Love the ally focus! One of my favorite moments from the last Pokemon was game as having your classmates Arven, Penny, and Nemona with you in Area Zero. The way the dialogue flowed while moving into this ethereal area was so cute and so naturally and well done. It made me feel more immersed in the world because having Pokemon with you is one thing, but people to communicate with you and make the world feel more real is always welcome! I think working the way you have, character design first, and sorting out gameplay is the better route because we're sticking with what we know, and it can always be updated once mechanics and what not are settled. I'm more than sure a good number of Powpow may be redesigned to fit the new needs of the gameplay, and I look forward to seeing how you'll tackle that from a creative and tactical point of view!
Totally agree!! I loved that part of the game. It felt so complete and had me wishing more of the game was like that! And you’re totally right! As I’m sorting out what gameplay looks like, there’s Powpow that need to be created to fill certain roles and I’m excited for all of it!
Thanks for pointing me in that direction! Cassette Beast is super cool! Really love a lot of things they did to separate themselves in the monster tamer genre
I love this combat system and ally system! It gives the feel that, while there is a main storyline, there could be some cool side quests as well. Like having to get rodents or pests to flee a certain spot and you get a jar of honey as a reward. I can’t wait to see what will come next in this series!
Idk if anyone has mentioned it, but SMT & Persona are JRPGs to consider when discussing interesting RPG mechanics. SMT has the Press Turn system, which essentially means when you hit an enemies weakness you gain an extra action, so you could effectively double your turn count if you hit weaknesses. However, if you miss, you lose a turn, and your enemies can use the same system as well. Persona has the One More system, which gives you the extra turn to act immediately, so they could be good insight to changing Turn Economy in your game. They both feature party members aside from the main character, so that's another aspect to look into as well.
Steam World Heist has turn-based combat with movement and special actions. You have your main character and their skills and weapons, and you have other characters join your team with their skills and weapons. It is not a creature collection game, but it is a lot of fun. It is on Steam.
you should check out pokemon conquest if you havent yet! the turn based combat in 3d space and the ally party building are similar to your ideas (but i think you still build on them in a really interesting way)
Hell yeah baby I wanna see more monster taming or collecting games, the new surge of these games finally has effect on the legitimization of the mon tamer genre, coz uh before people r always calling all of em a rip off even tho shin megami was around for even longer than even Pokémon.
@@benkipo an actual tcg business model with set rotation etc would require lots of content continuously over time tho. A self contained game like mind bug, smash up, Dominion, Dale of Merchants etc could be even easier. Plus you'll have more varied references than the Big 3 TCGs
seeing someone only just now discovering the concept of the Tactics genre and being filled with an excited creative bewilderment is strangely wholesome and kinda inspiring tbh, someone somewhere will always be seeing and discovering new things on their own honestly the idea of a Tactics pokemon game with the tera-raid ally mechanics as a centerpoint sounds extremely fun you should try out some more Tactics games to further refine how you want your system to work, there's a massive amount of things that can be done within it's constraints, three more specific examples I'd recommend would be Tactics Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis, the original Final Fantasy Tactics, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, they all do a lot of things wildly different from each other, and Tactics Ogre can sort-of be considered a creature collector game in it's own way
The game Transistor has really interesting (and similar) combat mechanics. Basically, you plan out your turn (movement and attacks) in a slow mo planning phase and then you execute your turn in real time. It might be interesting to allow enemies to plan a more limited amount of movement during the players turn so they can try to "juke" the player out. On the one hand, it adds more of a strategy element and you can actually have players try to dodge each others attacks instead of incorporating frustrating accuracy/evasion RNG mechanics. On the other hand, it might get too complex/difficult for younger players.
Great suggestion! Has a super unique gameplay feature and it’s definitely something worth considering. Although you’re right with it being potentially quite difficult. Regardless thanks for the suggestion! Good to have it in the mental idea library!
Oh I am so on board with everything discussed in this video!!! All aspects mentioned are things I’ve been wanting to see in a creature collector game, but haven’t so far!
