Pokemon Vore Game (Demo Version 1.5 Released) (Another help request XP)

I would say try the obstacle course idea first and see how that pans out, personally. Making every stage play different than all the others runs the risk of making it too much like a pile of mini-games rather than one game that flows from one stage to the next.

Generally if the player has to re-learn how to play the game every time they move on, it tends to turn people off.

im gonna say either a platformer or a side-scrolling/vertical shooter. those are my ideas...

touhou eh ^^


i think you shouldn´t set a character to one typ pf playing. for example, as lucario you would run through 8 stages and you have only a few minutes to get through the mazes mkes the play-time very short and more or less boring, same if you would beat hundreds of pokemon, with the charizard, to come further.

i think you should only the first stage of everyone with its own " special " to learn how the srenghts and weakens of the pokemon are wich you play.
sooner or later all pokemon should have to do what the other did in the first stage.

mix it a bit, like in Terranigma

so, i hope my english didn´t failed again ^^;

Internet is back!

Sundown Sparker wrote:I would say try the obstacle course idea first and see how that pans out, personally. Making every stage play different than all the others runs the risk of making it too much like a pile of mini-games rather than one game that flows from one stage to the next.

Generally if the player has to re-learn how to play the game every time they move on, it tends to turn people off.

Indeed. Pretty much all the learning is going to be near the beginning of the game. That's also why the first few stages are so short. The first four stages of the game are pretty much just designed to teach the player how to navigate through all four types of stages. The controls are pretty similar in all the stages though.

The obstacle course might still be done. I'm actually starting to think a bit more about it again, as some suggestions I've gotten have given me ideas on how I could improve it from my original idea.

Thanks for the input.

Zephyrnereus wrote:im gonna say either a platformer or a side-scrolling/vertical shooter. those are my ideas...

Certainly good ideas. At first, I was actually considering making the Lucario stages into platformer stages (still using the maze idea), but I couldn't find a script to make the characters move by pixelss instead of on the built-in grid, which I think would be much more appropriate for a platformer. If you don't understand what I'm trying to say, pretty much it would make it so that every time you tap the arrow to move, you would only move one pixel instead of by one whole body length or so.

Thanks for your input.

*EDIT*

Karlas wrote:touhou eh ^^


i think you shouldn´t set a character to one typ pf playing. for example, as lucario you would run through 8 stages and you have only a few minutes to get through the mazes mkes the play-time very short and more or less boring, same if you would beat hundreds of pokemon, with the charizard, to come further.

i think you should only the first stage of everyone with its own " special " to learn how the srenghts and weakens of the pokemon are wich you play.
sooner or later all pokemon should have to do what the other did in the first stage.

mix it a bit, like in Terranigma

so, i hope my english didn´t failed again ^^;

While it's certainly possible, it's not very likely. There are problems with how I'm doing the stages at certain points, as well as the story itself, that would interfere with that. One problem would be anybody other than Charizard doing the battle stages, since according to the storyline, he's likely the only one strong enough to battle these pokemon head on. If nothing else, the guardians would have been choosing the particular pokemon based on what they're capable of, and would be sending them to specific locations based on those abilities. Thanks for the idea, but I really don't see myself changing the entire idea for the game at this point. I don't know if this will be any sort of consolation, but some later points in the game will involve having to use the characters together to accomplish a certain goal once the characters have all been gathered together. An example might be Umbreon having to press a series of buttons so that a path will open up for Lucario, so that he may flip a switch that will give Charizard access to an enemy that needs defeating.

Are you still looking for spriters, Foxyumbreon? I'm here to help if you need it! If you still need help, then you can pm me in order to tell me what needs to be done, and I'll see what I can do. (I'm a perfectionist, so it might take a little time until I feel the sprites are correct and send them to you. I'd also need your e-mail adress so I can give them to you directly once they are done.)

Chance wrote:Are you still looking for spriters, Foxyumbreon? I'm here to help if you need it! If you still need help, then you can pm me in order to tell me what needs to be done, and I'll see what I can do. (I'm a perfectionist, so it might take a little time until I feel the sprites are correct and send them to you. I'd also need your e-mail adress so I can give them to you directly once they are done.)

Thanks for the offer, but at this time I can't think of anything I would need the help for.

Even so, if something comes up, don't hesitate to PM me. I'm always ready!

