I've been surfing the internet to find various clones out there of Pokemon, as (this is the first time I'm publicly announcing it) I am developing my own game series like the massive franchise.
I've been a fan for all of my life, and starting Spriting (2D character creation) since I was about 10. While at the same time creating world maps, and other pixel art assets for fun.
Using ChatGPT I was playing around with game concepts, and I got to something that I could NOT ignore. It was just an idea for a game (well a few actually), and it gave me some factors that made it different from PKMN. Not to mention I had a ton of ideas already.
However as we know IDEAS are nothing without EXECUTION.
Thus came the Search
Look I am better at combining things in a really novel or innovative way, hence the PolyINNOVATOR, but if I had to code it all myself so be it. I figured I could find RPG examples to copy into a Pokemon game. Before I knew it I found ACTUAL templates for just that very idea.
I knew there was some for like Unity perhaps, but turns out people were really into Godot for PKMN games. I think even Cassette Beasts is made in it after all.
I found a few for Godot, 1 or 2 for Unity, and even one for Javascript of all things. However I only found a few in all that were more than just conceptual. Hatmon is pushing it even on that, but it has a whole level to be an example and that counts!
On a slightly different note:
I wanted to mention this somewhere in the post, and here is best. I've been digging into what makes the best Pokemon game using data. Such as how many trainers are in each of the main series games, how many new creatures added, story differences, etc.
Fun fact the average amount of trainers is 390~, but surprisingly Sword and Shield only have around 150! Platnium has around 450, and Scarlet/Violet has only 109 so far. That is astoundingly low compared to the usual 300+ of the other games.
Here are some Open Source OR Tutorial Projects I came across:
Some of these are basic examples with minimum viable builds, but some are quite advanced that I may end up just being able to do them. However I would like to see it all so I know what is out there, and now you can too!!
HATemon by Sam Murray AKA "samsface"
samsfacePokemon Javascript Tutorial @ChrisCourses
Pocket-Godot
GDevelop
Godot Pokemon Tutorial by XANDgate
I'm creating a Pokemon tutorial for Godot! from gamedev
DoOrDieDragonite
Made in the GameMaker2 Engine.
DragoniteSpamDokimon and MonTamer Maker
"An open source, open asset monster taming RPG, all the way to a beginner friendly, game making engine for monster taming games!"
What a fantastic concept, and it can be a bit confusing so let me explain. It is a game engine made in GameMaker to create your own monster collecting game. The assets are open source (although gotta pay for them, especially for commercial license!), so that people trying to learn to code or create can practice. While it is an engine for people to make their own, there is also a premade game as well called Dokimon. The creators are really ingenious for doing such a combination of projects all in one, very polymathic. :D
-
These are all that I have found, or am able to share at the moment. Perhaps I can add to it later, and of course when my game is farther along!
Here are some ACTUAL games that are alternatives altogether.
To call these Pokemon clones would be the simplistic answer, but they deserve to stand on their own. It will be interesting to what the second outing of these will look like too.
Coromon
A game with a lot of unique takes on the formula
TRAGsoft
Cassette Beasts
Came across this since I was learning Godot Engine, and I wonder why I hadn't sooner. Seems like a unique concept!
tomc
EvoCreo
While one of the earlier ventures into PKMN alternatives it still has some life in it! I actually talked to the creator for a little while back in the day!
Nexomon
Dokimon (formerly Nuumonsters)
A game being made in the MonTamer engine by the same creators, and given their track record I'm curious to see how it goes. I know it is going to look and feel amazing, and I hope their story fills in the rest of it! :D
What my game is about!
It is called: The Vivanti Chronicles.
Vivantis, being partially named after the Spanish word Vivo, meaning Alive or living*. These creatures came over through phase rifts in the Multiverse, and have settled into our world.
-
The cool thing is that I already had a list of creature ideas for a Fakemon Dex I was originally going to make into a fan game. Turns out there are only about 600 mystical creatures humanity has conjured up. I looked anywhere from Cryptids, to Biblical angels, and with that the rest of mythology too.
ChatGPT has been instrumental because I already had a ton of ideas for the world, quests, and even story. However the tool helped refine them or fill in the blanks, or even come up with new stuff altogether like New Typings.
Found creatures I thought would make for interesting in game ones too, and then I did something unique compared to all of the other ones above. (Now they might do it too haha)
I took DALL-E, or Midjourney, and a few other AI image generation tools. Used them all to create actual creature designs for my games. Some are nearly perfect out of the box, and others need a bit of refinement to match the style of the game.
From there I got tileset assets from Itch.io, and various other things from everywhere. I'm making sure to own all ideas and assets, consideriong how litigious Nintendo can be! Shout out to LimeZu for their amazing tileset!!
khanhduy.39n
My biggest problem...
I am in my late 20's, and ever since I was about 11 I have tried to learn code or programming. Now I picked up HTML/CSS of course since they're pretty simple, but after literally half a dozen tries I can't seem to pick up programming.
I understand if this then that, and some of the variables. However it elludes me, and I have been looking for a solution. Perhaps this would be the ultimate project to get me to finally learn. Hence the coding examples at the top that I came across.
I was planning on Godot Engine as there are the most clones made in that engine, compared to all of the others combined. However the MonTamer engine is supremely catching my eye. Although there would be a lot of editing to it to get to match my vision.
Perhaps GameMaker would be easier to do so than Godot. Plus I have to think about the publication factors, as Xbox and Playstation are my main goals. Windows, Android, Linux, Mac, are all pretty viable to get to if you are already making for consoles. Meaning I'm not worried about them, but Godot doesn't port really at all to consoles. Even Switch is hit or miss, but if I partnered with a publisher maybe it will be easier. Chucklefish are you there? 😜
While it may be counter intuitive to share the "potential competitors" above in the already made games. I think in the mindset of that it is better to build everyone up, rather than try and compete. They all have their own style and concepts, that make them unique. Plus I think they did a fantastic job, and it would be a shame to not shout them out to the world. <3
