ATAVUS DEI'S PROFILE

You raise a lot of very good points, Mayor. Just to reinforce the derivative work example you mentioned: this specific instance is also what people call an "alternate universe" setting, where you take the same characters and place them within a new environment, time period, dimension, etc. What is different in this alternate universe is simply the circumstances in which these characters experienced their life. One of many examples of derivative work.

One thing I must comment on is the "wholly original" part. While it is true that an author will eventually have to evolve to creating their own plots and characters, there is no way to avoid using cliches, tropes, or reusing ideas. "Nothing is original anymore" is an extreme quote, but it has a point: You cannot avoid doing something that has already been done before. Redesigning the wheel sometimes has its benefits, but if the regular old wheel suits you fine, use it.

I felt that clearup needed to be mentioned in case of a misunderstanding, because it's something I have encountered occasionally while delving into this stuff. Consider Star Trek and its use of humanoid-like aliens. It's a cliche that everyone knows is nearly impossible in reality, given the specific conditions on Earth that led to humanity, but how much sci-fi out there uses it just as liberally? Maybe with some modifications, but the idea is still there.

Ah, an anime lover. :) Welcome to RMN!

I noticed this place is one where the more mature members of the RPG Maker community tend to hang around. Glad to see someone else has joined the ranks.

What I notice about most fangames (and alot of fanfiction in general) is that they tend to have bad writing, gameplay, artistic, etc. quality as compared to games or stories with original ideas. This isn't to say originals completely own fangames all the time no matter what, or that all fangames suck; the same rules apply for fangames as with originals. However, fangames just have that kind of statistical bad reputation (just look at DBZ, FF7, Pokemon, insert other pop culture item here fangames).

Hey guys, I didn't see any other topics such as this on the forum, so I figured I'd start one. Basically, it's going to be a list of programs that one could find useful for their games, whatever they may be. Some of these programs are actually used by professionals out there, too, so they may be worth giving a shot. :) Feel free to post any others that you know of!

3D Modeling/Animation:
Blender (http://www.blender.org): Multi-platform 3D modeling and animation package. Comes with two renderers, and is expandable through the Python language.

Image Creation/Editing:
GIMP (http://www.gimp.org): Multi-platform image editor. Not quite as powerful as Photoshop, but very close.
Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org): Multi-platform vector graphics editor.

Sound Creation/Editing:
Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net): Multi-platform sound creator and editor. Can export to MP3s and OGGs (MP3s require the LAME library).
LAME (http://lame.sourceforge.net): Library used by a number of programs for handling the creation/editing of MP3s.

That's all for now; I'll update it when I get the chance. Right now, it's getting pretty late. :o

You could always find a "misty" foreground picture, and use a Show Picture-Move Picture loop trick to get it moving. Though, it's hard this way, because you need to get the looping done properly. Otherwise, when the next loop begins, it looks as if all the mist instantaneously relocates. Which is a bit ugly. :P