COGA: Pokemon Games - The Cycle of Repetition

[Commander]

Commander's Opinionated Gaming Articles

Pokemon Games - The Cycle of Repetition

 

Ah yes, something not very well known about me is that I'm not a big fan of Pokemon despite being part of a Pokemon Community and making a mod of a Pokemon fan-game. The best ways I can describe my feelings is by bringing up another RPG series called the Hyperdimension Neptunia series. The game is an absolute brilliant concept of taking the whole idea of the console war and turning the consoles into girls to create a very satirical adventure. That was the original idea, but it did dive a bit too much into fanservice. Seriously, the creators acknowledged the existence of R4 and pirated games. They did change the gameplay and the humor for the first three games, but after that they kind of just kept reusing the same graphics, characters, and enemies and the series really hasn't gone that far (mostly spinoff games currently). It's sad how a really cool idea and premise went down the drain so quickly and even with their new game it's more of the exact same thing.

 

Other than losing some man points, I did bring this exact franchise up for good reason. It's still very popular, but it just is not going anywhere but mediocre. Pokemon isn't anywhere close to that levels of stale or doing the same thing as they do add some unique stuff and features. I wish they catered to the RPG fanbase more, but I understand their decisions. What I want to talk about is fan-games and hacks. They are so varied with epic gym leader battles to stop team evil from using the awesome legends. Hacks I'm willing to forgive because it is a very archaic system in which you had a limited amount of space and resources to make a game. But even then, Life of Guardians and Prism were able to do some pretty cool little things. But fan-games have an easy script system with a wide variety of uses and freedom as well the ability to change and edit graphics and tilesets in minutes. With that much potential, why have so few people really tapped into it?

 

I think I can explain, but I'll start with the official Pokemon games. Every lasts 3 years except for Gens III, IV, and V which all lasted for 4 years each. So what exactly happens in each Gen that makes each transition so important and special. While new mons and the new region may feel like the what defies a gen, it's much more to that. It's the innovations that are brought with it that really defy the Gen. Gen II brought two new types to balance out Psychic types, Roaming Legends, Time Travel, a bit of Japanese lore, animated Pokemon sprites, the battle tower, and even the concept of a Leader refusing to give a badge. Gen III brought a full colored game, the double battle mechanic, the VS transition, a large postgame area for a greater challenge (battle frontier), wireless trading, and the contest system. I could go on and on as GF is absolutely amazing mechanics wise with what they do and it's some of the best. It's their concept of story that tires me out as even with Gen VII it's still centered around leaders being roadblocks for the plot. They are getting their slowly but surely though.

 

I wanted to bring this up so that I can talk about Zeta and Omnicron and how that game was praised so much by its features. Back in the olden times of Reborn's forums, it was argued to be a superior game than Reborn by them, but Reborn fans thought Reborn was better than this causing a war. Now that I look back, I actually think Zeta and Omnicron was better than Reborn, but Reborn was more innovated and a fresher experience which is why I preferred it. Zeta and Omnicron did a lot of little nifty things including a mystery gift feature, but a vast majority of it was minor alterations to the game or basically ideas taken from the main game series such as a much more advanced secret base. It had a lot of nifty stuff, but Reborn was a game which parted from the big open kiddie world concept and started the player in a big, grim city with a lot of mature themes. It also took up the torch of the original hard, but fair Pokemon fan-game pushing for players to change their battle style. It really was the black sheep since it promised a grand adventure and one that'll kick your ass.

 

Now we hop back to the modern era of Reborn. Reborn has vastly improved itself to the point it is so much better than the original design, however, it does not stick out or shine as much as it used to. This has to do with fan-games or fan-game ideas such as Rejuvenation and Desolation who pretty much copied many concepts and used many resources from the Reborn game which earned them the coin term Reborn-styled game. I'll need to get further in Desolation before I fully judge it, but they still use the Gen V concept where the section of the game heavily involves the gym leader before a gym battle for the badge along with a grimdark style making the games predictable and somewhat stale. And not to mention every game I mentioned still uses the gym badge system. Heck, they even use what I call the outdated disobedience system to promote difficulty. That's a topic for another day.

