DJTiki
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DJTiKi's Guide to Planning Your Rom Hack!
Hello, newbies(or experienced hackers). You have somehow tumbled to my thread. I am DJTiKi. And you my friend, need some advice. I know, I know, don't even need to tell me. I always had ideas for hacking but planning wise, always stumbled. But that was a year ago. And now I'm here to share, how you can fully plan your ideas, and put them to action. I'm not gonna waste my breathe, on telling you how to use rom hacking tools, or tools you'll need. No. Dark Sneasel had already explained that in a most admirable way so go to this link to see all the things you need in terms of tools:
Okay, are you done? Good. Now let us begin your guide to planning a rom hack! :)
Part 1: Beginning Stages
Well Sir(or Madame), you just sat down one day, and suddenly, you have an idea. But it isn't as fleshed out as you want it to be, so grab some pen and paper, and start jotting. This is the first thing you need to do, any ideas relating to the topic, must be written down, whether it'd be on paper or on computer, even your mobile device will do! Just start jotting away. Now since that is done, try thinking about the mechanics, and what exactly it is. There are very common types of rom hacks, out there: Overhaul Hacks, Diffuculty Hacks, and Update Hacks! The spoiler contains my descriptions of said hacks.
There are alot of abadoned hacks, which breaks this norm. So if you do decide to make this hack. Try to break way from these :) That way, your rom hack brings a different experience that all could play by. Its encouraged to think of whatever crazy idea, you have, which I'm sure you can. A small list of non-common ones can be listed here:
So now that you've seen what type of hacks, are usually out there, for people to play on, now you need a foundation. Ask yourself, what base rom would you like? Of course, I will not be linking ANY roms, but there are a variety of roms to choose from and each of them have their own tools corresponding to it. Look at the link I provided above, so that Dark Sneasel may enlighten you.
Okay, I don't feel I should state this, but its better that I do. Here on PC, we abbreviate the titles for Pokémon games. So if you are wondering, what they mean, they are provided in the Spoiler below. So when someone asks you "HEY DUDE, did you use R/S as your rom base, you want be staring at your computer, like "Wat?"
Abbreviation
So since that's out of the way, its best to note that each game has its own capabilities. While Generation 3 is easy to understand, in my opinion, it's boring and kinda standard, but alot of tools support it. But DS games are harder to hack, but looks ALOT better than its 3rd generation counterpart. Now I know what you may ask, "But what about 6th gen?" There are no 6th gen hacking tools, or roms for that matter, and won't be for a VERY VERY VERY long time.
Well we didn't do much this part, but its the beginning, its expected :) So its time to develop some characters :)!
Part 2: Character Planning
This part is rather important, there is no game, that doesn't have characters, silent, talkative, ANYTHING, you just need to work out their personal bios. But this is alot of work, you must establish relationships, between the main character(the person you play as) and others. So because this is important, this will be split into multiple parts followed as so:
1. Main Character
2. Rivals
3. Antagonist
4. Character Development Tips By Yours Truly.
Main Character:
Well, believe it or not, unless you have multiple paths in your hack, or the character talks(which barely happens), there is absolutely NOTHING special about the main character. Yeah, I know, "Tiki, you play as him, how is the main character, not special?" Well....all you do is play as them, that person has no greater significance than just that. By all means, don't get mislead by what I say, if you want to get a speaking protagonist, then go ahead.
But if you are a speaking protagonist. Then by all means, go a million miles with its development. There are a couple things, you kind of wanna look out for. When making a main character, that speaks, it is IMPERATIVE that you have:
A relatable personality, one that would suit all players alike.
Well.....this will be very difficult. No one has a set personality, in which everyone will agree with. So trying to create that perfect character, will be tough work. As roleplay puts it, trying to create a "Mary Sue" or a "Gary Stu". So if you really, really, REALLY, want to make that awesome relatable character that everyone can agree. I'd ask roleplay, how one would make a "Mary Sue" or a "Gary Stu" since these are the templates for "perfect" characters. The thing is about this choice, if someone doesn't like it, they won't have a good time, spending 20+ hours with the this character.
How would you go about developing this character? Easy, develop this character, how you'd go about developing any character, which I will go more in-depth, later.
Rival:
Oh geez, this topic. Okay, every hack NEEDS a rival. One who is always pestering you, in the most inapporiate moments. One who is always your equal. "A sound rival rests within a sound region, and a sound plot, which makes for a sound game". Since your rival is practically your one-way stop to an annoying tag-along, its best that this character, in PARTICULAR, has good development. There are many ways to go about making a rival, but you can always expect to see a certain type of them. What am I getting at? What I'm getting at, is that there are different types of rivals, the ones most commonly found, and typically shares a similar personality. Here is my take on Rival types.
