A Fan-Made Solution

[Rodbrush]

I recently read the quote from Jim Ward regarding another MI game being released around 2015 and I was at first frustrated. However I then remembered how I've always known since EFMI that it would be a long time before the next installment, so my hopes weren't so high that they were shattered.

 

But that's not what this post is about. Its about fan-made point and click adventure games. I'm sure you've seen the fan projects for Indiana Jones games and there's probably a lot of MI fan projects too. One major problem I see with these is the (in some cases) lack of dedication of those involved to actually see the project through. However I see a great advantage in this area of interest.

 

If the people working on these fan projects are successful, they can inspire others who have an interest. I'm one of those people who would love to see more fan-made projects as long as they're decent and not awful. I'm going to research some fan-made MI projects to see what sort of quality is out there.

 

What is the fan-made solution? Hopefully its a solution because it gets those in power to take notice and see that there's a potentially explosive market here that can greatly affect their business, for the good. My hope is that someone, anyone from an established publisher sees the potential for fan-made games and gets the ball rolling on numerous projects.

 

There are major hurdles to this that would need to be overcome. It just needs someone who has the passion, drive, enthusiasm, patience and dedication to create well presented and professional-like projects.

 

So is this the solution to getting another MI game? Maybe not but I feel its wrong to stay in the negative camp regarding this.

[Joshi]

Quite a few half decent fan made MI games were shut down by LucasArts because of copywrite or whatever. Yeah, it's true that people come along, try to make a game and then give up half way through, but those were the people who were in over their head to begin with and once they realised it would be too hard an undertaking, decided against it.

 

If you can find some people who are dedicated enough, or if you yourself are then at least we can get a decent fan game out of this. I highly doubt another MI game coming out of LucasArts, even in 2015.

 

Then again...

[Scummbuddy]

A high quality (at least graphic-wise) MI project can be read about here:

 

http://new.bigbluecup.com/yabb/index.php?topic=22611.0

http://www.t-vandepoele.be/rmi/

[Rodbrush]

That fan-made MI game looks very interesting, I'll have to keep an eye on it.

 

About fan-made games, you can see their concerns because the fans who make these games are an unknown liability to them. They have no idea whether the game is going to be represented properly or if its going to tarnish the other games in the series.

 

I'm not saying that the fans aren't serious about making sure they treat the property with the right respect, its just that for the company its a risk to allow.

 

An argument I have is concerning the fan-made Star Wars movies that are uploaded to TheForce.net. George Lucas doesn't have a bone to pick with the people because he condones the site. I want to know why something similar can't be set up for fan-made games.

 

As for myself I have started projects before and haven't finished them. I was making an Evil Dead II 2D game using the Games Factory and while I did finish that project the graphics were crap. So a couple of years later I decided to remake it, but I eventually gave up.

 

So if I were to make a fan-made game I would have to make sure I had the endurance for the project, because I don't want to make an announcement for something, have people get excited and then not finish it.

 

I don't know if this has been shown on these forums before but here's a link to an Indiana Jones fan project that currently has a demo, and they're trying to get enough money to hire the voice actor who did Indy's voice. Its called Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth. Here it is:

 

http://www.barnettcollege.com/demo.htm

 

I've played it and I thought they're doing a great job and its really keeping to the style of the other Indy LucasArts Adventure games.

 

I found out today about a game being made by people who used to work on the LucasArts Adventure games, its called A Vampyre Story, here's a link to the site:

 

http://www.amegames.com/

[Joshi]

Well, you have to remember, George Lucas himself doesn't have a great amount of input to the running of LucasArts, he simply provides the money for it to run. As it is,LucasArts tends to shut such games down because they don't like people using their properties like that.

 

When it comes to fan made things, the thing that really gets people to finish such things is the mnowledge that when you've finished it, it will actually get played and people might enjoy it. When it gets to a point when feedback is negative and you think not a lot of people are going to want to play it, you start to wonder whether it's really worth it, which is why people tend to give up.

[Rodbrush]

With anything creative that you do, there is always that element of not knowing whether it will be received well or not. You just have to ensure that the quality is top-notch and give it the best you can, and not rush the project too.

 

I can totally understand LucasArts position though, as I do other game companies. It's also a bit of a grey area for some people because they believe that by putting a disclaimer into the game will guard against that. But I guess it comes down to whether they find out about it or not.

[Joshi]

True, but it is all about building up hype, if halfway through your project you start getting negative feedback from your target audience based on your idea, you'd feel like quitting.

 

And no, not everyones like that, the people who see it through till the end despite critique are the ones who tend to be successful.

[Rodbrush]

Yes people can become discouraged, and quite easily too because they're putting time and effort into the project and they want some acknowledgement that what they're doing is good, and will be successful. I think it presents a challenge that needs to be faced, because only by being shown and understanding what is and isn't working will you be able to improve them.

 

So those who show early stuff about their fan project are risking their ability to continue through with it, and some continue and learn from their mistakes and others give up.

 

There's a project I'm working on at the moment but I haven't posted details about it anywhere on the net, and I'm not going to here. Its only because I want to make sure I have something finished and to show for before getting a critique on it.

[Joshi]

Yeah, that's another thing, too many people have come to these boards with a wish and a dream and nothing to back it up. They ask if anyone would be interested in helping them without any kind of preliminary work to back up any claims that they might be able to follow through.

 

It's good that you're biding your time until you have something a little more concrete as it gives people more faith in you than someone who says "I have no money and no experience, but I want to make the greatest game in the whole freaking world!"