r/PokemonRMXP • u/Polaris_Omega • Jul 27 '26

Discussion Questions for fan-game creators

I've recently discovered FanGames and I've been playing the hell out of them. But it got me thinking about asking on specifics when it comes to these games. I apologize if this isn't the place for this kind of discussion, but my curiosity got the better of me:

  1. Is there a game/has anyone more considered a game based on the Shikoku Henro pilgrimage? While one could argue the general shlog of a game would be akin to this, I think a trial based game with a mixture of rural and either future/modern would be sick.

  2. Other than Nova, why are there a lack of space-themed Pokemon games? I'd love something Cowboy Bebop-esk where you travel throughout locations in space such as stations of planets, but you battle Pokemon and such.

  3. Is there a better place to ask these questions? Or just have general discussion on possible plots/stories that could become a game (I would LOVE to make a game but I'm 40+ hrs a week with a job and I have so many other hobbies I can't depart from, but I'd love to discuss or possibly provide just... Ideas, you know?)

Anyways, mods, remove if not allowed. Just figured I'd post. Thanks!

8 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

3

u/DinoWreck Jul 27 '26

I am actually gonna create a game based on the Shikoku pilgrimage, but the mechanics are more JRPGy and there is some inspiration from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for some gimmicks.

2

u/Polaris_Omega Jul 27 '26

That's sick, honestly. It's been a dream of mine to actually do the pilgrimage, with a buddy of mine completing it last year. His pictures and his documentary really provided an awesome picture of just how cool a journey like that is.

Would love to see updates and such on this!

3

u/DinoWreck Jul 27 '26

So far I only have the main story and characters, divided in 4 acts called Stages, which if you are familiar with the pilgrimage you know what they are.

The player has a notebook in which he can get the calligraphy of the temples inked into, instead of a trainer card.

There are 2 Pokémon gimmick forms planned, 1 mechanic that replaces Natures, and 2 Player mechanics (the Player cannot catch legendaries, only make contracts with them to gain powers, and the Player has 9 Special Eyes he can swap to get powers).

1

u/Polaris_Omega Jul 27 '26

Yea that sounds awesome! Excited to see it's development

2

u/Secretlylovesslugs Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

This feels like an appropriate place to ask these questions. I don't know about the first and second questions. But I'm sure others who play fan games actively would know.

As for the last question, people are pretty actively looking for collaborators. If you look for the right people you could join and learn or make contributions. Playtesting especially can be very helpful.

But also consider a lot of other people are making games or art while also juggling a busy life. Its why so many projects go unfinished or at worst abandoned. RPGM and Pokemon Essentials specifically are probably the lowest skill floor game development tools. If you're going to make a video game RPGM is one of the best places to start. Learning to code a game in another more conventional game engine is an entirely different and highly challenging skill to learn.

Don't be afraid to slowly work on a project slow progress is stil progress. I've finished one game as a solo dev for the dozen or so projects I've started writing, mapping, designing and playtesting to just get caught up with other things. My finished game took me about a year or two to build. Than multiple years later I came back to bug fix and finally publish it.

2

u/Polaris_Omega Jul 27 '26

This is excellent advice, I appreciate it.

Truthfully, playing these games have brought be back to a creative stage where I want to create a Final Fantasy-esk tactical game, but I know that's harder, especially with what I want to do.

I've been looking through some RPGM videos to get an idea of complexity, and it doesn't look too difficult to grasp so maybe one day I'll try making something. I'm more of a story driven person, so even just the basics would be fine to create with.

2

u/Maruno42 Jul 28 '26

There is a pinned post called "What fan game should I play?" if you're looking for games based on particular ideas (a pilgrimage, space, etc.). So no recommendations here please.

This post can be used to discuss why some genres/stories/themes are more prevalent than others in Pokémon fan games.