Region Inspiration

[Aki]

I want to know what inspires people when they're designing a world for their game. Do you design a region to match the place you live, or do you try to design completely from scratch? I wonder what it would be if there a more popular place for fan games to base themselves off of?


​

So in this thread, please share:
What inspires the world your game takes place in?
Why did you choose to base your design on that?
Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?
Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?

​

Official(?) score so far:

• Japan: |||| (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Ransei)
• Phoenix, AZ: | (Orre)
• New York City: | (Unova)
• France: | (Kalos)
• Hawaii: | (Alola)
• Canary Islands: |
• Egypt: |
• England: |
• Germany: |
• Greece: |
• Hudson Bay: |
• Iceland: ||
• Ireland: |||
• Netherlands: |
• New Zealand: |
• Raleigh, NC: |
• UK: |
• Vancouver: |

 

[Evan]

What inspires the world your game takes place in?

The Leneka* Region is based off of the lovely nation of New Zealand, last large landmass to ever be inhabited by humans!

*name subject to change, as has no real basis in name

Why did you choose to base your design on that?

New Zealand has an incredibly diverse array of landscapes, has a cool relationship with nature and its Maori pacific islander population,

Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?

mostly just the middle section of the region. Always subject to change. Region Map by SirAquakip.

Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?

I think a healthy mix of both is important. But sometimes it's easy to get caught up in just creating a real-world country that has Pokemon in it, and it's important to make your region distinctive as well. Certain cultural things, like including that large supermarket in Alola (based on a real world location important to Hawaii) or the emphasis on cafes and boutiques in Lumiose City in Kalos are things that pepper in the region feeling like it does belong in a real world, even if not THE real world.

 

[NoodlesButt]

What inspires the world your game takes place in?
Ireland and Northern Ireland! Haven't seen it been done before.

Why did you choose to base your design on that?
I'm half Irish myself so when looking at places to base a region on I couldn't see why Ireland wouldn't work!
Also, both Ireland's have a really cool Celtic vibe.

Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?

Pretty much the same.

Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?
Shape and layout is fine but you'll build a better world by using a little of the lands history and culture.

 

[Dragonite]

Hmm, this sounds fun.

What inspires the world your game takes place in?

Solaris was more of a case of "I want to see what ____ terrain feature would look like with ORAS voxelly tiles" than any particular region. There were a couple of mountains, sheer cliffs, rolling hills, a lake, etc. This probably could have done better but

Why did you choose to base your design on that?

I wanted there to be a sense of exploration more than lurking familiarity.

Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?

Sadly, no. All of the maps I drew on paper are rubbish and I never figured out the orthogonal projection, and it doesn't look much like a map when you fly way up and aim the camera homewards.

Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?

If you really stretch it . . . . no, nothing comes to mind.

---

Mm, that was less fun than I expected. I'll eventually have to make a new game world, though, I guess I'll try to do better then.

 

[Dawn Bronze]

Hey this is a really interesting thread Aki!! I'm actually really interested to discuss this because I actually find it really interesting :grinning: When I first started thinking about region design, I thought that it really didn't matter if it was based on a real life place or not. I knew that the official games did it, but I thought you'd have more freedom in terms of environments and Cities if you just went with something entirely made up. I guess this is still true really, but now a days I really do prefer when regions are based on real life places.

I don't really think it limits creativity all that much anymore. The region just has to be inspired by a real world place, it doesn't have to be an exact copy (for example, there's no desert to the north of Manhattan :P) If you want a desert or snowy area in a part of the world that doesn't have one, there's really no harm in adding it in. I doubt most people will even really know the difference anyway, or even know the place the region is based on in the first place. On the other hand, I also think it's cool when you stick to the inspiration really closely, especially if the inspiration for the region is a place you've been to, or the area around where you live. That way, you can exaggerate specific details that stick out to you in the inspiration for towns and other locations and really make them feel special, unique and more real feeling. It can also be interesting if you're doing Fakemon, since you can design them based around animals of legends from the area the region's based off of. I just think that type of stuff's really cool.

