Pokemon: Project "New Game"

[mpuppy4]

[This will be updated as new ideas, concept art, and screenshots come to be.]
POKEMON: PROJECT NEW GAME
I'm bad at titles. The game is just a concept right now, so said concept was given the first name I came up with.

I'm a writer. I write fanfiction as a hobby and am working on a series of fantasy adventure novels that I someday hope to publish. As such, the first thing I consider in everything I create is the story.
I've been a fan of Pokemon since elementary school, and I've always dreamed of making my own games. Now, thanks to RPG Maker VX Ace, that dream can be brought to fruition. But I'm gonna need your help.

Pokemon: Project New Game is an idea I've been developing for a little over a year. It takes place in an original region (as of now not named) featuring a full Pokedex of original Pokemon, as well as most of the Pokemon Gens 1-7.
The biggest idea about the game is that it features a branching storyline depending on the decisions you make. You can become the Champion, a Pokemon researcher, a Contest Superstar (if I can work contests into the game), or even work with the Evil Team (also as of now unnamed).
The game will be developed in RPG Maker VX Ace. I had been working on a demo of the game in RPG Maker XP using Pokemon Essentials, but I was overwhelmed by how complex all of the workings were. I've been using Ace for a couple years to make small games for my own pleasure, and I understand how it works very well. I decided that it would be better to develop with that one.
I will fully admit that I'm more of a storyteller than a programmer, and something of this caliber will take me quite a while to complete. But, I'm determined, and I've got the ideas. Even if it does take a while, I plan to see this project come to fruition.

You play as your character, a fourteen-year-old whose canon name is either Judd or Piper depending on the gender you choose. They come from a small farming hamlet called Savor Town, which is located near the far southwest of the region. They don't have much interest in leaving their mother and farm to go off on a Pokemon journey, but aren't given much of a choice when their best friends Nikolai and Tessa get a hold of a Pokemon Professor (also unnamed), who can offer the three rare Pokemon to be used for battle.
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Nikolai and Tessa have both long dreamed of leaving to battle the Pokemon League and become great trainers. It's your choice to decide whether or not Judd and Piper go with them.
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Of course, fate is a cruel mistress, and there's only one of several endings where you can actually stay in Savor Town. You literally just stay in Savor Town and get a "THE END". It's the least eventful of the endings. Unless you look closer.
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Eventually you discover a nefarious crime organization who seems to be on the trail of a powerful Legendary Pokemon. Combating this organization is a boy who never tells you his name. You have the option to nickname him, and his canon nickname is "Axel" (which Judd/Piper just chooses because they think it sounds "edgy"). You meet him several times throughout your journey.
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There are Eight Gym Leaders scattered throughout the region. Each one is lightly inspired by a specific fandom. This inspiration is meant not to be intrusive, but just to get a little chuckle or two out of anyone who gets the reference.
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The Gym Leaders each play a reoccurring role in the story, and there are several other characters who tag along throughout the adventure. Be prepared to see a lot of the same faces multiple times.
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As of right now, this is just a concept, and I need all of the help I can get. So, below is the list of things I'm going to need to set this project into motion. It's going to start off with small things, mostly things that anyone can do like pitching ideas and coming up with character designs. However, as the project gets farther into development, I may start requesting things like sprites and music. Hopefully I can do most of the work on my own, but help is always appreciated.

Things You Can Help Me With Right Now:

1. Give me ideas for the starters. What animals they should be based on, what their secondary typing should be, etc.
2. Help me name things. The Region, the Professor, and the Pokemon.
3. Pitch legends and myths that I can base Legendaries off of. (Note: The game will have no more than 5 Fakemon Legendaries in it).
4. Pitch ideas for an actual title. (Note: This will only be one game, not two.)
   
5. Give me ideas for story arcs and endings.
6. I may not be able to include every canon Pokemon, so please tell me if there are any that NEED to be included, and if there are any you think it would be okay to drop.
   
7. Give me any ideas you have at all!

Things That I Hope To Include in the Game:

1. Multiple Save Files
   
2. Contests
3. Mega Evolution
4. Triple Battles
5. A full Pokedex of Fakemon
   
6. Branching Storylines
7. At least 10 endings
8. An aftergame
9. At least 2 regions

Please check back for updates, and give me what feedback you can.
I appreciate everything.
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[VioletMusings]

Very ambitious for a first project. To be honest, branching storylines are a PAIN to work with, especially if you're only begining. I'd suggest scaling back a tad. I'm not saying it can't be done, frankly, I hate the word "can't", but I also believe one should not put too much on themselves, otherwise they are risking a very quick burnout.

 

[juliorain]

Hi! glad you're starting out. I'm finally programming my first (I've made others in the past but they never made it past pre-development planning).

With RPG Maker XP Pokemon Essentials mega evolution comes pre-programmed. It is compatible with multiple save files, but you'll have to find the right script.

Also with regards to the work, I hope you have have a plan or some sort of idea to have for the multiple endings. I say this because the way you keep track of things like branching plots is that you need variables and global switches and you'll have to keep track of all of them.