Again, I'm sorry for the lack of updates. I just haven't been finding the appropriate motivation or time to work on the game. The toughest part for me though is always getting something started. Once I get finished with the "tutorial" stages and have everything figured out regarding the systems for the stages and whatnot, things should in theory pick up. Anyway, with all that said, here's some screenshots from the first Charizard stage.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2935524

Scyther as prey? Yummy!

If I might ask, what kinds of enemy Pokemon is Charizard going to face off against? You don't have to be specific if it'll ruin the plot, I'm just wondering about the general variety. Scyther would seem to be a relatively easy opponent since it's weak to fire attacks.

Shade the Giratina wrote:Scyther as prey? Yummy!

Glad somebody thinks so, because I honestly don't ^^;

Sundown Sparker wrote:If I might ask, what kinds of enemy Pokemon is Charizard going to face off against? You don't have to be specific if it'll ruin the plot, I'm just wondering about the general variety. Scyther would seem to be a relatively easy opponent since it's weak to fire attacks.

In general, the pokemon will start to become more dominant over Charizard in terms of type later on in the game, while early on more enemies will be at a type disadvantage.

I just want to thank everybody for their submitted ideas regarding the Dragonair stages. I have decided to stick with the obstacle course idea as the base for the stages, but that's because thanks to some of the suggestions I received, I've been able to come up with some ideas for it to make that stage idea much better than what I had originally come up with myself.

Awesome, any idea when the demo may come out?

Shade wrote:Awesome, any idea when the demo may come out?

Unfortunately, I have no idea when the next demo will release. I'm very far behind my originally intended schedule. I had wanted this demo finished about a month or two ago T_T

how beat first level??

vorefan222 wrote:how beat first level??

Could you be a bit more specific?

I'll try to keep this brief. I'm hoping somebody could put together an underwater backround for use in certain portions of the Dragonair stages. Here's the specifications for the type of file I'm needing copied directly from the RPG Maker VX help file.

Parallax Backgrounds (Graphics/Parallaxes)
These files contain graphics (distant landscapes) used in maps.
There's no real limit to their size. If you want to loop them, create them so that they connect at the top, bottom, right and left, like the background image of a web page.

I will need the image to connect from left to right so they'll loop for the scrolling of the stages. I also would like it so that the surface of the water does not show, and I believe I'll be needing the vertical length of the image to be no less than 416 pixels (this distance being based on the specifications of other resources, and am therefore uncertain if it's totally accurate for this resource type). I would prefer if the ground doesn't show either, but if it must, try to keep it from taking up too much of the screen please. I would also accept if somebody can simply link me to an already existing imagery I could use for this. Both .png and .jpeg format should be fine. Please no bitmap or .gif though. Bitmap files are just pointlessly large, and .gif files aren't compatible with RPG Maker VX.
I guess that's it. It was a bit longer than I had originally intended, but I wanted to make sure I got everything mentioned that I wanted to. If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask.

Hey foxy! Sorry to make my first post on this thread so late. I've not had internet much lately, so I didn't know much about your game until I tried the demo today.

It looks pretty good! =3 You're using RPG Maker VX, right? You've got some coding experience, I can tell. ;3 I've used the RPG Maker series extensively myself, though I'm not too great of a coder compared to some. Nor have I really completed any projects, but I sure have done a lot of them...

I don't have much critique to give, as everyone else has addressed a great deal already. I do wonder though, do you plan on replacing the environments with something more original? If I'm not mistaken, the tilesets you're using are RPG Maker VX defaults. I've found it best to avoid using the default supplies that come with RPG Maker, if at all possible. More originality. ;3

Similarly, the music. I like RPG Maker's selection of tunes, but again, it's not very original. Maybe you should consider tossing in some tunes from the PMD series? I've been currently busy ripping the songs of Red Rescue Team direct from the game, as 44mhz files. They sound good, in other words. Currently they're MB-heavy wav, but I'm planning on converting them to MP3. Remind me...does RPG Maker accept .ogg music files? I could turn these tunes into ogg, and it would reduce the size of these files immensely without sacrificing quality. Let me know if you're interested.

