Topic: Megaman New Horizon shuts down.

[Rin]

I'm not apologizing for having a book for sale. My dream is to do this work for a living after all, and the art and other things for the book cost a lot!!!

Don't worry, I'm not blaming you or anything.
I can understand things like this pretty well, I was just complaining because I like to... and also because I missed that one sentence in orange cuz I'm stoopid doopid. : P
Sorry if I seemed like an [dark hold], it seems to happen to me a lot here. : <

[Flame]

You know that you dont NEED Capcom's approval to make a fan game, right? If they want you to stop, theyll just contact you and tell you to stop. Otherwise, they dont really care. Fan games are just publicity for them. In fact, I think Nintendo's the only ones who ever actually stopped a fan project (Zelda movie)

[Rin]

You know that you dont NEED Capcom's approval to make a fan game, right? If they want you to stop, theyll just contact you and tell you to stop. Otherwise, they dont really care. Fan games are just publicity for them. In fact, I think Nintendo's the only ones who ever actually stopped a fan project (Zelda movie)

You're forgetting all the [parasitic bomb] that Square pulls regarding fangames and stuff?
Because I think you're forgetting that.

[Flame]

Dont think I KNEW about it. Enlighten me?

[Rin]

Dont think I KNEW about it. Enlighten me?

http://www.destructoid.com/square-enix-shuts-down-chrono-fan-game-crimson-echoes-131702.phtml
This thing in particular comes to mind.

[Krystal]

Imo if they don't issue a cease and desist order even after you show it to them, they're probably pretty happy to let you continue doing what you're doing >_>a

[Lysekoid]

Don't worry, I'm not blaming you or anything.
I can understand things like this pretty well, I was just complaining because I like to... and also because I missed that one sentence in orange cuz I'm stoopid doopid. : P
Sorry if I seemed like an [dark hold], it seems to happen to me a lot here. : <

You have nothing to apologize for. It was an honest statement. And I prefer discussions like this compared to silence. Besides, feedback, any feedback, is valuable.

You know that you dont NEED Capcom's approval to make a fan game, right? If they want you to stop, theyll just contact you and tell you to stop. Otherwise, they dont really care. Fan games are just publicity for them. In fact, I think Nintendo's the only ones who ever actually stopped a fan project (Zelda movie)

I saw a Zelda clone being stopped... maybe because they were reusing their in-game graphics... but you're probably right.

But that wasn't the only reason. We also stopped because many of my colleagues thought that if we were to invest countless of hours into something, then why not do something original. We just didn’t want to stand in Capcom’s shadow…

What would you do in my clothes? Would you continue working for month on something that belongs to someone else, or would you prefer creating something of your own?

[The Great Gonzo]

What would you do in my clothes? Would you continue working for month on something that belongs to someone else, or would you prefer creating something of your own?

I would've been annoyed at the implications that original projects are always completed simply by virtue of being original. (Not saying this to discredit your work; I've had a few original projects that went absolutely nowhere)

[Flame]

Depends. I might have gone ahead with the fan game.

If I felt strongly enough otherwise however, I might not have.

But I see many people make their own Megaman fan games and pull through.

I suppose the issue here is that you were making almost all elements from scratch, for a GBA quality game, which is time consuming, and in the end, was still only a fan project.

[Krystal]

I think the question of: Would you put so much effort into fan material? to be one that plagues a lot of people in fan communities.

The most common example that I see is aspiring artists who have their roots in being fanartists. Anime and fanart will not further your portfolio, so you might as well, quit, right?
But why do we draw fanart in the first place? It's a tribute to the things we love. We do it because we want to. We put effort into it because that's how we feel. If you love something so much that you want to dedicate the effort into making these tributes, then it's alright, right?
And to make things worse, fanart is always going to be more popular than original art. Because it targets and already established community, so you can be sure that someone will always 'appreciate' it on the basis that they're also huge fans.

And so we come upon a dilemma. Do you want to be recognised as who you are, or a creator of fan material? Honestly, it's a matter of goals and motivation. You should do whichever one you feel you want to. But you also have to understand how each will have different results.

By the way, New Horizon looks good. The web design needs work though. Not very pretty and rather user-unfriendly.

[Lysekoid]

And so we come upon a dilemma. Do you want to be recognised as who you are, or a creator of fan material? Honestly, it's a matter of goals and motivation. You should do whichever one you feel you want to. But you also have to understand how each will have different results.

