[Production]Themed Games, Wasn't enough room for the text when trying to submit as a tutoria Options

[Kaust]

On my way home from the local comic book store I started to think about how great it would be to develop a game including some of my favourite characters from this medium. But these characters can't just co-exist willy-nilly (well, they can, but while you don't need a realistic plot a coherent one certainly helps); Astroboy isn't going to team up with Pacman and a character of your own creation to battle the Blue Meanie for control of Pepperland.
When DC were questioned what their biggest asset was their response wasn't an individual top selling character or brand but the Multiverse itself; the intricate development of a universe that allowed their characters to coexist.

But onwards with my original topic; there are certain benefits of drawing from a pre-existing story:
-Characters (and their relationships to other character) already exist
-Artwork for these characters also already exists (at the creator's permission)
-Complex and compelling plots already exist, and with crossover events such as DC's Crisis on Infinite Earth or Marvel's Civil War there is greater leniency for creating your wonder team, although in comic books teamups are fairly common anyway.
-These themes already have a fanbase, increasing the likelihood of someone actually wanting to play your finished product

While the amount of resources that already exist might sound like an attempt to limit your creativity they would be a great way for someone new to the engine to play around with it and still create an enjoyable game, that someone would actually play and provide feedback for.

And, of course, there's no need to fully obey a pre-existing plot, leave your mark on it, tell it how you thought it should have been told (other chars perspectives, etc.) And don't feel restricted to one theme; want to see Medieval Batman? You've got it. Steampunk Superman? You've got it. Just try to ensure that once you've established your theme you don't damage it by breaking into inexplicable tangents.

Finally, these benefits extend beyond this specific subject, comics, to clear relations like manga/anime, inter-platformally like film and television, and even to other pre-existing games.

Hope this gives you a few ideas
-Kaust


This post has been edited by Kaust: Jan 15 2012, 07:07 AM

[Shaddow]

That's some awesome advice! So often I see a fan-game of one of my favorite stories/characters only to be disappointed as it's just another rehashing of the same old story. Don't get me wrong, I love the story and the characters, that's why I'm a fan. What bothers me is having someone who has the creative freedom to make a fan game and show their love and dedication to the world by making another story that fits those characters or world. A good example of this is the Pokemon PC game being developed on this site, by Ratty524. It's a true pokemon game, but with a new story and even new pokemon created by the author. Link Here: http://www.rpgrevolution.com/forums/index....mp;#entry542792

I believe these kind of styles are the best kind of fan game. You are showing the community and even possibly the creators that you love their world so much that your mind was filled with ideas of the way things can go. Sure it's not cannon, but sometimes the side stories are the best.

[rewells]

That is exactly what I did with my first (and so far only) game. I read "The Epic of Gilgamesh" in an Ancient History class and noticed that the Final Fantasy series borrowed a lot of the characters' names: Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Humbaba, Zu, Lilith, and now Enki and Enlil in FF-XIII. For "The Epic" being the oldest piece of literature (it's from about 4000 years ago), the story and characters are surprisingly complex, even moreso than later Greek and Hebrew myths - it is quite awesome, so I won't spoil it so you should read it. Anyway, I thought, "What if there was a Final Fantasy game based on this story?"

I'd played with every RM engine since I was 14 when RM 2000 came out. I always tried to start with my own story. I imagined some good concepts, but making a whole game meant developing pesky things plots and characters. Game's are about many more things than plot and characters, but they are a necessity. Having those provided by the epic itself and tons of ripped Final Fantasy graphics and art, I had all the pieces so I could have time to focus on those other hundreds of aspects that go into making a good game.

How many patches of grass should be protruding from this town's brick streets? With how much variance do you want a skill to inflict what amount of damage? How many bomb fragments should upgrading my weapon require? Did I make sure I did all of the following when I used that key: remove item[key], show text [You opened the door!"], change direction [door] control selfswitch [A = ON]?

The tedium is immense, but seeing the final product was worth it to me because I had a complete "vision": I knew how the story was going to play out, so I could design maps based around the scene descriptions rather than make up my own from thin air. I knew what kind of stats and skills to give my characters based on their descriptions in the story. I knew which music to play in which scene for the most dramatic effect.

And most importantly, the pre-existing fanbase of Final Fantasy and literary nerds have actually made people want to play it (cue self promotion: gilgameshgame.com

So yeah, I totally agree. Adapting my game from other sources gave me the time to learn the ins and outs of RM. It is an AMAZING piece of soft-ware. Some of the games people have developed with it could/should make money if only Enterbrain creates a mobile development program (big step, but I emailed a sales rep. and asked him to suggest it). Now that I have spent about 500+ hours playing with the program, I am starting to learn Ruby so I can edit the source code.