Common Rival Persona:
When making a Rival, you gotta be sure that they are memorable and a challenge. This is important. The moment, someone or yourself forgets a Rival's name , thats a que, to go back to Square One. You never saw anyone forget who Gary Oak was(spoiler alert: he became the champion) These guys must be in your face, their apperance and identity MUST be known, in some ways, their development comes above the playable character's. So you don't have to follow the norm of everyday rivals, give these rivals, a personality that will be remembered by the player for a long time to come.
Antagonist:
If I had a dollar for everytime someone messes up the antagonist in a rom hack. I'd have a nice set of around 30-70 candy bars. Well, antagonist....for those who doesn't know what an antagonist is; The antagonist is the villain of the game, the one always in conflict, with the main character. These guys are just as important as everyone else. And if you screw them up, then that's half your game down the drain.
Antagonist Names? Well usually, villain names are Team [Insert here]. So making your team name will not first. I know, I know, names are important. But really, there names come from a variety of different factors. So for this section, I'll be using examples. Antagonist must have the following:
Let's start off with their goal. Now I want you to look at this spoiler; you look at it, and then, in your head, try to identify, what's wrong, and we can fix it together.
OKAY, there is a lot wrong with this. For one, this is a very basic goal. We want to flesh it out a bit. Why do they want to destroy buildings? Hmmm....maybe because they want to keep plants alive, and animals alive too. So its justifiable. So now since that's over with, lets insert it, shall we.
Okay, great, but there is one tensy-little problem, the name makes absolutely no sensee. Team Cyber? You'd expect them to hack into the League database or something. So if they like plants, how about Team Earth, instead?
Now that looks much better, sounds like they have a clear goal. That's why I said names don't come first, their name will reveal itself, as you work on the other things. Okay let's keep the Team Earth theme, for the end of this section.
Now, its time to represent your Team with colors! This is a minor annoyance of mine, when a Team's color, does not reflect the actual villain team. So let's briefly touch on this. Colors MUST reflect either the team name, or what they are doing. For instance, are you going to expect Team Earth to be cladded in purple and pink. No. You'd expect them to be in some green, and some brown on the side. So when going over this topic, just try to find the best fitting colors, because it just makes sense, you know?
I told you, I'll only be briefly touching colors. So let's skip Leaders, for now, and go to the Agenda. Well, how are they going to achieve this goal of theirs? Well, most likely, your goal states this perfectly fine. I'll restate the goal for you:
Okay, so we know, they are targeting buildings. But saying that "They just want to destroy buildings" doesn't sound right. So let's do a little wordplay, shall we?
If you know anything about how a city is organized, let me give a classroom refresher. Cities are built upon infrastructure. The infrastructure of a city, contains roads, industrialization, and most importantly, buildings. So now that we have a good synonym for buildings, let's insert it.
Perfect! It's pretty basic, but now you have a good foundation to work off from. Now you won't be lost when constructing the plot, more on that later.
Well, I am not going over Admins or Pokémon, as those are pretty obvious. So its time to explain the Leader. Okay, the leader runs it all, this person has the most passion, in what his or her team is doing, in order to achieve their goal. Think of it, as an evil Rival. The difference is that, they must have a justified reason to destroy buildings, for instance. They can't just wake up, and say "Hey, I feel like doing something bad!". They need a backstory. Something that tells you, why they are going about in their manner. Like Rivals, their appearance and identity MUST be known to the player, if not, then try harder, because a strong villain team, can't be ruled by some pushover.
Grunts too. These guys, while just dispatches of a large army. Must believe that they are fighting for a worthy cause. Let me give you an example from the main series of Pokémon games. Team Magma and Aqua. The grunts believed in the expansion of either land or sea, and fought against each other. Team Galactic. They believed that they had a strong leader, Cyrus, and followed him. Team Plasma, had fully believed that they were helping the cause, to release Pokémon, especially N.
Now let me give a bad example of Grunts, Team Flare. These guys, just seemed to be nobodies, who were nothing more than Lysandre's subjects. Even the Admins, had no names. Even though Lysandre had good character development, his subjects didn't. They didn't seem to care, and that's a REALLY bad thing. Don't make your Grunts like them
Well, that's all there is to Antagonist. Now let's go over some simple tips.
Character Development Tips:
Well I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but if I were to tell you anything on making a character, is to basically make character bios, one that you can understand. So start up a list of questions, like:
Who are they?
Where are they from?
Favorite food?
Pet-peeves?
Personality traits? Etc.
In this way, when you answer all these questions, making their dialogue appropriate, would be very simple. Major characters should also have a backstory to them, something, that made that character, who they are today. So always try to make character bios, for each and every character, you'll see that its not as intimidating as I may make it seem.
