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

[Hall Of Famer]

Originally Posted by 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.

I have to agree with most of your words. I requested a few(yes, just a few...) tropical climate tiles in rmxp.org before and someone directed me to pokemon essentials. Come on, it could be a lot better if they didn't even make such a reply to my help thread at all!

But honestly, will you be making a fan game if you're good at everything(mapping, spriting, storyline/graphic designing, scripting and more)? Nope, you will start a business and participate in game industry instead, or even better, to create a language like C++, Java and Ruby. The reason why people make fan games is that they're not professional, and they simply enjoy the process of programing or else. They have other things to deal with in real life, and fan game is not a way for them to kill their spare time. Sure the quality of those fan games can be improved considerably if everyone gets paid for their work(yeah, motivation matters). However, can we still call them fan games? Are they still fan games? I wonder.

[Alucus_Of_Borg]

id have to say that the lack of new content gets on my nerves all of these fan games are essentialy just like hacks they look and play pretty much the same as the actual games

such as me im making (as far as i know) the first or one of the first flash based pokemon games ever made iv created a new battle system and more realistic game play and areas kyledove has created unique graphics unique gameplay and characteristics the captain has created the largest and most realistic maps that i have ever sceen and based them on the anime
other than these i see very few fan games that really catch my eye and stand out there are others but i cant remember them :D

[DrCoolSanta]

Originally Posted by Hall Of Famer

I have to agree with most of your words. I requested a few(yes, just a few...) tropical climate tiles in rmxp.org before and someone directed me to pokemon essentials. Come on, it could be a lot better if they didn't even make such a reply to my help thread at all!

But honestly, will you be making a fan game if you're good at everything(mapping, spriting, storyline/graphic designing, scripting and more)? Nope, you will start a business and participate in game industry instead, or even better, to create a language like C++, Java and Ruby. The reason why people make fan games is that they're not professional, and they simply enjoy the process of programing or else. They have other things to deal with in real life, and fan game is not a way for them to kill their spare time. Sure the quality of those fan games can be improved considerably if everyone gets paid for their work(yeah, motivation matters). However, can we still call them fan games? Are they still fan games? I wonder.

Again, I can relate to you and so can I find reason for your argument. But if you already can program in Ruby since RMXP is almost Ruby, why not actually go on? I have seen a lot of the people here recommending newbies to learn c++ and then come back to game making. I can say that making a simple game engine is not going to be difficult in c++. Even so, many industrial games use a commercial engine, I don't mind if you do it as well. But I will appreciate more if there is less of ripped graphics and more of new artwork. If each game has different art here, then it will be called good to its full meaning. I know I can make a fangame in c++ and not call it a waste of time or talent. I've seen PC versions of Gold and fangames of Mario on Gamedev. If you already don't know, gamedev is one place where all the professional game makers unite. Personally, I would love to do so, I have started projects before, and I have myself worked on them only for periods of months with gaps in between. I could say that I had a reason, I always lacked some sort of knowledge that I needed to move on. I can call myself an expert again, but not until I actually create one game, I probably will and show it here to actually show what I always thought each game lacked here.
Ofcourse, you can't sell off a fangame due to copyright reasons, but my point there was that it isn't even otherwise worthy enough to be sold XP.

I would say that a normal person can't do everything of that sort and still stay in his sense, one can't program, draw, create sound effects, write. Thats why I urge people to actually take help from others to make their games superior. Thats why I say that there is no use for having such a large community to show off your talent but not make use of it. Games have a long list of credits, why so? Of course because so many people work towards on. Everytime a new generation comes everybody here changes to those tilesets. Everytime soeody creates a new tile set, everybody here uses them. Why be copycats? It's not something impossible I talk about, it would be my faliure if I create a game and not show mine or somebody elses creativity.

Another thing I hate is the typical Pokemon game story, believe me even the official pokemon games don't seem nice with their typical repititive unoriginal story. Fangames are something the fans wanted to see in those game but they couldn't, its a showcase of your thoughts and not somebody elses. Basically I would rather play Red and Blue than to play a fangame with similar storyline.

[PokemonOI]

Whats annoys me most about fangames is when they rush a demo. Then next thing you know everyone is messaging the creator telling them like a million errors lol.

