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[Guzusuru]

Hey everybody, I’m here to talk a little about a project me and a small team of dedicated people have been working on…

In a medieval world where the technology to fully capture Pokémon has not yet been mastered, our protagonists utilize soul catching technology – the ability to fight alongside Pokémon as living, growing weapons and armor. Your warriors are fully customizable, able to equip 6 Pokémon at once as armor, blades, spears, boots; millions of combinations exist! Find the one that fits your style.

You’ll find many familiar faces in this world, but our story starts with Blue, a mischievous girl who unwillingly gets caught up in a string of troublesome events. Alongside her travels Gold, a cocky boy who seeks adventure. Together they travel medieval Kanto in the hopes of uncovering the details about an elusive team of troublemakers, and the reasons behind Lord Lance’s sudden disappearance.

Character dialogues will have accompanying portraits like the one above.


Our current team consists of writers, composers, artists and designers who have been working together since around October 2008. I’m the head artist and second in command, and I’m here asking for the help of any and all who are interested in this project, particularly programmers and spriters. This project has thus so far had a number of programmers who have come and gone, and so we have no set language as of yet. However, our most recent programmers have been using GM7. The world will most likely be pre-rendered 2D backdrops with 8 way sprites of relative Disgaea size. The battle system will be similar to Breath of Fire 4, but of course retaining Pokémon elements.

For more information, head over to our blog here http://pokejrpgproject.blogspot.com/

And our forums here http://s13.zetaboards.com/pokejrpg/index/

Post any and all questions here! Thank you for your time.

[Kadoba]

Hi there. You might want to introduce yourself here.

This is looking pretty good, especially for a fan game. Good luck 

[KennEH!]

Seems interesting, though haven't really seen enough to make an opinon.

[William Broom]

Medieval Pokemon is a brilliant idea, but frankly it seems like you're wasting all that potential by turning the Pokemon into equippable items. Good luck anyway, though.

[Guzusuru]

It was the idea of Pokémon as equipment that spurred this entire project, actually. I think that's the one thing we won't be changing, though I'd like to know what in particular you don't like about it!

Still, thanks for the support everybody. We really are looking for programmers, though any help would be great.

Here's a bit of background to the world we're crafting, I hope it explains a bit of our thinking behind the Pokémon equipment.


In a parallel world to the Pokémon universe we're familiar with, Pokémon are rapidly starting to become a threat to society. The urbanisation of cities, and travelling across the region of Kanto becomes difficult when unknown numbers of monsters with seemingly magical powers hinders progress. In order to get by, the century-old practice of Soul Forging has been revitalised, allowing humans to convert the souls of Pokémon into tools, weapons, and other items; more effective than tools made from ordinary materials. While expensive, Pokéquipment has taken the entire world by storm, commercialised as a way humans can live free without fear of monsters.

But it's not so cut-and-dry. Soul-infused weapons are a prime target for the millitia, the government, and underground organisations. The High Councils across the regions of the country have tried their best to keep things in the balance, but something always slips through the cracks. On the other hand, individuals who find the extraction of souls cruel and abhorrent are becoming increasingly more vocal, and try to look for other methods to balance humans and Pokémon. But what happens when these philosophical differences collide?

At the same time, there's trouble brewing in Johto. Rooted firmly around a feudal political practice, the region refuses to adopt the govermental system of the High Council, and is starting to barricade itself from the rest of the country; not taking kindly to interlopers. If someone doesn't intervene and create a solution, there might be a civil war on their hands. Maybe the Kanto High Council can be mobilised to assist?
We follow the journeys of Blue - a charismatic thief from Palette Town - and Gold, a hot-headed bodyguard drafted in from Johto; as their misson to do some research for Philosopher Samuel Oak gradually turns into an adventure embroiled in the wonders of Pokémon, a quest for peace, and the mysterious-yet-influential Guild Rokka.
Will they restore political peace to Kanto? Who's outlook on society is the one true answer? Only time will tell.

