TOASTER_TEAM'S PROFILE

Good advice. I'll try it!

Thanks.

What's going to happen is I'll write the lines people interested in VA here. Then anyone can give it a shot if they want.

This is part of the screen. It's still very rough and incomplete but should give you an idea:

I've done quite a bit of research on this and I've come to the conclusion that 60$/minute is a good rule of thumb. Paying 100$/hour seems excessive to me but if you have the budget, why not.

It's a lot easier to get a spotlight on your game if you're building off existing properties. The paradox of a lot of these fan games is if they didn't brand themselves after Mother, Pokemon, Metroid, etc., then they wouldn't have gotten nearly the same amount of exposure in the first place.

The travesty of the FF Mystic Quest rpg maker remake is a good example of this. Anyone in the rpg maker community recognized it as a half-assed knockoff, but it got more exposure than any game on this site (save for maybe Pom). While people are always hungry for new games, there's so much garbage on the market that it's a lot easier to flock to brands that they trust. So, I understand why the Metroid 2 project wasn't called Spacegirl Saves the Brainbug; no one would have cared about it, and it probably wouldn't have gotten made in the first place. They could rebrand and change the assets now, but it feels pretty dishonest to someone who's trying to build something new from the ground up.

I really like this interpretation, I find it very lucid.

I would nuance it somewhat by saying that fangames are not always created because they want to ride on the coattails of famous games. Some people really like those types of universes so much they want to create something that's part of it. They do get the benefit of the "fame" of the original but it's not the main motivation behind the actual creation.

The other issue is that famous games became famous for a reason; they excelled in some way which allowed them to stand out from their competitors. This isn't some random event that happened just because. They had exceptional level design, writing or gameplay for example. The problem with wanting to tackle fangames of those masterpieces is that you indirectly have to meet the same level of quality. This is where everything comes crumbling because very few people have the resources or the skills to make fangames which even come close to the originals.

They ultimately get compared and strongly criticized for being mediocre since they're compared to things which are legendary.

It's not always the case of course (the game seems to meet the Metroid standards I understand) but it's sometimes the case.

The other issue I see is that there's such a thing as a creative identity. The reason I always watch films from a certain directors or read books from a certain writer is because they have their own, personal unique touch. It's a representation of what they are as person and as they're unique people, it's almost impossible to reproduce their artistic take on things.

Ultimately, I can't help but feel that fangames are in a way a shortcoming in their lack of originality. Everyone can create their own personal universe. The guy who made this game could have gone the extra mile and individualize the actual game with his own personal touch, his own unique protagonist and so on. It requires effort and trial and error but it's definitely possible.

Thanks!

I've bid a on Blue Yeti on eBay. We'll see how that goes.