RM provides anyone the ability to make a good game - and basing your game on a story and characters that already exist provides you like 50% of the amount of energy you would have had to spend making those up on your own. Save yourself the struggle and just learn the program. You'll stand a better chance of mastering it, which will ultimately lead to you making better games. Just hearing feedback about my "final" product gave me the energy to revise it for content and glitches - I've already released five "final" versions because people keep suggesting ways/I think of ways to make it better. And one day when we can come up with our own stories we'll hopefully make money, right?

On my way home from the local comic book store I started to think about how great it would be to develop a game including some of my favourite characters from this medium. But these characters can't just co-exist willy-nilly (well, they can, but while you don't need a realistic plot a coherent one certainly helps); Astroboy isn't going to team up with Pacman and a character of your own creation to battle the Blue Meanie for control of Pepperland.
When DC were questioned what their biggest asset was their response wasn't an individual top selling character or brand but the Multiverse itself; the intricate development of a universe that allowed their characters to coexist.

But onwards with my original topic; there are certain benefits of drawing from a pre-existing story:
-Characters (and their relationships to other character) already exist
-Artwork for these characters also already exists (at the creator's permission)
-Complex and compelling plots already exist, and with crossover events such as DC's Crisis on Infinite Earth or Marvel's Civil War there is greater leniency for creating your wonder team, although in comic books teamups are fairly common anyway.
-These themes already have a fanbase, increasing the likelihood of someone actually wanting to play your finished product

While the amount of resources that already exist might sound like an attempt to limit your creativity they would be a great way for someone new to the engine to play around with it and still create an enjoyable game, that someone would actually play and provide feedback for.

And, of course, there's no need to fully obey a pre-existing plot, leave your mark on it, tell it how you thought it should have been told (other chars perspectives, etc.) And don't feel restricted to one theme; want to see Medieval Batman? You've got it. Steampunk Superman? You've got it. Just try to ensure that once you've established your theme you don't damage it by breaking into inexplicable tangents.

Finally, these benefits extend beyond this specific subject, comics, to clear relations like manga/anime, inter-platformally like film and television, and even to other pre-existing games.

Hope this gives you a few ideas
-Kaust

This post has been edited by rewells: Feb 1 2012, 10:50 PM

[shinyjiggly]

For my game, I based the world off of the one in Pokemon Mystery dungeon (as in, the situation of it being populated by talking Pokemon who don't have trainers) but the actual areas within the world were completely of my own design.

In hindsight, the inclusion of Kirby as one of the main characters doesn't even make that much sense (the basic outline for the plot was drawn up when I was in 7th grade), but still somehow manages to fit in, even if just for the fact that some people erroneously identify Kirby as a Pokemon and that he looks similar enough to jigglypuff to not get too many strange looks.
But I wouldn't be able to remove Kirby from the game without replacing his spot, as much of the plot revolves around his wish to be able to return home. It could almost be said that the experimental spliced Pokemon and the inclusion of a small town of humans

[Show/Hide] Rationale for including humans in a world dominated by Pokemon who do not answer to any trainer, includes massive PMD2 spoilers

(in PMD2, the main character, who was a human, came from the bad future and had a Grovyle partner that also reappeared later in the story using time travel. Since the Grovyle was from the current world, the human had to have been as well, not to say that I didn't toss in a twist on how any humans arrived in that world without being transformed)

juts out even more than Kirby.

That being said, for successful crossovers, it all depends on the context, theme, and how well the aspects of both meld together, as well as the current author's execution of the ideas brought to the table.

[Kaust]

This tutorial wasn't about crossovers, that bit at the beginning was about someone making a fangame controlling themselves. While the person in the opening example may enjoy anime, Pacman and the Beatles, it is such an eclectic range that the majority of players would likely be lost trying to follow so many references (and the, likely, many more that someone lacking such control would include). You yourself mentioned that the reason Kirby blends into the Pokemon world with such ease is because of his similarity in looks, but that does not mean all characters fit in everywhere.
That being said if you are writing deliberately far fetched plots, then no, of course there are no restrictions. However this tutorial, as with most tutorials, isn't for the experienced. With that in mind they should stick to simpler storylines or, for focusing on the engine, preconceived storylines.