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Hack Chat
Hack ChatTaking some inspiration from a previous project of mine: http://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=255608 I feel like the podcast was ahead of its time and we now in a ROM Hacking age that is much more modernised and its resources should be too. This podcast will be both improvised and scripted and be mainly in an informal manner. I'm looking for it to contain different times of ROM Hacking chat including but not limited to:
The podcast will be recorded on Skype and then it will be uploaded onto YouTube so that it can be embedded in a post here and listened to with ease. I will also look into uploading it onto popular podcast website, possibly iTunes. I feel like this has the potential to be a big success. I believe that it is much easier for someone to listen/watch a tutorial then it is just reading an essay of text, my aim is for the tutorials in the podcast to make learning ROM Hacking much easier and friendlier. Any questions, suggestions or feedback is completely welcome. I hope you're all as excited for the start of this as I am. Episode List: |
I'm all for this idea, I think it will be a great discussion topic. Skype is pretty garbo, I'm willing to share with you my Mumble server to do your podcast recordings. It's what the SMT uses to do the PodCommunity Podcasts about ~once a month. Alternatively, PC has a new Discord channel and I can set you up in a private voice channel to do your records.
Two options, whether you'd like to take them! I just know Skype can be a pain to record with. Mumble gives you the option of recording each individual person's voice to its own audio file which is a godsend IMO. Shoot me a message if you're interested. :) |
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Besides, not everyone wants to speak into a terrible cheap microphone to relay information, that's what the internet is mostly for; to type to one-another ;) |
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I 100% find it easier to communicate verbally than with text as I feel my point can be got across easier. However, I appreciate that you can't please everyone with this kind of thing but I hope I can win you around down the line. This isn't purely for tutorials anyway this is also for having some fun and general discussion/feedback. I hope you give it a chance when we come out with the first episode. Thanks for the feedback. |
This sounds awesome. Looking forward to this.
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You have my support. I'm down for this idea. Even though I will never speak to someone for my problems, it's always nice to listen to Podcasts about something I actually give a damn about. Go for it. |
I like the idea and would gladly listen to podcasts related to romhacking. I also agree with you that there's a lot of subjects that could be covered like scripting, graphics tutorials, but people could also share their thought on the state of rom hacking, how things look in their perspective which I think could provoke great discussion. And I mean bringing up valid points, not something like the latest trolling 'state of romhacking' post(which I don't think was that bad honestly).
It has potential for sure, I just hope there will be enough people willing to participate. Can't wait till episode 1. |
Sounds like a neat idea.
Will definitely be keeping an eye on this. |
I'd much rather a podcast than an IRC chatlog or whatever. Means I can listen to it while doing something else and the interaction between the hosts would be very limited if it were done in text form. I do however think that explanations or tips and tricks are better as written tutorials, I'd like to see the show more focused on discussion of hacks themselves. Will be looking forward to the first episode!
edit: also I'd personally prefer it if you had a smaller number of hosts, say 3 max and you could rotate every now and then. I just think it's easier to follow when you don't have 5 people all trying to get their opinion in on whatever you're talking about. And if you do decide to do it like that 1 or 2 hosts will get to take a break every week and if someone's sick or can't make it for whatever reason the show can go on as normal. |
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You make an interesting point about rotation of hosts and that is definitely something I will evaluate and look into as it is a valid point. Having a revolving guest every episode (possibly the entire episode or just a stint) will help with staleness in my opinion. I'm going to have a look at dates tonight so we can set in stone a first episode. Stay tuned guys :). Any suggestions or ideas for topics are welcome! |
Ooh! This seems unique~
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Dude, totally. I'd love to listen to a hacking podcast, hacking seems so dead though I'm not sure how much mileage you could get out of it.
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Update: We have recorded the first episode! Unfortunately Achromatic was unavailable to chat with us, but I hope the three of us were entertaining enough. Hopefully we'll have something to show you very very soon. :)
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I apologize for potentially hurting a lot of people's feelings and ranting. I can see the flood of comments now, "Remove FBI from the podcast group, he's a douchebag", "I liked the podcast but FBI was out of line", "Is there a way to mute only FBI?", "I think we should get darkrisinggirl to replace FBI", ect...
To that I say :^) Overall, it was a fun podcast. I had no idea what I was saying for half of it, but I'd like to make one thing about my comments on DS hacking more clear. Particularly, I don't mean that you don't need tools or you shouldn't use tools for ROM hacking in general. I was saying that the absence of tools (besides an emulator) doesn't make the games unhackable for the average joe. I do think that the presence of an established good map editor for these games would greatly boost it's hacking population. |
Waiting for the podcast, I hope you won't censor anything. :P
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Looking forward to hearing this.
