Fantendo Fanon Feature 2017/Presentations/Poisonshot

Poisonshot
While I have been inactive for a while (my last edit was about a month ago!), I was still lurking around, mostly looking up the pictures to see if any interesting projects came up. I've also been preparing for this showcase after it was announced. There are four reasons for my inactivity: For one, I was busy in other internet communities, mostly in one of the less toxic parts of the Roblox community (yes, less toxic parts exist in Roblox). The second reason is that I was busy with school exams. Soon after my final exam, my Desktop broke and I was forced to use a Laptop for about a week until it was repaired. Finally, it was also because I am a lazy person; I apologize about that. These reasons are also why this showcase will have no pictures or even logos.
However! I could still write presentations thanks to Google Docs. And all 5 days will be used in some forms! The first day will announce my next big project. The second, third and fourth day will talk about various aspects of this project more in detail. On the final day, I will not officially announce anything, but instead I will be talking about future projects and plans I have been thinking of.
Without further ado, let's start the showcase!
Day 1: Two is better than One
So yeah, most people who have been following my stuff know I’ve been working on Bloom, a somewhat original game taking place in the Pokémon universe. Now, the issue is that the game’s story in general was a major aspect of it, and yet it was also very poorly planned. The game in general was revealed too early. I had about, maybe, 5% of the game planned when I announced it. I could've done much better. And I am right now.
This is why I announce today that the game is getting a reboot! The game's story and some of its characters are going to get major overhauls. The most major change is something quite different, though - Bloom’s story just works a lot better when there’s a prequel. Effectively, Bloom is now going to have two installments instead of just one. They are titled First Bloom and Second Bloom respectively. As you most likely want, here’s a few more details about both games:
First Bloom is a prequel to the original Bloom, taking place in a peaceful and isolated country called Kornero. It follows Florence, a quiet, but quite careless Petilil who’s following her father, Litho the Cherrim. The game is semi-Open World; there is a set storyline that goes in a certain order, but about halfway into the story you can just go to the final boss’s lair or explore around the various locations of the game, in a way pretty similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game’s story will focus more on emotions than awesomeness.
Second Bloom is the original Bloom game. It takes place 30 years after First Bloom. Unlike First Bloom which took place in a single country, Second Bloom spans several countries. For people unaware of what Bloom was like, the story of the game follows Alpe as she gets caught in many adventures after meeting a certain goofy Venomoth. Unlike the prequel, however, the game follows a set path through its story and there is never a point where you can just beat up the final boss instead of having to progress though the storyline. Also in contrast, the game will have a much darker mood, and it will have a lot of awesome scenes and revelations.
Since Second Bloom is now the sequel, you should not expect to hear much about it for a while. The focus of the rest of my presentation will be about First Bloom. As I said earlier, Second Bloom was very poorly planned, and I was still making up some major characters about one season after the initial announcements. I even changed a major plot twist about halfway in; this is why I completely changed what kind of personality Ere had some time after writing the article.
When compared, it will be clear that I have planned a lot more for First Bloom. I already know the major characters and I also know what kind of personality they'll have. I have made casts of both memorable heroes and villains. I know the outline of the story in general, I know what the map will be like...It's to the point that, not counting today, I was able to write 3 days of presentations for this game alone.
Day 2: Getting familiar with the Characters
First Bloom has a heavy focus on its characters, and thus it is no wonder that I am going to show some of the more important ones first. However, not all of them will be shown, in order to keep some surprises. I'm also going to go a little more in detail about what starts the story.
Living in a village known as Cheruno are Pokémon of various Grass-type species, including the Lilligant, Cherrim and Jumpluff lines. Each villager in this village (and in the other settlements) will have different names, personalities and even differences in appearance. This should make it more exciting to talk to NPCs, among other things.
