[Other] total noob question - Pokemon WAR

[sidehammer]

I'm a complete noob. As in, the most impressive computer accomplishment to my name is googling error codes and following instructions. That said, I've had this idea in my head for years, and I'm really wondering if it can be made. The problem is, I don't know if it's even POSSIBLE to add mechanics to the existing games, or if possible, which game should be the base.

The player would be a soldier during the Pokemon War, based largely on WWII (but with Nam-like equipment), in a Nazi-German-esque setting. The player needs to be able to fight ALONGSIDE their Pokemon, and I have a couple ideas on how it might work, from rudimentary Zelda combat to double or triple battle scenarios with the player in the stead of a Pokemon.

So, is it even possible to add old school Zelda-like combat into a ROM? Is it possible to change Player characters to act out other plotlines without losing player data?

Like I said, I'm the most noob or noobs, so any feedback would be appreciated. I toyed with the idea of drawing the story I had in mind as a comic, but it would be more fun to play it. Hasn't everyone wondered what the Pokemon War was like when it was mentioned by Lt. Surge?

 

[Ace Trainer Slash]

I'm a complete noob. As in, the most impressive computer accomplishment to my name is googling error codes and following instructions. That said, I've had this idea in my head for years, and I'm really wondering if it can be made. The problem is, I don't know if it's even POSSIBLE to add mechanics to the existing games, or if possible, which game should be the base.

The player would be a soldier during the Pokemon War, based largely on WWII (but with Nam-like equipment), in a Nazi-German-esque setting. The player needs to be able to fight ALONGSIDE their Pokemon, and I have a couple ideas on how it might work, from rudimentary Zelda combat to double or triple battle scenarios with the player in the stead of a Pokemon.

So, is it even possible to add old school Zelda-like combat into a ROM? Is it possible to change Player characters to act out other plotlines without losing player data?

Like I said, I'm the most noob or noobs, so any feedback would be appreciated. I toyed with the idea of drawing the story I had in mind as a comic, but it would be more fun to play it. Hasn't everyone wondered what the Pokemon War was like when it was mentioned by Lt. Surge?

It sounds like a good idea, but I don't believe triple battles are possible in GBA ROMs. I'm pretty sure the most you can do with the player fighting is replacing a Pokemon with a sprite of the player, and giving the player it's own moveset as you would with a Pokemon, it would work as a Pokemon replaced actually being the player themselves. I believe Fire Red is a good choice for this idea, as there is plenty of free space in the ROM. Otherwise, Emerald or Ruby if you want the aesthetics of Hoenn games in it without importing sprites and tiles from Ruby/Emerald.

 

[sidehammer]

It sounds like a good idea, but I don't believe triple battles are possible in GBA ROMs. I'm pretty sure the most you can do with the player fighting is replacing a Pokemon with a sprite of the player, and giving the player it's own moveset as you would with a Pokemon, it would work as a Pokemon replaced actually being the player themselves. I believe Fire Red is a good choice for this idea, as there is plenty of free space in the ROM. Otherwise, Emerald or Ruby if you want the aesthetics of Hoenn games in it without importing sprites and tiles from Ruby/Emerald.

Is GBA the only option? The only DS hack I've played is BlazeBlack, and that didn't have many edits, so maybe it's not possible with DS?

 

[hjk321]

Is GBA the only option? The only DS hack I've played is BlazeBlack, and that didn't have many edits, so maybe it's not possible with DS?

DS hacking is in its infancy, mostly because reverse engineering 3D models is hard, and partly because people are reluctant to move on from gen 3 since we just barely got decomps in emerald, which literally makes anything possible. So basically, we don't really know what the limitations of DS games are. I know for a fact triple battles weren't introduced until black and white, and to be honest, BW might be the next step as a hacking community since there's not really any point in pioneering DP when it's just as hard as BW. Guess we'll find out which of the games are the best on the inside in terms of organization and free space (That's how FireRed and Emerald became the standard back in the day).

This might not be for you, but IMO the only "good" way to implement a completely custom battle system would to program it in C and build a rom from source. You could try to do it how Ace said but that might be kinda hacky (pun intended) and you may or may not be able to pull it off to satisfaction to where people would actually want to play it.

 

[BirdstarCat13]

Is GBA the only option? The only DS hack I've played is BlazeBlack, and that didn't have many edits, so maybe it's not possible with DS?

Like HJK said, DS hacking is a no-go if you have 0 experience, since GBA hacking will be complex enough as-is

 

[Z-Max]

Implementing the mechanics of battles from zelda games is almost impossible, I mean it would be easier to program a new game in C language (which is already tough).

However, a rom hack about the pokemon war is a very interesting idea, it would be a kind of prequel, I would love to play a version like that.