Fossil Fighters Frontier has a similar ally system, with the restriction that while you can bring any Vivosaur (the game's monsters) to a battle, your partners have a set vivosaur and you cant really control what they do. You and your allies can also support each other through items that you can spam during the windup animation of the vivosaurs attack.
Some other ideas on the "turn based combat & movement" Baldurs Gate 3/D&D has a rivaling (TTRPG) system called Pathfinder 2e and in it they unify the Action/Bonus Action/Movement into 3 actions. Some abilities and attacks may cost more than one action and attacking more than once will also impose a penalty making it harder and harder to hit. But! It allows for you to move as much as you need or attack as much as you want with those 3 actions- Instead of say, you fighter getting to move, attack, bonus attack while your wizard can only attack (because they have no bonus action ability and dont need to move because theyre ranged) It also encourages a versatility! I attacked with one action, I can attack for my other 2 actions but im a lot more likely to miss... so instead I will use a buff to help my party. I know in pokemon Im HUGE on just spamming attacks and never buffing/debuffing. A system that encourages using more than just attacks would be cool Last thing- while I would prefer a more "free roam" movement like BG3, I could see maybe a snap-grid/checkers style movement potentially being easier to program? Not sure I dont know coding Hope I explained everything in a make-sense way, Powpow seems cool and hope to see more of what you do with it even if it just stays conceptual!
HUGE THANKS!! I really love this recommendation since ttrpg’s are not my forte so I dont think I would’ve come across it! And you summed it all up so well so I greatly appreciate that! But yeah really cool system that seems even more versatile! Plus I like encouraging certain actions like buffing (which is something I avoid doing in both bg3 and Pokémon haha) I love the way movement feels in bg3! It was so refreshing to me and so exciting that it made me want to imagine my own game with that kind of movement! That being said I do wonder how difficult it would be to implement if this were to be a realized game. I zero game dev knowledge as well haha Thanks again so much for your comment! I really appreciate your feedback and love everything you brought up!
Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but Digimon Survive has a battle system that’s a little like what you’re going for! Triangle Strategy might be another game to look to for research/inspiration
I think that a combat inspired by tactical rpgs would be perfect, a small grid like we see in Into the Breach fits pretry well. Maybe try having the trainer be a unit on the battlefield issuing commands and using itens alongside 2 or 3 pombles.
A good monster collector game that has a good combat system is the megami tensei series (it's the one that persona is a spin off of) unlike most other turn base games like Pokemon the debuffs and buff usually make or break the battle as well as they usually have a type system where if a creature gets hit by it's weakness not only does it do major damage it gives a extra turn as well so it encourages type coverage and have a verify of spell types
Baldur's Gate's gameplay is pretty much just Dungeon & Dragon's, for the record; tabletops like that & Pathfinder, plus other video games with turn-based movement like Final Fantasy Tactics, are great places to look for further inspiration. My favorite has always been a niche gamecube/ps2 game called Gladius. I'm glad you have shifted the focus to a hypothetical game, because the show/comic route has never made sense to me. Of course, creature collectors can have those be good series, but it's always on a foundation of a game, because the key part of the genre is the ability to collect the creatures; if you don't have that, you're failing to live up to the reason people are interested in the concept.
There's a "turn based" auto battler one on which you position your pokemon on a fixed grid, they then move and attack automatically with their moves at their own rate of fire, but you can control who they target mid battle also. It was a medieval pokemon hack in beta a few months back
I recommend checking out Ni no Kuni: Wraith of the White Witch for your ally system! It has something similar to what you described that you could absolutely expand upon!! Along with its other systems :] I havent played its sequel or mobile version but I have heard they're not at all like the first game, which is sad. I was very excited for your video, its a highlight of my day.
Thanks for the suggestion! Looked into it and it had a lot of interesting mechanics with the Stamina/shared Health! For the ally system it seems like they auto battled? It was hard to tell since I usually manage to only watch the battle tutorial and the allies aren’t part of that
Good battle rpg system is Paper Mario or Ikenfell! Something about performing button press and timing for moves and blocks requires more involvement and skill, which makes it really fun and engaging. Plus it makes those clutch moments so awesome!
