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

 

[BryophyteGarden]

I'm not a fan of emolga, but your sprite makes it better.
torkoal is absolutely fantastic.

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

grappling hook/throw-rope/lasso?

you'll have a hard time finding a realistic way to scale waterfalls since you can't in real life, aside from climbing the rocks underneath (rock climbing/rappelling gear? maybe have it do rock climb too?)


Could you take a look at these collision styles and give your opinion on which is better suited to a top-down arena style battle?

the first mimics elastic collision wherein the velocities of the two objects are swapped; if you're going fast and hit something stationary, you stop and it moves in the direction you were moving

the second mimics inelastic collision where the total velocity between the two objects is averaged and then redistributed evenly between them; if you're going fast and hit something stationary, you both move forward at half the speed you were moving before.

the first minute is elastic collision, the second minute is inelastic.

excuse the framerate please, i'm recording from a laptop.

edit:
framerate issue fixed. i've implemented more than one entity at a time as well.

 

[KaratGaming]

Hey everyone, KaratGaming here and I finally made a new update for my Pokemon fangame. It'll be a new region but done in gen 1 style, and featuring the first 251 Pokemon all redone in gen 1's graphics, containing gen 1 styled movesets. So far I've only completed a few of the newer 100 Pokemon after number 151, some of their sprites are in this post.

 

[kmb]

I was really impressed by Pokemon Ash Gray, and I wanted to make something like that, only following a Team Rocket-centric story line. There are lots of great gems in the anime, official video games, and other media related to Team Rocket, and I wanted to make a fan game to showcase them. I'm a beginner, though, and I don't know how to create most of the mechanics found in Ash Gray. I'm concerned that my game is going to look and feel amateurish, and I don't want that.

I really like some of the game play present in Pokemon Toxic Purple and the other Team Rocket edition fan games. I've tried to add a few mechanics to my game to give them nice game play, but I'm not doing great with a few areas--the "Pokemon Follow" script doesn't work when I try to talk to the Pokemon; I have not been able to get the "ghost" script for Lavender Town to work correctly, and my over world sprites just don't always look that great. Plus, I'm not sure how to incorporate certain animations or draw certain sprites.

Here are some of the things I want to put in my game:

Like Ash with Pikachu, I wanted the player to have to keep a certain Pokemon in his / her party at all times, and I wanted this Pokemon to follow the player around.

I wanted to have the name already selected for the player, but just erasing the script for that somehow messes up the Pokedex, too.

You cannot catch wild Pokemon if you are not wearing a disguise. They will run from you every time a battle starts because they are afraid of your Team Rocket uniform. How do I make wild Pokemon run while still allowing trainer battles? I have tried to make Pokemon that cannot be battled before, and I ended up with it affecting all Pokemon, even trainer Pokemon.

At one point in the story, the player has his / her Pokemon stolen. How do I program a script that will allow them to get their Pokemon back? I guess I could just have the "stolen" Pokemon transferred to the PC, but I wanted an authentic feel.

I wanted to have an instance where Meowth translates what the Pokemon are saying, but you have to have him in your party in order for that to happen. Otherwise, they just growl or say their names.

Team Rocket members usually do not carry more than four Pokemon in their party at a time, if I'm not mistaken, so I wanted a way to change the party number to maximum four, instead of six.

I also wanted to change "Bill's PC" to "Pokemon at Team Rocket HQ" or something like that and make the only way to access them to be by talking to Giovanni. It would also be nice if I could get the types of Pokemon the player is allowed to carry to be region specific, like in the anime.

I also wanted to incorporate shadow Pokemon into the game. Rocket Pokemon become shadow Pokemon and can be stolen from the player by other trainers if the player loses. The Pokemon does not become a shadow Pokemon, however, if its "friendship" is kept high.

I also wanted to have decent cut scenes for when the Team Rocket members are explaining their backstories to the player, or when scenes are transitioning.

