Greetings, friends!
Noguchi here, bringing you yet another post on my musings about the community. Today, I want to talk about making fan games and how to make them stand out, whether it’s through a hack, SRPG Studio, FEXNA, or something else. This community continues growing, and as it does, there is a larger influx of new fan games. This can be attributed to a number of things, but in general I think we can all agree that creating a Fire Emblem fan game has never been more accessible or easy. This is hardly a bad thing, as it’s cool to see different people who love Fire Emblem come together to create their own stories and games. Of course, once you’ve made your game, you want people to play it! While you should always focus on making it appeal to YOU, what’s the fun in making a fan game nobody plays? Where’s the reward?
That’s why you have to find ways to make your fan game stick out! There’s a number of different ways to do this, some more accessible than others. For example, having appealing art and aesthetics depends on having at least a few people onboard who are capable of making that. To get those people, you’ll need some way to get those people. More on that later, though.
There are two important things to consider when getting people engaged in your fan game: initial attention and continued attention. Initial attention refers to people who give your game a shot once, give you some feedback, then move on to other things. Continued attention, however, refers to getting people who will continue playtesting new patches or even join in on assisting directly through art, ASM, or other ways of assistance. Both of these are important. You won’t get CONTINUED attention without first getting some INITIAL attention. If all you care about is people playing your game, however, continued attention won’t be very important to you. If you’re striving to create a work of renown, however, you’ll need all the continued attention and support you can get.
Aesthetics
Making a fan game of any sort will require some effort in this department. While many members of the community will argue that these aren’t important, I find this to not be true. People will often try out your game if they see screenshots or videos that intrigue them about it. If you post your project on FEU and all that we see are vanilla FE8 mugs and tile-spam maps it is very likely that the people you want to try out your game will just keep scrolling. This isn’t necessarily through fault of your own, though. Most of us aren’t artistically inclined. This can make it extremely hard to pull in interest in your project to GET those artists on board. You should always consult mapping tutorials or ask for help, as visually appealing maps can go a LONG way in garnering interest from screenshots. Aesthetics are one of the biggest ways to garner INITIAL attention for your game. If people see something that LOOKS good, they’re inclined to believe it IS good and give it a shot. It’s important to note that most people in the community are aware of the lack of spriters, but with the number of mapping tutorials in existence, I can’t stress enough how important it is that your maps in promo screenshots look good. This is one of the big things that can hold SRPG studio games back, as the default visuals of SRPG studio are FAR less attractive than the charm of GBAFE. Even just using f2u assets from the many blitzes can go a long way in improving the look of your game (always give credit, though).
Writing
Writing is another key way to garner initial attention with your game. While not much of it will be seen in demo screenshots, it’s important that what you DO show has a level of taste to it. You don’t want something generic like “I’m Eirika, princess of Renais,” or “How much weight… can you handle?” Having a quote that creates a level of intrigue in the story you’re trying to tell can draw a player’s attention in remarkably well. Additionally, you want it to be grammatically correct. While many members of the community are not primary English-speakers, having things that sound too conversational or modern, have very poor grammar, or just don’t make sense immediately turn many of us off from playing fan games. There are members of the community who are willing to do quick occasional grammar checks, and you shouldn’t be afraid to ask people for help in that area if you aren’t comfortable.
However, writing can also help get continued attention for your game. While writing is often considered the least important part of a fan game by many people in the community, having poor writing or a bad story can turn many players off of your game. Try to stay away from typical story tropes used in FE. It’s important to find a way to make people stay intrigued by what’s to come. Stay away from generic tropes, including but not limited to the “dead dad,” “bad dude trying to resurrect ancient evil,” “mary sue lord,” etc. These are all things we’ve come to expect from Fire Emblem games, and while they CAN work, finding your own interesting story to tell can go a lot further. Engaging characters also goes a long way. A lot of people look for how well your game plays and is designed, but a lot of us also like to see story elements we aren’t used to.
Gameplay
This is likely the biggest way to get continued interest in your game. Having good and interesting design and gameplay helps people ENJOY your game, and if they enjoy playing it, they’re going to continue coming back and help you continue to improve. While a good story is worth a playthrough, good gameplay is worth multiple. Reward fast play so good players are pushed to use what they have, but don’t completely exclude slower players. Create a varied toolbox that keeps things tactical without turning it into an RNG-fest. Balance your characters precisely to fill the necessary niches without becoming too powerful. Anything you can do to create a fun and engaging experience gameplay-wise will help you continue to improve. This is where Vision Quest excels, as it constantly keeps you thinking without ever being unfair to the player. This is a large part of why Vision Quest garnered interest so quickly, as Pandan himself has said that the original look of the game was hardly something drawing players in. VQ also benefits from strong writing. Both these factors pulled a large number of artists and playtesters in, pushing it to be the outstanding product it is now.