One of the villagers is the main character, Florence, a Petilil aged seven years. Due to her young age, she is quite careless. She’s quiet and reserved, however, unlike what you'd expect some stereotypical children to act like. She is the character you play as during the game, and thus, you get to see what she’s actually thinking - and the majority of the time, she has little idea of what’s actually going on. Florence does not play much with the other kids in her village and in fact doesn’t play that much in general. She prefers to just take a nap outside most of the time. Although she is shy, she’s ultimately quite happy most of the time.
Florence’s mother has left the family soon after she was born for reasons I am currently not going to reveal. Her father, Litho, is thus the one taking care of her. Litho is a Cherrim, and the kind of dad who constantly makes bad puns, and also the kind of dad who really cares about his daughter. But being a cool dad isn’t Litho’s only character trait, obviously. One thing to note about Litho is that he is basically never seen in his Sunshine form - he always stays in his Overcast form. He even carries around an umbrella to protect himself from the sun! This seems to cause a few health problems for him, but he seems to shrug these off pretty well. The villagers of Cheruno are pretty glad about this, because he apparently gets "unbearable" when he's in his Sunshine form.
One day, while Litho was reading his journal, he read something that must have been particularly shocking, since it made him jump all the way to the ceiling of his house. Florence, who was sleeping, woke up, and as Litho recovered from hitting his head on the ceiling, he explained that a shady, very rich Reuniclus named Forbes is planning to cut down the forest of the Kornero country and use the wood that came from it to expand his domain. Since the village is inside the forest, this is not good news for Litho (and his friends), who decides he has to go stop his schemes himself. He then remembers he has to do something about Florence, so he tells her about the whole thing. Florence decides to join Litho in his quest, because according to her, she'd get too worried if he wasn't around protecting her.
Forbes himself is a character who has grown with and around rich people, leading him to care for them and for them only. This is the main reason he does not care about the Pokémon living in the forest in his plans to cut it down. He has been taught to not care for them and currently sees them as little more than obstacles. Sadly, it is quite unlikely that it would be possible for the Reuniclus to redeem himself.
Many surprises await Florence. She is going to meet some of Litho’s friends, most of which she has never even heard about before, but she is also going to make some new friends of her own... and obviously, make a few enemies.
Thus, there are two more characters I can talk about right now.
Showstar (who appeared in the “original” Bloom) is a very rebellious Venonat who is convinced that he is a great singer. While his voice is said to be really good-sounding to Bug-type Pokémon, Pokémon of other types do not agree at all. Showstar is known for reacting to things very much, and thus tends to claim he will cause the “rebellion of the year” each time something that is bad for him happens. He will be both a foe and a friend, hindering Florence and Litho at some points, but also being against Forbes’s plans - and thus on their side.
Showstar has a rival in the form of Pikpo-Keth, a Pachirisu thief who is also very rebellious. She prefers to just be called Keth, however. She works for Forbes, although it is unknown whether or not Forbes is aware that she is a thief. Keth’s the one who takes most of Forbes’s more stealthy schemes. She has a tendency to overwork herself and seems to think she is much stronger and resilient than she really is.
Pikpo-Keth hates Showstar because she thinks he sings “worse than a Koffing trying to sing through a trumpet”, while Showstar hates Keth because she works for Forbes. The two are thus rivals during the storyline.
This is all I’m going to talk about for the characters right now. Tomorrow, you’re going to learn more about the region itself, so stay tuned!
Day 3: Kornero
Kornero, the continent the game takes place in, is quite a large region, and thus there are quite a lot of distinct areas you can visit. There are about 7 distinct areas as well as 3 major settlements. Among the areas, however, you will encounter various tiny camps in which you may find friendly NPCs that aren’t found in the villages.
Cheruno Village is the area you begin the game in, being inhabited by Grass-type Pokémon as explained at the beginning of yesterday's showcase. The middle area of the village contains the houses and most of the villagers. At the bottom left corner of the village, you can access an area filled with shops and other similar structures. As you progress in the game, more items will be sold in the shops. Finally, at the top of the village is a large junkyard Showstar and a few of his friends live in. You may find a few rare items people have thrown away in here, so be sure to visit it from time to time.
