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Pokemon Civil War is looking for co-developers!


Fiasom

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INTRODUCTION

 

Pokémon Civil War is a game that is geared towards an adult audience, and has themes of violence, drug abuse, sex, and all the other good stuff. It covers the events of the newly created region of Abrava, which is home to the three countries of the Abravan Kingdom, the Free Democracy of New Unova, and the League of Elemental Cities, across which thirteen different factions pursue their interests. It is rife with political intrigue, and realism is a major theme and influence in the conceptual design. The game explores moral, political, and philosophical themes. It is planned to be released in eight chapters.

 

I have been working on the concept since March, and I am getting close to the release of a demo. However, the writing and concept in general, and eventing on RPGMX is taking a lot of my time, so I have not done any coding or spriting and work with what I got with the Essentials Pack. The writing of the game is also growing bigger than what one person can manage in meaningful time scales. Thus I am on the look for permanent team members. See below for more.

 

STORY

 

We are bound to Pokémon. It may seem like we are their masters since they respond to our never ending commands and demands, but while they can live without us, we cannot live without them. They are our energy, our weapons, our religion. Our civilization stands on their shoulders. When you consider who is dependent on who, it becomes clear that they are the masters of themselves, while we are slaves to ourselves.

...

The flow of blood has not stopped in the Abravan Region since the passing of the last Champion 300 years ago. The Abravan Kingdom is embroiled in a civil war between the Abravan Dictator King and the internationally backed Rebel Minority. Despite the stellar rise to power of the Free Democracy of New Unova since their founding 150 years ago, they still seem to lack the power to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict. All the while the League of Elemental Cities have clamped down on their borders to avoid being sucked into the conflict.

 

It might seem like your little town has been spared from the worst of the war. But it is not an easy thing for a single mother to raise a child in the depths of an economic crisis. If only Father hadn’t left for the army 5 years ago. At least Mother seems to have finally overcome her grief…

 

But now, there are rebels spotted near your town.

 

Can you rise above the petty politics, and save your loved ones from this black hole of violence?

 

FEATURES

Pokémon

 

Available Pokémon: All non-legendary, non-ultra beast Pokémon available.

 

Starters: None – you start with an egg that may hatch into any of the baby Pokémon except Mantyke + Eevee or Ralts.

 

Legendary Pokémon: They are treated as gods in this game, hence cannot be caught, but may join your party if you earn their respect. The Masterball is the exception to this.

 

Fakemon: None – perhaps one legendary Fakemon might be added, depending on how the game develops.

 

Gyms & Badges: No gyms and +20 badges. All badges except the first and last are optional. There are 3 kinds and 6 classes of badges, and you need at least one badge from each class of badges to finish the game.

 

HMs: HMs still exist, but they work like TMs.

 

Story & World

 

Plot: Complex and flexible political plot where thirteen factions pursue their interests, spread across the region. Choices you make in side quests and dialogues impact the main storyline, and determine which (if any) factions achieve their goals.

 

Characters: Large cast of in-depth characters to be loved, hated, used and forgotten, including your best friend, a wife that goes on a quest of vengeance for her husband’s death, a legendary contingent of the Abravan Army, the Dark Philosopher, the Elemental Lords, the poetic shadow leader of the Rebels, and many more…

 

World: Massive and detailed world with seventeen cities and villages, and a variety of terrain including jungles, forests, mountains, grasslands, rivers both above and underground, deserts, and an open ocean with tiny islands.

 

Regional Lore and History: Detailed history that spans centuries, numerous religions centred around legendary and mundane Pokémon alike, three distinct cultures, a region-wide economic system, media, politics…

 

Choice: As a talking main character you will have the opportunity to develop rivalries and romances with NPCs. Through your choices in the main storyline and side quests you impact how the civil war is resolved, and who emerges victorious. The game will encourage specializing in certain roles and strategies, and given that most badges are optional, which badges you want to get will be up to your choice.

 

Unreliable Narratives: Each faction pursues its own interests, and thus holds a biased view of the political situation. You get to watch the news, read newspapers and books, and talk to NPCs, all of which give partly true and partly false information, trying to pull you in their own interests. To understand the truth, you need to make up your own mind, and decide on your actions accordingly. Your choices effect the world.

 

Different Starting Locations: Two intertwined but completely different starts to the game that do not merge at least until half way through the game. The male character starts in the Abravan Kingdom, while the female character starts in New Unova. The current demo covers only the Abravan start.

