cm_suspect
Suspect
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- Seen Oct 28, 2023
When I think of a good pokemon fan game, my mind instantly drifts to some of the more recent and memorable titles.
Reborn, Rejuvenation, Infinite fusions etc.
There's plenty more but those are just some to list off the top of my head, and for awhile I have asked myself "why did I enjoy them?"
For awhile I believed that it was because it is just more pokemon and boy do I love those game's but as I have grown older I believe that may not be the case because I have fallen out of love with the mainline series.
I have come to the conclusion that I adore these games specifically because they do something different, they breathe new life into the same formula that get's re-done over and over.
And so, I wanted to articulate what I feel would make excellent inclusions into a "dream pokemon fan-game" and this just felt the best place to put it.
Bare in mind, these are the thoughts of an old egotistical man rambling about my opinions for a fan game, I am not a developer and some of these idea's might be idiotic or impossible with most engines fan games are made with, but alas maybe someone will be interested in reading it.
1: Customizable characters.
No I don't mean levelling up your "human" but being able to choose things like hair/skin/eye colour or even things like clothing is a really really good way to immerse someone into the universe you are creating, because it becomes personal, it's no longer "I am this sprite the game provided me" but you insert yourself into the world, your own style and I feel like with a game like pokemon where your "style" is of huge importance with your team, something like this would have a big impact.
2: Don't hide the information.
Pokemon is riddled with hidden data and I personally feel this is only "ok" for people new to the series, the younger generation that doesn't want to be overwhelmed with a lot of numbers that confuse them, but if you are playing a pokemon fan game you already know how the systems work, and keeping that from the player is just annoying.
Of course I am referring to EV's, IV's, and Friendship, maybe more I don't remember right now, This information should just be on the summary.
3: Gameplay adjustments
The turn based combat style is not the most engaging thing on it's own, it needs to have flavour and systems to make it more dynamic, Reborn did this really well with the environment having a huge impact on the fight but I feel like this can go further.
Here's an example; Commands
During combat, you the trainer can intervene to aid your pokemon in the fight, such as issuing commands to the pokemon, this is external to the order of telling them to do a move and the pokemon would still do the move as normal, but your commands could impact the outcome of that move.
Think of the pokemon legends arceus "styles" such as swift and strong but with MORE options.
Such as;
"All in" +Damage% -Defense% for X turns
"Caution" -Damage% +Defense% for X turns
You can then play around with that core concept and move other stats around like Accuracy, Evasion, Speed, Crit Rate etc
Later on you can get crazier with the concept, perfect balance isn't necessary. (it's a single player game first, pvp second, this system can be removed for pvp)
"Vampire" Heal for X% of the damage you deal this turn
"Critical Failure" Both you and your opponent will crit this turn
4: Difficulty
Hard games are great, I personally love when a game likes to kick my ass with either resource denial, over levelled enemies, or even difficulty spikes as the game progress's.
However, this should not be the case all the time, one person likes a well-done steak, others like a medium rare steak, and whilst it is justifiable to hold the belief that those who want a well-done steak should be exiled, we should strive to be more understanding :)
What I am trying to say is that don't let a locked difficulty bar your players from enjoying the experience you have created, I am going to refer to Reborn again, the game is painfully difficult at times and has made me so frustrated I didn't WANT to keep playing.
I am not saying the game needs an easy mode for children, but maybe most games should have a "normal" setting.
5: Reward me, Don't give me charity.
Exp Share is the main issue, special gadgets that do cool things like boosted EXP or sharing EXP or boosted catch rate etc should be EARNED through the systems you create, dangle it in front of our faces in a side quest or a puzzle or a fight.
It is wasted potential to just give us those things right from the gate because those items are desirable, and if it is desirable you can hook people in with great content.
But also do not offer these items after the main game is finished.
Not too early, Not too late, and make me work.
6: Alternatives to the Gym system.
This is YOUR game, you do not have to be the "collect 7 badges then elite 4" copy paste game, add your own spin, theres nothing wrong with using a tried and true system but if you don't add anything unique then what is the point of having the gym rather than check points.
Branch out and try something new;
Maybe instead of fighting the gym leader you need to help out the city and prove your strength in the process, this adds some intimacy with the current location and maybe you help the town with a major or reoccurring villain.
