Commander

There's only two reasons why you couldn't make any posts (ie the bottom replay thing says this thread is locked) which is either a mod or yourself (not sure if non Ace members have that power) lock this thread. If a mod did it, you would be notified or aware of it in some way or form. It was probably just a glitch though so don't worry about it. Some users have had issues with certain features of the site for some random reason.

This is not an easy question to answer as it has to do with a couple factors but ultimately I don't believe you should give individual themes to all the leaders. First off, you will increase the game size A LOT. I didn't add that many and HC is about 1.5 times the size of regular Reborn just due to that. That's not the thing I want to talk about. Something I do want to talk about is what battle themes represent. A battle theme is a method to label of a group of people who serve a role usually applied to bosses. Most bosses share a theme with other bosses in I'd say almost all RPGs. Individual themes are used to represent plot significant characters. Usually they are one who drive the plot and are one of the four or five most important characters in the game. I know someone mentioned Paper Mario, but Paper Mario is a very short game with only about 10 bosses. That's a very small amount compared to the average RPG's 30-60 range. That's why games usually make themes to group and represent bosses through that. Also, an issue with using a long and done is that it could make themes forgettable. Personally if I hear a theme I like, I love knowing I'll hear it again in the future.

COGA: Special Edition On Copyright Infringement So hello there. I decided to make a little sub series of the COGA's called Special Editions. Special Editions are articles that relate either to current news or focus on something outside of the game making factors. So now we get into one of the biggest can of worms when it comes to fan-games: misuse of copyright. Unless you are relatively new to the hack and fangame world, I'm sure you've seen a case or two about the C&Ds to these type of games to shut them down. Just recently, I actually got a copyright infringement claim on one of my old version of my mod. I had to figure out what exactly happened and finally started to lightly piece together what happened. The led me to do some research and actually find a rather recent analogy that works perfectly to describe it. Hopefully, this article will be as little bias as possible but no promises. This is also based on my own knowledge of the subject so I ask people to fact check to prove me right or wrong. Before I can even jump into the subject, I must define what the copyright law is. A copyright law is, according to the U.S. copyright law, a law that is used for creators to sell their product and is used to preserve creativity and advancement in the arts and sciences. That's fancy for promoting creativity. In order to keep achieving this, there are standards set to prevent the use of others stealing a person's product. There are ways to use these products legally called licensing which a user of a product agrees to a term, and possibly money, to which the user is able to use a product under certain conditions. I have a manual of a Nintendo game around here somewhere so I'll post the phrase in it later. [Insert Notice Here] The very moment you have announced that you are making a fan-game, you have committed copyright infringement. You are using someone else's product for your own gain. Nintendo actually has the right and the power to shut down your game the moment you announce it. Obviously, it'd probably be a great laugh seeing the headlines "Nintendo shuts down something that doesn't exist" because in a sense it really doesn't. I do know fan-fiction actually falls into this category as well, but I'm not really sure if fan-art does as well. The point is that there's a lot of things that can be considered part of this copyright infringement range. So why do things get taken down? I'll actually start with my situation with Hardcore. You may think Nintendo struck me, but I actually think it was somebody else. You see, I got a takedown notice due to a third party claiming I infringed the copyright law. The puzzling thing is that they took down something made almost two years ago. I would have guessed a bot, but a bot would have a hard time detecting only just that when the same download was available on a mirror uploading site. Basically, bot or human found that download link and ordered a takedown due to them finding keywords related to one of their IPs they are meant to protect. Let's just say that I would not hire them if I needed to protect IPs because not only did they make a mistake, they overlooked 12 files in the same exact area which should have triggered them as well let alone the fact that this file was well expired and no longer being passed out. Someone made some money out of it and I can't fight it due to possibly digging myself into a hole. Anyways, this is a claim of copyright infringement which is nothing more than just asking to take a file down. It happens to Youtube videos all the time so if it happens to you it's not that big of a deal (unless multiple offenses occur which will get your account banned). Edit: I just did some research and indeed it was a bot who found the content and flagged it. There are some other company names I discovered from reading this article. If Nintendo had been involved in my scenario, I would have been given a C&D notice. A C&D notice is merely a letter demanding someone who is committing copyright infringement to remove all use of the copyrighted content and to never commit the infringement again. It's just a letter sent to you which gives you a certain time period to act before legal action is taken. You don't need a lawyer, but usually one is used to be sent to the culprit of the act. It's not something that'll appear on your record nor is it something that means they'll press charges. Think of it merely as a notice and warning. If you see this, immediately take action because things will only get worse from there. If charges are pressed, you're probably going to want to contact a lawyer (I seriously doubt Nintendo would ever go that far though). So why would someone ever want to even consider making a fan-game or hack with those kinds of risks involved? Your only risk is actually losing all that hard work you put in...and probably never getting a job at Nintendo. Though from my point of view if someone is able to get 3 or 4 million players due to a well built game, I would actually consider hiring him as not only would he be really good at making games, the publicity level would also be quite high. Pokemon Reborn is a good example as if Ame started with Starlight Divide over making Pokemon Reborn, she wouldn't even have half as many gamers interested in her next game. You also gain experience in the Indy gaming industry. So there many things I learned about gaming from making the Hardcore mod of Reborn I never even knew about and learned from both my success and failures. The main reason so create a fan-game is that you're passionate about your idea. There's a chance, no, your game will be taken down in time, but that's a risk you have to accept to see your dream come true. Now we get into the "source" of this issue: Nintendo. I want to remove one fact or idea people may think the official Pokemon game developers have on fan-games. Developers do not necessarily hate fan-games. It'd be the same