Play by Post Longform Design-A-Dex Workshop 2-getherness: Generation Nuz

[Trollkitten]

Although with ghost and fighting above, potentially, I'm inclined towards dark here for reasonably neat elemental triangle.

It's... been done. Twice. Within the past year.

(Spoiler tag for ScVi spoilers in case anyone's still leery of those)

 

[Norhian Samur]

So what area of the southern US are we looking at? Cause the exact ideas probably depend on the context of location. If we're talking deep south ala Louisiana area, a fun one could be some sort of Mardi Gras inspired actor/dancer.

Yeah looking more into it, we could so something like a torch carrying/dancing fire type with a lot of purple/green/yellow in its design could be really fun. My best idea for the animal would be something like a crow, referencing how crows use tools like sticks, which could tie into torchbearing aspects. Like it uses its torch to poke and prod opponents or something like that. The other animal idea would be a salamander but I don't really have a justification for it, I just think it'd be neat.

 

[theCape]

I'll probably end up making google docs/sheets again, not sure if we'll need them right away but in general I'm gonna try to keep everything organized.

As for what we mean by "US South", I was hoping we could clarify that as well. Maps are in the spoiler, but when I (as an American) think of "the South" I think of Louisiana as the bottom left corner, Florida as the bottom right, either Missouri or Arkansas as the top left (definitely doesn't include Illinois/Indiana), and Virginia or North Carolina as the top right.

Spoiler: maps

Other Vague ideas:

• The Appalachian Mountains are a range that stretches across most of the east coast, including that as a mountain range would probably be cool.
• They're also known for their coal mines, so an area like that wouldn't be out of place.
• The Mississippi River would run along the west side of this area, this is what you'd think of if you've ever pictured a steam boat. We could use a river as a major way to connect the area.
• Ice types are probably gonna be confined to the mountains, since it generally doesn't snow down there.
• If Louisiana is included, they're known for Jazz and Blues music.
• Tennessee (on the north side of the South) would be big for Country music.
• I'd need to look up animals that are common in the south, but alligators and/or crocodiles would be for florida and canaries would fit with the coal mines (specifically for them to fly in and check if it is safe).

 

[SprungGeoduck]

When I was sort of picturing the region in my head, I was imagining a rectangular chunk of the Deep South. Louisiana is a lock-in since that was kind of the crux of the original idea, and going up to Arkansas seems to be something people are into. From there, we could do Mississippi and the western chunk of Tennessee, and if we wanted the mountains and some more general variety we extend the box east, encompassing most of the rest of TN, Alabama, and a chunk of the Florida panhandle. As a visual on Cape's map... something like this.

 

[SprungGeoduck]

(also, re: a master document – right there with you @theCape)

THE MASTER DOC (also gonna link this in the OP, anyone can edit it, with great power, etc.)

 

[estralita]

I like the brainstorming we have going, but before we dig into individual Pokemon designs, what is our next step, generally?

I think the South theme is really interesting and has a lot of potential, btw.

 

[SprungGeoduck]

before we dig into individual Pokemon designs, what is our next step, generally?

I think it's smart not to get too into the weeds about Pokemon designs, yeah. We ought to agree on the basic geography of the region, as well as the thematic cores we're going for (as @Norhian Samur said, both the surface-level box legendary/game name idea, and the deeper plot/vibes thread). Once we have those nailed down, we can maybe think about designing starters and having rough ideas for box legendaries, since those will inform a lot of other decisions we make about the region's Pokemon. It would also be good to start vaguely, you know, doing the thing in the thread title and designing a dex, deciding what existing Pokemon would fit into the region (although that would probably require us to come to a consensus on geography first)

 

[Black Viper]

The map segment Sprung posted above is pretty much what I expected and it sounds like it covers the areas I associated with the American south. I mentioned Mardi Gras before and think that needs to be included - perhaps it's a plot point towards the end of the run, with people preparing for it through the course of the adventure. A little like the championships of Galar, there may be final battles here, with pokémon battling being heralded as a form of art (perhaps even the secret xth form of art that was foretold in prophecy) so that the plot ends on a nice high, after defeating villains and all the rest along the way.

Perhaps using battling as a form of art (in the sense that it's like a dance) is our trainer's motivation, and other, stuffier, probably older people, don't agree, and the protagonist and their friends want to prove that there is an art and a beauty to it, so that it can be celebrated at the festival, too?

 

[SprungGeoduck]

okay so

the idea of battling being an art at the mardi gras festival gave me a wild idea

what if the region doesn't have a pokemon league

and the quest lines you follow throughout the open world (assuming we're still going with an open world) are the player and their friends finding/following four retired/reclusive master trainers and convincing them to become the Elite Four for the celebration of battling at the festival?

 

[Black Viper]

okay so

the idea of battling being an art at the mardi gras festival gave me a wild idea

what if the region doesn't have a pokemon league

and the quest lines you follow throughout the open world (assuming we're still going with an open world) are the player and their friends finding/following four retired/reclusive master trainers and convincing them to become the Elite Four for the celebration of battling at the festival?

I clicked the "like" button, but feel the need to specifically state that I like this. I like this a lot. Maybe some are old/retired, perhaps there's a youngster that's won a foreign league and returned home, or there's a child of a former master? There's all sorts of potential here.

 

[estralita]

I'm not sure if this is the right time to propose this...

But if we're looking into battling as an art, maybe one of the questlines can be with Pokemon Contests?

Not having an Elite Four at the start could be interesting. I do still want gyms, personally, but Alola managed without.

 

[Quazoo!]