Let's look at how I've handled this (and how I've planned to handle it in future/in development projects):

Pokemon Umber:
I think just yesterday I mentioned that Umber Island, where the game takes place, is based off of the real world island of Tenerife of the Canary Islands, Spain. This is a place me and my family go to a lot on holidays, so I really had a vivid vision about how the environments should feel: scrub-land, volcanic, rocky, no grass and little vegetation. In fact, I even bought my laptop with me when we went there last summer and worked on the game from the location it was based on! I think going there and actually having experienced this place really helped me to accurately convey the feeling of the real world place, and also made the environments unique and interesting to experience. Of course some parts were embellished or created (for example I'm unsure about whether there are extensive cave systems on the Island, and the people there currently don't worship Island deities), but overall I think it was really cool that I got to portray a real world place and try to recreate the feeling on the land and of being there.
Areas I was inspired by included:

• Los Cristianos
• Mt Teide
• Assorted Mountain trails and villages on the volcano
• One specific dive site (I scuba dive, so I actually dove there and got MAJOR inspiration for the diving section of the game)

Main Project(?):
For my 'Main Project', I'm also basing the region on real world places. Again, I'm going with a place I've been to, and actually even where I live: the South-West of the UK. This time around, I've planned to have the inspiration be less direct than it was in Umber, but it will still be HEAVILY INSPIRED. For example, I've kinda mixed up two different areas of the SW into one (being the counties of Devon and South Gloucester) so I can use all of my ideas for different locations and have them fit on the same map and not have one half of the region really far away from the other. What's really cool about basing your region around the area you live over an area you've previously visited is that you don't just have memories to rely on, but you can actually visit the place easily if you want some inspiration! For example, I wanted to base and area off of Cheddar Gorge, so I just convinced my family to jump in car for half an hour go on a hike there :P

So overall, I think basing your region on a real life place is a really cool and interesting thing to do. While it's defiantly not necessary, I can certainly see why Game Freak always chose to do it. It can lead to some really cool areas and lead to conveying a really specific feeling to the player.

 

[Urtzi]

What inspires the world your game takes place in?
I choose to make the map based on Vancouver (Canada) and around. I think it's easier to start the new projects based on the real locations instead of create one from scratch. Then if at any point you need to modify the real terrain you are free to.
Why did you choose to base your design on that?
I'm going to visit it on October (it’s almost on the other side of the world for me) so I just google it and liked the shape of it.
Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?
I have a little raw image:

Spoiler: Maps

Original:

Pokemon:

Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?
I only got the shape of the region, then create the mountains and city locations. But I do think it’s a good touch to incorporate local culture and history. Essentially every main Pokémon game is based on a real location, and the Legendarys are based on the local history fact and believes.

 

[DerxwnaKapsyla]

What inspires the world your game takes place in?
Fan-material over on the old TRSRockin' website. There was a region there called "Ytria" (which my brain misread as Yitria) that a lot of the fan-works take place in. I would fantasize about the region, and eventually it branched off into its own thing (I got permission from the Admin of the forums to use an inspired variant in my fangame idea several years ago). After that, the region went through several designs before I was able to draft something I liked.

Why did you choose to base your design on that?
The initial story came before the region design. Back when I had a concrete idea of what Yitria would be like, as well as its lore, I decided that it would be a region that borders the ocean, and has several islands of importance to the Protagonist, as well as relevance to the lore.

Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?

The initial region design was just an archipelago, similar to Alola (long before even Sinnoh was a region, mind you), where you'd travel to each Island and collect badges and move to the League island. Over time it evolved into a more concrete design. I'm quite fond of this design.

Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?
While Yitria itself doesn't represent actual real-world place, we've joked that the main peninsula looks somewhat like Italy or Florida. However, despite that, I'd say it depends; the region itself doesn't need to be a 1:1 parallel to its real-world variant, but it certainly adds another layer of depth, and when done right can be immersive and wonderful.

 

[doof]

Honestly... I just kinda drew up a map out of the deep, dark, spooky confines of my mind.

But it's name, Ralleh, is just an alteration of Raleigh, the state capital of NC.

 

[Mak]

My region's based on the Netherlands, soooo...

What inspires the world your game takes place in?
Honestly, far less than probably desired. The landscape is a lot more drastic, especially given the extreme lack of volcanoes and deserts in its real life counterpart. I do have a couple of city spots that line up, however. And the League lines up with the capital kind of well.

Why did you choose to base your design on that?
There were two guidelines I was looking for when designing this region: it's in Europe, and the shape can lead to a lot of variety. Obviously I succeeded in that regard. With a few alterations to the main shape, I feel like the map is extremely solid.

Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?

Spoiler

In terms of basic shape, there's obviously a similarity, but I did change the shape of the region a little bit to match the design of my geography. But honestly, what Pokemon game doesn't do that?

Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?
That depends on what you're going for. I personally picked my region for shape and proximity, but others may want to accurately represent the region they're designing it off of. I personally do not know enough about the Netherlands nor their culture to get an accurate feel on their way of life.
Shape-wise it fits, albeit a bit stretched out. And as mentioned before, a couple of real world locations line up with the map. Sooo... Mission accomplished?


Also, I do have a now scrapped second region that was based on Ireland. It's shape arguably lined up a lot more with that of it's source country. Y'know, besides Northern Ireland being covered in ice. The culture didn't really hold any similarity, though.

Spoiler

Also, it's sideways. Weird.

 

[manta]

Main Project(?):
For my 'Main Project', I'm also basing the region on real world places. Again, I'm going with a place I've been to, and actually even where I live: the South-West of the UK. This time around, I've planned to have the inspiration be less direct than it was in Umber, but it will still be HEAVILY INSPIRED. For example, I've kinda mixed up two different areas of the SW into one (being the counties of Devon and South Gloucester) so I can use all of my ideas for different locations and have them fit on the same map and not have one half of the region really far away from the other. What's really cool about basing your region around the area you live over an area you've previously visited is that you don't just have memories to rely on, but you can actually visit the place easily if you want some inspiration!

Duuude, I live in the South of the UK too (Southampton), and I'm excited to see how you're going to incorporate the place that we live in!

Personally, I like to use real locations nowadays (Ohkai from Amaryllis is based off Hudson Bay area), but I don't necessarily stick to the climate and environment. For example, I'm taking a few liberties so Ohkai is mostly green and not ice, because otherwise it'd be a somewhat boring adventure just seeing snowy landscapes constantly.

 

[Dawn Bronze]

@Mantager Oh jeez I'm not actually planning to base the region on the south coast :P It's more this area:

Combined with this area:

The channel and the river being mixed together to combine the two areas. I'm actually quite excited about getting more into it; the geography and history is really interesting to me, and there are towns with names like 'Fairy Cross' and 'Goblin Combe'. Seriously, those names are sooo cool and I can't wait to include them in the region. But then again, I am adding a few locations from the south coast, such as 'Durdle Door', so maybe Southampton might be in there anyway. Might be a good place for like a Steel-Type gym, actually (don't they build ships there?)

In other news...I think you might be seeing a fangame version of Cheddar and The Forest of Dean sooner than originally planned (Did someone say Game Jam ideas? :eyes:)

 

[manta]

@Mantager-snip-

Aha, I was more referring to England/UK as a region in general. I'm looking forward to your work nonetheless.

 

[Taq]

What inspires the world your game takes place in?
Well formally my region was based on my home state, then eastern America and gulf Mexico. (This was a dark time).
Officially I made progress when it based on Iceland (when I did legit reasearch)
Now my project is being reworked because now it's Greece (it has an 85% percent chance staying that).
Its called Talon (A bird limb) the whole time.

Why did you choose to base your design on that?
When I did Iceland I picked it because my legendaries already had a fire and ice theme which fits because Iceland is called the land of fire and ice. I scrapped it because while it looks nice it was limited in what I wanted to do, especially because I have some tropical like ideas for designs. I picked Greece because it's lore is similar to Norse and It has good mythology (also it's sligtly more tropical then Iceland even though it's not but it has palm trees so it's good enough for me)

Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?
No sadly, the current map is drawn to be a simplified version of Greece in some degree (hopefully it will be more geographically more accurate then the Iceland one.

Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?
I think you shouldn't just have the shape and call it a day because I might not make sense, like having a desert with a mountain next to it. With my region I will make use of Greek myths (with a touch of Norse) and modern culture to make it interesting. An example so far is That I have a plan for a special form for Tangrowth (Not a regional variant) based on medusa and one for Mightyena to be a Cerberus in some way.
One main example from the official ones is furfrou is a French poodle.
Main legendaries however don't have to be based on the region (Lions aren't even natural in Hawaii, especially alchemical ones).
Overall, just use it to your advantage for ideas, not just shape.

