Proteen wrote:

What would it take to make an original game that would draw players away from the Zeta rips? Away from the Naruto and Bleach and Pokemon? Resident Evil?

It would take at the very least a game with similar gameplay mechanics, which is easy to understand and has a cool story behind it.

There must be quests, it must be able to fit in with the other Anime games yet stand on its own.

Is it even possible? Are fan-games just too popular to try and overcome?

The thing with fan games is that they're really easy to make. You don't have to focus on a storyline and most of the gameplay mechanics are carbon copied straight off whatever the game is being adapted from.

This makes it really easy to produce, and although the problem with rips has been a popular thing, I now see that this is not the issue; it's those that can make a game with original code and icons, yet who don't have an original storyline or gameplay to come up with.

If GOA wasn't based off of Naruto, would players still be interested?

Depends. What kind of game would GOA be if it wasn't a Naruto game? If it would share the same gameplay as it does now except the characters are called different, then I think it might work out.

On the other hand there are those that try to imitate, and this is a very powerful force. In order for a non-fan game to become popular you have to convince the subconscious of your players that your game is what they want to imitate. You have to make players feel special enough so that they're free to imitate, yet leave enough choice open so that players can make a unique character instead of sticking with one they worship.

Is the majority of BYOND only seeking fan-game experiences?

The majority of BYOND are players, and they don't know what they want. If advertised properly, any game can get some players. In order to make those players stick, the game play and graphics have to be spot on, the game has to be easy enough to understand and there must be a motivation for players to score in the game.

Take all fan-games away from the website. What games would the people play then?

If all the fan games were taken away, BYOND would become a dead, empty husk. The primary visitors of the website would be developers, and any games left won't be considered worth to play.

Why? Because "any games left" pretty much consists of games such as Last Robot Standing, which has received enough advertising and is original. That game would not get destroyed along with the other fan games. Unfortunately, that is a casual game, and people prefer to play casual games from the comfort of their browser window instead of having to download a program before they can play.

Is GOA popular because it has good gameplay? Or is it just good because a BYOND developer has failed to create a better fighting game?

A little bit of both. The gameplay of GOA is borrowed from Naruto's way of working with things. From what little I know of Naruto, you must perform some kind of "exam" before you can achieve something (?) and this has been duplicated in GOA. There was little thought involved into its design; since it was in Naruto it was ported over.

The danger here is that you can get too involved with the material. If everything from Naruto is copied over with perfect accuracy than the game will suck though it may still attract players. If this happens then the game becomes so hopelessly lost in it's derived material that the balance issues cause gigantic problems. (see the old DBZ games and their "power levels")

A line has to be drawn. Raekwon did this well with his adaptation of DBZ. He allowed players to feel special, yet at the same time it wasn't so horrible that a player could choose to teleport to another player with the Instant Transmission power, knock them out and steal their valuables within five seconds; which was possible in the former DBZ games.

Naruto will undergo a similar phase, whereby eventually a game will be produced where the developer puts more careful thought into what he's implementing and how it will affect players.

Except by then, another Anime will already of have become popular enough and the cycle will start all over.

Is Resident Evil popular on BYOND because it has the best zombies? Or is it because the critical elitist lot of BYOND has yet to deliver a greater shooting game?

I think the latter may have something to do with this. A Resident Evil game involves a lot of action, which BYOND isn't good at. I think a lot of the older developers have backed away from the "action" part because of this.

The only game on BYOND I've seen do AI well is Lummox JR's game "Scream of the Stickster II", where the AI can "hear" and "see". I doubt this Resident Evil game you're talking about matches that level of ingenuity; the AI of those zombies is more than likely only good for attacking players and maybe for retreating if their health is too low.

Should we sit back and laugh at the lame zeta rips? Or create a fighting game so awesome that no one would dare log into one of them ever again?

Sitting back and laughing has worked so far, and is pretty much the only option since Action games are difficult to create. BYOND is much more suited for casual games and perhaps RPGs, but fast-paced action is not something it does well.

However, times are changing. We can already modify the whole interface, make our games isometric, work with alpha transparency in our icons and play any sound we want. I have every faith in that BYOND is going to improve itself to make Action games a worthwhile category to co-exist among the others.

I guess I'm saying, is there anything we can do about the endless fan-games other than complain about it? What does it take to make a game where players would go "Hey, screw this Dragon Ball game, I'm gonna go play this awesome original non fan-game!" How can we get rid of these once and for all?

You could try to actually design a game and write a good storyline for it. The problem with BYOND is that it's fun to do as a hobby and professional programmers are far and in-between. I can tell because I am not one of them; I would rather just get started on building something rather than "waste time" writing a design document.

But if a game is properly designed and has a good story, I'm sure it can be superior to even larger games like GOA. At that point the only issue is making sure players join it through advertising and making sure players don't leave the game by satisfying their curiosity.

Nothing can beat a well-made fan-game I think.

A theme that draws its crowd from something that has actually been on TV and that the masses know about seems to be unbeatable.

Unless its craptitude output is extremely high.

If the games are commercial grade it's different I think, but byond is all 2d and junk and you gotta have an imagination to think what your actually doing in the game is anything like what it's based on.

Depends on the players. At a guess I would say a majority of gamers out there play games for how they play, not what franchise they may or may not be based on. Make a game you enjoy, and show it to people, everywhere. I would be more concerned about hitting the millions of gamers out there, as opposed to the 10,000 fairly happy gamers currently here who quite like playing the fan-games they currently play. I would also like to point out BYOND is not at war with parts of itself.

Pretty much yeah, they find us. We don't go out and try and get their attention really, and an issue for other groups on BYOND, as they don't have that similar appeal right off the bat.