thing as hating a third party making a game based on their franchise. In one sense, you could view it as someone trying to steal their ideas to make a profit. In another sense, it could be viewed as flattery as imitation is the highest form of flattery. Many of these fans who make these fan-games are inspired by the Pokemon series and love them so much they are inspired to make their own fan-fiction of them. I tend to view developers are the ones passionate about making games as an art (not all are in it for the passion though) and believe the developers of Pokemon fit more into the second option over the first. So if it's not the people making games, who's the one trying to stop the creation of fan-game? There are people who are more keen on making a profit off of video games who we call publishers. I'm sure the name Nintendo of America is one of the ones you can recognize. Publishers are generally the ones responsible for the marketing and advertising for games developed by developers. Their input does influence how a game is altered or changed so that it can sell better. This ranges from the creation of a game like Xenoblade Chronicles all the way down to censorship in a game so it's not all good or bad. Now let's take a step in a publisher's shoes. You have a franchise you spent years helping a company reach the point they are today. On the web, there is this game using the same elements to their game that you spent a long time working up. It's very, very popular and getting a lot of praise. What would you do? Maybe this will help you understand: have you ever heard of a fan-game called Pokemon Full Moon. As a fan of either Reborn or Rejuvenation, didn't it kind of irk you that this game was using assets straight up from both games to create their own. Yes, they could get away with it whether or not they asked Ame or Jan for permission. I think they were heavily inspired by those games though in reality and wanted to create their own despite lacking some skills to create a game. This is the cycle I feel publishers are experiencing and I'm sure they are aware of many fan-games including Reborn. I'm sure someone is aware that Pokemon Insurgence is completed. So why haven't they acted? I had to dig up some legal information regarding C&D. From a little bit of research, I calculate that it probably costs Nintendo of America $1000 just to send a single C&D letter to a fan-game or hack creator. I did a bit of research that it's $500 for a lawyer to write one so I doubled it assuming some research may be done looking into the game and how to approach it. So if you get a C&D letter, you could consider it an honor that Nintendo noticed your work and it's worth $1000 to stop. This could just be $500 or it could be more, but it does cost them money. The bigger reason most fan-games and hacks don't get affected is just in case Nintendo has to press charges. If they need to press charges, I did a search and it costs $325,000 just for charges of something worth less than a million bucks. Since it's Pokemon, it would probably cost them one million dollars just to sue. These aren't exact numbers, just enough to get an idea. So Nintendo has to decide to pick and choose which battles to fight. This also serves as a scare tactic as an attempt to stop other people from using their assets. Just know that they don't have enough money to take down every act of copyright infringement on the web (nobody does). Also, a C&D case from Nintendo happens every year and I think this year it was Pixelmon. And if anyone says Nintendo is the only video game publisher to file C&D letters, Square Enix also has done it in the past: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_Resurrection Now the biggest thing going on is the whole "Nintendo is so evil for doing this" or "Fan-game creators are uncreative as they can't make their own content and have to steal it" trying to label either side as the bad side. If I had to label a bad side, it would be the people saying those thing thus is where the analogy comes into play. Something that happened rather recently was NFL players kneeling during the Star Spangled Banner. They did this in order to help bring awareness to police abuse against blacks across the nation. Trump responded by saying this: I do agree with one thing Trump said: it is disrespectful to not stand during that National Anthem as it is a form of respect to those that serve, have served, and died in order to preserve and protect our freedom. Those players took a knee to stand, no pun intended, up against police officers who do not properly do their job. In a sense, I could see how police could be categorized as military as they do serve and protect this country. And they do have a right not to stand for the anthem which they were exercising. Now replace Trump with Nintendo and Fan-game creators with the people who kneel. You can see how both sides here performed a wrong. The people I'm probably the most upset (more disappointed) isn't Trump of the NFL players. I'm most disappointed in the people who went out and burned their jerseys usually on video. I know it's usually for publicity, but it doesn't matter. The moment you burn a jersey you are labeling the entire team that due to a few men expressing their freedom by unintentionally disrespecting the nation, as people who don't support, respect, or even love our nation. It's hard to explain, but it's like burning a copy of Sun and Moon due to Nintendo taking down Pokemon Uranium. If you don't agree with it, don't support it is all. Though if I was actually in the shoes of those football players, I'd be thinking about all the people I may be disrespecting such as the police officer or soldier somewhere who may die before the end of the Anthem. Two days ago a Police Officer died trying to protect citizens in Los Vegas. I'll admit that upon doing the Pledge of Allegiance, National Anthem, and the moment of silence thousands of times, my mind tends to drone off not thinking about the purpose of why I'm doing them. It makes you then wonder if it's more important to remember them and what they've done or simply follow a procedure thousands of times. Imagine burning a jersey due to a few individuals disrespecting a flag when it's possibly that they couldn't get the people who fought for the flag out of their head. Don't get me wrong, I still believe it's very disrespectful not to stand for the anthem and shouldn't be tolerated, but I don't think it's justified to publicly burn jerseys due to it. It's just like pointing fingers at fan-game makers or Nintendo for doing what they're doing about them. Yes, I believe taking and using Nintendo's property is very wrong, but I do understand and respect people who put so much effort and passion to create something using them. I also respect Nintendo wanting to shut them down due to the need to make money. You can't make Pokemon fan-games with next Gen content if Game Freak doesn't have the money to do it. People can't or shouldn't get away with doing this so while I hate seeing C&Ds, they do serve as a reminder that people shouldn't be making a profit off of Pokemon, their creation. Also, profit doesn't always mean money. Hopefully I helped clear up a few things regarding copyright infringement. Now I pray that a war doesn't break out and I have to lock the thread. Also if anyone is interested in editing to correct grammar, typos, and spelling errors, please let me know. I am going back through and starting to edit older ones, but it takes me about an hour to edit so yeah...

