Pokemon Showdown MMO Development

[Glubbfubb]

So I have been developing an idea for a MMORPG monster collection game. The game would be inspired by the mechanics and balancing of Smogon Competitive. I have been asking around where I could develop such a game and had the idea to just use the engine used in Showdown.

What I am asking about is if the engine used in Pokemon Showdown could be used to create such a game and if the engine supports custom types, moves, stats, and abilities. If so, is it also capable of handling an MMORPG game, and if it can, am I allowed to use this engine to make said MMO game? Additionally, if I can make this MMO game, will the Showdown Engine be able to handle other stuff such as catching new monsters, NPC battles, the exploration of an overworld, and other non-battle mechanics?

 

[Mathy]

Pokemon Showdown is free and open-source software running Node.js. The battle simulator is included with a chat server but also can be run standalone (and any other software can communicate with it using standard I/O). It's licensed to everyone with the MIT License, so you can use it for anything you want (provided the Nintendo Ninjas don't get you! i am not a legal expert).

As demonstrated by the many playable Pet Mods on this site, Showdown's data engine is easily moddable, using mostly callback-based code, so e.g. you can write the relevant code for a move all within the move's entry in the moves table.

Battling an NPC would simply be done by taking inputs from the player and having a bot control the other side.

Catching monsters isn't supported by our code, you'd need to add that functionality yourself, though it's certainly possible.

Anything outside the battle isn't covered by the battle engine, you would need to do that yourself.

 

[Glubbfubb]

Pokemon Showdown is free and open-source software running Node.js. The battle simulator is included with a chat server but also can be run standalone (and any other software can communicate with it using standard I/O). It's licensed to everyone with the MIT License, so you can use it for anything you want (provided the Nintendo Ninjas don't get you! i am not a legal expert).

As demonstrated by the many playable Pet Mods on this site, Showdown's data engine is easily moddable, using mostly callback-based code, so e.g. you can write the relevant code for a move all within the move's entry in the moves table.

Battling an NPC would simply be done by taking inputs from the player and having a bot control the other side.

Catching monsters isn't supported by our code, you'd need to add that functionality yourself, though it's certainly possible.

Anything outside the battle isn't covered by the battle engine, you would need to do that yourself.

where is the link so that I can download this engine and make custom types and moves and stuff

 

[Mathy]

Clone us on GitHub - custom data will go in data/mods/. There is also a Discord server dedicated to Showdown modding, they can assist you.

 

[Glubbfubb]

ok, is there a series of videos I can do to learn the ins and outs of showdown modding?

 

[Maxouille]

Someone made this years ago https://glitch.com/edit/#!/psmmo

ok, is there a series of videos I can do to learn the ins and outs of showdown modding?

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7CbUInlYHNfUtmWoK_S-OPzuw-bEvzn

 

[Glubbfubb]

Someone made this years ago https://glitch.com/edit/#!/psmmo



https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7CbUInlYHNfUtmWoK_S-OPzuw-bEvzn

What's the first link? It is not a youtube video?

 

[Maxouille]

It's basically the code of an rpg using showdown as the battle engine, however it's not finished

 

[Glubbfubb]

It's basically the code of an rpg using showdown as the battle engine, however it's not finished

Oh neet, i will look at it later

 

[Glubbfubb]

Okay so 2 things

Firstly I changed the name of the thread to better reflect the purpose of the thread, if the name needs to be changed please tell me.

And secondly I need some feedback on the type chart of my MMORPG, it has 20 types, some are basically expies of existing Pokemon types, while other expies are combined or separated into new types. For example the Flying and Electric equivalents are now a single type known as the Storm type, and the Fairy expy is separated into the Fae and Light types. While I know a thing or two about move balancing, type balancing is another story for me so I want Smogon type experts to give me their opinions on this type chart.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...7KP0OrLLvn4lhen7TFwk9tbxcD0/edit?usp=drivesdk

I tried to give all types some sort of purpose, for example light and shade are like yin and yang, light has string offenses and weak defenses, and shade has weak offenses but strong defenses. Swarm has fewer weaknesses compared to other types but they are also one of the most resisted types, and Plant has a lot of weaknesses and resistances, but those weaknesses are too uncommon attacking types, plus it has an immunity. I want some feedback for this type chart and some detialed critiques/suggestions to make it more balanced while also making sense thematically.

 

[Glubbfubb]

Someone made this years ago https://glitch.com/edit/#!/psmmo



https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7CbUInlYHNfUtmWoK_S-OPzuw-bEvzn

hey which file is the serverjsps located on Pokemon Showdown

 

[Glubbfubb]

Okay so 2 things

Firstly I changed the name of the thread to better reflect the purpose of the thread, if the name needs to be changed please tell me.