I think for the project to turn into a game versus an animated series/comic, some of the previous ideas should be reworked! For instance, the Goldish variant being rare and also having a new typing will make the gameplay harder for people that enjoy battling! Especially if its unique typing gives it a unique movepool! I also think that the limited amount of Pombles will not accommodate other gameplay styles, since some people enjoy Pokemon to collect and explore the world as well as knowledge about all of the Pokemon that the Pokedex offers. It also does not really help for competitive players who use a variety of different mon for different teams that they build!
I think that while you may not personally enjoy this aspect, it isn’t going to translate into making a product enjoyed by a lot of different people with various playstyles, and only appeals to one type of player
I suggest taking a look into Pokémon Conquest because it uses many of the mechanics you are thinking for your game, which is a good thing because now you can study what works and what is just frustrating, just going to warn you that it isn't a good game and is quite boring because is just bad decisions on top of bad decisions. Even that you already playing a good tactics game maybe going to a more simple one like Final Fantasy Tactics can help you lower the scope but still give you ideas of what to do.
Pokémon Conquest is a great suggestion! It is more in line with what I’m looking for but yeah from what I see it definitely can be built upon! Thanks for the suggestion and input!
The combat system sounds like a tactical rpg. Fire emblem comes to mind for example. More specifically fire emblem awakening. That games combat system is VERY similar to the combat system you want.
I love your ideas. I think the rpg with movement would be called a strategy rpg. My favourite games like that are Fire emblem and Midnight Suns. The South Park games have a simpler version of this too with a small moving area. Ni no Kuni has a similar ally party system but its not turn based.
Btw good luck, hope you make the game, Im also a starting game dev and a strategy rpg would be my dream game but Im making a simpler rpg system for start
Thanks! And yeah I’m only now realizing that what I’m looking for is more of a strategy rpg or tactic style game! Been cool to see all the game recommendations in this genre since I’ve only been looking at turn based monster tamers as reference. Thanks for the recs and kind words! Good luck with yours as well!
My battle gameplay is like a pokemon anime cause I adding a protect, evade, and counter feature into my creature catcher were you command your topian to block, dodge, and counter when a random topian is about to attack it cost command points or cp for short to command your topian so use it for strategy
Great idea. One nitpick though, Pow Pow world sounds way too close to Palworld, and could cause lots of confusion down the line. It might be worth renaming when you're in this early development stage.
Love the ally focus! One of my favorite moments from the last Pokemon was game as having your classmates Arven, Penny, and Nemona with you in Area Zero. The way the dialogue flowed while moving into this ethereal area was so cute and so naturally and well done. It made me feel more immersed in the world because having Pokemon with you is one thing, but people to communicate with you and make the world feel more real is always welcome!
I think working the way you have, character design first, and sorting out gameplay is the better route because we're sticking with what we know, and it can always be updated once mechanics and what not are settled. I'm more than sure a good number of Powpow may be redesigned to fit the new needs of the gameplay, and I look forward to seeing how you'll tackle that from a creative and tactical point of view!
Totally agree!! I loved that part of the game. It felt so complete and had me wishing more of the game was like that!
And you’re totally right! As I’m sorting out what gameplay looks like, there’s Powpow that need to be created to fill certain roles and I’m excited for all of it!
Listening to this, I couldn't help but think of Cassette Beasts, where you bring along one NPC monster trainer companion.
Thanks for pointing me in that direction! Cassette Beast is super cool! Really love a lot of things they did to separate themselves in the monster tamer genre
I love this combat system and ally system! It gives the feel that, while there is a main storyline, there could be some cool side quests as well. Like having to get rodents or pests to flee a certain spot and you get a jar of honey as a reward. I can’t wait to see what will come next in this series!
Thanks! I’m excited for it too!
