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Geek Culture / Minitroid - Indie Fan Game

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_Pauli_
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Posted: 5th Apr 2011 18:02
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What an awesome game!
Still just a tech demo but very playable. Great idea and a fantastic job done by three indie developers.

Be sure to check it out while it's not banned for patent issues:
Minitroid @ Metroid Database



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Non Sequitur M
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Posted: 6th Apr 2011 00:14 Edited at: 6th Apr 2011 03:25
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Awesome! Words do not describe the level of joy I feel...

Seriously, this is great. It feels even better than the last 2D 'Troid game! What was it? Oh, yeah, Zero Mission! And, they made the bomb jump just beautifully! This person/group is really talented.

It's like Metroid meets Honey I Shrunk the Kids!

If life were like a box of chocolates, I'd know what I would get... The one that got dropped on the floor and put back in the box.

Iye nehvur yoose spehl chehk, ahn mie tippyng izz fiyne.
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Phaelax
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Posted: 6th Apr 2011 02:34
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whats so special about it? just a mini remake of an existing game

The Internet: Where men are men, women are men, and children are federal agents
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heyufool1
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Posted: 6th Apr 2011 02:52
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Quote: "whats so special about it? just a mini remake of an existing game"

Ahh good, I'm not the only one thinking that

"So hold your head up high and know, it's not the end of the road"
Avoider The Game
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Doomster
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Posted: 6th Apr 2011 03:45 Edited at: 6th Apr 2011 03:45
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Quote: "just a mini remake of an existing game"


According to the creator it's a completely new game:

Quote: ""*COUGH* This isn't a remake/demake/retcon or what have you, it's a brand new Metroid game. I feel I've been pretty clear about this." -Tokinsom"


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Phaelax
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Posted: 6th Apr 2011 09:18
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He might have made new levels, but it's the same basic game.

The Internet: Where men are men, women are men, and children are federal agents
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_Pauli_
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Posted: 6th Apr 2011 12:31
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Sure, but I pay them respect for the work they put into it. Afterall they did it all by themselves, code, graphics, music.
So I see nothing too wrong in taking an existing game concept and paying homage to it in form of a fan game.
Better than any game I ever made

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David R
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Posted: 6th Apr 2011 18:57 Edited at: 6th Apr 2011 18:58
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Just a note to anyone not on windows; Don't bother trying to download and play in Wine.

It's written in Construct and fails with some weird error about an .rsx file in /temp

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0
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PrimalBeans
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Posted: 7th Apr 2011 10:27
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hey that looks like a feat for anyone... regardless of the legalities or anything. So dont be so hard on them... on the other hand... samus is an itellectual property so i would expect some complaints unless they had some previous permission... but still cool regardless.

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Quik
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Posted: 7th Apr 2011 17:35
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Quote: "whats so special about it? just a mini remake of an existing game"


First off, i believe ANY GAME that a indie game developer (studio) comes up with is amazing.
Especially considering me and my cousin spend one year on creating a SIMPLE Tower defence in Python, and it never even finished.

Also, a chibi inspired Metroid, can it become better?


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
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Phaelax
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Posted: 7th Apr 2011 23:30
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I'm not saying anything bad about the game or the effort the developers put into it, yea it's well done. I'm still working on a zelda clone myself. But nothing about it stands out as "awesome" in my opinion. Now if I could download it to my iPhone.....

The Internet: Where men are men, women are men, and children are federal agents
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Non Sequitur M
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Posted: 7th Apr 2011 23:51
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As long as they don't charge money, Nintendo won't sue. It's free publicity. It's a fan game. Think about it... If you made a game that was so popular that someone felt inclined to copy it for fun(and for free), would you smack them with a lawsuit, or would you feel honored? In fact, we could see these people working on a future Metroid game. Some companies have picked up programmers who were interested in their game, and were capable of putting a fresh spin on their idea. As long as the fan game remains free.

If life were like a box of chocolates, I'd know what I would get... The one that got dropped on the floor and put back in the box.

Iye nehvur yoose spehl chehk, ahn mie tippyng izz fiyne.
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Agent Dink
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Posted: 8th Apr 2011 01:40
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That's not always true. Many projects get shut down by greedy companies.

http://lossofanonymity.wordpress.com
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Non Sequitur M
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Posted: 8th Apr 2011 02:06
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Well, I've never seen Nintendo shut down a good project. I mean, there are tons of fully programmed NES and SNES remakes out there. I think they take a 'no harm, no foul' view.

If life were like a box of chocolates, I'd know what I would get... The one that got dropped on the floor and put back in the box.

Iye nehvur yoose spehl chehk, ahn mie tippyng izz fiyne.
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Darth Kiwi
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Posted: 8th Apr 2011 03:28 Edited at: 8th Apr 2011 03:32
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Quote: "Think about it... If you made a game that was so popular that someone felt inclined to copy it for fun(and for free), would you smack them with a lawsuit, or would you feel honored?"


http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/03/30/ea-vs-ultima-iv/

http://www.destructoid.com/square-enix-shuts-down-chrono-fan-game-crimson-echoes-131702.phtml

This one got a C&D twice and both times just managed to pull through.

