Pokemon Empire: Official Game Thread

[Sceptilespy 62]

1 minute ago, Jess said:

It is an opinion... I'd prefer 3-stage evolution mons for all types starters for example... But the ones you suggest aren't bad either! Interesting and viable (with some balancing). Apart from Scyther. Flying type starter that evolves into Steel/Bug doesn't make sense (even if you choose to never evolve it).

LOL, forgot Scyther evolves into Scizor.

[ssbCasper 33]

@Sceptilespy Fairly confident several people have missed the new starter list so here it is once again.  Note this is not ALL the changes we made just a few ones to note. Some 2 stage evo mons will get evos other's won't. The point is to have starters that peak at different type and to represent a plethora of playing styles not just hyper offense. After multiple polls and what not this has been the only list where all starters had people say the would pick them. Some by nature will be more popular then others.  

 

• Normal: Lillipup (learns elemental fangs via level up)

• Flying: Starly 

• Bug: Venipede (Poison jab instead of venom shock as well as a small stat buff)

• Dragon: Axew (No dragon rage, evos slightly earlier)

• Dark: Zorua 

• Fairy: Flabebe (Florges evo at 34)

• Electric: Shinx (Luxray is electric/dark)

• Fighting: Timburr (evos at 20 and 33) 

• Poison: Nidoran (2nd stage evo for both get a 20 points added to their BST)

• Ground: Phanpy (stone edge at 30, new ground move given upon evolution)

• Rock, Rockruff (Midnight form lycanroc is Rock/Dark)

• Ghost, Duskull (evos at 25 and 40, has pound lv 1)

• Steel, Magnemite (evos at 25 and 40)

• Fire: Darmaka (evos at 27, movepool switched around)

• Water, Clauncher (evos at 27, new ability and several new moves)

• Grass, Tangela (evos at 30) 

• Ice: Sneasel (slight stat nerf on sneasel, learns ice punch and icicle crash via level up)

• Psycic, Solosis (evos at 16 and 31, energy ball and focus blast via level up)

[ssbCasper 33]

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone, we actually had a discussion based off the few replies we got for this. I'll take a bit of time to respond to @Phi-Bi and @groniack concerns. 

 

So I will start with story related concerns: Making a game where one side can look like the bad guy to one person but a hero to another is no easy task. But that is the beauty of an open ended game, what to you might seem like a terrible act may be a warranted one in my eyes. I am confident that players will have debates about which side is the real villain at the start and down the road as your character is questioned you may make a 180 and agree with the values of the side you once disliked. To touch on the multiple endings I agree story based games should have "moral of the story is x" type of deal and each ending will have one. We are all different so different people will take away something different from the game regardless of what your personal beliefs are. The actions and choices you make will give you the outcome that most closely resembles what you (or the person you are role playing) would do given the same situation. 

 

Now for content related to battles and other in game things: We decided to just make completely new items in the place of ones that we would have just changed. As far as abilities we are still looking for a fine line between, "this needs to be a completely new ability" and "this can just be tweaked on an existing one". As far as implementation of changes in game its already taken care of. Major changes will be stated in the forms of dialogue, signs etc and the subtle changes (like a new ability) will be experienced implicitly through battle and catching Pokemon with the ability, as far as the art goes none of us are super spriters so overtime things will get better and better. I would like to know exactly whats wrong with the guardian though, some will look drastically different from the original and some not so much, that is just how we decided to go about it. For the starters we did come up with a list for 9 dual types but we are sticking to what we have for now, as we spent a ton of time in it and the whole point as I mentioned in another point is for starters to peak at different points and represent different styles, when you play the game it will make more sense as you don't pick a starter the way you traditionally do so it makes sense that they are't equal. 

 

Hope I answered most of the stuff and apologies if this is rather lengthy  

[Phi-Bi 48]

Yeah, I respect your decision about the starter. I'm not complaining about it anymore, I just posted it before just in-case a fellow developer can make use of it for consideration.