Maybe instead of gyms its school, and you go up through each class from D rank to S rank before finally graduate (I am looking at you pokemon pathways *chefs kiss* keep at it)
Or maybe there are no gyms, and instead you are simply dealing with each problem as best as you can to advance your own personal goals.
My point is gyms have always just been checkpoints, and there are many ways to add checkpoints without them being directly a gym.
This post is getting really long now so I'll just spitball some idea's I remember that I like and didn't like.
>Story is important, make me care about your characters, I want to feel a love for what is happening in the world.
>Having pokemon actually appear in the wild rather than RNG encounter is cool (pokemon pathways) but if left to fill your screen with 101 different sprites low end PC's are going to cry (still looking at you pokemon pathways).
>Don't give me a list of all the pokemon that can show up in each route, that's lame, use NPC's for that, make me WANT to interact with the thousand NPC townfolk you add to the game.
>Economy management is a hard thing to do but if you can do it right +100 pokedollars on a random chance event can make me do a real life pog expression.
>Make things interactable in the world, if I decide to interact with a bookshelf and it actually gives me something cool like information or an item or w/e then I will instantly be more immersed in the world and I WILL click on everything that isn't bolted down, even if all I get is a little bit of text saying "yes for the third time, this is infact a dustbin, if you click on it again this game will put you in it."
>Legendary pokemon should have some kind of quest or build up to them even if they're not "the main legendary for the game", finding Dialga in a random portal in the middle of nowhere just chilling wasn't fun the first time it was done, it doesn't feel legendary, it feels like a cool rock I decided to pick up in middle school.
>Side quests are cool, Long side quests are great, and extra long side quests that take me across the universe to space mars and make me forget about the main quest are even better.
>Changing an existing canon pokemons abilities, move, or stats in your fangame without explaining why or how that happened in game is 99% of the time going to be overlooked by the average player unless they consult a changelog, in these cases it is simply better to just create a new pokemon or pokemon variant because that way people go "oh new pokemon lets see what it has". And yes I know giving Rayquaza wonderguard is funny but unless an NPC says explains that Rayquaza flew into a flock of evolving Nincada and ate all of them as they evolved, it will just feel cheap.
Anyway that about sums it up, If anyone actually reads this I hope you like the ideas or at the very least got a laugh out of reading them.
Reborn, Rejuvenation, Infinite fusions etc.
There's plenty more but those are just some to list off the top of my head, and for awhile I have asked myself "why did I enjoy them?"
For awhile I believed that it was because it is just more pokemon and boy do I love those game's but as I have grown older I believe that may not be the case because I have fallen out of love with the mainline series.
I have come to the conclusion that I adore these games specifically because they do something different, they breathe new life into the same formula that get's re-done over and over.
And so, I wanted to articulate what I feel would make excellent inclusions into a "dream pokemon fan-game" and this just felt the best place to put it.
Bare in mind, these are the thoughts of an old egotistical man rambling about my opinions for a fan game, I am not a developer and some of these idea's might be idiotic or impossible with most engines fan games are made with, but alas maybe someone will be interested in reading it.
1: Customizable characters.
No I don't mean levelling up your "human" but being able to choose things like hair/skin/eye colour or even things like clothing is a really really good way to immerse someone into the universe you are creating, because it becomes personal, it's no longer "I am this sprite the game provided me" but you insert yourself into the world, your own style and I feel like with a game like pokemon where your "style" is of huge importance with your team, something like this would have a big impact.
2: Don't hide the information.
Pokemon is riddled with hidden data and I personally feel this is only "ok" for people new to the series, the younger generation that doesn't want to be overwhelmed with a lot of numbers that confuse them, but if you are playing a pokemon fan game you already know how the systems work, and keeping that from the player is just annoying.
Of course I am referring to EV's, IV's, and Friendship, maybe more I don't remember right now, This information should just be on the summary.
3: Gameplay adjustments
The turn based combat style is not the most engaging thing on it's own, it needs to have flavour and systems to make it more dynamic, Reborn did this really well with the environment having a huge impact on the fight but I feel like this can go further.
Here's an example; Commands
During combat, you the trainer can intervene to aid your pokemon in the fight, such as issuing commands to the pokemon, this is external to the order of telling them to do a move and the pokemon would still do the move as normal, but your commands could impact the outcome of that move.
Think of the pokemon legends arceus "styles" such as swift and strong but with MORE options.
