Discussion Tropes and Clichés - Where do you draw the line as a creator and/or player?

[TheLuiz]

Cliché, A word referring to something that means 'overused' or ' unoriginal', but lately it's been used to define things as 'expected'.​

Once you play the newest "It's just Emerald/Fire Red, but hard and/or with new mons" on the block, you tend to get jaded to this type of stuff. So here comes the question: when the cliché becomes overused? When is still fun? Should you subvert expectations? Is it about execution? Should the cliché even be replaced at this point? How would you deal with it?

In 2023, Where do we draw the line between Lame and Cool?​

 

[Vendily]

I think starting with the concept of "I want to avoid clichés" is not the right way to go when it comes to planning out your fangame.
You can't please everyone, and every potential player has different tastes for their games. Sure, "Fire Red but Hard" isn't exactly my personal cup of tea, because I don't really know anything about competitive Pokémon and I wouldn't even notice a change to the type chart, but my friend loves making teams and challenges for those kinds of hacks.

Even in terms of say, plot, a cliché in and of itself isn't bad. Just because it's a cliché doesn't mean that subverting it will automatically make it good, and clichés go through phases as different things become popular over time. And of course, players have different thresholds for what's "too cliché", and admittedly some of them can be quite vocal about that opinion. But there will always be trade-offs in this type of thing. You can't subvert everything while still keeping cohesion.

I really think the best principle is making something earnestly. The kind of game you'd like to play. Because fan games are a hobby in the end, and you'd want to have fun while working on them, since there isn't exactly much else to keep the momentum of motivation with them, particularly as the Lead Dev.

 

[StarWolff]

For a overused view, we could say the 8 gym formula is a cliche, as well as common things like a new type or rebalanced pokemon. if people do the same thing over and over, for example, Ice Luxray or a new eeveelution, yeah, it becomes overused and many times a cliche, jess we have a entire bingo card of fangames cliches.
Still, is this a bad thing? If people continue doing it, and it works, why try to avoid it?
I belive people can differentiate when creators are trying to make just another harder fire red, or a cool new game with new stuff that happens in the fire red game.
Both completely new ideas and overused ideas can be awesome, as well as can be disastrous. It's really a matter of taste and creativity.

To awnser the question, I think it passes the line when the creator makes a game aiming in the popular formula, without adding anything of their own, just solely, or mostly, making something they "know" will be popular. No soul, no creativity, they just use what already works.

 

[HollowGap]

1 region is pretty cliche, everybody does it