As for the design of Guardian Pokemon, I'll give an example for easier understanding. Note that despite my example you should find a way to make the design unique to your game. In my opinion, a good example is PULSE design from Reborn notably PULSE Magnezone, Swalot, and Avalugg. Their design element emphasize the characteristics of each species with PULSE Magnezone emphasizing its eye which is the unique characteristic of Magne-line. PULSE Swalot emphasize its mouth, a unique aspect of Swalot with its swallowing behavior. PULSE Avalugg with its complete iceberg design since Avalugg is meant to be iceberg. Dimensional Rift from Rejuv is also interesting although I can't find a unifying theme aside from being an "evil" version of that Pokemon. Another example is Relic Form from Phoenix Rising which has distinctive design for its species with each form based on medieval character which fit well with the overall theme of the game. Rejuvenation's shiny is also worth mentioning since many of them has interesting color like S-Volcarona, S-Four Musketeers, and many other. Xenogene also has some interesting shinies even though only few have been revealed.

And with all of those, here is my suggestion for G-Gigalith, not that I'm a designer myself but how about emphasizing Gigalith's crystal? It is what makes Gigalith unique to other rock type. Make it learn various 'beam' moves and have a special attack variant of Huge Power, perhaps? Giving it Calm Mind, Trick Room, and Recover so that it can be a bulky mixed wallbreaker. With those consideration perhaps the design could take inspiration from Stratagem (it's from Smogon CAP). I'm pretty optimistic that with each version the aesthetic will get better and better, so just keep practicing~

Anyway, I know that this community didn't prioritize graphics nor aesthetic in fan-games but I think that it's important for more immersion. Pokemon Apex is an example of fangame with classic Gen III graphics but with interesting aesthetics since the developer decide to make all the custom tileset. The result is an immersive atmosphere of each area. Every place in Apex feels unique and that resulted in more fun gameplay despite the currently short story content. The addition of fitting BGM only makes the gameplay better. Speaking of gameplay make sure to include interesting puzzles as well. Reborn and Apex are in my opinion at its best with their puzzles as the puzzles enhance the uniqueness of each area. Remember, despite your attempt to make a story-focused game, Pokemon is all about adventure afterall.

[ssbCasper 33]

Hey! Been awhile since the last update, so I'm going to make a quick character spotlight. We are working on some nifty stuff that will appear in the next major post here so look forward to that. Now before the main portion let me get some PSA's out of the way. 

 

For those who didn't already know we've been working with several other games devs for the past month or so and its really been beneficial for all the parties involved. More feedback, people who specialize in different areas and the ability to share resources in-house is fantastic. @Giantsparrowbee and @Night Fighter are some of them. (If I'm forgetting one of you just lmk).  Now with that out of the way lets get to what you guys want to see. 

 

So here is the MC's best friend and one of the three main rivals, Alanah.  

 

Now we'll cover some background. Alanah is the granddaughter of Professor Aspen. Telius'  great Pokemon researcher and philosopher. Her older sister Felicia is a member of the grand council, a brilliant inventor and founder of the new Telian Power Plant located in the Sapphire District. Prior to the war, Alanah was a prodigious student at the Telius trainers academy. Her parents who were scientists had just passed away during a research trek in the nearby region of Yoake. Her grandfather, now in custody of the child, took her out of the academy and began teaching her all he knew about not just Pokemon and battling but about human nature as well. She would often appear in the royal court with her sister and grandfather to present new findings to King Tobias. But as his heart began to grow cold and war seemed inevitable, the Professor sent Alanah away with several other young teens on an "educational retreat" to the Yoaken coast. Here she met YOU and a bond was made almost immediately. With no one else to rely on, the situations they faced in Yoake will certainly prepare them for the adventure to come. Over two years later, the two finally return to Telius.