Idk if anyone has mentioned it, but SMT & Persona are JRPGs to consider when discussing interesting RPG mechanics.
SMT has the Press Turn system, which essentially means when you hit an enemies weakness you gain an extra action, so you could effectively double your turn count if you hit weaknesses. However, if you miss, you lose a turn, and your enemies can use the same system as well.
Persona has the One More system, which gives you the extra turn to act immediately, so they could be good insight to changing Turn Economy in your game. They both feature party members aside from the main character, so that's another aspect to look into as well.
Steam World Heist has turn-based combat with movement and special actions. You have your main character and their skills and weapons, and you have other characters join your team with their skills and weapons. It is not a creature collection game, but it is a lot of fun. It is on Steam.
Thanks for the suggestion! Yeah it’s super unique, especially because it’s more 2d/metroid kind of style
Congrats on 1k!!! Also welcome back, I’ve been waiting ages and have been checking every time I hop on to UA-cam❤❤
I appreciate that a lot! Glad to have someone look forward to my videos! Thanks for helping me reach it! (Assuming your subbed 🤣)
@@benkipo😂
you should check out pokemon conquest if you havent yet! the turn based combat in 3d space and the ally party building are similar to your ideas (but i think you still build on them in a really interesting way)
Thanks for the suggestion! Was never lucky enough to play it but yeah it does have a lot of what I’m looking for! Would’ve loved this as a kid!
Hell yeah baby I wanna see more monster taming or collecting games, the new surge of these games finally has effect on the legitimization of the mon tamer genre, coz uh before people r always calling all of em a rip off even tho shin megami was around for even longer than even Pokémon.
I agree! You love to see it!
Glad to hear that! Yeah I was so surprised to hear Shin Megami was that old! Still need to research it more
I feel like a trading card game would be awesome with this, not to mention much easier to actually make than a video game
Or a deckbuilding game, so the monster collection is part of the gameplay
Yeah would be cool and definitely easier forsure haha
@@benkipo an actual tcg business model with set rotation etc would require lots of content continuously over time tho. A self contained game like mind bug, smash up, Dominion, Dale of Merchants etc could be even easier. Plus you'll have more varied references than the Big 3 TCGs
seeing someone only just now discovering the concept of the Tactics genre and being filled with an excited creative bewilderment is strangely wholesome and kinda inspiring tbh, someone somewhere will always be seeing and discovering new things on their own
honestly the idea of a Tactics pokemon game with the tera-raid ally mechanics as a centerpoint sounds extremely fun
you should try out some more Tactics games to further refine how you want your system to work, there's a massive amount of things that can be done within it's constraints, three more specific examples I'd recommend would be Tactics Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis, the original Final Fantasy Tactics, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, they all do a lot of things wildly different from each other, and Tactics Ogre can sort-of be considered a creature collector game in it's own way
The game Transistor has really interesting (and similar) combat mechanics. Basically, you plan out your turn (movement and attacks) in a slow mo planning phase and then you execute your turn in real time.
It might be interesting to allow enemies to plan a more limited amount of movement during the players turn so they can try to "juke" the player out. On the one hand, it adds more of a strategy element and you can actually have players try to dodge each others attacks instead of incorporating frustrating accuracy/evasion RNG mechanics. On the other hand, it might get too complex/difficult for younger players.
Great suggestion! Has a super unique gameplay feature and it’s definitely something worth considering. Although you’re right with it being potentially quite difficult. Regardless thanks for the suggestion! Good to have it in the mental idea library!
Oh I am so on board with everything discussed in this video!!! All aspects mentioned are things I’ve been wanting to see in a creature collector game, but haven’t so far!
YOOO i had this exact idea yesterday from playing Baldur's and then happened across your channel today.... amazing
Almost like fate!!
Fossil Fighters Frontier has a similar ally system, with the restriction that while you can bring any Vivosaur (the game's monsters) to a battle, your partners have a set vivosaur and you cant really control what they do. You and your allies can also support each other through items that you can spam during the windup animation of the vivosaurs attack.
