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Why do fan-made pokemon games look better than released ones?

Because fans are more dedicated and creative than Gamefreak has been in the past 8 years. Their last truly innovative games were the Unova sequels and everything after that has been average or mediocre at best. Fan-made games at least picked up the slack.

For me, this really couldn't be further from the truth. I think the games from Gen 5 and onward have done a lot more to innovate than anything before that period. There's been so much more in the way of experimentation and trying out new combinations of ideas.
 
Honestly I haven't seen many fan made games that look better than official ones. Most of them reuse sprites from the DS generation or models from the 3DS, and they have ok-ish graphics (nothing out of the ordinary). They tend to be better in the plot and other mechanics because they're not necessarily met with censorship or meddling of any kind.
I have seen a couple that looked good but not amazing and those tend to be shut down by Nintendo pretty fast anyway since they don't like fans using their IPs in any unofficial matter. (Like when a guy was fined for using pokémon decorations for a party)
 
While I haven't played any fan games and haven't really paid much attention to them (I should really rectify that), from the glimpses I've of sprites from games like Light Platinum, Insurgence, and Uranium, they are definitely not better than the main series (and that's not even getting into the fact that most sprites in fan games, to my understanding, are not animated either). Most entirely new sprites don't look as good as core series sprites, and much of their other sprites are just reused assets from the core series or existing sprites with some alternations. See the comparison below between the Fakemon Pajay from Uranium and RSE's Ho-Oh sprite.
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There's definitely some good sprites in fan games, but quality varies even within the same game. See Delta Nuzleaf vs Delta Lombre from Pokemon Insurgence, for example.
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I think fan games benefit from a lack of expectations to be honest. Ever since the gen 8 games were announced we can see a large about of pressure put on gamefreak, some of which it is arguable that they lived up to. (I'm happy with SwSh + DLC, but I am not ignorant to the complaints) Folks have been put pressure on them for it being the first true home console games, the first HD games, wanting open world games, etc.

Fan games don't have the same level of expectations. Folks never have to announce when they are going to drop games. Other fans may want said games, but it is a basic understanding that fan games will take long periods of time (Pokemon Sage :( why???). Next the creators have free reign to make whatever changes or updates they please without much feed back and only limited by the system they design the game in. Basically Fire Red with new moves, 'mons, and forms? Cool. New region, darker story, same 'mons? Cool. New everything plus radiated regional variants? Cool. Bring back everything you used to love (National Dex, Vs. Seeker, Walking Pokemon, Megas, No HMs)? Cool. Moemon? Cool???

Gamefreak doesn't have those same liberties. At least that's my thoughts. Also I agree with what most others have stated: there are some pretty bad fan games.
 
I've mostly played difficulty hacks. The DS ones have the exact same graphics as the original games (extensive DS hacks don't seem to exist), while the GB/C ones I've played (with relatively modern features) spiced up the overworld a bit (there's a Red hack with GSC graphics). There are a lot of "original" (new region) GBA hacks and PC games, and while some do look nice, I haven't found anything complete with an interesting premise. Prism is the most impressive hack I've played, but the worldbuilding was lackluster and I don't remember much, so I prefer Red++ and Polished Crystal. The main series can get away with simple stories because they introduce new Pokemon, pretty memorable characters and competitive aspects, but most fan games aren't trying to do that (and those that do struggle, like Sage and Ethereal Gates which had potential), so they should do other things.

Still waiting for a good Spaceworld hack. Game Freak did most of the work and abandoned it, but hackers should put some soul into reviving that project.

Oh, and while I might sound critical, I'm much more likely to play a decent looking hack than SwSh.
 
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In terms of specific examples, Reborn stands out the most to me as a game that's more ambitious than some of the main games. Granted it's only in some ways, that's inevitable considering Game Freak has much more resources at its disposal, but even in spite of that it feels like there's a lot more going on with Reborn in pretty much everything except graphics (it uses the 3rd gen engine). Now Reborn is kind of like Pokemon: GTA Edition in some ways, it's a lot darker, edgier, and more mature than the official games and obviously we'll never see an official game like it because kid friendly, but the game is much more than that, the game also does a lot in its region design and mechanics that could carry over if Game Freak actually bothered putting more effort into those things.