 

Multiple Endings: There are ten different endings. The ending you reach will be based on the choices you make throughout the game. In one you make a lasting impact to the region for the worse, in another you make lasting impact for the better, and in the remaining eight the status quo is not significantly disturbed by your actions and your impact ranges from negligible to memorable as a passing mention in history books no one in their right mind ever reads.

 

New Game Mechanics

 

Non-Nuzlocke Permadeath: Your Pokémon may die, but this requires more than simply fainting. I have two alternative methods in mind, but will need to talk with a coder about whether either is feasible.

 

Game Over: If all the Pokémon in your party are dead, you have become vulnerable, and you may be killed. While this is an unlikely scenario, there is also incentive to die, too, if you think you can come back from the Ghost World.

 

Pokémon Aquaticity: How does a Seaking, or a Kingdra move on land? By flopping around? It doesn’t seem very conducive for a battle on land, now, does it? I think it is time to separate the terrestrial and marine worlds.

 

New Field Effects: At least one new field effect – the Battlefield Field Effect – at most a unique set of field effects for each map/route in game.

 

Flying: Optional but desirable. Instead of making flying instant travel, it would be better if we could make is so that it is simply fast travel in the skies. Though I’m afraid this may require outrageous amounts of mapping and/or spriting, and have no idea how feasible it is in terms of coding.

 

Special Events: Optional but desirable. The siege in Chapter 2 could be run on a special battle engine. There may be similar or different event in the future of the game.

 

Character Stats: Optional. Two stats that make sense to me for this game are HP (related to how you get game overed) and leadership (related to Pokémon truancy).

 

SCREENSHOTS

 

Deep Lore:

Spoiler

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Colourful characters:

Spoiler

125523429_Meloettaslullubies.png.f70185b4e87a031179fa34cc92322ab8.png120213181_Darkraiswetdreams.png.c99a7affe50d450c2f468e12d40adf8a.png2142465633_Yarrg2.png.aa82152529eededaffeee1f0ef41244b.png1392623336_SquadMischief1.png.10b7450ee4369ef3bc0f313628003844.png1807580663_SquadMischief2.png.7f86455add56f8f08e82fb6c9d689339.png1129465829_BonbonvsWhiskey.jpg.5b25d15397098185fcce3395fa24666d.jpg

 

Maps and small nuances:

Spoiler

Lazama.png.c26d8a7d03abacf7fa29eb79344ec3c4.png1196305079_AgriculturalFields.jpg.3306af3865556508717dd4ec97d9794e.jpg The berry orchards of your hometown.

DEMO PROGRESS 

 

  • Concept & Story – 90%
  • Eventing Main Storyline – 50%
  • Eventing Side Quests – 0%
  • Eventing Misc – 20%
  • Mapping – 90%
  • Spriting – 0%
  • Coding – 0%
  • Total – 35% (disregarding spiriting & coding, and 15% factoring them in)

DEVS EX MACHINA (The Team)

 

Just me, and as a results there is no progress on spriting and coding. I’m working only with what I got from the essentials pack.

 

CREDITS

 

Pokemon Essentials by Peter 0. and Maruno, based on work by Flameguru

 

RECRUITMENT

 

I see five roles to be filled with regards to the development of this game.

 

Co-writer: The concept of the game is becoming too big for me to manage on my own in meaningful time scales. What I expect from any co-writer is to at least consistently give me in-depth feedback which allows me to keep progressing and avoid getting stuck, at most to take on whole sections of the writing. There are major blank spaces in the latter chapters of the game, and an entire main character (the New Unovan beginning) remains to be written. I should highlight that I am not expecting co-writers to do my for me, or simply write what I would write. The position of an invested co-writer could be better described as a co-creator.

 

Spriter: I am working only with what came with the Pokémon Essential Pack, and it is somewhat limiting. I am looking for a spriter to create tilesets and character sprites. There are lots of characters (around 10 sprited characters for the first demo alone), and with regards to the tilesets, I would like at least to have some distinct architectural styles for the three countries.

 

Scripter/Coder: I am looking for a coder to implement the new mechanics I have written above.

 

Composer: I do not compose music, so the music I have chosen for the game so far is from my own music library, ranging from electronic to orchestral, and from stoner rock to Mongolian folk. All of this is copyright-problematic music, but then again, we all live in the shadow of Nintendo…

 

Gamer: This role is about helping with the gaming aspects and balancing. I.e. competitive boss battle teams, balancing field effects, value of items depending on how the new game mechanics change the environment etc.