 

So copying another game is not exactly a good thing. So you may want to create a game with a whole new batch of Pokemon for players to go on a new adventure in a new region. I cannot really recommend this approach as it really just is not innovated and more risky than it's worth. Creating new Pokemon can give a fresh experience, but Game Freak does that and they do it damn well with their iron hand on the subject. They have really well made 3d models and are ready to throw something crazy and new at you. Most people who go this route slack off in all the other areas such as story, mapping, and gameplay as the feel new Pokemon more than make up for these things. Spoiler: they don't so creating your own mons for a fan-game does add a new layer of work and commitment which could lead to an amazing turnout or a really bad one.

 

This fangame you wish to create has some huge restrictions. You can't just copy the format or ideas from one fan-game nor can you create a fresh adventure with new Pokemon due to the amount of work. So where can you get ideas for a unique Pokemon game? It doesn't seem like anything Pokemon related will help you. That's your answer. Look for source material that isn't Pokemon. You've just expanded your small selection of ten games into thousands. The ones I'd recommend looking at first are Legend of Dragoon, Valkyria Chronicles, and Super Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars. Those are games you could play for an hour and get a grasp of a lot of things they do and their own innovations to the genre. The games I'm using as source material for my one example are: Atelier Rorona, Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki, and Pokemon Colosseum.

 

First let's look at an example of a stereotypical Pokemon fan-game (I'm using Reborn styled here):

 

"Welcome to the region of Vengena! This region made up of four islands is known to many as a place where the best of the best trainers come to show off their skills and claim the title of world champion. Some of you may think this will be a breeze with all those powerful Pokemon you trained, but there's a catch! You will be stripped of all your belongings bar the bare necessities and start off with a single Pokemon of your choice. Best of luck to you because you're going to need it!"

 

Features:

-An 18 gym badge adventure with all leaders using 6 Pokemon

-All Pokemon available to capture and collect

-A Dark, more mature storyline

-Many uni...okay now I'm just making stuff up

 

I just don't feel motivated to even think of labeling features for a game like that because all I can think of is stuff that shouldn't really be there. If that's what you list looks like, please just stop and reevaluate your overall game. Anyways here's what I'd write for a fan-game I'd design:

 

"War? Peace? What difference does it make when you live in a hellhole like this? Probably shouldn't be saying it to a rookie like you, but it was too late the moment you hopped aboard this ship. Tell me kid, what's your region like? I hear that many are quiet and peaceful with a few scoundrels causin' trouble. Riven ain't like those places. You foreigners talk highly of our tech development and advancements, but few talk about the local life. Half of 'em are good and healthy, but the other half, like myself, have next to nothing. Seen some good men turn into monsters. Gotta do what you can to survive. Oi! Looks like we're pulling up to shore. Gotta get back to work. Be careful now. Wouldn't want a pretty face like yours to poof."

 

Pokemon CO2 is a fan-game based on aspects from Pokemon Colosseum, including it's name honoring the series. With this project I wanted to focus less on the aspect of being the strongest and giving a sense and feel of survival. You can't really do such a thing with the original Pokemon design given how generous it is so I revamped the system with a focus of trainers creating their own items to be used in battle using materials. This changes up players thinking as they can't spam items in a battle, but it also makes players think about what Pokemon they want to catch as some do hold very valuable and rare materials. Creating items isn't the only thing to do as players can go shopping for materials, not battle items, but there is a special black market that sells Snag Balls. Snag Balls are to be used with a Snag Machine to capture Shadow Pokemon like in the Colosseum. Where do you find these Pokemon? Criminals around the region managed to get their hands on some so you could help the cops chase down a wanted criminal or perhaps find some goons of a tyrant.

 

What is a tyrant? Tyrants are to be considered rulers of a city. These individuals rose up in power due to the fall of the poor structured league system in place. They run the place however they wish. Some have won the citizens over through kind deeds while others rule with an iron fist and fear. Each of these tyrants is unique and it's up to you to decide which ones are friend or foe.

 

Features:

-Random Trainers use a variety of both Double and Single battle playstyles

-Defeating trainers nets no cash

-New Items have been added to serve as ingredinents

-Items can be synthesized at shops

-Scarcity of Pokemon (only 300 possible species are obtainable)

-Shadow Pokemon make a return

-A new, unique adventure driving away from a league system

-Enemies are much more challenging and now use team composition and strategies

-Engage in the unique land of Riven, full of varied locations from a junkyard to a university

 

The reason why the latter looks so much more fleshed out probably was because it was something I was looking into making before scrapping. It is a way I can break down since I did take ideas from certain games and put my own twist on it. Item synthesis was taken straight from Atelier Rorona as when I played that game, I noticed how main character was really weak, but she had the ability to create items to be used in battle and how centered around synthesis the game was. This would take a bit of reworking but limiting the amount of items the player could use and hold would work well as the inventory would be easier to use and players would think about what items to create, take, and use. Items aren't needed to win battles so the system wouldn't overshadow or ruin players who didn't wish to learn or use it. While this idea sounds complicated, it really would not be hard to make and we actually see an early concept of it in Reborn.