Leveling systems is not a simple subject as it's a problem which developers must develop based on their knowledge and how they want their game to work. The one I was going to use if I ever made a fan-game was actually a rubber band experience system. If Pokemon fell behind, they'd gain a higher yield of experience compared to the official games, but if they were close to the current enemy levels, it'd shrink significantly (also bosses would not yield exp to avoid boss grind abuse). Level caps and disobedience is a lazy system that Ame only implemented as a method for players to rethink teams. Only a handful of people are willing to think outside the box to resolve the issue. As for gameplay and story, think about the number of RPGs who even have gym or dojos. They are nonexistant and in fact, Pokemon lore already established not every region has a league even in modern day. Orre and Alola do not have leagues yet they turned out fine (Alola was in the phase to start establishing a league while Orre is still a ways away). I guess I should explain what type of system the badge system is before explaining why don't people write outside of it (other than the whole "Because it's not Pokemon if you don't") The Gym Leader/Badge system is what I'm going to call a fixed frame narrative. This means that segments of the story are paced at regular intervals (or roughly) which is determined by Gym Leaders who serve as area bosses. They are the bosses as you can't face the gym leader due to reason A which after reason A has been resolved, the player then sets their goal to leader B who you can't fight due to reason B. It's a very squared off structure and easy to work with, but at the cost of the plot being very choppy and jagged. Most game makers aren't people who started out studying writing books and novels (or a focus studying that material) so they can't grasp video game writing that well (which is much harder than book writing) and just cop out and use an easy to work with system. In fact, most game series rely on a basic structure they created in their first game for a system. It's understandable but...Pokemon is the champ for horrible game writing. Pokemon is the butt of the joke when making game writing jokes it's that bad at points. And most people who play Pokemon don't play for the plot. But I did say it is possible to make a game without Gym Leaders. How? I'm going to call this an unframed structure design. You can and will design a frame for this, but likely the segments will be divided with the later parts being much longer (and harder) than the earlier segments. This could be traveling to a new region, completing a temple, or even defeating a high rank admin among a group. So for the Gym Leader system you have a plot point for every leader which is going to be a lot of markers you're required to travel across the board. Without that system, you're going to have 4-5 plot points representing that area. You need to make even more decisions such as where breaking points (aka relax time), hard and easy bosses, and character development are all going to fit within those segments and how to go about it. For Gym Leader's system, it was basically a "learn about the gym leader before you fight them" case scenario. Now, you must decide when it is best to represent their growth and even their backstory. And yes, it's A LOT harder to write a story in this style as you have more freedom and no structure to follow or guide you (leading to more work and brainstorming). It's absolutely worth the tradeoff as well, people will start paying attention since they aren't used to this (compared to them thinking "Okay, the gym is locked so I gotta go follow them and they'll tell me where to go next then we go back to the gym and fight"). Trust me, a writer's greatest tool is being able to keep the audience wondering what will happen next.

