Mortasheen (Like Pokemon, But Better In Every Way)

Canadamus Prime

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Jun 17, 2009
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hazabaza1 said:
Some fucked up stuff, yo.
But honestly, I think I prefer the cutsey stuff that Pokemon has going for it.
Yeah me too. Although I will give the guy props for creativity.
 

Emiscary

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Sep 7, 2008
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TheTim said:
Emiscary said:
TheTim said:
Not better at all,

though i must admit that it is kinda fun guessing which pokemon designs they took from.
There's a grand total of like 2 that're based on actual Pokemon:

Necromon (duh)
&
Nosferachu (vampire mouse)
You have to look a little deeper

Doldrum - Aggron
Gasjack- Hippopotas
Littlerthug - Carnivine
Septacle - Cradily
Gezoond - Murkrow
Coccyx - Geodude

There are probably more that i just couldn't make the connection with or didn't get to because they started looking boring
"Looking deeper" in your mind seems to constitute comparing silhouette shapes between two subjects, and drawing the conclusion that one is based on the other.

Coccyx = Lopsided burrowing ambush predator made of human bone that never stops growing.
Geodude= Floating golem... thing. Has the same OCD compulsion to say its name aloud all pokemon do.

Its certainly not better or even close to Pokemon at what Pokemon does and aims to do.
Exactly what does Pokemon do that's so spectacular? All Pokemon does is resell the same product every couple years with minute variations. Here's a rough breakdown of every Pokemon game ever:

You're an unemployed live in teenager. You have no father, and your mom exists as something between a personal secretary and maid.

An aging academic decides the best use of his time and resources is to provide you -and a douchebag with an inverted color scheme- with vaguely explained magical technology that enslaves animals. He then gives you both one starter animal for free, and sets you loose into the world.

Why? Tautology, that's why.

You then spend most of your time sicking Earth/Wind/Fire-do on every jerkoff you lock eyes with on the road, then holding them up for money once they're defenseless.

You'll eventually run afoul of a group of bad guys! It's easy to identify them because they all have curly mustaches, and state aloud how much they hate happiness. They'll also be the only people in the entire universe with a basic grasp of how capitalism works, or realize that they have a race of super powered slaves on hand. (And everyone seems to hate them for it, despite them having no objections to the whole dog fighting thing >.>)

The end of the game involves you fighting a Pokemon who's also God. But who you can still: knockout, pressgang into service, and ride around for convenience and safety.

Rinse, reskin & repeat.
 

SoranMBane

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May 24, 2009
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AC10 said:
I'm just so bloody sick of the "MAKE IT GRITTY! MAKE IT DARK" that western game devs seem to think is the coolest thing on the planet. I'm not opposed to the style, but does everything have to be done that way?
Except it's not dark and gritty. Things may seem excessively grotesque from the outside, but the inhabitants of the Mortasheen world are actually just as care-free and cheerful as those in Pokemon, if not more-so. Yes, there's always the likelihood that they may be horribly killed and devoured by some otherworldly monstrosity, but they're okay with that. Hell, they most likely find the possibility exciting, like life is just one big dangerous rollercoaster to them. They'd probably even look at the world of Pokemon, with its lack of any real danger, and think is was quite boring and depressing.

So, really, the tone of Mortasheen is a lot more like Nightmare Before Chistmas than anything else, just with more body horror.
 

Emiscary

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Sep 7, 2008
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SoranMBane said:
AC10 said:
I'm just so bloody sick of the "MAKE IT GRITTY! MAKE IT DARK" that western game devs seem to think is the coolest thing on the planet. I'm not opposed to the style, but does everything have to be done that way?
Except it's not dark and gritty. Things may seem excessively grotesque from the outside, but the inhabitants of the Mortasheen world are actually just as care-free and cheerful as those in Pokemon, if not more-so. Yes, there's always the likelihood that they may be horribly killed and devoured by some otherwordly monstrosity, but they're okay with that. Hell, they most likely find the possibility exciting, like life is just one big dangerous rollercoaster to them. They'd probably even look at the world of Pokemon, with its lack of any real danger, and think is was quite boring and depressing.

