We are Victory Road Productions, here to talk about our upcoming game, Pokemon Spirit Chronicles.PSC is an alternate take on the Pokemon games with a vastly deeper story and dynamic characters. As it takes place in a less advanced world than the world of the normal games, Pokemon are not only very wild and feral, but the Pokeball technology has yet to be invented.Instead, the ability to capture the spirit of a Pokemon and forge it into weapons and armor has been created, allowing for equipment that grows and evolves and becomes stronger.Borrowing quite a few elements from the Pokemon Special manga, we plan to make this the best game we possibly can.Feel free to ask questions, and we'll answer them as best we can.
That doesn't sound very Pokemon-y. Have you considered making it an original project you can sell for money?
>>25561No, not at all.The idea of Pokemon-based weaponry and armor is what brought the entire team together to make this game. We're not interested in making money off this project (and we legally can't, since Pokemon is owned by Nintendo), we just wanted to make a really good game.As far as not sounding 'Pokemon-y', how so, exactly? The happy-go-lucky world that you see in the games and anime may be gone, but Pokemon are still a very important part of the world, in numerous ways.
>>25562holy arceus... is that a screenshot from some game i haven't played yet or the game y'all or working on?
Sounds like monster hunter.
>>25563That's one of the pictures that inspired us, ostensibly concept art by Nishihara Isao for a Pokemon MMORPG, or so I've heard.>>25564It's kind of like Monster Hunter, Pokemon, and Final Fantasy mixed together.
>>25565would you "capture" a soul of, say, a magikarp, gain some extra speed (swift swim) in aquatic environments, and at a certain point the armour "evolves" into this >>25557 or will you have to recapture a gyarados soul to gain gyarados armour/weapons?
>>25566Say you catch the spirit of a Magikarp and forge it into one of these awesome pieces of equipment. As you battle with it equipped, it will gain experience, grow in level, and (not that Magikarp has many) gain new special attacks.Once it gains enough experience, you will be able to take it back to the forge and reforge it into Gyarados equipment, which will gain new attacks and get more power and such.
>>25567oh come on. magikarp armour would OBVIOUSLY be a pair of chest high-wet boots. not much else, though. just something you can splash around in and not get wet.... (cause splash doesn't have any effect... yeah)>.>
Of course, not everything can be as awesome as Magikarp...
>>25570are you able to make both weapons and armour from the same soul? if so, could you choose to have one weapon from one, and a set of armour from another?
>>25571One soul = One piece of equipment. So if you want both a Charizard Greatsword and a Charizard armor suit, you'll need two Charizard souls (or two Charmander souls and then evolve them).
>>25572what else can we make with the souls other than armour and a single weapon? and how do we capture them in the first place?let me know if i'm annoying you with these questions and i'll cease, but I'm just trying to understand the mechanics better.
>>25573Nah, it's fine, bro.Similar to normal Pokemon games, capturing the soul of a Pokemon involves weakening it and then using a capture device (we've yet to officially name it) to extract the spirit of the weakened Pokemon. Of course, without its soul, the Pokemon's body dies.The vast majority of Pokemon will be able to become three different forms. Some will only have two forms, and a handful will only have one. Most Pokemon will be have at least one weapon form and one armor form to forge, although there are exceptions.
>>25575I'm liking everything so far, but I've still got a buttload of questions.Can we communicate with the spirits?I'm diggin the beedrill look, there, but I say kabuto/tops should be a sickle and scythe, respectively.
>>25577The original Kabutops design was a scythe, but ended up being set aside. It might come back.As far as communicating with the spirits? Don't count on it. Even if you could, look at it this way.You found a Pokemon, beat it to within an inch of its life, ripped its soul from its still-living body, and forged it into a shiny new piece of equipment, essentially forcing it into slavery FOREVER.I don't think they'd be particularly talkative.You will encounter some Pokemon (the more intelligent psychics mainly, like Alakazam, Gardevoir, and Mewtwo) who can communicate with people and Pokemon alike, but that's a different story.
>>25580I'm not diggin the dead pokemon aspect of it, but i can appreciate a darker setting. Can just anyone capture a soul, if they have the device, or does it take someone of a certain calibre (aside from strength and power alone)?Afterward, would I take it to a "soulsmith" to have it forged into whatever i want/need or can I do that myself in the middle of the wild or where ever?
>>25581Yeah, you take your captured spirits to a 'Spirit Blacksmith' who can forge them for you. Your capture device will only be able to hold a certain number of unforged souls at one time, though.As far as your other question goes...as far as I know, anyone who has the capture device can use it. That said, they're nowhere near as common as Pokeballs are in normal games. So to get the device you either need connections or a lot of money.Honestly, there's still quite a bit of discussion about the capture device and the mechanics thereof that we need to work out at some point in the near future.
>>25582
>>25583Hahaha. Probably not.One of the guys on the team had a picture of something similar to what he was envisioning, some sort of wrist-mounted steampunk whatchamacallit. If I can find it again, I'll post it.
