Pokémon Invasion

[eggonyofase]

Hello, PokéCommunity! My name is Ethan, also known as "eggonyofase." I am here to introduce to you my first ever Pokémon fan game, "Pokémon Invasion."

This thread will be updated as progress on the game is made.

Introduction
I had the first idea for Pokémon invasion shortly after beating Pokémon Sun and Moon. I left the game with a sense of intrigue in the new lore of the Pokémon world, specifically the invasion of the Ultra Beast menace caused by Lusamine. I found it strange that we never really got to see the Ultra Beasts do anything of note. We only heard of their destructive capabilities and never saw them terrorize the world. I thought that a game where you actively fight the UB threat and see just what they are capable of would be interesting, and such, Pokémon Invasion was born.

Details
Pokémon Invasion is being made using RPG Maker XP and Pokémon Essentials. All 807 currently known Pokémon can be captured in the game and many of them have changed stats, abilities and movepools. I am currently the only one working on this project aside from a couple artists whom I know personally, but I would be very glad to have a team of fans working alongside me.

Plot
Prepare for a lot of reading.

Welcome to the Kaua'hale region, a region near Alola known for being the birthplace of competitive Pokémon battles. Kaua'hale was first discovered by travelers from Alola, and they were fascinated by the immense variety of native species. A heated battle community was quickly formed, and trainers from around the world flocked there to test their skills. As such, popular battling Pokémon such as Gible, Beldum, and Fletchling were captured in large numbers and got to experience the benefits of a trainer, while the weaker ones like Sunkern, Burmy, and Yungoos were left alone. Longing for the company of humans, weaker Pokémon like these adapted to be more competitively potent, raising their stats, learning new moves, and even gaining new abilities. Furret, for example, become popular among trainers as both a physical wall with its new Fur Coat ability and a sweeper with access to Huge Power and Extreme Speed. The competitive battling scene is flourishing and the Kaua'hale region prospers. It has been two months since the incident in which Lusamine of the Aether Foundation brought Ultra Beasts to the Pokémon world, and the UBs determine that since their existence is widely known, they must destroy the humans before they are destroyed by them. They decide to attack during the first annual Pokémon Cup, an event in which notable trainers from across the land are invited to battle it out to determine the best of the best. After all, what better time to strike than when the world's most powerful trainers are all in one place? Meanwhile, on the shore of Kaua'hale Bay, two familiar faces find a child washed up unconscious on the beach. They nurse the child to health, who remembers nothing but their name. The child then sets out on their adventure in the Kaua'hale region. Meet new and familiar characters, earn Z-Crystals and Mega Stones, take on the gym challenge, and defend Kaua'hale from total destruction at the hands of the Ultra Beasts. A new and challenging experience awaits. Now step forth, and enter the world of Pokémon!

Game Features/Mechanics

Pokémon Invasion's main quest revolves around the established gym style adventure from most Pokémon games. The two most notable new elements are the Pokémon Cup and the new Beast Battle type.

First up, the Pokémon Cup.

The Pokémon Cup is a facility that is kind of like a combination of the best parts of the Pokémon World Tournament from Black 2 and White 2 and the Battle Tree from Sun and Moon. Take on famous trainers from the past games in a ladder style challenge, where you start against the weaker trainers and move on to the more powerful ones. Don't slack yet, though, even the starting trainers pack a wallop with competitive grade Pokémon with EVs, high IVs, items, and Z-moves and Mega Evolution at their disposal. To make winning here feasible, obtaining competitive grade Pokémon is easier through returning mechanics such as Super Training, Hyper Training, and the DexNav. Each region has its own cup with trainers from that region for you to take on. The final feature of the Pokémon Cup is the ability to pit any two AI controlled trainers of your choosing against each other to settle debates of "Who would win in a fight?" Complete with Single Battles, Double Battles, Triple Battles, Rotation Battles, Inverse Battles, Battle Royals, and the new Beast Battle type, as well as a store to purchase common competitively used items, the Pokémon Cup has it all!

Speaking of Beast Battles, just what are they?

