Other [Legacy] Project Sandbox

[Deo]

Welcome to the Project Sandbox!

The concept of this thread is simple: post something for feedback, and or give feedback to others. If you want to get some quick feedback on plot ideas or game design elements before you even start your game or if you have a thread, this is the place to do so. If you're thinking about starting your own thread for your project but need some help determining if your first post is up snuff, this is also an ideal place for you to do that too.

Please keep the following in mind while using this thread:

• If you notice something that has been posted but hasn't received any feedback, please consider providing the poster with some form of feedback before you move onto later posts.
• Put some thought and effort into your feedback. While not all short feedback is bad, generally you want to make sure you're offering something worthwhile to the person requesting feedback.
• On a similar note, make sure what you're requesting feedback on has some substance to it. You don't have to provide multiple paragraphs explaining your idea, but don't be vague and leave nothing for anyone to comment on!
• Be respectful and civil. This thread isn't an excuse to be rude to another person or to tell them their idea is bad, be helpful instead.

While this thread is meant for general feedback, Relic Castle also has other threads for feedback on screenshots, maps, and such. If what you're seeking feedback on is more suited there, please post it in the appropriate thread:

• Screenshot Showcase
• Map Showcase
• Fakemon Feedback
• Pixel Art Lounge

 

[Elementist Productions]

Hey guys! I’m new here and though I’d announce my new project: Pokémon Nature, Pokémon Flare, and Pokémon Aqua (three games, I know, that’s a lot) but I’m not so great at making sprites (I can make tilesets and all, but when it comes to sprites for new characters or new Pokémon, I’m screwed!) so Iwas wondering if anyone new where I could go to get someone who could help me (I couldn’t seem to find it on my own).------------------------

I keep thinking about this but find no solution about how the gameplay will work for a fan-game which settings is set in the distant past so I guess I will share my thoughts here.

Every Pokemon fan-game nowadays always revolve around the modern world and its issues. As far as I know there's no Pokemon fan-game about how the Pokemon world works before the modern time. Note that from my perspectives, the modern era in Pokemon world begins as the invention of Pokeball, followed by Pokemon Center, PC Storage, Pokedex, and so on. Now this brings question about how the Pokemon world works before all of that and how to implement that aspect in a game? While making the settings might limit the use of 'flashy' features such as all Pokemon becomes available--since some Pokemon is found recently, or things like Advanced Dex--since there's no Pokedex in the past, and any other 'futuristic' features. Even implementing the gameplay will be quite problematic since there are no PokeBall, how are you supposed to catch Pokemon. Since there are no PC Storage, how are you supposed to keep your Pokemon if you could catch it. Since there are to Technical and Hidden Machine as well, the movepool of the Pokemon is quite limited. From technical perspectives, there are many problems as well since there are little to no tiles nor clothing for the character which represents pre-modern era.

Being a simple minded person that can also be a little creative from it time to time, I think I thought of some solutions! Maybe to PokéDex could be replaced with a scroll, where you keep track of all the new Pokémon you’ve discovered (that way you just rename the PokéDex and give it a scroll like background). From there, you could make it to where you can access the PC place at one place in the region, and have it be a ranch instead of a computer. As for replacing the PokéBall however, I’m stumped.

 

[Anuran]

Hey guys! I’m new here and though I’d announce my new project: Pokémon Nature, Pokémon Flare, and Pokémon Aqua (three games, I know, that’s a lot) but I’m not so great at making sprites (I can make tilesets and all, but when it comes to sprites for new characters or new Pokémon, I’m screwed!) so Iwas wondering if anyone new where I could go to get someone who could help me (I couldn’t seem to find it on my own).------------------------

Being a simple minded person that can also be a little creative from it time to time, I think I thought of some solutions! Maybe to PokéDex could be replaced with a scroll, where you keep track of all the new Pokémon you’ve discovered (that way you just rename the PokéDex and give it a scroll like background). From there, you could make it to where you can access the PC place at one place in the region, and have it be a ranch instead of a computer. As for replacing the PokéBall however, I’m stumped.

