[Discussion] Is the Game Development section dying?

[Worldslayer608]

I think a community Pokéworld project would be neat, and fun. The Sinnoh Project is a much more concentrated idea than an entire Pokéworld in that it is only rebuilding the region of Sinnoh.

There is an interesting dichotomy here is that a lot of people want to do multiple regions in their games, and it is easy for any seasoned GD member here to tell them the reality of the situation - it is way too much work. Even with a small team, it could take an incredibly long time for multiple regions to really come to fruition.

I remember when The Elderscrolls III: Morrowind came out, the game blew me away. The world was awesome and the lore gave you even more to imagine. Later, expansion packs were released that let you explore other parts of the world of Tamriel and get more of a feel for the blending of cultures and lore that stretched just beyond Morrowind. Even to this day, there is a dedicated project devoted to rebuilding Tamriel to experience in the TES III engine and the series has recently just confirmed its 6th installment of the franchise and the project still continues to benchmark.

Something like this is not only fun, but despite being time consuming, it is also fairly easy because so many people can chip in. Contribution is practically entry level outside of perhaps any tile making standards. It also allows the project to be un-slanted towards any actual plot line meaning you are not really building anyone else's vision but simply lore driven environments.

The Sinnoh Project is a neat idea, but I feel communal effort on something larger when it really comes to "hands on" projects, is much cooler and friendly towards new contributors. Regardless of the Sinnoh project and whether it is reopened at all, I would enjoy seeing a rebuilding of the known Pokémon world.

 

[Florio]

I think a community Pokéworld project would be neat, and fun. The Sinnoh Project is a much more concentrated idea than an entire Pokéworld in that it is only rebuilding the region of Sinnoh.

There is an interesting dichotomy here is that a lot of people want to do multiple regions in their games, and it is easy for any seasoned GD member here to tell them the reality of the situation - it is way too much work. Even with a small team, it could take an incredibly long time for multiple regions to really come to fruition.

I remember when The Elderscrolls III: Morrowind came out, the game blew me away. The world was awesome and the lore gave you even more to imagine. Later, expansion packs were released that let you explore other parts of the world of Tamriel and get more of a feel for the blending of cultures and lore that stretched just beyond Morrowind. Even to this day, there is a dedicated project devoted to rebuilding Tamriel to experience in the TES III engine and the series has recently just confirmed its 6th installment of the franchise and the project still continues to benchmark.

Something like this is not only fun, but despite being time consuming, it is also fairly easy because so many people can chip in. Contribution is practically entry level outside of perhaps any tile making standards. It also allows the project to be un-slanted towards any actual plot line meaning you are not really building anyone else's vision but simply lore driven environments.

The Sinnoh Project is a neat idea, but I feel communal effort on something larger when it really comes to "hands on" projects, is much cooler and friendly towards new contributors. Regardless of the Sinnoh project and whether it is reopened at all, I would enjoy seeing a rebuilding of the known Pokémon world.

It would probably be best to start small though. We could start with Sinnoh, and when we finish that, move onto another region. That way we can actually see our progress as it happens, and we will know that we can finish a full and nice region together.

 

[Worldslayer608]

It would probably be best to start small though. We could start with Sinnoh, and when we finish that, move onto another region. That way we can actually see our progress as it happens, and we will know that we can finish a full and nice region together.

Logistically, I do not think it necessarily matters.

You have to consider the fact that there is nothing being done in the way of plot, scripts, or even NPC dialogue. It is practically just maps and tiles.

The Sinnoh Project is something quite different, because it accounts for NPCs, scripts, and events.

 

[Florio]

Logistically, I do not think it necessarily matters.

You have to consider the fact that there is nothing being done in the way of plot, scripts, or even NPC dialogue. It is practically just maps and tiles.

The Sinnoh Project is something quite different, because it accounts for NPCs, scripts, and events.

I just think that things would be more organized if we did one region at a time, and we could see our progress more clearly. But either way works.

Would we be going for exact replicas of the D/P/Pt Sinnoh, or just something similar? And would we be doing the insides of houses too?

 

[DarkDoom3000]

I think potential devs don't really see much of a difference between most rom hack games and game dev games. And generally rom hacking is easier to get into.
Actually, based on how much our games are mistaken from hacks, I think most people don't even realise rom hacking and gamedev are two different things.

My 2 cents? Gamedev should be less concerned with replicating the official pokemon games. Roms hacks do that well because they are taking a base game and just modifying it.

The strength of gamedev is that we can totally break any and all boundaries. We can take the traditional pokemon formular and subvert it with new mechanics and ideas you'd never see in any hack.

 

[TBM_Christopher]

I think potential devs don't really see much of a difference between most rom hack games and game dev games. And generally rom hacking is easier to get into.
Actually, based on how much our games are mistaken from hacks, I think most people don't even realise rom hacking and gamedev are two different things.

My 2 cents? Gamedev should be less concerned with replicating the official pokemon games. Roms hacks do that well because they are taking a base game and just modifying it.

The strength of gamedev is that we can totally break any and all boundaries. We can take the traditional pokemon formular and subvert it with new mechanics and ideas you'd never see in any hack.

This, this a thousand times, this!