How will you guys be choosing what topic to talk about for each recording? |
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Btw, we were going to do a tips section too. Well, we did, but it seems to be lost in editing. shhh, let that be the reason. |
I watched a little bit of the video from here and there since I had no plans to sit in front of a computer for 30 minutes just listening, what you guys have to talk about. Parts of it might have been interesting though but I had no idea what the podcast was about.
Could you include some info in the description of the video of the topics you discuss unless you jump from one topic to another almost all the time? Along with this, it would be good to mention the moments (in time) when you move from one topic to another. That way, anyone watching the video wouldn't have to watch the video just to hear what kind of stuff is covered in it. |
Just watched it. Like the idea of it. Needs some work. I'm kinda in a rush, but I can just offer like a short checklist of what I believe needs improving if you guys decide to do a second episode.
I think that's it. I really want to see Hack Chat become better. Those were my gripes. Now I go and do other things. Good job getting this off the ground! |
I feel like there's kind of a lack of momentum, but maybe I'm just used to rapid fire coffee fueled comedian podcasts I usually listen to.
You guys are talking about stuff people would be interested in but it seems like there's a lack of focus with the topic hopping. The first fifteen minutes are a bit hard to listen to because of the somewhat awkward aimless conversation before you start talking about hacks, and I think it's going to turn off some listeners. My suggestion would be to come in outlining what you're going to be going over in the podcast, make the host introductions, the guest introduction, and then spend 15 minutes bantering before sliding into an interview. And interviews can always be spotted with observations, opinions, banter as long as it all feeds into the overall point. A 3-5 minute tips and tricks expo at the end would be appreciated by us novices as well. I don't mean to offend you guys, since I owe each one of you something when it comes to hacking, but your podcast could use some sharpening. Not that it outright sucks, but it could be a lot crisper. I also think 30 minutes isn't enough when half of it is lost in topic-jumping random convo. If it were me, I'd get a good hour and a half of material and trim it down to an hour or 45 minutes in post. You guys should get hackers on to interview-that is, hackers that release completed/mostly completed/critically acclaimed hacks (such as Drayano and LaZ), tool developers, and the legendary HackMew. Ask them pointed questions like what got them into hacking, how their best-known project/tool came about and how long, how much work, how much help went into it, what their favorite hack is (past/present), what they think about the current state of hacking, etc. Ask HackMew why he was such a dick about not releasing his methods and stuff-Pokémon may be a friendly community by and large but playing it safe makes for a boring interview. And maybe interview the up and comers, the ones who get nominated for hack of the year, previous nominees, the DS hackers, the GBC hackers, the hackers who are using Pokémon as a base for non-pokemon games, and the fakemon hackers too. A final suggestion would be to have some video playing in the background, relevant gameplay footage and stuff. I look forward to your next effort. |
hackmew hasn't been around for years lol, gl getting an interview with him
haven't watched it myself yet but timestamps might be a good idea so we can see what has been discussed in the episode, wouldn't be too hard since it's only 30 mins |
I love feedback, keep it coming! This may sound weird but I kind of wanted the first episode to be an incoherent mess and just use it to introduce ourselves etc. Everything will be taken on board as we move onto future episodes :). We are definitely going to start introducing new segments (interviews, tips/tricks etc.) in future episodes, episode 1 was purely introduction and to gauge reaction.
Thanks to all who have listened so far! |
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I watched it, was pretty solid. Only suggestion I'd have is to trim the length of those awkward pauses.
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You should strive to maximize the amount of "stuff" you're getting across to the listener while minimizing the amount of time it takes to do so. Especially because longer-than-standard pauses don't really give you anything in podcast form. At least with video, you could pack the "information void" with gestures or facial expressions to give a long pause a point. Either way, I'mma fire up the podcast and give it a listen. I'll report back with actual feedback once I've formulated some. |
Okay, just finished it. Let me start off by just saying what every other non-Brit is thinking. Dat accent, *swoon*. Now that that's over with...
