A game with every region is an idea long sought after mostly by two kinds of people:
- A) Overly Ambitious People, whos projects die before they start
- B) People developing an MMO, which is rather logical so they can have more of a world to explore.
Though there have been cases where a person didn't fit either category.
Limiting yourself is the key to a good game, knowing where to draw the line on what to add and what not to add. While the Developer does have total control over what they can do, restraint is a very good skill to learn in development. I speak with minor experience, personal and watching others work.
The game I'm working on, Touhoumon Faith & Prayer Version, showcases 3 regions from Pokemon proper, and a separate region after that. Overly ambitious, but I have plans to make it work. I'd be working more on it right now if my computer wasn't broken, but I digress.
There are things you need to keep in mind when even developing a Multi-Region game that encompasses 2+ Regions.
- A) The number of maps. A traditional region has about 300+ maps if each map was its own map. Exteriors, Routes, Interiors, All of it sums together. If you were to make a 3 or more region game, you'd hit the Engine Imposed 999 Map Limit before you finished. If you need more than 1000 maps, you should perhaps look into either combining maps, or maybe cutting the project into two depending on how the plot works.
- B) The length of the game. Your game better be more interesting than "Beat the 8 gyms and become a League Champion" for each region, otherwise it's going to get old. Fast. The plot also better not be a complete rehash of the original games plot. A person doesn't want to download a game where all it is is the combination of several non-plot related games when they could download the individual games themselves and play those. You also don't want it to drag on and on. and on.
- C) Filesize. This is a large issue that gets easily overlooked if you're playing MP3 files for music. Your game's filesize will spike exponentially without you knowing it, and you'll wind up with a 1 region release that's 1 gig because the music is large. If 1 region ends up being 1 gig, imagine how bad 3 regions would be?
- D) Leveling and Balance Scale. Using Generation II as an example, by the end of Johto, the player was usually around Level 45~55. At the end of Kanto, the player was usually around the level 65~85, sometimes even 100. If you were to add a third region to the mix, you'd be a 100 halfway through it. It'd be illogical to add a Fourth Region, because then everything would be at Level 100 across the region, and that would get really boring really fast. One method to resolve it would be bumping the maximum level up another hundred levels, but why would you honestly do that? You'd have to work to give the Pokemon additional movepools beyond Level 100, otherwise they'd have to work with what they have for the next 100 levels, and considering their movepools were designed to cap at 100, there wouldn't be much else you could do anyways. Another method is to, like Maruno said, split it into two games depending on Plot. Alternatively, find a creative, but good and perhaps "believable", method to lowering the levels of trainers back down to around 5 at the start of a new region. Hell, pull an Anime and make the player put all their Pokemon in the box and challenge the new region fresh.
I think I covered everything that has been covered in this thread already, with a bit of additional explination, and things that weren't covered yet. Anyone, feel free to correct me on these points if I said something wrong.
A Multi-Region game can be good
IF you do it right, and put forth actual effort to balance it out. You just need to know where to draw the line on certain things. Will you develop a game in RPG Maker that encompasses the current Pokemon Regions? Realistically, no, you won't. It's impossible. Limitations in the RMXP Engine, the sheer number of maps, all sorts of technical issues would prevent it. But if you still want to try it, then go for it. If you succeed, you'll be the first to do so, and you may cause a breakthrough in the RMXP department for Pokemon Fangame Development.
