'Indy' fan games - why so popular?

[Jared]

This is something that's been on my mind a little bit, since seeing a few posts on the Critic's Lounge of people wanting to hone their 'FOA' style but is something I've been thinking for a while.. is it just me or is Indiana Jones the most popular target of fan games out there? I mean, I could be wrong, but I seem to have come across about eight different Indy projects in varying stages of development (usually toward the lower end of the scale as it goes...) in AGS alone, just browsing this site, and then a few loose ones out there elsewhere on the intaweb that stuck in my mind like the Java-based game-maker named 'Indiana Java'.

It isn't that weird in itself that there are Indy fan-games, but I thought it would be logical for there to be an equal amount of fangames for Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest, Discworld et al but they seem to be rarer, especially here.

So... is it just that Indy has a broader appeal beyond adventure gamers? Is it that AGSers feel that his franchise was under-served by Lucas Arts? Or is it the fact that Indy has such a set style of look and storyline that everyone, as gamers and game-makers, know what should be in an Indiana Jones game?

OR - maybe I've got no idea, which is kind of why I started this thread. Any Indy fans who'd like to shed light on this one?

[Radiant]

Hm. The most popular target is probably Maniac Mansion, given the sheer amount of fangames that are actually complete for that.

I can think of the following reasons:
(1) the recent Indy movie.
(2) Indy is an iconic action hero, whereas Guybrush, Roger Wilco and Rincewind are funny buffoons; it would seem to be easier for indie writers to design a new buffoon, than to create a believable action hero.
(3) Indy has a relatively easy genre to write for (you can always place some artifact in some exotic location, and add nazi antagonists); compare to DOTT which has a rather limited world which is simply complete after one game. Mind you, I'm not saying it's easy to write a good Indy game, but it's easy to write an Indy game.
(4) there seem to be too many people over the age of 15 who simply don't think Larry is at all funny.

[Trent R]

Monkey Island had it's day in the sun for fangames, but as Radiant said--I bet the recent movie has a lot to do with current Indy projects.

Plus, the Adventure font is available everywhere!

~Trent

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Weird, I would've thought the recent Indy film would have the reverse effect since it was so utterly devoid of any of the magic the previous films had  .

[m0ds]

The majority of Indy fan-games have been in the works for years on end. I'm pretty sure only one or two have cropped up/been started in the last few years.

[Takyon]

I'm not personally an enthusiast of fan-games all together. Usually the stories lack any stability, Broken Sword 2.5 for example. Sorry to be blunt but the story was a complete joke in my opinion. I much prefer original independent games, however the FAO demo is very good I would play the final game.

[LimpingFish]

Fan games are generally a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, a fan-game may actually have something new and original to add to an established world or story. On the other, you're putting energy and talent into something that ultimately doesn't belong to you (in either sense; creatively or legally) and is destined to remain outside the canon universe of whatever you've based it on.

FOY, which will probably emerge as a fine game regardless, may have enjoyed success on it's own merits, had it's creators produced something original. Since it doesn't use resources from previous Indy titles (the corner stone of a number of fan-games), I don't see why that all that effort couldn't have been put to, imho, better use. They could have even retained the period setting and storyline. Look at Flight of the Amazon Queen, which gleefully attempts to replicate the essence of the LucasArt's Indy games, while managing to retain it's own identity.

Fan-games are usually made by fans for fans, which is fine. But I don't think I could be bothered to lend myself to such effort for such a limited audience.

[blueskirt]

Yeah, if you include Maniac Mansion Mania, Maniac Mansion is probably the game with the most fangames out there. Indy is not the series with the most fangames attempts however. Back in 1999-2002, King's Quest and Monkey Island were champion when it came to fangames attempts, Space Quest did well too when SQ: The Lost Chapter was released, and I'm sure if we searched hard enough, we'd be able to find many other series with more than two dozens of failed fangames attempts out there. That said, these days Indy projects are indeed the most popular series when it comes to fangames. My take on that popularity would be the media coverage of recent Indy action games, the FoY demo and the release of the 4th movie.

But I don't think I could be bothered to lend myself to such effort for such a limited audience.

Limited maybe, but in reality these games attract more people than original games do. Make a fangame or remake, put it on the web and if the look is consistent and the quality is the same as the original game's, mainstream news outlet will pick the news and the downloads will skyrocket. Try to do the same with an original game and even if the quality is the same or better, you will have have to spread the word a whole lot if you want to achieve the same audience. There is something in fangames/remakes that strike the nostalgia and familiarity cords in old school gamers and journalists, something original games cannot achieve. It's probably the same with mods. Between a mod for Portal and an original mod, gamers and news outlets will pick the mod for Portal, even if the original mod is equal or better in quality.

It's not a bad thing however, these games attract hordes of old fans who grew up with the originals and a lot of those, who would have never discovered AGS otherwise, notice the blue cup and say "Hmmm... AGS? What the heck is that... OMG! Hundreds of old school adventure games! *download download download*", which help the original games too in the end.

Heck, one could argue that a good way one could build themselves a name and attract attention to their original work would be to make a fangame. But that too would be a double edged sword, since you'd need to top the quality and look of whatever original game you are attempting to "fangame-ize".

