Greenlit: Make-a-Mega

[gimmepie]

The idea of the series is pretty much what's in the title. Each article will take a pokemon that in general does poorly and then propose a hypothetical mega that would give it a place in a higher-tiered meta-game or at least make it so it doesn't suck.

Pokemon I'm thinking would be good to look at
-Flygon
-Fearow
-Dunsparce
-Poliwrath
-Druddigon
-Others, so many others.

The articles will be rather lighthearted but I'll still write them somewhat intellectually. Probably with a format like

-Summary of the pokemon
-Why it sucks
-The theoretical Mega
-Why it would make it better

Ideally I'd like to work with an artist on this if it gets greenlit.

 

[gimmepie]

I love the 'why it sucks' part 8)

What kind of help you'll be needing from an artist?

"Why it sucks" is not really the focus though xD
The focus is on what kind of mega would make it better.

As for why I'd like to work with an artist, I think having art to go with the hypothetical mega would make the article more appealing.

 

[gimmepie]

I know, Pie pls, haha.

Art makes everything more appealing, however, it sounds like really heavy duty for an artist. One drawing, clean enough to be shown in the article would take time, and considering that you have several pokemons in mind... Well, let's just that it's a lot haha. I can offer my help though, perhaps with one pokemon.

I don't intend to do them all at once haha
It's meant to be an article series.

 

[Mobile Tsk]

Great idea. I'd love to see some proposals for some truly horrible Pokemon. It seems like they only gave a couple of those mega-evolutions.

 

[bobandbill]

I like this idea! Sounds like a nice creative project. Any preference for the first Pokemon to be written about? Also, I suppose down the track with the Pokemon Analysis series we could try and time one of these with those too.

The articles will be rather lighthearted but I'll still write them somewhat intellectually. Probably with a format like

-Summary of the pokemon
-Why it sucks
-The theoretical Mega
-Why it would make it better

Sounds like a good structure to me. Willing to wait to see if other battling folks have other ideas too.

Ideally I'd like to work with an artist on this if it gets greenlit.

I think the 'make a design for a mega' aspect would be neat to include. Granted it wouldn't be the easiest job, but maybe someone will be willing.

Alternatively (and I'll ping Fairy as well), one could hold a 'competition' or event in A&D - give anyone in there a while (during the article writing process) to make up their own design and maybe explain why they designed it like so, and all completed entries get featured in the article. Also, some fake mega forms already exist which could get a shout-out too. If anyone in the artist position wants to make a design too outside of the event then that can be included as well. Activity in A&D in a hopefully fun event and maybe more chance of getting art to go with the analysis. Thoughts on that approach?

.

 

[Fairy]

I'm sure A&D, and myself included, would love to contribute to this in some way. I second the approach of posting a small contest in A&D, though I'll leave how it should be structured up to you guys. Just let me know how we can get the ball rolling on this when it's green-lit and we'll do it! Sounds like a lot of fun and I know I will personally be contributing! :)

shotgun aromatisse >>

 

[gimmepie]

I'm sure A&D, and myself included, would love to contribute to this in some way. I second the approach of posting a small contest in A&D, though I'll leave how it should be structured up to you guys. Just let me know how we can get the ball rolling on this when it's green-lit and we'll do it! Sounds like a lot of fun and I know I will personally be contributing! :)

shotgun aromatisse >>

I was going to start with Flygon since the fanbase has been begging for a M-Flygon for years. I would be happy to go with Aromatisse first though if you'd like. :)

 

[gimmepie]

Snip

Snip

Double posting because I'm a rebel and quoting because I'm attention-seeking ;)

Just to get it clear how I think we could do this. We can decide on a pokemon we want to make a mega for. Then I can (or Kirby can if she'd rather) can post a competition thread in A&D explaining the pokemon, any planned type/stat changes and requesting artists design a mega to fit those changes with the winner being featured in the article.

Once I have the winner, I'll add their art (and mention who won) to the article.

I want to make this a regular thing, my question is how regular should it be to allow artists time to produce an image?