Another settlement Florence and friends will go to is Nidos City, which is probably the place with the most technology in the game. It is a highly developed city inhabited mostly by the Nidoran line, but there are a few other lines in there too. This area is still under development so I can’t tell much about it otherwise. However, since it is so advanced compared to the other towns, that means there is potential for a lot of quirky shopkeepers (and characters in general) to be found there. You can reach this area by going east of Cheruno Town.
Both of these settlements are found in the Forest Area, which is also the second largest area in the game. As the name says, it is a forest, but you may occasionally stumble upon a camp, a lake or flower-filled plains. Wild Pokémon may ambush you here, such as Pokémon in the Poliwag and Grubbin lines. These may even try to startle you by jumping from trees or from tall grass! Inside the forest is also a lot of plants - and thus, a lot of different Berries you can pick up and use during the game.
The next place Florence goes to is Dactres Town, a town based around a large mining industry. This town is not as technologically advanced as Nidos, but is more developed than Cheruno nonetheless. Compared to the other cities, there is also a larger range of Pokémon that inhabit the settlement. You can buy Pickaxes here, giving you the ability to break some rocks and crystals giving you rare items or jewels that sell at high prices in the shops all over the settlements in the game. These rocks and crystals can be found in all of the areas, but are much more common in the area Dactres Town is located in.
Dactres Town is effectively found in the middle of the Mine Area, or rather the Surface Mines Area. This area is located east of Nidos Town, and thus east of the Forest Area. Pokémon like Rockruff and Machop are common in this area. The area is covered in grey rocks and mountains, and you will often run into areas like quarries. There are several paths to these quarries, and you may occasionally encounter friendly NPCs while going around these parts.
What makes this area more unique is that you can go under it to enter the Cavern Mines Area, which counts as a completely different area; although some wild Pokémon found in the Cavern Mines are also found in the Surface Mines, most of them are different. The cavern mines mostly consist of rather thin rock grottos, with a few larger caverns you may rarely stumble upon too. Compared to other areas, there are many more crystals and rocks that you can mine using pickaxes bought from Dactres Town. You will often encounter Pokémon which are busy mining; you can help them mine a bit in order to get rewards like cash or items.
South of the mines is the Beach Area; while you aren’t required to spend a large time here, there is nothing stopping you from going back here after you’ve done what you need to do in the area. As explained, it is a beach and thus contains a lot of Water-type Pokémon. While you can go a little underwater, if you go too far from Kornero, you will be ambushed by Sharpedos who will promptly eat your team in one gulp, causing an instant Game Over. Few friendly NPCs live here, but they do exist.
The largest area of the game is the Mountain Area, which is filled with mountains as expected from the name. It is located north of the Forest Area and north-west from the Mines Area. This area has the largest range of Pokémon families that can be encountered, with 13 lines being found here in total. It is devoid of friendly NPCs and the Pokémon here are particularly hostile. Roaming around the area is a lot of enormous Steelix which are basically bosses in mook clothing. Obviously, you are required to defeat a few of them to proceed to the next area…
Said area is the smallest; it is the “Forbes Area”, being composed of a very large hill and the mansion Forbes lives in. This is usually the last area the player will reach. The Pokémon here are particularly tough, and once again, they’re not friendly. In fact, there are a few Pokémon who will claim to be your friend only to attempt to rob or knock you out. The area in general looks pretty creepy; the vegetation is purple, there are several dead trees and there are many menacing cliffs. The mansion itself is also unsettling, with furniture that seems to move when you’re not looking and a lot of creepy works of art on said furniture and the walls. The area is located northeast of the Mountain Area.
The final area is optional, and it is located east of the Mountain Area and north of the Mines Area. It is called the Snowy Area, and it consists of a lot of snowy mountains. While it is very cold, which inflicts debuffs on Florence and her friends, there are many shacks containing friendly NPCs you can rest in. These NPCs may give or sell to you a few items, the most notable of which is the Hot Chocolate item which allows you to become immune to the cold debuff temporarily.
