04-19-2024, 06:35 PM
Once upon a time, MFGG ran a big collaborative fangame project, eventually named Midas Machine. It was amazing - it produced a large quantity of beautiful, fun-to-play levels and a really fun and creative story. The problem is it became so complicated that the project fizzled out and never got done - and its project lead grew so busy with things that actually paid him money.
Since then, there have been a couple of other attempts at unofficial Community Fangame Projects, but those eventually faded away, full of good ideas and good intentions but lacking in focus and project management skills.
I'm proposing a new Community Fangame Project - one that has a much better chance of getting finished!
Genre
This would be a 2-D platformer. This is the gameplay that people are most likely to associate with Mario, and it's the kind of game that most MFGGers have tried making.
Engine
I highly recommend Gate's engine for this. It's packed with features, it's been widely used for 15 years, and it's actively maintained by an MFGG admin who isn't going away.
Using this will require that you have access to GM Studio 2 if you're making levels or programming bosses/enemies. Fortunately, GM is free! And most of us use it. Even if you're new to GM, I think you'll quickly be able to get up to speed creating levels. If your background is in ROM hacking or SMBX or Mario Maker, I think you'll find making levels in Gate's engine to be intuitive.
Collaboration method
Since multiple people will be touching the same codebase, sometimes concurrently, we'll need a version control system. And fortunately, GM Studio 2 integrates nicely with Git, probably the most popular version control system out there. If you're working on a level, you'll be able to "check out" that level and work on it while other people are working on other levels or other things. It's pretty cool!
I'd like for people to make a forum post when they're submitting a level, graphic, or song for review.
We can use the forums or Discord for brainstorming. If we use Discord, we'll want to create a channel for this, and if we use the forums, we might want to create a CFP forum.
People: What we need
One person can hold multiple roles, of course.
You absolutely don't need to be an expert at any of these skills to help out! Though if you're brand-new, you might be better off just playing and offering feedback.
We probably want the first level and the last regular level to be made by the team lead or one of the more experienced developers who's closely involved in the project, since those levels are especially important to get right.
Considerations
Language: Game will be in English, since most people here speak English.
Level length: Levels should be a reasonable length - think a typical level in SMW.
Game length: Let's aim for 20-25 levels for now - we can always add more if this project proves to be popular. Remember that we won't be making levels in the order in which they appear in the game.
Graphical style: Any custom graphics should match the style of the game. We can talk about what graphical style you want to use.
Music style: We want to be consistent with this too. It would be weird to have orchestrated music in one level and NES music in the next level, unless there's a very good reason to mix styles.
Innovation: The game should feel Mario-ish, but we also want to be innovative. We don't want this to be New Super Mario Bros. 2024!
Level environments: It's totally OK to have some different kinds of level environments, and we don't have to start with a grassy/hilly world and proceed into a desert area and end with a Dark Land-type realm. We want a variety of level environments - we'll want to communicate to make sure that we don't have a situation where eight different level designers make a Ghost House level or something.
Difficulty: We want this game to be enjoyable and accessible to a wide audience. However, it's also true that most people playing Mario fangames have some experience with the Mario series and probably don't want or need hold-your-hand tutorials or in-game aids. It's fine if the later levels are a bit harder than, say, the later SMW levels, but we don't want to go overboard with difficulty.
Quality control: Your level contributions will be edited by team leads - we'll work with level submitters and take into account feedback from players. Team leads reserve the right to reject a level that's too short or ludicrously hard, but I think in most cases we'll only need to make small tweaks to ensure high quality. And, of course, it's OK for each level designer to show their own personality in their levels - it's normal (and expected) that a level made by one designer would feel a bit different from someone else's level.
Credit: This is a freeware, nonprofit fangame, just like everything else on MFGG. You obviously won't get paid for anything you do. We'll recognize contributors with a forum badge and copious credit in the game, in the help file, and on social media.
Decisions to make
Story: This is where y'all come in! Be creative. We probably want to agree on a framework for the story before we start designing lots of levels.
Characters: Will Mario be the only playable character? Should we add Luigi? Should some of Mario's other friends join the party? Remember that each playable character multiplies the number of sprites needed for power-ups and stuff.
