Need help settling an argument.

Okay so me and my friend wanted to make an online free pokemon game, just to help us refine our skills. But we are now at an impass on opinions. Can you help us decide who is right.
We want to have multiple regions, and every one chooses what region they want to start in. The problem is we can't agree as to how people will go into another region.

She thinks that ,since she is creating the storyline, that it will be damaging to it for every one to be able to go there. She wants it to be so that only the winner of the respective region's pokemon league will be able to cross over.

I think that they should at least half way through the league to qualify to go to another region. When that didn't go well over with her, I suggested there be an side quest that will take the top 20 non champion players and pit them through a gruesome challenge which must be done straight through none stop and allow only the survivors so to speak an opportunity to go to another region.

As for now this game is still in the thought of being created and shouldn't be expected for a couple of years. So please help us settle this.

First of all, remember that there might be legal issues with making an "online free pokemon game". But I agree with your opinion though! Much more fun to be able to travel the world rather than to be confined to one region unless you become the very best.

Doctor said:

First of all, remember that there might be legal issues with making an "online free pokemon game". But I agree with your opinion though! Much more fun to be able to travel the world rather than to be confined to one region unless you become the very best.

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I believe that you just give credit to the Pokemon company in a certain form and you're good. I would just do some research.

Anyway, I think you should be able to cross over a region without becoming champion, but it should definitely challenging to get to. Stick me halfway through :D

Depends on what your game needs. Is it a story driven game (like the main series) then you might as well restrict access to the other region to champions of the Pokemon League; is it a exploration driven game then you can make this access part of your world building independent on the plot.

To me, it would make more sense to be able to wander freely as much as you want. Once you get to the city that connects that region to the outside world, if you can afford the fare, you should be able to leave to another region (ie, Vermillion's ship dock, Goldenrod and its train station, the airport in... whatever city that was in Unova). That way you have freedom to wander around and actually build the kind of team you want (which, to me, would be the entire draw of including every region--so that I can go to Kanto to get a Pikachu early on, head to Sinnoh to slather honey trees to find a Cherubi, head up to Hoenn to get an early Nosepass, etc).

BUT. If she's doing a specific storyline in each world, then it does make more sense to restrict movement. Imagine if halfway through the plot of a Pokémon game, you could just abandon the region and go start something elsewhere. It would ruin the pacing and any careful story she'd written, which would kind of suck. (Although if you're careful with the design of the plot, it probably could be written in such a way that encourages region-jumping. And really, wouldn't it be more interesting to actually incorporate world travel into the plot if you're including every region anyway?? Otherwise you might as well make separate games for each region, you know? :P)

I think the bigger issue, regardless of how/when you'd allow players to switch regions, would be figuring out levels. One reason to do it her way would be so that you're practically forced to either start over from the beginning with all new Pokémon whenever you move to a new region (like Ash does in the anime), or so that you can program the second region to have Pokémon/trainers of the level range [x-y], where x is closer to the endgame levels of the first region and y is what the levels of the next region would be based on. Also, since it sounds like you'd be incorporating multiplayer, how would you scale human opponent levels? If you're only sending the champions from each region into the next region, they'd be even more overpowered than someone who's region-jumping from the start. How would you nerf them so that they can actually enjoy the new region (alongside beginners) as it's meant to be enjoyed, rather than barreling through it?

This is why I'm one of the people who has little desire to see a game with all the regions in it. There are so many variables and options to consider and it would be a looot of work to make a balanced game that anyone can enjoy no matter their play style. I doubt even Nintendo would be up to the challenge.

Also, re: legality, it's definitely illegal to make a game like this, whether you give credit or not. Considering the scope and size of a project like this, I would almost suggest just ditching the idea and designing a brand new game to test your skills, since that wouldn't have the possibility of being C&D'd, you could leave the game up so that you can use it as an example on a resume/portfolio, and so on. However, I think if you're interested in game design over development, hammering out the details and planning how you would make a game like this would be a pretty valuable experience, but not necessarily one you would even need to implement in order to benefit from.