The Beast Battle is a type of Battle that you will encounter multiple times throughout your journey. When the UBs attack, you will be sent on a mission to take out each respective queen UB, and you will fight them in a Beast Battle. The UB queen you fight will have not one, not two, but at least three bars of health to make a single opponent more of a threat. They will also gain increased stats, as well as the ability to call in support of lesser UBs in the same vein as a Totem Battle from Sun and Moon. The Beast Battle type is also available to players in the Pokémon Cup and trainers you encounter later in your journey. Bathed in the Beast Boost from passing through an Ultra Wormhole, these trainers will have one Pokémon that benefits from all the same effects as a UB during a Beast Battle, though they will not be able to summon Pokémon as support. Trainers that battle you in a Beast Battle will have a yellow glow around them on the overworld. At the start of a Beast Battle, the Pokémon at the front of your party will gain two extra health bars and all of its stats will be increased by one stage. To keep things balanced, Pokémon with extremely high defense and HP stats will only get one extra health bar (fighting a Toxic stalling Chansey is already bad enough). It should also be noted that if a Pokémon under the effects of Beast Boost loses one of its health bars, it cannot be regained. For example, if a Venusaur under Beast Boost is attacked and loses a health bar and damage is done to its next health bar, using Synthesis would only refill HP to its current health bar. The same goes for a queen UB fought during an attack mission. Finally, a Pokémon under Beast Boost controlled by a trainer will have its stats permanently raised, even if switched out. Its stats can be lowered, however. During a Beast Battle at the Pokémon Cup, you will get to choose the Pokémon that gets the Beast Boost before the battle begins, but that Pokémon must be sent out first. Will you choose to give your sweeper more health? Will you make your wall even bulkier? Or will you give your support or pivot an extra chunk of life to keep your team fighting fit? There are many possible strategies in the exhilarating Beast Battle!

*UPDATE 8/5/17* Balance changes

For those of you who are interested, I have included a list of all the balance changes made to the Pokémon, attacks, abilities, and items in the game. Some got minor changes while some got changed dramatically. Please note that stat changes only apply to the fully evolved forms of these Pokémon unless specified otherwise. They are separated by generation so use Ctrl+F to search a specific gen or Pokémon. These changes are not set in stone so feel free to leave suggestions.

*UPDATE 12/4/17* BALANCE CHANGES 2.0

After looking back at these changes, I am unhappy with how many of them turned out so I am redoing them. All of the changes are now complete and can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/183jkCa2BL0XLQYOkwhKmojy7cGUGT-dekQD6macxWog/edit?usp=sharing

I may change these more later on so feel free to leave feedback.

Credits
Gen 7 PBS:
- Zeak6464
- TapuFini
- SpartaLazor
- leparagon
- Bulbapedia
- Serebii
- M3rein
- BlackOutG5
- Rune
- Rigbycwts
- Rot8er_ConeX
- James Davy
- Luka S.J.

Elite Battle System
https://sj-web.byethost18.com/Downloads/BattleSys/index.html?i=1

Sprites:
GameFreak | Original sprites from B/W/2 games
Pokecheck.org | Ripping the sprites from B2/W2 roms
Luka S.J. | Indexing and formatting the sprites
PinkCatDragon | GIF to PNG conversion
Tebited15 | B/W styled trainer Red sprite
Spriters-Resource (redblueyellow) | Gen 5 ball sprites
Battle Backgrounds:
Eli | Ripping and compiling the backgrounds
lilatraube | Some B2/W2 battle bases
Custom UI:
Luka S.J. | Design, formatting and implementation
Scripts:
Luka S.J. | Elite Battle System
Maruno | General help and support
PinkCatDragon | GIF to PNG converter
Pokémon Essentials | Base system
Sound Effects:
GameFreak | Original sound effects from B/W/2 games
BadSamaritan | Ripping the sound effects

Universal Plugin Installer
https://sj-web.byethost18.com/Downloads/installer.html

Berka - Net:HTTP backbone
ForeverZer0 and KK20 - Being able to run the program in the background
ForeverZer0 - RPG.Net
Marin - Functionality/UI ideas, concepts and testing
Peter O. - Various Win32API functionality

XY Sprite Project
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...d-1st-post-release-v1-1-on-post-3240.3486712/

Sun/Moon Sprite Project
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sun-moon-sprite-project-dawn-of-a-new-day.3577711/

Miscellaneous Info

Please note that this game is extremely early in development, so early in fact, that I don't imagine a demo will be released any time soon. For the meantime, I would love to hear your thoughts on what I have so far and would be overjoyed if any of you talented people in the community would be as kind as to lend your skills to the project. I will either update this thread or make a new one listing what exactly I am looking for in terms of staff very soon, but for now, you can contact me by sending me a private message here, but I will be much more likely to respond if you email me at [email protected]. Thank you all for reading and for supporting fan game creators such as myself. I look forward to interacting with you all in the future and bringing you the most quality game I possibly can.

Best wishes,

eggonyofase

 

[Hawkeye17]

You idea sound amazing would be eager to play the game.

 

[eggonyofase]

Thanks for the interest! Here's hoping I can make some real progress soon.

 

[eggonyofase]

COMMUNITY RECRUITMENT - BECOME A PART OF THE POKÈMON INVASION TEAM!