 

Okay I know what you're thinking, half of that backstory was about other people. Don't worry, now we get into the good stuff. So as the "friendly" rival, Alanah will spend a fair bit of time around the player giving you valuable info, helping in battles etc. We originally created her with the purpose of viewing the world and creating opinions that the player will either agree or disagree with. Your actions and responses will affect how your friendship with her evolves throughout the game. To some of you she will surely be a fan favorite, (and you may be elated that she is a romance option for all genders,) but to others she may just be annoying or not follow your values and moral principles. Although she is very knowledgeable about Pokemon and battling tactics, she has very little hands on experience. But her trusted Nimbus has never let her down. So ultimately, Alanah is a smart, spunky sweetheart who's trust of the player means everything. She may love or hate you based on your decisions, but you could also use her trust against her to make her go against her own moral values if that is what you are about.

Kind of longer than I expected but we have MASSIVE amounts of stuff for Alanah so it’s to be expected. As always hope you guys like the sprite (shoutout to my amazing sprite team) and feel free to discuss the character or ask me any questions about her or the game as a whole. Til next time.

[Commander 876]

15 hours ago, ssbCasper said:

Okay I know what you're thinking, half of that backstory was about other people. Don't worry, now we get into the good stuff. So as the "friendly" rival, Alanah will spend a fair bit of time around the player giving you valuable info, helping in battles etc. We originally created her with the purpose of viewing the world and creating opinions that the player will either agree or disagree with. Your actions and responses will affect how your friendship with her evolves throughout the game. To some of you she will surely be a fan favorite, (and you may be elated that she is a romance option for all genders,) but to others she may just be annoying or not follow your values and moral principles. Although she is very knowledgeable about Pokemon and battling tactics, she has very little hands on experience. But her trusted Nimbus has never let her down. So ultimately, Alanah is a smart, spunky sweetheart who's trust of the player means everything. She may love or hate you based on your decisions, but you could also use her trust against her to make her go against her own moral values if that is what you are about.

Everything else about this post is fine but I really do want to talk about this section. First I'm going to just rephrase the paragraph then explain it so that you get an explanation of what to avoid when making future character introductions. It's not bad, but there's a couple things you did:

 

Alanah is considered to be the "helpful" rival of the three as she often gives tips and tricks in order to help our main protagonist grow stronger and move in the right direction. She's very well-knowledged due to all the books and studying she did, but she still is a greenhorn just like any starting trainer and it comes to show. Even this kind-hearted girl cannot escape the fate as your actions will have an impact on her and may even change her. Even she may turn from friend to foe if you are not careful, but perhaps your bond could take a step further with the right words. Your choices are far from black and white as they may seem now though. While she holds her own ideas, perhaps your could abuse this poor girl's kindness and use it to have her join your side...even if it breaks her heart. Just like the other rivals, we put forth a lot of effort to make her and hope she is someone to look forward to when a demo gets released.

 

Something you did was make an assumption that she would be hated or a fan-favorite. It's never a really good thing to make an assumption like that as well...you don't know what people will think overall of her. Don't worry about how you write this stuff but sometimes it's good to write a small bio (with spoilers) somewhere as practice before writing one as an update status so that way you don't seem a bit random. Also that's how I write stuff and I generally use the term "I hope you look forward to it" as that way people can kind of wonder what to think instead of getting an impression she might be a bad character. "Don't assume your audience's thoughts" is a good rule of thumb when giving updates. I still really like the spritework though so far. You'll get a better hang of all this with experience.

[ssbCasper 33]

Not a game update but something we wanted to share regardless. @Dypatome took the liberty of making a Pokemon Empire club here on the forums that is open to all. We decided that we would post more of the small updates and stuff there and reserve this thread for bigger post such as showcases, trailers and what not. So if you want to see all of the cool stuff we are working on daily go check out the club and if you just want to see big updates just check back here every week or so. 

 

 

 

[Filthy Casual 176]

Not too long ago, we created a club where we post smaller ideas for Pokemon Empire. In our first topic, we not only shared some shiny sprites for the Guardians, but we also wanted to hear from each of you ideas for certain Guardians. One member, @groniack, came up with an awesome idea! As such, say hello to the newest Guardian of the group...