Yeah... that's right on the mark.
I would probably be able to find more fans enjoying my work if I continued with the fan-project. I'd be easier from that point of view.
But I would never be able to take it to the next step...

By the way, New Horizon looks good. The web design needs work though. Not very pretty and rather user-unfriendly.

Now that was interesting... would you be able to show me a webpage you know of which is much better than mine?

[Krystal]

Umm, it's hard to provide specific examples because the information you gather from what I show would probably be different from the things that I feel need improvement. But let's take this website as an exemplar for the type of site you're going for.
And let's take this one as an example of a professional website that doesn't look or work very well.

One of the first fails you can see is that they're using a flash menu. Flash doesn't work on phones, and likes to crash, you honestly shouldn't be using it for something as important as the menu.
The layout of the front page is confusing. Why is there a random search bar in the middle of the page? What information should you be looking at first? Between 3 columns and 7 boxes (one of which isn't even used), along with several other images/buttons, the user loses interest and needs effort to browse the site.
There are even 2 different kinds of fonts on the front page. Inconsistency in a website looks bad, and the smooth, dusty graphics of the game contrasted with the shiny web 2.0 menus of the site make it worse.

Onto the former. The entire website is consistently gritty and bright, just like the game. They've even paid special attention to the background texture to make the website truly theirs. On a standard sized screen, the first thing you see is the promotions, framed by the logo and 'Buy' incentive image. The menu acts as a navigator to show you where you are, and is cleverly text-based, so that you can browse the site even without images.
Scroll down a bit and you get news, with enough information to give you an idea of whether you want to read it or not.

For the New Horizon website, you have quite a few problems. I suppose it isn't hard now to see that the web graphic design and the art/style of your images is inconsistent.
But even the background image's fade to black is in a completely different style.
The menu needs to go. If I wanted to browse your website, I would click the buttons. I don't need information that I can't even fit on my screen to pop up and cover what I'm currently reading.
There is too much information on the front page, and it's hard to get the most important points. For example, it's even easy to miss the bright orange "Everything you need to play the RPG is available for FREE. Just follow point 1-9 and enjoy the game!"
And have you realised that the text in your facebook widget is dark grey on black? Black backgrounds don't look too great to begin with, but if you want people to actually read the website, do not use white text on a black background. It hurts eyes. Light coloured-text on dark coloured-backgrounds can work but only with a large enough font size and less contrast. For example, I don't mind the white on dark teal that is RMPM.

Also I think I ranted too much. Please don't hate me for having a strong opinion on what I do best :3c <-- Digital Media Degree. Web Maintenance Internship. Volunteer Web Designer.

[Lysekoid]

I am actually about to remake the webpage, so your advice actually came in handy. Allow me to create a base layout and show it to you here...

I won't be able to do anything as awesome as the World of Warcraft webpage, but whatever I do will probably be good enough...

[Krystal]

The WoW page was shown as an exemplar, you can still make a great webpage without being as amazing as they are. The most important part of web design is to make something that's clear and easy to access for the user.
Ideally, it'll be engaging and pretty. Like a game or something.

But I can give my opinion on whatever design you have in mind o/

[Lysekoid]

But I can give my opinion on whatever design you have in mind o/

I would be most grateful!

I am working on a new layout.

Please tell me what you think of this example:
http://www.newhorizon1.com/NHweb/index.html

...and what you think I could do to improve it...

[Krystal]

First thing I noticed: The site takes way too long to load. So long that it times out on me before I can finish. A 2.5mb background image? Not all of us live in the country your site is hosted on, I personally try to make my gigantic-background-images less than 500kb.
This leads me to discover a problem that could've been hidden from me. Your website doesn't really allow for browsing without being completely loaded. Half loaded, you can't see the menu or the text at all. In my personal designs I always give everything with a background image a background colour that's similar to the image so that the colour will still support whatever is on top even if the image doesn't (completely) load. Or for people who disable images.
The site still fits perfectly on a 1024x768 screen so that's cool. I hope those menu colours and pinstriped background are temporary. Speaking of colours, why don't you add some colour to your site? The game itself looks pretty colourful and rich, but the website is so dull and business-like =w=a Really. (Read: White text on a grey background is still hard to read)
On a personal level I think those 'News' boxes are ugly. I think you should integrate them into the page with a simple divider that's obvious but not jarring. Anyway, rounded rectangles are so overused -o-
Speaking of which, add a copyright footer under the main part or get rid of the bottom rounded corners. It looks bad sitting at the bottom of the page like that. I suggest a footer.
By the way, you'll need to change up the logo graphic a bit. On my screen, it overlaps with the foliage in the background and becomes hard to read.
And please don't forget to change the link colours/graphic =w=a