Well a lot was covered in this section, so I'll review what we went over:
1. A Main Character's Role
2. The Do's and Don't of Rivals
3. How To Make A Thought Out Antagonist
4. Simple Tips to Making Character Bios.
Part 3: Gameplay and Balance
You can't have a game, without some gameplay, amirite? No. Okay. Well, in a lot of ways, this is what makes or breaks your game. So this section will be VERY LONG, because I'm going to cover every aspect, of how to make your gameplay, better through planning. This is what I plan to go over:
1. The Region
a. Region Map
b. Cities
c. Towns
d. A Whole New World(or Region, whatever)
2. Pokémon
a. Wild Encounters
b. The Pokemon Themselves
c. Fakémon
d. Starters
e. Filling The Dex 101
f. Legendary and Event Pokémon
3. Trainers
a. Vanilla Trainers
b. Gym Leaders
c. Elite Four
d. Champion
4. Difficulty
a. The Basics of Making A Difficulty Hack
b. The Yeah's and Naw's of Difficulty
c. Difficulty Curves For The Soul
5. Personal Wants and Don'ts
The Region:
You can't have a Pokémon without a region to explore it in. And that is the truth. Unless your game has no region, then I guess you proved me wrong. Think of a region, like this:
The player will be seeing this, throughout the entire playthrough.
There are two things, that you are guaranteed to see at ALL times throughout the playthrough: The playable character and the region. So its best that the region is well constructed. I think everyone can agree on that. {:3} So let's talk about how you should go about making a region.
Well for starters, I'd find something to write with and a piece of paper. Now try to draw out a region, in your head, then draw it on paper. Simple. It'll come together, may take a while, but it will. Take your time, don't rush. It's not the end of the world.
Now, since you are done, its better that you begin putting your labels on each and every aspect of the map. Routes, towns, cities, mountains, everything needs a label. Okay, now you have your region map(give yourself a pat on the back), but we are not finished here. I need to go over towns and cities, first.(Btw, I'm not going over region names, I don't need to, its easy)
Cities:
A city has more than you think it does. Cities are actually an integral part of Pokémon. We all love cities. And you'll need to learn all the things which makes a city, a city. So that your city, is the best city, like no city ever was.(I counted 8 cities :p)
Cities are, as previously stated, big. They are definitely bigger than towns, and in the main series, held some pretty important events. Cities also have the pleasures of being the homes, of Pokémon Gyms. Constructing a city, isn't too hard, you don't even need to follow Pokémon tradition, and have them in the city. Typically though, cities are more interesting than towns. So I'm going to give a few pointers, on what a city, in my opinion, should be:
When constructing your city, jot down, some traits of it. I'm again, going to give you a few pointers on city trait questions:
And with that, we are done covering cities. You see, it didn't take too long.
Towns:
Towns are relatively simple. So I'm only going over a few things. Towns are smaller than cities, obviously. Towns usually have a smaller amount of NPCs. They may have a few NPCs that can help you out in progression(perhaps a person who gives you an HM) or these towns may have entrances to caves or other dungeons. But towns are simple, and don't take too much time to make. So let's go over some pointers of how, in my opinion, you should construct your town:
As with towns, make sure to note traits of them:
So with that we are done covering Towns.
Another Region:
Hey, you know what's better than one region? Two regions? And you know what's better than two regions? Three. This is your chance to think over, if you want to have multiple regions, in your rom hack. The casual demographic loves it when a developer puts all their efforts into making another region, possible to the player. But it's best to note that multiple regions, dramatically changes, how you should go about the difficulty and level curve(more on this later)
So the first question is: What region shall it be? There are an expansive amount of regions, you could choose from. Be it, a region established by GF, or a region of your very own. So once you've decided. Well, how is this region, going to be accessible? Most likely, you may have it accessible after you beat the champion of the first region. But its always great to break out of the norm. So you can go about making a second region however you may want.
But that means, you must plan a lot more things. Such as the plot, the characters, Pokémon, and potentially, more rivals and antagonist. So when making your new region, you'll have put as much planning into it, as you do with the first one.
Another thing we should talk about, is if you plan to make the second region, one that was already established, how are you going to change it? What? "Change it?" Yes. Nobody wants to play a second region if you there isn't anything "new" about it. So let's take for instance Kanto:
Kanto is a pretty simple region. But let's look at two spoilers and tell me, which one is better, and which one you will be more inclined to play, in your opinion.
IDEA #1
IDEA #2
Now out of those two, I'd rather play the second one. It may not be the best idea out there, but its a change from the typical normality of the Kanto Region. So keep this in mind when making a second region, to change up a few things about it, and give a different experience.
After a long hiatus, here is more of the guide.
Pokémon:
Every likes Pokémon. Pokémon are small. Pokémon are tall. Pokémon are cute. Pokémon are just ugly. Whether, you like them are not(your on Pokécommunity, I'm pretty sure you do), you have to have Pokémon, in a Pokémon ROM Hack; It only makes sense. So I'm back after trying to rewrite this, to bring you guys, more helpful planning tips.