Spoiler

I should also mention that the Guardians are associated with legendary Pokemon, whether it be through typing, design, or both. As such, if you find one, there's likely a legendary Pokemon nearby!

 

I'd like to thank @groniack for the awesome idea! If any of you want to suggest any potential ideas for Guardians, come check out our club! We're always open to more ideas!

[Swamp King 18]

Woah!!! This is awesome!

 

That poor Golurk had its armor broken during the war!

 

Spoiler

I hope it doesn't get slow start as an ability lol cause I love it so much!

 

[groniack 56]

47 minutes ago, Filthy Casual said:

Not too long ago, we created a club where we post smaller ideas for Pokemon Empire. In our first topic, we not only shared some shiny sprites for the Guardians, but we also wanted to hear from each of you ideas for certain Guardians. One member, @groniack, came up with an awesome idea! As such, say hello to the newest Guardian of the group...

  Hide contents

I should also mention that the Guardians are associated with legendary Pokemon, whether it be through typing, design, or both. As such, if you find one, there's likely a legendary Pokemon nearby!

 

I'd like to thank @groniack for the awesome idea! If any of you want to suggest any potential ideas for Guardians, come check out our club! We're always open to more ideas!

 

Woah! Nice job there! It turned out awesome! thanks for using my idea  

[ssbCasper 33]

@Swamp King Lets just say that G. Golurk is pretty strong, some would even say it has HUGE power...

 

[Layback80 12]

I like it,it sounds awesome and whats up with everybody liking axew lol

[StoicStone 3]

10 hours ago, Layback80 said:

I like it,it sounds awesome and whats up with everybody liking axew lol

If you're referring to why we have him on the starter list it is mainly due to the fact that Axew is a pure Dragon type with a decent moveset (but is not a psuedo legendary by any means). In fact, the first few episodes don't give Axew (or it's evo line) much of an edge.

[StoicStone 3]

Just a quick update to give y'all something to look forward to. I give you your second rival: North. 

Spoiler

All rights on the sprite go to the talented @Octavius. He's been doing some astounding work thus far.

 

North was born into a family which served for generations in the Imperial Navy as shipmen and tactical analysts. Unfortunately, a traumatizing experience in a shipwreck led him to absolutely dread the sea. He was only a child, and he lost his first Aron to the unforgiving depths. In this, North followed in the footsteps of his forefathers and went to school to become a brilliant strategist, but for the Imperial Army. As the youngest male in his class, he barreled through his studies. Indeed his feats in simulations were bold and calculated. At only twenty years old he could bring a force to its knees before the battle truly began. North’s family was proud. Proud of their heritage and proud of their service. They loved their country and would do anything for its people. However, King Tobias' madness became more evident, and the situation in the region began to sour. North's family were some of the few leading Nobles to show their concern. This only led to their downfall. As the Royal Guard stormed their homes North’s family was already miles away, having fled with the help of Zain. Through his aid, North became dedicated to helping Zain overthrow the government he'd devoted himself to. The Empire, now broiled in the King’s insanity, would soon fall. With North as his strategist and confidant, Zain blew through many of the Imperial outposts with guerrilla tactics and minor raids at the onset of the war. North's expertise would truly show itself in the waning days as the Empire grew more urgent. Since you and your friend Alanah fled to Yoake for asylum North resents you. To North, you're nothing but a coward who wouldn't stay to help regain Telius for the people. It seems you'll just have to prove your worth in the heat of battle. Good luck. You'll need it. 

[Octavius 77]

Prepare yourself.

 

This is Chemera, the Corrupted Pokemon. While certainly powerful and imposing, Chemera is a very rare and complex Pokemon. It only appears under specific conditions... namely disastrous ones. And even when it does appear, most trainers dare not try and capture one... But why not?