Give me ideas for the starters. What animals they should be based on, what their secondary typing should be, etc.
Help me name things. The Region, the Professor, and the Pokemon.
Pitch legends and myths that I can base Legendaries off of. (Note: The game will have no more than 5 Fakemon Legendaries in it).
Pitch ideas for an actual title. (Note: This will only be one game, not two.)
Give me ideas for story arcs and endings.
I may not be able to include every canon Pokemon, so please tell me if there are any that NEED to be included, and if there are any you think it would be okay to drop.
Give me any ideas you have at all!

Just as a btw (and I learned this the hard way myself) is don't ask for too much help because help is one thing that can be abused and looks bad on your part.

With your starter ideas all I can tell you is that your starters will be with your character the entire game, so have them be fun, interesting, and most of all consistent with the theme and plot of your game. This is a fangame you're creating so you have the ability to do any starter choices you want. You could keep the grass/fire/water trope, or you could abandon that tired trope. It's all up to you. Same with the legendary pokemon. With legendaries what kind of lore does your region have? Since you want 2 regions, does each region get their own? What kind of mysteries to solve or bad guys to overcome? All of those play into what your legend will be.

EDIT: Take Sinnoh for example. The starters a piplup, chimchar, and turtwig. Sinnoh is a cold place based on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. The starters are all reminiscent of a cold place: piplup is a penguin, turtwig is a deciduous tree sapling, and chimchar is probably one of the bonobos a money who bathes in the thermal baths of the northern part of Hokkaido. Dialga aad Palkia, gardians of time and space would be irrelevant unless Team Galactic pursued them and if they weren't discussed in both lore and modern times all across Sinnoh.

 

[SightlessReality]

I can help by giving pokemon ideas.

Such as one based on the Mantis Shrimp

The way I see it, it doesn't have an evolution but could have a Mega if you implemented that into your game.

Mantis Shrimps are known for 2 things, their very fast strikes & their eyes. With that in mind we can note that this pokemon would be a Physical Attacker & have a good deal of speed. So it's stat spread could be like this.

HP 80
Atk 120
Def 70
Sp.Atk 60
Sp. Def 70
Spe 130
Which adds up to 530 total.

Now abilities is also a pretty easy thing to do.
Since Mantis Shrimp are known for their strong punches it makes sense that it would have the Iron Fist Ability.

Now because it's eyes are known as the most advanced sensory organs to me this deserves a custom hidden ability. The way I see it, this new ability should combine the abilities "Compound Eyes" & "Keen Eye" together. Another idea is instead have it gain a 1 Accuracy at the end of every turn like "Speed Boost" does for speed.

Now for move sets, giving it a move set that takes advantage of Iron Fist seems the best. It could also be given low accuracy moves too.

Typing wise, It should at least have a water typing. As for it's secondary either Fighting or Steel but I'm leaning more for Steel but that's your call.

Tell me what you think. :)

 

[SpartaLazor]

Well, after reading the initial post, it sounds like you're just rushing right into this without too much thought of what developing a game entails. There's nothing wrong with ambition, you just need to know that it's not going to be anywhere near as easy as you think. Especially since you only seem to have a small concept of what's the game will be.

Just some words of advice: Take some time and flesh things out on your own. Don't jump ahead and ask people for suggestions. This is your game so you should do it your way. Think things through. Figure out what you want. Game titles really aren't difficult, if you know what you're doing. Just envision the overall theme or the main idea of the game (when you have one) and derive a title from that. It's still not much of a cake walk, but once you have an idea, a title shouldn't be that far behind.

About games with branching storylines, you need to own every branch. You need to know every small detail and every option and every outcome and how that will play into the next segment and what options those segments will bring and so on. You need to have it all thought out and all organized. Games like that are a hell of a lot harder to make than a linear storyline, especially for someone who's aiming to work alone. Speaking from experience, it's so easy to get screwed up when you make the game without knowing all the different outcomes.

So I would recommend that you plot out every little detail before hand.

1. Figure out the characters and who they are - their personality, their aspirations (The rivals that just want to be champion are getting kinda dull. Please spice them up a bit. Surely there's another worthy goal out there), their backstory, using as much detail as possible - figure out the story.

2. Figure out all of your endings, and then work your way from the start to the finish on all of them. Figure out what decisions will lead the player from their humble starting town to the place where the credits start rolling. Figure out how the characters would react to each decision and in the various outcomes that happen. Perhaps choosing something that character A likes would make character B less likely to help the player later. Things like that. Know every small detail.

3. Make each branch interesting and unique, and enjoyable. Please don't go through with the idea of just having a game over in the starting town. With all due respect, that's stupid. You can do something similar, like having the player leave later, but have a different, not-so-rare selection of starters, and they're plodding along behind the rivals for a part of the story. I think that would be more interesting. Starting later and catching up to them in a town/city far from home. You need to have each branching story be interesting - players will expect a nice game where they get to go on a long adventure... only to get disappointed by reaching an ending without leaving the starting town.

To sum it all up, plan it out and know everything.

And contrary to what's stated in a previous post, it's perfectly fine to ask for help. There's no shame in that - no one is perfect, after all. Just make sure that you can show that you're capable of making the game when asking. People respond better when you're not a newbie asking for people to do things for you.

One last comment then I'm gonna shut up. RPG Maker XP is the best choice for a Pokemon fan-game. It's been in existence for a long time, it's extremely well-developed, and there are tons of extra add-on scripts available. VX Ace might not be the smartest move, unless you're willing to sit down and code a ton of stuff.