Fangame
A fan game, space optional, is an application of parody designed to entertain an audience for generally no profit using the theme of popular culture as an integral aspect of the game components. Examples include games based around characters and concepts the creator does not own, and who are easily recogniseable by a general public.
These games are usually not endorsed -- and sometimes not accepted -- by the company currently in possession of copyrights or trademarks used by this application, and may place their producer in an undesirable situation if these rights are infringed too blatantly.
Creation
Fangames can be made using a variety of programs ranging from the text-based ZZT to powerful programming languages like C++. The majority of fangames are 2D, as 3D is too difficult, impossible, or otherwise not practical or ideal.
Resources used in fangames often consist of ripped material from an official game. (See Controversy)
Controversy
Fangames are usually criticized due to using third-party content, rather than original. As a large majority of fangames continue to show a lack of quality, any fangames of competence tend to be ignored or downsized as soon as they are mentioned.
Differing interpretations of copyright law cause the general field of fangaming to fall under a legal græy area. The manner in which content is used, whether the content is credited, and the view of the owner of the copyrights all vary wildly between individual works, and some may violate copyright law in a legally punishable manner.
An innate problem lies in that it is often assumed players understand that some fangaming materials -- primarily sprites -- were not created by the fangame developer, and are not used with permission from the true author.
Some companies, such as Capcom, seem to show general approval towards fangaming, while others' opinions are unknown.
