!Pokémon: Monstorybook

[Sunfished]

Monstorybook!

Hello everyone! This is not my first attempt at creating a game, but it is my first time attempting a monster-catching game.

Okay, first off of the list of many trivial things, the exclamation in the title is read as a "not", so in full it would be read as "Not Pokémon: Monstorybook". The reason for this weird title is that I wanted to only carry over the Pokémon games' battle mechanics, but otherwise this project would stray a bit from what the games usually brought into custom.

Plot:
It's not your birthday. It's not a beautiful day to go exploring for some reason. And heck, Pokemon don't even exist.
Yeah that's right. You have a fairly normal dog, all the birds chirp as usual, and the plants just stay there, growing at exponential pace.

That is, until you notice that your dog is now green-tinted, all the birds have hairdo's, and you swear you saw potted plant wave its leaves at you in a friendly gesture. And as if you can't escape this sudden change from lax to ludicrous, a talking cat and floating book explain that they need your help! It seems as if the Universal Library's Monster Taxonomy has accidentally fell to earth, turning all the modern creatures you've been seeing everyday into living malice!

And so with false valor and unchanging attitude, you decide to help out the cat and book in recovering the lost Magistories, which seem to not only alter an animal completely, but seem to affect a person's lifespan as well!

Now that is where your story starts.
Finding these earthbound books before someone else falls from their fate!

I will use RPGMaker XP and Pokémon Essentials to create this!
This is now a sudden shift from "Idea" to "developing"
Thanks to Maruno for the great Pokemon Essentials!
Everything else is either hand-drawn by me or was already provided with Essentials, so credits to Gamefreak for making neat graphics!

Features:

• Game is told in "chapters", with each chapter revolving on a different Magistory.
• 161 new "Pokémon",(that have already been designed by me)!
• Fairy Type! Also, Sound and Lunar types! Moves are being reworked to fit this.
• Gyms/Gym Leaders are not present, but boss battles occur in important chapters.
• Fordeux the magic book acts as the "PokéDex". It's basically a graphical change from the Pokedex :P
• Bookuno acts as a guidance, assisting players by helping the player move along in the story. Basically, a hint guide.
• You finished the game? After-Story is introduced, which lets you complete even more stories to have a chance at going against the legendaries!

All the Fakémon that are in here are designed in the sense that each one should be made with an intent that none of them will feel like they weren't thought out. Also, at least one Fakémon from each evolution family will take part in a chapter. Here is a (constantly updating) list of Fakemon:

Spoiler:

Starters (which are based on Jap folklore):

Tenki, Tiskoon, and Kabukoon.
Each represent a hero, with many of the latter referencing superheroes, like Batman.
Based on the Raccoon, or Tenukii if you want to be technical.

Botappa, Stonappa, and Bouldappa.
Lazy, fat, and obnoxious. Evolutions reference the bad guy or villian in movies.
Based on a Turtle, or Kappa if you want to be even MORE technical.

???(probably Kitsun), Blitsun, and Explosun
The "princess" or "damsel in distress". Each stage is based on a type of fog: smoke, embers, and wisps.
Based on Foxes/Cats. Pretty obvious of what is is...

Furral and Squafro.
Based on a Squirrel. The head of Squafro is SLIGHTLY exaggerated!

And, because I'm very lazy at reproducing the info from my Gallery in the Arts section of Pokecommnity, here's the currently done Fakes without names or stuff:

Spoiler:

And finally, here is the list of your gang you will be traveling with!

Spoiler:

(this is old btw)
Hey, that's you!
Unlike traditional Pokemon games, your gender will affect the story! Choosing the Male Character, for exmaple, will place the player into more masculine roles in a Magistory, while the Female will get more feminine parts. To counter the permanent decision of gender, you will be able to switch who you want to play as after you meet the other. After the encounter, you can then freely switch characters, since the other will travel alongside you with Bookuno and Fordeux.

Speaking of which...

Bookuno, the sassy back-talker!
Bookuno's backstory involves being created from an unfinished Magistory, which explains his colorless ego. Now, he is trying to find and end the Magistories that have popped up!
Bookuno will assist the player by providing information, and later on in the story will gain the power to rewrite the contents of Magistories,(think of it like picking a route in a chapter). This ability will in turn provide a new ending of a chapter!