[Ozzlander]

The most annoying thing are game that are never finished, i have 2 games im working on and i plan on finishing both tho i could use some help, but seriously finishing a game isnt all that hard ive done games solo before its just time consuming that way

[Heart's Soul]

I just voted for over 10 things. They are things that I hate, mainly spelling errors.

[thelaytonmobile]

Spelling errors annoy me too. I see many games, that in the screens or videos (I haven't actually downloaded any yet, lol) that have spelling mistakes. Surely it can't be too much effort to check your spelling. And you'd think they'd choose places with good spelling to screenshot.

Something I forgot to put in the poll is the Fakemon. Often they just look like blobs, and are poorly designed. Not that I'd be much better, but it's a real turn off.

Both of these things are little things, but they annoy me a lot. It just shows that the details matter. I know people are eager to publicise their game and get help, but surely they could wait till the game is a little bit finished before making a thread?

Oh, that was a little longer than I intended it to be... oops:D.

[<~F.M.P~>]

In all honesty the only 2 things I don't like is when the games creator(who's supposed to be team leader may I remind you) looks for every position known to a game developer(and then some) and does nothing else more than think of names, and the story. In my opinion at least learn how to sprite yourself and learn just a bit of scripting if possible...It really helps in the long run.

I'm also not a big fan of discontinued games, alot of great games with strong potential have gone down the drain for one reason or another.

[SytheXP]

Things that bug me most are promises not kept, to few updates and they don't get finished. And I agree with what Wichu said on the first page about people wanting a team to make a game for them. Im currently soloing a project have 3 total towns done 2 routes a cave 1 working gym and a fighting dojo remake. Also misspelling shouldnt even be in a demo. There are playtest buttons for a reason and you can test your stuff before you let others play it. The point of a demo IMO is to get someone interested in the game not to be like oh we have this and this but you can't do that in the demo get the full release and wait a while.

[thepsynergist]

For me, its probably the lack of mp3's for music, the fact that a game never gets finished, and the severe lack of eventing knowledge. I can't tell you how many times I got stuck behind a wall, because someone didn't space the movement properly. It also seems boring when someone doesn't have a storyline in a game, not just the "I want to be the best, get badges and get all the Pokemanz!". I have a deep respect for a programmer that at least attempts a storyline. It made me sad about Pokemon Acanthite discontinuing. There's my rant...

[Freak A]

yeah i agree with the story line thing they have the same old evil organization and pokemon professor wants you to catch pokemon for you

[Q-Bone]

Misspellings really get to me. In some games (and ROM Hacks in this case) you can't even understand and/or read the text. It seriously annoys me.

[DonRoyale]

Incorrect spelling/grammar annoys me.

It annoys me more when the game gives an easy button to the fire starter. It especially annoys me when, at an early stage of the game, you have access to Pokemon such as Riolu, Togepi, Eevee, or other rare/event Pokemon that you usually get only one of in the first place.

It gets worse when the story is based entirely around those sorts of Pokemon. Noobish, overrated as fack Pokemon getting the spotlight. It's annoying when the games sellout because they cater directly to fanboys instead of people looking for original content.

Bad fakemon can suck, too.

[morrison]

I think a good game needs good grammar as well as good spelling. Furthermore I think that seeing screenshots is really vital for the appreciation of a game. At last , a project that has bad planning will take a lot longer and is probably not meant to be finished at all.

[Dandaman955]

my problem is fakemon, because after that they will spread rumours that a certain fakemon is in red / blue.

[trinity_pt]

I think the worse thing is like 2 months without an update <.<

[deanhanson]

i always enjoy playing an h game once in a while as much as they annoy me.. with their unrealistic scenarios what do you mean by fangamesI was inspired to make this, because mostly every other Zelda fangame is either ... I don't want to discourage you at all because, like you even said, most GM ... because it annoys me alot for some reason,.......

[mercurysky]

Are fake pokémon a bad thing? Oh God. °-°
Anyway, I hate mispellings, 'cause I'm not english and it is normally difficult to play english games. With mispellings it becomes impossible!