 

As you might expect, Chemera will be available in episode 1. But even if captured, what difficulties lie ahead? What dark truths will you discover about this dangerous and enigmatic creature? Will you find a way to raise a powerful team member and unlock its hidden potential? Or will you cast Chemera aside like the vile monster it is?

Find out more in Pokemon Empire: Episode 1, coming soon.

[Dypatome 58]

Hello everyone! It’s been a bit since our last update. 

Since then, there’s only been a bit of progress. For the past week and a half or so, most of us have been going through finals at our various schools, so there hasn’t been much available time to work on the game. Knowing this, we just took any time we had together (which wasn’t too much) and discussed future ideas and plot. Now that everyone’s done and most of us are on break, we’re sure to get some great things done. 

Until next time!

[Octavius 77]

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Pokemon Empire! As an early Christmas present, we wanted to give everyone's favorite Santa Pokemon a little love!
Introducing an evolution for the much maligned and oft forgotten Delibird: Santadelie!
 

[Octavius 77]

And unlike teasers for some of the other Pokemon in Empire, here is a complete Dex Entry for Santadelie. Wait, what do you mean you don't recognize some of its moves or abilities? Well, Santadelie will have some new and unique capabilities!
First of all, it's signature move, "Present" is getting a buff.  

Present:       75 power   95 accuracy    Physical    Ice-type         has a 10% chance to explode, dealing 200 damage
                  when used on allies, heals them for 50% Max HP

[Octavius 77]

Hey everybody!
Just a quick update: we've been diving into a lot of the nitty gritty game development work over the past few weeks, so there unfortunately isn't a whole lot of particularly interesting or sexy things to share with you all. Specifically, we've been doing a lot of eventing, coding, mapping, compiling unique tilesets, and discussing things like character development and dialogue. Ultimately it's a slow process (especially with this being the first episode), but we're going to try and update this forum--hopefully this thread AND the Pokemon Empire club page--more regularly to keep everyone informed (and hyped) about what things we are working on and some of the cool ideas we're kicking around and figuring out how to implement.

 

And one of these cool ideas we're kicking around is having a tavern unique to each town that will have multiple features: both showing off some unique aesthetics as well as affecting overall gameplay. So check back in soon if you want to see just exactly what we have in store for you!

Until then, take care everyone. 

[Octavius 77]

New post is up on the Pokemon Empire Club Page. If we have anything smaller like blurbs about art or gameplay, we'll most likely be posting them there. Stop by or join if you haven't already: 

 

[CommanderX 0]

Considering that this game is planning to rebalance pokemon that are falling behind much stronger ones, and since my favorite pokemon is Raichu, I would like to suggest a few changes that would make Raichu more competitive with other superior electric pokemon like Jolteon, Magnezone and so on.

 

Personally, I think Raichu have two biggest drawbacks that make it so much weaker when compared to other electric pokemon which have better stats that focus mostly in special attack (which is best for electric pokemon). First one is Raichu's bulk, it's too low, not allowing Raichu to use attacks with recoil damage or set up Nasty Plot.

 

To fix it, I suggest:

Increase Raichu's hp from 60 to 90, and in exchange lower it's defense from 55 to 50, and special defense from 80 to 75.

The reason behind it is to allow Raichu to use "Volt Tackle" and "Wild Charge" much more effectively to give it an option to be physical attacker (with more hp Raichu's durability becomes more competitive and it can handle recoil damage better).

 

While Raichu's 110 speed is really good, there are still some flying pokemon that can outspeed it, and putting more EV into speed means less EV that can be put into hp and defense. Increase +10 speed would be useful as well.

 

Next, I would like to suggest changes to ability Static, since it is useless when compared to Lighting Rod.  Since 30% chance to paralyze when hit by a contact move (which often KO Raichu since contact moves are almost always physical), I would suggest to improve this ability to reduce recoil damage by 50% ( which would go extremely well with physical Raichu using Volt Tackle) or/and reduce damage from contact moves by 25% (it would let Raichu survive physical moves which he's so weak against due to poor defense).

