Fan game policy

As part of its mission to document all official Sonic the Hedgehog-related things and relevant history of the Sonic scene, the Sonic Retro wiki hosts a number of fan games. A fan game is a video game featuring a copyrighted property developed without official endorsement by the copyright holder. Over the years, a number of fan games featuring Sonic the Hedgehog have been released by teams or single individuals

Fan games are accepted on the basis of their merit to both the Sonic community and the gaming world at large. As such, we expect all fan game projects, both big and small, to meet our fan game policy before they can be distributed on this wiki.

Examples of games qualified for inclusion

Sonic Boom, the first Sonic the Hedgehog fan game created in Klik & Play.

• Historical fan games: As a general rule, fan games created before 2004 will qualify for inclusion, as early fan games provide a window to the early Sonic community.

• Technologically innovative works: Games which utilize 3D, are created in unique ways, or push the boundaries of what would be traditionally considered a fan game are useful in finding the boundaries of both past and current fan gaming.

• Notorious games: Several fan games are so well-known that they are used as comparisons to modern games. For educational purposes, these works are included on the site.

• Fan Games which are currently considered to be important: Ask this simple question—will people still be talking about this project two years from now? If so, the fan game qualifies.

If you feel you meet this or another significant qualifier for inclusion on Sonic Retro, check your own fan gaming project.

Fan game project qualifications

• Make sure you have a project to begin with: In order to have a fan game project, you must have proof that such a project exists, either by a public demo release, a series of screenshots, or some other definitive proof that you have and are working on a fan game.
  • In a small number of cases, Sonic Retro administrators may waive this requirement.

Sonic XG was a highly anticipated fan game, releasing a demo in 2007.

• Make sure you have a quality project: A quality fan game has most of these features present in any build:
  • Collision detection: That is, there should be no wall jumping, falling through floors, actually hitting enemies, etc.
  • Basic play features: Actions such as rolling or spin dashing should be present
  • Implemented physics: Gameplay should be able to reasonably simulate Sonic physics in aspects such as rolling working well, the concept of momentum, not falling down as soon as you release the jump button and bouncing off enemies
  • Level design: Layouts should be well thought out and not made so that a level is linear
  • Level gimmicks: Levels have at least some sorts of gimmicks, require jumping, actual platforming
• You MUST have a corresponding page on Sonic Retro: Sonic Retro is not a glorified uploading site for the Sonic scene. There must be an accompanying article for any fan game uploaded onto the system done in the style of all fan games listed in Category:Fan games.

• You MUST host a mirror of your files on Sonic Retro: One of the most alarming problems with fan game distribution is that oftentimes files are hosted on temporary upload sites or by web servers which are later dismantled. Because Sonic Retro isn't going anywhere anytime soon, we ask that you at least mirror your files onto the upload system here. You are free to include a link to your own hosting of the file, website or forum thread(s) in addition to this file.

Fan game uploading requirements

Sonic After the Sequel gained such a high profile, it warranted its own article on Wikipedia.

• Please upload the game contained inside a .rar or .7z file (.zip if only absolutely necessary.) Sonic Retro does not accept uncompressed files (unless you would like to pay its server bills) and non-standard compressions.

• As a general rule, the file inside your zip should not exceed 20MB. If it does, please contact the administration to explain why.

• Upload your file with a clear, accurate filename, and tag the file in its appropriate category.

• If you are uploading multiple versions, do not delete the older version of your fan game; it is kept for archival purposes.

Disclaimer

By placing your fan game on Sonic Retro, you give the site irrevocable rights to distribute the files. Files, while appearing to be deleted, can never be fully removed from our servers. We will NEVER take credit for anyone else's work—you, the fan gamer, hold the rights to your work. Conversely, Sonic Retro reserves the right to remove any fan game at any time if it does not meet the policy stated on this page.

Historical fan games or games that have been abandoned by their creator by leaving the community are considered by this site to be "freely distributable," and may be placed on the site due to their already wide distribution.