Some other ideas on the "turn based combat & movement"
Baldurs Gate 3/D&D has a rivaling (TTRPG) system called Pathfinder 2e and in it they unify the Action/Bonus Action/Movement into 3 actions. Some abilities and attacks may cost more than one action and attacking more than once will also impose a penalty making it harder and harder to hit. But! It allows for you to move as much as you need or attack as much as you want with those 3 actions- Instead of say, you fighter getting to move, attack, bonus attack while your wizard can only attack (because they have no bonus action ability and dont need to move because theyre ranged)
It also encourages a versatility! I attacked with one action, I can attack for my other 2 actions but im a lot more likely to miss... so instead I will use a buff to help my party.
I know in pokemon Im HUGE on just spamming attacks and never buffing/debuffing. A system that encourages using more than just attacks would be cool
Last thing- while I would prefer a more "free roam" movement like BG3, I could see maybe a snap-grid/checkers style movement potentially being easier to program? Not sure I dont know coding
Hope I explained everything in a make-sense way, Powpow seems cool and hope to see more of what you do with it even if it just stays conceptual!
HUGE THANKS!! I really love this recommendation since ttrpg’s are not my forte so I dont think I would’ve come across it! And you summed it all up so well so I greatly appreciate that! But yeah really cool system that seems even more versatile! Plus I like encouraging certain actions like buffing (which is something I avoid doing in both bg3 and Pokémon haha)
I love the way movement feels in bg3! It was so refreshing to me and so exciting that it made me want to imagine my own game with that kind of movement! That being said I do wonder how difficult it would be to implement if this were to be a realized game. I zero game dev knowledge as well haha
Thanks again so much for your comment! I really appreciate your feedback and love everything you brought up!
Such a fun idea for the game. I never would have thought of how you would make it into a game. Can’t wait for more videos to come.
Thanks!!
Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but Digimon Survive has a battle system that’s a little like what you’re going for! Triangle Strategy might be another game to look to for research/inspiration
Thanks for the suggestion! Will have to dive deaper but they seem to be what I’m looking for!
I think that a combat inspired by tactical rpgs would be perfect, a small grid like we see in Into the Breach fits pretry well.
Maybe try having the trainer be a unit on the battlefield issuing commands and using itens alongside 2 or 3 pombles.
whoa this is great !! your artstyle is so kind !!
Thanks!!
A good monster collector game that has a good combat system is the megami tensei series (it's the one that persona is a spin off of) unlike most other turn base games like Pokemon the debuffs and buff usually make or break the battle as well as they usually have a type system where if a creature gets hit by it's weakness not only does it do major damage it gives a extra turn as well so it encourages type coverage and have a verify of spell types
Thanks for the suggestion and summary! Really insightful!
Baldur's Gate's gameplay is pretty much just Dungeon & Dragon's, for the record; tabletops like that & Pathfinder, plus other video games with turn-based movement like Final Fantasy Tactics, are great places to look for further inspiration. My favorite has always been a niche gamecube/ps2 game called Gladius.
I'm glad you have shifted the focus to a hypothetical game, because the show/comic route has never made sense to me. Of course, creature collectors can have those be good series, but it's always on a foundation of a game, because the key part of the genre is the ability to collect the creatures; if you don't have that, you're failing to live up to the reason people are interested in the concept.
There's a "turn based" auto battler one on which you position your pokemon on a fixed grid, they then move and attack automatically with their moves at their own rate of fire, but you can control who they target mid battle also. It was a medieval pokemon hack in beta a few months back
Oh interesting! Thanks for the information!!
@@benkipo This is Pokemon Crown if you haven't had luck finding it yet!
I recommend checking out Ni no Kuni: Wraith of the White Witch for your ally system! It has something similar to what you described that you could absolutely expand upon!! Along with its other systems :] I havent played its sequel or mobile version but I have heard they're not at all like the first game, which is sad.
I was very excited for your video, its a highlight of my day.