[Trent R]

Although not Indy-fangames (please allow me to hijack this threads purpose to fangames in general), there's a good number of QFG-inspired games in progress (including one of my own). Since QFG is a specific type of game, you could consider many of them fangames--yet they still have completely original material.

The largest, and probably most well known is Hero6--the title being a reference that the game is a 'spiritual sequel'* to the QFG series.


~Trent
*I think this is the term used when discussing Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

[Radiant]

Back in 1999-2002, King's Quest and Monkey Island were champion when it came to fangames attempts, Space Quest did well too when SQ: The Lost Chapter was released, and I'm sure if we searched hard enough, we'd be able to find many other series with more than two dozens of failed fangames attempts out there.

That's interesting to hear. Do you perhaps have some links or demos for those KQ/MI/SQ fangames? This is rather before my time, so to speak, and I'm curious what's out there.

Make a fangame or remake, put it on the web and if the look is consistent and the quality is the same as the original game's, mainstream news outlet will pick the news and the downloads will skyrocket. Try to do the same with an original game and even if the quality is the same or better, you will have have to spread the word a whole lot if you want to achieve the same audience.

This is very true. Using a well-known name is the easiest way to get a big audience.

Heck, one could argue that a good way one could build themselves a name and attract attention to their original work would be to make a fangame.

I'm not too sure about that, actually. First, I don't think that would really work. Second, you'll always be mostly known for your remake: you're putting yourself in the shadow of Sierra/Lucasarts/whatever, and that is such a big shadow that you'll simply remain there.

there's a good number of QFG-inspired games in progress (including one of my own). Since QFG is a specific type of game, you could consider many of them fangames--yet they still have completely original material.

QFG is a unique genre, indeed. I used to keep a list of these, and to my knowledge pretty much all of them have been abandoned by now (which is a shame but, given the overall size and complexity of a QFG game, hardly surprising). Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the only one I think is still being worked on is Hero/6, and I'm not even sure about that given the organisatorial problems they faced in the past years.

[GarageGothic]

That's interesting to hear. Do you perhaps have some links or demos for those KQ/MI/SQ fangames? This is rather before my time, so to speak, and I'm curious what's out there.

I think the King's Quest games referred to are the two VGA remakes by Tierra, now known as AGD Interactive, as well as Infamous Adventures' later KQ3 remake.

The Space Quest fan games were mainly developed in AGI Studio, and the two I know of (and recommend) are Space Quest: The Lost Chapter and Space Quest 0: Replicated.

As for the Monkey Island fan games, several were made using the Klik & Play tool. Unfortunately LucasArts were quite eager to send cease-and-desist letters in the early 2000's, so many of them are no longer to be found. It seems that The Devil's Triangle is still online. But Scurvyliver's Fate of Monkey Island seems to be gone after Lucas' lawyers stopped its sequel from being made. Another cancelled but quite promising project was Legends of Lechuck (text in german but with some screenshots). And of course there's the AGS made spinoff game Night of the Hermit.

[Jared]

Yeah, I vaguely remember playing Fate of Monkey Island but can remember absolutely nothing else about it. I do have rather fond memories of Devil's Triangle, despite its definite primacy and limited control, though. I think there was another one called The Return of LeChuck or something. I remember a few had been in the works when LucasArts culled them. Pity they didn't recruit some fans so that the actual fourth Monkey Island game could follow the continuity the rest of the games had set down..

The mother of Space Quest fan games was Space Quest 7 (which actually had Josh Mandel, aka 'The third guy from Andromeda', onboard), but they publicised too heavily and effectively got shut down by Vivendi last I checked.

I dunno, maybe it's all trend-driven. Soon we could get into the Full Throttle fan-game trend...

[blueskirt]

That's interesting to hear. Do you perhaps have some links or demos for those KQ/MI/SQ fangames? This is rather before my time, so to speak, and I'm curious what's out there.

I think the King's Quest games referred to are the two VGA remakes by Tierra, now known as AGD Interactive, as well as Infamous Adventures' later KQ3 remake.

The Space Quest fan games were mainly developed in AGI Studio, and the two I know of (and recommend) are Space Quest: The Lost Chapter and Space Quest 0: Replicated.

No, I was more talking about attempts in general, successful or cancelled, rather than any specific games. And unless if someone was dedicated enough to list them all, I don't think any of us would be able to find most of these projects again, cancelled project attempts don't stay on the internet for a long time. But for Space Quest I do remember that after The Lost Chapter was released, forums were full of people announcing their own fangame attempt, there used to be a website that listed 30+ Space Quest fangames, of these only 3 were completed, I'm not sure if it's still online. Myself I stumbled on 6 or 7 different attempts to remake Space Quest 3, all of them are pretty much dead now.

On the subject of MI fangames, another fangame is M:I-2, by the same person behind Devil's Triangle.

[Erpy]

Here's the "latest" version of the site you spoke of. I think I remember an earlier version had many more projects too. But yes, after the release of "The Lost Chapter", the Space Quest community basically went on a sugar buzz and around that time, nearly every regular there was a member of SOME SQ-fangame or another. In the end, very few succeeded, but since we're counting attempts and not succesful attempts, I'd say Space Quest is definitely up there with the popular franchises.