Index

[milkyroute]

Preamble

Here’s a list of all the ideas and decisions taken for the development, with their status and forum thread if there is one. If you want to discuss an idea, please go on its thread, do not do it here. If no thread has been created yet, don’t hesitate to create one.

Priority levels: shows if the decision has to be taken and implemented in the near or fast future. Levels are:

• Urgent: if the decision has to be taken as fast as possible.
• Soon: if the decision is about something to implement soon.
• Mid-game: if the decision is about something the appears during the game, so it’s not urgent but it has to be taken before the end of the main development.
• Post-game: if the decision is about something that can be easily changed after the game is mainly complete.
• Eventually: if the decision has to be taken eventually, but it’s not that important.
• Done: if the decision has already been taken and implemented.

Index

The map reveals itself as we go through the region.

Status: Globally accepted, there is still to find how to implement it.
Thread: None yet
Priority: Post-game

Transport methods are unlocked by catching OpMons.

Status: Suggestion
Thread: None yet
Priority: Post-game

Change Pokemon centers into inns or refuges on mountains.

Status: Accepted, but keep generic centers as placeholders for now
Thread: None yet
Priority: Post-game

When levelling up an OpMon beyond the levels of the current tier the player is in, the exp is divided in two to the power of the number of levels beyond the limit. Intradiegetic reason: it's no use to train your OpMon again and again if you don't become stronger yourself by fighting against tough opponents.

Status: In debate
Thread: #17
Priority: Post-game

Giving more reason to delay the evolution of an OpMon. It's already the case in Pokemon, where some moves can be learned sooner, but nobody does that. In OpMon, we could add exclusive moves the evolved OpMon can't learn.

Status: In debate
Thread: #18
Priority: Post-game

Add more statuses (like Paralysed, Asleep…)

Status: We’ll see, if there is ideas, but we shouldn’t force on it
Thread: None yet
Priority: Eventually

Add more importance to the OpMons in the overworld. Currently in Pokemon, the creatures are almost exclusively used in combat mechanics, and sometimes with some HMs but this mechanic is annoying.

Status: Accepted, there is still to decide how to do it
Thread: None yet
Priority: Soon

Drastically decrease the number of forced fights in routes, but add trainers the player can fight is wanted. To compensate the process of training OpMons less tedious with two elements:

• Giving the choice between fighting a lot of weak trainers during the route or (inclusive, it should be possible to do both) one tough trainer at the end of it.
• Making the battles more interesting, especially against wild OpMons (increasing the difficulty + adding new mechanics).

Status: In debate
Thread: #19
Priority: Mid-game

Reworking the combat system: while for now we'll try to mimic the current battle system of Pokemon, I think it would be interesting to rework it to make it more interesting that just pressing two buttons and relying on luck sometimes. My current idea is to take some inspiration from the first games of the Paper Mario series and add actions to do during the offense and defense parts. Each move would have a different little action to do, both in attack and defense.

Status: We’ll see if it’s necessary after the game is finished
Thread: None yet
Priority: Eventually

Lower the power of the type mechanic (For example ×1.5 instead of ×2) because it hides other mechanics like the EVs or the STAB.

Status: Suggestion
Thread: None yet
Priority: Post-game

Remove the IV mechanic so you don't have to recapture an OpMon you went through the whole region with to have one with better stats. Replace it by « starting EVs » where some OpMons starts with more EVs than others, but in the end every OpMon can become good.

Status: Accepted by default, already implemented, can still be debated
Thread: None yet
Priority: Done

Give full teams to most important trainers, instead of giving them 3 good OpMons, we should give them 6 less powerful Pokemon (keeping the level of difficulty but making more sense, since to become good you have to have six creatures in your team). It'll increase the feeling that other trainers are like the player.

Status: Accepted
Thread: None yet
Priority: Soon

Complicated subject: try to increase the « team spirit », to have the team not only being a list of OpMons to launch one after the other, but a real team whose composition matter (we could add combos for example, with a OpMon you use a move, and during the move it switches to another OpMon who does another move and that creates a powerful combo).

Status: Complicated subject
Thread: #20
Priority: Post-game

Improve the AI a bit. For example, a difficult AI should change their OpMon if they see they have a type disadvantage.

Status: Accepted, but only for difficult trainers
Thread: None yet
Priority: Post-game

Remove critical hits. We often forget they're there, and it rarely helps, it can even be annoying (when trying to catch a Pokemon for example).

Status: Accepted by default, already implemented, still debatable
Thread: None yet
Priority: Done

An « EV daycare » where you can put your OpMons and they gain EVs in the stat of your choice (redistributing them if the OpMon already has the maximum).

Status: Suggestion
Thread: None yet
Priority: Post-game

Remove Gyms, and instead make the equivalent of the « gym leader » fight the player at the end of a difficult route filled with wild OpMons, puzzles and trainers (usually in the big wild areas so it's coupled with exploration) so it builds tension because if you want to heal you have to return to the city and the boss at the end creates a tension spike, so the player is really involved in the game.

Status: In debate
Thread: #21
Priority: Soon

Make all gameplay-related information accessible in-game (so the player don't have to go to the wiki). Make something like an in-game wiki but originally blank and it completes itself with the different pieces of advice some NPCs give you.

Status: Accepted
Thread: None yet
Priority: Mid-game

Make fly only accessible really far in the game, so for the big part you can't just fly away a route, you have to go all the way back. To compensate, think the level design so the player will enjoy going through the route in both directions.

Status: Accepted with the idea of adding other means of transportation
Thread: None yet
Priority: Post-game

The big wild areas: I see them as areas with a lot of different ways that are interconnected and covers a lot of secret spaces to some places. At the end of each way will be something like a reward, sometimes it can be the equivalent of the gym leader, or a special place where you can do something, or a powerful trainer, something like that.

Status: Hard to do, but challenge accepted
Thread: None yet
Priority: Mid-game

Really, really work A LOT on aquatic routes to not make the same mistake as Pokemon Sapphire, Rubis and Emerald, where the aquatic routes are not really interesting and it's just a lot of trainers and wild Pokemons with some secrets here and there.

Status: More a necessity than a decision to take
Thread: #22
Priority: Mid-game

Add more variation on the OpMons of natural spaces, we shouldn't have a Zubat equivalent, each cave should have its own OpMons for example, with maybe some identical OpMons sometimes but not too much.

Status: Accepted
Thread: None yet
Priority: Mid-game

Getting rid of the grid-based movement system.

Status: Refused
Thread: #14
Priority: Done

Tier-based difficulty system instead of just increasing the trainers’ level.

Status: Accepted
Thread: None yet
Priority: Soon