 

I mention Zero No Kiseki which is one of the not localized Legend of Heroes Trails games. The only thing you have to know about that game is that it is centered around detectives in a police force. This series has their side quests set out as paper missions in which there are various kinds but there are two kinds I want to talk about: monster quests and people quests. Monster quests were a simple go out and kill a monster for money. I thought it would be interesting to have the players go out and search for wanted criminals in which they can earn quite a bit of prize money (there would be other ways to earn money). People quests usually ask various stuff from gathering materials to escorts to finding the real culprit. Most of these have a story to tell so it goes along well. There's a lot you could do with people in a game such as not apprehending a criminal after hearing his tale could net a much better prize near the end of the game.

 

Pokemon Colosseum was still the backbone of this game idea. I wanted to give a much bigger and grander adventure than that, but still keep the concepts of a limited amount of options and the sense that you can't waste materials. Kind of delivering where Reborn really didn't. And increase in double battles would also happen because honestly, I don't think doubles is all that used in games despite being a very different playstyle. Tyrants are also a nod to Cipher Admins serving the role of leaders of either a city or facility. And yes, they used strats like Colosseum did. And yes, I do have a couple team layouts for a couple characters even including the first Tyrant.

 

I didn't bring this idea up to see whether or not it'd be a good fan-game, but I brought up to show that looking into other games came bring something fresh, if not innovated, into the Pokemon fan-game work. For Hardcore, I brought up how to create the level limiter, switching character perspectives, and a gauntlet challenge all of which were easy to create. Easy does not mean quick by the way. It got me thinking as to why people aren't willing to do these little easy to implement things that would really add to the story. You could argue skill level, but most of the stuff I know and do could be learned in a day. You could also say it's the amount of work, but I'm sure a developer could spare five minutes. Creativity could be another, but if you aren't a creative person, why the hell would you be making a fan game? It grinds down to one thing: people are afraid of change.

 

Making a game far from the norm is scary. It's not a safe or certain solution as you'll never know if a playerbase will like it compared to the stuff they already know in love. It could fail such as my party system in Reborn Hardcore. I've made stuff that fans of the mod didn't enjoy and I accept and understand that. It's just not a mentality for the fans but for the person creating the game as well. You could love something and want to design something just like that only including alterations of your preference. It's a mindset that you have to do something this way. Let me explain how true this is:

 

The gym leader format is a horrible system for a plot and it's so much easier to work without them. Look at Pokemon XD. The Pyrite Town segment the player went to Nett, left town and got an email, and rushed back to save Nett from the hostage situation. The player is then warned about Phenac City's crisis in which they are immediately able to rush off and investiage...I think. I don't remember the plot exactly. Basically the gym leader format would be go to Nett and then have to leave, get a call about the crisis, save Nett from the crisis, but instead of telling you about the info he has, he challenges you to a gym battle because he doesn't trust you'll be strong enough despite saving his butt. That makes about as much sense as not being able to give a man, starved on the streets, half a loaf of bread simply because your friend doesn't think you know where they're at then challenges you to a battle to prove he's right. So why are people still using the badge system? Because it is ingrained into people's heads that Pokemon isn't Pokemon without badges despite some of the best games in the series not using them. Even GF is starting to push away from the original layout with the official games.

 

I've been talking on and on about the poor use of repeated and reused elements, but even in writing repetition can be a good thing as it is a tool to get something to the readers. In games, it is giving them something they are familiar with. There's one thing and one thing people who play Pokemon usually expect from a Pokemon game: the battle system. The basic turn based concept and freedom to choose your team are a staple to any Pokemon game even if some like Super Pokemon Eevee Edition stray from it which is also a good thing. This is what we usually call the game engine which the gameplay is created from. With Essentials, the basic engine is already pre-built which is about everything you need from Pokemon to create a fan-game.

