Has anyone tried to make a series with the same freedom as Touhou

[macblo]

I'm sure almost all of you know how much freedom ZUN allows with the creation of fan made game, music, and the like. Outside of a few rules with certain things such as anime, Zun lets the fans do pretty much whatever they want with the character and music. Anyone wonder why nobody else made a series with that much open freedom?

[beaver1231]

It has been done before.

Hatsune Miku
Kancolle

You get the idea.

And unlike Touhou, in which a top down shooter series became the next viral sensation out of sheer luck and coincidence, Hatsune Miku was designed with the sole purpose for creating songs. There are now concerts and entire video games featuring these fan-made songs.

[N-Forza]

Technically, Kancolle doesn't have the same amount of freedom, since they won't allow fan-made games.

Part of the problem is making something that has a big enough fanbase so there are people willing to make stuff based on it. I guess you could say Homestuck would be the closest western equivalent, although I really don't much about the comic itself to say for sure.

[monhan]

I'm sure almost all of you know how much freedom ZUN allows with the creation of fan made game, music, and the like. Outside of a few rules with certain things such as anime, Zun lets the fans do pretty much whatever they want with the character and music. Anyone wonder why nobody else made a series with that much open freedom?

Kancolle comes to mind.
Now you know why some Touhou fans aren't too comfortable with it.

I'm pretty sure there are some others out there, but they are obscure enough for most people.
Also, ZUN didn't make the games with profit in mind, and not many people are willing to do that. And even if they do, some people out there will call them out for copying ZUN, so they probably won't be as successful.

Edit: Seriously, it took me 5 minutes to type my message? I need to fix that...

Technically, Kancolle doesn't have the same amount of freedom, since they won't allow fan-made games.

Really? Why is that, Forza?
If it's because of it being a commercial product, then Madoka has something like Grief Syndrome.

And the fans are certainly not gonna stop at making one.

[Drake]

ZUN's derivative work guidelines are basically a reflection of doujin culture in general, necessary to explicitly list only because of Touhou's popularity. The primary difference between Touhou Project and other doujin works in this regard is really just that it's incredibly popular, and is an original doujin work, rather than itself being a derivative of something commercial. The freedom to create and proliferate derivative works of other doujin works is common throughout the culture, but this is on a much smaller scale and occurs on more personal levels between circles, so you won't really notice it.

[Romantique Tp]

Really? Why is that, Forza?

Fangames could compete directly with whatever cash-ins they might try to come up with. Basically they don't give you permission to do whatever you want, they give you permission to advertise their game for free. Other Japanese companies have similar policies.

[iPetalchaser]

Legally speaking, derivative works for a franchise may be made by third-parties, provided its copyright holder gives express permission to the public to do so.

Like Drake, Bigode and monhan stated before me, ZUN's Do's and Don't List for derivative works is not that overtly different from the Terms and Condition's imposed on Doujin Circles working on any other corporate or privately owned media, be it any of the anime or manga whose derivatives are released at Comiket or indeed, the ever competitive Volcaloid, Idolm@sters or Kancolle. If it has been represented at Comiket, it most likely has just as much freedom as Touhou!

That's just the legal scenario though. The largest part of 'freedom' that Touhou has is felt through its large numbers of vaguely outlined characters and its very simplistic lore. Other series also have vague characterisations, but Kancolle and im@s are perhaps the closest to Touhou in this regard, Kancolle circles being limited by their whims to ignore or follow historicity and symbolism, while im@s ones having a free hand beyond what the girls are painted out to be.
My experience with Vocaloid is shallow, and limited to Gen1, but do they even have  any form of canon?

[Tengukami]

For reference, ZUN's fanworks guidelines are in the TARC sticky.

[Abraham Lincoln]

It has been done before.

Hatsune Miku
Kancolle

You get the idea.

And unlike Touhou, in which a top down shooter series became the next viral sensation out of sheer luck and coincidence, Hatsune Miku was designed with the sole purpose for creating songs. There are now concerts and entire video games featuring these fan-made songs.

Ever heard of Yume Nikki?

[iPetalchaser]

Ever heard of Yume Nikki?

Yume Nikki isn't at the Touhou/Kancolle/Im@s/Vocaloid level of popularity. Athough, yes, for an RPG maker game, it has a lot of derivative works.
I've always seen it as a relative of sorts to Ib, since they're both fairly popular RPG-maker games.

[Bio]

Yume Nikki isn't at the Touhou/Kancolle/Im@s/Vocaloid level of popularity. Athough, yes, for an RPG maker game, it has a lot of derivative works.
I've always seen it as a relative of sorts to Ib, since they're both fairly popular RPG-maker games.

Japan really likes their horror RPG-maker.

[Abraham Lincoln]

Yume Nikki isn't at the Touhou/Kancolle/Im@s/Vocaloid level of popularity. Athough, yes, for an RPG maker game, it has a lot of derivative works.
I've always seen it as a relative of sorts to Ib, since they're both fairly popular RPG-maker games.

If my memory is correct, YN debuted before Ib did. I was implying that the Yume Nikki series is another series that gives as much freedom, maybe even more freedom to its fans as Touhou does.

[Drake]

I think that sort of falls under the default of doujin titles overall, like I said. I guess it's a relatively good example of this on a smaller scale than Touhou.