Wild Encounters:
Hey look, your a kid and you got these little red balls, and you catch wild animals with it. Then you raise them like your children and battle them. Seems legit. Now, how in the hell are you going to make your wild encounters good? Because you can screw them up and its imperative that you, the creator, doesn't do this. So I'm gonna give my insight to this.
Okay, let me give you an example. Pokémon Fire Red. In my opinion, this game was horrible in its encounters. Nothing was really planned together, with this. Of course with Pokémon Red, it was excusable. There were only 151 Pokémon, and it was the first game(to an extension, it excuses their horrific glitches), so they didn't know. But 2nd and 3rd generation came by very fast and they had time to refine the formula, and they had alot more Pokémon this time. Yet in FireRed, they didn't allow for 3rd generation Pokémon until you beat the game, and yes its a remake, but as a BIASED opinion, I felt that it could've been done better; MIND you that FireRed didn't have that expansive of a post-game. And in my opinion, the game got stale post-Elite Four. So adding a bit of variety in your hack, can come a long way.
So what do you need to do, to make your game have better wild encounters? Well, its more simple than you may actually think. The thing is, the Pokémon that you have accessed to mid-route, kind of spells out what challenges you'll be facing in the future. So let's talk some bad examples, once again, look at the spoiler and tell me, what's wrong.
There is alot wrong with this. Okay, let's start of with the most obvious. The Pokémon levels for the first route are WAY too high, for a first route. Most likely, you have a starter that starts out at level 5. When you enter the grass.....then that 40% chance encounter rate, will bite you in the ass. Here's why. Route 1 for FireRed and LeafGreen are set at 7%(or 6, I always forget) For me, Route 1 is very annoying to get through. Now let's nearly multiply it 7 times! The player will be very annoyed by how many times, it runs into a Pokémon. And when they do, they will be 5 levels above it, so you can't run away, because they are most likely faster than your starter. For those who are not aware, the chances of you running away, is calculated by precise comparisons between both Pokémon, the lower your speed, the harder it is to run. And once you faint, you will be sent back to the last city, lose money, and repeat. You won't be getting anywhere, neither in experience nor progression. Fun.
Problem #2. The Pokémon Selection itself is very off. Some Pokémon aren't even NFE's. Take for instance that Beedrill. When making a route, take into consideration of which Route it is. Late game routes for evolved Pokémon. Early game routes for NFE's. Also some of these Pokémon, are not even related to other Pokémon, at all. That Skarmory and Ditto sticks out sore thumbs. Now what, is REALLY off, about this? I kinda hinted this with Blaine's description. Yes, most of the Pokémon are weak to Fire-types, and that's a big problem. You see, depending on the starter you chose, you maybe fine, or absolutely screwed. That's what the problem was with Brock, if you chose Charmander. You barely had any Pokémon to counter his, and dealing with his Rock-types were a pain.
Problem #3. Little gripe, but WHY, in the world of Pokémon, would anyone make the weakest Pokémon, in the series, rare encounters. It's like your parents saying "For Christmas, we are gonna give you something special", and you know in your mind, that if it were going to be "special" it'd be that new car, you always been asking for. Then when Christmas rolls around, you get a pair of socks. It doesn't feel good. So at least, have some rewards for the player, for getting a rare encounter.
So let's fix this, shall we?:
Well, first off, let's lower that encounter level a bit, like I said before, Route 1's encounter rate is 7%. So that's a reasonable amount.
Well...now let's lower the levels of these Pokémon a bit. Since the starter you get is usually Level 5. Making them Level 3, would be a perfectly reasonable level.
Good now, let's address two issues right now. The Pokémon Selection, and Rare encounters for this route. Alright, as we may know, almost the entirety of this list is weak to fire, and the first gym will be Fire. So let's add in a few Pokémon, that can counter it. So what is Fire weak to?
Now let's think of a few Pokémon who fits this bill. While we can just put in any water NFE, it's best that it makes sense to be able to find it on land, rather near or on water. Marill can ge found in tall grass, and so can Psyduck. Now a common Pokémon for Rock and Ground, is Geodude. Now that we have our Pokémon, let's put them in. Make them harder to find, than the common encounters, for the route. So here's the result!
Let's do something about that Beedrill. It's simple, replace it with its pre-evolved form, we'll also do the same with Metapod.
Finally, let's change these rare encounters. Something that is both useful and appealing according to your personal prefrence will fit the bill here. So let's take away the Sunkern and Ditto, and add some of my favorite NFE's, Ralts and Eevee.
GREAT! You did it, now you have a planned out Route, that not only takes into account, challenges up the road, but added more variety and fixed a few issues it had, without causing new problems to appear.
So in order to make your encounters better, you have to realize what lies ahead for the player, and what challenges that player must overcome. Without this, comig up with aqeuate encounters will prove rather challenging.
