[Release] Pokemon: Chromatic Version [4-Gym Demo]

[RMXP]Pokemon: Chromatic Version
Hey everyone, this project is kind of an amalgam of a BUNCH of different ideas I've had for a long time. As some of you may know, I've been around here for a while, working on one project or another. Maybe this can be considered my swan song for a fangame – after completing Chromatic version, I don't know what I'll do, but I feel that I need to come back down to my roots here and develop a single full game in RPG Maker XP. You guys and this forum are the reason I got into game development in the first place almost more than 10 years ago, and it only seems like a fitting thank you to try and build something that everyone here will be able to enjoy. That in mind, a lot of this project focuses on a return to something more.. primordial, I guess, while expanding into the new.


Story
In the year 1996, two ten year old children from Pallet Town met with their mentor, Professor Samuel Oak, who put forth arguably the steepest request possible of kids their age – to journey across the Kanto region, and catalog every Pokemon native to their homeland. Along the way, these children challenged the Gym Leaders of Kanto, and ascended to the top of Indigo Plateau to challenge the Pokemon League, the most prestigious honor a Pokemon Trainer can attempt for.


This story should sound familiar to everyone. After all, it is the plot to the iconic Game Boy games that started it all.


Features
- Explore Kanto as you once knew and imagined it with retro Gold/Silver/Crystal-inspired graphics, coupled with additional polish and stylistic amendments
- Challenge additional gyms, covering every type of Pokemon known in the days of Pokemon Red/Blue/Green, and battle the gyms in whichever order you please.
- Journey to new locations, such as Pearl Coast, Chartreuse Academy, Slate Town, and Crimson Springs
- Master a revised Battle System and rediscover the secrets of evolution
- Capture and Raise Pokemon never before seen in Kanto (Current expected total is 189 species with a total of 17 Mega Evolutions)
- Thwart the evil schemes of Team Rocket
- Become a Pokemon Master with 3 possible endings(Or more, depending on interest)
- Play through vignettes as certain iconic characters, including Professor Oak and Giovanni


So what's different about this battle system?
- No Effort Values / Individual Values – Since there is no multiplayer gameplay, I decided that hidden stat factors aren't a welcome addition to gameplay.
- Rebalanced Stats – Certain Pokemon have stats or movepools that I'm not 100% keen on. I'll be making touchups to reflect this.
- Gated Evolution – Different Pokemon have certain requirements to evolve. Most will require a certain level of Expertise to evolve. Some Pokemon will also require a Gym Badge corresponding to their type to evolve.
- Trainer Expertise – Trainer Expertise is a system of collectible 'buffs' and unlockables that you'll acquire through gameplay, for instance by earning a badge. A certain amount of Trainer Expertise is required to evolve most Pokemon, will help Pokemon to level up faster, and enables the use of Hms outside of battle(since badges can be obtained in any order), as well as determining the minimum level of wild Pokemon you encounter and the level at which Pokemon eggs hatch.
Examples of Expertise:

- Chromatic Mega Evolutions – I intend to implement some new Mega Evolutions based on Pokemon I feel could use a breath of fresh life, in addition to the ~17(Don't quote me on that just yet) official Mega Evolutions from my Kanto+ Pokedex.
Planned Megas:


Release Plans
Once the listed portions of the game are complete, that iteration of the game will be released. Keep in mind that I'm also not necessarily working on the factors for the next release and could be working on stuff for a future build.
The First Gyms(v0.1) - Crimson Springs, Pewter City, Chartreuse Academy, Viridian Forest, Pallet Town, and connecting routes. (5 towns, 3 gyms, 1 dungeon, 4 routes)
Anniversary Release(v0.2) - Mt. Moon, Diglett's Cave, St. Anne(?), Celadon City, Cerulean City, Vermillion City (~6 towns, 4 gyms, 2 dungeons, 11 routes)

Current Progress
Mapping Progress
Towns [5/16]

Spoiler:

Palette Town
Viridian City
Crimson Springs
Pewter City
Chartreuse Academy

Routes [10/26]

Spoiler:

Route 1
Route 2
Route 3
Route 4
Route 6
Route 7
Route 11
Route 16
Route 22
Route 26

Dungeons [2/13]


Systems Progress
Battle System [Incomplete]
Gated Evolution System [Partially Complete]
Expertise System [Incomplete, Blocked]
Wild Pokemon System [Partially Complete, Blocked]
(Needs more development on Expertise System)

Gyms [3/15]
Complete:

Incomplete:


Vignettes Progress [0/4]

Spoiler:

Professor Oak
Giovanni
???
Red's Father
(Stretch Goal)Johto Vignette

Screenshots



Credits


Stretch Goals
These are features I'll consider implementing pretty much if and when I feel like it.
- Key Stone Bonuses - If I get to this stretch goal, I'll implement multiple Key Stones with varying bonuses(Examples: The Mega Glasses would guarantee a Critical Hit the turn a Pokemon Mega Evolves, the Mega Anklet would increase a Pokemon's speed sharply, and the Mega Bracer would make a Pokemon immune to damage on the turn it Mega Evolves.)
- Baby Pokemon Mechanic - To include a motivation factor to use Baby Pokemon rather than their 'adult' counterparts, I'm considering the introduction of some additional mechanics, either in the form of abilities or attacks which are unusable by adult Pokemon. Whether or not this comes to pass is unknown.
- Johto Vignette – This is lower on my list than Mega Evolutions, but I may include a vignette in the Johto region.


