Anyone have fond memories of the Pokemon TCG game for Gameboy?
I know I do. I think it's a downright shame that Nintendo didn't keep making more of them, especially as more and more cards got released.
So if Nintendo won't do it, guess it's up to me right?
Here's an old demo of what I was working on a year or so ago:
PTCGR1.zip
Note that it is an executable, so even though I promise it's 100% safe, feel free to pass on it if you don't trust me or your antivirus software. Oh, and apologies to WPM for taking his scans without permission. I hope he's cool with it.
Anyway, that particular build of the game is at least a year old. And in fact, I'm going to be starting the game entirely from scratch for future builds.
So, now that that's out of the way, onto the juicy details of what I'm planning...
It'll be an entirely single-player experience with as good of AI as I can program. I could make it online-enabled, but I simply am not going to. Making a solo experience does no harm to Nintendo's Pokemon card sales because you can't do a lot of crucial things such as trading/playing with real people. If I added online functionality though, it might seem much more harmful to Nintendo.
Anyway, that's final. Don't ask for online functionality, period. That said, I hope to make a very enticing single-player experience. It'll be similar to the Gameboy TCG game in that you basically go around playing with different opponents. It'll be much different in the fact that it'll have many more cards. But I'm only one man, and adding in all the Pokemon cards to the game is certainly a formidable task. So I've decided on a storyline that allows me to create and release the game modularly as I add in more cards.
Here's what's happening: Your character falls victim to a time warp, which transports him back in time to when the Pokemon TCG is in its infancy. This will be the first version of the game, and will contain the Base, Fossil and Jungle sets.
I'm going to add the cards in chronological order, and release a new version of the game whenever I've completed adding in a few sets. But a new version of the game doesn't mean you have to start a new game. You'll be able to load your saves from older versions into the newer ones. And it's actually better like this, rather than having all the cards available immediately. It'll add the experience and excitement of new cards being released, which I think will be fantastic. Plus, the new versions will bring more than just new cards...
As far as what the world will be like, it'll be a lot different from the Gameboy TCG game. The world will be more like a traditional Pokemon game, so there will be a lot more to the game besides playing the TCG.
The game will start in Pallet Town, and the game world will probably extend to Cerulean. As I release more versions of the game, I hope to greatly extend the world. All of Kanto and Johto for sure, maybe more. Like a traditional Pokemon game, you'll be going around collecting badges from the gyms.
Anyway, a miscellaneous idea I have for a feature transforms the phone from the traditional Pokemon games to something much more useful. Instead of getting calls, you'll receive texts which you can choose to read when you get around to it. But that's just for convenience. The phone's purpose will be to get texts from people who want to challenge you to a rematch, and more importantly, have a card trade they'd like to offer. The card trades won't be hard-coded either, they'll be random. And unlike Pokemon trades in a traditional game, the trade isn't for some random card which you might not have. The players will offer trades for cards they know you have. Of course the trades are going to be balanced... don't expect getting dumb trade offers such as a Water energy for your Charizard, and don't expect getting insane trades like their Beedrill for your Weedle.
So that's my idea. What do you think?
I know I do. I think it's a downright shame that Nintendo didn't keep making more of them, especially as more and more cards got released.
So if Nintendo won't do it, guess it's up to me right?
Here's an old demo of what I was working on a year or so ago:
PTCGR1.zip
Note that it is an executable, so even though I promise it's 100% safe, feel free to pass on it if you don't trust me or your antivirus software. Oh, and apologies to WPM for taking his scans without permission. I hope he's cool with it.
Anyway, that particular build of the game is at least a year old. And in fact, I'm going to be starting the game entirely from scratch for future builds.
So, now that that's out of the way, onto the juicy details of what I'm planning...
It'll be an entirely single-player experience with as good of AI as I can program. I could make it online-enabled, but I simply am not going to. Making a solo experience does no harm to Nintendo's Pokemon card sales because you can't do a lot of crucial things such as trading/playing with real people. If I added online functionality though, it might seem much more harmful to Nintendo.
Anyway, that's final. Don't ask for online functionality, period. That said, I hope to make a very enticing single-player experience. It'll be similar to the Gameboy TCG game in that you basically go around playing with different opponents. It'll be much different in the fact that it'll have many more cards. But I'm only one man, and adding in all the Pokemon cards to the game is certainly a formidable task. So I've decided on a storyline that allows me to create and release the game modularly as I add in more cards.
Here's what's happening: Your character falls victim to a time warp, which transports him back in time to when the Pokemon TCG is in its infancy. This will be the first version of the game, and will contain the Base, Fossil and Jungle sets.
I'm going to add the cards in chronological order, and release a new version of the game whenever I've completed adding in a few sets. But a new version of the game doesn't mean you have to start a new game. You'll be able to load your saves from older versions into the newer ones. And it's actually better like this, rather than having all the cards available immediately. It'll add the experience and excitement of new cards being released, which I think will be fantastic. Plus, the new versions will bring more than just new cards...
As far as what the world will be like, it'll be a lot different from the Gameboy TCG game. The world will be more like a traditional Pokemon game, so there will be a lot more to the game besides playing the TCG.
The game will start in Pallet Town, and the game world will probably extend to Cerulean. As I release more versions of the game, I hope to greatly extend the world. All of Kanto and Johto for sure, maybe more. Like a traditional Pokemon game, you'll be going around collecting badges from the gyms.
Anyway, a miscellaneous idea I have for a feature transforms the phone from the traditional Pokemon games to something much more useful. Instead of getting calls, you'll receive texts which you can choose to read when you get around to it. But that's just for convenience. The phone's purpose will be to get texts from people who want to challenge you to a rematch, and more importantly, have a card trade they'd like to offer. The card trades won't be hard-coded either, they'll be random. And unlike Pokemon trades in a traditional game, the trade isn't for some random card which you might not have. The players will offer trades for cards they know you have. Of course the trades are going to be balanced... don't expect getting dumb trade offers such as a Water energy for your Charizard, and don't expect getting insane trades like their Beedrill for your Weedle.
So that's my idea. What do you think?