The Pokémon Themselves:
You need Pokémon, in your Pokémon ROM Hack. Obviously. So Game Freak, had this uncanning idea, as to confuse our innocent minds, with misleading designs, and some weird typings. So that's why, Pokémon can make absolutely zero sense, sometimes. "Why is it that Sudowoodo is pure Rock, and not at all Grass?". So you get the point, Pokémon makes NO sense, sometimes, and you want to make some innocent changes that you hope everyone will love. Well, I got news for you, it ain't simple. When making changes to Pokémon, its better that it makes sense. No one is expecting, your changes to a Pokémon to ring in their heads, the moment they see it.
Let's give yet another example. But this time, let's paint a picture in your head. Let's say you are playing a Pokémon ROM Hack, and you run into a wild Dunsparce. In your mind, you think "It's a Normal-type" let's send out my Hitmonchan(or lee or top, whatever your presence may be). You decide to go for Mach Punch, thinking that it would OHKO it. You go for it, but here's the thing, it doesn't do super-effective damage, rather, it resists it. Dunsparce then goes for Dazzling Gleam, and completely knocks you out. How would you, the hypothetical player, feel at a time like that? Assuming that no aesthic changes were made to the Pokémon, and that you figured out that Dunsparce was now Fairy typed, without any notification that it was. Pretty upset huh? Or maybe not, but misleading the player, isn't something you want to constantly do. So, when making changes, you need to have it ring in the player's ears that it is now a thing.
Good Example:
Let me give you a good example, and a bad example. Let's start of with the good example. You see Drayano's hacks, always stuck out to me, not only because they were diffucult, but that the retypings, made so much sense. Let me point you in the direction of Electivire. He was retyped to be Electric/Fighting. Make sense? Okay, glad we are on the same page. You see, GF, already tipped us with Electivire's design. Big, burly fists, coupled with its intimidating stature, how wasn't this thing part-Fighting?! To casuals and veterans alike, you could already have an idea for Electivire's typing, based off appearances alone. So when you can make a retyping, that makes sense with the Pokémon's aesthetic changes, it then makes sense to the player. So they won't feel cheated, if the Pokémon, had a typing that eventually swept them, because it was completely faulted by the player, if you change a type, that would only make sense.
Bad Example:
Now a bad example, and yet another reason, why I don't personally like Generation 1. Gengar. Yes, we were all wondering, why I didn't choose Gyarados or Charizard, for lacking in a Dragon-typing. But Gengar's the worse, out of them. You see, in Generation 1, Psychic type, had no equals. It had no resistances, and its only weakness, Bug, were the weakest links. Now Psychic types also had another weakness, Ghost. But Ghost only had one move, that one being Lick, which isn't even a strong move. Now in comes Gengar, the only Ghost-type, introduced in Generation 1. Buckle your seatbealts, because this is going to get a bit crazy:
This is misleading the player to its very worse. While it maybe one thing to have a misleading Pokémon, its worse when a type's strength and weaknesses are put into question. There is a few more things, I want to talk about with Pokémon. What moves it gets leveling up?
You see, a Pokémon's move, hints at what it is. As I know, that you guys aren't stupid, I'll breifly touch on this. A Pokémon's moveset is very important. It determines alot, in relation to its battling capabilities. These battling capabilities determines how strong a Pokemon can acually be. This is why we don't see Quagsire with Sap Sipper, becuase its asking to be abused. You know what I mean? So it's important that what moves you give them, if you you choose to change them, not only reflect the Pokemon, you gave the new moves too, but not overpowered to an extent, that it could get abused. Let's give an example. Let's say we wanted to make Altaria a Dragon/Fairy, from which it was orignally a Dragon/Flying(as most of you know). Simply changing the type, will not be enough to hold itself.
Altaria only learns one Fairy type move, which is Moonblast, at Level 60. Other than that, it only learns Dragon and Flying type moves(Obviously). So if we are changing its secondary type to Fairy, we don't want Altaria's moveset to be filled with Flying and only one Fairy move....so we want to change it around. In the spoiler is a link to Altaria's learnest
If you looked at the link, it'll tell you that Altaria learns more Normal moves than Dragon or Flying moves. So we have room to replacement. Some moves on here, can be replaced with better moves, but we don't want to remove ALL the Flying moves. It won't make much sense to do so. We just want to replace some Flying moves, as well as add Fairy moves to be used.
