Pokemon GB3: Rise of The Forbidden Faction [TCG fan-game]

[abcd_z]

I'm currently working on a fan-sequel to Pokemon Card GB2: Team Great Rocket Arrives. It will include TCG Island from the first two games, as well as Neo Continent, which covers the Gym and Neo expansions of the card game. The villainous organization Forbidden Faction uses powerful "forbidden" cards in their deck, and they've ransacked TCG Island in search of the legendary pokemon-ex cards to make themselves even stronger. Their leader is the apprentice of King Villicci from GB2, who didn't agree with her master's change of heart at the end of the last game.

The project uses Python and the library Pygame for the game itself, which will then be ported to HTML5 so you can play it right in your browser.

Planned features:

All cards from all the expansions from Base to Neo.
Point-buy mechanic to balance OP cards.
"-ex Pokemon" Pokemon Tool card that makes your Pokemon more powerful at a cost.
Browser playable.
A lot of references to '90s and 2000s media. Like, a lot.

Here are some mock-ups of what the game might look like when it's done:

 

[abcd_z]

Right now I'm mostly focusing on creating an enjoyable game progression, designing appropriate AI strength and card availability. Any thoughts or feedback would be greatly appreciated.


At the beginning of the game the player character didn't bring his deck to TCG Island, so he gets a crappy loaner deck.

To create a sense of progression I'm going to sort the cards from Base to Rocket by value. (Actually, the program will do that for me, as a side-effect of how I'm coding the AI.) Until the Forbidden Faction is expelled from TCG Island around the halfway mark of the game, the booster packs will only contain cards that are in the lower half of the power/utility ranking. This will be justified in-game by the card printers not wanting to operate while there is terrorist activity on the island.

The trainers will only have decks that pull from the same card pool, so there should still be fair battles.

Forbidden cards can be obtained by defeating the Forbidden Faction members that are scattered about the island. These tend to be on the high end of the power scale. Each forbidden card has a point value from 1 to 8, and you cannot make a deck that is worth more than 8 points.

Here's the list of the forbidden cards and their point totals. It was obtained by taking several Japanese point-buy lists and literally just averaging them.

Spoiler: The full list of point costs

Dark Vileplume 8
GR Team's Mewtwo 7
Sneasel (Neo Genesis) 7
Aerodactyl (Fossil) 6
Erika's Jigglypuff 6
Mr. Mime (Expansion sheet 1, blue) 4
Muk (Fossil) 5
Chaos Gym 4
Super Energy Removal 4
Clefable (Jungle) 4
Chansey (Base) 4
Snorlax (Expansion sheet 1, blue) 4
Team Rocket's Trap 4
Itemfinder 4
Imposter Oak's Revenge 4
Blastoise (Base) 4
Wigglytuff (Jungle) 3
Rocket's Zapdos 3
Feraligatr (Neo Genesis) 3
Focus Band 3
Elekid (Neo Genesis) 3
Cleffa (Neo Genesis) 3
Tyrogue (Neo Discovery) 2
Double Colorless Energy 3
Porygon (Fan Club promo) 3
Lass 3
Mr Mime (Jungle) 3
Gastly (Expansion sheet 3, green) 2
Electrode (base) 2
Pichu (Neo Genesis) 2
Energy Removal 2
Gust of Wind 2
Computer Search 2
Magby (Neo Genesis) 2
Recycle Energy 2
Gold Berry 2
Hungry Snorlax (promo) 1
Scyther (Jungle) 1
Electabuzz (base) 1
Cleffa ((Wizards) promo) 1
Psyduck (Fossil) 1
Double Gust 2
Rocket's Sneak Attack 1
Igglybuff ((Wizards) promo) 1
Macargo (Neo Revelation) 2
Ho-oh (Neo Revelation) 1
Misty's Wrath 1
Steel Energy 1
Koffing (Expansion Sheet 2, Red) 1
Misty's Staryu (Gym Challenge) 1
Meganium (Neo Genesis) 1
Typhlosion (Neo Genesis) 1
Smoochum (Corocoro Promo) 1
Magmar (Fossil) 1
Hitmonchan (Base) 1
Omanyte (Expansion sheet 3, green) 2
Shiny Raichu 1
Tickling Machine 1
Alakazam (base) 1
Murkrow (Neo Genesis) 1
Unown U (Neo Discovery) 2
Misty 1
Unown Q (Neo Destiny) 1

Once you defeat a trainer you unlock the ability to increase the strength of their AI. This is not rewarded in any way, it's only if the player wants a self-imposed challenge.

You also unlock optional challenges that reward you with extra booster packs if you win the duel. Examples:

You may only use the same types of basic energies that the trainer has.
You must include 4 of a specific Pokemon that the trainer has.
A stadium card is played at the beginning of the duel that cannot be replaced.
The player's deck cannot contain forbidden cards.

Once you defeat the Forbidden Faction leader around the midgame, you obtain 4 "-ex Pokemon" trainer card, which increases the attached Pokemon's HP by 20, adds 10 damage to each attack as long as the attack doesn't do more than 60 damage total, and causes your opponent to draw two prize cards instead of one if they defeat your attached Pokemon.

Defeating the Forbidden Faction leader also unlocks the advanced booster packs, so the player can travel around TCG Island and get better cards. It also unlocks the airport, so that they can travel to Neo Continent, home of the Gym and Neo expansions.

With the inclusion of dark and steel type in the TCG, there are just enough types for each club on the Neo Continent to be unique. Though, finding enough Pokemon to fully stock them might be an issue.

The 8 clubs on TCG Island:

Rock
Lightning
Fighting
Water
Grass
Science (poison)
Psychic
Fire

The 8 clubs on Neo Continent:

Flying
Bug
Normal
Ghost
Steel
Ice
Dark
Ground

 

[Serox]

Are you using the first or second game as a base?

 

[abcd_z]

Are you using the first or second game as a base?

Neither. The plan is to build it from scratch using Python and the Pygame library.

The hardest part will be converting the many different attacks and Pokemon Powers into code. I'm still working on the design, because I want to make absolutely sure that the code is modular and won't devolve into a jumbled mess of ad hoc exceptions that make it hard to extend and harder to debug.

 

[abcd_z]

Gentlemen, behold! The first in-game render!


Also, here's the program I put together to generate collision detection maps. I click the tiles, they turn red, then the program exports that information for use elsewhere.

 

[abcd_z]

Slowly but surely making my way through the project. At this rate, it may be ready some time next year. : P

Anyhow, here's some more images.

Flying Club:



Neo Continent Overworld:

Any similarities to World 1 of Super Mario Bros. 3 is completely intentional. ; )


Neo Continent Grand Master Stadium:

Here we see the four Grand Masters Crono, Marle, Lucca and Magus. (OC, do not steal. /s)