Later in the game, I may give the player the option of leaving Team Rocket and becoming a legitimate trainer, where they are now allowed to carry up to six Pokemon in their party, challenge gyms, not worry about their Pokemon becoming shadow Pokemon and getting confiscated, and pretty much play it like a regular Pokemon game, only the Rocket grunts will act like they know the player, and the player can't access any of the Pokemon they left with Giovanni.

 

[Aki]

Phew that's a lot of stuff.

Like Ash with Pikachu, I wanted the player to have to keep a certain Pokemon in his / her party at all times, and I wanted this Pokemon to follow the player around.

If it's just 1 specific pokemon following the player at all times, you can do that with events like how this page describes a partner trainer as a dependent event. I've seen someone ask about prohibiting a certain pokemon from being deposited...This might take just a little scripting but I'm pretty sure the resource exists.

I wanted to have the name already selected for the player, but just erasing the script for that somehow messes up the Pokedex, too.

I would do this without deleting any scripts. Just don't run the scene of letting the player choose a name, and use this script from the debug quick intro: pbTrainerName("Red") whatever name you put in the quotes becomes the player's name.

You cannot catch wild Pokemon if you are not wearing a disguise. They will run from you every time a battle starts because they are afraid of your Team Rocket uniform. How do I make wild Pokemon run while still allowing trainer battles? I have tried to make Pokemon that cannot be battled before, and I ended up with it affecting all Pokemon, even trainer Pokemon.

This will definitely take some scripting. I'm sure there must be a way to detect the player's outfit and make changes like that...Essentials has a feature where if the player has no pokemon in the party, wild encounters don't appear at all. Maybe something like that could be used to work out a system.

At one point in the story, the player has his / her Pokemon stolen. How do I program a script that will allow them to get their Pokemon back? I guess I could just have the "stolen" Pokemon transferred to the PC, but I wanted an authentic feel.

Check out this thread, it's about removing the party temporarilly and restoring itlater.

I wanted to have an instance where Meowth translates what the Pokemon are saying, but you have to have him in your party in order for that to happen. Otherwise, they just growl or say their names.

Check out the page about Manipulating Pokemon. Every time you have a Pokemon "talking", I'd just do a quick check of the player's party to see if they have Meowth.

I also wanted to change "Bill's PC" to "Pokemon at Team Rocket HQ" or something like that and make the only way to access them to be by talking to Giovanni. It would also be nice if I could get the types of Pokemon the player is allowed to carry to be region specific, like in the anime.

The literal name shouldn't be too hard to change, just search "someone's pc" in the scripts. If you're gonna restrict the party i think it's going to take some custom scripting just as with the bit with Pikachu. Maybe there's a way to setup separate storage systems per area.

I also wanted to incorporate shadow Pokemon into the game. Rocket Pokemon become shadow Pokemon and can be stolen from the player by other trainers if the player loses. The Pokemon does not become a shadow Pokemon, however, if its "friendship" is kept high.

I linked the page about Manipulating Pokemon already, so here's the one about Editing Pokemon. You should be able to run some checks on a specific pokemon's friendship level, and even have it stolen by deleting it...shadow pokemon exist in Essentials too.

I also wanted to have decent cut scenes for when the Team Rocket members are explaining their backstories to the player, or when scenes are transitioning.

Depends on what you mean by cutscenes. Any amount of characters moving around the screen and talking for long periods of time is totally possible, but if you're talking about something like an animated short...? That's possible too, just good luck finding an artist for it.

Later in the game, I may give the player the option of leaving Team Rocket and becoming a legitimate trainer, where they are now allowed to carry up to six Pokemon in their party, challenge gyms, not worry about their Pokemon becoming shadow Pokemon and getting confiscated, and pretty much play it like a regular Pokemon game, only the Rocket grunts will act like they know the player, and the player can't access any of the Pokemon they left with Giovanni.

This sounds like content that belongs in a sequel. Just from a design perspective, it's not really good for the game to completely switch modes, since players who only like one of those modes are going to be put off when they have to slog through the other mode. The players who came for the Rocket experience came to your game specifically for that, because it's unique. If players want more typical pokemon experience they can get that from other games.