Again, this is another misconception that more characters = better development. The best way I can teach you the right amount of characters is to get a sheet of paper and right the name of a very relevant, if not the most important, character in the story. Then start writing the names of characters close or related around this. Your next goal is to draw arrows from the center character to the other characters showing their relation. Then draw arrows among the other characters in ways they are connected. This could be like brother, lover, and even enemies. Keep adding the characters in following this pattern until you have them all connected through relations. Characters who are side characters and not super important to the plot should have 2-3 arrows. Main focus characters should have at least 8 connections. You may think of that as a rather big number, but it is quite the opposite. I know the three core characters in one storyline I wrote have a total of at least 20 each, but probably quite a few more. Characters are not meant to be thrown around and added like they're props as they are complex, non-linear things.

I know I only talk briefly on this stuff in what I write (at least for now), but in my honest opinion, 8 gyms is too much for a 40-50 hour game. I actually believe 6 is the prime number to work off of and Gen VII kind of displays that idea. I've never seen a good story so far using the gym leader system. I'd say Reborn's avarage at best but that is due to the superb dialogue writing that goes into the game at certain points. I just want to clear that out now before I explain. The purpose of gym leaders IS NOT to serve as end segment bosses, but to serve as breaks in the story. The main protags goal (which is then reflected onto the player) is to become the strongest trainer in the region which is why they take on this challenge. The plot is then driven forward due to Team Evil doing something bad causing the protag to go out and stop them. Once that is over, they assume their main objective of becoming the strongest. Yes, I just describe 90% of Pokemon hacks and fan-games. All I'm saying is that you shouldn't need to increase the number of gym leaders just because of the story. I could easily draw up a 40-60 hour Pokemon storyline with just 4 gyms. That does require knowing how to do a lot more elements since it wouldn't be a chopped up story in segments (more like arcs such as the Reborn City Arc, The Orphanage Arc, The Agate Arc, etc). Story needs to be planned out and bounded. If you inflate it beyond your capabilities, you'll burn out and the game will never be completed. A story's proper length is able to wrap up all the main loose ends by the end of the main campaign.

So about that whole level limiter thing I guess I should be specific if it is the same format as the one I drew up (Sardines was the one who kind of helped and rewrote it to its current form): -I choose not to disable Rare Candies actually due to the starters. Some people actually thought this was an oversight, but it serves no harm especially due to the obedience system layer in place. -Insurgence did this before with 1 exp. I knew that message would be annoying so I opted to remove it entirely using 0 exp instead. They did this to make sure EVs would still be added to a Pokemon. This issue has been resolved with HC's level limiter so even if you are not gaining experience, you can still EV train.

Back in E15 there were random discussions about the protagonist getting replaced if they die and the talk of making mods for side stories. I designed the party system for a framework in case people were still interested in creating them. I do have a few more plans for it and to make the mechanics a bit more involved for the side stuff. Glad you are enjoying the mod so far and as for alternate battles, that is probably the second biggest hit with this game after the level limiter. Don't worry if you don't want to fight both as I give you an option for a reason.

So uhhh a quick update I want to notify everyone of before all hell breaks loose of people asking "What the hell happened to all the download links?" So I just got onto Mega for the first time and 8 days ago one of my game version (Version 1.81 ie the first version uploaded on Mega) was filed for takedown. Before everyone gets riled up we're getting attacked, I have not seen a lawsuit filed by Nintendo as of yet. I have not been sent a copyright claim for any other version nor has Mediafire sent me any notifications. As a safety precaution, I will be removing all of the Hardcore Download links from Mega as well as the Mediafire links. I will then upload the Official release onto Mediafire to download. There's been no actions since then (oddly) so I won't do it immediately. Mega will no longer be my site host for downloads as well. Again, I don't want people to panic. We're not in any danger yet, but I'm taking steps in order to protect other fan-games on this site. I suggest other fan-game developers check their download links as well just in case. If I get any other copyright claims, I'll likely be notifying Ame first to discuss options. Hardcore is not in any danger. Anyways, here's the email: As for when the Download links will be taken down, I will be removing them on October 5th from all sites. The official release will then be reuploaded after the Community release of E17 has been out for a couple days.

