OK, my first article ever.

As people who've seen my games know, I like to make fangames, and yes, I realize people hate fangames. I'm writing this article because I've played so many god awful fan games with heaps of potential, and those bad ones are ruining the chances of a good one getting recognition.

If you've played my games like Texas Chainsaw massacre, Friday the 13th and that Evil Dead Beta thing, you'll know my style. Throughout the article, I'll list the most important things in my opinnion. While you're reading, the goal if the type of fangame im talking about is one that is a simulation of the film. And before we get started, A LIBRARY GRAPHIC IS DEATH!

Heres my list;

Colour scheme: THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS, I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!!! Let's take Texas chainsaw massacre (the original) for example; the colours used where all oranges and reds throghout the film, now if you're gonna make a Sawyer map, make the primary colours red and orange. When I made my TCM game I loosely based it on TCM 3, which was set at night time and featured alot of blues.

Characters: Now if theres a bad guy in a movie who chases people and simply does not stop, give your little bad guy ball movement and never let him stop. I really hate Leatherface in my TCM game cause he's relentless, you shouldn't look forward to popping a cap in a bad guy's ass unless it was like that in the film, when you're fighting leatherface, you're doing it to survive. If you can't draw a character that someone instantly recognizes and praises, get someone else to do it, bad pictures can ruin a whole experience. And one last thing, if your playing as a character in a movie who only runs and hides, don't give him superior firepower to use in the game, let him try to outsmart enemies instead of shooting, for example any heroin in the Friday the 13th films.

Gameplay: Lets say you make a game based on Evil dead (my favourite), Ash tends to walk around and kick ass and a similar way to a beatemup, now dont go making a puzzle game or platform from this please, it ruins the atmosphere. If you really want to simulate the movie, being that you want the player to think he's a part of it, not some spectator moving the character from point A to point B, give it alternate endings and paths, I rarely see this in a TGF game, and it's so extremely easy to do.

Map: I like to recreate the whole area down to every last detail, but ussually I don't, but if it is done, it is very good. One other thing that makes a good map is interactivity, another thing I simply am not seeing, put in a mirror that you can smash, put in a tiolet that you can flush, fill it up with little surprises, please, this may seem obvious but no one does it.

Story: Easy, DO NOT CHANGE A THING. Let's say you make a Halloween game, it's ok to have myers or a teen take a different path and do things other than they did in the film, but do NOT do things like give Loomis a lost twin brother or have Laurie team up with Dr. Wynn and kick Myer's ass, it would not happen in the film and therefore cannot happen in the game.

Climax: Very easy, see what points the movie focuses on, and recreate them. Terminator 2 for example,

GOOD: Have t-1000 chasing John, then make a big deal out of the final blast t-800 lands onto t-1000, maybe slow the grenade down and everything else down, seeing as it was in slow motion. Finish the level, goto the final screen and recreate the final dialogue with John and the t-800, put in some sad music, Sarah's final speech, then cut to credits, the player will walk away feeling moved.

BAD: Terminator pumps bullets into t-1000 and he dissapears. Cut to next screen, have some poorly copied dialogue and some niffy techno tunes. Cut to credits.

Sound: Try to use only music from the movie, if you can't find it, use a similar track, DO NOT try to impliment your own style. And make sure if your character is a loudmouth in a film, make him a loudmouth in the game, vice versa.

Moral of the story: It is entirely possible to create a good fan game, you just have to be dedicated and a big fan of the film you're making.

There, my first article.