[Question] Is it legal to make a pokemon fangame?

[EternalSeekerX]

Dear Developers,

How are you? Since I am almost done my schooling and have one course I have some time to do some side projects (such as building my youtube). I wanted to make my own version of a pokemon game which encompases all the regions into one game. I am wondering if this is possible from a lega standpoint?

These are things I am looking forward to attempt doing:
-High replay-ability with multiple Pokemon leagues
-PWT and Battlefrontier
-Gen 6 mechanics with some changes to moves and abilities
-All regions in one game
OR
-Custom region with a battlefrontier and PWT to allow players to face gym leaders/elite four/champions from generation 1 to 6

I was hesitant because I don't know which package for Pokemon essentials to use? As well I played some fan games and some attack mechanics aren't complete so I am wondering about that as well?

Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

[TBM_Christopher]

Legal Standpoint? It's all a gray area. You can make the game but can't sell it, and if TPC ever wants to, they can drop you a cease and desist letter, at which point you have to end the project. End of discussion. The plus side is that you won't be sued or face any further legal action, and most of the time hobby projects aren't going to be hunted down.

Guys, we should start saying that an all-regions game is impossible so that this stops coming up

In short, it's possible to do an all-regions game, but if you want to make a good game, I honestly believe that this is the worst possible route. Several ecosystems and dungeons are repeated between games just to make certain Pokemon available. Why do you REALLY need Viridian, Ilex, Petalburg, Eterna, Santalune, and Pinwheel forest? How are you going to balance a Johto League-winning team against Oreburg gym?

Let's do the math - assuming you don't change the level cap(which would require you to account for what Pokemon get at those levels, because they have to get SOMETHING other than just a stat boost), the progression you're talking about is 8 gyms and 5 Elite Four members(including champions) for 13 "bosses" per region. That's 78 bosses, so starting from level 5 your Pokemon will theoretically go up only ~1.2 levels each gym, which is NOT enough room for routes and the intermediary content. (That is assuming that your players stick with their favorite Pokemon, and with 721 Pokemon, changes are obviously likely, but give me some slack since that's a lot of moving parts :P )

Frankly, catching 'em all is a terrible notion for a fangame. You can't trade or battle with your friends without a LOT of work to make it happen.

I'd recommend using the latest package for Essentials(version 16, I believe), and you WILL have to work on implementing attacks(though I think you mean animations rather than mechanics - most attacks DO work from a strict numbers perspective) to your satisfaction.

 

[EternalSeekerX]

Legal Standpoint? It's all a gray area. You can make the game but can't sell it, and if TPC ever wants to, they can drop you a cease and desist letter, at which point you have to end the project. End of discussion. The plus side is that you won't be sued or face any further legal action, and most of the time hobby projects aren't going to be hunted down.

Guys, we should start saying that an all-regions game is impossible so that this stops coming up

In short, it's possible to do an all-regions game, but if you want to make a good game, I honestly believe that this is the worst possible route. Several ecosystems and dungeons are repeated between games just to make certain Pokemon available. Why do you REALLY need Viridian, Ilex, Petalburg, Eterna, Santalune, and Pinwheel forest? How are you going to balance a Johto League-winning team against Oreburg gym?

Let's do the math - assuming you don't change the level cap(which would require you to account for what Pokemon get at those levels, because they have to get SOMETHING other than just a stat boost), the progression you're talking about is 8 gyms and 5 Elite Four members(including champions) for 13 "bosses" per region. That's 78 bosses, so starting from level 5 your Pokemon will theoretically go up only ~1.2 levels each gym, which is NOT enough room for routes and the intermediary content. (That is assuming that your players stick with their favorite Pokemon, and with 721 Pokemon, changes are obviously likely, but give me some slack since that's a lot of moving parts :P )

Frankly, catching 'em all is a terrible notion for a fangame. You can't trade or battle with your friends without a LOT of work to make it happen.

I'd recommend using the latest package for Essentials(version 16, I believe), and you WILL have to work on implementing attacks(though I think you mean animations rather than mechanics - most attacks DO work from a strict numbers perspective) to your satisfaction.

Yes I meant the attack animation, i believe essentials 16 has all the game mechanics done already? One of the issue I have is after a fresh install, if I run essentials as is to test some moves, the game crashes whenever i try to open my Pokemon menu or try to find a battle in the grass patches.

I took our advice, yeah it will be really hard to balance all regions. I think having a Pokemon Word Tournament and a battle frontier would be a better option with having a maximum of 1 or 2 regions (like how hgss has it).

I would want to edit the move animations and other mechanics before i do any map and story creations.

I was looking at the scripts in rpgmaker, I want to see if ohko moves actually do damage (i.e. infinite damage) so I maybe able make them counterable/mirror moved.

 

[Maruno]

Let's not make this thread a medley of unrelated questions.