Yes, the first one is the best, the others are very different
Thanks for the suggestion! Looked into it and it had a lot of interesting mechanics with the Stamina/shared Health! For the ally system it seems like they auto battled? It was hard to tell since I usually manage to only watch the battle tutorial and the allies aren’t part of that
Good battle rpg system is Paper Mario or Ikenfell!
Something about performing button press and timing for moves and blocks requires more involvement and skill, which makes it really fun and engaging.
Plus it makes those clutch moments so awesome!
The goat is back
Whoa where?! Jk! Thanks!
I think for the project to turn into a game versus an animated series/comic, some of the previous ideas should be reworked! For instance, the Goldish variant being rare and also having a new typing will make the gameplay harder for people that enjoy battling! Especially if its unique typing gives it a unique movepool!
I also think that the limited amount of Pombles will not accommodate other gameplay styles, since some people enjoy Pokemon to collect and explore the world as well as knowledge about all of the Pokemon that the Pokedex offers. It also does not really help for competitive players who use a variety of different mon for different teams that they build!
I think that while you may not personally enjoy this aspect, it isn’t going to translate into making a product enjoyed by a lot of different people with various playstyles, and only appeals to one type of player
Very intriguing!
Thanks!!
I suggest taking a look into Pokémon Conquest because it uses many of the mechanics you are thinking for your game, which is a good thing because now you can study what works and what is just frustrating, just going to warn you that it isn't a good game and is quite boring because is just bad decisions on top of bad decisions.
Even that you already playing a good tactics game maybe going to a more simple one like Final Fantasy Tactics can help you lower the scope but still give you ideas of what to do.
Pokémon Conquest is a great suggestion! It is more in line with what I’m looking for but yeah from what I see it definitely can be built upon! Thanks for the suggestion and input!
The combat system sounds like a tactical rpg.
Fire emblem comes to mind for example.
More specifically fire emblem awakening.
That games combat system is VERY similar to the combat system you want.
I love your ideas. I think the rpg with movement would be called a strategy rpg. My favourite games like that are Fire emblem and Midnight Suns. The South Park games have a simpler version of this too with a small moving area.
Ni no Kuni has a similar ally party system but its not turn based.
Btw good luck, hope you make the game, Im also a starting game dev and a strategy rpg would be my dream game but Im making a simpler rpg system for start
Thanks! And yeah I’m only now realizing that what I’m looking for is more of a strategy rpg or tactic style game! Been cool to see all the game recommendations in this genre since I’ve only been looking at turn based monster tamers as reference. Thanks for the recs and kind words! Good luck with yours as well!
@@benkipo yeah I havent realised its a whole genre for a long time either. The first one I played was Bleach: 3rd Phantom on DS it was also very good
My battle gameplay is like a pokemon anime cause I adding a protect, evade, and counter feature into my creature catcher were you command your topian to block, dodge, and counter when a random topian is about to attack it cost command points or cp for short to command your topian so use it for strategy
This sounds alot like a recent game, Cassette Beast, which I liked, so can't wait to see where this goes, good luck
Loved it
Thanks!!
@@benkipo I hope you're planning to create a Squirrel Powpow
BENKIPO POSTED RAAAA 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Ya I was thinking a anime but a game is cool
There's a game called phobies I think a combat system like that could be really cool
Thanks for the suggestion! Looked it up and learned a lot from it. Does have a lot of what I’m looking for and more
@@benkipo I love that game and it sounds what your looking for
We do need more bugs
I think the best example for the party system is ni no kuni though the combat is different
Thanks for the suggestion! Will have to look into it more!
Great idea. One nitpick though, Pow Pow world sounds way too close to Palworld, and could cause lots of confusion down the line. It might be worth renaming when you're in this early development stage.
Great point! It’s unfortunate but a name change is definitely worth considering
What's the creature collector game shown that utilises a mana system?
Nexomon!
@@benkipo thank you!!
So is the combat similar to Pokemon conquest ... Just curious
Baldur's Gate 3's system is just D&D 5e.
bg3 if it was pokemon
I know a UA-camr who can help you