I would recommend creating a thread in The "TEAM RECRUITMENT" section

 

[leilou]

So what I was wondering about lately is if I were to make a gen 3 styled (RPGXP-Pokémon Essentials) fangame. Would it be confusing for the player to have the gen 3 mechanics?

Like the special Attack/Attack split by type or fairy type not beeing a thing. Also I believe the effectiveness table was slightly changed.

Would it be best to go for the newest gen or for gen 3 mechanics. Maybe some should be gen 3 and some the newest or is it better to completely stick to one?

Or should I go with what Essentials does because that's what every fangame does?

If I were to change it so that the SpA/Atk woul work like the newer games would it make sense to change moves like crunch to lower normal defence because crunch was a SpA move in gen 3.

And depending on what I chose how should I tell it to the players? Let them find it out themselves, have a tutorial, have some random NPCs talking about it or something completely different?

 

[MGriffin]

So what I was wondering about lately is if I were to make a gen 3 styled (RPGXP-Pokémon Essentials) fangame. Would it be confusing for the player to have the gen 3 mechanics?

Like the special Attack/Attack split by type or fairy type not beeing a thing. Also I believe the effectiveness table was slightly changed.

Would it be best to go for the newest gen or for gen 3 mechanics. Maybe some should be gen 3 and some the newest or is it better to completely stick to one?

Or should I go with what Essentials does because that's what every fangame does?

It's your game, so honestly it's completely up to you, if you want to everything to feel gen 3 don't let anyone else's game stop you; besides, many ROM hacks have the gen 3 mechanics so it shouldn't be too confusing. Personally I prefer the physical/special split because otherwise lots of Pokémon have "bad" STAB moves using the weaker of their base stats, e.g. Flareon, and this particularly matters in-game because most useful level-up moves are STAB.

If I were to change it so that the SpA/Atk woul work like the newer games would it make sense to change moves like crunch to lower normal defence because crunch was a SpA move in gen 3.

Seems reasonable, similarly it always bothered me that Shadow Ball lowered SpD. I wish GF had made Ghost special and Dark physical from day 1.

And depending on what I chose how should I tell it to the players? Let them find it out themselves, have a tutorial, have some random NPCs talking about it or something completely different?

I think I'd go for something between random NPCs and a tutorial and have an unskippable NPC (like the professor, or someone like that) tell the player. I'd definitely want to be told, because like you say it's uncommon for gen 3 mechanics to be in fangames, and I'll assume they're gen 4+.

 

[West]

So what I was wondering about lately is if I were to make a gen 3 styled (RPGXP-Pokémon Essentials) fangame. Would it be confusing for the player to have the gen 3 mechanics?

I wouldn't downgrade to a worse system but hey, fuck the players, make your goddamn masterpiece

 

[Dragonite]

I wouldn't downgrade to a worse system but hey, fuck the players, make your goddamn masterpiece

I think you're forgetting how popular ROM hacks made using the Gen 3 engine are already.

 

[West]

I think you're forgetting how popular ROM hacks made using the Gen 3 engine are already.

I don't think Blazed Glazed 3000 was sold on its lack of a phys/spec split

 

[leilou]

I wouldn't downgrade to a worse system but hey, fuck the players, make your goddamn masterpiece

The system is actually not worse but easier to understand if explained correctly. By knowing the type of an attack you know whether it is special or normal. So you can rely on the base damage of the attack and it's type to determine the damage done to a Pokémon. And one of the major game design keys is: the simpler the rules the better.

But with that said another thing is that players are used to the other split. And here in this community pretty much everyone is aware and used to the new split. Which is another thing you want to do: stick to what the player knows

Then with it beeing a gen3 type of game the old split may make the game feel even more like a gen3 game. Which again speaks for this split.

Then again it makes some Typing+Stats useless and those than need either rebalacing or just be not there (or be there and be a lot worse than others).