>>25584This is incredibly superficial, but how exactly would you forge a spirit into armor? Do you take regular armor/swords and imbue it with the spirit's properties? Or is the spirit actually turned into the armor/weapon?
>>25603well first you need the "Craft Magic Weapon" feat, then the "Craft Magic Armor" feat
>>25603>>25604The spirit is actually turned into the weapon/armor/accessory.Also, some music for you bros.Lavender Town:http://www.zshare.net/audio/741835521610682c/Pallet Town:http://www.zshare.net/audio/7594343404771aee/Welcome to the World of Pokemon:http://www.zshare.net/audio/7594351756e8d0d3/Viridian Forest:http://www.zshare.net/audio/7594357492812b67/
So you're doing these?
Will any of these armor/weapon have any positive or negative side effects when using them with others of a opposing type?
If I wanted to play monster hunter, I'd damn well be going after monsters, and not reanimted poof plushies.
>>25657Yes, actually.Say you equip a Pikachu Lance and Gyarados Armor on the same character. Because your attacking element is super effective against your defending element, you won't be able to attack as well as normal.On the other hand, equipping the same lance with Jolteon Armor will give you a boost in attack due to your spirits being in sync.
>>25673Will there be bonuses from equipments coming from the same Pokemon? Will it be somewhat different from same-type equipments?
I'm kinda curious what Jigglypuff and Psyduck armor will be like.Cause ya know... Jigglypuff don't really seems like ace armor material. And I guess her weapon would be a lute...?
>>25676As far as I know, nothing more than you'd get from equipping Pokequipment of the same type.>>25699Surprisingly, Jigglypuff and Psyduck stuff are some of the equipment our weapons artist has yet to draw. But have a Wigglytuff instead.
>>25699Or a marker :3
All of this art is well and good but let's talk tech...WHat engine are you using to run this game?Did you make your own code or you just borrowed from some of the DevKits floating around the net...I know there used to Super Robot Wars DevKit being torrented around somewhere...but...yeah...So what program are you using?And do you have any screenshots?
>>25726It's vaporware. The enormity of making a videogame will set in soon enough and it'll all crumble like a house of dildos simultaneously switched on.And maybe penetrate a butt or two while they're at it.
>>25727that is the most unusual metaphor I have ever witnessed.Will it be just the first 150? I'd like to see some more starter equipment, cause I expect Charizard armour has epic wings of epicness
Questions: -Will this game be online? -What regions'll be available?-Will we see more "primitive" versions of the towns and cities of the afoemented regions?-Will the player be able to chose where he/she wants to start the game?-When's it comin' out?
I have no idea if and when this is coming out at all.Th idea of doing Thousand Arms-esque game using Pokemons as material sounds kinda ohsum to me...And because of that the gameplay will be shitty at best.(BTW, go ahead and check Thousand Arms. It's...kinda bad, but the forgin parts of the game is quite interesting, just...the RPG and Dating Sim aspect of that game really REALLLY ruined it.)If they ever do decide to start with the gameplay, I'd assume they're gonna have to go the old route and have a really REALLY small short game(About 8 hours if played without going out of your way to level up/catch pokemon. Longer if they do that) They might probably start with the most basic of creatures(I.E. The original 150 Pokemons in the Gameboy series) And of course the story will be cheesy as all hell( Start with kid on an adventure, reaches a certain point in the game where the story slowly turns from "hero on the quest to beat every gym and reach the final four" into "You know those little mini-bosses Team Rocket that harass you trying to steal your 'special' stuff? Yeah, they really are a bunch of evil illuminati or some shit and they want to rule the world by using your stuff. SO GO AND STORM THEIR CASTLE!!" and will conclude with a shitty reveal where Giovanni is actually being mind controlled by MewTwo and unless you have Mew Armor(by going into a dungeon crawling sidequest to get her trapped soul free) you have to banish him using your own gear(which neatly opens up a sequel of sorts)...doesn't sound like I've got shit figgered out, eh?
>>25726We were using Game Maker, but after all but one of our programmers left previously, the remaining one decided to go with C++, since he has more experience in it. We're making the entire game from scratch.>>25727See, you say that, but it's been almost a year and a half since this project was conceived, and we all still want to see it finished.>>25729>>25736Book 1 starts in Kanto, which is where everyone will be starting off. After that are Book 2 (Johto), Book 3 (Hoenn), Book 4 (Sinnoh), and Book 5 (The endgame and denouement and sidequests galore and such). All 493+ Pokemon will be available, although for the most part, only in their respective regions.As far as towns and cities go, they'll be a little different than how the games thus far have portrayed them, simply because we've got a completely different style than the current Pokemon games. What we're aiming for is something like FFIX and similar games.Imagine Celadon City or Goldenrod or Lillycove looking like Lindblum or Alexandria from FFIX, stylistically. That's kind of what we're going for.When it's going to come out? Even we don't know that. We've got a bunch of the story and 'fluff' figured out, but with only one or two programmers, we don't have a lot of 'crunch' done.>>25754One of the main reasons that we thought up this project and started working on it was to break down the cliches used not only in Pokemon, but in a lot of other JRPGs. We're aiming for it to be both nostalgic and new at the same time.The gameplay (in-battle) will be something akin to the Breath of Fire series. Turn-based, everyone moving in order of speed.(I haven't played Thousand Arms, so I can't really comment there.)Picture is your main team. Left to right: Platina, Sapphire, Gold, and Blue.
