Fan-games: for fun and practice.

[Furwerkstudio]

I stumbled upon a piece of fanart I did for a comic series a long time ago, it was a pixelart mock up of a point and click adventure. My thoughts after seeing that is, why not do some kind of fanfiction game?

So I started to doodle up a quick and very loose side walk cycle before heading to work with the plan on whipping up a very short game to get a hang of using ags. I honestly already know I am going to break "lore", as I want to say, "what if this character didn't die", and more focus on getting the spirit of the series, having fun and start building up experiences.

Now I am thinking this would be a good topic to discuss because I am having a little bit of a wrestling match, in this case a battle royale, of "you should make your own stuff", "I need to get the bad game out of my system", "this will break lore", "I like this character" and "eh, I am not charging for it, let's go nuts."

[heltenjon]

There are plenty of fan games in the database already, so by all means go nuts1    Seriously, though, I guess there is the risk of getting a stern message from the copyright holders, but generally, if you don't make money from it, it will be fine. Alternate timeline stories or prequels may be the safest bet, though.

I've had plenty of fun playing Space Quest Prequels, Star Wars universe games, crazy crossover games mixing characters from different franchises and even made my own silly little Batman tribute game. Not to mention the long Maniac Mansion Mania series.

Now, a fan game like this may be liked by like-minded fans, or it may start discussion if you break lore, as you say, but you need to be prepared that fan games using ripped graphics or music generally will be rated lower than original games. As long as you make games for the fun of it, that shouldn't be a problem, I guess. I'm mentally prepared that when enough people have rated my Batman game, I will end up with one or two cups. 

So, what type of fan game are you making?

[Jabbage]

This is such a perfect topic for me because I'm currently making my first game, and it is a fan game at heart! I generally work on my own stories rather than fanworks but I decided I wanted to indulge myself and make a game based on a thing I like, so it's a Sherlock Holmes game.

It's an ambiguous area when you're dealing with classic literature of course because come January 1st 2023, the entirety of the Sherlock Holmes stories will be out of copyright everywhere so technically I have as much right to use the characters as the Doyle Estate (and so do you!  ). I still have to deal with the fact that I'm spending a lot of time playing in someone else's world rather than making my own.

The big positive is that I've got a built in audience. I've been making webcomics for the best part of a decade and getting anyone to look at anything I've made is such a difficult slog, then with this project I released few videos and screenshots of what I was working on on social media expecting nobody to look at it and before I knew it I had hundreds of people following along and sending me questions and asking when the game will be released. I had to curb expectations and make it clear that it's probably going to take me a couple of years! The enthusiasm was so refreshing though.

Of course I am also aware that by playing in a world that already has a fandom, you are in danger of ruffling some feathers. There are some points of continuity and specifics of the relationship between Holmes and Watson that I'm deliberately keeping ambiguous because people have deeply treasured headcanons that I dare not disturb!

[heltenjon]

The big positive is that I've got a built in audience. I've been making webcomics for the best part of a decade and getting anyone to look at anything I've made is such a difficult slog, then with this project I released few videos and screenshots of what I was working on on social media expecting nobody to look at it and before I knew it I had hundreds of people following along and sending me questions and asking when the game will be released. I had to curb expectations and make it clear that it's probably going to take me a couple of years! The enthusiasm was so refreshing though.

This. There is so much content floating around these days that most blogs/books/games/videos/facebook posts... will gather very little attention. Then there are a few that go viral, partly because of the sorting algorithms of search engines and the social media themselves. It's no fun feeling like you have poured your soul into your product (games, on this site) and then get the big silence in response. But there it is.

Making a fangame practically guarantees some level of interest, especially if using the correct keywords, making it available by google search. I guess a Holmes fangame called "The Symbol of the Five" would risk being overlooked.    And who knows, perhaps some of the fangame crowd may decide to also check out your other efforts. I do that myself, at least.

[Cassiebsg]

Just a note, don't use jpg, as it introduces artefacts. Use PNG or TIF in order to preserve the image as much as possible.

Good luck with the project, I love the BGs BTW. 

[Jabbage]

Just a note, don't use jpg, as it introduces artefacts. Use PNG or TIF in order to preserve the image as much as possible.

Good luck with the project, I love the BGs BTW. 

I'm not sure this is aimed at me or another poster, but no worries - all my game files are PNGs!