This goes out to people who have played honorbound, or at least pokemon as I find both to be similar somewhat (think of honorbound as pokemon with your whole squad fighting the enemies whole squad at once). I want to create a game very similar to them, but I'd like to improve/expand upon them.
If anyone has played Honorbound or at least Pokemon, what do you think could have made it better? And don't worry about any money aspects, I'm strictly interested in the core strategy and game design of it.
I haven't played honorbound, but Pokemon is an incredibly solid game. I don't have any idea on how to improve on them beyond what's been done over all the generations. You could certainly expand, that is, to have challenges outside of combat for your creatures that are also interesting and engaging, adding semi-puzzle elements that require certain creatures or abilities in certain areas.
Thanks. Those ideas would definitely help. If I can get past the core game, then those additional features will definitely add to the fun. As for now, I think the one thing I'm going to try and implement is a "talent tree" of sorts. By picking certain talents, you enhance particular attack/defensive abilities of your characters and provide new strategies for playing. I think it will bring another level of depth and allow your team to feel really unique. Ofcourse it's much easier said than done.
Pokemon in the first couple of generations generated a lot of "magic" by hiding a lot of the gameplay mechanic from the player, and only hinting at its existence through cryptic npc messages. I remember the rumours at my school were intense; everyone had different theories on training methods, catching methods, etc.
As the games have progressed, the gameplay has become deeper, but the hidden mechanics are becoming more exposed to the user.
Arguably, the original pokemon's magic can never be repeated, because it would be rom-dumped, examined, and displayed on bulbapedia in an instant if anything new was added, however for the no-walkthrough gamer, I believe that hidden mechanics were the series' drawcard.
If I was building the game from the ground up, I would endeavour to add as many quirks as possible in this manner, with the design philosophy being that they did not have to be understood or utilized to clear the game, but that they should add depth and end-game.
