Completed Pokémon Maze Version

I have been working on my entry for the game jam this past month, and now it's finally finished!

This is the first game I've ever completed, so I want you guys to tear it apart! Tell me the flaws, bugs, glitches, mistakes. Tell me everything you think about the game, so I can improve and make something better next time!

Game Title:
Pokémon Maze Version

Game Screenshots:

Spoiler: Screenshots

Game Download:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/qm0jnkm1c2arbz2/Pok%E9mon%20Maze%20Version.zip

Made Using:
RPG MAKER XP and Pokémon Essentials

Team:
It's just me... alone...

Resource Pack:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/qm0jnkm1c2arbz2/Pok%E9mon%20Maze%20Version.zip​

 

[Shgeldz]

Ah, the other Regi-based game in the pack. Can't wait to give it a go, good job on those chambers!

 

[BlueRoseRayquaza]

Where are the hm moves? I can't get Regirock or Steel.

 

[IdaFuglsang]

Where are the hm moves? I can't get Regirock or Steel.

Ugh, I feel like such an idiot!! In my rush to get the game out I forgot to add them in... I'm really, really sorry about that

 

[BlueRoseRayquaza]

Ugh, I feel like such an idiot!! In my rush to get the game out I forgot to add them in... I'm really, really sorry about that

Oh, okay. Good to know, thank you.------------------------I love this game by the way! Is there any chance you could release it with the hms so I could stream the entire game please?

 

[8-BitBrick]

well this is a great bite size game

 

[SmokedPaprika]

Hiya! So, I just played through all of your game, and great job on completing a game within a month! I think the concept was a very Game Jam friendly idea and I applaud your willingness to execute it.

But, there's quite a few things I would keep in mind for your next project.

Spoiler: Tips

• The very first thing that comes to mind is playtesting - always playtest through your game to make sure specific segments work. There were many times where the game would freeze or an error would come up and I'd have to save beforehand just to make sure I wouldn't end up losing too much progress.
• Make sure your game is beatable. If somebody goes through your game and finds that they can't complete it because there's no possible way to progress, or because the game freezes after required-story dialogue, that's extremely awkward. If you're going to include Rock Smash/Strength puzzles in your game, make sure both Rock Smash and Strength are reasonably available to the player. On top of that, you can't actually use either of those in the overworld without a set amount of badges, so keep that in mind.
• Position your Pokemon/trainers properly. When the intro played, neither the professor nor the Pokemon in the intro were positioned right. Appearances are important to showing players the game is worth playing.
• Cut down the amount of walking/running needed to go through the maze. It's a very menial task and long corridors in video games usually happens if there is something special happening in that corridor - like heart-to-heart chats between players, or some sort of boss rush.
• The game gets easier the longer you play it. Since most opponents have the same amount of Pokemon around the same general amount of levels, the challenge dissipates as you continue. Especially as the Regis build up in your team.
• The music, which is RPGMaker default music, is a red flag and gets grating after a while. The fact that the music continues whenever you battle a wild Pokemon is even more grating. This will immediately make players less likely to play through your game to the end. Use a wide variety of tracks from various Pokemon games. It'll look and sound better.
• Variation in the look of your maze would be cool, too! Since most of the maze is just boring default Essentials graphics and are generally the same exact tiles, all the way through, there's no feeling of progression or depth to your maze, and it often just feels like you're walking around the same exact area the entire time.

I think these tips are all worth keeping in mind for your next game. I hope you continue to make fangames!

 

[IdaFuglsang]

Hiya! So, I just played through all of your game, and great job on completing a game within a month! I think the concept was a very Game Jam friendly idea and I applaud your willingness to execute it.

But, there's quite a few things I would keep in mind for your next project.