 

[bobandbill]

Double posting because I'm a rebel and quoting because I'm attention-seeking ;)

Just to get it clear how I think we could do this. We can decide on a pokemon we want to make a mega for. Then I can (or Kirby can if she'd rather) can post a competition thread in A&D explaining the pokemon, any planned type/stat changes and requesting artists design a mega to fit those changes with the winner being featured in the article.

Once I have the winner, I'll add their art (and mention who won) to the article.

I want to make this a regular thing, my question is how regular should it be to allow artists time to produce an image?

Agreed with the setup beyond maybe the winner bit. I'm not sure if it should be a competition where only one person's work gets featured, or an event where everyone's completed submission gets into the article. I personally prefer the latter, but not strongly attached to it either, so would like more viewpoints on this.

 

[gimmepie]

Agreed with the setup beyond maybe the winner bit. I'm not sure if it should be a competition where only one person's work gets featured, or an event where everyone's completed submission gets into the article. I personally prefer the latter, but not strongly attached to it either, so would like more viewpoints on this.

I honestly don't understand why some people are so adverse to competition, healthy friendly completion creates an incentive to produce great work.

Also, a single piece of art is going to be a lot less messy than a clump of different quality pieces of different sizes.

 

[bobandbill]

I honestly don't understand why some people are so adverse to competition, healthy friendly completion creates an incentive to produce great work.

Also, a single piece of art is going to be a lot less messy than a clump of different quality pieces of different sizes.

Haha, I'm not adverse to it (otherwise I wouldn't have helped run so many writing prompt comps in Get Togethers =p), just don't want to run the risk of other people being adverse and no submissions as a result - and imo designing a whole Pokemon mega is a decent bit of work and deserves at least a shoutout.

That said, it could be a competition with only the winner's piece included and the competition thread linked within the article so interested readers can see what else was made. Competition does require a touch more work in setting up and judging too - so I'm curious what is felt should be the best way to judge the pieces (yourself/Kirby, member vote?)

 

[gimmepie]

Haha, I'm not adverse to it (otherwise I wouldn't have helped run so many writing prompt comps in Get Togethers =p), just don't want to run the risk of other people being adverse and no submissions as a result - and imo designing a whole Pokemon mega is a decent bit of work and deserves at least a shoutout.

That said, it could be a competition with only the winner's piece included and the competition thread linked within the article so interested readers can see what else was made. Competition does require a touch more work in setting up and judging too - so I'm curious what is felt should be the best way to judge the pieces (yourself/fairy, member vote?)

I like the idea of featuring one piece of art and linking to the thread so the other artists aren't in it for nothing. As for how the winner would be decided, I'd rather put it to a member vote so we can't be accused of bias. Kirby would probably prefer that too since she mentioned she'd like to take part.

 

[Christos]

It'd be cool if you would pick a Pokémon and make a discussion thread in BTB or somewhere relevant where people can suggest stat, ability and typing changes and the reasoning behind their suggestions. That way there would be more involvement with the community and you'd potentially have more ideas and things to write about in the article.

 

[gimmepie]

It'd be cool if you would pick a Pokémon and make a discussion thread in BTB or somewhere relevant where people can suggest stat, ability and typing changes and the reasoning behind their suggestions. That way there would be more involvement with the community and you'd potentially have more ideas and things to write about in the article.

Also totally okay with this. I love the ways we could get the community more involved. Perhaps do a thread collecting suggestions and then do a polling thread? Similar to how the Community Polls in WoPC are handled.

 

[Christos]

Also totally okay with this. I love the ways we could get the community more involved. Perhaps do a thread collecting suggestions and then do a polling thread? Similar to how the Community Polls in WoPC are handled.

There could be a three week discussion thread (probably less, depends on the interest) and then a week when members can vote on the changes they would want for that Mega Evolution. If you're willing to do this regularly, the next discussion thread with a new Pokémon could be posted right afterwards and you could work on the article while members discuss about the next one.

There could also be a poll on the next Pokémon to get a Mega Evolution, you could give a choice of three Pokémon and do a poll, or have people suggest any Pokémon and choose one of those, or have a poll with the suggestions. Up to you. Unless that's what you meant by collecting suggestions and not suggestions on the Mega evolution changes.