Hey, everyone. As promised, I am going to be recruiting you fans to join me on developing this game. Whether you be an artist or musician, scriptor or animator, tester or translator, your talents can be of use. Below are different jobs organized by priority with the top being most important to the bottom being least important. If you are interested in joining the team or have any questions, private message me here or email me at [email protected]. Your name will of course be listed in the credits if you contribute. I hope you all will support this project even if you don't directly contribute and that you will enjoy the game.

Alola,

eggonyofase

This list may be updated with more jobs in the future, so please check back often!

ARTISTS

When I imagine the finished product of Pokémon Invasion, I imagine a cinematic story with unique and colorful characters. I understand that fully animated cutscenes are a lot of work, so instead I request still images used to convey the story. I recommend you look at cutscenes from the game Skullgirls if you don't quite understand what I mean. But if anyone is up to the task of creating fully animated cutscenes, then please, be my guest! I would also like concept artists to draw characters and environments to help bring the Kaua'hale region to life. While it is unlikely every submission will make it into the game, the game will feature an art gallery made up of all the art submitted to me, even if your piece is not used in the game itself. So even if you have an old drawing you did of a custom trainer lying around, submit it! Keep in mind that if I like it enough, the design will be used, so don't submit anything you aren't comfortable showing to the community.

MUSICIANS

Pokémon games are known for having great soundtracks, and I don't want Invasion to be any different. Feel free to submit anything whether it be rock and roll, orchestral, jazz, techno, whatever! You can do remixes of themes from past games or original pieces. Make them fun and peppy for routes, emotional for cutscenes, or ambient for towns. Submit whatever you like! Like art submissions, Invasion will have a sound test mode where you can listen to all the game's music, as well as submissions that did not end up in the final product. The sky is the limit for you artists and musicians, so let your creative juices flow!

PROGRAMMERS

As much as I hate to admit it, I am pretty incompetent when it comes to scripts. It is something I plan to work on, but for now, feel free to lend your help to this game as a programmer! Most of the script for basic stuff like attacks and abilities is already done, which is why this job is lower priority. However, there is still lots of work to be done here, so don't worry about being left with little to do. Unlike art and music, sending in pieces to prove your worth is tricky, but if you would like to send me something you scripted as a sort of audition, feel free! I'm looking for people who can script with the best of them, so put those big brains of yours to work!

GAME TESTERS

This one is pretty self explanatory, but it is still important. If you become a tester, you will receive the most recent build of the game before anyone else to test the new features added. You may also receive a special tester build to allow you to do your job more efficiently. Not just anyone can be a tester, though. I may want to speak with you a bit before giving you the title, so if you're interested, just ask!

TRANSLATORS

This one is pretty low on my list because most fan games are only in English and translating is not an easy job. But I would like to get this game into the hands of as many people as possible, so if you can translate text from English to other common languages, I would be happy to welcome you to the team!

 

[eggonyofase]

Hi, everybody. I wanted to inform you all that I am in the process of moving, so there may not be many updates over the next few days. That does not mean I haven't been working, however. Rest assured, I will keep working whenever I have the chance. Thank you all for your understanding and support.

Smell ya later,

eggonyofase

 

[eggonyofase]

Hey, guys.

It's been awhile since my last post, but I have gotten settled in at my new home, so progress will now be continuing. I'm currently working on scripts for abilities, moves, and transformations added in Gen 7. Afterwards, I will edit the existing scripts and PBS to reflect the changes listed in my original post, and I will then start figuring out triple, rotation, and beast battles. This will likely take a few months, but I will continue to update as progress is made. Once again, if anyone is interested in helping with scripts or other aspects of the game, don't hesitate to let me know!

Adieu,

eggonyofase

 

[eggonyofase]

Hi, everyone.

I'm posting today to let you know that development on Pok?mon Invasion has been put on pause and the game may possibly cease development entirely. I'm sorry if this news disappoints you, but allow me to explain. When I began work on Invasion, I wanted to create an experience unlike anything that has been in the main series while still feeling like an official game. As the release of Pok?mon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon draws nearer, new information about the new games comes too. It seems like whenever a new bit of information comes out, it is remarkably similar to ideas I had planned for the game. Though I intended it to go unannounced until release, I planned to include [REDACTED]. I was honestly surprised at how many ideas Game Freak and I shared, but that's just the way it goes. If I feel Pok?mon Invasion has potential to be unique even after USUM are released, I will continue development. Otherwise, the project will be canceled and this thread will be deleted soon after. However, that doesn't mean I will give up on creating a Pok?mon fan game. Rest assured, should Invasion be canceled, another project with fresh, new ideas will take its place.