Spoiler: Tips

• The very first thing that comes to mind is playtesting - always playtest through your game to make sure specific segments work. There were many times where the game would freeze or an error would come up and I'd have to save beforehand just to make sure I wouldn't end up losing too much progress.
• Make sure your game is beatable. If somebody goes through your game and finds that they can't complete it because there's no possible way to progress, or because the game freezes after required-story dialogue, that's extremely awkward. If you're going to include Rock Smash/Strength puzzles in your game, make sure both Rock Smash and Strength are reasonably available to the player. On top of that, you can't actually use either of those in the overworld without a set amount of badges, so keep that in mind.
• Position your Pokemon/trainers properly. When the intro played, neither the professor nor the Pokemon in the intro were positioned right. Appearances are important to showing players the game is worth playing.
• Cut down the amount of walking/running needed to go through the maze. It's a very menial task and long corridors in video games usually happens if there is something special happening in that corridor - like heart-to-heart chats between players, or some sort of boss rush.
• The game gets easier the longer you play it. Since most opponents have the same amount of Pokemon around the same general amount of levels, the challenge dissipates as you continue. Especially as the Regis build up in your team.
• The music, which is RPGMaker default music, is a red flag and gets grating after a while. The fact that the music continues whenever you battle a wild Pokemon is even more grating. This will immediately make players less likely to play through your game to the end. Use a wide variety of tracks from various Pokemon games. It'll look and sound better.
• Variation in the look of your maze would be cool, too! Since most of the maze is just boring default Essentials graphics and are generally the same exact tiles, all the way through, there's no feeling of progression or depth to your maze, and it often just feels like you're walking around the same exact area the entire time.

I think these tips are all worth keeping in mind for your next game. I hope you continue to make fangames!

Thank you for the kind feedback, a lot of it was stuff I forgot/didn't have time to put in but remembered (and felt stupid about) afterward. But the rest was very helpful. I probably won't make any more Pokémon fangames, though, as I want to focus on developing my own, original games.

 

[SaplingArcher]

Tear it apart, you say? Tell me about all the bugs and glitches, you say? Gladly! As a person with a tendency to break games, i found a game breaking glitch as soon as twelve minutes in! Please note that despite my glitch finding, i still recommend the game.

Spoiler: Glitches

1. If you talk to the lady looking at the map, you can no longer move or interact. You are forced to exit and reload game.
2. Pawniards can crash your game with this https://prnt.sc/k2ky8o error
3. Is Fly broken? It basically puts me into a nearly automatic battle, which i think is AWESOME but also alittle OP
4. Sucker Punch doesn't have Priority, as it should.
5. Since beating Regice, i could no longer catch any pokemon. Or at least, i tried to catch a Golett and it didn't work giving the same error as when i tried catching Regice.
6. When fighting Brendan the second time i got this https://prnt.sc/k2m79i error. Luckily it didn't crash.
7. https://prnt.sc/k2mb1d Tree.exe has crashed XD
8. When getting a pokeball item, this crash error came up. https://prnt.sc/k2mg4e . Apparently, you forgot a space in Assault Vest, and the game doesn't think it exists.
9. When using a Hyper Potion in battle, this error comes up https://prnt.sc/k2mhq1 . Apparently, you didn't add in the effects :P

EDIT - afterwards i could use potions and sucker punch worked... but i caused a near endless battle in the process XD look forward to that one in another comment!

A suggestion i have is tell me i can't use pokeballs to catch the Regis BEFORE i try wasting my pokeballs on them XDDD

Also, please note; I have NOT beat the game yet nor am i even close. Therefore, this list is likely incomplete and is subject to be added onto in further replies and such.

 

[SaplingArcher]