[Inane]

I like the style of the accompanying portrait alot more than the group photo same artist?

[godsavant]

That group pic looks really pro.

Um...are you here to recruit more people, or just for publicity?

Nice game btw, although I think such talent could be better used to create an original IP, since the 'fangame' label is a huge turnoff at first glance - I rarely see fangames of this quality.

[count]

although I think such talent could be better used to create an original IP, since the 'fangame' label is a huge turnoff at first glance

Or if you are unlucky nintendo will send you a letter and force you to take your site/game down.
So I too think that it would be a good idea to create something new and not jump on the pokemon train and risk to get sued.

[ReasonableGamer]

Hey, everyone, I know I haven't introduced myself in the proper thread just yet, but Guzu might be a bit unable to answer over the next few days so I'm here to back her up. I'm ReasonableGamer, the head writer for the team.

I like the style of the accompanying portrait alot more than the group photo same artist?

The group photo was done by an artist who's no longer with the team, Pichu. She contributed the designs of pretty much every character that we've shown on the site, so far. The portraits are done by Guzusuru.

godsavant, we're here hopefully to recruit more people. We're looking for any talent at all. We've got a dedicated team, but it's small, so more help would also be appreciated. And yes, we do the stigma attached to fangames... as well as the whole threat of a C&D. Naturally, if we did get a C&D, it'd be a massive shame, but we're not entirely sure on the likelihood of that. All our current members joined out of a love of the Pokemon series and the potential to take it down a few as-of-yet unexplored avenues, so, for the unforseeable future, I think we'll be keeping it as a Pokemon fangame. Just... pray the Gods of Nintendo are as benevolent as their public image is.

[Montoli]

It was the idea of Pokémon as equipment that spurred this entire project, actually. I think that's the one thing we won't be changing, though I'd like to know what in particular you don't like about it!

Going to see if I can put these into words then...

I think my biggest complaint is that it removes what is (to me, at least) the single most compelling aspect of the Pokemon games, namely the imaginings I have in my head that I'm actually raising a little monster thing.

Obviously I don't know the details of whatever system you have planned, but here are my kneejerk reactions:

• It shifts the focus from a team of individually raised pokemon, to a single character with named/themed equipment.
• it removes some of the personification of player abilities.  It's easier to project feelings onto a little drawing of a cute monster than it is for a pair of boots.  I've played pokemon and thought things like "oh, I should go grab my Absol out of storage, I bet he's getting unhappy with me for leaving him there."  (Especially before I looked up exactly how happiness worked. )  I have a harder time envisioning myself saying "I should wear my boots some more, I bet they're lonely."
• I worry that this would lessen the players' attachment to Pokemon.  Part of what they did right in those games is make you feel like, there may be a lot of pikachu out there, but this one is yours, and he or she is unique and possibly awesome in some way.  (The part where they force you to name them was a stroke of genius.)  I've never played a game where I really cared much about my boots, so I feel that would be more of an uphill struggle to make the player care.
• it removes some of the room for imagining how fights went.  The battle graphics are generally abstract enough that they leave a fair amount of room for interpretation, and I get at least some fun out of thinking things like "haha, my jigglypuff just punched that dude out, I wonder what that looked like" or "awesome, my Togekiss now has flamethrowers!!!"  Less room to imagine somehow with equipment, since it's not autonomous.  It's not so much IT doing something awesome, as your dude doing something awesome while wearing it.
• I'd feel bad, locking some poor ivysaur's spirit up into footware, just because I wanted a better pair of boots. :D

That's my list of kneejerk reactions.  Not saying they're all GOOD reasons.  Not saying they're even rational.  (a lot of them are, as you probably noticed, complaints that it would break some of the random head games I play while playing pokemon)

But, you wanted reactions, even rambling irrational ones, so here you go. :D

-Montoli

[Kadoba]

At least your not messing with a Square Enix IP. They'd throw you a C&D letter faster than you can say Chrono Resurrection.

