Making Game Journeys... Literally

I'm currently fascinated by a certain maker game related to games I've once played but have practically given up on that allows one to create "sections" that resemble (or in many cases go beyond) those that are offered by the games that the maker "emulates", in a way. It's a neat way for players to contribute to the body of existing "sections", perhaps even to create an almost entirely new game. In relation to Pokémon, however, the possibility of such a maker game is rather remote... but it may be worth some consideration.

If such a maker game were to be created, then it could be for remaking the integral sections of main series Pokémon games, which would be the routes, cities, and towns. One could design them to look a particular way and to be played according to a certain scenario. Particular natural terrain features or artificial man-made structures could be incorporated in order to force the player to do things in certain ways, while specific Pokémon can also be included in the wild or belonging to others, to be battled, captured, or else interacted with as part of the scenario. The completion of the scenario then depends on certain things to be fulfilled.

It's an easy thing to describe the possible ways of this maker game. Yet such a game would face many challenges, which would make things difficult. One of them is that in a main series Pokémon game, many of these "sections" work together to make the entire game work, and they can't be necessarily split into individually isolated parts. Another is that the creation of these "sections" may effectively entail programming of some sort, though this could arguably be considered for that other game as well. Lastly, the appearances of these "sections" have changed over time, an obvious fact for those who keep up with the main series games. All of these present potential problems for such a maker game.

More to the point, while the "game" aspect is lacking as of yet, it seems the "maker" aspect has been established through other means, one of which is somewhat "dicey" and directly involves the existing games. This is best discussed as indirectly as possible, so I won't touch on its details too deeply. What I can say is that the particular way I'm thinking of allows for this to happen, though one has to know the means full well in order to make things happen, and even then it is still rudimentary in a way. A real maker game should enable things to happen beyond a rudimentary state and in a less "dicey" and more convenient manner.

The creation of "sections" by way of the maker game would in a way allow for the bits and pieces of a new Pokémon journey to be created, which if pieced together, would allow a kind of proto-MMO for Pokémon to be conceived. This seems to be yet another missing piece of the official games, with the exception that Pokémon Go would virtually work as an MMO, but in a more realistic setting. To have a more main-series based MMO would in a way take away from this and the actual main series games themselves, which are already thriving, even if their experiences are rooted.

Still, the maker game is a neat concept to simply think about. For those still interested in the mechanisms of main series games of yore, it might still be interesting to be able to make something that seemingly belongs with those mechanisms and by consequence create an extended Pokémon journey. And if many people do the same, some interconnect may be possible to occur. While the prospects of such a maker game is a pipe dream at the moment, one can only wonder if beyond all the related technical issues, this might just lead to the makings of greater Pokémon journeys beyond the norm.

One year ago: Winds of Changing Teams
Two years ago: Pikachu Cable Holder
Three years ago: Love My Life - Pokémon Too