I really enjoyed the podcast overall. I appreciated about 80% of the meandering that was happening. It was interesting and along the lines of what I wanted to hear in the Hack Chat. I think that the DCs and asking what happened should've been cut out, and I appreciate that Hashtag made no effort to rehash when they happened. I also appreciated FBI's insight into various things, as well as Lostelle and Hastag's insight into the community at large, sort of putting the pulse on it. Again, you have to shorten those long pauses though, and edit out the really long umms and ahhs (I noticed FBI doing this a lot) if it can be done without the listener noticing. They're infuriating. The shorter ones that flow quickly and directly into the next words are fine. Lostelle, I thought, was kind of quiet and a bit overpowered by everyone else. Like, I feel like maybe Lost had some lag and didn't get to jump in everytime he wanted to, because the listener gets the impression that he interrupts FBI/Hashtag to say his piece (which may have been lag). This is the first Hack Chat, so I know that there's going to be some growing and squirming to get into the right size and spot for the topics and such. What I would like to hear are more in-depth analyses about why you think the hacking community is smaller. Why the overall quality of hacks has gone down. What can be done for the community in the long run? I feel like you brushed the surface of the topics that I was interesting in hearing about and then it just kind of stopped. I'd like to hear opinions and analyses about the general game design things that we have to consider while hacking, which I think would be more helpful for newbies than the general tips section. Sort of the theory behind a quality story, a quality map, quality content. Pacing, flow, etc. I have a ton to say about these game design-y particular things and how they could be applied in a hack; and would love to hear more from others or see a discussion sparked. I'm probably in the minority, but I don't want to spend ten to fifteen minutes hearing about the hacks that the hosts like, unless it's in reference to a particular quirk or mechanic or example of something that they did right as a reference for the current topic. We all know what the popular hacks are. There's less than half a page of actual content in each hack release subforum. If I was interested in a hack, I'd look at its thread and save myself the listening time. The bit about Eclipse's sidequests would've been better served within a broader topic about the "thickness" of a hack's content, for example. That sort of thing. For all the time spent gushing about Gaia, there was surprising little that was actually said. You all didn't get into the meat of why you thought Gaia was good, just the superficial things. The hacks that you wanted revived was an interesting topic, but I wish some links to the hack threads and archived screenshots were included in the description. I remembered all of the hacks that were mentioned, but there are people here that will not. I'd also like to hear some of the things that you would've done differently in your favorite hacks. Like, maybe the hosts of the next Hack Chat could have some homework: they need to play through or replay a popular hack that's available, and then talk about the things that they might've done differently. I think that refocusing the discussion to opinions and analyses of what is working and what isn't in our community, the theory behind game design that is pertinent to hackers, and less "I like this hack" and more of "Here are three things that made me like this hack and why, here are the things I would've done differently," would lead to a much more interesting and more passionate discussion from the hosts. I'd love to get involved if you want some ideas about what format these suggestions (if you want to run with them!) could take, or if you want a guest that has thought a lot about these concepts. Admittedly, I had my doubts about how this was going to pan out initially, but I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the result. I genuinely hope this keeps up and has the time to mature into its full potential, because there is a ton of potential here. |
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This was pretty close to improvised, so I didn't have time to think about answers to some of these questions. Ultimately, my lack of practice with professional speaking started to show. It led to pauses and sounds while constructing an insightful answer, it's a personal flaw which I'd have to work on for future endeavors. I think the podcast, as many has mentioned previously, would do well with an overview of topics we'd cover & potential questions we'd answer. As for your suggestion regarding game design, I don't think any of us are professionally qualified to talk about that objectively. It's a very hard topic, and I feel like one person's ideal design may be flawed for a different person. In the end, we'd be able to give advice on things we think would make a good hack, based off of our own experiences, but I think an in-depth analysis about the topic (which sounds like what you're looking for) is hard to do. If that's OK with people, and the rest of the cast is up for the task, I don't see any issues :) The first Hack Chat definitely had some rumbling around, and seemingly forced topic hopping. I believe these things will improve as it continues onward. Similarly, a lot of the host opinions on favourite hacks and such would be reserved only for the first episode. We wouldn't be talking about something like that every episode, as you'd be able to imagine. Part of the reason the Hack Chat episodes came out so brief was because we reckoned that the series wouldn't have any longevity if we covered too many bases at once. I think that idea would still stand true, but people seem to prefer we talked about certain things in more depth and for longer than we did. Doing that in conjunction with timestamps, we'd be able to keep relatively detailed discussions about topics and allow listeners to be able to tune into sections they're interested in hearing the most, while skipping sections which don't interest them. Overall, a lot of good advice from everyone. All taken to heart, and I'll personally try to address the criticisms aimed at me in the coming episodes. Thanks for the feedback, and I'm glad many people have a lot of things to say about it! |
You should probably update your first post, hashtag.
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That was an interesting listen. Happy I gave it a shot.
That FBI guy doesn't come off as a very likeable person, but it's good to have a guy like him on the podcast. It's always interesting to hear different viewpoints on podcasts like this one. Also, I'd recommend perhaps telling the hosts/guests(whatever you call the people talking on the podcast) about what topics will be discussed or questions asked beforehand. Just so they can be more prepared to respond. I'm looking forward to hearing a variety of topics being discussed. Keep it up. |
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Thanks for all the fantastic feedback so far, hopefully we can only improve from here. I shan't go too in depth with my replies as I feel all bases have been touched already for me. I really do appreciate it all and would love to see it keep coming, even one person having listened to us ramble and enjoy it is enough for me to keep going. Definitely want to get someone in to interview for the next episode. Is there any in particular you guys would like to have a listen to? Really would appreciate some suggestions. |
I really like the idea of having guests in the podcasts. Maybe you should invite some popular hack-creators?
