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Policy Review Evolution Project Rules Workshop

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Oh, what I was stating/agreeing is that we can use that tool as a preliminary way to narrow it down. Pokemon like Clefable have amazing movepools and are obviously UU not NU. Those Pokemon are pretty obvious. So we can use the tool and hand pick some out, to make things faster.
 
Exactly. Expediting the entire process is never a bad thing. Besides, this 'tier' list isn't a real tier list, just an arbitrary division for the sake of the project.
 
I'm pretty sure that we know in the back of our heads what is UU and what is NU. If you look at the Smogon analysis and think it's hilarious, chances are its NU. I'm also thinking that everyone also knows what pokemon they'd like to evolve first.
 
stats aren't an accurate indecater of a nu-uu border line. Typing should go into it ,too. also usage might spike for some pokemon because some users will play nu again.
spinda you should maybe look at it's move pool for stats if we get an evo.
on that note movepool options might give some evos more usage than others
 
Stats alone don't say much about a Pokemon's usefulness. Movepool, typing and abilities are also important.

However, we know that Luvdisc is worse than Clefable, right? No need of any mathematics to determine that.
 
Mhm, exactly...X-Act. The ones we aren't sure about, we'd use the calculator. Those are rather obvious ones that any idiot can determine.
 
I'd be happy to help as well.
It's summer for me, so I have a bit of free time.
I'd love to do something to move this project along more.
 
Even assuming we adopt Dougs previously mentioned idea for a starting point (and I think we should), we will have nothing more than a list of possible pokemon to evolve, and we still run into the problem of whether to choose the pokemon or the concept first.

There has been a lot of argument over which to start first, but honestly I don't see why we wouldn't want to do them both at the same time. Just have people submit their concept along with the pokemon they want it attached to, and then hold the usual votes to determine the winner. This way, all combinations of concepts and pokemon could be considered. The pokemon and concept chosen are both equally basic elements of this process, so I don't see how either one could be done before the other.

It has been suggested that we do not need a concept poll; however I disagree. It's fairly common for a pokemon's role to change from one evolution to the next, even if it is subtle. I think it would be a good to have an idea of what we are aiming for before we start throwing around stat and movepool ideas, because otherwise those discussions will be severely unfocused and would likely result in a lot of useless arguing (even as simple as "it should be more offensive, defensive, etc"). If we know what kind of pokemon we are going for it will limit the number of possible discussion topics, and make the whole thing go more smoothly overall. You can say that "the pokemon makes the evolution," but looking at things like Shellgon-->Salamence and even Murkrow-->Honchkrow, this definitely is not always the case.
 
There really is no "best way" to start it. What we should do is poll active members of the project (read: "leaders" of the project), and start there. If it doesn't work as we planned the first time, we'll try a different method. Its democratic, and fair.
 
I don't know about the rest of you, but I have become a BIG FAN of having a Concept, as a result of CAP 4. I know the Concept Submission thread was a pain to live through, but the end result was well worth it. This latest CAP project has been far more focused than any other previous CAP project. It really has been a joy to discuss this creation within the bounds prescribed by the Concept.

I don't know if the Concept for an evolution is sufficiently defined by the pre-evo. If not, then we really need to add it to the process. I don't want to go back to completely unbounded CAP creation threads -- even on an evolution project.
 
The concept poll isn't the problem. The problem is random people registering and making rediculous concepts, or people posting a ton of them. If we more strictly regulate the concept thread, the process will be much smoother. Also sometimes, as with Spinda or Luvdisc, the concepts could go any way. However, pokemon like Farfetch'd or Bannette's concepts are much narrower. As a blanket thing, I think that we should do a concept anyways. This would also force us to pick a pokemon ahead of time, which I like. Just my two cents.
 
Bump approved by Doug. As he said in his reply PM:

I do agree that we are at a point where we should try to make an Evo project a reality. In the past, we have said that "we need to stabilize our normal CAP process".

