Something that has baffled me for the past few years has been the lack of a Digimon variant of Pokémon Go. I've had ideas for what such a game would look like for a few years, and since Bandai clearly don't care about raking in all of the money, this week I'm going to talk about what a Digimon version of Pokémon Go would look like.
This is a rough (but somewhat detailed) idea of what I think it should look like, and does not represent any game in development that I am aware. I was going to make some images for this, but just writing this already took too much time away from doing other things. Also, should Bandai end up making this, they owe me $10 million.
Digimon Live (as in "this thing is now live", not "this is where we live") would start with a similar basis to Pokémon Go. Movement in game is tied to movement in the real world using GPS, with a player avatar marking the current location. Points of interest in the real world would be known in game as Digipoints (Pokéstops) or Digistations (Gyms).
When tapping on a Digimon that has appeared on the map, the game transitions to the Digimon battle screen. Defeating the Digimon will award Data for that Digimon.
Collecting Digimon
In order to obtain Digimon, the player must gather enough Data about that Digimon. This involves battling them on the map, or gathering Data from Digistations.
Once the player has obtained enough Data, they are able to generate a Digi-Egg for that Digimon. Digi-Eggs have a timer associated with them, and they will then hatch into the relevant Digimon.
The amount of Data needed for a Digi-Egg is dependent on the Digimon's stage.
Fresh requires just 1 Data, In-Training requires 5, Rookie requires 10. Stages above that require more.
There is a limit to how much Data a player can store at once (500 across all species), and how many Digimon the player can have at once (100 to begin with), both of which can be increased by purchasing upgrades from the shop.
Digivolution
Digimon can transform into stronger forms by Digivolving. This is done by entering the menus, selecting that Digimon and selecting to Digivolve. Where there are branching Digivolutions, the player gets a choice of what to Digivolve into.
Moving from Fresh->In Training or In Training->Rookie takes time, but from Rookie onwards it costs Data. If the player does not have enough Data, they cannot Digivolve (once the Digimon has done that transformation once, all future attempts are permanently at half that initial cost).
Digimon can only sustain being in the higher forms for a certain amount of time, and they will eventually revert to the Rookie stage. If the player is not in a battle, they can opt to have their Digimon revert before this time is up.
If a Digimon's health points reaches 0, it will disappear and the player will find themselves in possession of a Digi-Egg. When the Digi-Egg hatches, the lowest stage in that Digimon's evolution chain will pop out, unlike when generating Digi-Eggs where the specific Digimon selected will appear.
Battling
Once the player has obtained their first Digimon, they are able to set that Digimon as their Partner Digimon. This Digimon will be used in battles when selecting a Digimon to battle on the map.
There are 4 options when battling:
- Quick Attack (2 second cooldown)
- Deals a small amount of damage
- Charged Attack (10 second cooldown)
- Block (5 second cooldown)
- Reduces the damage from the opponent's next attack
- Run
Once any Digimon reaches 0 health, the battle will end. If the player loses, their Digimon becomes a Digi-Egg (see above) and they are returned to the map screen and asked to select a new partner. If they win, they get Data based on the Digimon they defeated.
Any damage their Digimon took will persist in future battles, so they will need to use healing items to restore health.
Digipoints
Linked with a point of interest in the real world, getting close to and interacting with a Digipoint will give the player some items and experience. Interacting with the first Digipoint of the day will also yield a small amount of in-game currency. There will be a cooldown between interactions.
Digistations
Similar to a Digipoint, a Digistation rewards items and experience. A Digimon can also be left here to do gather Data on a known Digimon. If other players have left Digimon gathering Data on the same species, the amount of Data gathered will increase. Digimon will return to their partners after 8 hours.
The player has the option to set up a Private Digistation, accessible only to them. This is ideal for placing at their house, or place of work, and acts like a regular Digistation except it does not reward experience.
Items
Consumable items can be purchased using the in-game currency. These items include potions for restoring health, upgrades to storage to increase the amount of consumable items or Data / Digimon the player can keep, and "hacks" to temporarily make more Digimon spawn.
Additionally, in-game currency can be purchased using real money.
Customisation
At the start of the game, the player has the choice to customise their character or pick a randomly generated one. They will also be given a standard Digivice at the start of the game.
By selecting the Digivice icon on the bottom left of the map screen, the Digidestined menu opens up. Here the player can see and customise their avatar, view how much experience they have, see stats like how far they have walked, and see their achievements.
When customising their avatar, the player has options over character model and skin colour, and a small number of hair styles and clothing options. Further hair styles and clothes will be available in the Style Shop, also accessible through this menu. These are purchased using an in-game currency, which can be bought with real money or earned through gameplay.
The Digivice's colour can also be changed (and later, the model), with a price attached to that too.
Version 1
At launch, the core mechanics above will be implemented. Costumes based on the Digidestined from the first season of the anime will be available, and around 100 Digimon from when the series first began will be available, from the Fresh to Champion stages.
Several months after launch, once players have had a chance to gather enough Data to make all of their Rookie level Digimon be able to Digivolve to Champion, some new mechanics will be added alongside some new Digimon. Ultimate level Digimon will become accessible.
Group Battles
Large Digi-Eggs with countdown timers will appear above Digistations. Once these hatch, a powerful Digimon will be available to battle. Players who are at the Digistation can join forces to take on this Digimon by each bringing in a team (as opposed to using just their Partner Digimon). Defeating it will reward enough Data to generate their own Digi-Egg to add it to their collection.
The first Digimon introduced this way will be Parrotmon.
Quests
By interacting with Digipoints, the player will be able to complete simple Quests - defeating a number of Digimon, collecting an amount of Data. Completing these will reward experience, items and Data.
