Fan games that failed

Started by Zexion, April 03, 2014, 06:08:27 pm

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Zexion

Uhm, so I was wondering if anyone else thought that the games that claim to be shut down by Nintendo or whatever are just saying that to hide that the developers failed at completing the game? For example there have been tons of pokemon mmos that have failed or claimed to be shut down by Nintendo. I've always wondered if this was true or not. The fact that there are really successful poke mmos out right now kinda makes me think that they lied. This applies to all fan games not just pokemon games. I just haven't seen any others get shut down.

Heretic86

Chrono Trigger fan remake also shut down due to legal threats...
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locowhiteknight

I was actually surprised to see a Pokeman fan made game. There was a group on Reddit trying to create an LoTR game using Skyrim Creation Engine that was shut down via cease and desist letter. I think they wanted to complete it in secret, but there were just too many people needed, to make it possible to create the game on the DL.
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R.A.V.S.O

fan games are fragile things themselves.....

most either never get completed, and those that do look enough promising are shot down by the original game's company before it can make it
outside.

take Chrono Trigger as an example:

many fangames out there, most either are just very badly done mods or never got completed, and those that do, (Crimson Echoes comes to mind)
are strategically C&D'ed by Square Enix during the last rounds before released,
multiple companies who act against fan-games usually wait for one to be completed before sending a C&D in order to lower developer morale.

ironically enough many fan-devs have developed their own counter-technique.

there was this one fan-game for the game "Streets of Rage" which was very well made, had a supporting developer team + fanbase, and SEGA had it's eye on it,
the devs were about to release their only public (also final) version (5.0) and SEGA came crashing down with the C&D,
however someone, "leaked" the full version one day earlier than the official release, so in response, the dev team DID cancel their release however the game itself
is fully accessible, eventually SEGA stopped caring about the leaks and the devs still have support for the leaked version 5.0 (they even made a v5.0b)

so yeah, fan-games are scarce and fragile indeed, but not all of them are bad, as a rule of thumb, if you find a fan-game drifting out there that's no longer
available because of C&D it might be worth a shot playing as it was probably on it's final stages of completion.
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Blizzard

Yeah, there kinda is no point to send a C&D for every single fan game there is since most of them never get completed anyway.

But I do have to admit that companies well have a right to that. If a fan game is good and a gains huge fan base, this means that the company loses a lot of potential profit since they aren't the ones handling it. Instead someone else is giving it away for free, someone else is giving their copyrighted material away in some form.
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Zexion

@blizz: I always thought that the companies did it so that random people weren't adding random things into their game's storyline. That it might cause some kind of confusion from a typical consumer who might just assume that the company made it and could influence their decision to support the company in the future. That's what I've always thought, but idk... I don't disagree with the whole "companies have a right to do that", because they really should. EXCEPT FOR KING THEY SHOULD HAVE NO RIGHTS.

WhiteRose

Back a few years ago, some people were making a My Little Pony fighting game, which I know sounds ridiculous but it actually looked and felt like a commerical product, with balanced characters, combos, and all of that. Just as RAVSO said, it got cancelled right before release. The devs chose not to leak it, and weren't sure what to do next. In the end, they got a message from Lauren Faust, the spiritual "Creator" of MLP, who offered to JOIN THEIR TEAM and help create original new characters and a storyline to use with the engine they had created. That's probably not how fan games usually work out, but it is definitely cool.

Zexion

Wow, lucky much :b
So did they ever make a new game with their engine?

WhiteRose

April 04, 2014, 05:14:35 pm #8 Last Edit: April 04, 2014, 05:36:16 pm by WhiteRose
Quote from: Zexion on April 04, 2014, 05:11:15 pm
Wow, lucky much :b
So did they ever make a new game with their engine?


Yeah, they're still working on it. Progress seems a little on the slow side, but it looks like they post updates every few months or so.

