FireRed hack: Pokémon DarkViolet

[ElitePokes]

Wew good battle move animations and Pokemon Sprites

[Tcoppy]

I loved this hack back when it was first posted, and it still is one of my favorites, I just found it amazing. I'm glad you're continuing it. One thing though,

Spoiler:

Is the gym leader Daisy? Her bio just screams that to me.

[thunderbyd1]

hey chaos i was a supporter in your ruby 649 and i supported you then and im supporting you even more now this looks like a hack thats just better then anything ive seen in awhile i will totaly download the first release when it comes out and oh my does that bulbasaur have Flare Blitz?

[Chaos Rush]

Originally Posted by thunderbyd1

hey chaos i was a supporter in your ruby 649 and i supported you then and im supporting you even more now this looks like a hack thats just better then anything ive seen in awhile i will totaly download the first release when it comes out and oh my does that bulbasaur have Flare Blitz?

Bulbasaur will not be learning Flare Blitz, that screenshot was taken so I could show off the animations I've been working on.

Originally Posted by PokemonMasters

Just wondering When did you start working on this hack? You mapped up until Route 1 but added a bunch of new moves.

It depends, actually. There are many aspects of this hack that were made/decided a long time ago, but there are certain things that were done recently.

In it's current (and hopefully final) incarnation, I started working on it in late August. The first thing I did was to extend the move table, and I have added 113 new moves, all with new animations. I even repointed and extended the background table, and added a decent amount of new backgrounds, mostly for the new moves, but I've also used them to update animations for old moves, such as adding a background to Waterfall. Once I completed all the new moves working 100%, then I began doing completely new battle backgrounds, to mimic how they look in the 4th Gen games (although for the cave background I imitated the Black 2/White 2 cave background). I have a backup of up to that point, which I like to call the, "Pokémon Saga ROM Base".

I completed the Pokémon Saga ROM Base in October, and I began working on Pokémon DarkViolet at that point (which, obviously, uses the Pokémon Saga ROM Base). So to answer your question, you could say I started working on it in August (when I started the ROM Base), or in October (when I finished the ROM base).

However, there are so many aspects of this hack that were decided a looooong time ago, and this concept of the "perfect Kanto game" that I have has evolved significantly.

Now, I don't want to write a wall of text, but I'm going to provide you with a history of how this whole concept started:

Spoiler:

October 2009 - "The True Pokémon Saga" It all started as my desire to create a modernized Kanto game, with actually hard Gym Leaders, and a redesigned Kanto to resemble HG/SS's Kanto. Once the thought of creating the perfect Kanto game came to mind, then I also realized I wanted to make the perfect Hoenn game, and the perfect Johto game, and the perfect Sinnoh game, which would make up what I call the, "Pokémon Saga".

November 2009 - "Pokémon ShadowAmethyst" Then ideas kept forming, and I thought, "wouldn't it be cool if there was a Kanto game with a Battle Frontier and all that other Emerald stuff". And I realized I can't create the perfect Kanto game with a simple edit of FireRed, I would have to do it from scratch.

January 2010 - "Pokémon Saga - Adventure" Still based off of Emerald with the same ideas in mind, but what caused this incarnation to fail is 1) lack of hacking knowledge, 2) I tried to copy the HG/SS maps EXACTLY, which caused some really huge maps. Moral of the story, don't copy 4th Gen maps EXACTLY, neither the tiles, because it would look stupid. (Also the name came from, I wanted the Kanto game to be called "Adventure", and the planned Hoenn game to be called "Chronicles". Silly, I know)

July 2010 - "Pokémon Saga - DarkViolet" This incarnation saw the most progress - Cerulean City. The name was basically finalized (DarkViolet), and certain ideas were finalized, such as having two rivals, or proportionately shrinking the HG/SS maps so that the same amount of space is shown on a GBA screen in comparison to a DS screen. This incarnation failed because I realized I wanted to include 4th Gen Pokemon, particularly the ones that are related to Gen I Pokemon by evolution.