Version 1.5
Ultimate Digimon will now become available, as will the ability to Warp Digivolve. Warp Digivolution involves Digivolving from the Rookie stage straight to Mega. This will cost more Data than Digivolving into Champion, but it provides quicker access to a more powerful Digimon. Warp Digivolution must be unlocked by completing Quest Lines.
Quest Lines
Built on top of the established Quest system, Quest Lines involves chaining together several Quests related by a small story element, but do not require interacting with a Digipoint to begin - they will be provided by Gennai when the player opens the game.
Eight Quest Lines will be available with this update, each based around a Crest (Courage, Friendship, etc.). Once completed, the relevant Crest will be awarded to the player which will allow them to Warp Digivolve a specific Digimon (Courage allows Agumon to become WarGreymon, Friendship lets Gabumon become MetalGarurumon).
With all of the Crest Quest Lines completed, another Quest Line becomes available which enables Warp Digivolution for every Digimon.
End of Year 1
At the end of the first year, a 24-hour countdown will begin. Once the countdown ends, the game will appear "corrupted" for the next 2 days. In these two days, Diaboromon will be the only Digimon appearing in Large Digi-Eggs at Digistations. This also enables DNA Digivolution for the first time - allowing two Digimon to combine into one, although it is restricted at this point to just WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon.
Entry to the Group Battles against Diaboromon is restricted to only allow players that have set Omnimon (the DNA Digivolution of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon) as their Partner Digimon.
Unlike previous Large Digi-Egg battles, defeating Diaboromon does not reward Data, but instead a Digi-Egg for Kuramon.
Once these 2 days have ended, a "reset" will occur with the release of version 2.
Version 2
All Digimon that have previously appeared on the map will no longer appear, and instead will be replaced with a new pool of Digimon themed around those from the second season of the anime. Costumes based on the characters from that season will become available in the shop. A new model of Digivice - the D3 - can be purchased too.
More Digimon will get released over time, and DNA Digivolution will unlock for more species.
Armor Digivolution
New Quest Lines will periodically be released, each rewarding players with an Armor Digi-Egg. Each Armor Digi-Egg allows certain Digimon to Armor Digivolve, which is a specialised Digivolution specific to that egg. These eggs are permanent, but only one can be used at a time.
Friends & Transfers
Players will be able to add others to their Friends List, and be able to Transfer a certain amount of Data to them each day. These friends can be anywhere in the world, but the further people are from each other can result in some of this Data getting "lost" during the Transfer.
It will also be possible to battle friends wherever they are in the world, which each player selecting a team similar to the Group Battles. Battling against friends will restore each Digimon used to their health prior to the battle, and both players will be rewarded with Data for each Digimon they were able to defeat.
Pre-Version 3
On the run up to Version 3, another big event will take place. This will begin with certain Large Digi-Eggs containing infected Digimon - more powerful and aggressive than usual. This infection will then spread to Digimon appearing on the map. A new Digimon will also be introduced on the map - Meicoomon.
Ordinemon will then appear in Large Digi-Eggs, and player's Digimon will become infected, allowing them to use their Charged Attacks with a smaller cooldown than usual.
A Quest Line will appear stating that a reboot will be required. A 24 hour countdown to this reboot will begin, culminating in another reset.
Version 3
Digimon, costumes and the Digivice from the Tamers series will be added to the game. This also introduces two new mechanics.
Blue Cards
The player will be able to collect and use Blue Cards to temporarily change the game in some way. Blue Cards can boost attack, health, or increase the amount of Data received in battles. Only one card can be active at a time.
Blue Cards can be obtained through Digipoints, Quests, the Digimon Battle Club, or purchased through the shop.
Biomerge
A version of Digivolution that involves the player becoming part of the transformation with their Digimon. This will replace the player's avatar on the map, and if the biomerged Digimon ends up with 0 health, they will separate into the player and the Digimon that originally Biomerged (although this Digimon will be at 1 health).
Digimon Battle Club
PvP battles will be opened up to allow battling against players that aren't on the friends list. The Digimon Battle Club will let participants increase their rank through battling, with ranks starting at Fresh and going up following the titles of the Digivolution chain to Mega.
The Battle Club will have different themes that determine the rewards the player receives for battling. Season 1 may reward Data based on Digimon that can DNA Digivolve, whereas Season 2 may reward Data for Digimon that can Biomerge. These themes and rewards will change when an in-game season ends - somewhere between 30 and 90 days.
At the end of each season in the Battle Club will have the player ranks be reset, and they will receive additional rewards based on what rank they reached.
Version 4
As well as Digimon, costumes and Digivices based on the Frontier series of the show, a new mechanic would be introduced to assist with newer players getting Digimon that are not currently part of the spawn pool.
Digiresearch
Each Digipoint gets 20 slots that allows players to place one of their non-Partner Digimon in. When another player comes to interact with that Digipoint, they get Data based on that Digimon. Once enough Data from that Digimon has been "mined" by other players, it is returned to the player who place it there as a Digi-Egg.
This means that Data from a Fresh Digimon could only be obtained by 1 player before returning to the player who put it there, although the player who obtained it would now be able to create their own Digi-Egg.
Expeditions
A new option will appear in Digistations when leaving a Digimon to do research. Instead of stopping at that Digistation for 8 hours to gather Data on a known species, a Digimon can be dropped off to start an Expedition. This Digimon will then go on an Expedition for 7 days to find Data on Digimon from around the world that the player has yet to encounter - allowing players to acquire Data for Digimon that only appear in different parts of the world.
Players that have already collected each Digimon can still leave behind a Digimon for 7 days, but can choose up to 10 species to gather Data for. This will return much more Data than the standard 8 hour research.
Future Updates
More Digimon and costumes would get added, with big version updates and mechanics based on progressive seasons of the anime.