I think we're there now.
The CaP Process, save a couple of points, is quite stable and smooth. As an added bonus, both of those "trouble spots" (Concept/Role and Movepool) can almost entirely be skipped with an Evo project. I'd like to put this rough draft of a Process guide up for debate:
  • Pokemon to be given an evolution discussion
    Topic Leader Nominations
  • Part 1 (Pokemon Poll)
    Topic Leader Selection
  • Part 2 (Main Type Poll)
  • Part 3 (Secondary Type Poll)
    Stat Spread Submissions
    Art Submissions
  • Part 4 (Style Bias Poll)
  • Part 5 (Build Bias Poll)
  • Part 6 (Stat Rating Poll)
  • Part 7 (Stat Spread Poll)
  • Part 8 (Art Poll)
  • Part 9a (Ability Discussion)
    Sprite Submissions
  • Part 9b (Ability Poll)
  • Part 10a (Attack Moves Discussion)
  • Part 10b (Attack Moves Poll)
    Part 11a (Defense and Support Moves Discussion)
  • Part 11b (Defense and Support Moves Poll)
  • Part 12 (Complete Movepool Poll)
    Part 13a (Name Discussion)
  • Part 13b (Name Poll)
    Part 14a (Pokedex Entry Discussion)
  • Part 14b (Pokedex Entry Poll)
    Part 15 (Sprite Poll)
  • Server Implementation
    Finalize Analysis
    Misc (Pre-Evos, Height, Weight, etc.)
  • Playtesting
Of those, the Types and the Ability would have a "Keep it the same" option. Also, the movepool threads would be tweaked slightly to be only what we want to ADD to the movepool, since they already have a movepool. Overall, the only thing that was outright changed was Role to Pokemon. The reason for this is that these pokemon already have a role in the metagame. If we chose, say, Luvdisc, it's already a fast Swift-Swimmer. Do we really need a role pole to tell us that? Other than that, this would probably run faster than the standard CaP, because you're working off of a base.
 
I hope the only options in the main typing poll are those of the pokemon chosen to evolve. Or we could end up with a pokemon that shares no common typing between the two.

Using an Aggron evolution as an example it should work like this imo:


Typing Poll

Will this pokemon have a new typing or retain its pre evolutions.

New Typing
Retain Original Typing


If New typing option wins:

Main typing Poll

Rock
Steel

Secondary typing Poll

All typings+No Extra typing

I still believe having an opening discussion and poll allowing anybody to discuss any pokemon is a bad idea. We will just get a lot of single pokemon votes for everyones favourite pokemon that doesn't belong in OU.
 
Of those, the Types and the Ability would have a "Keep it the same" option.

I hope the only options in the main typing poll are those of the pokemon chosen to evolve. Or we could end up with a pokemon that shares no common typing between the two.

Yep covered that.

Using an Aggron evolution as an example it should work like this imo:


Typing Poll

Will this pokemon have a new typing or retain its pre evolutions.

New Typing
Retain Original Typing


If New typing option wins:

Main typing Poll

Rock
Steel

Secondary typing Poll

All typings+No Extra typing

I see what your saying. Thats a good idea actually.

I still believe having an opening discussion and poll allowing anybody to discuss any pokemon is a bad idea. We will just get a lot of single pokemon votes for everyones favourite pokemon that doesn't belong in OU.

It would be open discussion from a set list of Pokemon. That means: No OU/BL Pokemon will get evos. (Sorry Plus, no Breloom evo.) It would be by favorites, but controlled.
 
The evo process should be MUCH more compact than a regular CAP project.

Typing (Parts 2-3) should be collapsed into a single part. An Evo should always share the same main type as its pre-evo.

Stats (Parts 4-7) should be collapsed into two steps. I don't think we need to evaluate every possible build and style. Our evo's should be very similar to their pre-evo in style and build. Yes, we might do a "Gallade-style" evo, where the build and style changes, but it still has many similarities to Kirlia and Gardevoir. It's just a Physical Attacker instead of Special. But the rest of the bias is quite similar. I don't think we should even allow the possibility of a Gyarados or Milotic type of evolution. Those aren't really evolutions, they are completely different pokemon from their pre-evo's. If we want to completely re-invent a pokemon, then we need to make a new pokemon in a regular CAP project. I think the evo project should be constrained to extending an existing pokemon concept. Therefore, the bias and stat process can be condensed.

Movepool (Parts 10-11) should be a single discussion step. There's no reason to have so many discussions when the movepools should be very, very similar.

In general, the entire timeline and length of discussions should be reduced from a regular CAP. There is much less room for change on a Pre-Evo, therefore not as many possibilities need to be analyzed and debated.
 
