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What is BootLemon: Bootleg Monsters?
A cartoon card game that bootlegs the concept of Pokémon, starring a cat that's also a weed leaf, a frog that attacks with foul language, a talking roll of dollar bills and a bunch of other bizzare beasts ready to fight (with skills such as "Constant Yell," "A Crap Ton Of Energy Hurls" and "Yummy Slice Of Mouth Burn" to name a few).
What do you need to know about BootLemon?
Early in 2019, I put into words what I felt was wrong with Pokémon, and how the game would need to change to regain my lost interest. One simple but monumental change would be to allow, mid-battle, the fixed types of each Pokémon fighter (Fire, Water, Electric, Flying, etc) to be adjustable to some degree. If Fire types struggle constantly against Water attacks, offer the player some way to build defences that negate Water attacks, but then create other problems that the player will have to keep track of. For example, create a Water shield for your Fire teammate, but as soon as your Water-type opponent faints and is replaced by an Electric opponent, Water's greatest weakness, reassign your shield's Water to attacks, give the shield to another teammate or purge the shield entirely. In any case, get dry or get zapped!
Combine this shield-building system, I surmised, with my Cast-gathering magic system from Echo Saga and Pokémon would be MUCH more interesting, to me at least. Pokémon fighters each only have four fixed battle attacks to use against opponents. With Echo Saga's magic system, fighters would have to construct attacks the same way they would shield-build, by inviting enough elemental boosts into the battlefield. Such a method of fighting would require skill to master, but would, in theory, allow any fighter to use ANY attack in the game at any time. THAT was an exciting thought. Of course, this was the very excitement I was intending for Echo Saga, but the idea of this excitement in a Pokémon-style game was something else altogether.
Jump ahead to late 2019: Since the development of Fake Fights had become LENGTHY for what was meant to be a briskly-made game, I decided, as a joke, to throw a very basic version of Fake Fights, cards and all, onto this blog, so that SOME aspect of Fake Fights could be played while I finish the main game.
Rather than think too deeply about design mechanics, I only spent an afternoon working on this new, stripped-down version of Fake Fights. Then I scrapped the new game entirely, unsatisfied, and thought "Why don't you just make your Echo-Saga-Pokémon idea into a card game? Fake Fights is too elaborate to simplify and you know Echo-Saga-Pokémon would be fun."
So, by the next day, I had the skeleton of this Echo Saga Pokémon game thrown together. I enjoyed Fake Fights' hand-scrawled "bootleg" visual style too much to not-extend it to this new game. I didn't have time in any event to create visuals too complex for a game that was supposed to be made quickly.
I steadfastly avoided taking the designs of my fighting creatures seriously. This game didn't need to be Pokémon, so any ideas that were too stupid, outrageous or "grown up" for Pokémon were all up for use! After drawing a handful of baffling animals, the words "Bootleg Monsters" popped into my head, an allusion to Pocket Monsters, the longer name for Pokémon.
Instantly, I saw that "Bootleg Monsters" could be shortened as "Bootlemon." With THAT name, the game was now too good an idea not to officially flesh out!
Fast forward to the present: BootLemon is nearly finished! I am managing to complete BootLemon as quickly as I was supposed to complete Fake Fights, ie: within weeks, not years. Once I finalize the wording of the rule book and finish the renders of the game's thirty starter cards (update: those are all done now!), BootLemon will be ready for you to play!
>VISIT THE BOOTLEMON BLOG<
bootlemon.blogspot.com
Assuming my computer behaves itself throughout 2020, BootLemon should emerge from development before the end of the year!
Want to support me in the meantime? Please go to patreon.com/lenaray - That's...
...and donate to help Bootleg Monsters thrive!
Any questions, confusion or compliments about BootLemon? Leave a comment below!
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