The Daily Click

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Project Started:	20th February, 2012	Last Update:	30th March, 2012
Project Owner:	Neuro	Project Members:
Project Type:	RPG	Project Progress:

Slowly but surely

Posted 5th Mar 12, by Neuro

Progress is fairly steady. I think I burned out a little over the weekend, since I didn't get much done. Now, however, battles actually flow decently!

- The system is in place for moves to have animations.
- Animation sequence is even sorted out for Clashing - the moves will 'meet' in the middle, then the victor's move will go through.
- Creatures can now 'faint' if their health gets to 0. I have yet to include stamina-based fainting, where there will be a chance every round if stamina is at a critical point.
- Trainer battle framework is in, although the 'rules' are temporary. If you faint, opponent gets a point. If you switch creatures, opponent gets a point. Once the goal number of points is reached, the battle is over. It is possible for matches to tie!

I'm not yet sure how this system will work out, given the lack of perspective. I'm trying to get it different enough from the Pokémon games - in fact, going more towards the Anime style of battles - and trying really hard to keep it simple enough. Maybe Clashing will be too much? And I'm sure the trainer battle rules will change.

Time will tell.

On the design side, I haven't attempted any new creatures. I've mostly been thinking about the game world and the style of the game. Everything needs more character, needs a certain something to make it stand out rather than just be a Pokémon clone. The world isn't alive yet, but I will make it happen!

Thank you to whoever is following this, it means more than you know. This project has been a dream of mine for a long time. If I can share the magic I hope to create with at least a few people beyond myself, I'll be happy.

Posted by Dialga-Brite

5th March, 2012

If you want it different from pokemon, my advice is to be careful! From my experience, some pokemon "clones" that seemed to try and be different, only wound up just sucking. And I mean whatever was different about them from pokemon, was also less than and not as good as pokemon. An example for instance would be Monster Galaxy (by gaiaonline and on facebook). Its clearly an original game, but its got far less features than pokemon and so I still prefer pokemon. So make sure you dont just try and be DIFFERENT than pokemon, but BETTER, too... and I'm afraid that's really hard to do! And if you have to choose between the two, I would prioritize being better than or as good as pokemon, aka the funness of the game, over originality. I believe its also possible to try TOO HARD, to be different from it. Pokemon is definitely hard to compete with, but I certainly value your efforts. In the end I think you should just follow your heart and create your game how you like, without even worrying whether you are similar to pokemon.<br />Comment edited by Dialga-Brite on 3/5/2012
Comment edited by Dialga-Brite on 3/5/2012
Comment edited by Dialga-Brite on 3/5/2012

Posted by Neuro

6th March, 2012

Thank you for your advice. I know it's not going to be easy, but if Pokémon taught me anything it's to believe in myself : P (in fact, a lot of things teach you that...)

You're right, though, I need to just go with how I want it to go. There are a lot of things I'm taking from Pokémon, but also a lot I'm building on. How you use your creatures outside of battle is going to be a huge part of the game - more than just for travel or cutting down bushes. I'm glad I've got battle down to a point where I can leave it and focus on other things right now, the game is really going to blossom!

Thanks again!

Posted by Dialga-Brite

6th March, 2012

You're welcome! That's exactly what I believe in - take and copy off the aspects you like or want, change or build off the ones you don't!

Posted by Sketchy

8th March, 2012

Re: "How you use your creatures outside of battle is going to be a huge part of the game".

Have you played any of the "Golden Sun" games? (which are awesome btw).
They include 40+ different psynergies (moves) that can be used outside of battle (some can also be used in battle). It's worth a look:
http://goldensunwiki.net/Category:Utility_Psynergy
http://www.goldensunrealm.com/gstla/psynergy.php?attr=all&only=field

Re: Making it different from Pokémon.

Have you considered making it "darker"?
Pokémon and its clones are always very cute and cartoonish in style. It might be cool to have a game where the monsters and general atmosphere are actually a little bit scary (esp. at night, or if you're going into some deep, dark cave).

The other idea, which is on my "to do list" of games, is a turn-based strategy, similar to "Fire Emblem" / "Advance Wars", but with collectible Pokémon-like creatures. It would allow for *far* greater strategic use of your Pokémon as you wouldn't be limited to using them one at a time - you could actually figure out how to use them effectively in combination (eg. have a strong unit protecting a weak unit, and the weak unit giving the stronger unit a stat boost).
Plus it's *much* easier to build a strategy engine than a whole RPG. Anyway, I'm sure that's too much of a departure for you to consider.

Posted by Neuro

8th March, 2012

Awesome! Bookmarked those pages - they're almost exactly the kind of thing I'm going for.

I have considered "dark"ness, actually it's a priority that I do make it more... mature? For one, trainers will be 16 or so when they start their adventure. I'm also considering creatures dying, but it's a little too early to decide anything. As for a darker graphical theme, I'm not sure. Those test guys I just posted aren't what I want, but they were very easy to draw, which would be nice when I'm going to have 100 of them at the very least.

Raising the difficulty in comparison to Pokémon games is also a thought, but I would make sure to include features that ease any frustration of loss, maybe even make loss a fun/interesting thing - less of a complete setback, perhaps even fuel for drama of some kind, something to drive the player's story forward or in a different direction. This is where creature death could be really powerful, too.

Strategy game idea really does sound great, but yes, too much of a departure from what I have. I wonder why they've never done something like Pokémon: Tactics?

Posted by Dialga-Brite

9th March, 2012

Just my opinion, I like the innocence and childishness of pokemon... its your game but I don't like the idea of more dark or mature

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