What happened last night? (Sees random ping) Oh yeah, I remember now. Probably a little grouchy (I get like that when I do 18 hours of work straight). Anyways, I see this has been cleared up so let me at least address the differences of WHEN you can post outside your fan-game thread: The focus of a fan-game thread is for official information and to update it as you like. The OP likely will change over time as you progress more from images to announcements (I'll admit I'm horrible at updating mine for my mod but alas I still do it). Anything that does not fit this could be put into a post so I'll go into individual types of threads that currently popped up: Help Threads: I actually encourage these to be separate so that if someone else is having trouble they can find a solution instead of having to dig around and ask people (if not make a post anyways). I would caution from posting content that consists of heavy spoilers since well it is fun to surprise the audience (those should be done more privately with a group of people you trust more). Article Threads: Some people want to make articles regarding stuff (I mean I do it) so of course there's a justified reason to separate it from the game. If it's just a blog regarding your game, it's really debatable where it goes since on one hand it's for your game, but on the other it could be designed to be educational regarding the developer side of things. For me personally, a very short articles is 2,000-3,000 words. I choose to make mine separate because it'd be an utter mess trying to read them all in a single thread. Short ones (<1000 words) can easily be compiled together.

There's actually a slight way around this if you did something like the DNA splicer method in which you could only fuse with a mon outside of battle as it'd just be a change in form. If someone nicknamed their Vulpix, you could store that Vulpix's name in a variable. Then when you convert, you'd change its name to the protag's name. Then when you defuse, you would use the variable to change its name back. I think taking the Kyurem route may be more beneficial to you as you'd just need to define the form in the scripts. Don't worry too much about the minor things because I didn't simply make the party system in a day and even completely rewrote large sections of the scripts.

Oi! This is a tricky one as it involves the age old question of this: what happens when a trainer fused with a Pokemon faints? So how I'd go about it is to have an Ace for last mechanic in which opponents who use it would use their fusion last since losing would cost them the match as they'd be severely wounded. You have to have other people fight in battle as well other than yourself for it to work but it could similar to the whole Reburst manga series of Pokemon. You also could make certain mons other than Vulpix do it as well which I highly suggest (which could replace the HM system entirely...wink wink nudge nudge). I think you're not being competent enough in yourself as honestly whatever ideas you have going on right now I'd see going through with to move forward as you could bring some interesting mechanics to the table. You've perked my interests so if there's anything you want to discuss or me to idea check and give feedback feel free to PM me. I would check with a skilled programmer in a PM to discuss how to approach this battle wise as I can tell you this can work but I'm not sure the best way to approach it. Biggest thing is making sure you have all the checks in to make sure nothing goes screwy.

I guess I'm going to speak out that it is kind of annoying that you've basically taken up half of the first page of the sub-forum with your "game." It's honestly a little bit disrespectful to fan-game developers as you've now covered up some of there games in order to showcase yours 10 times (I haven't counted the thread numbers so don't quote me on that). If it was like a massive update in like a week or even a month for all of these, I'd be fine with that. These are all very light and quick updates all done within the same day at points. I get it. You're excited to talk about your game and passionate about it but...how about showing a little modesty? You have actually made more threads about your game than when Rejuv first started out until maybe I think Version 2 or 3. That was due to its massive popularity which I even suggested asking for a subforum to avoid the clutter and mess he was experiencing. Pretty much every other fan-game has only a single thread (sometimes two) for everything they do and give updates on. They are all very successful through that method and it is easy to keep a following on. I really suggest just making a single thread because you really aren't helping yourself out here in the long run. What if I wanted to keep track of your entire progress and glance through updates. Now I'd have to dig through 8 or 9 posts just to be able to. You're not technically breaking any rules or anything so if you really want to continue doing things this way by all means go ahead. Probably should do this as a PM but oh well... And to at least make this somewhat relevant: If you want to make an empire based game really work you need to focus on the world building aspect from the politics and the people and not just based on choices and reputation. Both sides need to feel like they are both in the right and wrong, unlike the infamous Fire Emblem Fates in which the Hoshidians were over-glorified good. You really cannot tell me or sell me that you did this well as I would have to play and experience it to see if I'd enjoy your idea. After all, it's not what the story is about but how well designed and written it is. As for the Ice gym leader, this is literally Serra's backstory just with Model replaced with Ice Skater. Kind of sad how Serra was the one leader in Reborn who got shafted since she had an interesting history in Reborn but her character just feels blandish alone. As for Ice as the first leader err...that'd probably work since the early stages of ice are very very weak and some even laughable. Smoochum and Vanillite are two that cross my mind right away. It's probably workable with Gen VII in place but it is the shallowest pool of types. It's probably a coincidence Serra is very similar to your own character as it happens just ironic they are both ice type leaders.

