Premade engines aren't bad in and of themselves. It takes a moderate amount of programming expertise to build an engine for a platformer (or most other kinds of games). However, even if you've never programmed anything in your life, it's pretty easy to make a game using an engine like Gatete's or Hello's. Not everyone who wants to make a game is good at programming, and premade engines can be a good starting point. Besides that, most Mario fangames are going to include a lot of the same features. For example, Goombas tend to work the same way in every Mario game, so if you don't have to program a new Goomba every time you make a new game, it's time saved. There's an appeal to not having to reinvent the wheel.
The problem with games made with premade engines is they're rarely good. A lot of them are formulaic - the developers don't bother to change any of the graphics or mechanics, and they often fall prey to the temptation to include as many different enemies as possible in each level. That said, dull graphics and poor level design can be a problem even if you built the game from scratch. As Mors mentioned, we've been seeing an increase in more interesting games made with premade engines, which is a positive sign. If you decide to make a game using a premade engine, I'd recommend changing some of the mechanics, adding new enemies and gimmicks, and replacing the graphics so it doesn't feel stale. If you make an engine that other people might use, it helps if you thoroughly document how to change key mechanics, and it's a good idea to use placeholder graphics to force people to change the base graphics.
A common misconception is that modern MFGG is awash with "Hello clones" - games where the developers took the Hello Engine and added a few levels (usually with lousy level design) without making any significant changes to the way the game works. We saw quite a few of these games during the earlier part of the decade. Some were good, but most were lackluster or worse. However, the stream of Hello Engine games has slowed to a trickle, and I haven't encountered a new Hello Engine game in a year and a half. Gatete's engine has surpassed Hello's engine in terms of popularity, but I don't see a lot of games made with that engine either. A hunch tells me that most of the people who used the Hello Engine/Gatete Engine as a level editor are now using Mario Maker instead.
Premade engines aren't bad in and of themselves. It takes a moderate amount of programming expertise to build an engine for a platformer (or most other kinds of games). However, even if you've never programmed anything in your life, it's pretty easy to make a game using an engine like Gatete's or Hello's. Not everyone who wants to make a game is good at programming, and premade engines can be a good starting point. Besides that, most Mario fangames are going to include a lot of the same features. For example, Goombas tend to work the same way in every Mario game, so if you don't have to program a new Goomba every time you make a new game, it's time saved. There's an appeal to not having to reinvent the wheel.
The problem with games made with premade engines is they're rarely good. A lot of them are formulaic - the developers don't bother to change any of the graphics or mechanics, and they often fall prey to the temptation to include as many different enemies as possible in each level. That said, dull graphics and poor level design can be a problem even if you built the game from scratch. As Mors mentioned, we've been seeing an increase in more interesting games made with premade engines, which is a positive sign. If you decide to make a game using a premade engine, I'd recommend changing some of the mechanics, adding new enemies and gimmicks, and replacing the graphics so it doesn't feel stale. If you make an engine that other people might use, it helps if you thoroughly document how to change key mechanics, and it's a good idea to use placeholder graphics to force people to change the base graphics.
A common misconception is that modern MFGG is awash with "Hello clones" - games where the developers took the Hello Engine and added a few levels (usually with lousy level design) without making any significant changes to the way the game works. We saw quite a few of these games during the earlier part of the decade. Some were good, but most were lackluster or worse. However, the stream of Hello Engine games has slowed to a trickle, and I haven't encountered a new Hello Engine game in a year and a half. Gatete's engine has surpassed Hello's engine in terms of popularity, but I don't see a lot of games made with that engine either. A hunch tells me that most of the people who used the Hello Engine/Gatete Engine as a level editor are now using Mario Maker instead.
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Course clear! You got a card.
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