I will try to keep it short...
The fan ages are done by volunteers among the explorer community. Those ages have been created for quite some years, the UAM download manager gives the date "December 3rd, 2008" as the starting date for a lot of ages. You can expect these ages to be older than that date. We are in May 2014. There's no criteria for a fan age. Some have been made through a series of specific criterias though (the RAD contests, search the forum for more information). Some ages are very basic, some are very complex. It's up to the age writer(s)'s will.
I'm still working on a huge project
"Journeys inside URU", I have a lot of things to accomplish before putting the final touch to it. All the following "big" ages of my first list as well as all the "small" ages of the second list are encompassed in that huge "videos, marker quests, & texts" project.
The "big" ages: (note: big here must be understood by ages having extensive areas to visit, a lot of puzzles or because they are part of a series of ages)Adrael by the Adrael Team (Europeans). This age is really well built. You can explore a lot of areas, the puzzles are great (although the 2nd one is not complete so there's no inherent logic to it). The story of this age is awesome. I like the drama occuring. The musical score at the end is mystical, a must-see.
Elodea,
Elodea's Unterwelt,
Elodea's Tunnelgang, &
Elodea's Schatzkammern by Dulcamara (German). This is the quintescence of exploration! There are so much areas to explore, so much activities you can do there. I go back there a lot of time. The story is quite short. You understand your goal there quite fast (somewhat you can understand it from 2 perspectives: 1st) that you must preserve what was protected or 2nd) just go for it and take it with you!). There are journey cloths all over that you must find and touch in order to advance in the solving so they look like Cyan's ages for this aspect.
Enobmort &
Noidrocca by J'Kla (British). These ages might seem rebarbative at first, 2 huge maze ages but there are hidden gems to discover in them. You can make up your own storyline in them because J'Kla cannot achieve his for now so those ages are still in Work-in-Progress (WIP) mode
Somewhere &
Iceworld by denost2 (French). Two of my favorite ages. Those 2 ages are very extensive. Before Elodea, those were the hugest. The story is more developed in these ages and is more tied to the puzzle-solving. You must solve them in a given order to go forward. There are a lot of moving vehicles which make the whole journey really awesome.
Janga &
Takla Ma'kan by Huru.info folks (Germans). Those 2 ages are huge. There are a lot to explore in them. Janga is more open as there's no puzzle-solving in order to advance. You have a lot of secret places or secret paths to explore though. The difficulty is to find them all. Takla Ma'kan has the most complex puzzles of all the fan ages. You must go through a series of puzzles to reach the final area. There's an additional layer to all that: every puzzle you solved has important elements to keep in mind for the ultimate puzzle. You cannot solve the last puzzle without them. You cannot cheat either; you cannot just remember the last puzzle's solution and reach the final area. The age remembers which steps have been done so you need to go from A to Z.
Jo'nae and
Jo'nae Hood by Jonnee (German affiliated with Huru.info folks). Those 2 ages are lavish. The warm feeling of the colours used make them very pleasant to visit. They don't revolved on complex puzzles; intuition is only needed here. They are plunged in eternal night. Jo'nae is a small district full of colourful mushrooms and some dwellings. Jo'nae Hood is huger. There are deathly gardens, 2 inhabited districts, a lavish garden with laser barriers, 2 dark caves, & the stellar port facilities.
Rahsoo B'ahrotan &
R'Oshanhnin Korvahkhn by Calena (American). In those 2 ages, you are feeling connected with the Earth with the nature. It might be hard to understand if you are not from North America. The Native Americans in their purest form are represent here: the connection with the Nature, with the Elements, their theology, their customs. The storyline is really interesting and plausible (D'nis met Native Americans in the heart of New Mexico State long before it was named like that), the puzzles are well-designed, the sceneries are well drawn.
The "small" ages: (note "small" is my colloquial way for me to call the standalone ages, some might be very large & extensive ages...)Zephyr Cove
Yedahna
Wianeroy
Walking Maze
Vothol Gallery
Vaiskor Area 2
Ulteemah
T'vel
Turtle Isle
Tsoidahl Sheegahtee
Tsoidahl Prad
The Lost Stonehenge
The Chess Age (mostly for the coconuts, I'm not fan of chess
)
Terrati Lab
Tehr'Dovah
Tahm Hehvo
Sonavio
Skysong (for this one...you need to solve a puzzle in one of the Ahra Pahts' shell)
Sholek's Temple
Shorah Pahts
Serene
Rell-Too
Relativity
Pre-Swaltu
Prad
Paahkweh
Oolbahnneea
Moysenland
Maw
Llantern
Kaelis' Pub Office
Hayal
Gavster
Fens
Fahets
Eocene
Eder Tomahn
Crater Concept
Botan
Ahrkane
Ahra Pahts
Age Maps Gallery
Those are all the installed ages in my URU:CC offline install
.
I also visit the fan ages available on the Gehn & TOC MOUL shards but they are not part of my "Journeys inside URU" project.