Tutorial Essentials Games vs ROM Hacks 2022-03-16

[TechSkylander1518]

TechSkylander1518 submitted a new resource:

Essentials Games vs ROM Hacks - Easy to mix up, important to tell apart

First, a simple textbook definition-

Pokemon Essentials games are fangames created through the Windows program RPG Maker XP and the Pokemon Essentials kit by Maruno.

ROM hacks are fangames created by editing the base ROM of an official Pokemon game.

Why does this matter?​

Let me tell you about my least favorite question to hear:

“What emulator do I need to play this fangame?”

There’s nothing on the thread that refers to an emulator. Nowhere in the...

Read more about this resource...

 

[Aki]

It's nice to see a breakdown that acknowledges the differences in a thoughtful way without trying to downplay the "other side"'s devs. Maybe I read to many comparison threads where the point is to choose an engine to work with instead of focusing on player experience.

I like the mention that it's not just a "all romhacks are fangames, but not all fangames are romhacks" kind of problem, but that romhack and fangame used to be almost 100% interchangeable before the rise of Essentials. I wonder how the terminology will change as more engines become viable and popular for fandevs...like Essentials and PSDK are similar enough to be lumped together but there's not really terminology to talk about like browser based games (RIP Flash) or other engines (Roblox, completely overhauling another game like Minecraft via modding, the number of times a Unity kit has already been attempted) yet. And that's still strictly video games, is a physical card game, or a tabletop roleplay campaign, or a series of choose your own adventure interactive videos not also a fangame? (★‿★)