So first of all the region itself is largely dominated by a large city called Reborn City which is divided into multiple wards (named after gemstones, Opal, Peridot, Jasper, Lapis, etc.), all of which are fairly run down and crime infested. And you spend much of the early game here, so there are plenty of Pokemon to catch there. Thing is though, while there are some grass patches around, that's not how you obtain most of the species. Most of them are obtained through sidequests scattered throughout the game where you either explore the game's nooks and crannies or perform a series of tasks to either trigger a Pokemon battle to catch the Pokemon or the Pokemon wants to join you outright. And some of them really take a lot of exploration and puzzle solving to unlock. Example in spoilers:

About midway through the game, there's a large forest area which is incredibly mazelike and full of field obstacles You can clear the obstacles by slathering honey on trees, which causes Heracross and Pinsir to fight over it. You then choose to battle one of them, and once defeated, the other will thank you by charging forward and taking out the respective obstacle (IIRC, Heracross can destroy spider webs and Pinsir can destroy logs). However, you cannot catch them because they're too aggressive (although there's a similar mechanic with Tauros and Bouffalant just outside and you can catch them). But if you work your way through the forest eventually you reach a tree and see Heracross and Pinsir fighting each other without any Honey around. Defeat one and the other will join your team. I remember it took me about an hour to navigate through that forest, but I finally got to the end and chose Heracross (totally worth it, because one of the gym leaders soon after used Dark types and Heracross pretty much steamrolled them).

Beyond that, the game also expanded terrains into a more intricate system where even the environment the battle takes place in has a terrain (for example, there's a field terrain for regular grassy areas, a cave terrain, etc.). Each terrain buffs and nerfs certain types, moves, and abilities, so it really adds an extra layer of strategy to the battling. Gym leaders also have their own custom terrains and have strategies built around them.

Speaking of gym leaders, they're all quite challenging for several reasons. First is because they each have custom terrains as mentioned above. Second, because each of them have full teams instead of just 3 or so Pokemon. Lastly, because they changed the obedience mechanic so that ALL Pokemon regardless of whether or not they were traded stop obeying you past the specified point, so you can't brute force through them by overleveling (if your Pokemon do get overleveled and you want them to obey you again, you can level them down using "Common Candy"). So they're all very challenging.

Lastly, the evil team uses Pulse Pokemon, which are pretty much like evil Mega Evolutions that grant them a power boost and changes to typing and abilities (albeit they put a strain on their bodies and the environment).

So yeah, I could see several aspects of this crossing over to the main games. Maybe in a Colosseum/XD type of game at the very least.
 
Just to be clear, the "look better" in the thread's title is talking about visual elements of fan games, right? I love fan games, but I don't think that's really a fair comparison- most fan games I know of use existing assets. Sometimes they'll repurpose them or reskin them, but editing existing works, even if it improves it, isn't quite on par with creating works from scratch IMO.

I'd say the biggest fan games out there right now are Uranium, Prism, Sage, and Reborn, judging by the relative size of their communities and amount of news about them. And I think they all look good, but I don't think the difference is that huge.

Pokemon Prism looks a lot like GSC:
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Pokemon Reborn is a little different, but still pretty similar to RSE:
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And Uranium and Sage look like DPPt:
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Which makes sense- these games generally try to emulate the canon games' style. So it's a little weird to talk about vast improvements graphically to begin with.

The only big game I can think of that uses a unique artstyle is Ethereal Gates/Sea and Sky, and even then I wouldn't say it's hugely different from the main games' style.
 
Just to be clear, the "look better" in the thread's title is talking about visual elements of fan games, right? I love fan games, but I don't think that's really a fair comparison- most fan games I know of use existing assets. Sometimes they'll repurpose them or reskin them, but editing existing works, even if it improves it, isn't quite on par with creating works from scratch IMO.

I'd say the biggest fan games out there right now are Uranium, Prism, Sage, and Reborn, judging by the relative size of their communities and amount of news about them. And I think they all look good, but I don't think the difference is that huge.