January 2011 - "Pokémon DarkViolet" I had this crazy idea of doing a HeartGold hack. What was I thinking...

November 2011 - I started my "Ruby 649 Project", intending to use it as a base for Pokémon DarkViolet. I also started my "DS-style 64x64 Pokémon Sprite Resource", which I am still working on. As planned, Pokémon DarkViolet uses sprites exclusively from the DS-style 64x64x Pokémon Sprite Resource.

December 2011 - August 2012 - At some point I stopped doing the Ruby 649 Project when I realized there were some complications that can't be solved. I also realized I wanted 4th Gen moves, and the Physical/Special split, meaning I would have to work with FireRed. I actually made a ROM base on FireRed with 4th Gen Pokémon added (the never released FireRed 493 Project), but I scrapped that.

August 2012 - I made my final decisions for Pokémon DarkViolet. It will be a FireRed hack. It will have as many 4th Gen moves added as possible by my hacking skill level. It will not have 493/649 Pokémon. The only Pokémon available in the entire game would be the 210 Pokémon in the Kanto Dex. This means that in order to add 4th Gen Pokémon, I would have to overwrite existing Pokémon like other hacks do, but it won't be a problem since the Pokémon I'm overwriting won't be in the Kanto Dex.

October 2012 - November 2012 - Finished adding new moves, officially began mapping and scripting, which leads us to where we are now.

[mlwy]

Awesome!It's finally back!

[Chaos Rush]

Some random screens:

[Nintendork15]

Originally Posted by Chaos Rush

Some random screens:

Out of curiousity, any reasons why the Pokéballs and Pokédex's have been swapped around from the original releases?

[kebbles]

Originally Posted by Chaos Rush

Some random screens:

The screens are nice man, i really like the oak overworld, is it custom made because ive never seen it before.
And the edits you have made give the game some originality which just makes me want to play this even more, also will there be a team rocket event on the ss anne? Its okay if you want to keep it a secret you dont have to answer that question.

[Ach7AC]

Hmm... is this a completely new Chaos Rush story or does it follow/is based on the manga?

[Chaos Rush]

Originally Posted by Nintendork15

Out of curiousity, any reasons why the Pokéballs and Pokédex's have been swapped around from the original releases?

In HG/SS, during the event where you can get a Gen I starter Pokémon, the starters are on the top table. My maps are all based off of HG/SS maps, and since the top table is smaller, it's more aesthetically pleasing to have the Poké Balls on the smaller table, rather the Poké Balls on the big table, and putting three gigantic Pokédexes on the small table.

Originally Posted by kebbles

The screens are nice man, i really like the oak overworld, is it custom made because ive never seen it before.
And the edits you have made give the game some originality which just makes me want to play this even more, also will there be a team rocket event on the ss anne? Its okay if you want to keep it a secret you dont have to answer that question.

Yes, it's custom made to mimic the R/S/E style. All of the custom graphics in this hack were made by me.

Originally Posted by Ach7AC

Hmm... is this a completely new Chaos Rush story or does it follow/is based on the manga?

Completely new Chaos Rush story.

[mikethepokemaster]

love the battle animation its so beautiful. i hope i am not annoying you but when is the first beta or alpha coming out for this or are you doing a whole hack debut with this hack or should say art work your doing. and the story seems interesting.

[SoraTheTruth]

i thought this hack was over because the original thread closed glad to see you're still working on it

[AllyJacqui]

Hey, I remember this hack! The screens look beautiful, the tiles, the special moves - everything. Keep it up, I cant wait to one day give it a try. :D

[Chaos Rush]

Battle HUD has now been edited:



(and yes, I will fix the weird Pokeball palettes, its a side-effect of editing the HP bars, but it's an easy fix)

[Gerokunz]

Wow, incredible! Red and Green's Backsprites are based on Lucas and Dawn!
Excellent work Chaos! :>

[tajaros]

Originally Posted by Chaos Rush

Battle HUD has now been edited:



(and yes, I will fix the weird Pokeball palettes, its a side-effect of editing the HP bars, but it's an easy fix)