EDIT: So, I just looked it up, and turns out that a separate group of people managed to get a hold of a very early copy of their files and finish up the original game. So, two fan games for the price of one, except that one is not a game about the show at all but is created by the show's original creator, and one is about the show but does not have any involvement by officially associated personnel. Now that's confusing. :P

EDIT 2: This game is really hard. >.< The only time I ever win is if I get lucky with my signature "spam the C button" style.

Zexion

Lol, the one in that link seems legit. It looks like it's being commercially made. I guess it can't be considered a fan game anymore though since it isn't about the show?

KK20

Ah yes, Fighting is Magic...that upset the fandom so hard last year. I always watched their livestreams and checked for updates frequently. It was pretty amazing work considering the use of Fighter Maker 2002.

But that C&D did them wonders--not only to be backed up by Faust but to also have access to Z-Engine, built by Lab Zero who are known for Skullgirls. It's just irritating that "because it doesn't have ponies, they are dead to me" has plagued a lot of the bronies.

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WhiteRose

Quote from: KK20 on April 04, 2014, 05:37:47 pm
It's just irritating that "because it doesn't have ponies, they are dead to me" has plagued a lot of the bronies.


Definitely. The team has put a ton of hard work into this, and the final product looks like it's going to be significantly higher quality than the original. Though it's easy to see that it would have been more exciting with known characters, having a fresh slate brings new opportunities as well. For example, someone might only play Rainbow Dash because they like Rainbow Dash, but if they were to take the time to try Twilight Sparkle, they'd actually like her playstyle better. Now players will be able to choose their favorites without preconceived notions.

Anyway, I'm getting off track a little. Sorry about that. XD

R.A.V.S.O

Not into ponies myself that much, but considering how much a dev team struggled to make a game only to get it C&D'ed it was kinda expected that
someone out there managed to cling into a copy of the early prototype at least,

same for Chrono Trigger Crimson Echoes,

the game got ceased and desisted, but someone leaked the near-final release (95% done, it only has some missing final boss dialogue which is sorta straightforward)
and apparently people still downloaded, the thing is legal action cannot be taken to the fan-game devs because as far as it concerns them, they stopped the
distribution, it's not like they wanted a leak, (a neat little loophole most devs use nowadays)

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*googles Chrono Trigger Crimson Echoes*
Check out Daygames and our games:

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Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Spaceman McConaughey

Quote from: R.A.V.S.O on April 04, 2014, 12:54:11 pm
most either never get completed, and those that do look enough promising are shot down by the original game's company before it can make it
outside.


Somebody help me... I'm surrounded by completed fan games that weren't shut down. D:

Zexion

Quote from: Colonel Blinx on April 05, 2014, 02:52:11 am
Somebody help me... I'm surrounded by completed fan games that weren't shut down. D:

That's actually what I was getting at. It seems that there are plenty of fan games that didn't get C&D'd, so what exactly causes them to get to that point? Why do companies only target certain games ._.
I just don't see how something like PokeMMO can survive without any consequence, but not some of the not so good looking fan games I've seen.

R.A.V.S.O

April 05, 2014, 03:44:38 pm #16 Last Edit: April 05, 2014, 03:47:19 pm by R.A.V.S.O
Most that didn't get C&D'ed are probably (at least for the original company's standards) not that big a deal, either by lacking a huge fanbase, not being that outstanding,
not being completed, or downright falling apart.

I mean hypothetically speaking if I were a company with the intention of sending C&D letters to the MANY fan projects and games of X series I had created
I would not even bother with most of them since around 80% simply die out, as for the remaining 20% I'd simply check for the most advanced, near-completed,
or most supported project and clip it's wings before a final could be released (nothing angers a fan-player more than anything than a cancelled project mid-production)

Think Sturgeon's law applied to fan-games,

of course that was hypothetically speaking XD If I ever had a successful project I'd probably encourage mods, level editors and stuff that would extend the game's
lifespan a bit while I worked on the next big thing.
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