Pokemon Adventure

[Rossay]

PROJECT STATUS:
[26/5/2011] Glitchy demo V3.0.2 released!

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Features
3. Plot
4. Screen Shots
5. Demo
6. Team
7. Conclusion
8. Survery
9. Credits

Introduction

Pokemon Adventure is a project I have been working on for approximately 3 months now. It is a change from the standard Pokemon game format, incorporating both traditional RPG elements with Platform gaming.

It is coded in Game Maker 8 using only scripts and GML code. All the code was written by myself.

Features

Stages
Routes / Caves (and other suchlike areas) make up the basic "levels" or "stages" of the game. You can access them from the Map Room.

Party Pokemon
You can have up to 3 Pokemon in your party at a time. Pokemon can be stored your PC also.

Wild Pokemon
Wild Pokemon appear in stages. They drop money & experience when defeated and respawn after a set time.

Training
When you defeat a Pokemon it will drop EXP Orbs which can be collected to level-up. Blue orbs give 10 exp, purple orbs give 50 and pink orbs give 250.

Stats
The game mechanics factor stats into damage calculations. Each Pokemon has 6 stats: Hp, Att, Def, Spa, Spd, Spe.

Attacks
Each pokemon has around 4-5 attacks which are learned by leveling up. These are usually obtained at 5-level intervals. Though, in the BETA versions of the game, not many attacks are programmed yet.

Gym Battles
Gym battles are like boss battles. There is 1 Gym in the current version and there will be 3 Gyms in the upcomming version. These are like normal levels but with a boss battle against the Leader at the end.

Trainer Battles
There aren't many "1v1" trainer battles. Only special stages against Team Rocket, Gym Leaders & the Elite 4 etc which include Boss battles.

PP
Power Points are required to use attacks. They will regenerate with time. Different Pokemon have faster rates of regeneration.

Catching Pokemon
You cannot simply catch Pokemon as you would do normally. Instead, there are rare & usually hidden green-coloured chests which contain Pokemon Eggs. You can take eggs to a Pokemon Breeder in certain towns to unlock new Pokemon. Sometimes the Breeder will ask for money or items in exchange for unlocking the egg.

Plot

The game takes place in the new region of Indurain, shown below:

The Gym Leaders are currently being redesigned; the types are chosen but that is all. I am looking for a good pixel artist to help in doing so -- feel free to get in touch if you think you could help.

You take on the role of either Wendy or Matt.

Your adventure begins in the village of Ochre on the Eastern seaboard of Indurain. It is your 16th birthday and you are now ready to set out on a journey to become a Pokemon Master.

Professor Lily

Your sister, Lily, is the regional Professor for Indurain and an expert in Pokemon history & mythos. She arrives with a present to celebrate your birthday: your first Pokemon. She will allow you to choose between Pansear, Pansage and Panpour. You bid farewell to your Aunt. Rose's house, who has raised you as her own in the absence of your parents, and head off to Flax to face your first gym challenge.

Over the course of your adventure you will encounter various events such as being sent to collect Combee honey from Gent Forest because the local populace are addicted to it; venturing through Route 3 during the local Nidoran breeding season; exploring the Ancient Castle near Sienna Town which is rumored to be haunted; sailing across the ocean to the West of the central Indurain land mass to reach Azure City or venturing into the sacred Flower Palace of Cerise City.

As is the standard with pokemon games, you'll encounter villains along the way. Team Rocket, having been defeated and disbanded for a second time in the Johto region by Lyra/Ethan, have fled to Indurain to re-establish themselves. Under the new leadership of The Phantom, Team Rocket will be wrecking havock throughout the game and it will be your job to foil their plans.

After 8 badges have been obtained, you can, in the usual way, fight the Elite 4. The Elite 4 of Indurain consist of 3 new characters and 1 familiar face: Roxie (Steel), Dahlia (Mixture), Gaspard (Poison) and Arkan (Ice).

Once you have defeated the E4 for the first time, many new areas & a new region will become available (including several new gyms and more Pokemon) as well as deeper levels in dungeons already unlocked -- such as Glacier Cave and Dark Castle.

Those trainers deemed strong enough & who are regional Champions will be invited to participate in the Southern Seas Conference to decide a World Champion.

