Blog Quest 2: Design your game item

So for this blog I will be talking about a game item I would add into a currently existing game to change to add a new mechanic into the game. Now the game I am going to add an item into the new Pokemon generation games, Pokemon X & Y. In this game the players now have multiple options for customization however Game Freak Inc for some reason did not include something that could have taken both their mechanics of character customization and player interaction to the next level. Now don’t get me wrong with their current mechanic you can customize your player in numerous different and unique ways to the point where almost no one will have the same character, but I feel like Game Freak overlooked something that could have added an entire new aspect into the game. Now before I get into what I feel is seriously lacking from Pokemon X & Y, I’m gonna go over a few things about Pokemon and this generations game that gamers really took too.

Now everyone who started playing Pokemon from the very beginning, I’m talking first gen Pokemon Blue and Red, know that the only thing players could make their own was your name, the name of you rival, your pokemon’s name, what pokemon you had in your party and what moves they learned. Even with the limited customization, these games were still fantastic and when Game Freak introduced the secret bases that you could customize and change location whenever you felt like in gen 3 and being able to choose between playing as a girl or boy in gen 2 this set the Pokemon games (or at least in my opinion) apart from the rest. Which each new thing players could customize, the fan base stayed loyal, no one cared that the game story was essentially the same thing over and over again just with a different team who had slightly different motives than the last in a new region. The introduction of character customization in the new gen games (and a new and improved storyline that differs than previous generations while still staying true to Pokemon’s generic storyline) has made Pokemon X & Y the best pokemon game ever released (well at least in mine and numerous pokemon youtubers opinions).

 

Now I’ve been talking about how increased the options for customization are in this gen’s game but I haven’t said anything about what you can customize. That is because there are so many different things you can customize I needed to have its own section for it.

WHAT YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE:

·         Your Skin Tone

o   That’s right for the first time ever players can not only customize whether they are a girl or boy but can also choose what skin tone they want their characters to have. Before this the trainers were strictly Caucasian which did not accurately represent all the players since it wasn’t only Caucasian people playing it.

 ·         Your Hair Colour and Style

o   Yup you can dye and cut your hair as many times as you feel like whenever you feel like. Grant you there is no option to dye your hair pink which would have been cool but you can still make your character have the same hair style as you do if you so choose.

·         Your Eye Colour

o   Yeah you heard me right, in this game you can even change your eye colour so if you was a character with blonde hair and green eyes well you can do it, all you need is the contact case and money for the salon and you are good to go.

·         Your Clothing

o   So Game Freak introduced clothing boutiques in this game where you can customize your outfits however you choose as long as you have the cash to do it. You want to wear a green fedora with a white sleeveless shirt, pink tights, a yellow skirt, brown riding boots, a black feather on your hat and a light blue purse? Well in this game you can and the only person who can judge you is you.

·         Your Furfrou (Which is a pokemon)

o   That’s right you can customize a pokemon in this game, there is a salon where you can style your froufrou and change what it looks like based on how ever you feel like. 

 ·         Your Streetpass Avatar

o   So in this game your registered friends on your 3DS show up on your home screen and you can edit what avatar they see when they are playing.

MY GAME ITEM: A CLOTHING EDITOR

Now with all these options for customization I’m surprised Game Freak didn’t add in a mechanic to edit and dye your clothing, so that players could customize their characters more. I mean for the male players there is a serious lack of clothing available to them even after they beat the game, and although that isn’t as much of an issue with girls there is still some limitations for the clothing options and the colours available for the clothing. Many of the so called ‘new’ clothing available in the boutiques are simply the same clothing in just another colour.

With a clothing editor, players could dye current clothes so that there would be more colour options. Players could dye different pieces of clothing to either match an existing outfit better or have a favourite piece of clothing in their favourite colour (What I wouldn’t give to have red riding boots and a cute little mint green dress for my character). In addition the clothing editor would allow players to combine pieces of clothing to make new items, as well as edit the actual clothing. For example players could combine a long sleeve shirt with a sleeveless shirt to create a vest and a shirt outfit rather than having to search the boutiques looking for one and then finding one that isn’t exactly what you want or in a colour you don’t like. Players could create sweaters or cardigans for their characters by combining and editing certain pieces of clothing (So there are no sweaters or cardigans for girls, which I’m really upset about, I JUST WANT A DAMN CARDIGAN FOR MY CHARACTER IS THAT SO HARD GAME FREAK!!!). 

A clothing editor would be a new and interesting mechanic for Pokemon players to interact and explore. This would be a interesting challenge to players (since making clothes isn't easy, trust I know from experience) and a great new mechanic that would allow for further customization in the Pokemon games. In addition the clothing editor could allow you, when your 3DS is connected to wifi, to upload your designs to the in-game boutique which could be shared to your registered friends thus adding to Pokemon's player interaction mechanic. 

Personally I would love to see this mechanic added into the new generation with Game Freak's next game update or even in the next gen game because I feel like it would add a whole new aspect of the game and would be really interesting to see what kinda of clothing players would edit and create, GET ON IT GAME FREAK!!!!