In order to get into supervised testing, you must do everything I say very carefully. First, you must collect 20 photos of Amethyst. Next, you must set them up in a circle which you must sit in the middle of. Once you have it set up, you must began speaking the phrase "I accept Cellism as the one and true religion" over and over again. Once you speak of it enough times, a majestic red haired man shall descend from the heavens holding a flash drive which contains the alpha.

The hardest thing about the transformation thing is creating the animation but other than that it is a very simple process. pbchangeplayer is the class you are looking for to use there. As for the other thing, if you are asking to change the name of a Pokemon within its HP bar, that technically isn't possible. The display messages are easy to change. If you did want to change the HP display, you'd have to temporarily configure it to read something else other than off a Pokemon's data if that is even possible. Hardest thing about coding is actually following what goes where and does what. When you have an understanding most of what you asked is easily implemented.

Hello everyone. You are probably wondering what the heck a COGA is. It's an acronym for Commander's Opinionated Gaming Articles. I decided to start the series up due to the lack of places to discuss topics about both games and fan-games and what people both like and dislike about them. While the focus will be fan-games, I will still talk about official games to bring up points and maybe even name one that will perk your interests. I do aim to bring up different aspects of certain elements or even ones that are rarely talked about, but mostly I want to focus on making them enjoyable reads. Here's the ones I made so far: Pokemon Themed Topics: Gen I the Forgotten Foundation Pokemon Games - The Cycle of Repetition Planning Stages: Once Upon a Time... Picture Perfect Characters: A Little Thing Called Love Sharing the Spotlight Style and Form: It Gets Better Later Miscellaneous: On Copyright Infringement What a Pile of Crit The list may seem small now but I do plan to make quite a number of these over the coming months. This topic also serves as a suggestion booth. If you ever want me to talk about almost anything game wise just put it in a post and I'll either add it to a que or simply respond to it with a paragraph if I don't think it's article worthy (these things are massive and take a while to write).

A talking protag doesn't need to be bound to a certain Pokemon. Pokemon could be considered equipment in a sense. The player may want to keep their equipment but with limited spacing, they may want to part with it. That would be cool and cruel to make it so that players could either only have 6 or 10 Pokemon at any given time. The thing about Pokemon is that it's a tool of player immersion. Pokemon are lifeless pixels in which it is a player that gives them life through imagination and it's them that set the ideas "you have to always use the starter" and "you can't use legendaries." That's why you don't really need to have a big focus investing in it because even GF really doesn't. Pokemon is a loosely connected game series that really only briefly talk about one another and their lore. Most game series don't take place in the same world as well it's very difficult to connect them all or keep consistent. Why do you think I praise the Legend of Heroes Trails series for literally creating a massive storyline separated into arcs which all have taken place in a 5 year time span so far. 8 games with a span of 5 years in there setting (might be 8 with CS III recently coming out in Japan). You don't need to compare universes to the original but the rest of what you're talking about is worldbuilding. I'll likely be making a COGA on that one of these days. Not a big subject I'll cover since there's countless leagues of RP articles you can dig up and find regarding it. I'm going to have to agree to disagree here. It is because Game Freak is very barebone in designing their world that so much can be worked out from it. They created God but avoid saying things due to religion and in fact opted out of giving it originally. Pokemon does have solid mythology which is sometimes based around actual myths (if not all of them are) which is actually something you can look into on Bulbapedia based on their origins. Ho-oh is Phoenix, Thundurus is based on a Sky Deity, and so on. The biggest thing about the games is that it's actually a lot of rubbish which some is intentional. The game lies to you and in fact most legendary stories are more likely tall tales which is how they became famous (many could just be really rare Pokemon). The lore and backstory is the most interesting thing about Pokemon as there's quite a bit there but it rarely gets tapped other than the surface. Most towns don't have history like Ecruteak City. It is possible to connect Pokemon's history with barebone knowledge but one thing people forget is that Professor Oak is one of the earliest Pokemon trainers, but the earliest one is Az who was the king of when Pokemon and people worked together without capsules. The most interesting one has to do with Lt. Surge as that was the last Pokemon War in history. That likely happened 5-10 years before Generation I. Using what little info GF gets us, the Pokemon League was established as an act of peace so that nobody would ever face the traumas like Surge did. Maybe one of these days I'll configure a history of Pokemon but that's something I'll probably have manga and anime fans fact check with me as there's so much media for Pokemon no single individual could know it all.