Number of power-ups: Gate's engine comes with a massive selection of power-ups. We likely won't want to use every one of them in the game. We'll need to agree on which power-ups we want available in this game. For example, having an abundant supply of items that offer flying or fall-breaking capabilities (like a Super Leaf/Tanooki Suit) can significantly affect how people design their levels. (Alternatively, we could make certain power-ups available only in certain levels.)
Yoshi: I love Mario's dino buddy. We all do. But do we want Yoshi to be playable in the game? Is he still afraid of Ghost Houses? Remember that Yoshi is a particularly powerful power-up, and if he's available, we'll need to adjust our levels accordingly.
Coins: Should the game have coins? What would we use them for? Would they be for accumulating extra lives or for buying stuff?
Points: Do we need a points system? Would points have a purpose, like for online high scores?
Lives: Do we need a lives system? If not, is there something else we could use 1-Up Mushrooms for?
Checkpoints: Should we use checkpoints? Should they just be for longer levels or for before bosses? Note that having checkpoints might give a purpose for a lives system even if you have unlimited opportunities to save your progress.
Save points: Personally, in 2024 I prefer platformers that save progress every time you complete a level.
Collectibles: Should we have some kind of collectible item in each level, like Star Coins? Or something that's harder to find, like the DK Coins in DKC2? What would be the reward for accumulating a lot of collectibles? Remember that we want the reward to be commensurate with the difficult in collecting them all - unlocking secret levels is a lot more exciting than getting a 16x16 star next to your save file.
End point: Do you want levels to use an SMB1 flagpole? An SMW goal tape? SMB3 cards? Something new and different?
Why this can succeed
Collaborative projects are always challenging. However, I think my proposed model offers a lot of advantages over previous formats - it's focused on getting the most important stuff done first, and if people stay interested and engaged, we can always add more levels and features later on. I think the choice of engine and collaboration method will make it easy to get a good number of people participating. I also think that having stable, experienced leadership will help.
I truly believe that we can make something super-awesome if we bring MFGG's best together! What do y'all think?
Since then, there have been a couple of other attempts at unofficial Community Fangame Projects, but those eventually faded away, full of good ideas and good intentions but lacking in focus and project management skills.
I'm proposing a new Community Fangame Project - one that has a much better chance of getting finished!
Genre
This would be a 2-D platformer. This is the gameplay that people are most likely to associate with Mario, and it's the kind of game that most MFGGers have tried making.
Engine
I highly recommend Gate's engine for this. It's packed with features, it's been widely used for 15 years, and it's actively maintained by an MFGG admin who isn't going away.
Using this will require that you have access to GM Studio 2 if you're making levels or programming bosses/enemies. Fortunately, GM is free! And most of us use it. Even if you're new to GM, I think you'll quickly be able to get up to speed creating levels. If your background is in ROM hacking or SMBX or Mario Maker, I think you'll find making levels in Gate's engine to be intuitive.
Collaboration method
Since multiple people will be touching the same codebase, sometimes concurrently, we'll need a version control system. And fortunately, GM Studio 2 integrates nicely with Git, probably the most popular version control system out there. If you're working on a level, you'll be able to "check out" that level and work on it while other people are working on other levels or other things. It's pretty cool!
I'd like for people to make a forum post when they're submitting a level, graphic, or song for review.
We can use the forums or Discord for brainstorming. If we use Discord, we'll want to create a channel for this, and if we use the forums, we might want to create a CFP forum.
People: What we need
- A team lead (someone who can stitch everything together - probably Gate or me)
- Level designers (the more the merrier - it would be appreciated if you can contribute at least a couple of levels)
- Graphics designers (custom graphics are cool, but it's OK to use ripped graphics as well)
- Music designers (an original theme song would be cool, although it's also OK to use soundfonted MIDIs)
- Boss designers (remember that making original bosses is time-consuming - one boss can take longer to develop than multiple levels)
- Testers (people who can play through the levels and make sure things work right and the difficulty curve is fair)
One person can hold multiple roles, of course.
You absolutely don't need to be an expert at any of these skills to help out! Though if you're brand-new, you might be better off just playing and offering feedback.
We probably want the first level and the last regular level to be made by the team lead or one of the more experienced developers who's closely involved in the project, since those levels are especially important to get right.