 

[chikorita]

Hey everyone, KaratGaming here and I finally made a new update for my Pokemon fangame. It'll be a new region but done in gen 1 style, and featuring the first 251 Pokemon all redone in gen 1's graphics, containing gen 1 styled movesets. So far I've only completed a few of the newer 100 Pokemon after number 151, some of their sprites are in this post.

It really does resemble a gen 1 game. The only pokémon that I wasn't that cool about was chikorita, but probably because it's my favorite. :P

 

[kmb]

Phew that's a lot of stuff.



If it's just 1 specific pokemon following the player at all times, you can do that with events like how this page describes a partner trainer as a dependent event. I've seen someone ask about prohibiting a certain pokemon from being deposited...This might take just a little scripting but I'm pretty sure the resource exists.



I would do this without deleting any scripts. Just don't run the scene of letting the player choose a name, and use this script from the debug quick intro: pbTrainerName("Red") whatever name you put in the quotes becomes the player's name.



This will definitely take some scripting. I'm sure there must be a way to detect the player's outfit and make changes like that...Essentials has a feature where if the player has no pokemon in the party, wild encounters don't appear at all. Maybe something like that could be used to work out a system.


Check out this thread, it's about removing the party temporarilly and restoring itlater.


Check out the page about Manipulating Pokemon. Every time you have a Pokemon "talking", I'd just do a quick check of the player's party to see if they have Meowth.



The literal name shouldn't be too hard to change, just search "someone's pc" in the scripts. If you're gonna restrict the party i think it's going to take some custom scripting just as with the bit with Pikachu. Maybe there's a way to setup separate storage systems per area.



I linked the page about Manipulating Pokemon already, so here's the one about Editing Pokemon. You should be able to run some checks on a specific pokemon's friendship level, and even have it stolen by deleting it...shadow pokemon exist in Essentials too.



Depends on what you mean by cutscenes. Any amount of characters moving around the screen and talking for long periods of time is totally possible, but if you're talking about something like an animated short...? That's possible too, just good luck finding an artist for it.



This sounds like content that belongs in a sequel. Just from a design perspective, it's not really good for the game to completely switch modes, since players who only like one of those modes are going to be put off when they have to slog through the other mode. The players who came for the Rocket experience came to your game specifically for that, because it's unique. If players want more typical pokemon experience they can get that from other games.

Okay, thanks for the tips. I'll check out those tutorials and try to figure things out for myself. Maybe it's because I'm a novice, though, but I've found that trying to manipulate the scripts can cause a lot of bugs.

 

[KaratGaming]

It really does resemble a gen 1 game. The only pokémon that I wasn't that cool about was chikorita, but probably because it's my favorite. :P

Ah that's good, I love Chikorita as well.

 

[Poq]

Is it possible I can get suggestions for my region's villian team because I can't really find a motive for them. They somehow are related to the legendarys maybe (which represent Cold and hot temp) and there theme is very technological.

Perhaps climate control? Though that might be a bit too Hoenn...
Hot and cold climates create resilient and unique forms of life which can succeed in those extreme conditions. Perhaps they are trying to force the development of new types of pokemon. Perhaps new variants - Alola style.

 

[Poq]

@Phi-Bi
I think it would be really interesting to see how this would come together, and I think it would be really cool to explore some of the lore surrounding the games.

I've been playing around with some similar ideas for a medieval era pokemon game. Definitely relying on apricorns and coming up with some new apricorn balls.

PCs are definitely the tricky part. I think "stables" could be an interesting approach. It could be an interesting approach to have pokemon stored in specific locations, but you'd probably have to give out Fly after the first gym so players aren't constantly traveling by foot all over the region just to adjust their team.

The possibility of including magic could definitely solve some problems, and there's certainly precedent for it in the lore, but it's a different sort of world building. But that might also be the sort of fresh take that would make a game stand out.