Anyway, giant broken hard-to-load website aside, it's a vast improvement from the previous one and looks/feels much more professional and friendly. Except the large filesize.
There are less walls of text, and there is a good point of focus for when you first happen upon the index page. It also feels much more contained with the menu being integrated into the main body of the website. And no more hover hell. A lighter background for your white text is a good thing, but it can still be a bit taxing. I tend to go by the rule of never using pure black, or pure white.
It's also good that your website is separated from your background when you scroll down, and they no longer merge into one huge black blob. But I hate pure black...unless you can convince me that it's not ;3

The thing you should do for now is go here http://colorschemedesigner.com/ and have at you.

PS: Hmm, this is pretty off-topic from the original topic isn't it?

[Flame]

There isnt much left to talk about in the original subject, except for "Ohh We miss MMNH"

Unless Lysekoid wants to let us in on stuff that might have been with the original plan.

Posted on: March 31, 2011, 09:36:27 PMHey Lyse, what made you go with Volt over the Dungeons and Dragons system?

How many people actually play with Volt?

I looked through the Volt system, and quite frankly, it's pretty poor. It has no substance at all. Seems more like the kind of system one would use for a simple online RP, not a tabletop game.

[Lysekoid]

First of all, we actually have a new game in development. This time for the PC. But I'll get back to that later.

Why we went with Volt?
First of all, it was robust and fast. Once I learned how to use it, we were able to play table top games faster, enjoying the game so much more.

Second, the people who developed the system live 1 hour train ride from me. It's not the reason why I chose Volt, but when we want new things developed it's easier to meet face to face and explain what we need.

Third, writing an agreement wasn't hard, which we all signed for colalboration. Doing the same with D&D would most likely be impossible...

[Flame]

What do you mean by agreement?

I mean, do keep in mind, a few of D&D's own branches were conceived by people other than the DnD creators themselves. all of them almost, were create dby different people and groups. Though checking, they all seem to be listed as "game designers".

You can sure as hell give it a shot though. got little to lose. I mean, if they dont like it, well ok. they didnt want it.

DnD is in serious need of some more modern settings. there is only ONE modern setting, d20 Modern, and it supposedly sucks ass.

In any case, I really like the setting, but I just dont like Volt. It seems too lacking to me. But if it works best for you, then by all means, keep going.

[Weissritter]

We also stopped because many of my colleagues thought that if we were to invest countless of hours into something, then why not do something original. We just didn’t want to stand in Capcom’s shadow…

What would you do in my clothes? Would you continue working for month on something that belongs to someone else, or would you prefer creating something of your own?

Personally, were I possessed of talent (and drive, besides), I'd have continued, if at a slow pace so as not to burn out. But that really depends on how passionate you are about what you're doing, I'd say; I personally feel the X series, and particularly the X character himself, has been poorly handled by Capcom, and has turned out to be a waste of potential. I feel the series needs to be "done justice", if you will, and sometimes time constraints and money become more important to people than making an enjoyable product; this is less of an issue in a fan project, where you're more likely to find people who are doing the work because they feel strongly about making an entertaining experience. The primary issue here is that such projects are often limited by the talent and resources of these intrepid few. But, hell, if I personally had the talent to make a good game, and a reliable couple of people to back me up in the things I stink at, I'd love to make a game that I feel is worth the series.

But, well, that's me. Many game series that have been around for awhile have had their superstar entries, or have made a comeback in recent years, and not all of them need a fan's touch. I just think this series is a different story.

[Ramzal]

Well, good thing you are not him. Needless to say, Lysekoid I applaud your change of mind. In general the thought of making profit off of a creation of someone else making is pretty arrogant and uncreative. It's like seeing a Taco Bell open in  your neighborhood, going inside said taco bell, ording a taco and then going "You know, I think these things could use more onions." And then going back to Taco bell and saying "Look, I added RED onions to your tacos, I am a genuis. Now give me some money for improving something you made/" It's insulting, it's demeaning and point frankly it's quite stupid. The action of creating something yourself is what makes money suddently appear in a once empty checking account. Innovation, creativty and exploration is the key, not ripping off someone elses victory.

I say good luck to what you are doing, and continue on said path without a shread of regret. Keep it up and make something awesome and will fill your pockets with the money of the fanboys who may tell you "No! Go back to Megaman!"

[xemiroth]

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[xemiroth]

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