As a biology student in college I've been thinking a LOT about the species in these areas and have been doing a ton of researching so I'm down to list a bunch of ideas to be turned into pokemon at some point :)

In the mean time if we're not doing the pokemon quite yet, what sorts of things do we want to focus on?

 

[Black Viper]

I'm not sure if this is the right time to propose this...

But if we're looking into battling as an art, maybe one of the questlines can be with Pokemon Contests?

Not having an Elite Four at the start could be interesting. I do still want gyms, personally, but Alola managed without.

What if we turned things on their head, and said that this was a region where contests were the dominant form of pokémon competition? Maybe the whole place is so obsessed with art and beauty that battling is looked upon as a somewhat vulgar act, best-suited to children and thugs, while everyone competes to be the best co-ordinator. Instead of gyms, there may be a contest hall in each town, but perhaps our protagonist wants to battle and so while you can compete in the contests, your character can also attempt to coax the gym leaders into a proper battle, too.

 

[SprungGeoduck]

Well, it's been about 24 hours since my last update post and no new votes have come in, so I'm going to close the voting form. We're going to the US South, y'all!

I really like the ideas @estralita and @Black Viper are putting down about Contests being a bigger focus in this region, and I'd love to see some of @Quazoo! 's mon ideas!

Now that we have a geographical baseline for the region that we like, we should also start thinking about locations, areas and cities we'd like to include.

 

[Quazoo!]

Two major locations I can think of that are very art related and have a lot to do with music in particular are New Orleans in Louisiana and Nashville in Tennessee. New Orleans is considered to be the birthplace of jazz and Nashville is considered the birthplace of bluegrass.

As Cape mentioned, the Mississippi river is a big important part of this area. The area around it is extremely good for growing food, so much so that in recent years it has actually become a problem due to all of the fertilizer run off that goes into the river and flows into the Gulf of Mexico directly below these states.

There is a lot of mining going on in both Alabama and Arkansas. Especially Arkansas, which apparently contains the last diamond mine in the United States. It's also the only public diamond mine in the world.

Alabama apparently has a lot of resources for steel and iron. Lots of steel production there.

Alabama is also home to Muscle Shoals which has a very famous recording studio called FAME studios, that all sorts of famous musicians have recorded at. It was once considered the recording capital of the world.
I don't know if this could be used in a pokemon game, but I think it's worth mentioning that a lot of Alabama's history has been conflict over civil rights and was a major focal point of civil rights movements in the 50's and 60's. A lot of the reason for FAME studios' success was due to it being considered a 'safe haven' where anyone could come work on music.

 

[estralita]

Okay, I've never been to the South before, so I'm not going to be as much help with the creative here. It's still really interesting hearing what everyone else has to say.

The one idea I do have is regarding a name. What do you think of something based off of "Belle"? SInce belle means beauty, and also can refer to the musical instrument, I thought that might be a good place to start. But like I said, I'm not familiar with the area, so I'm not sure if it fits.

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[SprungGeoduck]

so this is dumb, but it's a thought I've been kicking around ever since the South came up – the southeast US is the home of American stock car racing, with the majority of NASCAR's teams and tracks being based in the region. A location I'd like to see an homage to is Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, one of NASCAR's most notorious tracks (also giving us something to do in Alabama that isn't explicitly tied to ugly parts of America's history). Perhaps a Poison or Steel-type user who's a driver?

Two major locations I can think of that are very art related and have a lot to do with music in particular are New Orleans in Louisiana and Nashville in Tennessee. New Orleans is considered to be the birthplace of jazz and Nashville is considered the birthplace of bluegrass.

As Cape mentioned, the Mississippi river is a big important part of this area. The area around it is extremely good for growing food, so much so that in recent years it has actually become a problem due to all of the fertilizer run off that goes into the river and flows into the Gulf of Mexico directly below these states.

These would be great locations for our region, especially since New Orleans and Nashville are pretty much on opposite sides of the area we've set out, while the Mississippi would cut the region in two halves, east and west.

Since New Orleans seems to be the focal point of our storytelling, I had this idea that it's a place the player visits early on in the game. Perhaps they come from a nearby town based on [looks frantically at maps] something like Baton Rouge or Lafayette, a town that's trying to work on its contribution to the region's big Mardi Gras festival. The player and their friends spearhead the idea of it being a grand celebration of battle.

The one idea I do have is regarding a name. What do you think of something based off of "Belle"? SInce belle means beauty, and also can refer to the musical instrument, I thought that might be a good place to start. But like I said, I'm not familiar with the area, so I'm not sure if it fits.

I like this! After tossing a few syllables around in my head, I got Bellou (belle + bayou) which imo sounds pretty region-y and combines two pieces of Southern iconography. If anyone likes this idea or has any others, let me know!

 

[Quazoo!]

so this is dumb, but it's a thought I've been kicking around ever since the South came up – the southeast US is the home of American stock car racing, with the majority of NASCAR's teams and tracks being based in the region. A location I'd like to see an homage to is Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, one of NASCAR's most notorious tracks (also giving us something to do in Alabama that isn't explicitly tied to ugly parts of America's history). Perhaps a Poison or Steel-type user who's a driver?

This is probably a very good call. I think Steel would make a lot sense for it, especially with all the steel production going on there. (Although that could perhaps end up being a separate thing we will need a good amount of typed trainers for whatever our gym system and e4 system ends up being)

 

[SprungGeoduck]

Also, quick update: some of us been scribbling some notes and ideas on the master document, and I've updated the OP of the thread with some new information and questions to better reflect the stage of creation we're at!

 

[Trollkitten]

I am fully on board with the name Bellou. Best region name ever.