The main constraint right now is that devs are limiting themselves to what's "expected" of a Pokemon. However, take a look at projects like Evoas(..well, what it looked like it was shaping up to be?). How cool would it be to see a Pokemon game where battles were resolved in side-scrolling matches or hand-to-hand fights akin to Mortal Kombat(like Pokken or Type Wild is trying to do) or isometric grid matches like Final Fantasy Tactics? Don't just feel limited to one engine, try Unity2D, try Game Maker, or Zero Engine(..actually, don't quote me on that one, I don't know if it's available to the public yet) . Essentials is an amazing toolset, but it is one of thousands. And you aren't doing yourself any favors by only trying to make another game that plays an official game.

That's the main reason I'm trying to get my overworld functionality done with for AWAKE, actually. I'd really like to make it doable to take out my combat system and even have file IO to just read the same stat sets as Essentials, so that people could try Unity if they aren't interested in shelling out the cash for RPG Maker. (Of course, that's not to say RPG Maker is a bad base engine, if you're willing to learn it. You get what you pay for - a solid tool which can do quite a bit on its own)

 

[Lusus]

I should have put IMO somewhere in my post, my bad, w/e.

And yeah the main problem is that people only make Pokemon-style games with Essentials here (except for rare cases) and non-Pokemon games are overlooked by most.

Also by checking the PE forum it's really easy to see that some people just don't know how to do anything. You see people asking to do basic thing like adding tilesets or removing an item from an inventory despite it being obvious or written on the wiki and shown on demonstration maps. Except for maybe a RPG Maker XP tutorial, i don't think making another PE tutorial would help, there is already a whole wiki.

I could be part of a group project, i have tons of free time lately and i haven't really been spending any of it towards GD like i should have. Plus i could learn something new from it. Just don't put me in charge of mapping unless it's a copy of an existing one (for example a Sinnoh map).

 

[☆Rei☆]

I think potential devs don't really see much of a difference between most rom hack games and game dev games. And generally rom hacking is easier to get into.
Actually, based on how much our games are mistaken from hacks, I think most people don't even realise rom hacking and gamedev are two different things.

My 2 cents? Gamedev should be less concerned with replicating the official pokemon games. Roms hacks do that well because they are taking a base game and just modifying it.

The strength of gamedev is that we can totally break any and all boundaries. We can take the traditional pokemon formular and subvert it with new mechanics and ideas you'd never see in any hack.

I definitely agree here. Also, don't forget to mention that a lot of the more experienced people are usually 17+ and don't have much free time to work on things. (if any)

 

[Tek]

Let me put it this way: I've tried to get into game development here before, and it would be pretty nice. The problem I've had, however, is with RMXP. Or rather, its price. Personally, I'm not willing to hand over some cash to some company for some game development platform from 2000 when I can just download a bunch of free stuff and do what I want (to make a Pokemon game) with ROM hacking. And there's no way I'm gonna try my luck downloading a "free" version of RMXP. So even if it has more features/possibilities/whatever, I'm not gonna pay ~$40 just to get it.

If there's ever going to be some sort of resurgence, I think there needs to be some form platform that is both easy to start on and free. ;)
I know I'd love the chance to try something like that.

My situation is similar to yours.

I lurked around quite a bit back when I got my current project in the Showcase. I felt like I should contribute since I was hoping for some feedback from the community. I was able to make a few helpful posts and participated in a bit of discussion.

But I'm using FlashDevelop and Flixel (which are freeware btw Hopeless), and most everything here involves Essentials which I don't have and don't know how to use. My ability to contribute to such projects is more or less limited to general OOP and coding principles. On top of that, there was zero interest expressed in my project, which I had assumed was because it isn't a Pokémon game. Thus I started hanging around less.

Not placing blame on myself or anyone here. Ironically, I suppose I had thought that this forum was more like this:

Another thing to consider is the scope of Game Dev. It's not just about making Pokémon computer games with Essentials. It also includes other original games, any medium you can think of (board/card/verbal/etc.), and even game mods. If it's creative and it's about a game, then it belongs in here.

... but that's not what I found.

Most of my energies have been directed elsewhere lately. I didn't even realize how quiet it had gotten in here. Depending on how things work out for me, I might have more time to contribute here in the coming weeks. Lot of changes happening for me right now.

 

[zingzags]

Sorry I did not get to read through all the posts, its true, when I joined so many years ago there were tons of projects happening. Now the community is becoming somewhat of a ghost town. I think it is because of the limitations with RMXP and essentials. For example, its not cross platform (a lot of people would have to run wine, or virtualize the windows OS. There is more of a demand for mobile applications (roms can be played on a mobile device), and etc. I was thinking of developing a open source pokemon game engine, written in java that will address some of these issues. Right now it is important to get the basic game mechanics working before taking any big steps.

 

[D. Lawride]

I was thinking of developing a open source pokemon game engine, written in java that will address some of these issues. Right now it is important to get the basic game mechanics working before taking any big steps.

There are some projects out there, also in Java, with a lot of the basics of a Pokemon engine established. I looked into trying to repurpose one or two, but I'm kind of picky about using other people's projects and code just like that. So hey, if you end up doing it and need some help.

 

[zingzags]

There are some projects out there, also in Java, with a lot of the basics of a Pokemon engine established. I looked into trying to repurpose one or two, but I'm kind of picky about using other people's projects and code just like that. So hey, if you end up doing it and need some help.

Well this is what I have now.
https://github.com/sjosegarcia/PokemonGDX