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.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 19
The corruption is based on something. This “something” could be: a Theme (Spooky Horror), an Event (Christmas), a Meme (Amogus), or really anything referential outside of the vanilla game itself.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 36 [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 36
The corruption contains absurd scenarios taking place in an otherwise-to-be-expected normal world.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - BRAVO KOJIMA [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #62
The corruption breaks the fourth wall by having the game appear to directly interface with the player.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #44 [Vinesauce] Vinny - The Legend of Zelda: Corruptions
The corruption contains irony.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #46
The corruption or game builds up to something and then a reveal is made, similar to a typically constructed joke with a punchline.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 36 [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #62 [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #66
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).	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #65 [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile: BeanBoozled Edition
The corruption features excellent comedic timing.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Perfectly Timed Corruption [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 36 [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 26 [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #59 [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #62
The corruption continuously raises the stakes, getting better and better / worse and worse as time goes on.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - You are not ready, RUN
The corruption applies to an obscure / unique game (or game genre) and/or showcases features that haven’t been performed before.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #63
The corruption features comedic spontaneity (funny jumpscare).	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 22 + Wii Virtual Console Corruptions
The corruption pertains to topics that are considered crude or taboo (without violating TOS), such as (but not limited to): Sex, sexual organs, breasts, nudity, Feces, urine, other biological waste, Excessive swearing, censorship to imply swearing, and Excessive violence (or violence enhanced by the corruption as opposed to the vanilla game).	Vinny - Corruption Stockpile: It's Rumble Roses Again [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #59 [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #50
The corruption features a visual effect and an audial effect that, when paired together, work extremely effectively.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Words of Wisdom from Eggplant Face [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 20
The corruption predominantly consists of one shade of colour (typically green) for the purposes of chroma-keying / green-screening.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 30
The corruption contains unexpected, dark and/or shocking content that would not otherwise be expected.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #37

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.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Paisano gets pulped [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 35
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”.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Every time Vinny creates a new brother [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #58
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.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #63
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.
The corruption contains primitive polygon manipulation, commonly referred to as “flesh spikes”, but also includes content such as: Stretched entities of any kind, Holes in maps, Rotated planes (the 2D surface kind).
The corruption puts the game in a soft-locked state.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile #65 [Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 38
The corruption is just too simple, bland and/or uninteresting.

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.	[Vinesauce] Vinny - Corruption Stockpile 20
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).
The corruption causes a hard crash of the game, which freezes or force-closes the emulation software, and can possibly have spillover effects.
The corruption contains copyrighted music or other material that can result in a copyright claim against any who showcase it.
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.