Fordeux, the Magic Book!
Fordeux comes from the Oether, a realm dedicated to the taxonomy of creatures. He was sent to the player's world to record data on all the new animals that have popped up.
That's not just his perk, however.
Fordeux has the ability to "befriend" monsters for you to use in battle. Usually, this applies to stopping the bad guys from messing things up and using their fighting power to assist Bookuno in finding the Magistories.

Important Characters: (REALLY OUTDATED!)

Spoiler:

Chapter 1: Fairly Mischievous!
As the make-shift party make their way to find their first Magistory, the gang meet up with a riot occurring in Colossal City. Apparently, many people have been stolen from, and are blaming the Munizen from the nearby Forest. One person, however, claims that they aren't the menace, but has no proof to back up her theory. This event is obviously the doing of a Magistory, and the girl is a mediator between the humans and the Munizen, aptly named "Nissa". The group decide to help Nissa out at clearing the Munizens' dilemma and learn what Magistories can really do to it's environment.

Chapter 2: Deputies of the Desert!
This is Dustin and his companion Dinger, the Limbeleon. They reside in a town located at the verge of a train station, sitting just right atop of a vast desert. Growing up as the son of a Sheriff, his dream job was to follow in his father's footsteps. This came true, but through the effects of a Magistory, he is not merely following through will, but forced to because his dad has fallen ill with an impractical disease. With your help, you both traverse the desert, trying to find a cure before something bad happens!

Chapter 5: Escort for a Naught Knight!
These wimps are Phobian and his Fortiford, both knights from a far-off kingdom. But even though they're knights, they run scared at even the slightest fright! Through the help of a Magistory, Phobian asked if he can acquire courage and bravery. This was obvisously a monkey's paw sort of wish though, and his acquiring of such bravery is through saving a princess! The player is tasked at assisting this coward to the tower where this damsel in distress has been kept.

Chapter 7: The Princess of Trash and The Walking Washing Machine!
While exploring the trash-dump outside the confines of a rich city, the party meets a little girl who they believe is under the influence of a Magistory, but are not completely sure. Apparently, she claims herself to be the Princess of Trash named Apo, and is accompanied with a Washine, who seems to act as her caretaker. They both, said from Apo, have been in war with a rivaling gang of Compower's, a futuristic computer brought to life from the mystics of a Magistory. With a sense of mystery waving over the team, the player is tasked with finding out if there is truly a Magistory hidden among this community of heaps of litter, and discovering the truth behind Apo's weird interest with trash.
Beginning at this arc, the player will have to start acting on decision making, because the fate of anybody in this chapter is based on the player's actions.

And before I forget, here's a picture of the battle screen!


And finally, thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any suggestions and/or ask any question you may have!

 

[Sunfished]

Added pictures of the player, helpers, and some Fakemon!

 

[Whitney's Shaymin]

y no one comment on this. This looks interesting.

 

[Keromatsu]

You know What a great IDEA! Finnaly! Someone got rid of Gyms and the same story: Get a pokedex, Beat all gyms, Beat the elite 4 Bllah blah The END! Nice story! and art. You know why someone never posted here because you just improve your thread was not better before ( like my sister's :P *Custard*) Now your thread is looking good. Speaking of Pokedex
how will the magic book work will it also have a town map drawn in it? Will it show anything rather than Pokemon information?

Sorry for the long thing. NICE ART!

Do not you need any help I was planning on making sprite because I just learned to make them from a amzing tutorial

 

[Radical Raptr]

unless you have everything all planned out for the book, you could have it be like the "pokegear" and change the graphics ad everything so it looks like a book's pages, and in it you do everything like you would in the Pokegear, and even have the pokedex in theresince there is no opfficial one, I think that would be pretty cool

 

[lx_theo]

You should keep gyms, just in a non story-centric way.

In a design of mine from a while back, I was going to make gyms like the challenges they are supposed to be. They didn't have any story relevance or requirement to get, but rather acted as special challenges for people who wanted to take on extra challenges.

I'm always supportive of Pokemon games that try to do something original with the story, though.

 

[Keromatsu]

(image no longer exists)

I do not know how bad it looks but..

 

[Sunfished]

Oh haha thanks for all the feedback guys! It really helps me know what everyone thinks!

@pokemoner2500
I think noone responds to this because alot of the ideas I have are kinda "farfetch'd" compared to many other fangames here.