With that, I want to thank you for taking your time to read this and for anyone who has even viewed this thread. Knowing that over 1,000 people have taken interest in my idea has given me more confidence to continue working, and I hope that whatever ideas I may come up with next will excite you. The time I've spent working on Invasion has been some of the most fun I've had in a while, and I know that I will enjoy working on whatever comes next, whether it be finishing what I started or something brand new. Thank you all so much for your continued support.

Best wishes,

eggonyofase

 

[eggonyofase]

Hi, guys.

Now that Pok?mon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are out, I've decided that Pok?mon Invasion is NOT getting canceled. Now that we know everything the game includes, I have decided that my ideas are different and unique enough to warrant making the game. Sorry if I worried any of you :)

While I'm here, I should clarify that every change made in USUM moveset wise will be in Invasion, as well as all new items, moves, and Pok?mon. If any content is added later on as DLC or the like, I will update you all on its inclusion in the game. Thank you for reading.

Alola,

eggonyofase

 

[Hawkeye17]

Hi, guys.

Now that Pok?mon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are out, I've decided that Pok?mon Invasion is NOT getting canceled. Now that we know everything the game includes, I have decided that my ideas are different and unique enough to warrant making the game. Sorry if I worried any of you :)

While I'm here, I should clarify that every change made in USUM moveset wise will be in Invasion, as well as all new items, moves, and Pok?mon. If any content is added later on as DLC or the like, I will update you all on its inclusion in the game. Thank you for reading.

Alola,

Eggonyofase

Yes. Thank you for not cancelling the game. Have you started making the game?

 

[eggonyofase]

Yes. Thank you for not cancelling the game. Have you started making the game?

I am thankful and excited that you are looking forward to my game. At the moment, I am working on the balance changes for all the Pok?mon. I expect to have them complete and implemented by the end of this month. After that, I will work on the scripts for the moves, abilities, and such. I think that will take around a month. I hope to begin working on the actual game by January, but I have already done some work on world design, plot, and characters. Information on this will be posted around the time of a demo release.

 

[eggonyofase]

Hello, everyone. It's been a couple months since the last post, so I figured I should update everyone on what's going on.

In my last post, I said that I would be working on scripts that should have been done at the beginning of this year. Unfortunately, they are incomplete, but I came to a decision that took priority for me. I am happy to announce that Pokémon Invasion will be using Luka S.J .'s Elite Battle System, as well as other assets from his and Marin's Universal Plugin Installer. Not only that, but I have decided that the game will in fact use animated Pokémon and trainer sprites in battle. Thanks to EBS, UPI, and animated sprites from the XY Sprite Project and Sun/Moon Sprite Project on Smogon, Pokémon Invasion will deliver a level of polish unobtainable in Pokémon Essentials alone.

I have a few more things to mention while I'm here. First, a few character designs are in the process of being finalized. I don't plan on showing them off for a while, but I am working with some very good friends of mine to make sure the characters of Pokémon Invasion are not only well designed, but likable characters to join you on your journey. Second, while this is not final, I plan to make the game online compatible using netplay. I thought it would be fun for players to use their teams of revamped Pokémon against their friends, so I hopefully will have this working smoothly by the end of development. Finally, I know I said the game will have no Fakemon, but, I think I'm gonna have to go back on that. Don't expect too many new Pokémon, maybe about a dozen. I do however hope that these new Pokémon will excite you both with their designs and battle properties.

I have many more things planned for the game, but I will save those for later. After all, I need to save something to keep you all in suspense. Thank you for reading,

Eggonyofase

 

[eggonyofase]

So, it's been exactly two months since my last update, and I feel like I owe you all an apology. In this time, I have been extremely unproductive. I have finalized a couple Fakemon designs, but other than that, I have nothing to show. I previously stated that I would be working on animated sprites, but I fear I may have bitten off more than I can chew. This is not to say that they will not be in the game, but they are now a much lower priority for me. The frustration from making the sprites became too much until I quit working all together for the last couple months. I take full responsibility and totally understand if you feel upset.

So, my next course of action: First, I will finish scripts and develop a working demo of the game, at which point I will start promoting the game on different social media, primarily amino, in hopes of getting more people from the community to help out, otherwise I'll just have to do it myself. I will also be updating my jobs post to include sprite animators as top priority. My current staff is the same two people I mentioned before, but I now have a third artist who I believe to be the most talented artist I have personally known. Their names will be added to the credits list soon. In the mean time, I humbly encourage you all once again to message me if you are interested in helping out. Your assistance would prove invaluable to me. Thank you for reading.

Eggonyofase