 

[kelsey]

New progressing project- this is the start of the map design. Many tiles are borrowed, some are custom made by me (Pyramids). Zoom in and give as much feedback as you would like. Positive and negative is welcome :)

Just as some background- the design of this game is true open world. Basic common pokemon elements are altered to fit the open world play style. There is a strong economic component to the game and it will feature all 733 Gen 1-6 pokemon so I'm making a map that comfortably fits all of them without giving that sensation of being overwhelmed by too many species at once. I'm also altering basically every normal event so that it responds to the open-world style by changing depending on the player's progress.

 

[Dragonite]

the design of this game is true open world

Many have attempted this, few (if any) have succeeded. Good luck!

 

[kelsey]

Many have attempted this, few (if any) have succeeded. Good luck!

It's definitely not easy to pull off! I made one completed open world/all pokemon game and it was like a 5/10 (my own rating) when completed. I learned a lot of lessons from that one and am implementing as much as I can in this entirely new game to make it better. But basically I'm making it this way specifically because those are the types of games I enjoy playing most.

 

[Mr42leon]

New progressing project- this is the start of the map design. Many tiles are borrowed, some are custom made by me (Pyramids). Zoom in and give as much feedback as you would like. Positive and negative is welcome :)

Just as some background- the design of this game is true open world. Basic common pokemon elements are altered to fit the open world play style. There is a strong economic component to the game and it will feature all 733 Gen 1-6 pokemon so I'm making a map that comfortably fits all of them without giving that sensation of being overwhelmed by too many species at once. I'm also altering basically every normal event so that it responds to the open-world style by changing depending on the player's progress.

THIS. IS. SO. BEAUTIFUL.

 

[Mr42leon]

So... Recently I had this idea and I'm still trying to develop it.
You play as a BugCatcher, tired of loosing every single battle, you decide to train much harder and become the League Champion with nothing but bug type Pokémon!
What I wanted to know is:
A) Does it sound like a fun game to play?
B) The inclusion of alternate forms/fakemon is good or bad?

Sorry for the bad english (i'm still learning) and thank you for the support :)

 

[TechSkylander1518]

New progressing project- this is the start of the map design. Many tiles are borrowed, some are custom made by me (Pyramids). Zoom in and give as much feedback as you would like. Positive and negative is welcome :)

It looks to be coming along quite impressively! Just two points I can think of for now:

• I can't quite tell from your picture-is this all one map, or are you doing multiple separate maps that just connect to each other? All one map is quite impressive, but I believe it can lead to excess lag, as the game might load all the events on the map in the background. (If this is just outlining ignore me entirely lol)
• This isn't so much about the map as how to ask for feedback-I'd recommend you screencap in eventing mode (it doesn't have the grid over everything), and focus more on getting the details of your maps in rather than getting them all in one picture-you can share multiple pictures of maps!

What I wanted to know is:
A) Does it sound like a fun game to play?

It's kind of hard to tell with just the initial premise. Monotype runs are a popular challenge, but since people can challenge themselves on other games, your game's appeal is also going to be based on things like storyline and environment. I think you could definitely do something unique here, but if you just do FR Bug-type challenge, it might not be as interesting.

B) The inclusion of alternate forms/fakemon is good or bad?

I'd say it'd definitely add to the experience, especially if they can be used by the player. Only thing negative I would say is if they add too much work for your project.

 

[kelsey]

It looks to be coming along quite impressively! Just two points I can think of for now:

• I can't quite tell from your picture-is this all one map, or are you doing multiple separate maps that just connect to each other? All one map is quite impressive, but I believe it can lead to excess lag, as the game might load all the events on the map in the background. (If this is just outlining ignore me entirely lol)
• This isn't so much about the map as how to ask for feedback-I'd recommend you screencap in eventing mode (it doesn't have the grid over everything), and focus more on getting the details of your maps in rather than getting them all in one picture-you can share multiple pictures of maps!

Thanks for the feedback! This is actually about 240 separate maps- each a 20x20 that are stitched together. The completed full map will be approximately 600 maps + all of the interior/cave/dive maps so probably around 700 total. I'm making it that way specifically to alleviate the potential for lag issues as I tend to have event-heavy maps. The images are actually screen capped at 1/4 size and then pieced together ( I did take the screenshot in eventing mode but due to the 1/4 size it did leave a grid appearance). I do plan on sharing pictures of individual maps for more feedback, but I wanted to show this version of the "world map" first just to give a feel for the scale, since I'm trying to take on an open world map -- although I think I probably should have said what the scale actually was so that people could understand why I posted what I did, now that I think about it...