So that leaves us with:
  • Pokemon to be given an evolution discussion
    Topic Leader Nominations
  • Part 1 (Pokemon Poll)
    Topic Leader Selection
  • Part 2 (Type Poll)
    Stat Spread Submissions
    Art Submissions
  • Part 3 (Style/Build Bias Poll)
  • Part 4 (Stat Rating Poll)
  • Part 5 (Stat Spread Poll)
  • Part 6 (Art Poll)
  • Part 7a (Ability Discussion)
    Sprite Submissions
  • Part 7b (Ability Poll)
  • Part 8a (Movepool Discussion)
  • Part 8b (Movepool Poll)
    Part 9a (Name Discussion)
  • Part 9b (Name Poll)
    Part 10a (Pokedex Entry Discussion)
  • Part 10b (Pokedex Entry Poll)
    Part 11 (Sprite Poll)
  • Server Implementation
    Finalize Analysis
    Misc (Pre-Evos, Height, Weight, etc.)
  • Playtesting
11 Steps as opposed to 15 or so.
 
Bumping my suggestion from earlier about picking a pokemon. A lot of people have agreed with this idea.

I like the idea of picking the pokemon first. However, I hate the idea of having everyone submit one pokemon and having to choose from hundreds of submissions. We need to narrow the field. Obviously, a concept or type could narrow the field. But, I think that is fraught with problems, for reasons mentioned by others.

I'd like to propose an alternative that hasn't been mentioned or explored yet. But first a little background reasoning....

One of the big problems I have with an evolution project in general, is it is a magnet for fanboys. Even more than the normal CAP projects, which are very fanboy-ish anyway.

From a competitive standpoint, there's really no reason to evolve a pokemon. If we want to satisfy a need in the metagame, creating a new pokemon offers more flexibility and creativity. The only reason we are even discussing evolutions is because the fanboy in all of us just HATES that <crappy pokemon of choice> is a crappy pokemon. That's why I've always considered evos to be a bit contrary to the purpose of the CAP project. Because the point of the CAP project is to focus on COMPETITIVE pokemon play.

But just because evo projects have almost purely fanboy beginnings, does not mean they will not have competitive impact. The end result of evo projects will almost certainly affect the competitive metagame -- assuming that the new evolutions are competitively viable. That's the reason I am in favor of doing evo projects.

So, the dilemma is -- How to start the project?

I think we should start the project by deemphasizing the fanboy aspects, and instead focus on the competitive side of it. If we know we want the end result pokemon to be OU, perhaps we should first narrow down what tier of pokemon we will start with? From a purely competitive standpoint, I can envision three general categories of evolution, based on tiers (using some DP evos for examples):

1. BL to OU
"Power Boost"
Examples:
-- Rhydon -> Rhyperior
-- Porygon2 -> PorygonZ

2. UU to OU
"Major Upgrade"
Examples:
-- Gligar -> Gliscor
-- Sneasel -> Weavile
-- Yanma -> Yanmega

3. NU to OU
"Massive Overhaul"
Examples:
-- Togetic -> Togekiss
-- Roselia -> Roserade
-- Aipom -> Ambipom​

If we used the starting tier as an initial voting topic, we could narrow down which pokemon are candidates to evolve. After that, you could take submissions or ranked voting to finalize the pokemon to evolve.

It's not a perfect system, but it is very clear for everyone to follow, since tiers are well-known. It also kicks the project off on a competitive note, which might encourage the project to follow a more orderly process. Because, I for one, fear that an evo project will be a big fanboy mess.
 
The thing that bothers me here is that the NU tier is not currently defined. I suppose we could use the 75% cutoff from the UU usage statistics if we wanted to.

Other than that concern, I support making "starting tier" the first poll.
 
Doug's ideas for this really are good. The tier idea cuts out a lot of the mess than can happen if we try to pick one out of many, rather than one out of fewer.
 
Please do not let this workshop thread devolve into a spam-fest of posts for evo suggestions. This is not the time for it. Let's focus on coming up with a process for an evo project, not throw out every "cool idea" for an evo. I cleaned out the off-topic posts that were accumulating already.
 
Good point. So, adding the Different styles of evos in, we have:

1. Type of evolution Discussion
Topic Leader Nominations

2. Type of evolution Poll
Pokemon to be given an evolution discussion
Topic Leader Selection

3. Pokemon Poll

4. Type Poll
Stat Spread Submissions
Art Submissions

5. Style/Build Bias Poll

6. Stat Rating Poll

7. Stat Spread Poll

8. Art Poll

9a. Ability Discussion
Sprite Submissions

9b. Ability Poll

10a. Movepool Discussion

10b. Movepool Poll

11a. Name Discussion

11b. Name Poll

12a. Pokedex Entry Discussion

12b. Pokedex Entry Poll

13. Sprite Poll

14. Server Implementation
Finalize Analysis
Misc (Height, Weight, etc.)
Playtesting

I couldn't get the bullets to work but thats what it would look like.
 
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