Screen Shots

Here are a collection of screen shots from the current version. Let's be honest, it's what you're probably most interested in seeing!

Spoiler:

Demo

Current version : 3.0.2
Changes screen resolution? : No, but runs in full-screen
Vista Compatible? : Yes
Game Size : ~7Mb
Download link : http://www.box.net/shared/ynyz3jjtlp
[26/5/2010]
YoYoGames Instant Play link (requires plug-in) :

Version Info:

Spoiler:

Thanks to major help from the wonderful Dewitty, the graphics are getting an overhaul! This version is rather glitchy & incomplete, however, due to the long period of delays I have decided to release it in its current form for people to play & enjoy.

I am aware there are A LOT of glitches in this version & you have access to all maps at the start of the game because it's in testing-mode.

Glitches:
-- Saving can be quite glitchy at the moment.
-- Nincada's special attack causes an error (just click ignore to get rid of it).

Currently Working On:

A side project: Pokemon Engine GM (Game Maker) [See my Deviant Art for more information on all my projects]

Team

If you are interested in being a part of this project, please feel free to get in-touch.

Spriters
Looking for a spriter who can design trainers, gym leaders and other significant characters. Must be able to draw VS FACES (can be edited or wholly custom).

Play Testers
Play testers are always welcome as it becomes a bit repetitive for myself to replay it over and over hundreds of times. No experience needed, just enthusiasm!

Current Team
Rossay (Project Creator)
The Dewitty (Graphics, Music, etc)
PokemasterX (Playtester)

Conclusion

Firstly, thankyou for reading this. If you have any thoughts on the game, ways you think I could improve it then feel free to drop a PM or leave a comment. Constructive criticism is always welcome, I might not always take it on board though.

Polls & Survery

Open Polls:


Closed Polls:

Poll #1 - Winner = Shroomish - Which Pokemon would you next like to see as playable?


If possible, please take the time to complete this short survey:

1. Did you find any glitches?
2. What did you enjoy / dislike about the game?
3. Do you have any other suggestions for improving the game?

Credits

Spoiler:

Pokemon Sprites (platform mode) -- Joshr691 (TSR)
Pixel Art -- Me
Graphics (various tiles etc) -- Dewitty
Coding -- Me
Everything else -- Me (probably)

[NikNaks]

Hm. You seem to have used my hi-res HGSS maps as a basis for your own region map. It'd have been nice for you to ask. ' However, saying that, I'm not sure it really fits in with the rest of the art in-game. It seems really faded in comparison to your overworld, for instance.

Now, the game idea itself is novel, and I think could work brilliantly. I can't really fault the quality of the art in the platformer, either. It might seem a bit picky, but I think the title screen actually lets you down on that front. Everything else looks slick.

I have a few questions. Bear with me if they're mentioned in the text, but the layout threw me off a bit.

- What does the GUTS meter do? Is it related to attacking in some way?
- If the levelling up is done in Pokémon routes, how do normal trainer/gym battles take place? Would you gain experience from them?
- Further to that, will you still have trainer battles in routes? If so, same question about experience as above.

I've had a quick play-through and I really liked it. Still, there's inconsisitencies using Pokemon, Pokémon and pokemon in the opening spiel. And I got an error relating to "marilllife" every time I hit spikes in the cave section of the route.

Anyway, this looks extremely promising. Excellent work!

[Rossay]

Hmmms. I did some googling and see that the map I used as a basis must have been the one from your sprite shop. I pulled most of my resources from google images so I apologise and will credit you for the tiles. I see your point about the colour contrast. I'll try tweaking that and see what I can come up with.

Thanks. The platforming art, well, the pokemon are borrowed as I said, but all the tilesets etc have taken hours to compose from scratch.

Your questions are perfectly valid and I see I haven't covered them in my topic so I'll edit it to fix that.

But 1) Guts acts like PP. The concept comes from the original Monster Rancher game for the PSX. Guts ranged from 0-100 and each attack required a certain amount of guts to use. When you are not attacking, guts will regenerate naturally. Certain pokemon have faster guts regeneration rates.

2) I have done 2 gyms which will be released in the next version. They are like routes but done in a style similar to being Bowser's Castle in Mario persay, it's difficult to explain but you'll see when I release the next version. With regards to trainer battles, I'm not entirely sure what to do. For events such as encountering the generic Team, you'll face a route-like level with appropriate enemies along the way. I think there won't be individual trainer battles but possibly linked battles, i.e. small routes where you battle a few trainers in a row? Yet again, difficult to explain conceptually.

