Pokemon: Dreams of Time

Classicaltoad · Dec 9, 2016

Hello there! I've always been a fan of Pokemon, it's a series I grew up with and it makes up some of the most important parts of my childhood. And so, with that in mind, I've also always had some ideas that I wanted to make reality and, eventually, share with the community at large. This history, Pokemon Essentials, and RPG Maker XP will be what makes up the backbone of the potential Dreams of Time project - or DoT for short, if you prefer.

THE STORY

The story of the land starts simply, in a region that has become both foreign and familiar - one created within the violent forge swirling in the vast vortex of space and time, pieces of the past, present, and future eventually colliding to shake the very foundation of the residents of Anion's perception of reality itself. Five years ago, your single mother vanished in the wake of a string of disappearances, leaving you to the care of Professor Pine - dear friend of the family, biological grandmother to your best friend, and a grandmother figure to the rest of the young souls in the small town of Brisslecone - including yourself. Now though, you're older, and the childhood home you grew up in is once more yours to live in by right of inheritance. Things feel almost off somehow, but at least seem to mostly be on the up and up...

Until the dreams start. Some of them are nightmares, you're aware of that much - but no matter how hard you try, the memory of them fades the moment you wake up. You think it's the house, and all the old memories attached to it... But other strange things have been happening lately, haven't they? People have started disappearing again, and this time there's been individuals cropping up with claims of guilt - but they've proven evasive, making announcements and disappearing before the police can catch them, so nobody knows of any culprit for sure. There's been talk of everything being the work of some mysterious no-good team, much like the ones in other regions - every region always winds up having at least one of them, right? Either way, it's not something you or any other sane person would want to get involved in. You're just trying to live and move on with your life, and surely the authorities or, worst case scenario, the regional Pokemon League will be able to handle the situation. You, you're too focused on the upcoming Brisslecone Tournament - unlike in other regions, trainer hopefuls are not simply given a starter pokemon. In Anion, towns and cities across the region hold a special competition every year or so - you pick your chosen partner-to-be and then, in the Tournament, you must display your ability to bond and work together to earn your right to stay as partners. You've tried every year, and with your chosen pokemon always being utterly uncooperative, you've never won... It's odd, because you've never had problems with any pokemon except the would-be starters at the Tournament. But with some recent occurrences across the region, there are new potential partners to select from, and this time, you're determined to earn your right of passage - Anion style.

What or who are the Time Pillars? Additionally, who or what is Tyrhee, and why - and even more importantly, how- are they calling out to you? What does Celebi have to do with any of this?

The day before the Tournament is where your story begins, and it's not about winning. It's about moving forward.

Potential features

Spoiler:

