Announcements about fan-run game projects have a way of making us all slump our cheeks into our fists with a sigh. This could have something to do with the tendency of fan projects to never get anywhere. Oh sure, people gather and they talk all sorts of great ideas. That's the easy part. Then comes time to translate those big ideas into ones and zeroes. Suddenly, enthusiasm dulls. Everyone's too busy with work, school and peeling their flesh off their arm inch by inch, a far less painless endevour than programming game code. Six months pass since the last update, then a year. The forums because a ghost town. The hit counter starts to roll backwards. Somewhere, a big dog barks.
But maybe we need these creative failures; they make us all the more receptive to great ideas that are seen all the way through. For instance, The Underside. Inspired by Cave Story (great!), The Underside features an adorable little cat-character in exploration-based gameplay (great!!) as he tears through his corrupt world with the aid of a chainsaw (YES!!).
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