Cool new screenies I like the new backsprites and the new Gary Sprite also the battle and hp sprites are awesome as well. :D

[PokemonMasters]

The Grass tile could use a little more work or maybe you could change it since it doesn't really match with the trees very well. But other than that this hack is awesome. xD

[godlesplay]

one more great hack with kanto starters ;<

[dreamengine]

This has got to be te prettiest hack I've ever seen :') i seriously. Cannot wait to play this because even now this is a big step in hacking in terms of battle animation, new evolutionary stones, and simple yet awesome graphics. It's going to be a huge influence on other people's hacks. And by other people i mean me

[Chaos Rush]

Not really an update, but just some info I thought I should let you know:

1) Blue will have his own battle theme like every other rival in the Pokemon games does. I have composed a custom theme for him, and it will basically be a less epic version of Blue's Champion theme. That way when you do battle Blue as a Champion, you'll get this awesome feeling of "OMG I KNOW THIS SONG, BUT IT'S ALL EPIC NOW"

2) Speaking of music hacking, Jambo51 has told me how to extend the Direct Sound tracks available up to 12 (in the GBA Pokemon games, the limit is 5). You can expect to hear some pretty epic music, there are very few songs that I am keeping from the original FireRed game. (As with the Emerald incarnation of DarkViolet I was working on couple years ago, all songs will be in the same key that they were in the Generation I games, NOT FR/LG)

3) And lastly, after careful thought, I have finalized the TM list:

Spoiler:

TM List:
1. Focus Blast
2. Dragon Claw
3. Scald
4. Calm Mind
5. Energy Ball
6. Toxic
7. Hail
8. Bulk Up
9. Volt Switch
10. Hidden Power
11. Sunny Day
12. Dragon Pulse
13. Ice Beam
14. Blizzard
15. Hyper Beam
16. Giga Impact
17. Protect
18. Rain Dance
19. Giga Drain
20. Shadow Claw
21. Frustration
22. SolarBeam
23. Draco Bullet
24. Thunderbolt
25. Thunder
26. Earthquake
27. Return
28. Dig
29. Psychic
30. Shadow Ball
31. Brick Break
32. Double Team
33. Stone Edge
34. Dark Pulse
35. Flamethrower
36. Sludge Bomb
37. Sandstorm
38. Fire Blast
39. Rock Tomb
40. Aerial Ace
41. Drain Punch
42. Façade
43. X-Scissor
44. Rest
45. Attract
46. Grass Knot
47. Steel Wing
48. U-Turn
49. Flash Cannon
50. Overheat

EDIT: One more thing, the first playable release of this game will be an Alpha. It will contain:
Pallet Town
Route 1
Viridian City
Route 22
Route 2
Viridian Forest

I hope to have it ready by Christmas, but there is no guarantees.

[D3StR0Y4mike]

Very nice hack! Looking forward to release

[Mr. Magius]

Mother of Arceus, this looks fantastic! This is a great concept and I love it so far. "Re-imagining" hacks are my favourite, since you get to see a certain set of games in a new light.
Very well done. I eagerly await a release.

[RedFan]

Nice, it's back, I remember you had a release on the earlier version of the game, did you start over or continue?

[Chaos Rush]

Originally Posted by RedFan

Nice, it's back, I remember you had a release on the earlier version of the game, did you start over or continue?

Funny question, I've had this concept since 2009, and I've started it over, like, 4 times, due to constantly evolving ideas. But yes, I started over again. And this is hopefully the last time I start over.

[Chaos Rush]

Thanks to Jambo51, I'm no longer limited to 5 DirectSound tracks. Abusing that ability, here is some of the new music that you will be hearing in this hack:

Route 24/25
Title Screen (it's just the R/S/E title screen music, but the key has been changed from F to G)
Pallet Town
Route 3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/16/18/19/20/21/22
Rival Blue Battle (THIS WILL NOT BE THE CHAMPION BATTLE)
Rival Red/Green Battle

At first glance, the rival musics might sound exactly the same, but I've made a distinct difference towards the end to remind you of who you're actually battling.