Well the main thing I'm going at is gen3 feel+simpler system for Pokémon players that are not aware of the split system (yay I'm gonna teach newbes the old system and confuse him) worth the post gen3ers play a system they are not used to.

Now I don't want to hear "It's your game so do what you want." I'd rather hear you honest opinion plus arguments I may have forgotten.

 

[Arma]

So what I was wondering about lately is if I were to make a gen 3 styled (RPGXP-Pokémon Essentials) fangame. Would it be confusing for the player to have the gen 3 mechanics?

As long as you let the player know what they are getting into, it should be fine, Leilou!

Like the special Attack/Attack split by type or fairy type not beeing a thing. Also I believe the effectiveness table was slightly changed.

To be fair, I really like the Physical/Special split from gen 4, there are many Pokemon with awkward stat distributions, who will be unable to fully utilize their typing (Gengar for example), So either stick with the split, or change the Pokemon's stats in a way that they can fully benefit their typing.

Would it be best to go for the newest gen or for gen 3 mechanics. Maybe some should be gen 3 and some the newest or is it better to completely stick to one?

There is no "best" way of doing things ;) If you want to include or exclude certain features, just do so! As I said before, just make sure the player knows what is/isn't in your game beforehand~

Or should I go with what Essentials does because that's what every fangame does?

Never do things, because "everybody else does it"

If I were to change it so that the SpA/Atk woul work like the newer games would it make sense to change moves like crunch to lower normal defence because crunch was a SpA move in gen 3.

Consistency is key, make sure the stat changes make sense, and you're golden.

And depending on what I chose how should I tell it to the players? Let them find it out themselves, have a tutorial, have some random NPCs talking about it or something completely different?

Well, I think the key features should be mentioned in your project thread, but having NPC sharing the information is a good thing! Let's say your starters are the classic Grass/water/fire trio, you could have an NCP in your starter town that the power of those types' moves is determined by the special attack stat!

 

[FireBurn256]

Can anyone remind me what features does the vanilla Pokemon Essentials v17 include? I am no "the more things the merrier", but I wasn't able to find a complete list of what v17 is about when it comes to gameplay.

 

[ShortBloom]

I have been working on my own little fangame these last few months by myself. There is only one major problem, I am incapable of drawing or programming. So I did as much as I could in terms of story, lore, characters, towns, other locations, and Pokemon. But I still need help.------------------------Here is what I have so far:

Pokemon:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v9WoQjokgjCSIxA1K5FCPI_dTmyhTjiXimlYbmrSGsM/edit?usp=drivesdk

Locations and characters(Some stuff may be confusing so I'll clarify everything later):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TYyvS8UKGRQ0Y3LRvrSHMSYwu7LOy8uXRk2ZL_GNlfQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

Lore:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dijGaxQqaTTyMaILE2TOvnOQJrNyAwkFki7gIWuWLgI/edit?usp=drivesdk

 

[Oracle of Delphox]

Hello guys. I'm doing a Pokemon Fan Game very different from the others. You are listening an italian lesson at school about Dante's "Divine Comedy",and you start imagining how would have been his journey with Pokémon. In this game you play as Dante, and you will meet some Pokemon's characters in the Hell (for example in the Suicide Circle you will meet Elisio) and you will challange some important characters of the poem, such as Charon or Ulysse. The Pokémon in this game are Only of the 7 generation, with 20-30 delta species. In this moment I'm creating this game only in itaIian, but my desire is to insert also an option to chose also the English language (If someone tells me how to do it, It would be fantastic). In Italy Dante is very popular, but I don't know If he is studied also abroad. What do you think about my project?
It would be 100% valued by you?

 

[Aki]

Can anyone remind me what features does the vanilla Pokemon Essentials v17 include? I am no "the more things the merrier", but I wasn't able to find a complete list of what v17 is about when it comes to gameplay.

