Trope Idea Sounding Board

Is a "B-video game" really a thing, though? The B-Movie is an established genre that has been around for decades, but "B-Video Game" just sounds like a snowclone of B-Movie that doesn't truly exist as a genre of its own/

Edited by jandn2014 on Mar 20th 2021 at 11:02:43 AM

Basically, I am referring to low-budget video games made by low-tier developers that gained a Cult Classic reputation because of its inventiveness and eccentricity from making out of low-production values.

For example, Drakengard was developed by Cavia, a low-tier development studio from Japan. The game was obviously made on a low-budget since it had many technical problems with the gameplay and the developer was inexperienced and undermanned for developing ground combat. Despite this, it gained a cult following because of its dark themes and surreal, multilayered plot.

What relation to Obvious Beta?

As a reminder what distinguishes from Obvious Beta, a B-Video Game must be playable at most whereas an Obvious Beta is nigh-unplayable from the start.

so The Same, but More Specific for Cult Classic?

I think so.

it's usually not a good idea to have "X trope but more specific" as a pitch. all the aspects you mentioned—low production values, defying the conventions of the genre, releasing to generally low sales or mixed reception but slowly garnering a following in later years—are all shared aspects with cult classics in other mediums. Drakengard already has Cult Classic listed on its YMMV page, even. the other thing is that "B-video game" isn't really an established term at all, and doesn't really correspond to the idea of B-movies, which don't always gather a following after they're released; a lot of them are considered pretty terrible and forgettable

The Anti-Alcohol Aesop could also be called Alcohol Is Bad or Sobriety Is Good or Teetotalism Is Good.

Edited by Nen_desharu on Mar 20th 2021 at 12:22:48 PM

i like the alliteration of Anti-Alcohol Aesop, it's a catchier name

My original name idea was Drinking Aesop, but that name can potentially make one think of something else other than alcohol/beer. It might work as a redirect though.

What about "Last episode, new credits" for exactly that? To mark the last episode of a series, the style of thecredits themselves or the credit song is changed, like in Avatar The Last Airbender for example.

Finale Credits

When I suggested my idea earlier about people being rich for a day on the previous page, it referred to a trope seen in shows from The '80s or The '90s, where people entered contests to be "rich for a day", and was intended to be very different from A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted.

It's probably a Discredited Trope now, though.

Edited by Merseyuser1 on Mar 21st 2021 at 10:25:02 AM

We also have Princess for a Day for cases where they just temporarily experience the lifestyle without gaining then losing the money.

OK, fair point... forgot that one!

I wonder...

Would Mutually Exclusive Tropes be a useful category? Like how some title can't be One-Word Title and "Double, Double" Title / Verbing Nouny, at the same time?

I don't think Not One Word Title by itself is a useful index?

I actually had that as an idea on TLP! But this would need very careful thinking, to avoid it becoming a Google index.

For example, Story-Breaker Power and a trope that's the opposite of it.

It's a very specific type of opposition. Opposite Tropes would be a sub-index.

It would apply to tropes that don't have direct opposites. Like, if you have just 1 of something, what does that mean you don't have? You don't have two or more of something.

Except in cases of Either/Or Title, where a title is made of multiple possible titles...

hmm... Would Verbing Nouny fit "Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus"? Or should I make Adjective Nouny for that and True History, among others?

Edited by Malady on Mar 22nd 2021 at 11:55:32 AM

I don't think that index would be efficient because there are just so many tropes that result in other tropes being mutually exclusive with it that it would probably lead to a lot of repetition.

(trivia probably) Killer Satire: A parody/satire/deconstruction so incisive that it outright kills the thing it's criticizing. The Simpsons killed the Dom Com, The Cold Equations killed the Invincible Science Hero...

A possible new Media Adaptation Tropes:

• Adaptation Health Change: A character's health changes depending on the work's adaptation.

We have Adaptational Curves but that's about it.

This is a fairly flexible trope for characters.

Although there's Disabled in the Adaptation, Abled in the Adaptation Adaptation Personality Change and Adaptational Wimp, this one is slightly different to that; this is much about physical health as mental health, and it doesn't necessarily refer to a disability.

It should be noted, being unhealthy is different to a disability, and that a character can be both unhealthy and disabled; not mutually exclusive.

For example, a female character who's The Alcoholic and a Short Tank in the source material becomes a "clean eating" freak who's a Girly Girl with Adaptational Skimpiness in an Alternate Continuity, as an example; two polar opposites, and probably Adaptation Deviation.

Could that work as a trope?

Edited by Merseyuser1 on Mar 22nd 2021 at 10:22:49 AM

I've never launched a trope before but maybe I could try. I brought up two examples of Rage Against the Reflection in Is this an example, and I was right to suspect misuse; Tropers/Tabs noted that perhaps there was a missing supertrope.

So, here's my super idea: a trope for characters looking into a reflective surface in a moment of introspection. Mirror Reflection, perhaps. This happens in a quiet moment of contemplation, in the process or the aftermath of making a life-changing decision (or making a mess, like the Frozen example), or after a willing or unwilling transformation; this potential trope sometimes goes with What Have I Become? or My God, What Have I Done?. Rage Against the Reflection may follow if the character hates what they see. On the other hand, angst probably isn't a requirement: maybe a character bursts into "I Am Great!" Song in front of a mirror.

I'd adopt the above-mentioned examples deleted from Rage Against the Reflection; then, Ralph Breaks the Internet has a good one, and I can think of a few more from literature and music.

I have a perfect title idea for that: Reflection Introspection.

Great. :) It rhymes, and it probably won't inspire misuse for every time someone sees a reflection in a mirror. (I mean, the title I came up with could totally do that.)

Edited by Tenebrika on Mar 24th 2021 at 3:07:21 PM

Giving this a bump as it feels like it was completely overlooked...

I've had an idea for a long time regarding a game mechanic where you can still score points even if you fail to actually succeed in a play. Yahtzee's Chance play is the example that gave me the idea, but I don't know if there are any other games that actually have something like that to build a trope page off of.