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Indie Evowok Breeder - CRPG inspired by pokemon (free & released)

CryptRat

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Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
http://www.rjbsoftware.uk/evowokbreeder
EvowokBreeder_Logo.png


Based on an earlier project written and briefly released for MS-DOS back in the year 2000, Evowok Breeder has spanned several incarnations, and was finally released in its current form in 2017, with help and support from many helpful friends and collaborators.

A free-roaming RPG loosely drawing inspiration from Nintendo's Pokémon games, Evowok Breeder features a vast and dangerous world to explore, filled with hundreds of breeds of evowok to catch and tame, and thousands of characters to encounter along the way as you embark upon your quest to achieve fortune and fame as an aspiring evowok breeder...

But beware! Evowok are dangerous animals; not only to each other, but to the humans who risk life and limb to capture them, train them, and pit them against each other in mortal combat for the bloodthirsty entertainment of the baying crowds.
EvowokBreeder_Screenshot7.png
EvowokBreeder_Screenshot2.png
EvowokBreeder_Screenshot4.png
EvowokBreeder_Screenshot8.png
EvowokBreeder_Screenshot1.png
EvowokBreeder_Screenshot5.png

I've played a little, and the game seems to be fun. So far I fought some breeders in matches similar with those in pokemon, I won a few matches but also had to retreat from some other ones. I am only at the beginning but the game is totally not a cakewalk so far, I'm very pleasantly surprised.
One cool thing is that wounds and injuries are localized and affect the stats of your monster(s).
Another difference with pokemon is that the game is not phased-based, and the monsters have a speed stat which give them turns more or less quickly.
Your character also has a few stats like tracking, taming an first aid.
I have only one monster and haven't got out off the first town yet because I don't have enough money to buy a map which is required to leave.
 
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Arrowgrab

Arbiter
Joined
Jan 20, 2016
Messages
602
Oh, look, this old thing eventually materialised!

Back in the... early noughts, I guess, I've submitted some creature designs for the game, and now I see I'm credited under Evowok Design, so they're probably in the game! Yay! :dance:

Too bad it won't run for me, probably doesn't play nice with WinXP. :negative:
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
The game's beating me. I just even got a game over, which is definitive.
Until there my monster got defeated several times but never died so I only lost some money, it looks like I'll have to be more careful after starting again.
:incline: Game is fun so far.
tVxvRLO.png
(injuries can be healed but there's always some small remaining damages which affect your stats)
 
Last edited:

oscar

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Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
8,036
Location
NZ
Interesting, went for the strange chicken looking one. Economy seems quite tough in this, or should I be using the 'recover' tactic far more?
 

CryptRat

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Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
I'm craving for money too.
If I'm not mistaken 'recover' does not cure your injuries, and your endurance is restored while walking, so spamming 'recover' doesn't really help, quite the opposite in the sense that if you don't want to visit the medic after a fight then you have to win it rather quickly.

I'm enjoying the game a lot. I restarted a few times to try and optimize the beginning (and also because I died).
I'm currently playing with the mouth monster, own 135 golds, I may manage to buy the map to get out of town this time, I don't know if it's profitable deal or if I'll just get bankruptcy and would better wait but I want to figure out.

Important note : the game is still getting small correction patches (see http://www.rjbsoftware.uk/evowokbreeder/history), I'll update the OP so anyone is aware.
 

CryptRat

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Developer
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Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
It seems like a pokemon clone is both harder and more complex than anything I've played recently.

I'm getting something.
The teeth, just like the beak of the chicken are not cured when you visit the medic. So the monster (inevitably?) gets worse after a while (the major attack of this monster is 'Bite').
Besides I don't know exactly, but last time the teeth of my monster were damaged, it was when he tried to bite a turtle-like monster and its teeth were damages by its shell, so maybe it's not a good idea to bite this kind of monsters.

The character has a bunch of stats.
There are a few buildings they won't let me in, of which at least one clearly due to my currently null renown.
I got my bravado stat significantly lowered in my former run but I can't say how much it impacted anything, not that I had the time to figure out before losing the game.
While reading the in-game manual (very informed manual, bu the way) I'm discovering that many little things seem to be there.
For example carrying slow monsters make you walk slower on the map (unless it's a tiny monster).
An other example is that it seems that when you've masterized a skill (they're improving by using but you also have points to manually allocate) then you can teach the skill to your other monsters, and you can also specialize the skill or something.
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
I finally left the first town. I have acess to a few new locations, but there are probably a lot more not accessible yet. I can also catch monsters now. Some thoughts :
- Injuries heal rather quickly now when you're walking on the world map.
- You can only own up to 2 monsters. You need to abandon one to even try to catch a new one, and you'll generally fail at catching a monster, with catching success ratep ranging from 2 to 20 at the beginning with your novice character.
- You can try and catch wild monsters, but you can't fight them.
- You can sell the newly acquired monster in town, not that it really makes money, at best selling several monsters refunds your net which got broken while trying to catch another one.
- Maybe some locations have random encounters, but so far encounters are fixed in locations, and random in the world map. Every encounter includes a bet. You can always choose whatever of your monster, or both, to participate in the fight but every encounter has as a maximum level that the total level of your involved monsters cannot exceed. Besides random encounters in the world map involves lower bets than fixed encounters. The two last points are important because they make grinding on the map irrelevant, it would be tedious and kinda useless.
So far so good.
 