By the way, you may be wondering where the name "Kornero" comes from. It is based on the fact that the west and north sides of the continent are "protected" by a lot of mountains that are so tall and close to each other there is no chance anyone could ever climb them. Meanwhile, none of the other continents in the world Bloom takes place are close to the south and east sides of Kornero. The north-west corner of the continent effectively acts as a barrier preventing other continents from having relations with it.
Well, that’s all of the areas in the game. This is also pretty much the end of the presentations of First Bloom’s flavor, but tomorrow the game mechanics themselves are going to be revealed; there's still more to show!
Day 4: First Bloom's Mechanics
As I said yesterday, we are going to talk about what kind of game First Bloom is exactly gameplay-wise today.
First Bloom is an action-adventure game whose mechanics take some inspiration from the Pokémon series. There are many more unique mechanics mixed in as well. The game could also be considered an RPG, because it features much more than one character unlike an adventure game, the game is mostly centered around its story and characters do have some stat differences, and there is a system comparable to a levelling system as well.
First of all, in towns and other safe places, you can assemble a team composed of three members. However, the character you play as will always be Florence. This leaves two free spots for partners that will join you during the story mode, which are controlled by AIs. These characters all have different moves, roles and attributes, meaning you can assemble a variety of different teams.
For example, Litho is a strong powerhouse who can get even stronger thanks to Swords Dance, but he has low defenses, and while his speed is decent, it’s not the best. Putting him on your team will give an element of offense. Meanwhile, Florence, the “forced team character”, is more of a supportive character, with only 1 attacking move, but 3 very useful support moves such as Healing Wish, which heals an ally. Thus, with Florence, you can patch up Litho’s low defense issues. This leaves a final spot, which you could fill with another support character to make Litho even stronger, or you could use another offensive character to overwhelm enemies with powerful attacks.
Each character has access to 4 different moves. These moves allow the character’s attributes to bloom and gives them various different roles.
Florence, for example, has access to Magical Leaf, Sunny Day, Sleep Powder and Healing Wish. Magical Leaf is Florence’s sole offensive move, and is a quick projectile that deals average damage when it hits an enemy. Sunny Day changes the weather to Sunny, which changes attributes of certain characters. Florence becomes faster in sunny weather, because one of the potential Abilities Petilil can have is Chlorophyll, which boosts the ability user’s speed when the weather is sunny. Meanwhile, Litho, who refuses to let his ability Flower Gift activate for reasons explained on Day 2, pulls out an umbrella from hyperspace and holds it with one of his leaves, which has the effect of slightly boosting his defenses. Sleep Powder allows Florence to put an enemy to sleep, making it unable to attack or move for a short time. Finally, Healing Wish lowers Florence’s remaining health a little, but heals an ally’s HP by a large amount.
Litho gets Return, Petal Blizzard, Swords Dance and Flower Shield. Return makes Litho dash forwards, dealing damage to an enemy if one is in the way. This damage gets stronger as you progress through the storyline, showing Litho’s bond with his teammates is growing. Petal Blizzard makes Litho throw a flurry of sharp petals forwards; while a single petal deals very low damage, when all petals hit, it will deal devastating damage. However, the attack is not very precise and unless you are close to the foe, it is likely most of the petals will miss. Swords Dance makes Litho dance around for a few seconds, which looks a little silly, but then gives his attack strong damage boosts making him even more deadly. Flower Shield, finally, boosts his defenses as well as Florence. This doesn’t affect any other teammate, however, since Flower Shield only works on Grass types.
When using moves, one can notice the animations of the characters attacking have a somewhat long length. This is because of two mechanics which have pretty much the same effect.
First of all, when playing as Florence, pressing the attack button at specific points during her move animations will give strong boosts to her attacks. For example, it makes her Magical Leaf attack shoot three leaves instead of just one. When the boost is used on Sunny Day, however, it extends the time the weather will stay Sunny.
