Released Pokemon and the Tower of Power

NocTurn · Aug 11, 2021

Hey there! Couldn't actually finish this one, it seemed to be getting too repetitive too quickly for my tastes. That's unfortunate! However, here are some things you could do to improve your game in its current state, as well as the problems that I believe need some sort of fixing/editing. Take everything I sayw ith a grain of salt though since, like I said, I didn't actually finish this one.

First off, the mapping. Imo it feels much too restricted, too many one-tile-wide pathways, too many ledges and HM moves blocking progression, etc. Also, the tileset needs a lot of fixing. Shadows were incorrect colors (white?), Tops of rooves were cut off, and the two types of tree tiles you picked directly clash with each other.

Second, story. I can gauge you're trying to replicate the Mystery Dungeon series, however at least in those games you had a: partner, central goal/organization, and side characters. For instance, take Munna's call for help in MDI, or your partner's want to start a rescue team in RB. The main character here simply has no motivation or personality and is simply a vessel that's used to play the game, which is fine, if you weren't trying so hard to replicate the stylistic choices of a series that prides itself on story.

Third, gameplay. Did you know that there's actually a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon software in development? You can check it out here. But since you're using PE I'm going to judge it as if it was a game of the same genre. Making running away from wild Pokemon inaccessible hurts the gameplay flow a lot, especially at the beginning with so few items handy. As well, I found myself irritated with the central mechanic of your dungeons- that they don't allow you to pick up items or interact with any tiles until you've inserted the green stone. This seems... Unnecessary? Why keep us stuck on the first floor for so long?

Anyways, I think you have a good basis here, but it needs a lot more building. Also, make your UI less bright- it stands out a bit too much imo! I look forward to seeing what else you develop as well.

Atomic Sock · Aug 11, 2021

NocTurn said:
Hey there! Couldn't actually finish this one, it seemed to be getting too repetitive too quickly for my tastes. That's unfortunate! However, here are some things you could do to improve your game in its current state, as well as the problems that I believe need some sort of fixing/editing. Take everything I sayw ith a grain of salt though since, like I said, I didn't actually finish this one.

First off, the mapping. Imo it feels much too restricted, too many one-tile-wide pathways, too many ledges and HM moves blocking progression, etc. Also, the tileset needs a lot of fixing. Shadows were incorrect colors (white?), Tops of rooves were cut off, and the two types of tree tiles you picked directly clash with each other.

Second, story. I can gauge you're trying to replicate the Mystery Dungeon series, however at least in those games you had a: partner, central goal/organization, and side characters. For instance, take Munna's call for help in MDI, or your partner's want to start a rescue team in RB. The main character here simply has no motivation or personality and is simply a vessel that's used to play the game, which is fine, if you weren't trying so hard to replicate the stylistic choices of a series that prides itself on story.

Third, gameplay. Did you know that there's actually a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon software in development? You can check it out here. But since you're using PE I'm going to judge it as if it was a game of the same genre. Making running away from wild Pokemon inaccessible hurts the gameplay flow a lot, especially at the beginning with so few items handy. As well, I found myself irritated with the central mechanic of your dungeons- that they don't allow you to pick up items or interact with any tiles until you've inserted the green stone. This seems... Unnecessary? Why keep us stuck on the first floor for so long?

Anyways, I think you have a good basis here, but it needs a lot more building. Also, make your UI less bright- it stands out a bit too much imo! I look forward to seeing what else you develop as well.

It's alright! Thanks for the feedback. It really helps me get better, especially since this is my second finished game.

I was worried it'd be a little repetitive, so that's unfortunate. The restricted-ness of the maps was meant to make it feel like how mystery dungeon does, being rooms connected by thin hallways, where the Pokémon fighting happens. Otherwise it would just feel like you're outside and not in a tower that emulates nature.

The HMs are never required and just allow getting more items, so I wanted to incentivize backtracking to previous floors to get some cool stuff.

I never even noticed the shadows, that can be fixed, and the trees get replaced after the first floor, the taller ones were too hard for me to map with, so I switched them later, but kept the ones I already placed in. I may remove them if it clashes too much like you say.

I never noticed the roofs being cut off, where does this happen?

Story has definitely always been my weakest point, so here I didn't focus on it and just threw in a reason to ascend the tower. Also wasn't sure how I could implement side characters well with the time restraints. I guess the point you're making is that stripping away the story of a mystery dungeon-like game leaves behind repetitive gameplay and not much else? I see the point that not caring about the characters makes it hard to justify continuing to play.

Restricting running was meant to force the player to level up, otherwise you could just run from everything and still be level 5 at the first boss. There are still ways to run, like smoke ball, which requires the cut item to get. Should I give the player the smoke ball earlier so they can run easier? I'm not too sure how to fix the lack of items, other than having way too many item balls.

The stone insertion part was pretty much just a way to shoehorn in "rejuvenation." In hindsight, it might be unnecessary, but it doesn't generally take that long to find that spot anyway.

Do you mean the battle UI? What specifically should I change? Just darken the colors a bit?

Anyway, I greatly appreciate you taking the time to point out this game's flaws! (Sorry for the wall of text))

NocTurn · Aug 11, 2021

Yeah! My points were a bit mixed, I genuinely was unsure wether to judge it as a "mystery dungeon" game or as a "Pokemon essentials" game. Restricted maps work for the dungeon itself, but the overworld was fairly restricted too. I think there could have been a lot more done to make the map more interesting! Elevation changing and decorating are always a plus for me.

I would definitely change the trees to be all the same, in my opinion.

This is the first instance where I noticed the roof being cut off, wasn't looking too closely afterwards.

Yes, the point about side characters is definitely something I was going for. Like I said, I wasn't sure how to judge it- as a PMD game or a Pokemon game.

Running away being disabled is really just forcibly limiting the player's options. Like, most fangames have running away enabled, and yet people still battle wild Pokemon because they know that experience will be necessary. The problem here is that all you're doing is taking away a strategic option from the player.

As for the UI, it's mostly that it's pure glaring white/blue white, unlike the HGSS white which is a dull off-white. This is made much worse, imo, by the fact that some of your UIs are BW UIs, which use mostly black and blue, so the change is very jaring.

Atomic Sock · Aug 11, 2021

So if anything I'd prefer to steer more closely in the direction of a mainline game, with a few mystery dungeon elements, instead of it being 50/50. How could I go about doing this?

Definitely will fix the UI, shadows, and roofs, and probably will restore running, at the very least giving smoke ball early, but may just restore it entirely.

NocTurn · Aug 11, 2021

Atomic Sock said:
So if anything I'd prefer to steer more closely in the direction of a mainline game, with a few mystery dungeon elements, instead of it being 50/50. How could I go about doing this?

Definitely will fix the UI, shadows, and roofs, and probably will restore running, at the very least giving smoke ball early, but may just restore it entirely.

A lot of it is just reworking things, give it more polish, redo your maps. If it's not actually randomly generated, why stick to boring 1 wide hallways, y'know?

futuresushi · Aug 27, 2021

Ohhhh my god I KNEW I recognized that Thunder Tower! Can clock Cuddles' work from a mile away. Amazing use of an old unused asset!

Released Pokemon and the Tower of Power

NocTurn

Hoothoot enthusiast

Atomic Sock

Rookie

NocTurn

Hoothoot enthusiast

Atomic Sock

Rookie

NocTurn

Hoothoot enthusiast

futuresushi

Novice