So by viewing its learnset, we can see that its safe to replace its starting moves, Pluck and Peck. Sky Attack can be replaced by Moonblast, since Moonblast is currently the strongest Fairy-type move. Pluck and Peck can sit on the opposite spectrum, so we can replace those with Fairy's weaker moves. These moves are Disarming Voice and Fairy Wind. So let's view its moveset with these changes:
Okay, with that out of the way, I'll leave it here. Mainly because I said, I wouldn't touch on this much, as its only finding moves you want to replace and finding a good alterantive to them(or expand the learnset using GH3S), I'll make only one more point. Since Swablu evolves into Altaria at Level 35, it means that to have access to moves it learns before Level 35, you need a move remember. If Move Remembers aren't in your game, I suggest having moves you want Altaria to learn before Level 35, to be in Swablu's learnset as well, of course, before Level 35(not sure if I came across clearly enough).
With that, I'm finished covering, the Pokemon themselves! Next update, I'll be covering Fakémon.
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEXT PART
Hello, newbies(or experienced hackers). You have somehow tumbled to my thread. I am DJTiKi. And you my friend, need some advice. I know, I know, don't even need to tell me. I always had ideas for hacking but planning wise, always stumbled. But that was a year ago. And now I'm here to share, how you can fully plan your ideas, and put them to action. I'm not gonna waste my breathe, on telling you how to use rom hacking tools, or tools you'll need. No. Dark Sneasel had already explained that in a most admirable way so go to this link to see all the things you need in terms of tools:
Spoiler:
Okay, are you done? Good. Now let us begin your guide to planning a rom hack! :)
Part 1: Beginning Stages
Well Sir(or Madame), you just sat down one day, and suddenly, you have an idea. But it isn't as fleshed out as you want it to be, so grab some pen and paper, and start jotting. This is the first thing you need to do, any ideas relating to the topic, must be written down, whether it'd be on paper or on computer, even your mobile device will do! Just start jotting away. Now since that is done, try thinking about the mechanics, and what exactly it is. There are very common types of rom hacks, out there: Overhaul Hacks, Diffuculty Hacks, and Update Hacks! The spoiler contains my descriptions of said hacks.
Spoiler:
There are alot of abadoned hacks, which breaks this norm. So if you do decide to make this hack. Try to break way from these :) That way, your rom hack brings a different experience that all could play by. Its encouraged to think of whatever crazy idea, you have, which I'm sure you can. A small list of non-common ones can be listed here:
Spoiler:
So now that you've seen what type of hacks, are usually out there, for people to play on, now you need a foundation. Ask yourself, what base rom would you like? Of course, I will not be linking ANY roms, but there are a variety of roms to choose from and each of them have their own tools corresponding to it. Look at the link I provided above, so that Dark Sneasel may enlighten you.
Okay, I don't feel I should state this, but its better that I do. Here on PC, we abbreviate the titles for Pokémon games. So if you are wondering, what they mean, they are provided in the Spoiler below. So when someone asks you "HEY DUDE, did you use R/S as your rom base, you want be staring at your computer, like "Wat?"
Abbreviation
Spoiler:
So since that's out of the way, its best to note that each game has its own capabilities. While Generation 3 is easy to understand, in my opinion, it's boring and kinda standard, but alot of tools support it. But DS games are harder to hack, but looks ALOT better than its 3rd generation counterpart. Now I know what you may ask, "But what about 6th gen?" There are no 6th gen hacking tools, or roms for that matter, and won't be for a VERY VERY VERY long time.
Well we didn't do much this part, but its the beginning, its expected :) So its time to develop some characters :)!
Part 2: Character Planning
This part is rather important, there is no game, that doesn't have characters, silent, talkative, ANYTHING, you just need to work out their personal bios. But this is alot of work, you must establish relationships, between the main character(the person you play as) and others. So because this is important, this will be split into multiple parts followed as so:
1. Main Character
2. Rivals
3. Antagonist
4. Character Development Tips By Yours Truly.
Main Character:
Well, believe it or not, unless you have multiple paths in your hack, or the character talks(which barely happens), there is absolutely NOTHING special about the main character. Yeah, I know, "Tiki, you play as him, how is the main character, not special?" Well....all you do is play as them, that person has no greater significance than just that. By all means, don't get mislead by what I say, if you want to get a speaking protagonist, then go ahead.
But if you are a speaking protagonist. Then by all means, go a million miles with its development. There are a couple things, you kind of wanna look out for. When making a main character, that speaks, it is IMPERATIVE that you have:
A relatable personality, one that would suit all players alike.
Well.....this will be very difficult. No one has a set personality, in which everyone will agree with. So trying to create that perfect character, will be tough work. As roleplay puts it, trying to create a "Mary Sue" or a "Gary Stu". So if you really, really, REALLY, want to make that awesome relatable character that everyone can agree. I'd ask roleplay, how one would make a "Mary Sue" or a "Gary Stu" since these are the templates for "perfect" characters. The thing is about this choice, if someone doesn't like it, they won't have a good time, spending 20+ hours with the this character.
How would you go about developing this character? Easy, develop this character, how you'd go about developing any character, which I will go more in-depth, later.
