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[VariusEtland]

I recently looked for a functional Pokemon mod for DF, but all of the previous projects were either discontinued or were implemented differently than I would have liked them (they weren't done badly, I just felt that there was another way to do them). Because of this, I recently began (basic) modding and defining the different properties of the monsters.

The mod would likely include...
     1. All pokemon (eventually)
     2. A way to evolve the pokemon (trying to figure out a way to implement this)
     3. Type effectiveness in battle
     4. Able to embark with starters
     5. Functional move system
     6. Anything I/we think of in the meantime

I'll most likely end up making this regardless, but would anyone else be interested in playing a mod like this?
Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated

[Lost_Deep]

I started similar thoughts, myself, but so far mine is theoretical with maybe half of an alpha build of the Bulbasaur line done. My thoughts so far?

Evolution is done using a syndrome in the creature's blood, that transforms that creature (and only that creature) when the creature's age/battle hardenedness hits a certain level. It's not easy, but it's possible. Similarly, something with stones is possible, but I'm not sure how to make it happen reliably apart from going into adventurer mode and bopping the Pokemon with the stone. Again, this is 90% theoretical.
I have no idea how to do type effectiveness. You can do immunity to syndromes, fire, and ice, but I'm not sure how to just do resistances.
A lot of moves will just be normal combat. Other moves would be interaction-based, I guess?

In addition, this requires working knowledge of the body part system, since a LOT of Pokemon are REALLY weird. Really. It's startlingly easy once you puzzle it out (theoretically!), but it's still something that must be done.

[VariusEtland]

I'm using official images, sprites, and the bulbapedia biology sections to list the parts, and I've been looking into the body part system so I can add custom parts (like Bulbasaur's bulb and Charmander's life-giving tail). I like the blood syndrome idea, but the evolution and type effectiveness might be done similar to the way that Old Greg did in Pokemon Fables, in which case I'd ask him permission and credit him.

[Putnam]

Bopping wouldn't even work correctly. It's a difficult problem.
Type effectiveness is simple enough, with the MATERIAL_FORCE_MULTIPLIER token.
And yeah, you can even have stuff like body slam causing paralysis through SPECIALATTACK_INTERACTION.

[VariusEtland]

Bopping wouldn't even work correctly. It's a difficult problem.
Type effectiveness is simple enough, with the MATERIAL_FORCE_MULTIPLIER token.
And yeah, you can even have stuff like body slam causing paralysis through SPECIALATTACK_INTERACTION.

Honestly, the attack system seems like the easiest thing xD
I'm mostly concerned with their evolution

[Lost_Deep]

The stone (and blood) would have an on-contact syndrome, 100% of the time. I don't know how good the contact detection is.
Now, in theory, I have one idea...

If there's a workshop for Pokemon stuff? Make an interaction that uses the elemental stone and a pokemon and does nothing. IF the reaction in a workshop causes all the reagents to touch, it might work. I can't assume that, though! And it'd be easier to not code that in. It's not like for the most part you have to check if rubbing to sticks together might make an explosion!

[Putnam]

The stone (and blood) would have an on-contact syndrome, 100% of the time. I don't know how good the contact detection is.

It literally does not work except for liquids.

[VariusEtland]

Decided to categorize all of the Pokemon with diets, sizes, body parts, tissues, and some caste-level tags before actually typing them up so I don't have to keep referencing their pokedex entries.

[Lost_Deep]

One thing about evolution I am sure of: you'll need a separate syndrome for each gender, to ensure that the Pokemon doesn't change genders in the transformation. With the exception of genderless Pokemon, of course! The good news is, this will make the gender-specific evolutions easier. The bad news is, everything else is harder.

[Roses]

Well, with my class system you could have each pokemon and it's evolutions be a class, then the more they kill, the more experience they get, and at a certain point they can evolve to a new class. You would have to do some fixing and such, as the class system is currently set up for your fortress members, but you could easily extend it to pets.

[Dirst]

Keeping in mind that what I know about Pokemon wouldn't fill a thimble, transforming one thing into another is doable with modding a trainload of syndromes, but much easier to handle with DFHack.  Depending on how "evolution" is supposed to work, it can be a single interaction or syndrome or reaction that calls a DFHack script.  That script gets access to the creature's unit ID, which lets you look up any characteristics about that creature that you want and use if-then logic to apply the results you want.  There is a "true transformation" script that can change a creature from one species:caste into another.

If pokemon-vs-pokemon "experience" figures into evolution, then the script is likely going to have to scan through the creature's kill list to decide what to do (if anything).  That means you will want to have a specific workshop where you bring Pokemon to evolve, otherwise checking every time it comes in contact with Pokemon blood is going to kill your FPS.

One warning: DF is not super accurate with attributing kills.  Just be prepared for a little fuzziness, especially in battles that involve lots of creatures.

[VariusEtland]

From what I can tell, it seems like I would have to have all 'mon in the same evolutionary tree be contained within the same class, or the same creature object where the evolutions and genders are different castes of the same creature.

I do like Dirst's idea of bringing pokemon to a workshop to evolve whenever they reach the requirements.

[Lost_Deep]

The issue with workshop evolution is that it would make wild high-stage pokemon harder if not impossible.

From the syndrome angle, there is some existing mechanics in place: take a look at the table under this one. COMBATHARDNESS might be useful! I'd also reccommend that some Pokemon evolve with time instead of pure combat, or there will never be any butterfrees!

[Findulidas]

The stone (and blood) would have an on-contact syndrome, 100% of the time. I don't know how good the contact detection is.

It literally does not work except for liquids.

Could you not have gases that condense and do interactions though?

[Chimerat]

I wonder if there's a way to do evolution via eating (for things like Munchlax into Snorlax). Time would probably work for the cocoons due to the fact that they don't really have limbs...