>>25757One and a half year for a vapid Monster Hunter/Pokemon ripoff with the appeal of neither.Yeah.Why not hire CWC to write up an original plot while you're at it? It's not like that'd make it any worse.
>>25759Here we go.
>>25767Stupid as stupid is =/= trolling.Welcome to the internet, here's your handbook on growing a thicker skin.
>>25759>>25768Being a confrontational asshole =/= troll, you moron.You forgot your name Senor.
...Yeah...unless you're working with a videogame company, you guys are aiming too high. Breaking the cliches only works if the audience know what cliche it is looking at....and the battle system is like Breath of Fire series?please don't say IV,pleasedon'tsaydragonquarter,pleasedon'tsaydragonquarter...That game has the most SHIT-TASTIC SYSTEM EVER! Really... ugh...if you're looking for GOOD turned-based RPG, check out GRANDIA, or Heck VALKYRIE PROFILE, or dare I say it...FFX... now those are good turn-based-systems...Also, the gimmik(pokemon as armor/weapons) can only go so far on its own until it shows its ugliness...And what the heck are you saying about Game Maker?!It's goddamn EASY! You can build a 3 hour RPG dungeon with a storyline(point A > point B storytelling) in 2 days....That's so damn easy...
Bumping because HOLY SHIT AWESOME
Woah. I've got some questions.First, though, a statement. Reconsider what >>25561 said. This isn't pokemon worthy. Both too dark and too tangential, even for a side story or prequel. Clashes horribly with the existing universe.It would fit better with an original universe. You've already got a good concept artist and ideas for gameplay- peel off that Pokemon sticker and go original.Anyway:-You have original music? Or is it all existing stuff?-Real time or turn based battle system?-Parties?-Any basic outline of the bosses/gym leader replacements?-Are you still trying to maintain type-based dominance by area, or be more mixed?-How do you plan on dealing with the implications of essentially killing legendaries that are still alive in the contemporary Pokemon universe? Or is the overhunting to near extinction of some a plot point?
WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN
Hey, the thread's still alive. Awesome.>>29422We have considered making an original project (although selling it for money might be a bit out there), but the game was envisioned as a Pokemon game first and foremost. It's not as though the concept was created and Pokemon was added after the fact. From the very beginning, Pokemon has been an important part of the project.Recently, we were thinking about doing just what you suggested, and de-Pokemonizing the project, but doing so would require scrapping practically everything we had done thus far, so we decided against it shortly thereafter.As for your other questions...We do have original music, although quite a bit of it will be remixes of the town and route and battle themes, and others remakes of music from other places in the Pokemon universe, such as from the movies or other non-main games.Battle will be turn-based, ala earlier Final Fantasies or Breath of Fire. You'll select an attack for all of your party at the beginning of the turn, and then your party's attacks and the enemies' attacks will play out according to their Speed.As far as characters go, your main team by the end of the game will be Blue, Gold, Sapphire, and Platina, although the latter two won't join until later in the game. You'll gain other party members throughout the story, and by the end of the game, you'll be able to bring one extra member of your choice with you.For example, during the first Book, your party at one point will consist of Blue, Gold, Crystal, and Yellow.The idea of the first Book was to reacquaint people who've played Pokemon in the past with our differing version. As such, one of your first goals is to collect official Seals from each of the 8 Lords and Ladies around Kanto (there's a reason for it, and it has nothing to do with becoming the very best). As such, Brock, Misty, and the rest are still around, just in the capacity of Lords/Ladies of Kanto instead of Gym Leaders. You'll obtain seals in various ways, from the obvious and overdone(a battle to determine strength) to other things that have nothing to do with fighting a Lord or Lady.On average, Legendary Pokemon are a step above any normal Pokemon, and you can expect to NEVER capture them. You may defeat them, sure, but capturing or killing them is almost always out of the question.Legendary equipment will still be available, of course, but only because the Pokemon in question saw fit to bestow a measure of its power to you (read: sidequests, the least of which involve you proving your strength in a battle with the Legendary).As for overhunting and extinction, there's none of that. Pokemon and humanity may not always get along, but for the most part, the calmer ones are fine with co-existing. It's only certain groups of Pokemon or humans that try to disrupt the status quo.What exactly do you mean by type-based dominance by area?