CryptRat

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Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
The game is great, and it seems it's also huge. I bought a second map which opened the world a little more, and have now access to several locations ; besides I already met a merchant selling a third map although it's far too expensive at this point.

There are random events happening when you're travelling on the world map, they're more or less inspired but at least they exist. There are some quests, once again more or less inspired.
At one point I got stolen all my money and most of my valuable items.

The main point of the game is exploration. You're travelling around the world, looking for monsters, for ways to earn some money but above all looking for breeders that you can beat (you can see the levels of the monsters you're going to fight) to gain money and experience, there are never many of them and you sometimes face nasty surprises. It's on that point that the game dffers positively from pokemon, you're spending most of your time meeting breeders which are currently far too strong, and sometimes breeders which are so weak that your current monsters are not allowed to fight them.

Along your way you meet merchants, teachers who teach new skills and it seems some of them can also enhance your skills, and everything in the game is expensive : maps which are required to explore further, losing a match, learning a skill, having your new monster be identified (which is useful especially because you're stronger against monsters you've previously identified), a pass to enter some rich town, even retrieving a monster from the keeper who can store some of your monsters (you can only carry 2). Finding some good combination of two monsters which will be used for several fights is an interesting headache, you don't want to swap your monsters everytime since it costs money.

After you've become stronger at catching monsters, catching and selling monsters start to give you some money, but not that much. You can't spend your time experiencing any new thing which looks cool (you can't save as you wish, you can only quit the game).
 

hello friend

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Feb 26, 2012
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I'm on an actual spaceship. No joke.
Toothy gasket starter doesn't seem like a very strong choice. The degrading munchers are one thing, but those eye stalks are hella vulnerable and directly tied to your accuracy. The increased frequency of attack does not make up for the additional time spent recuperating.
 

hello friend

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Feb 26, 2012
Messages
7,847
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I'm on an actual spaceship. No joke.
It seems Prepare impacts dodge chance, anyone know by how much or if the effect is cumulative on multiple uses?

If skill training works the way it appears, I'd say ganking evowoks with lower prowess is the optimal way to play, get strong skills while retaining access to low-prowess battles.

In the town across the bridge there are a couple of people who will give you a permanent boost to catching and taming free. 3% and 5%, I believe. There's one more that boosts... I think training? - but you'll have to fight for it.

Left my starter in the pound after I caught a psychic lampshade, looking at the breed info it looks like the differences in power between breeds can be pretty big. I had it fight an evowok 11 prowess levels higher, it gained three prowess in one go from that KO.
 

CryptRat

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Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
looking at the breed info it looks like the differences in power between breeds can be pretty big
Yes, and two evowok of the same breed can be significantly different too, even the skills they have can differ (I guess they always have the orange ones), as well as the current advancement of the skills.

Reading books in the libraries sometimes gives a bonus to a skill or experience points.
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 3, 2011
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USA, NY
Played about two hours. Ya know, the fun thing about Pokemon was finding new monsters and catching them. Unfortunately, this game does not allow you to do this, at least for the first two to three hours. In fact, it won't let you leave the first town until you earn at least 150 coins to buy a map. To get coins you need to engage in about 25 battles in the town. Battles only gain you 5 to 10 coins a piece. However, after each battle your single monster becomes wounded, which requires you to walk around for a LONG time for it to heal ... along with paying five coins to heal it.

The battle system seems fine ... better than pokemon. However, not sure why the creator is forcing you to play for about 3-4 hours of straight repetitive pokemon battles and walking around in circles without the chance to explore or catch your own ... which is the whole reason these kind of games are fun...

So ... maybe it's a good game ... eventually? But, certainly not the first few hours. 4/10 would not play again.
 

CryptRat

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Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
I just got a bug that prevents me from opening my inventory. I reported the bug and I'll have to wait, and that leaves me some time to post here. :)
In case you don't want to face the bug, it's very probably linked with a quest in Cornelian given by the mayor which, especially, ask you to get some equipement from a basement.

I passed the 30 hour mark. I have barely done anything yet compared to what remains to be done (and I have yet to open the map at least once so I just don't know what really remains to do).
I spent some time catching and identifying monsters, I have a little more than 30 known breeds on my list. I feel like the difference between fighting a monster you know and one you don't know is important although I have no precise proof.
I won some relevant pit battles from the first towns, and now I have 3 renown points and important people are starting to talk to me and give me quests.

I generally use the first evowok, often with a second one which changes a lot since the levels of the opponent may vary a lot, in particular between opponents using two or only one evowoks.

Battles against multiple opponents are generally rewarding and not that hard (the battle against against the 3 children south in the first town gives you 30 coins, which is a lot when you're still chasing for these 150 coins to buy the first map).
 

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