Discussion I want to get serious about game development

[Anime Watcher]

I was watching a playthrough of another Pokemon-like monster-collection game, and I realize that I love 2D monster-collecting RPGs, and I know there are a lot of resources to help people create fan games, but I want to learn how to create stuff that I can call my own, from art to programming. I have trouble going out and teaching myself the information, though. My sense of curiosity just isn't there like it used to be. I know what I want to do, and it's easier to just create a fan game, even though I can't legally do anything with it as my personal intellectual property, than to learn what it takes to program my own monster collection game.

Are there any places online where people are actually teaching each other how to create their own monster collection games from the ground up? I'm actually pretty tired of not knowing how to do this. If I ever find a good resource, I'm willing to write a whole tutorial. I know Pokemon Essentials exists, but it's only RMXP, for one thing, and two, it can't be used to develop commercial games (and comes with a lot of Nintendo-specific naming in the code and there may be other things that would prevent plausible deniability besides).

 

[Crist]

a lot of text










you could go to the discord of the forum, maybe they can help you there

 

[TechSkylander1518]

a lot of text










you could go to the discord of the forum, maybe they can help you there

? Two paragraphs is not that much text, and the forum is just as a good a place to ask as the discord.

 

[Crist]

? Two paragraphs is not that much text, and the forum is just as a good a place to ask as the discord.

it was a very bad joke

 

[Sipondo]

I know what I want to do, and it's easier to just create a fan game, even though I can't legally do anything with it as my personal intellectual property, than to learn what it takes to program my own monster collection game.

Building the systems properly from the ground up will take a ghastly amount of time, especially if you don't have a solid background in programming. The frameworks that people use for making their (fan)games required years of development.

Are there any places online where people are actually teaching each other how to create their own monster collection games from the ground up? I'm actually pretty tired of not knowing how to do this. If I ever find a good resource, I'm willing to write a whole tutorial.

There are quite some resources available online that go over building a monster battler in big engines e.g. Unity. A good example is the "Make A Game Like Pokemon" series on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GameDevExperiments. Notice that this series is over 90 episodes and counting; perhaps not surprising as building from the ground up is significantly more complex than using a readymade framework and the Thundaga tutorial on Essentials is about 83 videos long.

I know Pokemon Essentials exists, but it's only RMXP, for one thing, and two, it can't be used to develop commercial games (and comes with a lot of Nintendo-specific naming in the code and there may be other things that would prevent plausible deniability besides).

There are other frameworks that have more permissive licensing and that can thus be used for commercial projects:

If you want to mostly spend time on making your game and thus want a mature framework to work in:
- Pokemon SDK (PSDK) is very mature, has a host of published fangames and has (from what I've heard) multiple commercial/non-Pokemon projects on the way. Just make sure to slowly replace all PKMN related stuff with your own content and keep in mind that you might need to ask for permission to use some of the UI components. PSDK uses RMXP just like Essentials does which can be both a blessing and a curse.

If you want to contribute to a framework that is still very much in development:

• 3DPE is a 3d framework that allows you to make a monster-collection game with a 3d/DS style. The engine has been in development for a very long time and there's a lot of cool stuff already in there. Some essential things are missing and still in development though, but that can also be a big plus if you'd like to contribute to something like an engine/framework yourself.
• Ulix (selflish plug) is an engine that allows you to make an RPG similar to RMXP. Ulix notably runs on both desktops and Android. Just like 3DPe there's tons of stuff missing still that could use a hand, but it's absolutely possible to make something flashy and unique.

I tried to present this as unbiased as possible :) hope it helps.