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

What is the worst thing(s) about Pokemon fangames?

  • Total voters
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Grifstar said:
Making the main hero talk - This has been something that's bothered me with every fake game(that does this). I prefer it if the main character just stays... silent. Because I don't know what it is but most seem to make the main character 1) a total jerk, 2) the typical spunky/headstrong/possibly sarcastic hero you see in 39672097.7 different games or shows, or 3) a goody-goody two shoes. And the worse part is, you're now stuck with that personality as you play... Where as in other Pokemon games, the person you play as is technically supposed to be a reflection of "you", to some extent. Even though you are still forced down a particular path.

I don't mind it in other RPGs.. of course. And there is ways to make the main character seem like it still has a soul, without it having a voice. It's been done many times before in games, and it's not hard to do.


Lack of Originality - I guess it's different if your purposely making a remake but... every fan made game looks exactly the same to me. I can't really stand it sometimes. Any game you see someone making its:

"You start off in the _____ region, on your 10th birthday Professor _____(insert name of a tree) allows you to choose one of 3 Pokemon: ______, ______, or ______ (insert the starters from either either generation), and are given your own trainer ID/license... as well as a Pokedex because Prof _____ needs you to gather data of every Pokemon you can find(because you know, their special Aides are too busy handing out items or whatever, and it's not like they asked hundreds of other kids do it too by now). And so you start off totally-not cliche quest to battle all 8+ gyms be the Pokemon Master! ... As if it hasn't been done before the last 80 times.

But along your way, you run into the evil organization, Team _____ (insert some sinister sounding word). They plan to capture the rare and powerful Pokemon ______ (insert the legendary the game is probably mascoted by) and use it to destroy/take over the world... Or, in story writer goes with Option B: Evil team has already caught/made an evil clone of said Pokemon and are using it right now. It is now up to YOU to stop them before it's too late.

And well... blah blah blah *put more things here, MAYBE one or two little things that could make the game a liiiiittle different from everyone else's*"

.... Well, alright. I have seen maybe a few ones that don't look too bad but... come on people, break out of the cardboard box. Most of the games I keep seeing are just "Travel to Kanto! Johto! Hoenn!" and like 5 other regions, rather than people actually trying to... well, add more quality to their work.

If you're making a Pokemon solely to unite all versions together, good for you(because I really do want a game like that someday). But if you want to make a brand new game... Please think of some brand new ideas first. Even if it's something that's never been IN a Pokemon Game before. Be a rebel >.>;;




Woah, this reply turned out extremely... negative o.o;
Click to expand...


I totally aunderstannd how you feel but I mean, Pokemon games have copied the same storylines as well, I mean if you look at the storyline in D/P, - it's exactly the same as R/B/G/Y, it's nintendo you should be telling about it.

With the storylines though, to me they work well - It's a sturdy and very consistent story no matter which game you play and the fan games (In my opinion) should reflect Nintendo's work and maybe even make it better but I don't think it bad for games to be original like save whoever from darkness realm or whatever.

About the Player speaking, it's true as well - when you give someone a voice it gives them a linear attitude along the whole game. That's why I especially like games that allow the player to have choices and whatever choices you make lets the NPC's interact in different ways to the main character.

So guys who ar making games (sorry about the typos), it's YOUR game, YOU are the fan so you do what you want with it, just as long as you finish the game...
 
I hate that when you post an idea, no one answers. It took me 2 jrs to write that idea!
 
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...
 
Xaviar said:
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...
Click to expand...


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
 
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...
 
Wichu said:
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...
Click to expand...

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.
 
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
 
A lot ticks me off, but what really gets me is having guns in a pokemon game!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
reply of this thread

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.
 
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.
 
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
 
They are very rarely finished :(
 
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...
 
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]
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.
Click to expand...
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?
 
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