@Superqami
You were right that the book serves more purposes! It has many features, such as your mentioning as a map, the "pokedex", recording the player's progress, etc. More or less, he's more of a walking database!

The emphasis on having the book is that your sort of "teaching" him all the new things your world has to offer, which explains many things, such as why you can't just fly to any location because he doesn't know HOW to get to said location.

And feel free to sprite if you want, I'm not gonna turn you down! All of the battle graphics, however, are going to be hand-drawn like the Fakes I posted, to take advantage of the resolution that RPG Maker can handle.

@Saving Raven
Like what Superqami mentioned, the book serves many other purposes as well. And the idea of having him replace the pokegear is a pretty cool idea!

@lx_theo
In actuallity, the "boss battles" I mentioned were really just gym battles with parts of the story mixed in. But I think adding "extra challenges" is a great idea! I'll keep a tab on that!

Oh yeah, Superqami, if your last post was supposed to contain a sprite, its not displaying...

 

[Keromatsu]

Well.. I know hoe to view it I will give you another one because that sprite looks fat I have almost Black and White size

 

[Dradier234]

Okay, this reminds me of Dora, it just does...
But I love the art and the characters! Good luck!

 

[Sunfished]

Okay, this reminds me of Dora, it just does...
But I love the art and the characters! Good luck!

OH MY GOD!!
I JUST REALIZED THAT!! :O
but thanks for the comment! I changed the artstyle a bit, so I need to update the player's picture.

Updated the op with some important characters you'll be seeing through each chapter, with the ones in chapters 2, 5, and 7!

 

[Keromatsu]

Mmmmm... cannot wait for the first release..

 

[Sunfished]

:D
I won't be pulling out a small test-drive until I work on some of the core things, like npc sprites and junk.

 

[Sunfished]

Updated with ALOT of Fakes!

Added the First Chapter too! So anytime from next week to a month, a small little demo should be up!

And about spriting..
I'll see what I can do by myself first, like this one:

<- Male Protagonist
This is also, my first time spriting something, so how did I do?
Anything a noob such as myself needs to know? :D

 

[Sunfished]

Well, this is kinda lame, but I kinda just now started on this again.
So, I updated the op with a shorter, easier to read story and plot!

And here's a screenshot of what I meant by using pictures instead of sprites:


ANY comments would be nice about how it looks!
And I have alot of the early maps done, so maybe I might have something that's less than a demo. Maybe like a "look at this monstrosity I created :D"

 

[Papajones33]

this is cool but i can see room 4 improvment. check out my fakemon to see a good example of a good pokemon

 

[Sunfished]

this is cool but i can see room 4 improvment. check out my fakemon to see a good example of a good pokemon

Umm, if the fakemon you were referring to was that dinosaur thing you made in the sprite section, I don't really find that as a great example for what I'm doing :L

If anything, I think that great examples of Fakes would be ones that have a particular sense for their reason of existence, and have designs revolving around that. Otherwise, they're creative for what they're given, and exploit the potential that it has.

Sorry if this sounds like I'm harking at you, but in pure honesty, I think you need a better example of what is a "good" example for a "good" pokemon :P

 

[Varion Bluefire]

Ironically, this seems to childish and cartoony for a Pokémon game.
Unless everything is going to be in this style, I suggest sticking to a pixel worked game.

The hair could use some work.
Hair for overworlds have light coming from the top of the screen, rather than the top left like in battle.
Try to keep it in mind.

 

[Sunfished]

Ironically, this seems to childish and cartoony for a Pokémon game.
Unless everything is going to be in this style, I suggest sticking to a pixel worked game.

The hair could use some work.
Hair for overworlds have light coming from the top of the screen, rather than the top left like in battle.
Try to keep it in mind.

These are the types of comments I like :D

If there isn't a better word to add to childish and cartoony to describe this project, then you definitely forgot to add ridiculous :P
The style is supposed to look like that, not just to reflect how comical the whole plot and designs are, but also I just like looking at desaturated colors.

And another major factor is that I can't sprite to save my life, which is majorly evident in the player overworld sprite.

That's also a pretty new thing to me, that the light source always came from the top of the character. I'll definitely remember that!

And that sprite I made earlier is old, because I've went to using the overworld design found in 4th gen games :D