Things that will NOT Appear
- Pokemon not native to Kanto – This is a remake of Pokemon Red and Blue, not a "catch all 720" adventure in Kanto. While certain Pokemon will be available to capture or evolve that weren't within the original 151, they will very much be Kanto-native, such as Tangrowth or Glaceon.
- Fanmade Pokemon(excluding the possible stretch goal mega evolutions) – 200ish is plenty of Pokemon, to be honest, and this isn't the time or place to implement Fakemon.
- Two or more full regions of gameplay – While I've expanded the badge count to include an expert in each type of Pokemon, almost the entirety of the hero's adventure will be in Kanto(barring the potential Johto Vignette). Simply put, it's not the story I want to tell.
- Sevii Islands – The Sevii Islands were an interesting feature in Pokemon Firered and Leafgreen, but I don't feel that they're relevant for this project.

FAQ

Good Idea! I'm looking forward to see what comes out of this.

BjFinest34 said:

Good Idea! I'm looking forward to see what comes out of this.

Click to expand...

Thank you! Normally it's not my style to talk about a project without screenshots, but I figured that I'd go ahead and post it while I'm working out some of the more technical issues that I'm having on the graphics side of things.


EDIT: Added some very preliminary screenshots so you guys could get a quick glimpse into what it's looking like at present.

Hey everyone, I've been working and moving forward with the project, and decided to include a little tease of a new location - a fairy ring. In Western Europe, a lot of mythology connects these circles of mushrooms to the Fey(or Fae, or whichever spelling you prefer). In Chromatic, the fairy ring may have some association with specific Pokemon, and it could also be a good spot to find another rare Pokemon..

Otherwise, maybe it just fills you with an eerie sense of wonder?

Hey everyone, time for another update! I've completed all the indoor and outdoor mapping for one of the two new locations in the upcoming release(which isn't to far off!), and figured I should post some screenshots of Crimson Springs!

Who is Sabre, and what will his gym look like? Only time will tell!

Good, I have high expectations for this game. I love retro graphics!
As for the poll, I voted for the bug one because I think that the dragon one should be in the late game, mainly because of the fact that dragon types evolve at high levels and, as for the rock one, well, I've never liked the rock type especially if I chose a fire starter and nearly all Pokémons on the first routes are normal/flying. :p

Good work!

Mellan said:

Good, I have high expectations for this game. I love retro graphics!
As for the poll, I voted for the bug one because I think that the dragon one should be in the late game, mainly because of the fact that dragon types evolve at high levels and, as for the rock one, well, I've never liked the rock type especially if I chose a fire starter and nearly all Pokémons on the first routes are normal/flying. :p

Good work!

Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for the feedback! Obviously I love retro graphics as well, since Gold/Silver/Crystal were my first forays into Pokemon. The poll isn't to determine gym order, since one of my biggest goals is to allow the players to challenge any gym in any order, but rest assured that Sabre's team has been adjusted with the notion of how tricky it will be to balance Dragon types(especially with the 6th generation type chart in effect!), so you can challenge the Crimson Springs gym first if you so desire. In fact, each Gym Leader, assuming I can do some decent writing to do it justice, will have a special speech for you if your first gym badge is earned from them.

Hey everyone!
Sorry there hasn't been much to report. I've been working on aspects of the game which frankly don't require many screenshots(You all know what battles look like), and stuff that I'd rather not offer screenshots for fear of ruining some of the surprise of the game.

That said, here's a quick glimpse of a town which won't be present in the upcoming playable build(or for that matter, maybe for a couple), the perpetually rainy Slate Town.

Hey everyone, I know I try to post a couple screenshots a week or so, but I hope you'll forgive me this time. I was somewhat busy with classes, so all I got was a playable demo! :P The demo includes the Crimson Springs, Chartreuse Academy, and Pewter City gyms, as well as Viridian Forest. There are a few bugs currently(for instance, an issue with the first Rival encounter) and graphical oddities, but nothing which breaks or crashes the game, to my knowledge.

I do have to apologize in advance for the filesize of the download; it seems that there was an issue with RPG Maker XP's normal method of creating a finished game, so I opted to upload it uncompressed instead. If you're experiencing any game breaking bugs, please feel free to let me know here or via PM!

Also, I've put up a Facebook page! Please swing by and give me a like if you'd like the most up-to-date info on Chromatic!

Hey everyone, I hope everyone had a good holiday season! or at least better than mine

Sorry there hasn't been much to report; I've been hard at work implementing the new locations and features for version 0.2, including the gated evolution system, and so far 6 additional routes(with 3 to go until 0.2 is ready, I think). To tide you over for the time being, here's a screenshot of an iconic moment from the anime I had to include, if only as a casual nod:

Also, for those of you who haven't checked out the Facebook Page, I've been kind of doing "stream of consciousness" posting there whenever I do something I decide to show immediately, so give it a like if you'd like to stay up to date!

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the franchise, I made an early release, despite not quite completing the Classic Kanto sampler - this release includes gameplay up to and including Cerulean Gym. I did have to rush a couple of small things, but please let me know if you find bugs so that I can address them in future updates!

Get it here.