First off, I'm really appalled how vocal people have suddenly become. It's possible my COGA's are causing a bit of a stir, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. My biggest advice would be to just do what you want and not focus on the other stuff because ultimately the hardest part of a game is to stay motivated and if you aren't passionate about it, you won't finish it. There are a couple things that I suppose I could give a little heads up and clearing up what it means: This is fancy for: don't let the protag be a dumbass. Nothing is more frustrating than watching a protag who clearly understands the situation and even people around her are warning her to be careful or not do something (*cough* Celica *cough*) yet they still do it and something bad becomes of it. In reality, it ain't what they do that's the problem, but usually a horrible way of displaying or showing it. A lot of people fall head first on this element when they are beginning writers so don't fret if you fail at a plot point or two. You are a greenhorn after all. Now I'm going to explain originality by taking this and crossing out what you really have for features: Now I'll explain a couple that I crossed off. Some of them are just minor features that most, if not all, use such as Mega Evolution and Gen VII Pokemon. Seriously what difference does it make anymore if all the Pokemon are available since you can't use them all anyways (we're getting closer and closer to a thousand). You don't really need to put the E8 in the feature because you could decide to flip it and make it 4 again and it's not going to make or break a game for people. The odd one I did cross out is a story driven game. I have a hard time believing that with the 18 leader system as you have at least 18 characters who are going to be part of the story one way or another. Working with a lot of character is very difficult. It requires a lot of planning not to have oversights, but hey if you want to do an 18 gym leader game, do an 18 gym leader game. The reason I crossed off story driven is that story driven have a heavy focus on constantly moving the plot and progressing which often cut back on exploration to compensate. Reborn isn't story driven while Rejuv kind of is. Getting rid of that bloated feature stuff does help narrow the focus of what differentiates your own game from the rest. Focus in on explaining those things instead. You tease of a little romance. Is it something we can control or is it an element in the story? As for the whole forced starter....seriously why are people complaining? It's not a big deal if your first Pokemon is the same for everyone because gee I don't know...it could help establish the character. Colosseum had Umbreon and Espeon as starters and you don't see people complaining about that (or even using it for an example). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There is one thing I would suggest doing which is basically a sales pitch. Pick up an RPG game case you have floating around somewhere (if you somehow don't have that, go to a used video game store) and turn the game case around. Game devs have little space to attract and sway consumers who are on the edge and this is often what they do to sell it to them. It's not as big of a thing nowadays due to game reviewers and the whole internet thing but back in the 90s and early 2000s that was the way to do it. I'm telling you this because I don't want you telling me a little bit about the game, I want you to sell it to me. Do that and you'll knock the whole "you're unoriginal" thing off the table like it's nothing. It's also a way to improve your writing skills. Don't do it now, but closer to when you are making a beta or the first segment is released.