I'm rather happy to see that your grammar is used well in the game; I don't know how much it's frustrated me to see people making games and yet not knowing how to spell. You can't tell a good story unless you tell it with some writing skill, after all. ;3 That said, a few scenes seem to hurt the story rather than help it. For example, the oven scene. Umbreon doesn't panic nearly enough, in my opinion, when Mew tells him he's being cooked. His conversation with Mew also still seems a bit too wordy considering...um...being that he's getting cooked, there's not a whole lot of time for chit-chat.

Also, the ovens dialogues. People have mentioned it before... I like a number of the dialogues, and I definitely think every oven should have a unique statement, but I also feel Umbreon should be a lot more grim about what he's seeing. Being a decent writer myself (I feel I am, anyways), here's my suggested changes.

---

The format is...

"Original text" >>> "My text" (Reason of change.)

"There's a Trapinch inside... It appears to be trapped." >>> "There's a Trapinch inside... It appears to be...trapped." (I can see this was meant to be humorous, but the extra ... makes it much more obvious and imo funnier. This is also 'neutral/ironic' humor, and doesn't detract nor add from the grim feeling of this room, so I'd say it's okay to keep it.)

"There's a Flaffy trapped inside... Why does seeing this make me want to sing endlessly?" >>> "There's a Flaffy trapped inside... Its delicate wool has been burnt and blackened."
(Use of a first-person description - using words like 'we', 'I', and 'me' - in a video game generally doesn't work, unless the game does it often and is built around the concept of the hero describing events in first person, whether in flashback form or a breakaway 'my thoughts' sort of moment. I'd avoid doing it in this game. The description also made no sense to me here...maybe I'm missing the joke, but I think my edit is more proper nonetheless.)

"There's a Bulbasaur trapped inside... Is this meat or a vegetable?" >>> "There's a Bulbasaur trapped inside... The plant on its back has shriveled up from the heat."
(The meat/vegetable quote is okay, but I like the mental image that mine provokes, that of a Bulbasaur with a dead bulb on its back.)

"There's a Grimer trapped inside... Doesn't look very appetizing." >>> "There's a Grimer trapped inside... Its sludgy body is boiling..."
(Another mental image I got. Also, why would Umbreon be sizing up the edibility of these Poke'mon when he wanted to save them just moments before? I think he'd be too sad about their sakes to think about how they'd taste or when they'd be ready to eat, even if he would eat them under different circumstances.)

"There's a Grovyle trapped inside... Is appears to have been overcooked, but still edible." >>> "There's a Grovyle trapped inside... The kitchen staff seemed to have let him overcook a bit..."
(Again, Umbreon shouldn't be commenting on their edibility.)

"There's a Sandshrew trapped inside... It looks a little dry." >>> "There's a Sandshrew trapped inside... It's curled into a ball and shivering with fear."
(Edibility comment from Umbreon again that I didn't like. ^^; )

"There's a Farfetch'd trapped inside... I hear these are supposed to be delicious." >>> "There's a Farfetch'd trapped inside... Ironically, it's being cooked with several leeks around it for extra flavor."
(Inappropriate edibility comment again. I really like the new dialogue I thought up here.)

"There's a Tailow trapped inside... Kind of small for a turkey dinner." >>> "There's a Tailow trapped inside... The little Pokemon must have succumbed quickly to the heat."
(Inappropriate edibility comment again.)

"There's a Roselia trapped inside... This would make a fine salad." >>> "There's a Roselia trapped inside... Guess they don't mind vegetarian meals here..."
(Inappropriate edibility comment yadda yadda.)

"There's a Corphish trapped inside... Meals with exoskeletons are always a hassle to eat." >>> "There's a Corphish trapped inside... Seafood is on the menu here too, it seems..."
(Inappropriate edibility comment yadda yadda.)

"There's a Milotic trapped inside... This is the most beautiful meal I've ever seen." >>> "There's a Milotic trapped inside... Even a Pokemon as peaceful as this is being reduced to food..."
(Inappropriate edibility comment yadda yadda.)

---

Moving on, I rather enjoyed the boss battle. =3 I do feel that bosses should have a health bar too, but you already turned that idea down I guess. Odd though...this battle reminded me about a boss in my game, "Omega in the Land of Minigamia". It was an RPG Maker game not focused on simple RPG aspects, but rather focused on multiple game types put together. Like yours, in a way! I was gonna have 12 levels, each with a different style of gameplay. I should get to working on it again...

