ShadowMan did a MFGG article

[Vitiman]

I read this article when it came out, and it was absolutely one of the most compelling reads about this culture I've come across. A lot of stuff surrounding older forums and fangames and stuff is very mocking, but ShadowMan (being from this scene) put a very neutral narrative to the whole thing - acknowledging the faults of that kind of culture and how it can brew hostility, but also finding it nostalgic in a very weird way and how it was only ever intended to be silly, surreal fun.

Some of my favourite fangames are the more outwardly bizarre ones. Mario's Time Battle was a direct influence on a (fairly well regarded) fangame of my own, and I've been pushing for people to make more fangames like that... albeit, not a whole lot of people are rallying around to champion the development of "Luigi VS. The Cheese Monster"

Interestingly, I too have been wanting to make a throwback fangame for quite some time now. I've mapped out all kinds of concepts for one, how far of a throwback would it go, how polished it should be by modern standards, etc. I've never quite hit a point in my developments that got very far, but I'd love to come back to the general idea and make something out of it. I just always figured no one would actually want to play something like that these days - an extremely niche game in an already niche community, you know? Not that I've ever cared about appealing to the masses.