What about fangames annoys you most? [Aspiring developers look here!]

[Shikamaru88]

Originally Posted by Xaviar

I honestly don't mind if people use starter kits to make their game, but since virtually everything is pre-programmed, how hard is it to insert a little grammar? It's not like they have to worry about custom graphics or scripting...

not true plenty of people try to make their own characters and scripts some arent skilled at it when others are... and since pokemon's story is so well balanced its hare to compete with altough people wanna make their own game with out going to far away from the real games its hard to do

[Wichu]

On the topic of starter kits, there's something that's been bugging me recently.
There's a lot of games out there that don't use it fully. They don't edit the scripts or add custom content; they just use what is there and make maps etc. This is extremely annoying, because you end up with really similar games. Most of the new games are like this, too.
I think there should be a rule that anyone using the starter kit must show evidence of creativity, such as custom scripts or Pokémon. Otherwise, they're probably better off ROM hacking...

[Artificial-Insanity]

Originally Posted by Wichu

On the topic of starter kits, there's something that's been bugging me recently.
There's a lot of games out there that don't use it fully. They don't edit the scripts or add custom content; they just use what is there and make maps etc. This is extremely annoying, because you end up with really similar games. Most of the new games are like this, too.
I think there should be a rule that anyone using the starter kit must show evidence of creativity, such as custom scripts or Pokémon. Otherwise, they're probably better off ROM hacking...

I agree with Wichu. I believe you should get familiar with the program for a while THEN use the starter kit... and try to build from it.
I can see that you may want to use the kits since they have all the major stuff built in, but try to add something for crying out loud.

And while posting about the game, it's good to only make promises about "ZOMGNEWFEATURES!!!" and stuff when you know you can keep it. (Or have slightly been working on it...)

I have been a ROM Hacker for a while (but I quit), but I just feel to "limited", since I can only go as far as the engine can... but when you're familiar with the program, you can go beyond the official Pokemon Games.

[Shun]

I would have to say i vote all of the reason why... People make a game and never finish or update, the updates are point less and the videos show stuff that has already been senn and the storyline is the same, fakemon are really bad apart from peple that can make a perfect sprite

[Poeman]

A lot ticks me off, but what really gets me is having guns in a pokemon game!

[jasonresno]

I will never EVER play a fangame that is littered with poor grammar and bad spelling. It takes you out of the story and makes you realize you are playing a fangame.

I also HATE how NONE of these games EVER get finished.

[NytewolfAU2k7]

Lack of original story, updates & completion are big ones for me.

I know I've broken the last two in my own game, hehe. Might even be able to find it here somewhere.

[dragpyre]

Well, i voted for these:

• Fangames look the same
• Promises aren't kept
• Unfinished
• no originality
• Fake Pokemon
• Boring/Overused Stories
• Poorly Planned Projects

And i am quite happy to say i have not done any of these in my game; Devil May Cry: Platform Battle, mainly because its quite new. :D

[Low Lines]

What I hate is when people make custom sprites or try to combine multiple sprites from different games (ie mystery dungeon w/ pokemon gba) that just don't go together. To me it's like wearing two different socks with a really bad color match.

Also me being a perfectionist, I absolutely hate seeing errors or bugs which should be easy to remove from the final product.

Consistency I think is the most important part of making something, particularly if its based on something that already exists (such as Pokemon).

I don't overally get bothered with something never being released because I'm just not that into games anymore, but I really like to admire/appricaite the work that others do and learn how they did it. You get more out of a game that way than just playing it.

[axelion80]

I never like fake pokemon(fakemon)
even the fakemon looked good...
I don't like it... dunno why...
(when I saw a fakemon i thought that fakemon doesnt looks good to me)

sorry for my bad english
I can't speak English very well 'coz I'm Indonesian
very2 sorry for that.

[wandererwillow]

I'm working on a project of my own, and am keeping to my own standards of "what makes a good/bad game". I won't release any info until I'm decently far into the game creation, but expect to see my project hit this board in the next month or so (I'm already working on it daily).

Also, I stand behind Fake Pokemon, as that means you're doing something new. Still, they need to be done right. I do have a few legendary/special ones, but they're decently "legendary" and its not a forced feeling of it either. I plan on making the entire game out of Fake Pokemon (Fakemon) to get away from the norm of games that use the same Pokemon all the time. Is there a chance they'll be like SOMETHING already created? Maybe, but I still do enough to make them their own creation and not just a direct copy.