I also remember reading about a System Shock remake that got blocked by the rights holders (EA, I think) which is ridiculous. The original game hasn't been on sale for years. Unfortunately I can't find a link, though.

Yes, sometimes companies see sense and endorse fangames. The most recent example would be the guy who made the Starcraft MMO, got shut down, and then got hired. But this is not normally the case, and anybody making a fan project should be well aware that they may not necessarily get the goodwill of whoever holds the rights.

Good on Nintendo for letting metroid fangames exist, though.

Secretary of Unknowable Knowledge for the Rock/Dink administration '08
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PrimalBeans
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Posted: 8th Apr 2011 04:10
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There are known instances of fan games being shut down by companies under less ambiguous circumstances. I cant recall the name of it but there was a super hero game that resembled marvel super heros that was shut down because they were too similar to marvels creations. The problem companies have is when they allow projects to do this its usually company belief that if they let one then they have to let them all and sometimes that can be a bad thing, especially when shotty offshoots get associated with thier company. So it really depends on the company involved and what their policy is. Another reason is if projects get popular (like in the example instance) it can actually draw users away from thier product. For instance why would someone actually purchase a commercial game when they have a free version available they can use instead. One thing that was really not in favor of the game i mentioned before though was that marvel was already in an ip lawsuit with a partner company during the time. These circumstances forced them to take a hard stance on this kind of ip infringment. Usually though if the project stays small it will go unoticed or will be not worth the investment to have it shut down.

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Non Sequitur M
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Posted: 8th Apr 2011 06:47
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A) Darth. Did you just use EA and SE as examples? They are some of the most money hungry, power mad companies out there...

B) Agent. Yes, agreed. Greedy game companies do kill such projects. See the two above examples. I can't stand EA and SE anymore.

C) Primal. Good point. But, if a game is just an exact clone, and is free to download, I hardly doubt that it would pull away from a company's consumer base.

Like this thread's demo for example. If Nintendo released Metroid: insert cool sub title here for the DS or 3DS, are you going to say, "Sorry, Nintendo... I've got a chibi Metroid game!" No! Because, there is no way for a small time fan game to outshine a company that can sink X million dollars into a canonical game.

Now, I could see if this Metroid fan game was on a major development schedule with some aspirations to best the actual franchise, or if they made a game about a woman in a powered suit fighting giant space amoebas, and taking down a power mad alien queen... Then, yeah. But, back to my above point, Nintendo has never seemed overly greedy about that kind of thing. I mean, they seem to plop out a new game every other day of the week! Haha. They have enough material to keep their ravenous fans' appetites sated. Although, I see where you guys are coming from.

If life were like a box of chocolates, I'd know what I would get... The one that got dropped on the floor and put back in the box.

Iye nehvur yoose spehl chehk, ahn mie tippyng izz fiyne.
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Darth Kiwi
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Posted: 8th Apr 2011 13:26 Edited at: 8th Apr 2011 13:31
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I take your point, Amo: massive companies like EA and SE which tend to knee-jerk-shut-down anything that breathes "copyright infringement" can't really be compared to Nintendo, who, as far as I know, haven't shut down a fan project. I just don't want people to read about how awesome this is, and think that all fangames have this level of freedom: that's how people end up pouring blood, sweat and tears into a fangame only to have it blocked at the last moment by the rights holders.

And this is an especially big problem because big companies (which normally squash fan projects) tend to swallow up smaller companies (which originally held the rights and might be more forgiving). For example, Looking Glass originally held the rights to System Shock and Ultima, and might have been willing to let fan remakes of those games go ahead. But when they ran out of money the rights to those games were bought by EA (or by someone who was then, ultimately, bought by EA) so those beloved games were then effectively owned by people who didn't really care about them but were nevertheless able to shut down any fan projects.

Anyway, sorry, we're getting off topic. Yay minitroid! I keep getting killed by plant things.

Secretary of Unknowable Knowledge for the Rock/Dink administration '08
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Quik
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Posted: 8th Apr 2011 14:05
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actually there was a Zelda Fan game clone on Moddb a while ago
it got shut down pretty darn fast


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
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tha_rami
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Posted: 8th Apr 2011 17:57
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As far as I know, some copyright law in certain countries requires companies to defend their copyrights from obvious infringements to be able to hold their copyrights to the game. The above EA/SE are probably just examples of those.

Business guy and developer at [url]www.vlambeer.com[/url] - bringing back arcade since 1956.
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Non Sequitur M
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Posted: 8th Apr 2011 18:50 Edited at: 8th Apr 2011 18:51
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Yeah. Darth is right. We're off left field of this topic.

Darth, you talking about the ones that hang from the ceilings and snatch you up? I hate those, too.

I've beaten it in like 15 minutes, though... 'Cause, I'm a !

Note: Read above as, "I have no life... 'Cause, I'm a !"

Lol!

If life were like a box of chocolates, I'd know what I would get... The one that got dropped on the floor and put back in the box.

Iye nehvur yoose spehl chehk, ahn mie tippyng izz fiyne.
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