Rival:
Oh geez, this topic. Okay, every hack NEEDS a rival. One who is always pestering you, in the most inapporiate moments. One who is always your equal. "A sound rival rests within a sound region, and a sound plot, which makes for a sound game". Since your rival is practically your one-way stop to an annoying tag-along, its best that this character, in PARTICULAR, has good development. There are many ways to go about making a rival, but you can always expect to see a certain type of them. What am I getting at? What I'm getting at, is that there are different types of rivals, the ones most commonly found, and typically shares a similar personality. Here is my take on Rival types.
Common Rival Persona:
Spoiler:
When making a Rival, you gotta be sure that they are memorable and a challenge. This is important. The moment, someone or yourself forgets a Rival's name , thats a que, to go back to Square One. You never saw anyone forget who Gary Oak was(spoiler alert: he became the champion) These guys must be in your face, their apperance and identity MUST be known, in some ways, their development comes above the playable character's. So you don't have to follow the norm of everyday rivals, give these rivals, a personality that will be remembered by the player for a long time to come.
Antagonist:
If I had a dollar for everytime someone messes up the antagonist in a rom hack. I'd have a nice set of around 30-70 candy bars. Well, antagonist....for those who doesn't know what an antagonist is; The antagonist is the villain of the game, the one always in conflict, with the main character. These guys are just as important as everyone else. And if you screw them up, then that's half your game down the drain.
Antagonist Names? Well usually, villain names are Team [Insert here]. So making your team name will not first. I know, I know, names are important. But really, there names come from a variety of different factors. So for this section, I'll be using examples. Antagonist must have the following:
Spoiler:
Let's start off with their goal. Now I want you to look at this spoiler; you look at it, and then, in your head, try to identify, what's wrong, and we can fix it together.
Spoiler:
OKAY, there is a lot wrong with this. For one, this is a very basic goal. We want to flesh it out a bit. Why do they want to destroy buildings? Hmmm....maybe because they want to keep plants alive, and animals alive too. So its justifiable. So now since that's over with, lets insert it, shall we.
Spoiler:
Okay, great, but there is one tensy-little problem, the name makes absolutely no sensee. Team Cyber? You'd expect them to hack into the League database or something. So if they like plants, how about Team Earth, instead?
Spoiler:
Now that looks much better, sounds like they have a clear goal. That's why I said names don't come first, their name will reveal itself, as you work on the other things. Okay let's keep the Team Earth theme, for the end of this section.
Now, its time to represent your Team with colors! This is a minor annoyance of mine, when a Team's color, does not reflect the actual villain team. So let's briefly touch on this. Colors MUST reflect either the team name, or what they are doing. For instance, are you going to expect Team Earth to be cladded in purple and pink. No. You'd expect them to be in some green, and some brown on the side. So when going over this topic, just try to find the best fitting colors, because it just makes sense, you know?
I told you, I'll only be briefly touching colors. So let's skip Leaders, for now, and go to the Agenda. Well, how are they going to achieve this goal of theirs? Well, most likely, your goal states this perfectly fine. I'll restate the goal for you:
Spoiler:
Okay, so we know, they are targeting buildings. But saying that "They just want to destroy buildings" doesn't sound right. So let's do a little wordplay, shall we?
If you know anything about how a city is organized, let me give a classroom refresher. Cities are built upon infrastructure. The infrastructure of a city, contains roads, industrialization, and most importantly, buildings. So now that we have a good synonym for buildings, let's insert it.
Spoiler:
Perfect! It's pretty basic, but now you have a good foundation to work off from. Now you won't be lost when constructing the plot, more on that later.
Well, I am not going over Admins or Pokémon, as those are pretty obvious. So its time to explain the Leader. Okay, the leader runs it all, this person has the most passion, in what his or her team is doing, in order to achieve their goal. Think of it, as an evil Rival. The difference is that, they must have a justified reason to destroy buildings, for instance. They can't just wake up, and say "Hey, I feel like doing something bad!". They need a backstory. Something that tells you, why they are going about in their manner. Like Rivals, their appearance and identity MUST be known to the player, if not, then try harder, because a strong villain team, can't be ruled by some pushover.
Grunts too. These guys, while just dispatches of a large army. Must believe that they are fighting for a worthy cause. Let me give you an example from the main series of Pokémon games. Team Magma and Aqua. The grunts believed in the expansion of either land or sea, and fought against each other. Team Galactic. They believed that they had a strong leader, Cyrus, and followed him. Team Plasma, had fully believed that they were helping the cause, to release Pokémon, especially N.
Now let me give a bad example of Grunts, Team Flare. These guys, just seemed to be nobodies, who were nothing more than Lysandre's subjects. Even the Admins, had no names. Even though Lysandre had good character development, his subjects didn't. They didn't seem to care, and that's a REALLY bad thing. Don't make your Grunts like them
Well, that's all there is to Antagonist. Now let's go over some simple tips.