3) When you defeat a pokemon, it will drop an amount of blue orbs which give you experience. Gym leaders, trainers' pokemon etc will all give experience as wild pokemon do.

4) I am aware of the spikes issue. Thanks for pointing that one out. I have corrected it. It's just a small issue during my transition from using 1 single pokemon to having 3 pokemon.

Thanks for the comments and feedback, it's greatly appreciated.

[Crazyninjaguy]

This looks great, a different take on the Pokemon Style of game, kind of action mystery dungeon.

Now downloading the demo!
Gratz on the shiny screenshots, you seem to know what you're doing :3

[The 100 Mega Shock]

Well I'll be. A Pokémon fangame in a genre other than straight up RPG or Rougelike. If I wasn't already deeply involved with graphics for my own project I'd be happy to assist with spritework just because of the game's concept.

[butterbiscuit]

Seems very interesting.
I think I'll download the demo in a little while here. =)

[Rossay]

Wow, thanks for the support everyone! :D It's greatly appreciated. I'm working hard to redesign the central character but trainer sprites are my weakness, I'm so awful at them. The ones in the topic took so long for me to do lol. I'm hopefully going to be able to introduce a much fuller demo (with less glitches!) very soon.

[Rossay]

Update [27/12/2010]

Version 2.0.2 released. See main post for details!

[bendude]

well game maker eight not that hard to use i think a simple text based rpg has more work input into it.

[me2hack]

@above. Oh, I don't know about that, sure GameMaker is simple, but not when you're creating a game with scripts and paths.

[DarkDoom3000]

wow, this looks really awesome! Ive downloaded it, Ill play it when I have some time.

the title marill on the top of the post looks kinda meh. but the rest of the graphics great.

good luck!

[DForte]

i like the concept of this game. makes me feel like im playing mario (not sure if thats what you were going for). while playing the downloaded version, there is only 1 thing i did not like and 2 problems (possible glitches).

1. i didnt like how the girl was walking around so slow, thats just a personal thing, i dont like moving around slowly
2. when i was using marill, i noticed that the pause menu never came up when i pressed V
3. not long after i got out of the cave, the game crashed, not sure why tho

again, great concept and i hope this turns into a great game

edit: the game crashes at the box after the escape rope box

[Rossay]

Originally Posted by bendude

well game maker eight not that hard to use i think a simple text based rpg has more work input into it.

I sincerely hope you were being sarcastic lol. Game Maker is equally as difficult, if not more difficult, than RMXP to use because you have to do everything yourself. And besides, everything is scripted properly, none of the dragndrop crap.

Originally Posted by DarkDoom3000

wow, this looks really awesome! Ive downloaded it, Ill play it when I have some time.

the title marill on the top of the post looks kinda meh. but the rest of the graphics great.

good luck!

Thanks! I realise the top marill isn't my best pixel art lol. I will eventually redraw it, considering it is the game's mascot lol.

Originally Posted by DForte

i like the concept of this game. makes me feel like im playing mario (not sure if thats what you were going for). while playing the downloaded version, there is only 1 thing i did not like and 2 problems (possible glitches).

1. i didnt like how the girl was walking around so slow, thats just a personal thing, i dont like moving around slowly
2. when i was using marill, i noticed that the pause menu never came up when i pressed V
3. not long after i got out of the cave, the game crashed, not sure why tho

again, great concept and i hope this turns into a great game

edit: the game crashes at the box after the escape rope box

Yes, Mario/Sonic/Kirby etc is the feel I was going for with the Platform physics / style. The girl walks slow because I just realised I forgot to give her running shoes lol.
You shouldn't be able to pause inside the cave, or during a boss fight, but should be fine at every other time so I'll make sure I fix that. And I think I know what's wrong with the Escape Rope, it's because I changed the item Array in this version and forgot to alter the Chests to correspond with my changes.
I'll take a look and try and fix those glitches, thanks sincerely for letting me know.

[Peeky Chew]

Just played the demo... It's awesome!

Add me on msn if you have it: [email protected]
I'd really like to talk to you about the game more in depth.