So, really, the tone of Mortasheen is a lot more like Nightmare Before Chistmas than anything else, just with more body horror.
Thank you for getting the point. :)

Brings a tear to this old cynic's eye...
 

Molotov Cupcake

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Aug 6, 2010
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Delicious nightmare fuel. That's what I run on. But I also tend to prefer the original Pokémon designs. Would I love to see a similar battler that incorporates this kind of body horror and disturbing imagery? Absolutely.

Why not have both?
 

Counter_Southpaw

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Apr 20, 2010
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It looks awful OP.

Seriously. These are just plain gruesome and unnecessarily disgusting. I've seen much better renditions.
 

Emiscary

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Molotov Cupcake said:
Delicious nightmare fuel. That's what I run on. But I also tend to prefer the original Pokémon designs. Would I love to see a similar battler that incorporates this kind of body horror and disturbing imagery? Absolutely.

Why not have both?
That there's an opinion that's hard not to respect.
 

scythemantis

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Sep 18, 2010
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Is it kosher to post in a topic this old if I'm actually the creator of the whole game it's about?

I just want to chime in on a few things, to anyone in this thread who's still around now.

Looking at Mortasheen, I realize some people would think that it's trying to subvert childish, innocent, cute monster games by being gruesome and morbid, but the truth, trust me, is almost the very opposite.

I cannot take seriously almost any work of entertainment that goes for "dark and gritty." To me, they're bore fests at worst, unintentional comedies at best. I virtually always prefer things to be cute, silly, colorful and fun.

Mortasheen's "dark and gritty" leanings are basically pure parody. They're intended to seem like over-the-top, completely corny attempts at being scary, and lots of them are outright jabs against overdone monster cliche's. Underneath its superficial air of horror, Mortasheen is intended to be wacky, innocent and even kind of kiddie. Virtually none of the monsters are really evil or malicious, and I imagine the setting's tone to be more like Courage: The Cowardly Dog (or the earlier comparison to Nightmare Before Christmas) than, say, Warhammer 40k or Silent Hill.

All in all, it's MOST DEFINITELY NOT intended to be some "cooler" or more "mature" alternative to pokemon. Pokemon is, as far as I'm concerned, the most untouchably pure and beautiful thing to ever emerge from video game culture. Like Emiscary said somewhere above, only one or two monsters are even vague pokemon references, and all other similarities are intended as a loving, respectful homage to my all-time favorite game series. I almost haven't played a non-pokemon video game in nearly ten years now.

As for the monsters being overly gross, I realize this might make me sound hokey, but I really honestly design them all around what I personally consider cute and endearing. There are really no living organisms I find creepy or ugly. I've spent my whole life studying deep-sea invertebrates and brain parasites, and find nothing but awe in their diverse forms and habits - even if they'd want to tunnel into my flesh. I also grew up with characters like the Madballs, Rat Fink, Boglins, the Toxic Avenger and other gooey monsters who were really just friendly, misunderstood weirdos.

That's really what Mortasheen is all about, I guess; how cool it is to live in a universe full of very, very different forms of life.

We're still working diligently on the role-playing game, but I'm not allowed to give a ballpark release date yet. Eventually, I'd want to do a video game, but I wouldn't want it to come across as a pokemon knock-off. I'd probably aim for a slightly different genre and very different mechanics.

Again, I apologize for bumping something from 2012, but I hope you guys can understand why it mattered that much to me.
 

Someone Depressing

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Jan 16, 2011
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I'm sure this is very erotic or whatever, but I'm too distracted by the really good linework.

Who drew these? If you did, did you get help?(that was a joke. *hollow laugh*)

I also find it hilarious that the ad space is completely free
 

SoranMBane

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May 24, 2009
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scythemantis said:
Well, people do tend to look down on bringing back really old threads around here, but as far as I'm concerned it's okay in this case. Both you and this game deserve a lot more exposure. It's also great to see you get your input in here to help the naysayers understand it a little better.