Still, the things I just can't stand:

-Massive Staff Groups: I'm 23, I have a job, and yet I have enough time and ability to create the game almost all on my lonesome. I'm getting sprites/pictures from different artists and I'm going to work from there. The scripting, mapping, and everything else is coming from me and me alone. You don't need a staff of 15 people to make a game like this.

-Horrid grammar: Capitalization, proper punctuation, spelling...If I play a game that fails to do these things, it's shut down and deleted right away.

-Idiotic jokes, using "LOL" or smileys in text, etc etc: This one is the worst. I see it all the time and it's just enough to make me want to punch the developer in the face over and over until they learn not to do this again. I played a game that started with Oak calling Gary "my ****head grandson" followed by "lol ^.^". As well, the dialog in the game was nothing but stuff like fart jokes, bad spelling, and sad attempts to try to make something funny out of something that's not funny.

-Unoriginality: I love how I've got the start of my game. There's no "professor"...there's no "10 year old birthday"...if your game starts the same as every other game, that isn't a bad thing, but its not a good thing either. If you're doing a project that involves making something creatively different, use some creativity. I'm not going to give out the intro to mine yet (partially for reasons that I like it so much, I don't want someone else to try nabbing it...god knows it happens) but again...no professor, no birthday.

[Ninja Tree]

This list is pretty much every game here.

• Unoriginal. Even games with fakemon are really unoriginal.
• Same style. Nearly every Pokemon game is created as an RPG.
• RMXP. I'm really seeing people not branching out too much. Even using Ruby to be a little different would be fine.
• Lack of planning. People didn't really create an outline before creating the game so they make up stuff as they go along. This can make it longer and can explain why no game has been finished.
• Boring

[Virtual Chatot]

They are very rarely finished

[dialga2103]

people work on fangames forever, but when they finnish, they still dont let us play.....
also they could give us demmos to play when they get so far...

[Mr_Dark]

The only real turn-off is when they have fake pokemon, it isn't the same then

[Rabbit]

The first thing I read about a fangame is the blurb about the plot. 90% of the time, the blurb either has spelling error or is an overused cliche from top to bottom. Prophecies? Objects of power falling into the hands of evil organizations? Legendary Pokemon trying to save the world with the hero's help? I get a headache just thinking about it.

But what I really don't like is how few fangames get finished. I've been able to download, oh, maybe two. Yet there are dozens here on Pokecommunity. People are just so optimistic. Everyone likes making plots, designing maps, respriting things that don't need respriting. Yet everyone needs more scripters. Anyone see a problem with this? I don't know how any of the games in 'production' will ever get finished unless everyone involved joins forces on one game. Nintendo has dozens of people working on each Pokemon game. Most fangames have, oh, five, maximum, and they're all volunteers helping in their spare time.

[Roconza]

[/i]

The first thing I read about a fangame is the blurb about the plot. 90% of the time, the blurb either has spelling error or is an overused cliche from top to bottom. Prophecies? Objects of power falling into the hands of evil organizations? Legendary Pokemon trying to save the world with the hero's help? I get a headache just thinking about it.

But what I really don't like is how few fangames get finished. I've been able to download, oh, maybe two. Yet there are dozens here on Pokecommunity. People are just so optimistic. Everyone likes making plots, designing maps, respriting things that don't need respriting. Yet everyone needs more scripters. Anyone see a problem with this? I don't know how any of the games in 'production' will ever get finished unless everyone involved joins forces on one game. Nintendo has dozens of people working on each Pokemon game. Most fangames have, oh, five, maximum, and they're all volunteers helping in their spare time.

I do agree but that's the problem with all fan made games. you can't really compere because we lack what they have. Nintendo pays there team big money to make games. Like you said they're all volunteers helping in their spare time. also you really think people would give up there leadership? Pokemon ekaiyo is the only fan game I've seen doing real work and here making a 3D mmo that look darn good.

Also I work for petsites which is no different from fan games and they the similar problems. They have lots of staff but no standards so you have skilled staff with less skill staff. You have half good work and half hardly decent work. That's why I quit my last fan pokemon game because it's kinda annoying when you have good stuff and have to post it next to sub par work. I mean it's not the artist fault for this. It is the game maker for takes help were ever he can. I know this can be really off putting when playing a game to. You don't mix yellow sprites with DP style sprite so why do it when it comes to custom sprites?