[Rossay]

Just read your message and added you on MSN. Glad you enjoyed the demo =]. Just send me a message whenever you're on MSN.

[tylerab01]

Not to flame but your games with Marill and all that look too much like mario in my opinion but it is still a great feature!

[Rossay]

Originally Posted by tylerab01

Not to flame but your games with Marill and all that look too much like mario in my opinion but it is still a great feature!

Thanks! I want to point out that it is a PLATFORM GAME so it's supposed to be like Mario; that's the whole point of the game. Games like Mario, Sonic, Kirby etc are what defined the genre -- most platform games will feel like them lol.

[pokemongarnet]

Aight....... OHHHHHHHH DANG!!! sorry for the mild spam. I just playe the demo and it is awesome... Only a few things i want to point out...

-I lost to Ricardo when I faced him, and when Marril would have died an error came up. I don't know if that was intended as the end of the demo. but it happened.

-When Ricardo says fascinated, he says/ spells it wrong. He says facinated. I think that fascinated is the right spelling, but i'm not sure.

I love the graphics, and hope that you continue to work on this. I would like to help with this project, however I'm not sure how much I can help. I would maybe be able to do some level designs, on GM7 pro if i had the sprites as long as it doesn't need any sort of scripting. I've never done that sort of work so I don't have examples but I would probably be able to help.

[Rossay]

Originally Posted by pokemongarnet

Aight....... OHHHHHHHH DANG!!! sorry for the mild spam. I just playe the demo and it is awesome... Only a few things i want to point out...

-I lost to Ricardo when I faced him, and when Marril would have died an error came up. I don't know if that was intended as the end of the demo. but it happened.

-When Ricardo says fascinated, he says/ spells it wrong. He says facinated. I think that fascinated is the right spelling, but i'm not sure.

I love the graphics, and hope that you continue to work on this. I would like to help with this project, however I'm not sure how much I can help. I would maybe be able to do some level designs, on GM7 pro if i had the sprites as long as it doesn't need any sort of scripting. I've never done that sort of work so I don't have examples but I would probably be able to help.

Oke. Thanks for letting me know about those glitches. I'll make sure I fix the fainting script in the upcoming version & the small spelling error. I am continuing to work on the project; I'm currently removing all the "walking about bits" because they didn't really fit with the rest of the game (PeekyChew pointed it out). The new system fits better but is difficult to explain.

Help in level design would be greatly appreciated. The room editor in GM8 is pretty much identical to the ones in GM6/7. I'll either make up a level-editor or a .GM7 with the tileset so you can make levels. I will get back to you on it!

[pokemongarnet]

Thanks, I'd like to hear more about this new system so if you could shoot me a pm, please. How do you catch stuff though?

[Ryan Hekk]

There's only one word I can say, and that is wow. I've never seen anything like this before. A truly great looking Pokemon platformer, with the traditional Pokemon RPG elements mixed in.

1. What do you think about the design of the iPhione (Pause Menu)?

I think the iPhione is pretty unique and a very good pun on the Apple product . I like the icons as the menu options especially, very well done. The background however could use some work, but I'll assume thats one of the things youre working on.

2. What is your opinion on the overworld tiles / look?

I like the overworld tiles and look. However, it looks similar to a custom HeartGold and SoulSilver, possibly Black and White in your screenshots, so I think that the main highlight here isn't the graphics of the RPG overworld but the gameplay experience of the platforming elements.

3. Do you prefer the trees to be offset in alternating rows (as can be seen in the game / in the screen shots) or do you prefer for them to be in straight horizontal / vertical lines (like in standard Pokemon games)?

I prefer the trees in alternating rows. It looks more realistic and it works out well for your game, graphically.

[DNZGames]

looks highly promising and a good game. i'll definately be playing this one!

[RulerArceus]

Hi!Downloaded the game yesterday.It's really good!
1)Does the beta end on Route 2?
2)I found this bug in the first gym. If you go in a second time,He starts talking and the VS sprite is in the air,so you walk around this giant VS sprite.

[Rossay]

Ah thanks for pointing out these glitches guys, I will address them in the next version. The current beta stops at Route 2, however, I am hoping the next version will at least include the first 3 towns.

[WackyTurtle]

This looks very promising and innovative (I particularly like the iPhione), but why are the overworld screen shots so dark?