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A fan game is a video game that is created by fans of a certain topic or IP. They are usually based on one, or in some cases several, video game entries or franchises. [1] Many fan games attempt to clone or remake the original game's design, gameplay, and characters, but it is equally common for fans to develop a unique game using another as a template. Though the quality of fan games has always varied, recent advances in computer technology and in available tools, e.g. through open source software, have made creating high-quality games easier. Fan games can be seen as user-generated content, as part of the retrogaming phenomena, and as expression of the remix culture.
Fan games are either developed as standalone games with their own engines, or as modifications to existing games that piggyback on the other's engines. [2] Each approach has different advantages, as standalone games are generally accessible to larger audiences but may often be more difficult or time-consuming to develop.
Fan games are often developed using pre-existing tools and game engines. The Unity engine and Adobe Flash allow fans to develop standalone games, as with other programs such as GameMaker, Construct, RPG Maker, or any of the Clickteam products (such as The Games Factory and Multimedia Fusion 2).
Fan game developers often select and use free and open source game engines (such as OGRE, Crystal Space, DarkPlaces, and Spring) to help fans create games without the cost of licensing a commercial alternative. These engines may be altered and redesigned within the terms of their open source license and often cost significantly less than commercial options, but do not always allow developers to easily create high-end visual effects without additional effort.
It is also possible for fans to develop original game engines from scratch using a programming language such as C++, although doing so takes much more time and technical ability than modifying an existing game; an example is the Spring Engine which started as fan-made Total Annihilation game. [3]
Fan games are sometimes developed as a modification to an existing game, using features and software provided by many game engines. Mods usually are not allowed to modify the original story and game graphics, but rather extend the current content that was provided by the original developer. Modding an existing game is often cheaper than developing a fan game from scratch.
Because of the complexity of developing an entirely new game, fan games are often made using pre-existing tools that either came with the original game, or are readily available elsewhere. Certain games, such as Unreal Tournament 2004 and Neverwinter Nights , come with map-editing and scripting tools to allow fans to develop mods using the engine provided with the original game. Games such as Doom are old enough (end-of-life) that their source code has been released, allowing radical changes to take place; more examples in the List of commercial video games with available source code .
Another form of modding comes from editing the ROM images of older games, such as SNES games. Programs such as Lunar Magic enable a user to modify the existing data in the ROM image and change levels, character graphics, or any other aspect the program allows. While normally played on emulators, these newly edited ROM images could theoretically be used in conjunction with a flash drive to actually create cartridges for the older system, allowing the modified ROM images to run on the original hardware. A notable recent example of such a fan game is The Legend of Zelda: Parallel Worlds which was hailed by reviewers as a remarkable unofficial sequel to A Link to the Past . [4] [5] [6] Other notable examples include Legend of Zelda: Curse from the Outskirts, [7] Blaster Master: Pimp Your Ride, and Super Mario World - The Second Reality Project 2. [6]
Famous fan mods (for example, Counter-Strike , Day of Defeat , and Pirates, Vikings and Knights II ) may even be adopted by the game developer (in all the mentioned cases, Valve) and made into an official addition to the existing game ( Half-Life ).
Because fan games are developed with a relatively low budget, a fan game is rarely available on a console system; licensing fees are too prohibitive. However, unlicensed fan games have occasionally made it onto consoles with a significant homebrew scene, such as the Atari 2600, the NES, SNES, the Game Boy line, Sony's PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, and many others.
Some companies shut down fan games as copyright infringements. Original copyright holders can order a cease and desist upon fan game projects, as by definition fan games are unauthorized uses of copyrighted property. Many fan games go as far as taking music and graphics directly from the original games.
A notable case in late 2005 involved Vivendi Universal shutting down a King's Quest fan project, King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has a Silver Lining . It was to be an unofficial sequel granting closure to the series, which had its last release in 1998. After a letter-writing campaign and fan protests, Vivendi reversed its decision and gave permission for the game to be made.[ citation needed ] As part of the negotiations, the developers were required to remove "King's Quest" from the title. [8] Conversely, fan protests for the shutting down of Chrono Resurrection (a remake demo of Chrono Trigger ) in 2004 have yielded no result on Square Enix's action to block the project. [9]
Nintendo is notorious for its strict protection of its intellectual property (IP) [10] and has shut down many notable fan games, including an HD remake of Super Mario 64 , [11] AM2R , [12] [13] and No Mario's Sky . [14] [15] Nintendo has also taken down various Pokémon fan games such as "Pokenet" [16] [17] and "Pokémon Uranium". [18] [19]
A Spyro the Dragon fan game, Spyro: Myths Awaken, was shut down by Activision (the current owners of the Spyro IP) in September 2018 [20] and later became Zera: Myths Awaken with all Activision-owned content being replaced by original content. After this legal action, other fan-made games like Spyro 2: Spring Savanna stopped the development. Previously in 2007, legal action was also taken by Activision against an open source software named Piano Hero by sending a cease and desist letter, which resulted in a name change to Synthesia.