Pokemon Prism looks a lot like GSC:
Pokemon Reborn is a little different, but still pretty similar to RSE:
And Uranium and Sage look like DPPt:
Which makes sense- these games generally try to emulate the canon games' style. So it's a little weird to talk about vast improvements graphically to begin with.

The only big game I can think of that uses a unique artstyle is Ethereal Gates/Sea and Sky, and even then I wouldn't say it's hugely different from the main games' style.

I think @KenzeyEevee might have meant in terms of design and content. It's kind of tough to argue that they're better graphically since they're mostly reusing assets, but some of them do seem to outdo the main games in terms of gameplay and region design. That's certainly the case with Reborn, as I explained above.
 
more people with love worked at it longer time to make it work somehow? gamefreak, nintendo and pokemon company should hire such people and not attack them

Based on the examples given, I can't really see how these fangames are that good. The whole "they were made with more love" also just rubs me the wrong way. It comes off as too condescending for my tastes. Not to mention it really ignores all of the advantages fan game developers have in favor of just making yet another jab at Game Freak. They have no deadlines and virtually no restrictions in terms of what they want to add to the game, so they aren't on equal level to most professional video game developers in that regard.
 
I haven't played many hacks, but one that I particularly like is AshGray version. It uses the exact same graphics as Fire Red\Leaf Green, but with sprites based on the anime characters. It's fun on how you can play the what if scenario (you have the option of releasing Butterfree or not, etc...). I wouldn't say it looks any better than the source material (the exception being longer maps I guess), however it's a really nice game for the anime fans.
 
more people with love worked at it longer time to make it work somehow? gamefreak, nintendo and pokemon company should hire such people and not attack them

Yeah, this is something I wish Nintendo and TPC would do better. I kinda wish they'd take a cue from SEGA with what they did with Sonic Mania and hire various fan developers to work on officially sanctioned releases. That would be a win-win.
 
It sincerely depends on what fangames are you talking about, since Sturgeon's Law is also pretty strong among Pokémon hacks and fangames:

-Pokémon Dark Rising is pretty bad both in difficulty (think Eternamax Eternatus but without partners, and against six of them), plot (bad darker take on the series) and graphics (War, one of the Four Horsemen, looks like an apple).

-Pokémon Snakewood started promising, but then came the Bo-bobo references and everything went to hell. Oh, and the creator is God in-game.

-Pokémon Quartz was famous at first because it was one of the first completed hacks, but then came under criticism due to looking like it was made by an edgy fourteen-year old with a big ego, which was actually true (I think the creator later considered the game an old shame, considering later posts of his).
 
Fan games (and mods) can get a very good reputation partly because they're often more narrowly targeted than the mainline games.

Things like the more mature (or "mature", depending on the game...) plots or extreme difficulty are things some fans really want so the specific target for those fan games will praise it heavily.

However if a Pokémon game did come out with that sort of difficulty and no easier option I think people would find a pretty large portion of the audience are interested in being able to use their favourite not-very-good Pokémon and wouldn't be happy.

(I sort of wonder if Pokémon's large multiplayer scene is part of why it seems to get a few more complaints about being easy than other RPGs? Suikoden is arguably even easier at times and most people I've seen in that fandom are okay that you can clear the game with a party of joke characters).
 
A big problem is that people confuse "Mature" with "Edgy" and "Difficult" with "Absolutely ridiculous".

Real talk, the only good fangames I ever played were the ones that are not even finished/never got to be finished like Pokémon Sage and Pokémon Phoenix Rising. (Or 1 that's a Visual Novel but that's not really the standard Pokémon Game I guess.)
 
Tbh, most fangames don't involve the fan developers building their own games from nothing, a lot of what they use is often recolored assets and code already found in games to begin with. The fangames also don't have to worry about bramd image or cross-promotion with an anime, trading card game and other types of merchandising either. To compare the two is kind of unfair.

A lot of fan pokemon and characters also tend to feel very obviously off-brand, which is my biggest problem with these games in general.
 
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