 

This is a hard subject to explain because there's always a group of people who get upset with a franchise making changes with each game. They need to in order to keep a series from going stale as well as improve a working system. Just think about Gen I in modern times...which is horrifying. The same could be said about fan-games. While it is easier to follow in someone else's shoes, it is often much more enjoyable both for a developer and player to design something that you can really call your own style. Those are the kinds of games I'm interested in over the overused badge system one, but I'll go more into it in the next COGA.

[H.P. Doom]

OK OK OK PROPS TO YOU FOR THIS ENTIRE POST-

But anyways, the points you bring up are extremely good points, and i have a couple more. Just look at Shofu's recent Rejuvenation video. In it, he complains how he has to go to two towns, attempt to fight two gym leaders, go to a new island, fight a legendary pokemon, and save a gym leader just to progress and save a single person. The gym leaders literally inconvenience you for two hours min. of play time. Terajuma's plot can be chopped up to basically playing hide and go seek with almost every character, which i find in many fan made games (not really the main series tho). Specifically in both Reborn and Rejuvenation, i feel that gaining badges can be a hassle, so much so, you forget your main objective, one thing i think you didnt mention but is also a big problem in these games. When i was going through the kiki strength thing to save the kids, i about forgot they even existed. Same thing goes as above with Nim in Terajuma. In sun and moon, the whole Yungoose quest is the same problem. You have a single problem leading to one after another without resolving a single one until a rushed ending. It takes away from the story and it feel just as filler to give you some training in a very annoying and fetch quest kind of way. Another problem that I don't know if you covered it, is the fact that you literally have to do everything in the games. If there is a problem, you'll go fix it. Entire terajuma fetch quest for nim is all on you. saving the lake pokemon in diamond and pearl is all on you (because everyone else is weak af). Getting the power on in the yureau building falls on you. Beating Nyx in Insurgence falls on you. Everything in the games for some reason falls on you even thought youre with several more experienced trainers, they miraculously lose all their power and you have to save the day. It really starts to annoy you once youve played the games one or two times. There are various parts that just feel tedious and frankly useless. Its the same cycle; someone does something stupid, you try to fix it, you have to fix something else or save someone to get help, yada yada yada. 

 

But anyways, these games are works of art. They are fun and innovative. However, there are several flaws in the story and gameplay that frankly just make the games feel like homework. There are times where i literally just mash A just to get through battles and when i have to go do several fetch quests just to get to a single place to save a single person. With a little adjustment, these problems can be made smaller or be taken out entirely.

[Dante52]

On 9/12/2017 at 5:51 PM, Commander said:

 

Pokemon CO2 

My internal voice read this as "Pokemon Carbon Dioxide"   
 

On 9/12/2017 at 8:10 PM, H.P. Doom said:

When i was going through the kiki strength thing to save the kids, i about forgot they even existed. Same thing goes as above with Nim in Terajuma. In sun and moon, the whole Yungoose quest is the same problem. You have a single problem leading to one after another without resolving a single one until a rushed ending. It takes away from the story and it feel just as filler to give you some training in a very annoying and fetch quest kind of way. Another problem that I don't know if you covered it, is the fact that you literally have to do everything in the games. If there is a problem, you'll go fix it. Entire terajuma fetch quest for nim is all on you. saving the lake pokemon in diamond and pearl is all on you (because everyone else is weak af). Getting the power on in the yureau building falls on you. Beating Nyx in Insurgence falls on you. Everything in the games for some reason falls on you even thought youre with several more experienced trainers, they miraculously lose all their power and you have to save the day. It really starts to annoy you once youve played the games one or two times. There are various parts that just feel tedious and frankly useless. Its the same cycle; someone does something stupid, you try to fix it, you have to fix something else or save someone to get help, yada yada yada. 

 

Oh my gosh this. Exactly. 

I enjoyed both your comments. I really love playing these games and the different tweaks people throw in (Love suzerain's HM items, SO much), and the official games have a special place in my heart. That being said, I wish we could see more games moving away from  the whole badges, evil team, league formula and trying out other RPG flavors. One idea I've mentioned elsewhere on the forums is a story of a disease outbreak at a university and what that would be like with pokemon Pokemon Contagion? Heck, there could be a story where you're an ecologist trying to STOP people from catching them all. As an example of different RPG flavors, I really enjoyed Super Eevee Edition's different battle mechanics. The Speed based turn system made so much more sense to me in that game than it does in official games (kinda feel like speed is an "underused" stat. It determines who goes first and nothing else. I guess there's gyro ball and electro ball, but still So all that extra speed your electrode (or whatever) has is totally wasted on that shuckle). Another example from SEE, the fact that pokemon could learn more than 4 attacks. SEE also has an item synthesizing system. Anyway, kinda rambling at this point. Love the discussion, really hope it happens. 