Gimmicks
This is perhaps the most dangerous area we’ve discussed. Gimmicks can make your game stand out immensely for any number of reasons, good or bad. Before we get too far into this, I want to reiterate that no gameplay choice exists in a vacuum. Many things are often criticized for their implementation before being criticized for what they are on their own. A prime example of this would be in the form of skills. Having too many skills is often considered bad. However, having a few skills to help accentuate a character’s niche without making the game too much of a “oh shoot I missed that” fest can make each class feel more unique, and therefore, more worthwhile. Lowering the vanilla skill numbers and limiting overpowered proc skills are a few ways to keep the balance of the skill system in check. Gimmicks don’t work well on their own. If you just implement something without building your game around the knowledge that that exists, you WILL create a poorly balanced mess that isn’t fun to play. Trying to implement a gimmick after already having completed a large portion of your game is sure to go poorly unless you take the time to rebalance older parts of the game around it. Every choice has impact and you need to account for that no matter what that choice is or when it’s implemented.
It should be noted that gimmicks come in many forms. For example, The Nameless Heroes makes Capture a key part of the gameplay. It works very well for TNH, as the hack is built around the knowledge that capture is implemented. If you design most of your game to be played like vanilla Fire Emblem, but then implement something like capture or even the skill system, the balance will be thrown off. You could also use a structural gimmick, like we do in Legends of Avenir. Interesting things like this that break the formula of a typical FE-game can garner a lot of initial attention, and if done right, they can garner continued attention as well. Just make sure to try and find something interesting.
Reputation/Publicity
Reputation can also influence people’s attitudes towards your project. If you’re a no-name, it may not help you get a ton of people onboard. Try making a few chapters and reaching out to individuals to try them out. Joining the discord is a GREAT way to get connected. Additionally, if you’re rude or condescending, nobody wants to help you out with your stuff no matter how cool the concept may seem. Strutting around like you know everything also doesn’t help your case. Most of these issues aren’t entirely related to this thread of thinking, but you want to be personable, friendly, and professional when you’re starting up your own project because what may start as a solo project may very well turn into a whole team project. An example: even though Pandan is the “creator” of Vision Quest, it wouldn’t have been possible for it to get where it is without the tons of people he’s credited. He led the team that created Vision Quest. If you’ve not really done a whole lot to show off your project, that’ll also impact your ability to get people interested. You want to make sure you introduce your project and have something to show. A few screenshots, a small demo of a couple chapters, and a well-written introduction so that people know this is a real thing that you’re creating. Don’t reveal too much (so that people have a reason to play) but don’t reveal too little (otherwise it’ll look like you’ve not made anything)
Interestingly, releasing a “completed hack” is a very quick way to garner a LOT of initial attention. Many people refuse to play incomplete hacks, for one. People are also always curious by “dark horses” such as these. However, this isn’t an excuse to keep your project entirely secret. Many of these “complete hacks” struggle to get full time members on board because people play through it once, report the likely NUMEROUS bugs (as “secret projects” rarely have enough playtesters to catch them all), and then never touch the game again. If you truly want to keep the project secret until release, try to get friends to playtest it. Find the bugs, find the design. On top of that, there’s no reason to avoid being active in the community prior to making it. Playing hacks, watching videos, and talking to people are just a few of the best ways to learn about how to design a well-made hack. Then, you can release your hack in a truly completed state, with relatively few bugs, a good look, and fun gameplay. Having playtesters is crucial for any fan game, as we all have holes in what we’re capable of creating ourselves and need people to bring our attention to where those are.
Continued Attention
This is a section that’s solely going to be about retaining continued attention, because there’s a level that certain factors OUTSIDE of what you’re creating can influence how long people stay engaged in your project, particularly those that are making your art, ASM, or other direct forms of assistance. There’s a number of things you have to communicate very clearly when you’re leading a team on a project, because when you’ve pulled other members of the community in to work on something, you’ve become more than just someone making a project. You’ve become a LEADER. You have to clearly communicate and show progress to keep people engaged in what you’re doing. Otherwise, they have no guarantee that what they’re doing is going towards anything. I know some people disagree with this sentiment, but because none of us are being paid for our work (commissions aside), you have to show that you’re just as dedicated to a project as the people trying to help you with it. It’s disrespectful to not show this level of courtesy to the people working under you and continue to expect them to contribute. They are free to do what they want. If they don’t feel like there’s any payout to them contributing to your project, they likely won’t continue to do so. Being transparent, communicative, and continuing to do your work on your project will help keep artists and other members of the community on board with what you’re trying to do. If you don’t uphold your side of the bargain, they have no reason to uphold theirs. Basically, communicate clear progress with your team so they know work is still happening and have motivation to continue working. This helps you keep people on board to help you IMMENSELY.
Conclusion
Above all else, you want to create a quality product in all areas. It should be fun to play, have an engaging/interesting story, look good, and be unique. In short, strive for quality and a product you can show. Getting people on board to help you with this can be tough, but hopefully what I’ve written helps you figure out what YOU can do in order to make your game better to get other people in the community interested. This doesn’t even just apply to new people. Those of us who have been here for awhile can always learn better ways to improve our projects, get them noticed, and be better towards the people helping us out.
As always, thank you for reading! If you have something to contribute to the conversation, feel free to drop it below; there’s a lot that goes into making a fan game so I’m sure I missed something!
you noguchi but i gotta do this for my boys who can’t read