eh i hope this doesn't derail the thread too significantly, but here was my submitted evo process thread that doug decided was worthwhile for posting. this is "my take" on how the project could be approached and can be taken with as many grains of salt as you fancy ^__^
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EVO, while being a "subproject" of CAP, has a lot of potential as far as a metagame balancing project. This is not to say that the flavour and art aspects of EVO will be neglected, on the contrary, Artists will be able to work on a submission from very early on in the process with little or no worry about effecting/being affected by movepool. Essentially, the restrictions placed on evolving Pokémon are easy enough to define, and therefor easy to integrate into the process of creating a newly evolved Pokémon.
This brings us to the "class" of Pokémon we will be evolving. As outlined by doug in an older thread, there are 3 classes of evolution. (i am paraphrasing
this post by doug) Naturally the purpose of EVO will be to bring a new pokémon into OU, so we are examining the "niches" (that is the role that Pokémon play in a given metagame) of the pool of "Evolvable Pokémon" (that is Pokémon that are not legendary and are not stage 3 evolutions)
1. NU--> OU; "Massive overhaul," e.g. Magikarp to Gyarados.
These evolutions typically involve a sharp increase in BST, a new, well defined and completely arbitrary Stat Bias, as well as a large boost to the useable movepool. Typing/ability changes are also common in this type of evolution.
In the context of EVO and it's goals, this is probably not the kind of evolution we are going to be working with. The strength of an EVO project is that it has a basis niche to build upon, and many Pokémon simply have too "flimsy" a niche in any metagame. Delibird, Unown, or Farfetch'd evolving to something competitive would require a "massive overhaul" evolution, which would not be much different from a regular CAP, apart from minor design restrictions and possible typing restrictions.
2. Low/Mid tier UU--> OU; "Major Upgrade", e.g. Gligar to Gliscor. This type of evolution takes a pokemon with an established niche in the lower tiers and makes it viable in OU. Typically this implies stat boosts without a change in niche, various additions to the useable movepool and a possible ability change. Typing is also a possible variable. This type of evolution is typical of many "Starter Pokémon" lines.
3. Upper tier UU--> OU; "Power Boost", e.g. Porygon2 to Porygonz. This takes a pokemon with an established niche that could previously operate in OU, and strengthens it to make it more viable in the OU Metagame. Changes can involve a shift in the Stat Bias as well as slight alterations to the BST of the Pokémon. Movepool and ability are of course variable.
While these are arbitrary distinctions, it's important for us to define the kind of project we want to undertake with EVO. I believe that the evolution of a Pokémon described in (1.) should be avoided, since the niche that is to be strengthened by a hypothetical evolution should be defined within reason, which is not the case with Pokémon such as Farfetch'd. From these categories, it might prove useful to build a list of "evolvable Pokémon in the context of EVO"
Our next step is to look at the changes to a Pokémon's parameters as it evolves. These changes are limited to:
- Artistic Design (flavour)
Each of these changes have added restrictions common to all evolved Pokémon.
Typing
A Pokémon often keeps at least one of it's types from it's previous stage upon evolving. Exceptions exist, such as Eevee and Azurill, however these are "massive overhaul" evolutions. I am of the opinion that, at least in the initial EVO projects, a typing change should be foregone altogether as it is often integral to a niche, but this is obviously up for debate. At the very least, I believe an evolving Pokémon should keep at least one of the types of it's previous (this means it could gain one typing if evolved from a singly typed Pokémon, or change one typing if evolved from a dual typed Pokémon).
Movepool
A Pokémon retains all of it's moves from a previous stage upon evolving. It will learn the same TM/HM, Tutor, and Egg moves as it's previous stage. The level up moves of an evolution are typically learned at later levels than it's previous stage, but this is largely a "flavourful" consideration. Under the proposed process there will most likely be two phases to determining the movepool of the evolution, namely new movepool determination; and level up movelist modification.
Ability
Abilities are subject to change as a Pokémon evolves. Pokémon with a single ability may keep it, or it may switch to a new ability upon evolution. Pokémon with two abilities can keep both upon evolving, keep one and change one, have both changed to a pair of associated new abilities, or lose both and gain a single new ability. The latter is often associated with a large design change along with a typing change. I propose that Ability be kept variable, as it is not often critical in maintaining a given niche.
Stat Bias/BST
Commonly, evolved Pokémon have higher stats all around when compared with their previous stage. Exceptions exist, such as Scyther--> Scizor involving a loss in Spd for the latter Pokémon. Stat Bias changes should be treated carefully, as they are the most variable parameters that make up a Pokémon. Furthermore, a bound for the change to the BST should be defined. After studying the changes in BST of a good deal of evolving pokémon, I believe this bound should be between +50 and +100. This is an important point to be determined for the EVO process.
Design
Pokémon Evolving from other Pokémon have intrinsic design restrictions based on the previous stage, which give artists wanting to submit art to the project a basis to work on from the very beginning of the project. Design submissions should be identifiable in some way with the Pokémon to be evolved.
Pokédex Entry
This is largely flavor and can be added to the project to "fluff it up", or simply omitted. This is another point to be discussed.
The actual process of the EVO project will naturally be shorter than the CAP process. it should take into account all of the previous points, and follow the established CAP process approximately. The starting point has been rather well defined by
the_artic_one in a previous thread. This prototype EVO process framework is care of Lawman:
1. TL selection/Pokémon+niche submission
2. TL/Pokémon+niche selection
2a. Art concept thread opened
3. Typing discussion (can be omitted)/Typing Vote
4. Ability Discussion/Vote
4a. Art concept Vote (?)
4b. Evolution method discussion Discussion/Vote
5. Stat Bias change/BST increase Discussion/Vote
5a. Sprite submission thread opened
6. Movepool increase discussion/Vote
6a. Sprite vote
6b. Level up move change discussion/vote
7. Finished Product, Final discussion, Dex entry/Vote
8. Implementation/Playtesting
Here is an alternate process framework by Icy Vegata:
1.
TL selection
2.
Pokémon/ evolution explanation (Pokémon must be chosen from a list)
3.
Pokémon niche selection
*3a.
Typing Discussion
4.
Ability Discussion/Vote
5.
Stat Bias change/BST increase Discussion/Vote
*5a.
Art submission thread opened
6.
Movepool increase discussion/Vote
*6a.
Art vote
**6b.
Level-up move discussion/ Tutor(TM)/ New Move discussion (If necessary!)
***6c.
Name Discussion
7.
Sprite Submissions
*7a.
Level-up move/ Tutor(TM)/ New Move Vote (If necessary!)
**7b.
Name Vote
8.
Sprite Vote
*8a.
Pokédex discussion/Vote
**8b.
Height/Weight Vote
***8c.
Evolution method discussion Discussion/Vote
9.
Finished Product, Final discussion
10.
Implementation/Playtesting
Note that these are both up for discussion, and alternate ones can be submitted. The process is the synthesis of all the elements in this thread, and we should be certain to attempt to produce one that is the most efficient and reasonable to insure a well run and enjoyable project.