What makes a good corruption?
A guideline for beginners on how to make the funny
This article is based on research a project by JezzDawga. The art or creating videogame corruptions is something that is normally influenced by one's skills and tastes. Because of that fact, what we consider a good corruption is completely subjective and greatly varies with every individual.
Simply consider the information on this page as a representation of the community's general taste in corrupted videogames.
Contributors:
JezzDawga
Dr. RNG
Mr.HexTheGhost
allegedgamer
Brad Corrupts
Unbyte
Ircluzar
Anom
Positives
This chapter covers content that helps make a Corruption stand out and be interesting.
We suggest getting as many different types of Positives as possible (and as aesthetically appropriate), but also to avoid overusing the same Positives consecutively.
In short, have variety.
The following content has been determined to make the Funny, with some of the best examples shown on Vinesauce for each:
Content | Example/s |
The corruption modifies the core gameplay of the game. | |
The corruption is based on something. This “something” could be:
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The corruption contains absurd scenarios taking place in an otherwise-to-be-expected normal world. | |
The corruption breaks the fourth wall by having the game appear to directly interface with the player. | |
The corruption contains irony. | |
The corruption or game builds up to something and then a reveal is made, similar to a typically constructed joke with a punchline. | |
The corruption takes a familiar situation (or a situation where the expected outcome is obvious) from the game, but then turns expectations on their head (via reversal or otherwise unexpected surprise). | |
The corruption features excellent comedic timing. | |
The corruption continuously raises the stakes, getting better and better / worse and worse as time goes on. | |
The corruption applies to an obscure / unique game (or game genre) and/or showcases features that haven’t been performed before. | |
The corruption features comedic spontaneity (funny jumpscare). | |
The corruption pertains to topics that are considered crude or taboo (without violating TOS), such as (but not limited to):
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The corruption features a visual effect and an audial effect that, when paired together, work extremely effectively. | |
The corruption predominantly consists of one shade of colour (typically green) for the purposes of chroma-keying / green-screening. | |
The corruption contains unexpected, dark and/or shocking content that would not otherwise be expected. |
Circumstantial Content
This chapter covers content that is inherently negative.
Under the right circumstances, the content listed here can be redeemable, or even beneficial, for the corruption as a whole.
Consider this content as riding the line between good and bad, and use it sparingly.
The following content has been documented to make the Funny under lab conditions. The examples provided are instances where the content is done correctly and beneficially.
Content | Example/s |
The corruption contains or features repetitive content / actions. | |
The corruption recolours characters or other elements of the game, or just generally affects the textures of the game.
This includes what is referred to as “clown vomit”. | |
The corruption makes reference to pre-established inside / communal jokes. As a rule of thumb, the impact that this will have on your corruption quality is tied to the freshness and relevance of the joke you’re referring to. | |
The corruption contains obnoxiously, potentially painfully, loud noises. The louder the noise, the more likely this is going to be in detriment to your corruption quality. This isn’t Joel Vinesauce. |
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The corruption contains primitive polygon manipulation, commonly referred to as “flesh spikes”, but also includes content such as:
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The corruption puts the game in a soft-locked state. | |
The corruption is just too simple, bland and/or uninteresting. |
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Negatives
If your corruption contains even one of these items, you need to fight an uphill battle for it to be considered good quality.
It is therefore generally advised to exclude all items listed here from any of your submissions, if you’re looking to make high quality works.
Only the most kick-ass, revolutionary corruptions made with pure mastery of the craft, can contain one or more negatives and still be considered good.
The following content has been deemed hazardous to the health of the Funny, and can even be considered a mood killer in high enough concentrations.
Content | Example/s |
The corruption was performed on a game that has been shown on stream excessively (Over-Corrupted).
As such, the pool of fresh and exciting content is drastically reduced. | Super Mario Bros. for the NES Super Mario 64 for the N64 |
The corruption contains flashing colours.
The frequency (flashes/second), scale (pixel screen coverage), intensity (hue, brightness and saturation ranges) and duration of the flashing all determine exactly how bad this will affect the overall quality of a corruption. Having sufficiently potent flashing in your corruption may cause epileptic seizures to those who are vulnerable, and as such it is always advised to put a [Flashing] tag on your corruption if you believe this is a possibility.
This is also, obviously, a massive dampener to the possibility of your corruption being showcased. | |
The corruption contains painful audio.
This can be in the form of high-pitched frequencies, high amplitude (volume), the sound being akin to a noise profile (e.g. white noise), or just a generally chaotic and unpleasant sound (e.g. running RAM data through a sound engine). |
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The corruption causes a hard crash of the game, which freezes or force-closes the emulation software, and can possibly have spillover effects. |
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The corruption contains copyrighted music or other material that can result in a copyright claim against any who showcase it. |
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The corruption was sanitized poorly or not sanitized at all.
This gives the impression of amateurish, low-effort work that was rushed on purpose by someone who does not know what they’re doing and couldn’t be bothered to watch the tutorials.
Even if your corruption is dead simple and boring, at least make it clean and clear. |
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