FAN GAMES -- THE GOLDEN RULE

How can your game be a fan game if you've got general elements or elements that can be understood by non-fans? Hmm...

There's a difference between homage games and fan games. Its up to the developer to decide which is more fitting.

I expect fan games to have very specific content to the game that its being made from. That and I expect there to include spoilers from the original game, and for the writers of the fan game to assume things of the player because they player ought to be a fan as well. For example, if someone got married in the original game, the fan game shouldn't mention why or how, because its something the player should already know.

If none of that pertains to the development of your game then you've got a homage game. I expect fan games to be made for the fans not for everybody to so easily pick up on.

Some fangames are based on games with no story what-so-ever(Zelda 1) so there really is no source material other than graphics. Hell, I've even created totally different uses for items that were in the original.

The best fan games are the ones that stay true to the atmosphere of the original, even if most of the gameplay elements are different(like the feeling of all early FF's). Consistant graphics and sound are important too, as soon as you throw in RTP slime you've failed hard. It's harder for games that have deep story and character development. If someone makes a serious FF7 fangame, how likely is it that they will be able to write believable dialogue that syncs with the personalities of those beloved characters?

author=Radnen
I expect fan games to have very specific content to the game that its being made from. That and I expect there to include spoilers from the original game, and for the writers of the fan game to assume things of the player because they player ought to be a fan as well. For example, if someone got married in the original game, the fan game shouldn't mention why or how, because its something the player should already know.

If none of that pertains to the development of your game then you've got a homage game. I expect fan games to be made for the fans not for everybody to so easily pick up on.

A game can be made for the fans and they would be the ones to understand the reasons behind events/characters, but you can't just make a fan game and have an NPC say "Go talk to that guy who beat you up in episode 1". That's obviously an exaggeration but it's not very hard to make a game for the fans with clear goals so that a non fan can understand the story your presenting and actually complete the goals without having to check Wikipedia to solve puzzles.

Well that depends on how easy your source material is to understand. If someone plays a Pokemon fangame without any knowledge of the Pokemon games then there is no point stopping every few seconds to explain the mechanics of Pokeballs and what Pokemon are and why they have to obey their masters and who Team ____ from the previous games are, because even the source material is confusing to a lot of people who don't just flow with it.

You can try explaining things, but do it in a natural way. Don't stop every time in a Zelda game to say "this is Ganon, he stole the Triforce of Power from aeons ago and got trapped in the Dark World and yadda yadda yadda" unless it is called for in your game. It's preachy to nonfans and redundant to actual fans, and nobody's going to enjoy it. If a character shows up from previous source material and nobody asks about his/her/its background story, don't go into detail on it.