All known pokemon will make an appearance, eventually including those from Sun and Moon, plus some altered forms and a decent handful of fanmade pokemon.
Special training and stats for pokemon and you, the player character, alike. There won't be any HMs or special moves needing to be used, such as rock climb - you will learn how to do these things yourself, as well as other skills that will provide bonuses in gameplay(like increased capture rates, for example).
The ability to walk around places without any pokemon at all. There will be chunks of the game where you don't have one or they're just not with you - by choice or by force. As a character in the game, you will level up as well and be able to act independently.
Open gym/league/contest system. You will meet the people involved with the leagues/gyms/contests regardless throughout the story, but you won't be required at all to participate in any league/gym/contest challenge itself to make the story move forward!
Branching story. What you do and say will have an impact on events and your interaction with characters, and not everybody will like what you're up to...
Reputation system. You'll be able to align with "good guys" and "bad guys," with more than one faction to choose from on both sides... And the capacity to choose not to align with anybody but yourself.
Speaking of what you say, you will have the ability to talk and directly interact to people. Branching dialogue choices will avoid Silent Protagonist Syndrome and allow you to still feel more like you're truly a part of this realm. The main character is intended to be you, after all!
In a story that spans space and time, meet the characters we all know and love! Fan favorites like Team Magma and Team Aqua will make an appearance, including the rest of the teams and all of their leaders. The previous champions and other characters from canon regions will also show up eventually, including but not limited to Cynthia, N, Lance, Steven, and more! They definitely won't be the only ones, but I'll be leaving the rest as a surprise for now.
An extensive and detailed character customization system. Forget the old "are you a boy or are you a girl?" questionnaire, your appearance will be decided by you and you alone with well over 600 possible combinations by the time the system is fully finished - a system that will be open source and free for anybody to use in their own games. Furthermore, you choose your gender regardless of your appearance or any of the parts you use, with plenty of nonbinary options.
Pokemon impact/pokemon followers. Your 'mons will be more than just battlers, with personalities of their own and potentially even their own interactions that have minor impacts (at the very least) on your gameplay experience. Your lead pokemon will also visibly follow you, and plentiful events in the overworld will make it possible to never have to actively catch even a single pokemon.
Pokemon visibility. To at least a certain degree, you'll be able to actually see the pokemon on the routes and in their environments. Visible pokemon would be generated randomly every time you enter/exit an area (or building) and every time you enter a battle. Random encounters/battles along routes and such will be significantly reduced, if not done away with completely.
New battle system. If incorporated, you'll be able to run away from trainer battles - or choose whether you even want to battle in the first place. In theory, the finished game may even be playable without battling at all. It'll also be possible to steal pokemon - from your opponents (in and out of battle) as well as from average people and potential pokemon shops in the game. Be warned, though... Such actions won't go unnoticed, and there will be repercussions.
Multiple save slots!
Extended features that don't necessarily impact the main game/story - though some might. Some ideas include: Buying or building a house/apartment (and/or building on the childhood home you're originally given in the story), potentially making said home into a full pokemon ranch or research facility, buying furniture, making a secret base (or bases), making a garden and/or farm and/or greenhouse, running your own pokemon daycare, hiring people to work for you, making your own team/faction and acting as the head of it, becoming a gym leader, member of the elite four, champion, etc. The possibilities go on and on and on.

Credits for the resources/packs/scripts/tools that will or might be used:

POKEMON ESSENTIALS:
Maruno
(if there's other individuals involved in the development of Essentials, please inform me so I know who to credit! I looked and looked but couldn't find a proper credits list.)

ULTIMATE BW PACK:
P-Sign
Clowcardruler
Maruno
Venom12
FL .

PKMN S&M PACK:
Credits:
BlackOutG5
Rune
Zeak6464
https://projectpokemon.org

supereffective · Jan 14, 2017

you ever play sillant hill 4 the room? living in some evil mans memories because you lived in there apartment. maybe that will jolt some ideas in your head

Jefries · Jan 25, 2017

Just feedback I will give you which is don't go for putting all the pokemon into your game for now just get to have 200 then you can maybe start adding more.

Wulu · Feb 17, 2017

The features are looking hella nice. Only problem is that I've seen many game developers spewing out features they can't deliver because of the actual work needed to put them to action. Hope you're ready for the trip.

sharzin · Feb 23, 2017

but seriously are you sure you can handle all of this?
it looks like (at least) 2 years of work only for story and scripting features.

Kharnix · Feb 23, 2017

I'm loving all those features and how you can even choose to become a good or bad guy, or even stay right between the two. I'd say if you can deliver on them, it does have potential to be one of the best fan games out there. Also, since you can choose to challenge the gym or not... Would that mean that if you finally decide to do them, and the average level of your pokemon is 30, would the first gym's pokemon still be at 5-10 or so and have unevolved pokemon? Assuming you do the first gym that you saw in the game of course.

LuxrayGirl · Mar 15, 2017

Maybe A Good Idea!

DoomDoom · Mar 22, 2017

This is a really good idea for a game!
Interesting plot and features.
Don't be afraid in asking help, cause this seems like a lot of work

Pokemon: Dreams of Time

More options

Classicaltoad

supereffective

Jefries

Wulu

just some guy

sharzin

the biggest iranian pokemon fan

Kharnix

Praise the sun!

LuxrayGirl

AmyTheLuxray

DoomDoom

The one who Dooms