FAQ

General

What does the IRA acronym stand for?

It's just the initials of my real name.

What does IRAGINATION mean?

I just combined the words IRA and imagination. Nothing too deep. I just thought it would be a unique enough word so that my site would rank high on search engines. Just type iragination on your favorite search engine and you'll be here.

IRAGINATION is also an open name that conveys no specific theme. One year I may be drawing illustrations, the other developing video games. In the end, it is me just learning stuff and publishing the results.

Is IRAGINATION a Mega Man fan site?

No. I follow the Mega Man series to the best of my ability, but other websites do a better work covering any of the many Mega Man series I could be a fan of.

Personal

How many languages do you speak?

I am a native Spanish speaker. I can communicate in English too.

How fast/often do you reply inquiries?

I'll do my best to reply as soon as I possible. I very much appreciate all the messages I receive.

Schedule

When are you going to publish your next game/comic/illustration/update?

I don't have a fixed schedule, so unless I have said beforehand that I will publish something, the only safe answer is when it's done.

Using Content

Unless otherwise noted, by content I mean anything like comics, illustrations, games, tutorials, articles. Anything hosted here.

I'm making a website/illustration/video. Can I use your content on it?

Usually, the answer is yes if the content is safe for work and not for sale.

I've seen derivative works based on my artwork. This kind of enthusiasm is fine, but people notice, so please be considerate and provide proper credit/attribution and a link back to this website.

Sending Content

Can I send you content to be published on your site?

Currently I can only host artwork (JPG, GIF or PNG files). Check the guidelines for more information.

For larger content, like games, music, videos or full comics, it would be better if you host it yourself. If it is something along the lines of the Guest Fan Art guidelines, I can link to it from a suitable place, either from a blog post or a page.

Please be specific that you would like me to share the content with my audience. I take privacy very seriously, so I assume you wanted to share the content only with me. In doubt, I will ask you if it is fine to share.

Guest Fan Art Guidelines

What are the guidelines to get my artwork published on your gallery?

Thank you for your interest in sending artwork to my gallery.

In order to keep the amount of work manageable for me, I have developed the following guidelines.

Currently I only upload artwork to the Guest Fan Art section. This is a special section where I showcase the artwork made by artists around the world based on my original characters.

  • Submit your artwork through email using my contact details.
  • Your work has to be related to my original characters: Delia, Leika, Balandra, Necro, etc.
  • To avoid copyright issues, I'm not publishing artwork with only copyrighted characters from other IP owners. I can bend this rule if my characters are present, but it becomes complicated, so it's better to save the trouble and just stick with my characters.
  • Please provide the following information: Your name/nickname and the address of your website if applicable. I'll post nicknames instead of real names unless otherwise noted. I won't publish your e-mail unless requested.
  • Optionally, you can also provide some artist notes. I will add them in the description of the image. Please keep it short, below 100 words.
  • On doubt, check what is already available. If your work meets those parameters, everything will be fine. Actually I love collecting these works.

And you agree with this:

  • Please state it explicitly if you'd rather have your artwork not published. If I have doubts, I will ask you.
  • I reserve the right not to publish anything for any reason. Usually questionable content or mere advertising will be held back. A simple sanity check is to ask yourself if the content is family friendly and/or safe for work.
  • In return I'll publish your artwork and a link back to your website, if any.
  • I'll publish it as soon as I can. Please be patient if this takes longer than expected as I might have backlog items already in progress.
  • I don't have problems with any file size. I can take high resolution pictures (PSD, BMP), but for the gallery I will have to do some resizing and exporting.
  • Let me know if you want some of your credit information changed after publishing it. I'll do my best to update the info as soon as possible.
  • You can also request me to unpublish the artwork at any time. This implies deleting the entry from the gallery permanently. Use your original email so I can cross-check the request with the original submission.

Why do you only take artwork related to your original characters?

It helps me to keep my load of work under control. I also believe that having the content focused on my characters helps my audience. This way they can find related content in a single place. For general-purpose galleries, you are better off using free services such as DeviantArt.

What about written works? Will you publish them if they are related with your characters?

This is difficult for me to manage as I don't have a specific section for written works. I appreciate the effort, but for time constraints I cannot even tell if I will be able to read it, especially if it is very long.

Game troubleshooting

What is Adobe Flash?

The Adobe Flash Player was a browser plug-in that allowed you to play Flash content on your browser.

Why can't I see any game or animation?

The Adobe Flash support ended on December 2020, and the major web browsers removed it.

Without it, to play Flash-based content, such as games, make sure that JavaScript is enabled.

Should I install Flash by some other mean?

No. Without official support from Adobe, I would advise against installing it for security concerns.

I can still play some games. How do they work if Flash is gone?

Most likely, your browser is running the game using a workaround based on JavaScript. In particular, I am using Ruffle to power my existing games. You can even load them on mobile devices, a feat that was impossible with Flash.

Ok, the game has loaded, but when the game starts the character doesn't move when I use the keyboard. Why?

Click on the game to gain keyboard focus.

Can I play fullscreen?

Yes. Right-click on the game and select the fullscreen option.

Can I use a gamepad to play your games?

I am in the process of adding gamepad support to existing games. So far it is supported by the following games:

  • Fall of 21XX
  • Fire Man Incoming Storm

See this post for details.

The workaround for other games is to use some utility that can map your gamepad buttons to your keyboard input. Search Google for JoyToKey or similar tools.

I have a broadband connection. Why does the movie/game run so slow?

Game performance depends on the CPU and RAM installed on your system. Try closing other applications.

Playing full screen can also be taxing. Experiment resizing the browser window.

The game has some option grayed out. How do I unlock it?

Perhaps it was some planned feature that I did not have time to implement, and I left it grayed out as a reminder. Send me a note, so I know there is a demand for it.

Is there a way I can download your movies to play them offline?

There are browser extensions that allow you to download Flash games or videos. I give no support for these tools so please research them on your own.

Game Development

Is it easy to make games?

It requires some effort. The time investment depends on a lot of factors like the type of game you want to make, your current knowledge about programming topics in general and plenty of other disciplines. If you are thinking about making a Mega Man game in a weekend, from scratch, with no previous development experience, the answer is most certainly no.

Can you help me to make a game?

If you need professional services, you may contact me to discuss.

How can I learn to make games?

If you are completely new to programming, there is a considerable learning curve and contacting me won't be of any help. However, try the following steps:

  • Try to find some accessible tool or framework with lots of examples and documentation.
  • Read tutorials on the Internet about basic programming topics, such as variables, control structures, and object oriented programming.
  • Math and trigonometry topics are also very encouraged to master.
  • Try to make a simple Pong clone.
  • Examine the source code of existing games if available. The idea is to understand the general concepts and adapt them to your ideas.

Please be advised that we are talking about a time span of months/years here depending of how much time you can devote to this learning process. As trite as this might sound, it just takes time.

Online Activities

Will you join my forum/facebook group/mail list/community/discord?

Even if I do, I don't think I'll be very active. Most of the time I am either working or drawing.

Do you use Facebook Messenger/Whatsapp/IRC or any other messaging service?

My contact details are here. I keep my options open, but I try to avoid anything that will flood me with notifications.