Fangame

Fangames are typically games, made by fans, featuring popular video game characters. Sometimes the gameplay style of the games in question is as close to the original as possible, but often times have unusual twists or are different altogether. In older fangames, the programming was poor and failed to meet the excellence of the original games. However, due to recent advances in tools, such as the design application Sv4, new programming techniques and other developed skills have greatly improved the quality of fangames, allowing a select few of current fangames to even exceed the capabilities of the original games on which they were based.

For instance, Sonic the Hedgehog has an incredibly large fangaming base (possibly the largest of all game series, with other popular series like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda and Mega Man following closely). Most of the games featuring him try to emulate the classic Sonic formula, such as the fangames Sonic Time Attacked or Sonic Robo Blast 2, but others, like Sonic Brick, do something different entirely (in this case, a Breakout clone). This holds true for all series for which there are fangames. Additionally, some fangames may incorperate gameplay associated with the actual licensed games, but the game itself is presented in a different way. The most common example of this is when a fangamer develops a game based on a "family friendly" series such as Mario, but gives his or her game a more "adult" atmosphere through the use of more adult situations, graphics, or dialogue.

Fangames are made with a variety of tools. Some of the more common ways of doing this would be by using the Clickteam line of products (such as Multimedia Fusion), by using Game Maker, or by pure code (with such programming languages as C++ or Python).

Some companies go out of their way to shut down fangames, declaring them copyright infringements. Such shutdown has been believed to have a chilling effect on free speech, where amateur developers can't predict what a court will find as fair use. Other times, companies have endorsed fangames, such as the Metroid fangame sponsored by Nintendo. Very few companies have ever officially made comments on fangaming, however; one company that has is Capcom, who formally stated that fangames of their products could be made. This is also seen through a Myst fangame, called "The Ages of Ilathid", where Cyan Worlds, the original creators of Myst, has given permission to the creators of The Ages of Ilathid. Most companies that don't outwardly promote or challenge fangames have in the past exacted a de facto policy of non-involvement or neutrality, officially stating that their copyrighted material may not be used without permission, but refusing to prosecute fangamers for doing so (other than cases in which games have been sold for profit).

Much like fanfiction, there has been criticism of fangames. Some fangames are poor imitators of their source material, while others put a great deal more emphasis on cinematic cutscenes than on the gameplay itself. Others, however, are much truer. The aforementioned Sonic Robo Blast 2, a game which uses a modified version of Doom's engine to create a 3D Sonic game which plays very similar to the classic 2D games, has a significant fanbase and a small editing community which has created a few add-ons to the game.

Because of the sheer number of fangames available on the Internet, it's rare for any one game or game designer to achieve any kind of immense popularity. Perhaps the only fan developer to become extremely well known for this work was Jordan Bieber, who released his games under the "Biebersoft" label. His work includes Super Mario vs New Wario Order: World Tour, Ode to Zelda, and several original titles. He later went on to produce exclusively original work, and converted some of his earlier games into original titles (for instance, "Ode to Zelda" became "The First Quest," and had all Zelda graphics and references removed).

Other popular fangames include Pocket Mario, Toad Strikes Back, Mario Forever, Project Mario, and Super Mario Epic 2: Dream Machine (TSB and PM are currently available only as demos). One anticipated upcoming fangame is ShadowMan's Luigi's Game, which bypasses the typically bright and colorful Mario motif in favor of a darker atmosphere with Mario's brother as the prime character.

It should be noted that fangames are not limited exclusively to successful, mainstream video games. A fangame titled "Communist Mutants from Space" based on a slightly obscure Atari 2600 game of the same name was released by Jeff Silvers Software on May 29, 2005.

External links

• Sonic Fan Games HQ (http://sfghq.emulationzone.org/)
• Sonic Robo Blast 2 (http://www.srb2.org/)
• Mario Fangames Galaxy (http://www.mfgg.net/)