In 2021, a lawsuit was filed by Rockstar Games' parent company Take-Two Interactive against the authors of re3 and reVC, which were reverse engineering projects for the games Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City that allowed the games to be played on contemporary platforms such as the Nintendo Switch. Take-Two asserted that they "are well aware that they do not possess the right to copy, adapt, or distribute derivative GTA source code, or the audiovisual elements of the games, and that doing so constitutes copyright infringement", and also alleging that the project has caused "irreparable harm" to the company. [21] [22] Take-Two dismissed the lawsuits in April 2023. [23]
Also in 2021, Osmany Gomez developed a game called "I Am Batman" using the Unreal Engine 5 engine, using the characters Batman, Joker and Penguin from Tim Burton's duology. [24] In May 2021, the developer posted a video of a demo version of the game on his YouTube channel, but two days later Warner Brothers blocked his video. Gomez does not want to sue the film studio and therefore the project was closed. [25]
Capcom suspended a fan's remake of Code Veronica and the original Resident Evil on copyright grounds. [26] [27] [28]
Other times, companies have endorsed fan games. For example, Capcom has featured Peter Sjöstrand's Mega Man 2.5D fan game in their community site more than once. [29] [30] However, Capcom Senior Vice President Christian Svennson has stated that, while they legally can't sanction fan games, they won't proactively go after them either. [31] In 2012, Capcom took Seo Zong Hui's Street Fighter X Mega Man and funded it, promoting it from a simple fan game to an officially licensed freeware Mega Man game. [32]
In 2008, Christian Whitehead created his own game engine, known as the Retro Engine, for use in the Sonic the Hedgehog fan game Retro Sonic. Whitehead developed a proof-of-concept prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog CD running on the Retro Engine and pitched it to Sega. [33] Sega gave their approval, and a full remake running on Whitehead's engine was released two years later. [34] Whitehead later worked with fellow fan-programmer Simon Thomley to develop mobile remakes of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 , and ultimately directed an all-new Sonic the Hedgehog title, Sonic Mania , with a development team made up of individuals noted for their work in the Sonic the Hedgehog fan community. [35] Mania would also be used as the basis for Sonic Superstars .
Skywind is a fan remastering of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002) in the game engine of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim . The original game developers, Bethesda Softworks, have given project volunteers their approval. [36] The remastering team involves over 70 volunteers in artist, composer, designer, developer, and voice acting roles. In November 2014, the team reported to have finished half of the remaster's environment, over 10,000 new dialogue lines, and three hours of series-inspired soundtrack.
In April 2017, Mig Perez and Jeffrey Montoya released Castlevania: The Lecarde Chronicles 2. The game features all new assets and a new soundtrack, as well as new voice acting from actors who appeared in the official Castlevania series, such as Douglas Rye who played Dracula in Curse of Darkness and Robert Belgrade who played Alucard in Symphony of the Night . Konami allowed the game to be released with the contingency that the game remains non-profit. [37] [38]
Sonic Team is a video game developer owned by the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 2 division. Sonic Team is best known for its namesake long-running Sonic the Hedgehog series and games such as Nights into Dreams and Phantasy Star Online.
A platformer is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels with uneven terrain and suspended platforms of varying height that require jumping and climbing to traverse. Other acrobatic maneuvers may factor into the gameplay, such as swinging from vines or grappling hooks, jumping off walls, gliding through the air, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Sega for the Genesis. Like previous Sonic games, players traverse side-scrolling levels while collecting rings and defeating enemies. They control Sonic and Tails, who attempt to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds to stop Doctor Robotnik from relaunching his space station, the Death Egg, after it crash-lands on a mysterious floating island. Sonic 3 introduces Knuckles the Echidna, the island guardian, who lays traps for Sonic and Tails.
Yuji Naka, credited in some games as YU2, is a former Japanese video game programmer, designer and producer. He is the co-creator of the Sonic the Hedgehog series and was the president of Sonic Team at Sega until his departure in 2006.
Sonic & Knuckles is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Sega. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog or Knuckles the Echidna in their quests to save Angel Island; Sonic tries to stop Doctor Robotnik from re-launching his orbital weapon, the Death Egg, while Knuckles scuffles with Robotnik's minion, EggRobo. Like previous Sonic games, players traverse side-scrolling levels at high speeds while collecting rings and defeating enemies.