Since other characters are AI-controlled, they have a different mechanic. AI-controlled teammates have an experience meter, which fills up the more you spend time with them. Their moves have a random chance to have boosts similar to the boost given to Florence’s attacks, and as the experience meter fills, the chance of the moves getting a boost gets higher.
I’ll finally reveal two multiplayer modes.
The first mode, Player VS Player, explains itself; you pick one of the teammates you have unlocked and then fight other players in a large arena. This plays similarly to an MMORPG and the area you spawn in is a “safe zone”, preventing you from taking damage or being affected by attacks. But as soon as you exit the safe zone, you can take damage, and not even re-entering the safe zone will save you. Moderators patrol this arena, as well, and attempt to ban hackers and exploiters from this mode.
The second mode is pretty much an add-on to the single-player mode; you can connect with other players, who can then pick one of the teammates you have unlocked to help you, which can be useful if the AI of the teammates starts acting stupid or if you just want to goof around in general, or if you just want to play as someone else than Florence... and so on.
In both of these modes, activating move boosts is done in the same way you would usually activate them with Florence; you have to press the attack button at specific points of the Pokémon’s attack animation.
This ends this large First Bloom showcase. However, I’m not fully done yet; I’m going to talk about a few game concepts I have tomorrow. These concepts range from ideas that went through my head at one point to some larger projects with a few characters already designed.
Day 5: Other Projects
Today won't be as long as the other days of my presentation, since I'm just going to list a bunch of concepts and projects I have, with a few details about them as well. You are likely going to hear way more about these projects in the future.
We'll start with some bigger projects: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ruin Seekers, as well as Sparkplug and Fierce Tales.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ruin Seekers is, or rather, was a project I worked on in 2016. It was going to be a PMD game, obviously, but since Generation 7 was in development and I had other projects I liked more, it was scrapped - although it is quite possible that the game may be rebooted soon-ish, adding Pokémon from my own generation and other new mechanics, like pre-made "temples" in which you need to complete puzzles. I do in fact have new characters and a basic plot designed for the game. However, since I am working on another large-scale Pokémon game, it'll have to wait for that game to be done.
As for Sparkplug, first of all, I can confirm that I am going to finish up the story soon, so you can get excited for that! I can also announce that I have started considering ideas for a potential Sparkplug sequel that would take place outside the "flying robot fortress" the original takes place in. It would also have at least 5 new characters, which I have already designed (although I do not have movesets, models and stats made for them yet). However, I will wait until I finish the original game before moving onto this sequel and really starting development on it.
Finally, I am planning to give Fierce Tales a major reboot. While the main character would still be Goblin, he would receive a few design changes (mostly just clothes however). The game would still focus on completing randomly-generated missions and defeating bosses, but the game would also include survival elements, allowing you to craft weapons and armors, and also allowing you to use more than one weapon. The game would also feature a lot more Goblin races, which you would be able to interact with, and as you get better relations with them, you would be able to trade with them to get rare items. Finally, the plot would be completely changed; instead of focusing on Goblin teaming up with a bunch of weirdos to stop a bunch of mean bosses, the game would focus on Goblin attempting to find his parents, because he hasn't seen in a long while, and would have him fighting a bunch of bosses while trying to find them.
I also have a brand new concept for an original game which is currently codenamed "Ladybug Project". It would focus on a superhero ladybug who can use beetle-based moves to defeat other mean invertebrates in a gameplay that would involve fighting a lot of enemies, similar to a Hack and slash game. It's possible that you could also recruit more arthropod superheroes to help you, like a ghostly trilobite or a spider who can trap enemies with web. However, this project is very early in development and it is unlikely that you are going to hear more about it soon, if ever.
Well, that concludes the day, and the showcase as a whole. If you are interested in any of these projects, be sure to tell me in the comments!
Category:Presentations
Category:Fantendo Fanon Feature 2017
Category:Poisonshot
Category:Bloom (game)