 

[Mr42leon]

It's kind of hard to tell with just the initial premise. Monotype runs are a popular challenge, but since people can challenge themselves on other games, your game's appeal is also going to be based on things like storyline and environment. I think you could definitely do something unique here, but if you just do FR Bug-type challenge, it might not be as interesting.

Yeah, i'm working on a full new story, new region and all of that stuff. The development is kinda slow right now, but I want to release a Demo as soon as possible so everyone can give me their feedbacks...

.

I'd say it'd definitely add to the experience, especially if they can be used by the player. Only thing negative I would say is if they add too much work for your project.

Yeah, in a certain way, it's a lot of work, and the new pokémon forms and fakemon are there to make the experience in the game even greater.
Like, there are no Ice/Bug, Dragon/Bug, Dark/Bug, Psychic/Bug... so that kind of thing i wanted to add

 

[Mr. Gela]

I've been playing Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride recently and enjoy a few aspects (minor spoilers; nothing a trailer wouldn't give away):
- You start out by playing as a kid
- You partner up with other kids throughout the first segment of the game
- One of those segments includes a "haunted house", with a few pranks here and there as you slash through the dungeon
- Numerous silly details such as not being able to read or be admitted into pubs because you're just a kid
- Eventually you grow up after a 10-year timeskip, which reshapes the villages you'd already been to, makes the other kids age, and you too (you can read now!)

I'd love to see some sort of fangame in which you're a kid growing up in the Pokémon world, doing trickster little kid stuff, that's all.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

Thanks for the feedback! This is actually about 240 separate maps- each a 20x20 that are stitched together. The completed full map will be approximately 600 maps + all of the interior/cave/dive maps so probably around 700 total. I'm making it that way specifically to alleviate the potential for lag issues as I tend to have event-heavy maps. The images are actually screen capped at 1/4 size and then pieced together ( I did take the screenshot in eventing mode but due to the 1/4 size it did leave a grid appearance). I do plan on sharing pictures of individual maps for more feedback, but I wanted to show this version of the "world map" first just to give a feel for the scale, since I'm trying to take on an open world map -- although I think I probably should have said what the scale actually was so that people could understand why I posted what I did, now that I think about it...

That sounds like a lot of work, so having them together so seamlessly is really impressive!!

Yeah, i'm working on a full new story, new region and all of that stuff. The development is kinda slow right now, but I want to release a Demo as soon as possible so everyone can give me their feedbacks...

I understand the feeling, but honestly, I think it's best to try to get a lot of material ready rather than going for an ASAP release. You can get more feedback when there's more to give feedback on.

Yeah, in a certain way, it's a lot of work, and the new pokémon forms and fakemon are there to make the experience in the game even greater.
Like, there are no Ice/Bug, Dragon/Bug, Dark/Bug, Psychic/Bug... so that kind of thing i wanted to add

Those will definitely add to the experience!

 

[Dragonite]

I've been playing Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride recently and enjoy a few aspects (minor spoilers; nothing a trailer wouldn't give away):
- You start out by playing as a kid
- You partner up with other kids throughout the first segment of the game
- One of those segments includes a "haunted house", with a few pranks here and there as you slash through the dungeon
- Numerous silly details such as not being able to read or be admitted into pubs because you're just a kid
- Eventually you grow up after a 10-year timeskip, which reshapes the villages you'd already been to, makes the other kids age, and you too (you can read now!)

I feel like this has a lot of potential but sadly I can't think of many good applications of it at the moment =/

Also, if this were made into a Pokémon game, after the timeskip, do you have the same Pokémon you had before the timeskip? What happens to them? Do they magically gain thirty levels on the assumption that you spent most of your time training with them? How many Pokémon years are in a people year? Do they get sent to a Pokémon retirement home instead? Am I overthinking this?