Considerations
Language: Game will be in English, since most people here speak English.
Level length: Levels should be a reasonable length - think a typical level in SMW.
Game length: Let's aim for 20-25 levels for now - we can always add more if this project proves to be popular. Remember that we won't be making levels in the order in which they appear in the game.
Graphical style: Any custom graphics should match the style of the game. We can talk about what graphical style you want to use.
Music style: We want to be consistent with this too. It would be weird to have orchestrated music in one level and NES music in the next level, unless there's a very good reason to mix styles.
Innovation: The game should feel Mario-ish, but we also want to be innovative. We don't want this to be New Super Mario Bros. 2024!
Level environments: It's totally OK to have some different kinds of level environments, and we don't have to start with a grassy/hilly world and proceed into a desert area and end with a Dark Land-type realm. We want a variety of level environments - we'll want to communicate to make sure that we don't have a situation where eight different level designers make a Ghost House level or something.
Difficulty: We want this game to be enjoyable and accessible to a wide audience. However, it's also true that most people playing Mario fangames have some experience with the Mario series and probably don't want or need hold-your-hand tutorials or in-game aids. It's fine if the later levels are a bit harder than, say, the later SMW levels, but we don't want to go overboard with difficulty.
Quality control: Your level contributions will be edited by team leads - we'll work with level submitters and take into account feedback from players. Team leads reserve the right to reject a level that's too short or ludicrously hard, but I think in most cases we'll only need to make small tweaks to ensure high quality. And, of course, it's OK for each level designer to show their own personality in their levels - it's normal (and expected) that a level made by one designer would feel a bit different from someone else's level.
Credit: This is a freeware, nonprofit fangame, just like everything else on MFGG. You obviously won't get paid for anything you do. We'll recognize contributors with a forum badge and copious credit in the game, in the help file, and on social media.
Decisions to make
Story: This is where y'all come in! Be creative. We probably want to agree on a framework for the story before we start designing lots of levels.
Characters: Will Mario be the only playable character? Should we add Luigi? Should some of Mario's other friends join the party? Remember that each playable character multiplies the number of sprites needed for power-ups and stuff.
Number of power-ups: Gate's engine comes with a massive selection of power-ups. We likely won't want to use every one of them in the game. We'll need to agree on which power-ups we want available in this game. For example, having an abundant supply of items that offer flying or fall-breaking capabilities (like a Super Leaf/Tanooki Suit) can significantly affect how people design their levels. (Alternatively, we could make certain power-ups available only in certain levels.)
Yoshi: I love Mario's dino buddy. We all do. But do we want Yoshi to be playable in the game? Is he still afraid of Ghost Houses? Remember that Yoshi is a particularly powerful power-up, and if he's available, we'll need to adjust our levels accordingly.
Coins: Should the game have coins? What would we use them for? Would they be for accumulating extra lives or for buying stuff?
Points: Do we need a points system? Would points have a purpose, like for online high scores?
Lives: Do we need a lives system? If not, is there something else we could use 1-Up Mushrooms for?
Checkpoints: Should we use checkpoints? Should they just be for longer levels or for before bosses? Note that having checkpoints might give a purpose for a lives system even if you have unlimited opportunities to save your progress.
Save points: Personally, in 2024 I prefer platformers that save progress every time you complete a level.
Collectibles: Should we have some kind of collectible item in each level, like Star Coins? Or something that's harder to find, like the DK Coins in DKC2? What would be the reward for accumulating a lot of collectibles? Remember that we want the reward to be commensurate with the difficult in collecting them all - unlocking secret levels is a lot more exciting than getting a 16x16 star next to your save file.
End point: Do you want levels to use an SMB1 flagpole? An SMW goal tape? SMB3 cards? Something new and different?
Why this can succeed
Collaborative projects are always challenging. However, I think my proposed model offers a lot of advantages over previous formats - it's focused on getting the most important stuff done first, and if people stay interested and engaged, we can always add more levels and features later on. I think the choice of engine and collaboration method will make it easy to get a good number of people participating. I also think that having stable, experienced leadership will help.
I truly believe that we can make something super-awesome if we bring MFGG's best together! What do y'all think?
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Spoiler
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