And here i am once again with more glitches! That was quick XD

EDIT - forgot and added a glitch

Spoiler: Glitches! :D

10. https://drive.google.com/file/d/137hXvK8iNMX9mntzO233a4Di2OW45M1R/view?usp=sharing How i ALMOST caused an endless battle (Curse you, Paralysis!)
11. https://prnt.sc/k2n1gq Tree.exe has crashed. Again.
12. https://prnt.sc/k2n4vy I would love an ULTARBALL. However this unfortunate misspelling caused my game to crash, once again.
13. While not a glitch, some grammar is incorrect. For instance, one trainer after you beat them remarks about the Regis, saying that "They are toguh" which is a misspelling of Tough. I'm not putting you down for your spelling - i'm just helping out ^-^
14. You can actually get Brendan to face you with the same team twice - maybe even three times - by simply not catching the Regis. See 15 and 16 for how/why i found this.
15. Registeel's lair requires Strength, which not only do i not know where it is... But it probably wouldn't work anyways since we have no badges to start with in the first place. And in a game where Gym battles do not exist, this means Registeel is unobtainable.
16. Regirock is a similar case, only with Rock Smash rather than Strength.
EDIT - 17. While this is not in order, and i forgot about this one, Chatot's uproar hits a ridiculous amount of times in a row. Forgive me for not counting. Btw the trainer owning this Chatot says "Electric type pokemon are my favorite!" Yet owns Chimeco (A Psychic type) and a Chatot (A Normal Flying type). Not sure if this was an intended joke, though i do see his theme of sound-based pokemon.

Another suggestion i have for you is to separate the areas of the maze, this would cause less lag. Sure the transitions may be alittle annoying, but it's better than lag!

Spoiler: Regi locations

Finally, to those of you out there so desperately looking for the regis, i will say that only Regice seems obtainable since the other 2 require tms, and Regigigas requires the other two. I know Regigigas is out there from the very top of the 5th screenshot, and having found that place, i can safely say he's not there, and probably only is after catching all 3 regis. I screenshotted the map prior to find my way around, but i have now marked it with the regi caves. So, here you go if you want to cheat abit :P https://prnt.sc/k2nff6

Once again, i do love this game, though i'm sad i cannot complete it. But hey! i had fun.

 

[SaplingArcher]

So i found something VERY interesting. Apparently this game links with another - Pokemon Etheral, a demo of a fangame. Your position there affects here, and vice versa. I had just tested where the Portia Pokemon Center of Etheral takes me, and now i am softlocked so close to Registeel - https://prnt.sc/k504vo . However, i can easily fix this by moving one to the right in Etheral.

Here's how i found out in Etheral -
https://prnt.sc/k4l0ih - This is my same save file. IN BOTH GAMES. I now however have a level 13 Sentret named Pix, which is unobtainable in Maze.
https://prnt.sc/k4l1it - I spawned here in Pokemon Etheral (Obviously being softlocked isn't the ideal start to an adventure, yet here i am).
So i saved here https://prnt.sc/k4l3z8 in pokemon maze, went back to etheral and spawned here https://prnt.sc/k4l4bb .

I have no clue why or how the two games are linked - Your the only one on your team and your not on Scooter's team for his game (Etheral)...

UPDATE: I just caught Registeel thanks to this, and am soon to catch Regirock once i can find it in Portia Town (of Etheral)

 

[Aki]

So i found something VERY interesting. Apparently this game links with another - Pokemon Etheral, a demo of a fangame. Your position there affects here, and vice versa.

I have no clue why or how the two games are linked - Your the only one on your team and your not on Scooter's team for his game (Etheral)...

I'm not sure this is an actual feature; you can for the most part plug any save file for an Essentials game into a different Essentials game and get this effect.

 

[SaplingArcher]

I'm not sure this is an actual feature; you can for the most part plug any save file for an Essentials game into a different Essentials game and get this effect.

I didn't touch anything though, i'm no coder; idk how to even start doing that XD This is pure gameplay in general.

I do intend to later start a new game later in Etheral since this is broken as all heck and i would also like to test glitches that would happen during a normal, non abusive glitched gameplay of it. I've already done a normal gameplay of Maze, so i don't really need to reset that.
But since i have the glitch, i might as well see how far i can go with it, what can i do? What CAN'T i do? All good questions i have. Currently trying to get some legends via Lappet Town and hopefully beat this game (Pokemon Maze) By using Pokemon Etheral, which is otherwise an impossible task. Once again, i will later reset my Pokemon Etheral version and play normally as is intended.