Like, things in a game or map or whatever that basically say "this person definitely made this". I want to hear about what makes your writing, mapping, spriting, or just general development style unique!
For me, when I'm mapping, I tend to make smaller maps with tons of decorations, and I also like having tall grass inside of towns to allow for more possible encounters.
For interiors, I try to make sure about 50% or more of things are interactable in some manner.
All the fridges and trash cans in my game are basically free gacha with chancees for items or even wild encounters.
Drawers, book cases, laptops, stoves, etc generally have something.
E.g. a laptop says something like "that's way too many tabs open". Small, silly quip. But it livens the place up.
Same I love doing this!
My biggest quirk is adding the most obscure pop culture references to my fangame knowing damn well no one is going to get them.
1 trainer sprite is a group of sailors that do the Ginyu Force pose when you battle them and like exactly 1 person commented that they got the reference lol
I'd say it's definitely worthwhile if you can frame it in a way that somebody doesn't get the reference, but still finds meaning in it. The perfect example is from Gen 1, where TV says "Four boys are walking on train tracks. I better go too." That's stuck with me my whole life for some reason, but I only recently learned that's a reference to a movie I've never heard of!
My funniest quirk is that I over scope everything and then release something ambitious about 6 months later than the original planned release.
My second demo eas supposed to be ready in April of this year. It is now planned for end of January of 2026.
I feel this so hard. Granted, a lot of that was getting beaten up by life and such, but uh....7 months later lol
First, when I make maps, I try to base it on how it looks in real life, as close as possible. Because of this, I make maps that are too large (already learnt my lesson) and tend to have areas that do not really have anything to do with the story, even the NPC dialogues are just a few lines, but are there to make the town or city feel "liveable". Last night, I was completing a map based on my hometown and I just had to include a computer shop/internet cafe and a cafe. Both had nothing to do with the story but it took me 6 hours just to get the tiles, fix the tiles, make the map and halfway through filling it with NPCs. I had to wrestle with myself not to include toilets to save me the trouble.
At the moment, this is where I'm at.
What is also pushing me to finish the game that I am making is because I already have the elite four, the champion and the ending down, including the theme music playing in their overworld and their battle.
I'm hellbent on composing all original music for my games, which certainly isn't helping me finish them any faster but that's okay :)
One of the games I'm working on has a unique battle system that's really just an absurd amount of events in Parallel Process mode. It simulates the Essentials battle system with its graphics, but it's more of a Visual Novel masquerading as a pokemon fan game.
Mostly, I just like when games get away from the complete-the-dex, collect-the-badges kind of games. If I wanted that game, I'd just replay Pokemon Blue for the thousandth time. So I don't want to make a game like that because I know I can't outdo that. So I'd rather just do my own thing. It's better to stray from the path and fail than it is to do the same safe sh*t over and over and over again.
I say this as somebody who has yet to actually finish anything beyond a 20-minute demo for a game that I made 2 years ago. Still putting in the work though!
I would say my writing is my best quirk due to doing stories on wattpad. I usually lean to more dark tones and ooc lines.
When it comes to my fangame, my writing is more focused on deception and providing small hints on what the characters are. Good or bad.
My dialogue is very toby fox coded, especially with the fact that random npc's have different dialogue if you interact with them twice.
Also, my sprites are basically chimeras of parts from other sprites stitched on and recolored (this is due to my chronic lack od artistic skill).
Easter eggs that are connected to the original games.
Half of my game plays in Kanto, which is changing quite quickly, but everywhere you go you find references to the original games. Pewter Museum has expanded quite a bit, but the father and his young daughter, who wants a Pikachu, are still there, but she's now a grown woman and he's an old man. You may just get a rare Pokemon if you trade them one.
After Pewter City you encounter the OG Youngster. The first of the OGs you will battle. These trainers are a time capsule, have their original trainer sprites and a team that's exactly like or close to their original ones.
Sidequests that involve things from the old games, like the trainer school in Veridian City.
You get the picture. Kanto isn't the same, but you'll find a lot of connections to the old games if you explore. I love putting things like these in.
Ledges that don't actually go anywhere to show uneven ground, usually on rocky places like cliffs or mountains..
I put many song references in npc conversations