 

To summarise. 90 hp instead of 60 hp when combined with Static ability that reduce recoil damage would allow players to make physical Raichu with powerful Volt Tackle and Fake Out combo, or go into special attacker/supporting Raichu with Lighting Rod. It would not only cover for Raichu's poor defenses, but also allow players to take advantage of Raichu's attack stats, which is otherwise wasted. Alongside with it, letting Raichu learn Wild Charge and Volt Tackle by leveling up would be a must with those changes.

 

As for Alolan Raichu, I suggest something diferent. Unlike regular Raichu, alola version seems to be way more efficient in offensive due to bigger attack coverage, while getting 3 more weaknesses in return (plenty of pokemon seem to have knock off, bite, sucker puch, which usually KO Alolan Raichu).

 

In this case I would suggest increase Alolan Raichu's hp by 20 and only lower it's defense by 5, which will make Alolan Raichu way more bulky in special defense while still being weak to physical attacks.

Since the biggest advantage of alolan version is offensive, I would suggest to lower its attack from 85 to 80 (since it can't take advantage of it) and in increase special attack from 95 to 115. {Psychic pokemon often have high special attack, something alolan Raichu desperatly needs).

 

As for Alolan Raichu ability, gaining double speed on electric terrain require way too much investment in teamwork or wasting a turn to set it up (which Raichu can't affort since it could use nasty plot instead). My suggestion would be that Alolan Raichu have 25% or 33% chance to summon Electric Terrain every turn. In other words, every turn Alolan Raichu is in the field, it will have 33% or 25% to increase its speed and strengthen it's electric attacks. Other than that, Pokemon Reborn already found a great solution to this (Using Alolan Raichu Z-move not only do damage, but also summon Electric Terrain for 3 turns, which is a great solution in my personal opinion, though players don't get Z-ring and Alolarium Z until near end of the game, not giving them many opportunities to take advantage of it).

Also, letting Alolan Raichu learn "Volt Switch" by leveling up or egg-move would help it take advantage of its increased sp.attack.

 

In comparation:

Raichu's new stats would be:  90 hp, 90 atk, 50 def,  90 sp. atk, 75 sp. def, 120 speed ( it will learn Volt Tackle by leveling up and static ability will reduce recoil by 50%)

Alola Raichu stats would be:   80 hp, 80 atk, 45 def, 115 sp.atk, 85 sp. def, 110 speed ( it's ability double speed on electric terrain and have 25%/33% chance to summon it).

Regular Raichu would gain a bit of bulk it needs so much and be able to focus into physical attacks or special attacks, while Alolan Raichu would be more fragile but also more offensive focused special attacker with small chance to gain big advantage the longer it stays in the battlefield.

 

Pichu and Pikachu would need to get 20/30 increase to their hp and 10 increase to their speed, considering how dificult it is to level them up early on and how late they learn their strong attacks (evolving Pikachu into Raichu is best done at lv42 since this is when he learns Thunderbolt.

 

I hope my suggestions will at the very least be considered. Seeing how my favorite pokemon not only have poor stats, but also have a lot of it in attack that's practically worthless is just sad.

[Layback80 12]

On 12/24/2017 at 10:52 AM, Octavius said:

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Pokemon Empire! As an early Christmas present, we wanted to give everyone's favorite Santa Pokemon a little love!
Introducing an evolution for the much maligned and oft forgotten Delibird: Santadelie!
 

Lol its funny to me but at the same time I really like the idea and design.

[Dypatome 58]

@CommanderX 

Thank you for the suggestion. While we won’t be implementing everything you’ve suggested, we did agree that we’ll likely buff Pikachu/Raichu before the game is released. 

[Autumn Rain 32]

We have news from Empire! Here's a screenshot with the male MC!

Spoiler

Development for Episode 1 is coming along great!

[BRS swag 130]

Nice to hear. Please consider my suggestion pertaining to guardian pokemons if you needed more.