 

One person can fill more than one role above, and the same role can be shared between different people. I will start a thread for each role in the Team Recruitment section on Relic Castle, and provide their links here, when I am able to do so.

 

CONTACT

 

You can find me on Relic Castle, Reborn Forum and on Discord (once I get used to using it) by the name Fiasom.

 

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Honestly, I know next to nothing about being making Pokemon games. In regards to making a political thriller, I've seen some who completely forgo the politics itself and opt for a protagonist who has people who can solve "all the problems" whilst silencing "the idiots" by taking over the world. Erstwhile, there are those who try to tackle the politics, but just end up doing a black-and-white, good versus evil conflict where all you've gotta do is to call on Captain Planet to save the rainforest from Looten Plunder.

And of course, there are those who attempt to vie for realism, only to end up exploiting darker themes without actually saying anything of substance other than the platitudes we hear on a daily basis.

Nominally, for a game where there are at least three opposing factions, I'd expect a whole bunch of differing viewpoints that make sense to a degree, but there are those within those groups who twist those viewpoints in order to serve their own ends. Thus, it's up to the protagonist to sift through all the information and the people they come across to discover which path benefits the most amount of people without screwing over other people/resources/etc (in a sense of necessary irony, perhaps).

 

So the only thing I can really offer is to wish you luck in your endeavors, and let you know what I think about your game along its development.

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10 hours ago, F14m3rz said:

Honestly, I know next to nothing about being making Pokemon games. In regards to making a political thriller, I've seen some who completely forgo the politics itself and opt for a protagonist who has people who can solve "all the problems" whilst silencing "the idiots" by taking over the world. Erstwhile, there are those who try to tackle the politics, but just end up doing a black-and-white, good versus evil conflict where all you've gotta do is to call on Captain Planet to save the rainforest from Looten Plunder.

And of course, there are those who attempt to vie for realism, only to end up exploiting darker themes without actually saying anything of substance other than the platitudes we hear on a daily basis.

Nominally, for a game where there are at least three opposing factions, I'd expect a whole bunch of differing viewpoints that make sense to a degree, but there are those within those groups who twist those viewpoints in order to serve their own ends. Thus, it's up to the protagonist to sift through all the information and the people they come across to discover which path benefits the most amount of people without screwing over other people/resources/etc (in a sense of necessary irony, perhaps).

 

So the only thing I can really offer is to wish you luck in your endeavors, and let you know what I think about your game along its development.

I am way too keenly aware of the pitfalls you describe here.

 

Trying to save the world while silencing all "idiots" is one path the players can take, but this will essentially make the player the villian of the game. It is more likely that they will choose to side with several of the factions by the end of the game. Indeed, they will have made the 'choice' throughout the game by completing side quests, and how they complete them. And none of these choices will be simple ("I won't do something that bad") or extreme ("what harm can come from it?"). There are two main alliances, but both 'alliances' are loose, and neither is good or evil. There are those that are better than others (kind of like Starks vs Lannisters vs Boltons), but trying to explain what the factions are, and how they relate to each other is a bit too complex to do here - I have a 13 by 13 table and a 3K word long document explaining what the factions are and how they relate to each other. That said, there is a villian of the game, but it will be obscured. Understanding who is the real villain is one of the main challenges of the game. As I said above, critical thinking is a thing.

 

With regards to differing viewpoints - everybody lies, and most don't even know that they are lying. You get to watch news, read newspapers and library books, talk to NPCs, and experience some of the news-worthy events. Each shows some kernel of the reality of things, but each also present a biased view (the exception being what you directly experience). And the points of view are not limited to the 3 countries; everybody has a different opinion, but most generally fall within the interests of the 13 factions.

 

There are several different kinds of power in the game - economic, political & media, and military. I think this reflects reality fairly well. So I have designed an economic system based on Pokemon, inspired by the Petro-Dollar. (It is called the PokeDollar, in the end.) This has nothing to do with the money you get after battles, it works more for the lore and the plot.

 

With regards to good and evil, I have done my fair share of studying moral philosophy, so I have a fairly nuanced view of morality. A black and white good vs evil usually boils down to either a bigoted and hypocrite understanding of us vs them or the Men of the West vs Sauron (which is also another version of us vs them, only way more simple and unrealistic/fantastical). Chapters 6 and 7 are titled Nature and Humanity, respectively. And in these two chapters I'll explore how natural morality and socially constructed morality are very different things.

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