 

[Falcon]

What inspires the world your game takes place in?
Dimensions take place in real-world Iceland. We may have added an extra island or two around it but for the most part it's an exact rip.
Why did you choose to base your design on that?
I always had an interest in Norse mythology and I suppose my bud who's helping me with the game did as well so we picked Iceland, home of the Vikings!
Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?
I'd love to show the region map but I don't want to sign my soul off to anything quite yet. It's basically all of Iceland with a few islands north and west of it.
Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?
As of right now we are hoping for both. We want to give off the feel of being in a real-world location but we are also incorporating history and culture. Some of the culture and folk stories may even show up in some of our Fakemon! Plus we may or may not have a few Vikings scattered around.

 

[Cadeorade5]

What inspires the world your game takes place in?
My game, Pokemon Oasis, Takes place in Egypt and the surrounding areas, such as the Red Sea and parts of Jordan
Why did you choose to base your design on that?
I've always been fascinated with Egyptian Mythology, and I think historically it would be really cool to see a Pokemon Game based off of Egypt.
Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to its inspirational source?
It is pretty much an exact copy, but I think I might change it up a bit.
Are the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important in incorporate history and culture?
Without a doubt, both. The history and culture of Egypt are so rich that it would be a crime to not incorporate it into the story.

 

[Kimothy]

What inspires the world your game takes place in?
My game, Myths and Legends, takes place in the Albion region, based on Great Britain/Ireland (Albion is an old name for the mainland).

Why did you choose to base your design on that?
It's partially a bit of a love letter to where I live! I was born and raised in Northern Ireland, studied at university in England for three years, and currently live and work in Dublin. When I first started developing Fakemon region ideas, I initially considered the UK but quickly dismissed it as the wildlife either had already been done or wasn't as interesting - so I tried one based on the Amazon rainforest. Surprisingly, I didn't actually progress too far on that one, and especially once I started thinking a bit outside the box for the isles I suddenly had lots of ideas. Moving for university also increased my personal appreciation for where I lived, and just how much natural beauty there is here. Problem is, there's so many rad places I don't know what to pick.

Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?
Sadly not yet, however I do intend to have it fairly heavily based on the inspirational source. I know there may be some cases of some cities being merged together for the sake of simplicity though, such as Oxford and Cambridge.

Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?
I think a bit of both is super important! While the plot of the Gen 6 games admittedly weren't great, they're still some of my favourite games because I feel it captured an essence of France (or how I imagine it at least) really well, between the locations, the look and atmosphere, the introduction of the fairy type in an area where there's a lot of fairy lore, and the music. I also love the amount of care and research that went into the designs for the Pokemon for Gen 7 - they didn't necessarily go for the obvious like the tiki statues everyone expected in Hawaii, but their research into culture and biology really shows. One of my big goals with Albion is to achieve the same feeling but for the UK. A number of the Fakemon and Gym Leaders I've developed so far reference native wildlife, British history, Celtic myth, and even pop culture (I have Beatles beetles and weeping angels, though the latter are a bit friendlier than their Doctor Who counterparts). I even have a playlist I listen to sometimes themed to it. They even have a historical rivalry with Kalos, just for that added authenticity. :P

I feel ultimately that having an area to base your game on is a good way to introduce some restrictions - a way to think out of the box when developing, so you don't necessarily go nuts and put in whatever you want. It doesn't have to be a location though - something as simple as a certain climate or a certain situation can help. I've also considered developing regions based on Greece, and also one which isn't based on anywhere but is heavily polluted, just to see how that would change the Pokemon available.

 

[Trainer Cord]

What inspires the world your game takes place in?

Korrolat is based on Germany.​

Why did you choose to base your design on that?

I have German and French ancestors but since Kalos is already based on France, I thought Germany would make a good region. The geography of also makes for a greatly diverse region including several mountains, forests, lakes, islands, a desert, and a frozen oasis. The plot of the game focuses heavily on lore and draws a lot of inspiration from German stories and architecture to immerse the player in the region because it's HUGE!​

Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to it's inspirational source?

Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?

Korrolat is huge, over 30 towns, so while the cities share similar geography the history and culture of Germany also influence the region's lore.​

 

[Djaco75]

Never actually got around to this, but here it is:

What inspires the world your game takes place in?
Well, our game is inspired by England. It's one of the oldest countries around, and our region is the oldest region discovered. It's also filled with diverse environments and people that reflect England.

