History Main / HumbleBeginnings

* ''DefenseOfTheAncients'', a ''{{WarCraft}} III'' [[AbridgedArenaArray map]] with ''its own work page'', has inspired a ''top ten single charting theme song'' ,quite a few popular games ,among them ''{{Demigod}}'', ''HeroesOfNewerth'', and ''LeagueOfLegends'''), and arguably its own ''genre'', and scored its developer a position at Valve Software (they seem to have a thing for AscendedFanboy developers).

* ''DefenseOfTheAncients'', a ''{{WarCraft}} III'' [[AbridgedArenaArray map]] with ''its own work page'', has inspired a ''top ten single charting theme song'', ''three'' separate games (''{{Demigod}}'', ''HeroesOfNewerth'', and ''LeagueOfLegends'''), and arguably its own ''genre'', and scored its developer a position at Valve Software (they seem to have a thing for AscendedFanboy developers).

[[AC:WebOriginal]]
* ''HomestarRunner'', which now has its own professional video game series and cameos ranging from songs in ''GuitarHero'' to an EasterEgg cartoon ''in a Macromedia program'', started as a children's book made in a college afternoon and put together at ''Kinko's'' [[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Original_Book (see here)]].

* The popular ''[=~2000 AD~=]'' series ''DR and Quinch'' began as a one-off ''[[{{Padding}} Future Shock]]''.

* ''{{Beavis and Butthead}}'' was originally just a short on ''LiquidTelevision''.

* The idea for ''KatawaShoujo'' began as a one-off joke on an {{omake}} page of a manga. Later, some people saw it on an {{Imageboard}} and decided to take a serious crack at making a VisualNovel featuring girls with disabilities. The result thus far is truly BetterThanItSounds.

* The ''NuzlockeComics'' originally started out as the sketchings of a SelfImposedChallenge on a ''[[PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon]]'' run. It utilised [[http://www.nuzlocke.com/pokemonhardmode.php?p=1 stick figures with a storyline that didn't really deviate from the original game]] for the first season, but, come [[PokemonFireRedAndLeafGreen the next]] [[http://www.nuzlocke.com/pokemonhardmode.php?p=15 season]], there's [[ArtEvolution a noticeable improvement in the artwork and formatting]], the storyline becomes much more substantial, and the Pokémon themselves were much better characterised. The challenge itself has also become extremely popular among others, inspiring many other Nuzlocke comics, prose and futher creative pursuits in turn.

* The ''NuzlockeComics'' originally started out as the sketchings of a SelfImposedChallenge on a ''[[PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon]]'' run. It went from [[http://www.nuzlocke.com/pokemonhardmode.php?p=1 stick figures with a storyline that didn't really deviate from the original game]] for the first season, but, come [[PokemonFireRedAndLeafGreen the next]] [[http://www.nuzlocke.com/pokemonhardmode.php?p=15 season]], there's [[ArtEvolution a noticeable improvement in the artwork and formatting]], the storyline becomes much more substantial, and the Pokémon themselves were much better characterised. The challenge itself has also become extremely popular among others, inspiring many other Nuzlocke comics, prose and futher creative pursuits in turn.

** Not to mention interim games ''CounterStrike'' and ''DayOfDefeat'', which were both ''HalfLife'' mods whose small dev teams were bought out by Valve, split into commercial packages, and followed with “Source” versions with a much-improved engine.
*** The initial development idea for ''Left4Dead'' came during the development of bots for ''CounterStrike'', where the developers found themselves having more fun by arming a legion of bots with only knives and then fighting them off like a zombie horde.

* The game that preceded ''{{Portal}}'', ''Narbacular Drop'', was a school project at DigiPen.

* ''AlienHominid'' and ''MeatBoy'', originally just random Flash games on {{Newgrounds}}.

* TheAddamsFamily started as a loosely-connected set of cartoons by Charles Addams in ''The New Yorker'' with recurring unnamed character designs. Until the proposal to create a show based on them, Addams had never even thought of them as named individuals.

** 'Garry's Mod'', the ten dollar commercial version 10 of which has made Garry effectively a millionaire, was originally a quick hack to the leaked ''HalfLife 2'' source code to allow arbitrary rope creation posted on the SomethingAwful Forums.

* ''TeamFortress2'', technically the sequel to a 2-or-3 man mod for ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.

* ''DefenseOfTheAncients'', a ''{{WarCraft}} III'' [[AbridgedArenaArray map]] with ''its own work page'', has inspired a ''top ten single charting theme song'', ''three'' separate games (''{{Demigod}}'', ''HeroesOfNewerth'', and ''LeagueOfLegends'''), and arguably its own ''[[GenreLaunch genre]]'', and scored its developer a position at Valve Software (they seem to have a thing for AscendedFanboy developers).

* ''AxeCop'' is written by a six year old, but drawn by a professional.