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Just wondering, will there be a schedule for future episodes or will you guys just make them whenever you find the time?
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Episode #2 recording date is now confirmed as 10/04/16. If there is anything, or anyone, you'd definitely like to see in #2 now is the time for final submissions! I've been toying with the idea of possibly also livestreaming it as we're recording, obviously it wouldn't be as polished as the finished article but it's an idea I'd like to throw out there.
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Dont livestream, man.
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I don't think a livestream would attract enough viewers to make it worthwhile.
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Watching livestreams back tends to be annoying too, even if the chat is included on screen, because it essentially necessitates watching the video as well as just listening, whereas with prerecorded things there is no comment interaction which can be less confusing.
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- FBI - Touched of blessed memory - Spherical Ice - Deokishisu What I'd like to see: - more talk about hacking itself than romhacks - more advanced ASM/C/graphic related topics |
We've recorded episode 2! I decided to hold back on using an interviewee this time around but it will definitely be happening for episode 3. Achromatic was unable to join us again due to our weird recording schedule but he will definitely be around for episode 3 as well.
We decided to talk about how to start out with ROM Hacking; tools you need, advice etc. and that took up a long time but we also briefly talked about Pokémon Vega (which will be covered in more detail for episode 3), Pokémon A New Dawn and Hack of the Month for April. I hope you all enjoy it when it's uploaded :) |
It's funny how you guys went into ledges, because the route I'm working on right now uses ledges as terraces. You say ledges should only really be used for a certain purpose and don't really work on an aesthetic level. So I took a screen of my WIP map and wondered if this is like a bad use of ledges, and if it is, should one instead endeavor to use the mountain tiles for ledges?
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Great listen this time guys, much cleaner and engaging than last time and the mapping talk was as informative as it was enjoyable. I look forward to the next one. Edit: I didn't know my hack was up for HOTM, the demo version up right now isn't really accurate anymore in regards to anything but story and is still very much in its infancy. Thanks, though. |
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This episode was far easier to listen to thanks to the editing, so good job :) I'm not sure how much editing played into this, but you guys also seemed a lot more cohesive. Unfortunately, as I was listening to your discussion on basic tools like script editors and map editors, it became really apparent that what Dizzy suggested above on more advanced topics probably won't work out that well. I initially thought the idea sounded really good, but the podcast format forces you to talk about things in the more abstract level, and seeing how little detail you can reasonably put into basic things like overworld scripts, I can only imagine how murky discussion of things like graphical hacking will be. I'd love to be proven wrong, of course. Overall, nice podcast, but I was really disappointed by the lack of FBI elitism. Please bring it back, it made it more enjoyable. One thing I'd ask - could this possibly be put somewhere besides youtube? The youtube format seems better for when you're on the computer/have it playing in a tab while doing something else, but I tend to listen to podcasts while in transit. You need to have the youtube video opened in a phone to listen to it which prevents you from doing anything else which is why podcasts on youtube aren't really a common thing. If it were on some pure audio host, it would be a lot more convenient. |
I sealed away my elitist remarks, some of it poured out, but most of it was sealed. It was torturous to not bash Advance map and calling bad things good, but I have endured. Last video's top voted comment was, "Fire FBI", so I thought I'd be nicer this time :D
So before recording we talked about how we'd try to incorporate advance topics. It became apparent that it wasn't going to be feasible to explain without the visual aids that would be present in videos. Also, Youmu, Hashtag and Achromatic are all excellent hackers, but I don't think they know enough about the technicalities required to speak about graphical programming for the GBA in C. It'd just end up being me rambling and that sort of takes away from this podcast's collaborative aspect. If you want a graphics on the GBA tutorial using C, you'll have to beg me sufficiently enough :^) |
This one was better than the last. The better editing made it much easier to listen to.
It'll be interesting to see who the guest will be. |
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へ(°—°へ) __(。__。__) *please* へ(°—°へ) __(。__。__) *please* |
So... Is this dead? I even suffered through Pokemon Vega for Episode 3 in, like, mid-April. WAS ALL THAT FOR NOTHING?
(But seriously, I really liked where this was going guys, it's a shame if it's not going to last.) |
It's definitely not finished! We will do the Pokémon Vega episode at some point, do not worry about that. We've all just been caught up with other stuff but the next Hack Chat is definitely in the works, the current idea is to focus around the Community ROM Hack and have as many of the team involved as possible. It was meant to be last Sunday but a few things got in the way, I may try and do it this Sunday though. Beauty of this is that we don't have a set timeframe and can just do them whenever we see fit, although I must admit 6 months is a bit too long a break.
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It's cool that this is still going on. The first two episodes were pretty good.
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