Such as;
"All in" +Damage% -Defense% for X turns
"Caution" -Damage% +Defense% for X turns
You can then play around with that core concept and move other stats around like Accuracy, Evasion, Speed, Crit Rate etc
Later on you can get crazier with the concept, perfect balance isn't necessary. (it's a single player game first, pvp second, this system can be removed for pvp)
"Vampire" Heal for X% of the damage you deal this turn
"Critical Failure" Both you and your opponent will crit this turn
4: Difficulty
Hard games are great, I personally love when a game likes to kick my ass with either resource denial, over levelled enemies, or even difficulty spikes as the game progress's.
However, this should not be the case all the time, one person likes a well-done steak, others like a medium rare steak, and whilst it is justifiable to hold the belief that those who want a well-done steak should be exiled, we should strive to be more understanding :)
What I am trying to say is that don't let a locked difficulty bar your players from enjoying the experience you have created, I am going to refer to Reborn again, the game is painfully difficult at times and has made me so frustrated I didn't WANT to keep playing.
I am not saying the game needs an easy mode for children, but maybe most games should have a "normal" setting.
5: Reward me, Don't give me charity.
Exp Share is the main issue, special gadgets that do cool things like boosted EXP or sharing EXP or boosted catch rate etc should be EARNED through the systems you create, dangle it in front of our faces in a side quest or a puzzle or a fight.
It is wasted potential to just give us those things right from the gate because those items are desirable, and if it is desirable you can hook people in with great content.
But also do not offer these items after the main game is finished.
Not too early, Not too late, and make me work.
6: Alternatives to the Gym system.
This is YOUR game, you do not have to be the "collect 7 badges then elite 4" copy paste game, add your own spin, theres nothing wrong with using a tried and true system but if you don't add anything unique then what is the point of having the gym rather than check points.
Branch out and try something new;
Maybe instead of fighting the gym leader you need to help out the city and prove your strength in the process, this adds some intimacy with the current location and maybe you help the town with a major or reoccurring villain.
Maybe instead of gyms its school, and you go up through each class from D rank to S rank before finally graduate (I am looking at you pokemon pathways *chefs kiss* keep at it)
Or maybe there are no gyms, and instead you are simply dealing with each problem as best as you can to advance your own personal goals.
My point is gyms have always just been checkpoints, and there are many ways to add checkpoints without them being directly a gym.
This post is getting really long now so I'll just spitball some idea's I remember that I like and didn't like.
>Story is important, make me care about your characters, I want to feel a love for what is happening in the world.
>Having pokemon actually appear in the wild rather than RNG encounter is cool (pokemon pathways) but if left to fill your screen with 101 different sprites low end PC's are going to cry (still looking at you pokemon pathways).
>Don't give me a list of all the pokemon that can show up in each route, that's lame, use NPC's for that, make me WANT to interact with the thousand NPC townfolk you add to the game.
>Economy management is a hard thing to do but if you can do it right +100 pokedollars on a random chance event can make me do a real life pog expression.
>Make things interactable in the world, if I decide to interact with a bookshelf and it actually gives me something cool like information or an item or w/e then I will instantly be more immersed in the world and I WILL click on everything that isn't bolted down, even if all I get is a little bit of text saying "yes for the third time, this is infact a dustbin, if you click on it again this game will put you in it."
>Legendary pokemon should have some kind of quest or build up to them even if they're not "the main legendary for the game", finding Dialga in a random portal in the middle of nowhere just chilling wasn't fun the first time it was done, it doesn't feel legendary, it feels like a cool rock I decided to pick up in middle school.
>Side quests are cool, Long side quests are great, and extra long side quests that take me across the universe to space mars and make me forget about the main quest are even better.
>Changing an existing canon pokemons abilities, move, or stats in your fangame without explaining why or how that happened in game is 99% of the time going to be overlooked by the average player unless they consult a changelog, in these cases it is simply better to just create a new pokemon or pokemon variant because that way people go "oh new pokemon lets see what it has". And yes I know giving Rayquaza wonderguard is funny but unless an NPC says explains that Rayquaza flew into a flock of evolving Nincada and ate all of them as they evolved, it will just feel cheap.
Anyway that about sums it up, If anyone actually reads this I hope you like the ideas or at the very least got a laugh out of reading them.