Anyways, your Arcanine battle plays out kinda like my battle with Reconnaissance Leader Floria... Watch this from about 7:12 to see what I mean - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMx8uyoSFg8 . You might want to consider this idea...hiding the switches in a boss area so that the player much search for them in the boss room while being attacked. Also, the idea of speeding up a boss's movement as it gets injured, too.

You might also wanna check at about 2:46 of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXSpt0Eijjk&feature=related . It's the other boss I made, Scientist Xail. He attacks you with a lotta cannons. =B It's basically an 'advance and dodge' type of battle, and it might be a good type of fight for you to use at some point too. (Such as a more cowardly boss that stays on the other side of the room, hurling lots of projectiles at you while you try to advance to where he is.)

I'm also wondering, what's the lore of this game? Setting, time period, geography of world. I imagine this somewhat follows the Mystery Dungeon; aka, no humans around? I'm curious as to where the towers are in relation to each other. Spread across the world? All in one area? Do we get to visit any other areas besides the towers, like a town or something? If you want any help writing up more of the plot and world, I might lend a paw. ;3

Oh, another random thought...is there gonna be a recurring boss/rival? In other words, a Poke'mon who you end up fighting more than once, because he manages to get away after each fight. Each of the 4 characters could battle him, for example. It would be interesting to see him/her being fought in each of the 4 different game types. Plus, it's fun to have enemies that have personality beyond "Rawr, I'm evil!" *whack* "Rawr! I'm dead now and will never appear again!"

Lastly, in response to your request, I don't think I can help much in getting a good parallax, sorry. =( I looked around a bit but nothing popped up...

Keep up the good work! ;3

Charem wrote:Hey foxy! Sorry to make my first post on this thread so late. I've not had internet much lately, so I didn't know much about your game until I tried the demo today...

Let's see... I'll start by saying that I am indeed using RPG Maker VX. As for using the default resources, I'll probably keep using the default stuff for the terrain, and somebody else might or might not be making me original music to use in the game. The offer has come up, but not much has come of it yet. Also, I apologize, but I pretty much just skipped over the oven suggestions. Magetorment already noted me a bunch of ideas, and I've used those along with some others of my own, as well as took Mage's suggestion to organize them more appropriately for the particular pokemon. For example, the comments involving edibility have been mostly moved to the Charizard stage since they fit its character more. As for your suggestion for the dialogue while Umbreon is being cooked, I might or might not change that. We'll have to wait and see.

About the boss having health. I sort of agree, but I sort of don't agree. While it's nice to see how close you are to defeating the boss, the boss not having a health meter I feel changes the mentallity of the player in a manner I prefer to go for in most cases, so the health meter for bosses will probably remain absent. The closest there will be to a health meter for enemies is an item Charizard will be able to use that will allow the player to view the max HP of the enemy. Also, I don't have any plans to change Arcanine's actions or the set up of the battle in any way. I do, however, plan on trying to make each boss fight noticably harder than the last in terms of the stage types. And thanks for the boss suggestion for a later boss. I've already thought out most of the future boss fights, and I do have plans to do such things with certain ones. And no, there will not be any recurring boss battle. Quite frankly, bosses that keep getting in your way again and again have always pissed me off, so I have no intent of adding such a character to the game. It can be nice to have recurring villain characters, but I've always found it annoying to have the enemy escape only to come back later and stronger after having fought the enemy.

As for the world, I hadn't really put much thought into the layout, since there isn't going to be a world map. There are indeed no humans in the world though. And while most of the game will take place in the towers, there will be other settings from time-to-time. For example, some portions of the Dragonair stages will be underwater, and I do have plans for a potential town stage (not sure yet if I'll be using it).

Well, that should be everything. If I missed anything you're interested in, or if you have any other questions or comments, feel free to let me know. And don't worry about the length of the post.

great all around great game i have only 1 complaint i think there should be less switches on arcanine

I shortened the quoted text in your post a bit, foxy. =P Next time please don't quote an entirety of post, if it's as long as mine was.

Oh, well that's good that Magetor assisted the over dialogue. Shame I spent so much time writing up my ideas. XD

I was playing around with making a Mystery Dungeonish-themed song myself, actually. I don't believe you mentioned; would you be okay with using .oggs or are you only sticking to midi? I may throw this tune by you once I have it completed.

Hope the project goes well for you!