Why did you choose to base your design on that?
We chose to base our design off England because of its heritage and structure. We were looking for a country with a long history, but also some interesting happenings.

Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to its inspirational source?
Unfortunately, I don't have a region map to show. It's a shame because I know exactly how it looks. Basically, the appearance would be something like Unova's, but a little more narrow and more water. This map would compare to England due to the varied terrain; ranging from rivers to cities.

Are the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?
I feel like whether or not you incorporate history/culture completely depends on whether you have a pre-plotted story or are just coming up with one on the spot. I do like to see creativity though, so I would prefer a culture and historical story, but honestly, I'm fine with both.

 

[BIGFriv]

Oh Man. Region Inspiration? I love this.

What inspires the world your game takes place in?

Funny thing is, my region wasn't based on anything. Even though the name of it are just fusion of different Croatian words.
I simply made what came to my mind, I redid 3 times the map, and the 3rd one is the one that took me over 6 months to finish working on and off.

Why did you choose to base your design on that?

Since I didn't base my region in a real world country/place, I'll simply say why I made the region like this.
What I wanted for my region was:

• Every possible biome imaginable
• Many many places to explore.
• I wanted the region to be enourmous, so it could have both of the last 2 points, this would also help me build more characters and stories/arcs for all of them.
• Plus some more extra stuff, that I actualy forgot about. I was having too much fun designing the region.

Do you have a region map you can show us? How does it compare to its inspirational source?

Yeah, I do have the map. Since the inspirational source was technicaly my earlier versions of the map, I'll post them too.

Spoiler: 2nd version of the Region

Spoiler: Current Version of the Region

The current version of the region is actualy only 3/4 of the region. There was one more part of the region that I haven't finished yet.
It was supposed to be in the sky, some floating islands. I'm gonna have a lot of fun making it, there would be rainbow tree forests, and other magic/fairy tail stuff.
But my project is in hiatus, so it will have to wait.

Are the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important in incorporate history and culture?


I personaly believe that both can work.
Incorporating the history/culture of the country/place your region is based on will help you a lot though.
But at the same time it can be limiting.

Extra notes about my region:

The region as a whole is called ''Relivan Region''.
But its seperated in 4 different parts, North - Center - South and Sky Islands
Sjever Relivan Region = North
Dom Relivan Region = Center
Jug Relivan Region = South
Muva Relivan Region = Sky Islands

 

[TreadingWater]

What inspires the world your game takes place in?

The main layout for Jakar (named after Jakarta, the capitol of Indonesia) was loosely inspired by Indonesia and its many islands, but the overall geography was also inspired by other well-known tourist-hotspots like Thailand and Bali with some fantastical elements mixed in as well.

Why did you choose to base your design on that?

I may not have any first-hand experience of these areas, but not only did the multitude of islands provide multiple oppurtunities for different biomes but their status as popular tourist-destinations who has both seen great boons but also great devastation from said tourism worked very well for the story I wrote for it.
Themes of a lost paradise, beautiful and rich with nature and culture yet corrupted and taken over by outsiders while the native inhabitants are forced into worse and worse living-conditions as the wage-gap increases and the environment they depend on changes for the worse just worked out so well for the story-beats I had planned for my original project called Paradise Lost (to which my under-construction fangame Garden of Eden is a prequel-story of sorts).

Do you have any region-map to show us? How does it compare to its inspirational source?

I do have a couple of concept-sketches but nothing concrete to show unfortunately. The main shape of the cluster of islands that Jakar is comprised of are however completely different because I was working in a story about how the region used to be one island that has been splintered apart into multiple islands by a supernatural force (won’t spoil more than that). As such, each island was designed like a puzzle-piece that could roughly fit into one another if placed next to one another and each island has its own distinct topography and feel. For example, thanks to the supernatural force I mentioned earlier, one island was sent into a deep freeze that never goes away which is off course not natural to Indonesia in any way but works from a story-perspective to sell home the severe consequences messing with the natural order can have.

Is the shape and layout enough to emulate a real-world place, or is it important to incorporate history and culture?

If you have a more story-driven experience, incorporating the history and culture can really enhance the narrative and world-building. But ultimately, as long as the game is still fun to play and the region still comes together nicely, I’ll be satisfied.