Improving Pokémon's Gameplay

I have been a huge fan of the Pokémon franchise since I was in elementary school, but as an adult and game designer I recognize a lot of issues in the game. The 1v1 battle feels static and one-dimensional, and there's little creative expression for the player.

I wanted to solve some of these issues with my take on the Pokémon games. In Monster Book, many of the moves affect the entire party, not just the creature currently in battle, so you must be more tactical with choosing your team of 3 monsters. I also implemented a speed bonus to encourage switching. If your speed stat is higher than your opponent's, you can swap to another creature and get a free attack.

The game is still a work in-progress, but you can see a lot of these ideas already implemented in the prototype.

Obtaining Creatures

The way that you capture and evolve creatures in the Pokémon games gets repetitive, so I added some new ideas in my prototype. In just the limited roster of about 20 creatures you can find the following:

• A robot monster that you can't capture until you recharge the battery

• A cat that only evolves when it dies

• A demon that requires another creature be sacrificed to it before it will join your party

• A muffin creature that you "bake" into your party by gathering 3 secret ingredients