[Neo-Dragon]

I got a report saying this thread should of been locked 2 months ago, period....
Can I just declare publicly...
It's a sticky thread you moron!
The reaosn why it is sticky is so people have a place where they can voice their opinion on this issue, without fear of "bumping" a thread. It is an important question that members should read since you gain great feedback, and unless your posting a demo of your game, that is why you advertise it- so you can get a fan base and feedback before the demo comes out.

Please feel free to report offensive posts or regular threads and I'll deal with it, and before you hit that button, use common sense please.
Thanks.

[Peeky Chew]

Originally Posted by Neo-Dragon

I got a report saying this thread should of been locked 2 months ago, period....
Can I just declare publicly...
It's a sticky thread you moron!
The reaosn why it is sticky is so people have a place where they can voice their opinion on this issue, without fear of "bumping" a thread. It is an important question that members should read since you gain great feedback, and unless your posting a demo of your game, that is why you advertise it- so you can get a fan base and feedback before the demo comes out.

Please feel free to report offensive posts or regular threads and I'll deal with it, and before you hit that button, use common sense please.
Thanks.

What does any of that have to do with anything on here..?

[Dr. Octogonapus]

Well, I believe that it's to remind those who are report monsters that if it's a stickied thread, that the revival rule is invalid.. That's just me though.

Anyways, back on topic; I can't stand it when it comes from an anime perspective. Where as there is always ONE character that tags along with your team for an unexpected amount of time after JUST meeting the said protagonist. Now, I don't keep track of the anime anymore, due to the annoying voice known as Ash, but if I recall; didn't Misty, Brock, Tracy, May, Max, AND Dawn join this little kid they had just met? Misty.. Well, I understand her point of view. Be that as it may, the lack of features and/or programmed 'lies.' I don't want to waste my time sitting for a game that was said to have brilliant features and turns out it was all for naught.

Next comes grammar. I simple CANNOT stand it when people simple spam ellipses otherwise known as the "..." after every damn word. If they aren't keen to people interaction, then lock them on some island somewhere and give them provocation to talk like Shatner. Along with the grammar topic, I can understand a few typos and whatnot, but complete sentences full of fragments, run-on phrases, and sheer destruction of the human language will more than likely send me into a fatal seizure. Now, before I end my rant, let me end it with this; 13375P34K.

If I see anything remotely similar to chat/leetspeak in ANY fangame, no matter how good it may be, I will not play it. I'm not going to complain or whine here, but if you have the attention span along with capabilites to create your own game, you have the capabilites to type out your words. How hard is it to type 'one' instead of '1'? While I realize, it's easier to do that, it makes you look more unprofessional than you think..

Well, that's about it honestly; anyways, if I think of anything else, I'll be sure to rant post here!

[Niprop]

*Niprop pops out of the ground wearing a hard helmet*

Okay, lets keep things short and simple here.

1.) Yes, I suppose this is the Pockét Monster Communication Forum (Or at least that's what I think the full name is) for "everyone", but lets get something straight here. When making splices and hacks, there's no excuse. Bad grammar and spelling errors are what break a game. Want an example of the stuff I'm talkin' about?

"hey <Insert Character Name here> prof <insert vulgar, mispelled swear word here> wants you m aby its to get a newpokrmon"

"oh its you.hi my name is <Insert Rival name here> an wth ur gettin ga pokemon to?"

"oh so your then ew traenr everyones talking about.here tkae 1 of these pokemno for you adventure"

<badly resized Darkrai with Charmander's cry>
<Ugly Fakémon that looks like something a 5 year old might smear on the walls with finger paints>
Eevee

...

Urgh, that was painful to type. Anyways, when I see things like that in a hack game, usually shake my head in disapointment, dump it into the trash bin, delete the shortcut, and then delete the abomination itself. I honsetly just want to kick something whenever I see "it me ur pal prof <Vulgar mispelled swear word>"or anything similar. But that's not the worst part, oh no, it is not. These are some of the worst quotes I could muster to pull out of a hack game. (I couldn't bring myself to pull in anything with swear words in it, I just can't!)

"luz i jsut fond alot of masterbals inthst caver mabe u should go iside"

"so u thin kur reddy 4 teh l88t 4 well i dont thin kso because im thebest so sho me wat u got luz"

"oh hey <character name> omg did i didnt mean it in any specal way no were jsut frends uh gotta go byt "

...