I think this would be easier to answer if you had a specific feature in mind, becasue Essentials is packed full of stuff. Basically Essentials is capable of doing anything a gen 3 pokemon game can do, and compared to other engines for making fan games Essentials stands out for having a complete features working like the battle system with Pokemon/moves/abilities all functioning as they should.

---

I have been working on my own little fangame these last few months by myself.

Pokemon:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v9WoQjokgjCSIxA1K5FCPI_dTmyhTjiXimlYbmrSGsM/edit?usp=drivesdk

Locations and characters(Some stuff may be confusing so I'll clarify everything later):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TYyvS8UKGRQ0Y3LRvrSHMSYwu7LOy8uXRk2ZL_GNlfQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

Lore:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dijGaxQqaTTyMaILE2TOvnOQJrNyAwkFki7gIWuWLgI/edit?usp=drivesdk

Hey the lore document is pretty neat, I enjoyed reading that even though it was a bit confusing that every group of people was called "settlers", that made it a bit harder to follow. The location document seems pretty solid for what is there, but obviously needs...something. Besides being filled out a bit more I mean. It looks like it's not so much a location description but a rough region/story outline, but doesn't go into a lot of detail about the characters. As for the pokemon doc, it's just a list of Fakemon names without any further context, so I can't really comment.

---

Midwestern American here! If you were to mention Dante, I'd say his name is pretty synonomous with Dante's Inferno but I wouldn't be able to say much more about him. The Inferno is part of the high school curriculum, but in the context of "Here is what an epic poem is" next to something like Beowulf. Dante's journey but including pokemon sounds like a pretty unique setup but I'm not sure how it would work out gameplay wise...wasn't the story mostly a tour, with Dante blacking out at several points because of what he experienced?

 

[Oracle of Delphox]

Yes, It was, but I'm going to change some features. Of course I'm not going to insert the same story of the poem, it would sounds boring. I'm going to insert some "funny aspects" in the game, such as references to the real world. Of course I will insert a lot of battles, and I want to do a Pokémon game, Dante's Inferno is just the background. I have decided to insert "delta species" to make the game more interesting. Second, I want to teach something to the players about the poem, but just the really basics. Hopefully this is not my first game, so I hope to use my experience to create an enjoenjoyable game

 

[blizzard15]

Hi there! My name is Kamon15 or blizzard as known by other's, my friends and I are developing a new Pokemon Fangame currently titled Project Shendo,ever since I was little I always wanted to make a pokemon fangame and I think now is the time. We are looking for volunteers for Artist,Mappers,And spriters,As well as people who want their Fakemon submitted into the game! And music submissions as well! We have an official Discord Server to post about development. The game will feature Animated Gen 5 sprites and Graphics. This us my first time posting here so I'm kinda nervous lol. But if anyone is interested in helping,the link is here: https://discord.gg/9ds2G6F

 

[KaratGaming]

A gen 3 styled Pokemon Essentials engine would be interesting, but better yet......how about a gen 1 styled Pokemon Essentials?

 

[Dragonite]

This might be suited to another thread, but I'll leave it here for now—has anyone experience with making fan games of something other than Pokémon (I recall someone made a Pony fan game a long time ago, though I think that used Essentials anyway)? For the last two weeks I've been toying with Xenoblade Chronicles systems—of which there are a lot of—and I was wondering if anyone else had branched out a little before, too . . .

 

[Ash2louis]

I need help with my story so far all I can come up with is team revolution and that will be trying to capture xerneas and yveltal

 

[Arkenyx]

All right, i'm here to get some feedback for my first pokemon sprite (not first sprite ever, but first pokemon one).
I really like Emolga, and wanted to make some kind of evolution, here is what i came up with :

I also wanted to make a Torkoal evolution, so here it is :

 

[updawg734]

I'm using key items instead of HM moves in my fan game, and I'm trying to come up with a good idea to replace the move Waterfall. The only one I can think of is a jetpack? But that seems silly, because why can you only use it by a waterfall?

Anyone have some good ideas for a gadget that could help one scale a waterfall? Thanks!