* Adobe Flash, originally a small vector animation system, based off a tablet computer drawing program by an Aldus spinoff later acquired by Macromedia. With its browser-embeddable Flash (originally [=FutureSplash=]) player, the introduction of [=ActionScript=] (Javascript with the SerialNumbersFiledOff,) and especially its late addition of bitmapped video, by the time Macromedia was acquired for Adobe, Flash had become a form of Internet content that ''[[DarthWiki/IdiotProgramming competes with actual web standards]]'' for popularity.

* ''TeamFortress2'', technically the sequel to a 2-or-3 man mod for ''Game/{{Quake}}''.

[[TheSimpsons http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Simpsons_on_Tracey_Ullman.png]]
[[caption-width:541:The original incarnation of what is now [[TheSimpsons a multi-billion-dollar multimedia franchise juggernaut]].]]

* ''TheAdventuresOfDoctorMcNinja'' started as Chris Hastings' ''user name'' on the SomethingAwful Forums, which he decided at the last moment to change from Dr. [=McNugget=]. He then drew a panel of what said doctor would look like, then used the doctor as the premise of a comic he drew for his art degree.

* The idea for ''KatawaShoujo'' began as a one-off joke on the Author's Commentary page of a manga. Later, some people saw it on an {{Imageboard}} and decided to take a serious crack at making a VisualNovel featuring girls with disabilities. The result thus far is truly BetterThanItSounds.

* ''TeamFortress2'', technically the sequel to a 2-or-3 man mod for ''{{Quake}}''.

* ''AlienHominid'', originally a Flash game on {{Newgrounds}}.

* ''TeamFortress2'', technically the sequel to a 2-or-3 man mod for {{Quake}}.
** Not to mention interim games ''CounterStrike'' and ''DayOfDefeat'', which were both ''HalfLife'' mods whose small dev teams were bought out by Valve, split into commercial packages, and followed with "Source" versions with a much-improved engine.
*** The initial development idea for ''Left4Dead'' came during the development of bots for CounterStrike, where the developers found themselves having more fun by arming a legion of bots with only knives and then fighting them off like a zombie horde.
* 'Garry's Mod'', the ten dollar commercial version 10 of which has made Garry effectively a millionaire, was originally a quick hack to the leaked HalfLife 2 source code to allow arbitrary rope creation posted on the SomethingAwful Forums.

* DefenseOfTheAncients, a ''[[{{WarCraft}} WarCraft III]]'' [[AbridgedArenaArray map]] with ''its own work page'', has inspired a ''theme song'', ''three'' seperate games ({{Demigod}}, HeroesOfNewerth, and LeagueOfLegends), and arguably its own ''genre'', and scored its developer a position at Valve Software (they seem to have a thing for AscendedFanboy developers).

* ''HomestarRunner'', which now has its own professional video game series and cameos ranging from songs in GuitarHero to an EasterEgg cartoon ''in a Macromedia program'', started as a children's book made in a college afternoon and put together at ''Kinko's'' [[http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Original_Book (see here)]].

* TheAdventuresOfDoctorMcNinja started as Chris Hastings' ''user name'' on the SomethingAwful Forums, which he decided at the last moment to change from Dr. [=McNugget=]. He then drew a panel of what said doctor would look like, then used the doctor as the premise of a comic he drew for his art degree.
* AxeCop is written by a six year old, but drawn by a professional.

* Adobe Flash, originally a small vector animation program from a tiny start-up company later acquired by Macromedia. After the introduction of a browser-embeddable Flash player (using Macromedia's Shockwave platform) and the introduction of [=ActionScript=] (Javascript with the SerialNumbersFiledOff), by the time Macromedia was acquired for Adobe, Flash had become a form of Internet content that ''[[DarthWiki/IdiotProgramming competes with actual web standards]]'' for popularity.

* [[http://www.yahoo.com/ Yahoo!]], which began in 1994 as a student project on the Stanford University.

[[caption-width:541:The original incarnation of what is now a multi-billion-dollar multimedia franchise juggernaut.]]

[[AC:ComicsBooks]]

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:The Internet]]
* WikiMagic.
* MemeticMutation.
* [[http://www.yahoo.com/ Yahoo!]], which began in 1994 as a student project on the Stanford University.
** As did {{Google}}.

[[AC:WebComics]]
* TheAdventuresOfDoctorMcNinja started as Chris Hastings' ''user name'' on the SomethingAwful Forums, which he decided at the last moment to change from Dr. McNugget. He then drew a panel of what said doctor would look like, then used the doctor as the premise of a comic he drew for his art degree.
* AxeCop is written by a six year old, but drawn by a professional.

[[AC:Comics]]
* The popular ''[=~2000 AD~=]'' series ''DR and Quinch'' began as a one-off ''[[{{Padding}} Future Shock]]''.

*Adobe Flash, originally a small vector animation program from a tiny start-up company later acquired by Macromedia. After the introduction of a browser-embeddable Flash player (using Macromedia's Shockwave platform) and the introduction of [=ActionScript=] (Javascript with the SerialNumbersFiledOff), by the time Macromedia was acquired for Adobe, Flash had become a form of Internet content that ''[[DarthWiki/IdiotProgramming competes with actual web standards]]'' for popularity.