darkSpyro

From the very beginning, since Skylanders was first announced, its secondary marketing (besides the idea of bring a toy to life) seemed to be the focus on playing with the character in the video game, and then taking the toy into the big-wide-world and letting your own imagination take hold. Now, that's what the kids did, but there was one thing that I saw even before the release of the first game; OC's.

Now, in most circumstances, OC's and fan characters are kind of disregarded - mostly depending on the subject in question. Skylanders on the other hand is perfect for fan characters and OC's since there's pretty much no limitation on the kind of characters we've seen. Now, where does this get to the 'ambitious fan game' part of the topic, I hear you ask?

I've seen many fan games from many different fandoms that focus largely on using a player created original character as the main character. In some situations, it works (but only slightly). There are even some situations when it seems pointless; like it was a feature added for the sake of it. On top of that, I see games where people might run a competition to have their OC appear in the background, or as one of the NPC's etc.

My 'ambitious' project for a Skylanders fan game would be a fully-fledged 3D, all-singing, all-dancing game that allows the user to make their dream of using their imagination a reality. The idea being that, on top of all the characters from the actual Skylanders games, the user can create their very own character based on hundreds of species to choose from and even modify existing ones.

The idea is;

You want a Skylander that's a Chompy who can shoot lasers from his eyes and rainbows from it's arse? Go for it.

You want to modify your Drobot so instead of launching blade gears he launches mini-sentry robots that attack enemies? Go for it.

You want a Sunburn that can fly instead of Phoenix Dash? Go for it.

So, you'd be given a list of species (based on existing species in the game and more) to choose from, weapons and attacks to choose from, specific upgrades for each attack that you can choose from, change the colour of your character, the colour of your attacks and... Well... A lot more.

This is the point where I feel I'm being ambitious. I mean, it's perfectly possible - it could be done in a spore-esque-but-less-**** way - but it is difficult. And would take time. So, this topic is basically for one thing. Who thinks this is possible? Who thinks this could be pulled off?

TL;DR

Sunburn and Flashwing taking flight with Wow Pow attacks. That's all I want.

Create a fully understandable design document and shove it at Activision and anyone else that holds any copyright for things mentioned. Ask permission to create a non-profit fan-game with the design document.

If you get the green light, you'll need a few 3D modelers, riggers, animators, texture artists, concept artists, a musician or two, some programmers, and writers/editors. Then you'll need a budget, probably a medium sized budget, unless you can find the workers for free/volunteers, which with you'll either probably find novice workers looking to expand a port folio, or just enthusiasts about the series who are willing to learn. As coordinator expect to put in most hours of the week making sure the design document is understood and that your pipeline is prepped and able to be flowing with little to no kinks. If the majority are volunteers with little to no experience, be prepared to scourge the web for tutorials and source materials to up their knowledge on the subject(s), and be willing to work alongside them (as director it's good to dabble in all aspects).

If a budget is obtainable, find the lowest rates possible for the most decent work that allows you to direct the game (you'll have to be efficient in managing money) to fullest without overspending. This may mean finding workers who are proficient in more than one area to cut back costs of hiring multiple individuals.

If you decide to not write permission, design your GDD and begin with your course and choice of workers, and if a C&D letter comes in, remove all traces of Skylanders and proceed with an original design, even if it means modifying already finalized works.

Time wise, expect it to be a few years at very least unless you have money to pour into the labor.

However what you have here is just a very loose and somewhat incoherent idea. In order to really judge the time and work that will need to be put into it, you'll at least have to make a complete GDD firstly. Making a game of the caliber this seems to be in, will need a complete GDD before anyone of real skill will want to help.

Also if you've never made a game before, then I advise against making this your first game. It's much too large to see daylight then. Start small and work your way up.

Hope I helped. :>

Oh yeah, I'm aware my idea is really vague at the moment . I do plan to expand on it with some HUD designs, screen concepts ETC. I have made a game before, very basic, but I'm prepared to allow for years of development to go into this - even if I have to.

The plan was just to make it and see if I get a C&D. I'd rather the project see some progress than send a design document to Activision and have them turn around and say no - it would kind of remove any motivation for me to get it done, in my personal opinion.

But yeah, thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to get to work on a complete design document ASAP.

Edit: Oh yeah... Something I forgot to mention was the name. I have not a clue what to call it. I kind of want some relation to the creation aspect in the name, but nothing too obvious like 'Skylanders: Creator' or something along those lines.

Then ask yourself would it be worth it to get a C&D or to know up front. If you do get a C&D, will you still have the motivation to turn it into something original? if not, it may not be worth the push, as the work will be wasted.

Quote: Kurui

Then ask yourself would it be worth it to get a C&D or to know up front. If you do get a C&D, will you still have the motivation to turn it into something original? if not, it may not be worth the push, as the work will be wasted.

If I had something solid in front of me that worked, then I would certainly be motivated to turn it into something original. Sounds strange, I know, but making something as a gift for a community who enjoy a franchise would be more motivation than building something from the ground up that would get much less attention.

I tend to prefer making original games. I have no problem getting a fanbase with my original ideas: never sell yourself short on what your ideas are worth. You don't know for fact that it would get much less attention. It could be something really fun that many people would play.

Well if you're absolutely certain that you won't lose motivation I'd go for it, but I'd make sure Activision at least knew of your plans especially when it starts coming together, just to avoid any legal things attached to it. I've just seen far too many game projects, even original ones, get dumped by the wayside because people underestimate what it takes to make one. Which it's not that HARD considering you have the drive for it, more like "a challenge". But just too often people give up. I've seen much too many great ideas die that way D:.

Then I will do my very, absolute best to make sure that this project sees the light of day - one way, or another. Thanks for the advice

I hope it does. I wouldn't have commented here with advice if I wasn't interested a lot. lol I was even away from the forums working on my own games and things and logged in today just because of this project being mentioned

Whether Skylanders or original it sounds fun so I hope even if there's a small simpler release of it, that it gets made.

I really doubt one person could make this. It would take well... Activision really.

Quote: Ryanator20x6

I really doubt one person could make this. It would take well... Activision really.

You'd be surprised what one person with programming experience can do.

One person definitely could not make this, not reasonably speaking anyway. And programming is only a base part of game design, and by no means the most critical part, because programming experience by no means means design experience, or asset creation experience. Even if someone did have all of these skills under their belt, the workload would be immense and likely that person would give up before even the tip of the iceberg was scraped.

I'm just talking realistically here.

Rainbowarseboty!

Quote: Kurui

One person definitely could not make this, not reasonably speaking anyway. And programming is only a base part of game design, and by no means the most critical part, because programming experience by no means means design experience, or asset creation experience. Even if someone did have all of these skills under their belt, the workload would be immense and likely that person would give up before even the tip of the iceberg was scraped.

I'm just talking realistically here.

Oh yeah, one person couldn't do this - that's fair. But the original assumption made it sound like one person making a game on their own is a concept that is completely out of the water.

Quote: ZapNorris

Rainbowarseboty!

Rainbowarsechompbot.

Quote: Kurui

One person definitely could not make this, not reasonably speaking anyway. And programming is only a base part of game design, and by no means the most critical part, because programming experience by no means means design experience, or asset creation experience. Even if someone did have all of these skills under their belt, the workload would be immense and likely that person would give up before even the tip of the iceberg was scraped.

I'm just talking realistically here.

Exactly.