RPG Maker Forums

Hi,

I'm thinking about making a Pokemon game clone, or for this case a generic JRPG monster catching game. I'm coming up with an original plot, and I'm changing a lot of things around, like different catching mechanism, different max party limit, different battle perspective, etc. Right now, I'm not planning to sell it, but I suspect it will be in its demo stage for a while while I'm working out the bugs, and I might eventually change my mind, so I thought it would be a good idea to plan out my game according to what I should and should not do so that I don't face quite a bit of disappointment when and if I get to that point.

Plans for my current game:

The player goes through a dungeon crawler fighting and capturing alien bugs. The player can later use these bugs in his / her party as weapons against other bugs (like Pokemon and other lesser known monster catching games). The player may only keep four creatures in his / her party at a time. The catching animation is a giant spider web.

Creatures don't evolve, they "metamorph" (as in metamorphosis), and this is only induced when they are taken out of their pods or exposed to special conditions in the environment. The animation is a cocoon phase followed by a new creature emerging.

Creatures are not stored in a PC; they are stored in special pods.

The challenges are mostly bigger bugs or groups of bugs, as opposed to other humans. There is one other human (possibly) character who kind of acts like a boss / rival for many of the levels.

My current understanding is:

Game makers may not copy anything from an original game that has trademark or copyright rights, including names, source code, catch phrases, likenesses of characters, etc, none of which I'm planning to do. Game mechanics, however (in general, how the game is played) may be copied. Game genres--in this case, JRPG monster catchers, are not subject to trademarks or copyrights and are considered generic.

Based on the (presumably legal, as they are very popular and sold on the open market) Pokemon clones I've played, my game should be safe because I'm not planning to borrow nearly as many elements as some clones have. I thought I would still check with some of you who were old pros and get an opinion, though.

Again, right now I'm not planning to sell what I create, but I might change my mind if I release my demo and it proves popular.