Edit*  Oh, Pokemon Apex is an interesting example of new stuff. For me, it's kinda like Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts had a child. 

Edited September 16, 2017 by Dante52

[Alilatias]

Good thread. This is actually why I haven't had much patience with fangames lately, when a year ago, I was starved to find new ones (because Reborn/Rejuvenation/Desolation were all simultaneously entering a massive development period for their next chapters). I can't even bring myself to pick up Insurgence even though it just had a massive update after like two years.

 

I've considered trying to create a new fangame on my own last year, but I know virtually nothing about coding, and thus it's nowhere past the concept stage. I haven't even decided on a name yet. The main things that WOULD set it apart from the rest are the following:

- Most battles are in 2v2 format, except for major boss battles
- You manage two teams of up to 5 Pokemon, hence the 2v2 format.
- Due to the setting, there are no Pokeballs to capture new Pokemon with. Instead, it's done via events and post-battle RNG recruitment.
- There's no shops, you find/craft new items instead.
- Likewise, TMs/HMs don't exist, they're taught via move tutors.

 

I've been kicking around the idea of changing up the amount of moves each Pokemon can have too. Right now, my current idea is to expand the amount moves to 5, but they have a 'slot' system.
- 2 offensive moves
- 1 debilitation (defined as stat down, status effects, and moves such as Spikes)
- 1 support (defined as stat up, weather changing, moves such as armoatherapy and reflect, and so on)
- 1 move of any category

 

At the same time, I've also been tinkering with an idea to have lower-BP moves be upgradeable in some way to warrant strategic use of them in late-game, especially for bulky non-sweepers to sort of circumvent the move restrictions (as the above 5-move system would greatly benefit sweepers more than any other type of Pokemon, while tanks and walls would be gimped otherwise). Examples...
- Ember Lv. 1: The usual Ember that we all know.
- Ember Lv. 2: Burn chance increased to 30%. 50% VS Pokemon that take super-effective damage.
- Ember Lv. 3: BP increased to 50, burn chance increased to 50%. 100% VS Pokemon that take super-effective damage.

 

- Vine Whip Lv. 1: The usual.
- Vine Whip Lv. 2: Now has a 20% chance to flinch the targeted Pokemon. 40% VS Pokemon that take super-effective damage.
- Vine Whip Lv. 3: BP increased to 50, flinch chance increased to 30%. 60% VS Pokemon that take super-effective damage.

 

- Peck Lv. 1: The usual.
- Peck Lv. 2: BP increased to 45, and additionally ignores 20% of the target's Defense stat.
- Peck Lv. 3: BP increased to 60, and now ignores 40% of the target's Defense stat.

 

- Wing Attack Lv. 1: The usual.
- Wing Attack Lv. 2: Now deals additional damage based on the user's Speed stat relative to the target, gaining +5 BP per 15 speed higher than the target, up to a maximum bonus of 75 Speed/+25 BP.
(Wing Attack is only upgradeable once since it starts out as a 60 BP move already.)

 

Now that I think about it, this particular concept has more in common with Dragon Quest (particularly the 7th and 8th entries) and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon than anything else.

 

 

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On another thought, you may want to give Legends of the Arena a try. While it's a fairly dated fangame now (it has Gen 4 mechanics and before) and still in development, that game's claim to fame is ditching the gym format for a regional tournament, and having a non-mute protagonist (which leads to fairly superb writing to back it up).

Edited September 25, 2017 by Alilatias

[Commander]

@H.P. Doom A major issue with what you have is actually called forgetting the plot which is very, very easy to do in massive exploration games. It's often why storyboard writers rethink how they move the plot as angst is supposed to make you rush through an area...it's a hard balance but there should be times where you aren't worried about the plot kind of like Reborn's Route 1 or FFX's Calm Lands. Those are times where you are supposed to relax and take in the atmosphere. Legend of Heroes Skies is a master of combining the gameplay with the storyline.

 

Now getting off topic or forgetting the plot happens even in AAA games. Something that's really funny is Tales of Symphonia where an important story point is not even brought back until nearly the end of the game where it is finally resolved. Fun fact: an important character getting captured early in the story is not an uncommon theme in RPGs if not a cliche. Cold Steel II is one of my favorites as it is probably one of the most hilarious jailbreaks with so many Skies references.