I'll go insane if I have to type any more of this..."Stuff." Spelling errors in one thing, but leet speak is when it gets to the point of garbage. Sure, I can forgive you if it's part of the plot and dignified, but more often then not, it's just the hack's creator trying to be funny/cool/annoying.

2.)

With that out of the way, lets get to the next part. STORY LINE. Yes, I know it's a pain to re-invent the wheel, but cliché story lines get repetative and boring after a while. Here's a list of the most obvious ones:

"Evil team <Bad/Cool Thing> is trying to to something bad. You, having just turned 10, the hero of the story, will go on a journey to collect gym badgers, Beat the Elite Four, and stop the evil team <Bad/Cool Thing>, becoming the "best" trainer of all time in the process."

"It is written, only <character name> can defeat <bad guys>. Using the legendary XXXX*, you will embark on an adventure to fulfill your destiny!"

"Oh noez Darkrai is takin over teh world & u must stop hem!"

"You must calm the legendary <thing> in order to save <region>!"

*Can also be Eevee.

...

If your general storyline falls into one of those categories, I suggest that you should SERIOUSLY consider revising somethings.

3.)

Finally, the part you've all been waiting for, Fake-It Monstrosities. Sure, every once in a while, a fake will come out that's not half-bad, but usually, I've seen...Well, I've seen too many freaks to list them all, and some of them are hard to describe, so I'll just list what "bad" Fakémon generally look like:

A crudely scratched sprite that looks like

something a 5 year old might smear on the walls with finger paints

complete with full black outlining, little to no shading, disproportionate features, and worst of all, it's usually supposed to be a starter, Legendary, or in extreme cases, an Eeveelution.

A cheaply done splice that's supposed to be an evolution to an existing poke. I'm sorry, but ripping off Pikachu's head, sticking it onto Dragonite's torso, and painting it a single shade of yellow to top it off is just not enough to justify an alternate evolution.

Stolen artwork from some random game nobody has ever heard (or cared) about. It just ruins the atmosphere when your level 23 Ivysaur is fighting against a giant robot with lazer-cannons sticking out of it's back, swords for arms, wings that don't seem to serve any purpose, and chains protruding from various areas of it's body.

Reused crys. How am I supposed to be afraid of MewfourZ when it has Minun's cry!?

...


Boy, that was long. Well, now I'm burned out... ...

/Rant

[Wichu]

Originally Posted by Niprop

*Niprop pops out of the ground wearing a hard helmet*

Okay, lets keep things short and simple here.

1.) Yes, I suppose this is the Pockét Monster Communication Forum (Or at least that's what I think the full name is) for "everyone", but lets get something straight here. When making splices and hacks, there's no excuse. Bad grammar and spelling errors are what break a game. Want an example of the stuff I'm talkin' about?

"hey <Insert Character Name here> prof <insert vulgar, mispelled swear word here> wants you m aby its to get a newpokrmon"

"oh its you.hi my name is <Insert Rival name here> an wth ur gettin ga pokemon to?"

"oh so your then ew traenr everyones talking about.here tkae 1 of these pokemno for you adventure"

<badly resized Darkrai with Charmander's cry>
<Ugly Fakémon that looks like something a 5 year old might smear on the walls with finger paints>
Eevee

...

Urgh, that was painful to type. Anyways, when I see things like that in a hack game, usually shake my head in disapointment, dump it into the trash bin, delete the shortcut, and then delete the abomination itself. I honsetly just want to kick something whenever I see "it me ur pal prof <Vulgar mispelled swear word>"or anything similar. But that's not the worst part, oh no, it is not. These are some of the worst quotes I could muster to pull out of a hack game. (I couldn't bring myself to pull in anything with swear words in it, I just can't!)

"luz i jsut fond alot of masterbals inthst caver mabe u should go iside"

"so u thin kur reddy 4 teh l88t 4 well i dont thin kso because im thebest so sho me wat u got luz"

"oh hey <character name> omg did i didnt mean it in any specal way no were jsut frends uh gotta go byt ;) "

...

