Pokemod - a 3rd person moba/shooter with pokemon elements

[Ehibika]

So What is the Pokemod?
The pokemod is a fairly extensive Class+Gameplay mod aimed at being a 3rd person shooter with RPG and moba elements, primarily based around the pokemon franchise. this mod however goes further than just creating a bunch of pokemon themed CBM classes.

This mod aims to harness the various interwoven parts that make up a singular pokemon within the baseline game, and translate those mechanics within an action based environment as opposed to a strict turn based one. this has been a passion project that I've wanted to see happen long before I even got into zandronum modding.

How does this work
when choosing your class, you are given the choices of any number of pokemon as well as Smeargle taking the role of megaman to protect you from skin crashes, in progression mode, the playable pokemon are all first stage pokemon that may have the ability to evolve into greater forms, boosting their stats, changing their typing, and even giving them access to new moves. In rentals mode, all available forms of pokemon function as independant classes all with their own preset movesets that can be freely modified. the available roster all depends on what the rentals addon dictates.

Many of the mechanics present within the core franchise all exist within this mod, the stats and distinctions between physical and special damage sources, typing interactions, and even the functions of statuses and various moves. some changes were made in respect to the different environment of course.

Currently, the roster consists of all the starters from generations 1-4, with more to come down the road once the mod leaves beta stages.

In gameplay, the majority of your setup is done in a special menu titled "PKMN Setup"

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Here, you can perform a number of key functions so long as you're within a safe location, from learning level-up moves to buying items and TMs to even evolving.

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So What about the moves?

Moves are a major part of this mod, a sort of marriage between weapons and abilities, moves are the main actions that your class can perform. you can hold up to four moves, each operating as a mainfire with a generic melee attack for an altfire. said generic melee is typeless, and takes the position of early normal moves like scratch,tackle,pound, and horn attack. as such, those moves do not exist in the mod.

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Pokemon all have a pool of moves they can learn and relearn naturally at no cost, consisting of 4 starting moves plus one additional one unlocked at each level up to max lvl 15. TM's can also be bought from the shop to learn a move so long as that move is compatible. picking the right set of moves is crucial for getting the most value during gameplay. not only do you have 2 attacking and defending stats to account for (which is your best attacking stat, which defense is your opponent weakest on), but you also need to account for range as well as utilities that best serve the function you aim to bring to your team.

When will this be playable
Though it's still in beta, it is in a fully playable state, and servers are usually up for it, typically named Pokemon Betatest ## things are still in a state of flux as I'm still trying to establish some core elements with the mod before I really dive into additional content such as newer pokemon and mechanics.

A humble discord also exists for this mod, I'm hesitant to post an invite here out of fear of bots but if you'd like a link to it, just reach out to me on discord and I'll send you the invite. the discord is mostly just for organizing tests as of right now.

[Ehibika]

So at this time, I'm seeking out assistance in content development for the pokemod, specifically I am looking for extra hands in 2 main areas:

~ Move development
~ Skin creation

About Move Development
Moves within the Pokémon are functionally individual weapons with finite ammo, while they have a fairly particular structure, they are ultimately not too different from copyweapons or other class weapons in structure beyond the absence of weapon huds, and the presence of a new function that serves the role of "A_JumpIfNoAmmo". I say this to illustrate that move development within the pokemod isn't too different from how one would approach making weapons for a weapon pack or for a player class, as such. anyone with experience or aptitude in that area are able to participate within move development.

also, it won't be necessary for move developers to have to work within the the pokemod Pk3. they can just as easily code a move within a standalone PK3 file using vanilla, and leave the rest of the implementation to me.

in many cases, the creation of a move may involve purely creating special effect actors and nothing else. this is often the case for some status and stat altering moves. while the pokemod does use a team specific giving system, move developers can prototype these kinds of moves by just relying on A_Radius give.

A prototyping PK3 can be supplied for those looking to work on moves with specialized functions within the pokemod, such as mortar style moves or remote moves.

Ultimately, what is expected from move developers is to deliver a functional representation of the move complete with visual elements; matters such as damage, typing, and Status affliction can be dealt with on my end.

About Skin development
The task of skin making doesn't involve spriting skins from scratch but rather, processing PMD sprites both cannon and custom into workable skins.

This process involves the use of the CBM color pallet (shown below) and utilizes the skin generator by Trillster (link below)

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https://cutstuff.net/forum/index.php?topic=11812.msg340629#msg340629

When coloring the skin, the ultimate goal is to make strategic use of as much of the pallet as necessary, so that if need be, the pokemon in question can be retranslated back to their cannon colors. this ranges from making effective use of the 2 color trios that team translate into the same color, to only making the dominant color of a pokemon sprite translatable, leaving some colors (typically neutral colors like browns, whites, creams, etc) untouched.

if you'd like to be a part of the development of the pokemod, Hit me up on discord or send me a forum message.