 

The last thing with the player importance rising has to do with silent protagonists. Writers of those have to show character development and progress which since they cannot express emotion nor any relation to anyone, so how can you show "character development/progress". Kind of hard other than to show how other people are helpless when you are a solo protag.

 

On 9/16/2017 at 3:19 AM, Dante52 said:

That being said, I wish we could see more games moving away from  the whole badges, evil team, league formula and trying out other RPG flavors. One idea I've mentioned elsewhere on the forums is a story of a disease outbreak at a university and what that would be like with pokemon Pokemon Contagion? Heck, there could be a story where you're an ecologist trying to STOP people from catching them all. As an example of different RPG flavors, I really enjoyed Super Eevee Edition's different battle mechanics. The Speed based turn system made so much more sense to me in that game than it does in official games (kinda feel like speed is an "underused" stat. It determines who goes first and nothing else. I guess there's gyro ball and electro ball, but still So all that extra speed your electrode (or whatever) has is totally wasted on that shuckle). Another example from SEE, the fact that pokemon could learn more than 4 attacks. SEE also has an item synthesizing system. Anyway, kinda rambling at this point. Love the discussion, really hope it happens. 

 

I'm not a fan of apocalyptic settings (yet I wrote one which sparked a post dystopia world). An ecologist would be interesting but it would require a lot of planning to deviate from a stereotypical "Stahp ahmalz abwez" as you would need to show a bit of both sides in a conflict (one major issue in video game writing is being keen on writing it in black and white. Yes, Reborn even has that issue despite ironically having Radomus say it isn't). We refer to this in the "Politics of Gaming" (Oh hell yes I will be doing a COGA of that one is that it's one of the best subjects to talk about). If you like SEE, I'd recommend trying Final Fantasy V as it takes a lot of inspiration from it.

 

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@Alilatias Pokemon has been around for 20 years and if you count all the fan-game and hacks, no franchise comes even close to having as my games centered around the same exact system. It's literally Super Mario Bros but in RPG form. The long wait times for the better games don't help because well...sometimes you find stuff you like more or you're so burned out of the franchise just from waiting.

 

I think that system would work but the biggest worry is experience and balance as training a team of 10 is more difficult to do over a team of 5. Upgrading the moves could actually be an interesting change as you could work on making a weaker much stronger over TMs or leveling up. Only other issue is just due to the overbloated pool of Pokemon there are and trying to balance that.

 

And Legends of the Arena is an odd game I've heard a lot of good things about. What really bothers me is that it relies and only uses Gen IV's assets which does put me off. One of these days I'll try it out.

[Alilatias]

I see you're a fellow Trails series fan too. The series is chock full of good writing. Cold Steel arc, not as much, I'm about ready for that arc to finally end so we can move away from the whole school setting and Most Uninteresting Overpowered Protagonist/Generic Katana User (compared to 'Girl With a Big Stick that Doesn't Give a Damn', 'Priest/Archer Support Archetype Actually Being a Main Character For Once', and 'Basically a FBI Agent with Tonfas').

 

Anyway, I finally picked up Insurgence again, and there is one thing I've realized with that game. Even though the story is pretty barebones compared to many fangames, it's well written and doesn't overstay its welcome with unnecessary exposition. It also helps that its route design is fairly minimalist and you can skip most trainer battles if you want to progress. Intentional or not, it makes the game rather charming, and it also gives the impression that other fangames really, REALLY bloat their game time with puzzles that are more annoying rather than fun or challenging to deal with alongside the unavoidable trainer encounter montages.

 

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Back to the original topic, yeah, I agree that balance is going to be an issue. At this point, if I ever get around to making that fangame idea that I've been playing around with for two years, I'm probably going to focus less on balancing and more on making sure the gameplay is solid throughout. I don't intend on making puzzles that causes 30%+ of the playerbase to go consult an online guide at the end of the day, because I'd consider such a thing to be a total failure of game design. Rejuvenation understood that last point very well (dear god Rejuvenation's early puzzles before the game was completely overhauled drove a lot of people insane).

 

Oh, another point. Music. These days, so many fangames use GlitchxCity's music to the point where it's almost generic now. I'd suggest branching out a bit. I know that for my own personal fangame, I'd probably load it full of music from Falcom games and FFXIV.

Edited September 30, 2017 by Alilatias