A Ridiculously Stupid Story of how I tried and failed to make a Pokemon Fangame

[ShadeStrider]

I was a rising Junior at the time, and I loved Pokemon Reborn and Rejuvenation.

 

I actually wanted to bring my own Ideas to the table. Pokemon Mercury version. (I actually didn't know what to call it, so I just settled on Mercury. I only learned later that that was the name of a  rather obscure ROM hack of Pokemon Gold). 

 

I've mentioned this on Pokemon Sohwon's forum, but I actually decided that the Main Character's name would be Mary Sue. The Idea was that the main character was a Genetic Clone of the league's current champion, since some scientists wanted a weapon to use, and they would replicate the same process that was used to create Mewtwo. The name "Mary Sue" was actually supposed to be a codename for this project, and it was chosen, because the scientists believed that if the project succeeded, then the Clone would be perfect (Looking back on this, It was a pretty dumb Idea, lets be honest).

 

Then, through a certain series of events, the Island where the lab experiment took place would face a crisis. Eventually, it led to the MC getting off the island and being found and adopted. The Island would be completely abandoned.

 

Then, a few years later, the MC would begin a journey to take on the Pokemon League. And I don't know what happened after that. An element that I had in mind were lawful areas and lawless areas. Lawful Areas are areas where you could rest, train, take on gym challenges, heal your pokemon, engage in recreational pokemon battles, and other "Legal" stuff. Lawless areas were areas that were outside the reach of the Law. This meant that if you lost a pokemon battle, then you could actually die. And there would be a game over screen. If you won, you had the option to either Knock your opponent out, or kill them. There would be story changes based on how many people you killed and how many you knocked out. 

 

I also had the Idea to have the MC having visions of a Ghost. This was similar to Tristan in Desolation, except that this Ghost took more of an active role in the Plot. This Ghost would be a person who had died in years prior. The difference was that this Ghost was mainly supposed to be a mentor figure for the MC, guiding her through her journey in different ways.

 

And those were all the Ideas. You know where it all went downhill? When I started writing the script.

 

I realized that a lot of the dialogue that I wrote was... really bad. Even by fanfiction standards.

 

One of my many inspirations for this Video Game, other than Reborn and Rejuvenation, was my favorite video game of all time, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

 

That was a problem. What I was writing felt like it was a rehash. The whole "Main Character is a Genetic Clone" thing, the fact that you could chose to kill or spare your enemies. My scripts felt like a 7th grader trying to Imitate Hideo Kojima. 

 

I even tried writing Romance into the game. That Ended up with the results you'd expect. I sounded like this romantic dialogue was written by George Lucas (I didn't hate the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, and I still don't, but the Romantic scenes in Attack of the Clones were the weakest moments of the film.) I mean, It could have been worse. Pokemon Full Moon started with Luna and Chan establishing a Romantic relationship right at the beginning, that didn't feel right and wasn't properly developed. And the dialogue between them was... cringeworthy. (Did that change? I really should play the game again.) I decided to leave it out altogether. The Codecs between Rose and Raiden were MGS2's weaker moments. 

 

Even the whole Mentor Figure ghost thing was ripped off from MGS2. I sort of meant for it to resemble the relationship between Raiden and Snake. (except that this time, the Clone was Raiden, and Snake was the Ghost, which is probably the case by the time Revengeance came around.)

 

Eventually, once my RPG Maker XP trial ran out, and My Junior year started taking its toll on my mental health. I quit writing the script. I had realized how much of a mess it had gotten. If I had released the game in the state it had been, it would probably be the "Hunt Down the Freeman" of pokemon Fangames. Only a month of development time? A properly made game would have taken a few months.

 

Maybe, now that my senior year is over, I'll try to make another Fangame, this time with better Ideas. I have the entire summer, and I'll be able to pay for RPG Maker XP. I still know how to use the program. Maybe I'll even revive this project. I did have an Idea that would involve the trainer in Pokemon Battles more. Maybe I'll be able to implement that.

 

Thank you for reading this. Or, maybe you just skimmed through this and saw "Blah Blah Blah, Ghosts, Blah Blah Blah, Metal Gear." You may be asking yourself, "What was the Point of reading this?" The Answer is, I don't know.

 

And that is the ShadeStrider Experience.

(I also wanted to have a scene where the MC and someone else stand back to back, ready to take on the opposing enemies. That too was inspired by Sons of Liberty, at 2:46).

[Xtrack]

This gave me a good laugh, writing dialogue that isn't cringe inducing is a difficult thing to do. I think the idea has potential though and I'd be intrigued to see what you could come up with including if you took some elements from MGS. 

[Player_Null_Name]

No, No, No, You didnt copy any of the Re franchise! You didnt do it right!

As a quality shit fan-de-maker I approve this idea!

[ShadeStrider]

Also, Since we are talking about MGS2, Does anyone realize that the Protagonist in Pokemon Reborn, If taking the Reshiram Path, "managed to avoid drowning"?

 

 

 

The game really could have been worse. Once, I had the idea to have the MC join a Environmental Extremist group called... Avalanche in order to take down an evil energy company called... Shinra.

[Commander]

Okay