list is a move, though. Some of the skills that can be unlocked are passive, such as raising the max value of one of your stats, or powering up a certain move.


Evolution:
Since Crossroads is lacking levels, it's kinda hard to anticipate when a Pokemon is going to evolve. You do have a chart that indicates when you're Pokemon is near evolving, represented by a silhouette of it's next form. If the silhouette is black, it's not near evolution. If the silhouette is a shade of Yellow, that means it's nearing evolution. If the silhouette is Green, that means it's ready to evolve at your discretion.
As usual, evolution depends on how happy your Pokemon is and how much battle experience it has.

If your Pokemon is ready to evolve, you have the complete freedom to do so or just keep using it in it's current form.

BATTLING:​

Battling with Wild Pokemon:
Wild Pokemon roam within tall grass (SURPRISE!). The only difference is, since this is a 2D Sidescroller, there will be patches of tall grass around the map that Wild Pokemon randomly spawn out of and roam the map. Each map has a capacity, though, so it's not like it's infinite.

All pokemon are different, even same types. One Rattata may pay no attention to you and let you pass by, while another Rattata may be aggressive and try to entice you into a battle.

When a Pokemon is aggressive, it will target you and move into a battle stance, waiting for you to send out a pokemon. You can either click it to target it and send out a pokemon, click to target and use tab to switch into the pokemon following you in order to begin battling, or simply run away from the pokemon until they stop pursuing you. Only one pokemon can target you at a time, in order to avoid being ganged up on, and once you get out of battle there will be a certain period where you can't be targeted in order to ensure you aren't being constantly pursued.

In addition to battle, you may also catch Pokemon. This follows the same tradition other pokemon games follow. Lower a pokemons health or inflict a status effect, navigate to your bag, and choose a ball to toss at it.
You can also use items from your bag.

You can switch pokemon on the fly, by tabbing into your trainer and using the hotkey, but there's a certain cooldown to switching in order to prevent any kind of abuse to the system.


Battling with NPCs:
Follows the same battling convention, only it's a battle that's activated by interacting with trainers. These are different from main game trainer battles as they're optional battles. You will see a variety of trainers roaming the fields, all who will gladly battle.

You can also re-battle trainers you previously battled after a small period of time. You'll notice trainer's Pokemon grow as well if you choose to re-battle them.

OBSTACLES:​

Route Exploration:
Routes aren't just straightforward in Crossroads. Using both your navigation controls and HMs obtained you can make your way through routes and uncover side Routes littered with secrets and things that will be beneficial in your journey.

Jump (space): Use to make your way over gaps. Don't worry, your character is smart enough to use his hands and grab on ledges if you don't quite make it. You may get shoes that even help you leap further later in the game.
Up and Down (W and S): Use this to navigate further in the map. You can climb up things or even enter doors/cave entrances/climb up stairs with it.
Cut (HM01): Using cut, you can clear pathways or even uncover opening by getting rid of any shrubbery.
Fly (HM02): Works just like Fly in the previous games. You can use make your way to destinations much faster than by foot or bike.
Surf (HM03): Mount a poke with this HM in order to cross bodies of water.
Strength (HM04): Use the strength of the Pokemon using this HM in order to push heavy objects out of the way to either clear or create a path.
Flash (HM05): Flash enables you to light up dark places.

GYMS:​

Gym Battles:
Holy crap man, Gyms are going to be so cool in this game. Think of a Zelda dungeon and then apply it to a Gym. SO COOL.

But no, Gyms are going to be very in-depth in Crossroads so that they are more complex and interesting. Once you make your way to the Gym Leader, the real battle starts, as you take on an incredibly strong trainer in an intense dual on a destructible and tactical arena map.

TRAINERS:​

Trainers:
Trainers are full of life in this game, as they set out on their very own Pokemon Journey along side of you. Different trainers spawn in the Routes periodically. As you progress you'll also find that the trainers you find on the Routes level up and manage a team of their very own. Exploring their Trainer card you can also find out how many Gym badges they have.


Stadiums:
Whatever happened to Pokemon Stadium? Oh well, in Crossroads we have Stadiums and Tournaments were you face off against all of the trainers you find training out on the Routes, as well as a few Tournament-only trainers.
If you manage to win, you may find yourself rolling in massive prizes!

LEGENDARY POKEMON:​

Legendary Pokemon:
Legendary Pokemon are probably the toughest things you'll find in Crossroads. Looming deep within the barren parts of the region lie some of the rarest Pokemon you'll ever see. When challenging these Pokemon you will want to be prepared, as they are in their prime when fighting in their natural environments.


Rare Pokemon:
Although they are not as tough as legendary pokemon, these rare pokemon will occasionally make an appearance on routes to challenge you. They are much tougher and harder to find than other pokemon on the route.​

Please let me know what you think, and don't hesitate to give feedback/suggestions.
Be reasonable with any suggestions though, as I want to finish a very basic version before adding any major features/extra stuff. If you're wondering what a bad suggestion might be, it would be something like "Make this an MMO!"

Also, i'm not looking for any help, as the graphic style i'm planning on using is easy, and i'm incredibly experience in the game engine being used.

I'll be updating frequently when i'm not busy with college.
Thanks for reading!​