And secondly I need some feedback on the type chart of my MMORPG, it has 20 types, some are basically expies of existing Pokemon types, while other expies are combined or separated into new types. For example the Flying and Electric equivalents are now a single type known as the Storm type, and the Fairy expy is separated into the Fae and Light types. While I know a thing or two about move balancing, type balancing is another story for me so I want Smogon type experts to give me their opinions on this type chart.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...7KP0OrLLvn4lhen7TFwk9tbxcD0/edit?usp=drivesdk

I tried to give all types some sort of purpose, for example light and shade are like yin and yang, light has string offenses and weak defenses, and shade has weak offenses but strong defenses. Swarm has fewer weaknesses compared to other types but they are also one of the most resisted types, and Plant has a lot of weaknesses and resistances, but those weaknesses are too uncommon attacking types, plus it has an immunity. I want some feedback for this type chart and some detialed critiques/suggestions to make it more balanced while also making sense thematically.

I also made concepts for status conditions, again critiques will be nice

 

[Austin]

hey which file is the serverjsps located on Pokemon Showdown

That's looks like a custom file based of the PS client

 

[Glubbfubb]

That's looks like a custom file based of the PS client

okay, thanks ill look into that, is the client a separate file as well, if so where is that, its a little tricky looking for specific files on my computer so I want to know which file holds which important info

 

[Maxouille]

There's a search engine on the github repo

 

[Austin]

okay, thanks ill look into that, is the client a separate file as well, if so where is that, its a little tricky looking for specific files on my computer so I want to know which file holds which important info

Yes it has its own GitHub repo, I linked it in my previous post

 

[Glubbfubb]

I am going to work on the showdown mod, but for now I want to give you a sneek peak on some upcoming mechanics

Here are the status effects:

Burn
Every turn, you take 1/16 HP damage, this also reduces your physical attack by half, Flame types are immune to this status effect.
It's basically the same as the Pokemon burn condition.

Frostbite
Every turn, you take 1/16 HP damage, this also reduces your special attack by half, Frost types are immune to this status effect.
With GameFreak being inconsistent with what the Ice type does or does not have, I am just going to bring back this popular mechanic from Legends Arceus

Shocked
Every turn, you take 1/16 HP damage, this also reduces your speed attack by half, Metal types are immune to this status effect.
I decided to rework paralysis; I think it's better than having the chance to skip a turn, so your mon doesn't have to be a random sitting duck. Also notice how Metal is the one who is immune, the reasoning is that the electricity simply flows through the metal, so it absorbs it.

Poison
Every turn, you take 1/12 HP damage, Toxic types are immune to this status effect.
There are no secondary effects, but with a tradeoff of stronger damage, my original idea was you lose 1/10th hp each turn, which would be better in your opinion.

Numb
Every turn you have a 30% chance to not move, Swarm types are immune to this status effect.
Separated the turn skipping mechanic of paralyses with it's own status effect, would this be a good change.

Dazed
Every turn you have a 35% chance to attack yourself in confusion instead of attacking, PSI types are immune to this status effect.
Basically the same as confusion, though the difference is that it only occurs if you attack, so status moves are still safe to use, also if you use a special attack the confusion damage will be special as well.

Petrified
You turn to stone, unable to move, every turn you have a 20% chance to become un-petrified, Stone types are immune to this status effect.
A classic RPG status effect that basically replaces freeze, depending on how centralizing this status effect is there may also be an extra rule on how you can only petrify someone once like Smogon's freeze clause.

Curse
Your HP gets cut in half, Undead types are immune to this status effect.
When I mean your HP gets cut in half I don't just mean you just Belly Drummed away that HP and can get it back, no if you get cursed your HP bar get's directly cut in half, so if you have max HP at 350, you now have 175 HP and you can't heal anymore unless you lose the curse. This is obviously the rarest status effect and will also likely be implemented in the game's own Belly Drum equivalent.

Okay those are all the status effects, tell me your opinions on each one, how should I balance each of them while keeping with their intentions, what potential strategies would you use if these status effect existed in game.

 

[Glubbfubb]

So my first step in this MMO is that I am going to add custom colors to all the new types I am adding, I am assuming the hsl represents the red-green-blue color ratio, if not could someone tell me how it works

 

[Glubbfubb]

Okay I understand that hsl represents a type of color programming, I got templates for all my 20 types, now I am looking for where the data for type based damage calculation is, I e where the strengths and weaknesses are for each type, so I can form my own set of custom types, I am having a hard time finding it

 

[Glubbfubb]

I think at the rate I am going, getting a team together would work out better for me, not only would a team be able to balance ideas better, but also would help in creating the project at a nice brisk pace, I don't know where to look for a team, DM if anyone is interested in being part of a team