This thread idea has been lingering in my head for quite a while... So I'll post it.
With the development of romhacks, I see a lot of things are done to match already known standards like gen. 6 and gen. 7.
But what if you were in charge of the next generation's game, working from scratch? For audience freedom, I leave the choice open, but I'll use gen 2 as an example to illustrate the thought process.
Let's say you are in year 1999 and Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow have been a worldwide hit. You are tasked to design the next hit. What decisions do you take to improve on the gameplay, the battle engine, the story, etc?
You can take your target gen as reference for inspiration, but you don't have to. The "hardcore mode" of the challenge is to emit ideas on your own only with what you have from the previous gens.
So I'll make my own below,
Little thought experiment, I hope you'll have fun with it :)
*****
if I was in charge of creating a brand new gen 2 Pokémon game/romhack wihout drawing ideas from future gens:
- I probably wouldn't come with the idea of Pokémon breeding, or in a slightly different way maybe. I dislike how the Nidoqueen/Nidoking paradox is treated
- Pokémon babies. Nope. Not them, doesn't add any depth.
- I'd look for a type re-balancings without adding new types because it already was a big chart already. Tasks at hand, nerfing Psychic, buffing bug, poison and Ice.
- maybe add a new damage multiplicator attached to weight or height differences between Pokémon. but how to balance it is unknown...
- maybe add new typings not to balance the table but to make the game more realistic: these typings couldn't be given to Pokémons, only to moves that use a body part or a weapon. For reference, Persona games have Pierce damage, Slash damage and Pierce damage. These 3 special offensive typings could be super-effective or not according to Pokémon's added characteristic: organic or not. If the body is organic, it can suffer heavy damage from something as innocent as a normal-type bite or peck.
- remove all marginal signature moves from gen.1 like barrage, egg bomb, constrict, standardize offensive moves a bit more
- add a new mechanic that lets player disable progress flags and teleport him to the last suitable checkpoint. For example, if I want to undo my progress after first badge, reset all the trainer beaten and event flags from after that and teleport player in front of the first gym. Only new items, pokédollars and Pokémon are kept. it's like a new game+ inside the game and shouldn't be too hard to program. Lets the player experiments with lots of freshly captured Pokémon without having to train them against other wild Pokémon.
- since critical hits based on speed are too overpowered, I'd look for something to complement it, rather than cancelling it. What side effects can other stats give? high HP = better %HP regained upon heal; better attack = accuracy bonus on moves that don't have it, better defense = %chance of reducing damage from super-effective moves (physical types), better special = %chance of reducing damage from super-effective moves (special types)
- remove normal dual-typing from all Flying-type birds (seems useless)
- better reward for actually capturing pokémon (battles aside): giving items on milestones, could be battling items to make fights better or unrelated items like room decoration, or maybe special types of Pokéballs/free Pokéballs;
- a system of rental Pokémon, same as in Pokémon stadium
- a different starter triangle (rock, flying and fighting for example)
- a different starting environment, for example a village in winter or in the mountains, not having to repeat the whole starting village, forest, flying and bug-type Pokémons
- plot-wise maybe expand on conflicts that aren't only sorted out by Pokémon duels with a 10-yo protagonist
- expand on the idea of a Safari zone by making it the norm in all wild battles, why not
With the development of romhacks, I see a lot of things are done to match already known standards like gen. 6 and gen. 7.
But what if you were in charge of the next generation's game, working from scratch? For audience freedom, I leave the choice open, but I'll use gen 2 as an example to illustrate the thought process.
Let's say you are in year 1999 and Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow have been a worldwide hit. You are tasked to design the next hit. What decisions do you take to improve on the gameplay, the battle engine, the story, etc?
You can take your target gen as reference for inspiration, but you don't have to. The "hardcore mode" of the challenge is to emit ideas on your own only with what you have from the previous gens.
So I'll make my own below,
Little thought experiment, I hope you'll have fun with it :)
*****
if I was in charge of creating a brand new gen 2 Pokémon game/romhack wihout drawing ideas from future gens:
- I probably wouldn't come with the idea of Pokémon breeding, or in a slightly different way maybe. I dislike how the Nidoqueen/Nidoking paradox is treated
- Pokémon babies. Nope. Not them, doesn't add any depth.
- I'd look for a type re-balancings without adding new types because it already was a big chart already. Tasks at hand, nerfing Psychic, buffing bug, poison and Ice.
- maybe add a new damage multiplicator attached to weight or height differences between Pokémon. but how to balance it is unknown...
- maybe add new typings not to balance the table but to make the game more realistic: these typings couldn't be given to Pokémons, only to moves that use a body part or a weapon. For reference, Persona games have Pierce damage, Slash damage and Pierce damage. These 3 special offensive typings could be super-effective or not according to Pokémon's added characteristic: organic or not. If the body is organic, it can suffer heavy damage from something as innocent as a normal-type bite or peck.
- remove all marginal signature moves from gen.1 like barrage, egg bomb, constrict, standardize offensive moves a bit more
- add a new mechanic that lets player disable progress flags and teleport him to the last suitable checkpoint. For example, if I want to undo my progress after first badge, reset all the trainer beaten and event flags from after that and teleport player in front of the first gym. Only new items, pokédollars and Pokémon are kept. it's like a new game+ inside the game and shouldn't be too hard to program. Lets the player experiments with lots of freshly captured Pokémon without having to train them against other wild Pokémon.
- since critical hits based on speed are too overpowered, I'd look for something to complement it, rather than cancelling it. What side effects can other stats give? high HP = better %HP regained upon heal; better attack = accuracy bonus on moves that don't have it, better defense = %chance of reducing damage from super-effective moves (physical types), better special = %chance of reducing damage from super-effective moves (special types)
- remove normal dual-typing from all Flying-type birds (seems useless)
- better reward for actually capturing pokémon (battles aside): giving items on milestones, could be battling items to make fights better or unrelated items like room decoration, or maybe special types of Pokéballs/free Pokéballs;
- a system of rental Pokémon, same as in Pokémon stadium
- a different starter triangle (rock, flying and fighting for example)
- a different starting environment, for example a village in winter or in the mountains, not having to repeat the whole starting village, forest, flying and bug-type Pokémons
- plot-wise maybe expand on conflicts that aren't only sorted out by Pokémon duels with a 10-yo protagonist
- expand on the idea of a Safari zone by making it the norm in all wild battles, why not
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