Hi, 

I have an idea for a decent Pokemon clone that I want to build, but I really don't know much about coding, and I probably won't slow down and teach myself. Instead, I'll probably just start daydreaming and jotting down game ideas when I'm supposed to be learning. I don't want anyone to write it for me, because I need to be able to see where everything is in order to set up NPCs and write dialogue for quests. Otherwise, it would just be an uninteresting vanilla clone. Plus, I wouldn't learn anything. 

I thought about using RPG Maker, but as this is supposed to be a proper clone and not a fan game, I can't use Pokemon Essentials, because its license stipulates that games developed with it, even if they don't use any of the assets that come with the kit, can't be used for commercial use.  Well, take away Pokemon Essentials and RPG Maker isn't as easy to create a monster-catching game on. It still requires some scripting to do what I want. 

Are there any plug-ins available that would make the game mechanics aspect of this a lot easier?  As far as I know, I may need scripts to separate the player character on screen from the monster party, so that the monsters are the only fighters, restrict battling to 1v1 or 2v2 and not have the whole party out at once, and last but not least, have a working actor inventory, like the PCs in Pokemon, to withdraw actors and add them to the party or take them away. Without a plug-in, I'm probably just going to stare at my computer, get frustrated, and go do something else.  

I thought about using RPG Maker, but as this is supposed to be a proper clone and not a fan game, I can't use Pokemon Essentials, because its license stipulates that games developed with it, even if they don't use any of the assets that come with the kit, can't be used for commercial use.  

Is that really a problem, though?  It sounds like you haven't done any game development or coding before, so I wouldn't get hung up on trying to sell something.  Focus on just completing something first.  Why not use Pokemon Essentials to create a small game, release it for free, and consider it a prototype and learning experience?  You can get the core mechanics you want from the plugin, maybe learn some things about how it works, and get some practice with basic scripting on whatever's left.  It's worth it to start small and work your way up.

I see that Pokemon Essentials only supports RPG Maker XP.  XP is pretty old at this point, but it looks like it goes on steep discount pretty often and even has a free trial, so it's probably a decent cheap way to get started.  If you are worried about getting frustrated and giving up, I think you should try the easy low-cost option first.

I agree with Midnight Spire, just make something small and free to start with if you don't know much about coding. You can also opt to use Rom Hack tools which allow you to modify existing PKMN Roms quite a lot to the extent of basically being able to make your entire own PKMN clone. Needless to say though you can't sell that either because it's copyrighted by Nintendo.

If later on you'd prefer to make your own thing inspired by PKMN you could try GameMaker which has a free version now, although don't go expecting plugins and scripts to be available for each and every thing you want to do on the project.

I'm not sure this is what you're looking for, but if you're fine with visual scripting, unity has it. I don't know much about it, but I believe it doesn't require code, and there are a good amount of tutorials for it.

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I don't want to use Pokemon Essentials, because it won't really be my work. It kind of feels like plagiarizing. I'd rather have all of the rights to my work. I may not sell what I make, unless I put in a lot of work, buy or create good assets, and really feel like I've made one of the best games I could make as a solo game creator, but I would still like to know that it is my game and no one can tell me to take it down.  I can't do that if I hack a ROM or use Pokemon Essentials. Pokemon Essentials is really easy to use, and I think the people who developed the product did a great job, but it's for fan games, not serious creators. Whatever I make may not be any more impressive than something on Pokemon Essentials initially, but it will be mine. 

Sigh. I don't really know how to program games right now, though. I need to learn how to actually code. Any ideas on where to start? I need short lessons. 

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I agree that it'd probably be best to use the pokemon essentials. I've been at game dev for a while now, and one thing I've learned is it's not bad to use other people's work. Things like tools and assets are made to be used, and save a lot of time. Making a game is a lot of fun, but the nitty-gritty of figuring out turn based combat mechanics, with all sorts of abstract moves, abilities and stats can be hard. So I'd recommend using the tool to experience what makes gamedev fun. 

I also suspect that pokemon essentials blocks commercial use because pokemon is nintendo property. I'm sure you've seen how aggressive nintendo can be over free fan/clone games, and if you're trying to make money from that, they probs wouldn't be happy. 

But otherwise if you want to go ahead with your own way, it'll depend what you want to do. For 3D I'd probably recommend unity, and otherwise rpg maker for a pokemon style thing. The truth is, there is no tool that will work out of the box without some sort of coding. But at least rpg maker is geared towards that sort of game, would make it easier, but still not a freebie. For tutorials, let google be your friend. You could even google to find some better tool recommendations than I can probably give.

In fact, learning the code is not a big deal. The main thing to understand is that you will fail not once, but two or three times. But this is life, it is full of such moments :) To get motivated, click here to open the knowledge base, which contains many essays on failure. The main thing is not to give up, but to bend your line. If you want to do it this way, I'm sure only you can do it.