Sonic X-treme was a platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute from 1994 until its cancellation in 1996. It was planned as the first fully 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game, taking Sonic into the 3D era of video games, and the first original Sonic game for the Sega Saturn. The storyline followed Sonic on his journey to stop Dr. Robotnik from stealing six magic rings from Tiara Boobowski and her father. X-treme featured open levels rotating around a fixed center of gravity and, like previous Sonic games, featured collectible rings and fast-paced gameplay.
ROM hacking is the process of modifying a ROM image or ROM file of a video game to alter the game's graphics, dialogue, levels, gameplay, and/or other elements. This is usually done by technically inclined video game fans to improve an old game of importance, as a creative outlet, or to make new, unofficial games using the old game's engine. ROM hacks either re-design a game for new, fun gameplay while keeping most if not all of the items the same, as well as unlocking/reimplementing features that existed in the game's code but are not utilized in-game.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 1992 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) for the Sega Genesis. Players control Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space station. Like the first Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), players traverse side-scrolling levels at high speeds while collecting rings, defeating enemies, and fighting bosses. Sonic 2 introduces Sonic's sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower and features faster gameplay, larger levels, a multiplayer mode, and special stages featuring pre-rendered 3D graphics.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I is a 2010 platform game developed by Dimps, with assistance from Sonic Team, and published by Sega. It is a sequel to Sonic & Knuckles (1994), following Sonic as he sets out to stop a returning Doctor Eggman. Like the Sonic the Hedgehog games released for the Sega Genesis, Episode I features side-scrolling gameplay, with movement restricted to a 2D plane. The player races through levels collecting rings while rolling into a ball to attack enemies. The game also features special stages in which the player collects Chaos Emeralds and online leaderboards comparing level completion times and high scores.
Sonic After the Sequel is a 2013 platform video game created by Brazilian student Felipe Daneluz (LakeFeperd). It is an unofficial game based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series and set between the official games Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Daneluz's second Sonic game, it follows Sonic Before the Sequel, which is set between the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Like its predecessor, After the Sequel stars Sonic the Hedgehog and his sidekick Tails in a quest to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Doctor Eggman.
Sonic Runners was a 2015 endless runner game in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise for Android and iOS. It was developed by Sonic Team as its first Sonic game exclusive to smartphones and published by Sega. In Sonic Runners, the player-character constantly ran forward, and players controlled their jumping from a side-scrolling perspective using the touchscreen. The game was free-to-play, featured a wide variety of playable characters from the Sonic series, and received periodic updates.
Sonic Mania is a 2017 platform game published by Sega for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. Produced in commemoration of the Sonic the Hedgehog series' 25th anniversary, Sonic Mania pays homage to the original Sega Genesis Sonic games, featuring speedy side-scrolling gameplay. It takes place over 13 levels, including several redesigned from past games. The story follows Sonic, Tails and Knuckles as they venture to defeat their nemesis Doctor Eggman and his robotic henchmen, the Hard-Boiled Heavies.
Christian Whitehead, also known by his alias The Taxman, is an Australian video game programmer and designer. He is most recognized for his work creating updated ports of early games in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series, as well as being the lead developer of an original game in the series, Sonic Mania. He has also developed multiple remakes of classic Sonic games and most recently, the remasters in Sonic Origins.
The Retro Engine, also known as the Retro Software Development Kit, is a multiplatform game engine developed by Australian programmer Christian Whitehead, best known for its use in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series.
Spyro Reignited Trilogy is a 2018 platform game compilation developed by Toys for Bob and published by Activision. It includes remakes of the first three games in the Spyro series: Spyro the Dragon (1998), Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! (1999), and Spyro: Year of the Dragon (2000). Reignited was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2018, while Nintendo Switch and Windows versions released in September 2019. The collection received positive reviews from critics and has sold over 10 million units as of September 2023.
Sonic Origins is a 2022 video game compilation. It features remasters of the first four platform games in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series—Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), Sonic CD (1993), and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (1994)—originally released for the Sega Genesis and the Sega CD. The games are playable in their original format and a new widescreen format that removes lives. Origins adds additional game modes and missions, which allow players to unlock content in a museum.
Pokémon Prism is a fangame based on the Pokémon series of video games. A Pokémon Crystal ROM hack, its developer, Adam, also known as Koolboyman, had previously developed other hacks, Pokémon Brown and Rijon Adventures. A team of developers also assisted in its completion, and it was planned to be released on December 25, 2016. It was cancelled several days prior to release, on December 21, following a cease and desist by Nintendo in which all the developer's ROM hacks were pulled offline, but later leaked onto the Internet.
However, after a few weeks, Whitehead's website was taken offline, as was the YouTube video he released to show off his work. It seemed as though Sega's lawyers had issued a cease-and-desist and ordered his work to be scrapped. Two years later and an official Sonic CD release surfaces bearing Whitehead's name. Sega had done what few multinational companies of its size, age and resultant inflexibility could have: made a fan a creative asset.