Semi-Rant on "Rom Bases"

[kringlur]

I'm working on a ROM base that changes Fire Red to classic Red. I wouldn't want another person to have to go through all this work if someone had already done it.

...I also think that's why the quality of hacks is decreasing, because in the past, talented hackers worked for months to make, from scratch, an epic hack for people to play. And when the dust cleared, the results were awesome...

If they make a terrible hack with it that's their fault, not the ROM base's. You can make bad hacks no matter how many or how few tools and experience you have. (Yes, I've played experienced hackers' games who did it all from scratch, and I thought some were horrible story-wise even if the actual features in the hack were great.)

... if you use a rom base their may be other games that use the same tiles and it will look un-original.....

Err, how is using a ROM base's tiles different than using an original game's tiles? Are you saying you have to have entirely original tiles for your game to be interesting? I think "looking unoriginal" is a plot problem rather than a tile problem...

(AmethystEEVEE: in answer to your signature, "because the graphics of the games used to be so bad you couldn't even tell they were girls unless they had skirts on, and they've just kept the trend in the newer games" : Þ)

 

[machomuu]

I don't think it's stealing creativity as they give them to us to use, and I think the creativity really comes from how they are used in the mapping.

 

[RHIOneAlbum]

I've never used a base, but I think as long as you credit the creator and ask for it you're fine. I'm using Liquid Crystal as a base with permission and credit from Linkandzelda. I hink it's fine because you expand on somebody else's design. However CREDIT and PERMISSION are the only ways I would think it's right. Plus, most of the people who use bases make it around 10-20% in their hack then quit. So it's not like they're actually noticed that often, I'd like to see a good hack using a base though, it'd be cool.

 

[teejermiester]

Well, 3 things:

1: I purposefully didnt use a ROM base because even though I had no understanding of ROMs whatsoever, I FIGURED IT OUT. People who don't are just taking the lazy way to create their own pokemon "Game". And I might have not known about them until about a couple weeks after I started hacking BUT STILL :) Same thing goes to people who cant do everything. People who like an extra scripter around are okay, but people who cant learn to script so just hire one are being lazy. I have nothing against their personality, or themselves, just the way they ROM hack.

2:ROM bases still come with a limited amount of tiles. With my knowledge of how to edit tiles, I have unlimited possibilities.

3: If people want to do that for other people, let them. I personally wouldn't, because that takes the challenge out of it, but some people figure thats something they can do to improve the ROM Hacking community.

 

[Missingyep]

These hackers which continue to use the handouts end up pushing out crap after crap of hacks which similar to the 50 others using the same patch. Nothing is ever learned by the 'hacker' also as he simply pops AMap opens and mindlessly maps away.

If I'm interpreting your post right, things like JPAN's FireRed Hacked Engine would count as ROM bases. This is the context in which I make my reply.

I am against using ROM bases for things like graphical resources and tilesets. People should use their own creativity and make their own! Even if it's just minor alterations to the FireRed tilesets, like mine are.

However, the technical ROM bases -- like JPAN's hack. I'm perfectly okay with those. There are some skills that are insanely complicated to learn, and frankly, not everyone can be bothered to learn them. And that's understandable. I see ROM hacking as more of a design activity than a programming activity.

That said, technical ROM bases don't interfere with the learning of tasks not directly related to their alterations. Indeed, they may even enhance it. JPAN's base, for example, has opened up an entire world of possibilities for scripting. If not for that base, I, for example, never would have had the chance to, for example, learn how to recreate "eval" (dynamic script compilation at run-time) in XSE and how to use it twice in order to create an array from which I can dynamically choose and retrieve any element at run-time.

Am I against the cosmetic bases? Yes, because those reduce design creativity. Am I against the technical bases? No, because those facilitate the expression of design creativity (and they may even facilitate technical creativity in areas un- or tangentially-related to the alterations made by the base).