[Hall Of Famer]

Well I'm not talking about fan game in here, it's about some game developers. What annoys me most is that someone requests a lot of resources from a certain fan game without giving any offers in return. They think they deserve anything without sharing their own things, which is more than disgusting. Even if you really don't have anything good to share, it makes us feel better if you at least show us that you're willing to. In a word, don't regard yourself as an emperor in mid-century. Wanna have something in your game? Fine, but please show us what you can do in return.

[~Frozen Darkness~]

I'm fine with fan games, but when I see these things, it makes me want to puke:

1. No name/Bad Name It's not hard to think of names! But I think that people should use other names besides Colours and gems.

2. I hate to see this:

Anonymous Person - Creator, Beta Tester/Idea Maker/Storyline developer

That makes me sick. This means that the creator is LAZY and doesn't want to do any work. I HATE this. For those that do this, good luck getting volunteers.

3. Over usage of Starter Kit: It's okay to get a little of a jump start from the starter kit, but if you just make maps and do nothing else, the game is gonna be crap. For those that are doing this, get some creativity and make the game FUN.

4. No one knows how to script:

With the exception of Wichu, poccil, etc. I don't see anyone else who scripts. I mean, I don't script right now, but I'm learning to script.

[*Minun*]

I like games with Fake pokemon the most! If they don't have them I generally don't play the game.

[SeaSquirt]

I haven't been on this forum long, so I can just talk about the Pokemon fan games I've seen everywhere, not specifically the ones that get posted here.

The two things that annoy me the most are when games are announced with great fanfare in the "really, really alpha, 0.01" stage and never get close to being finished, and when the developers don't share their code even though they're building it off of things other people let them use for free. In my opinion, developers should wait until they're past the very beginning stage of programming before they advertise the game to everyone, and should share their work with others, except for original art that makes the game unique.

I'm OK with fake Pokemon as long as they're mixed in with the originals. I wouldn't be as interested in a game with only fakes.

[Darkholme]

Well, Here are my thoughts on the issue.

If you aren't going to finish the game, or you dont really have a 'game' other than just copying the exact same crap, you shouldnt really bother.

Original Pokemon are fine, assuming theyre well implemented, and not replacing any of the originals.

short version
> Finish the damned thing.
> Don't try to just get everyone else to make a game *for* you. You're not paying them for it so it doesn't work that way.
> Spellchecker if you can't spell.
> Get some decent graphics.
> Original plot.
> Original game design.
> New features/concepts.
> Well planned and executed project.

Go look up project management. Read a few documents. Plan the project in advance. Divy up the work. Figure out what needs to be done. Have A Plan.

If you don't have a plan, you better be damn good.

If I see a project with work breakdown sheets, gantt charts, and uml diagrams, I'd go with that one, cause they apparently know what they're doing. (It is kindof overkill in a fan game, but its a hyperbole)

If you're not going to make the game original, or at leat good. go make a rom hack.

Thats not saying rom hacks are bad.

If someone made a decent Gold/Silver remake (that was finished) for GBA or DS, I would pay 40$ for a hard copy, as would I imagine, many other people.

[@World]

Here is a good advice for critism: try for yourself. If you think it's easy try it, but there are hrrible games (oh when I remember reading Rquaza in a game: a wild Rquaza apeared).

[Awan]

What annoy me most is when there is NO screenshot what's the point of just telling ppl the story and doesnt have any screenshot(not neccesaryly be in-game screenshot) to make ppl support their games.

[DrCoolSanta]

I have to say that many people have the "Jack of all trades, Master of none" syndrome, you can't stop them if they want to try it out. Not that I support them but it is a point to consider.

Otherwise thinking, how much appreciation is there for a fangame, that also made in some free mediocre RPG engine. Can you even make money from your creativity. Do you think you could show this work to someone in the game industry and then not be ridiculed? It's a fangame, yes it is, but of it, how much have you actually done? You already get the engine, and then above that you get the starter kids, and you rip off all the graphics, the sounds, and everything. Nobody here goes into the details of game making. I ask some graphic artist for a tileset, they hand me over the FR/LG tileset! Why doesn't somebody actually create the art, PC is one place with so many artists who would love to help you out. Sound, I can still say that ripped ones are ok, but you've got a better platform, you needn't use the midis so why. Why not something i'd love to hear? Thats what I hate about fangames. They don't create games, they just put it all together in a different manner.

It is too easy for you, and so n00bs end up getting a platform to show their n00bieness. And then ofcourse n00bs have nothing better to do than to just leave a project after a week.

Stop ranting about it, n00bs can't do anything better, and neither can you people consider yourself superior to them, since its not a prestige if you can make a game in RPG Maker.