There could be a week of picking a Pokémon, two weeks of discussion, and two weeks of voting on the changes. Then this could be monthly.

 

[gimmepie]

There could be a three week discussion thread (probably less, depends on the interest) and then a week when members can vote on the changes they would want for that Mega Evolution. If you're willing to do this regularly, the next discussion thread with a new Pokémon could be posted right afterwards and you could work on the article while members discuss about the next one.

There could also be a poll on the next Pokémon to get a Mega Evolution, you could give a choice of three Pokémon and do a poll, or have people suggest any Pokémon and choose one of those, or have a poll with the suggestions. Up to you. Unless that's what you meant by collecting suggestions and not suggestions on the Mega evolution changes.

There could be a week of picking a Pokémon, two weeks of discussion, and two weeks of voting on the changes. Then this could be monthly.

Monthly would be good. We can break it down further for convenience then.

Week 1: People suggest possible pokemon and then vote on which one we pick.
Week 2: The A&D side can start whilst changes are discussed.
Week 3: A&D winner is decided, changes are finalised.
Week 4: Article is published.

How does that sound?

 

[Christos]

Monthly would be good. We can break it down further for convenience then.

Week 1: People suggest possible pokemon and then vote on which one we pick.
Week 2: The A&D side can start whilst changes are discussed.
Week 3: A&D winner is decided, changes are finalised.
Week 4: Article is published.

How does that sound?

The changes could affect that design of the Mega I think. Typing especially, stat changes (if a Pokémon is decided it should be more defensive, it'll be reflected in the design) and sometimes abilities too. If the changes are discussed and decided on by week 3, A&D could have two weeks for the design. Discussion could still go on after the changes are decided on to get ideas on what to include in the article. And the article can be published in the first week of the next Make-a-Mega event.

 

[gimmepie]

The changes could affect that design of the Mega I think. Typing especially, stat changes (if a Pokémon is decided it should be more defensive, it'll be reflected in the design) and sometimes abilities too. If the changes are discussed and decided on by week 3, A&D could have two weeks for the design. Discussion could still go on after the changes are decided on to get ideas on what to include in the article. And the article can be published in the first week of the next Make-a-Mega event.

That is a very valid point.
I'm with you there.

 

[wolf]

We can also implement these on the battle server once we have a PS client. :) There will be an Improve-A-Pokemon project for BTB in the future too, so you could keep that in mind when deciding what Pokemon to make Megas for. e.g. Would the Pokemon benefit more from receiving buffs or being given a new Mega? This is relevant if we were to put all of them in a battle format. Some Megas simply don't see use not because they're bad, but because there are better Megas to use your Mega slot for.

I think you should follow a similar process to Smogon's Create-A-Pokemon project, but much shorter and less extensive (not as many polls). They've been doing CAP for a very long time and have developed a process that works well, so it'd be a wise to take inspiration from it. Discuss, nominate, and vote on each detail of the process at a time (1. typing, 2. discussion of what would threaten the Mega and how to fix that (if this is worth it?), 3. ability, 4. stats), then have the artists submit designs for the Mega and vote on that. You can include all of the submitted designs in the Daily article, but I think there should be a chosen design in the end.

 

[gimmepie]

We can also implement these on the battle server once we have a PS client. :) There will be an Improve-A-Pokemon project for BTB in the future too, so you could keep that in mind when deciding what Pokemon to make Megas for. e.g. Would the Pokemon benefit more from receiving buffs or being given a new Mega? This is relevant if we were to put all of them in a battle format. Some Megas simply don't see use not because they're bad, but because there are better Megas to use your Mega slot for.

I think you should follow a similar process to Smogon's Create-A-Pokemon project, but much shorter and less extensive (not as many polls). They've been doing CAP for a very long time and have developed a process that works well, so it'd be a wise to take inspiration from it. Discuss, nominate, and vote on each detail of the process at a time (1. typing, 2. discussion of what would threaten the Mega and how to fix that (if this is worth it?), 3. ability, 4. stats), then have the artists submit designs for the Mega and vote on that. You can include all of the submitted designs in the Daily article, but I think there should be a chosen design in the end.

So we should break it down even further and poll for every aspect?