@H.P. Doom A major issue with what you have is actually called forgetting the plot which is very, very easy to do in massive exploration games. It's often why storyboard writers rethink how they move the plot as angst is supposed to make you rush through an area...it's a hard balance but there should be times where you aren't worried about the plot kind of like Reborn's Route 1 or FFX's Calm Lands. Those are times where you are supposed to relax and take in the atmosphere. Legend of Heroes Skies is a master of combining the gameplay with the storyline. Now getting off topic or forgetting the plot happens even in AAA games. Something that's really funny is Tales of Symphonia where an important story point is not even brought back until nearly the end of the game where it is finally resolved. Fun fact: an important character getting captured early in the story is not an uncommon theme in RPGs if not a cliche. Cold Steel II is one of my favorites as it is probably one of the most hilarious jailbreaks with so many Skies references. The last thing with the player importance rising has to do with silent protagonists. Writers of those have to show character development and progress which since they cannot express emotion nor any relation to anyone, so how can you show "character development/progress". Kind of hard other than to show how other people are helpless when you are a solo protag. I'm not a fan of apocalyptic settings (yet I wrote one which sparked a post dystopia world). An ecologist would be interesting but it would require a lot of planning to deviate from a stereotypical "Stahp ahmalz abwez" as you would need to show a bit of both sides in a conflict (one major issue in video game writing is being keen on writing it in black and white. Yes, Reborn even has that issue despite ironically having Radomus say it isn't). We refer to this in the "Politics of Gaming" (Oh hell yes I will be doing a COGA of that one is that it's one of the best subjects to talk about). If you like SEE, I'd recommend trying Final Fantasy V as it takes a lot of inspiration from it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @Alilatias Pokemon has been around for 20 years and if you count all the fan-game and hacks, no franchise comes even close to having as my games centered around the same exact system. It's literally Super Mario Bros but in RPG form. The long wait times for the better games don't help because well...sometimes you find stuff you like more or you're so burned out of the franchise just from waiting. I think that system would work but the biggest worry is experience and balance as training a team of 10 is more difficult to do over a team of 5. Upgrading the moves could actually be an interesting change as you could work on making a weaker much stronger over TMs or leveling up. Only other issue is just due to the overbloated pool of Pokemon there are and trying to balance that. And Legends of the Arena is an odd game I've heard a lot of good things about. What really bothers me is that it relies and only uses Gen IV's assets which does put me off. One of these days I'll try it out.

You do realize that the public release won't be available until November...right?

Let's open our knowledge Everyone as sometimes the finds one route here in momentum. I mean wut?

@Pozyher His location varies depending on the path you chose. I'm guessing you picked Aqua so it is possible you could not obtain it yet as you would need to find jobs for all the aqua members first. I avoided playing with that event as much as possible due to it being an issue.

I'm just going to butt in for a quick second and just say the list is honestly fine now. The only ones I see as issues are Exeggcute (though that's fixed by evolving it around 16 or 17) and A. Sandshrew. The problem with that one is that its only usuable level up Movepool is Iron Head. That's it. Taillow I'd say replace with Starly but I'd take it with that one being the weakest of the bunch. Gastly, Magnemite, Rockruff, and Vulpix are fine. Gastly wasn't THAT broken in Reborn as the big reason for it getting axed was due to Misdreavus. If you don't want to give away the third strongest non legendary ghost type, go with Golett or Misdreavus. And if you wanted to give Abra at the beginning of the game, you could have it with Confusion (instead of Teleport) on it by simple PBaddPokemon or something like that in a scripted event. Loved using that thing in the original Reborn as it became my go to Pokemon (back when it was available very early). Personally I think throwing some really, really good mons into the mix isn't a bad thing as it makes the game more interesting and more enjoyable if I start out with a really cool mon I like such as Gengar. (For me though I'd be so happy to have an Abra with Confusion). Just only focus on not picking almost unusable or ones who will fall off super quickly.

.....................................................I..........sorry but you got to give me a moment to laugh. I'm not laughing at the thought of you honestly asking, but the fact that you straight up though it was a really good idea to make a topic post asking about this. There's only a very small handful of people who even know how this thing functions so you'd be better off asking one of them through a PM over trying to ask the masses. It's also a very complicated question to answer because you are being very vague. "I don't know how to do it" is never a good way to ask for help and won't let you get an answer. What don't you understand? Surely you're not trying to blindly go into this without a vague idea how scripting works. I've tampered with the Reborn scripts enough I suppose I can at least say a little bit about them (seriously, PM someone because you'll probably need more personal help as you are learning someone else's system). So the first layer is the graphics which are defined in the scripts and given a property. I think it is then turned into a number variable, but it could remain a string. This process is needed as many different sections of the scripts will be affected. For moves and abilities, you'd need to use that variable for the specific moves and abilities so they are affected only during those specific conditions. You'll also need to be aware of if an effect is temporary or can be overwritten (adding it into the temp field effect variable). When you get all of that done, you'll then need to apply the changes so the AI is also aware, otherwise they'll fight like there's no field effect at all. Sorry if I'm a little vague, but you kind of are basically asking "How does Pokemon work?" You'd need to have a good grasp of the engine so that you know what classes need changes and can debug them for errors because you will make errors and even silly ones but some that can entirely screw up the whole system. I also can't really help you all that much as I've barely touched upon the scripts other than sections I need to mess with. I hope that at least helps you get started. I'd honestly be really surprised if someone dropped in here out of nowhere and straight up gave a full on tutorial how to do it. I'd get your big boy pants on and go back and figure out what you figured out about field effects before PMing a certain someone for help. Nobody ever said making a game was easy so be prepared to ask for help and advice early on when you hit those hurdles.