[William Broom]

It was the idea of Pokémon as equipment that spurred this entire project, actually. I think that's the one thing we won't be changing, though I'd like to know what in particular you don't like about it!

I agree with all the things Montoli said, but basically my reason is far simpler: It makes it less like Pokemon and more like a generic JRPG. If you've removed the setting of Pokemon and the gameplay mechanics of Pokemon, then what part of Pokemon do you have left?

On the other hand I totally agree that you shouldn't go changing that now - it's obvious that you've designed the game around this concept i.e. the large party of human characters would be pretty superfluous if you had Pokemon characters as well.

That's OK. Maybe I'll just have to make my own Pokemon fangame... set in the future!

[Aquanoctis]

First of all, this looks great and from what I can see from the artwork I can tell that you're very serious about this.

However, the  problem is this: It's obvious that you've got a very creative team who I'm sure will come up with amazing results. Why not then simply drop the Pokemon name? I assume you would be creating a new set of creatures for this project instead of using pokemon already made by nintendo. If this is indeed the case then surely making it a unique game would be the best idea as an entirely new set of monsters would be hard to be linked back to nintedos creations.
What you have already is a fairly unique project so changing the names of the regions and towns shouldn't too much of a major ordeal.
Obviously it's ultimately down to your team but I would hate to see this exciting project end due to a run in with Nintendo.

[Adam94]

You've killed the spirit of pokemon. Literally.

:p

It sounds like an awesome idea though. It could be much more than a fan game and the idea is unique enough.

[Guzusuru]

Thanks Montoli, that's exactly what I was looking for, actually. What the everyday person thinks about having Pokemon equipment. When I first encountered the idea I thought it was incredibly cool for the humans themselves to be fighting Pokemon in a way we've not seen yet in this world. We were inspired by these fanart pictures, originally.





We're aiming for a plot-driven Pokemon game more than anything. Human characters, Pokemon characters, the moral struggle with using Pokemon equipment, etc. We don't want to disregard the player's interaction with their Pokemon.


As for why we're going with a fangame... it's what brought us together in the first place, and we have more fun working on it this way. There are certain measures we're willing to take should we get C&D'd, but barring that we will probably be sticking with the Pokemon label. I'm glad people seem to like the general idea of it, though.

I think I may have forgotten to introduce myself, haha. I'm the head artist, I drew the character portrait in the original post. Like ReasonableGamer said, our previous artist Pichu contributed the group picture and the main character designs, but she's since left.

Once again, we're looking for any help whatsoever. Anybody who's interested come on over to the forums and introduce yourself!

[Nate Kling]

Your latest post made this game seem much more appealing to me.  At first I agreed that it wasnt a good idea to turn them into arm but if you focus on the battle between humans versus pokemon that you can recognize I think thats awesome.  Those fan art pics are really great.  I also like the one idea mentioned about having a group of people who question the ethics of capturing pokemon souls. That was something I always thought was interesting, capturing animals into tiny balls then forcing them to combat each other the rest of their lives didnt sound very nice hahah. id be interested to see you work that into the story, its a cool little twist.

[godsavant]

You have just earned a notch of my respect.

EDIT: Goddamnit. Who did make them, though?

[Shawny]

You have just earned a notch of my respect.

We were inspired by these fanart pictures, originally.

Read the post, son.

although the original fanarts were great.
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/6774/1216010280238.jpg

i have a couple others saved but its mostly character art.

[Kekskiller]

But... where are these fanarts from? Who's the behind your inspiration?

[JDude151]

As far as we know, the fanart that inspired us was done by a guy named Nishihara Isao. He used to have a blog with the art on it, but it was deleted a while ago.

I suppose I should inroduce myself as well...
I'm JD, and I'm the lead composer for the team. Nice to meet you all.