I'll go insane if I have to type any more of this..."Stuff." Spelling errors in one thing, but leet speak is when it gets to the point of garbage. Sure, I can forgive you if it's part of the plot and dignified, but more often then not, it's just the hack's creator trying to be funny/cool/annoying.

2.)

With that out of the way, lets get to the next part. STORY LINE. Yes, I know it's a pain to re-invent the wheel, but cliché story lines get repetative and boring after a while. Here's a list of the most obvious ones:

"Evil team <Bad/Cool Thing> is trying to to something bad. You, having just turned 10, the hero of the story, will go on a journey to collect gym badgers, Beat the Elite Four, and stop the evil team <Bad/Cool Thing>, becoming the "best" trainer of all time in the process."

"It is written, only <character name> can defeat <bad guys>. Using the legendary XXXX*, you will embark on an adventure to fulfill your destiny!"

"Oh noez Darkrai is takin over teh world & u must stop hem!"

"You must calm the legendary <thing> in order to save <region>!"

*Can also be Eevee.

...

If your general storyline falls into one of those categories, I suggest that you should SERIOUSLY consider revising somethings.

3.)

Finally, the part you've all been waiting for, Fake-It Monstrosities. Sure, every once in a while, a fake will come out that's not half-bad, but usually, I've seen...Well, I've seen too many freaks to list them all, and some of them are hard to describe, so I'll just list what "bad" Fakémon generally look like:

A crudely scratched sprite that looks like

complete with full black outlining, little to no shading, disproportionate features, and worst of all, it's usually supposed to be a starter, Legendary, or in extreme cases, an Eeveelution.

A cheaply done splice that's supposed to be an evolution to an existing poke. I'm sorry, but ripping off Pikachu's head, sticking it onto Dragonite's torso, and painting it a single shade of yellow to top it off is just not enough to justify an alternate evolution.

Stolen artwork from some random game nobody has ever heard (or cared) about. It just ruins the atmosphere when your level 23 Ivysaur is fighting against a giant robot with lazer-cannons sticking out of it's back, swords for arms, wings that don't seem to serve any purpose, and chains protruding from various areas of it's body.

Reused crys. How am I supposed to be afraid of MewfourZ when it has Minun's cry!?

...


Boy, that was long. Well, now I'm burned out... ...

/Rant

I haven't actually seen any games as bad as you've described... There are a few in the Plot and Story Ideas section that have nonsense plots, but I have never seen a game with grammar and spelling that bad. Most games with fakemon here have pretty decent sprites; there are very few (maybe less than one in four) whose quality isn't too good.

I notice you said 'hack games' in there. Now, if you head over to the ROM Hacking forum (especially the Scrapbox), your complaints seem to ring truer :P

Oh, and what's with the convoluted formatting in that post? Now that is something that annoys me :(

[Peeky Chew]

Originally Posted by Wichu

I haven't actually seen any games as bad as you've described... There are a few in the Plot and Story Ideas section that have nonsense plots, but I have never seen a game with grammar and spelling that bad. Most games with fakemon here have pretty decent sprites; there are very few (maybe less than one in four) whose quality isn't too good.

I notice you said 'hack games' in there. Now, if you head over to the ROM Hacking forum (especially the Scrapbox), your complaints seem to ring truer

Oh, and what's with the convoluted formatting in that post? Now that is something that annoys me

Well the fact he thinks this part of the forum is for hacks leads you to beleive he hasn't in fact seen any hacks that bad, since he doesn't even know where that section is...

[Froslass_Maniac]

I don't do many fangames, but I will vote on the base of doing PWO and have done Pokemon Indigo/Volcano.

PWO is good, except for the shapeshifting bug. (my poor charmeleon lv 20 became a Mareep lv 5.. D: ..) And the servers are down a lot at the moment. Guess that prevents me from playin' it.. (too bad)

Pokémon Indigo also lags a lot, and I had many moments where the battle froze and never got on so the only option was going away from battle.. (omfg I missed the pokemon I wanted that way) Volcano was good, but that one was gone. Thus Indigo got made. Indigo is bigger and has not only wild pokemon of lv 12 what is a good point between volcano, but it lags alot ruining the game expirience.