Fangames and mechanics

[Ice]

Pokemon is an odd game. It's an RPG, but somehow a lot of the tropes from more traditional RPG games don't make it in. There's no crafting, no real gear, no looting, no cooking. Fangames over us freedom, however, namely the freedom to add and detract mechanics at will. There's a wide spectrum of game mechanics that could conceivably be added to the pokemon formula. Have you ever thought about adding new mechanics and gameplay elements? What are mechanics you'd be interested in seeing? Could you brainstorm a basic implementation of such a mechanic?

 

[GamingGravey]

I think someone could spark a brilliant stream of new games if they included, variety. For example say your running through a route and you have now potions left, but you have a glass bottle, and some healing herbs if you craft them together you can make a potion. Now I could be wrong and making Pokemon not Pokemon, but this could be an interesting topic to make fan game better of worse than main stream games. PLEASE respond with you opinion on this I think Ice has a good topic on hand.


Please tell me if im wrong and putting crafting in a game would ruin it.

 

[zarexraze]

Out of all the various mechanics and additions I've seen from fan games, the ones that always jump out to me are those that are crazy and unique yet are still reasonably possible in an official game. The idea of regional variants is one of them, and it was one of those ideas that everyone was generally in approval of.

Another similar category of those mechanics are those that actively try to improve mechanics that are present in the game already. These are usually the new types, new Mega and forms, new moves and abilities, and changes to how a Pokemon is trained with Effort Values and Individual Values.

But the idea of mechanics in general, at least in my perspective, generally make all of Pokemon fan games fall into two categories: games that play safe with a few changes, or games that try to go drastic, just chucking in a bunch of mechanics and Mega and moves and mini games and etc. (blame @Atomic Reactor for the analogy!)

The games that I try to find are either the extreme end of the drastic, where it's arguable that they're a different game in their entirety and could be independent games by themselves, or the games that are the sweet spot between the drastic and the safe, where they find the right balance of the two.

As for me and my ideas personally, I'm right now trying to explore the idea where a player could easily flip between using the party for turn-based battles and using the player avatar/character to battle akin to Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (minus the cards). As of now I have so many ways of approaching that that I would love for anyone to add input into that idea in general, especially in the field of how to make that more fluid and not enter Sonic: Unleashed territory where you enjoy the speedy parts but want to just get the beat-em-up parts over with already.



And @GamingGravey, I don't think that just adding the mechanic in general ruins a game, it's how you add the mechanic. Take for example the idea of combining the best of the Join Avenue with the best of the PSS. What we got was the Festival Plaza, and we all know how people generally feel about that.

 

[Phi-Bi]

Ah, mechanics. To me, mechanics is very important in fangames since that what makes fangames a fresh experience from official ones. Fangames is also what prevents me from starting a project even if I have the stories written and have the patience to do spriting. When I want to start a project back then, I always start with the story and such story usually requires new mechanics.

For example, one day I have the idea of a villain using bioterorism as their weapon. I thought that for such idea to come true, the Pokerus mechanics need to be modified and expanded. This is what I cant do but luckily i meet developer who was looking for ideas/concept and he could worked on the idea so it can be real.

I also once have the idea of Pokemon fangames revolve around farming where the people have to deal with climate change but for that to happen, the berry planting mechanics should be expanded to be similar like in Harvest Moon. Item crafting also need to be expanded, perhaps by having certain item to be crafted with the help of certain pokemon's moves.

Another example is having Pokemon fan game to be more realistic so the player need to eat/sleep in order to survive. The MC is human afterall so having job aplication system as sidequest is also nice too.

In short, having new mechanics can give players a fresh, new experience but make sure to make it tied into the story/nature of the games so it won't be another gimmick.