Character Development Tips:
Well I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but if I were to tell you anything on making a character, is to basically make character bios, one that you can understand. So start up a list of questions, like:
Who are they?
Where are they from?
Favorite food?
Pet-peeves?
Personality traits? Etc.
In this way, when you answer all these questions, making their dialogue appropriate, would be very simple. Major characters should also have a backstory to them, something, that made that character, who they are today. So always try to make character bios, for each and every character, you'll see that its not as intimidating as I may make it seem.
Well a lot was covered in this section, so I'll review what we went over:
1. A Main Character's Role
2. The Do's and Don't of Rivals
3. How To Make A Thought Out Antagonist
4. Simple Tips to Making Character Bios.
Part 3: Gameplay and Balance
You can't have a game, without some gameplay, amirite? No. Okay. Well, in a lot of ways, this is what makes or breaks your game. So this section will be VERY LONG, because I'm going to cover every aspect, of how to make your gameplay, better through planning. This is what I plan to go over:
1. The Region
a. Region Map
b. Cities
c. Towns
d. A Whole New World(or Region, whatever)
2. Pokémon
a. Wild Encounters
b. The Pokemon Themselves
c. Fakémon
d. Starters
e. Filling The Dex 101
f. Legendary and Event Pokémon
3. Trainers
a. Vanilla Trainers
b. Gym Leaders
c. Elite Four
d. Champion
4. Difficulty
a. The Basics of Making A Difficulty Hack
b. The Yeah's and Naw's of Difficulty
c. Difficulty Curves For The Soul
5. Personal Wants and Don'ts
The Region:
You can't have a Pokémon without a region to explore it in. And that is the truth. Unless your game has no region, then I guess you proved me wrong. Think of a region, like this:
The player will be seeing this, throughout the entire playthrough.
There are two things, that you are guaranteed to see at ALL times throughout the playthrough: The playable character and the region. So its best that the region is well constructed. I think everyone can agree on that. {:3} So let's talk about how you should go about making a region.
Well for starters, I'd find something to write with and a piece of paper. Now try to draw out a region, in your head, then draw it on paper. Simple. It'll come together, may take a while, but it will. Take your time, don't rush. It's not the end of the world.
Now, since you are done, its better that you begin putting your labels on each and every aspect of the map. Routes, towns, cities, mountains, everything needs a label. Okay, now you have your region map(give yourself a pat on the back), but we are not finished here. I need to go over towns and cities, first.(Btw, I'm not going over region names, I don't need to, its easy)
Cities:
A city has more than you think it does. Cities are actually an integral part of Pokémon. We all love cities. And you'll need to learn all the things which makes a city, a city. So that your city, is the best city, like no city ever was.(I counted 8 cities :p)
Cities are, as previously stated, big. They are definitely bigger than towns, and in the main series, held some pretty important events. Cities also have the pleasures of being the homes, of Pokémon Gyms. Constructing a city, isn't too hard, you don't even need to follow Pokémon tradition, and have them in the city. Typically though, cities are more interesting than towns. So I'm going to give a few pointers, on what a city, in my opinion, should be:
Spoiler:
When constructing your city, jot down, some traits of it. I'm again, going to give you a few pointers on city trait questions:
Spoiler:
And with that, we are done covering cities. You see, it didn't take too long.
Towns:
Towns are relatively simple. So I'm only going over a few things. Towns are smaller than cities, obviously. Towns usually have a smaller amount of NPCs. They may have a few NPCs that can help you out in progression(perhaps a person who gives you an HM) or these towns may have entrances to caves or other dungeons. But towns are simple, and don't take too much time to make. So let's go over some pointers of how, in my opinion, you should construct your town:
Spoiler:
As with towns, make sure to note traits of them:
Spoiler:
So with that we are done covering Towns.
Another Region:
Hey, you know what's better than one region? Two regions? And you know what's better than two regions? Three. This is your chance to think over, if you want to have multiple regions, in your rom hack. The casual demographic loves it when a developer puts all their efforts into making another region, possible to the player. But it's best to note that multiple regions, dramatically changes, how you should go about the difficulty and level curve(more on this later)
So the first question is: What region shall it be? There are an expansive amount of regions, you could choose from. Be it, a region established by GF, or a region of your very own. So once you've decided. Well, how is this region, going to be accessible? Most likely, you may have it accessible after you beat the champion of the first region. But its always great to break out of the norm. So you can go about making a second region however you may want.
But that means, you must plan a lot more things. Such as the plot, the characters, Pokémon, and potentially, more rivals and antagonist. So when making your new region, you'll have put as much planning into it, as you do with the first one.
Another thing we should talk about, is if you plan to make the second region, one that was already established, how are you going to change it? What? "Change it?" Yes. Nobody wants to play a second region if you there isn't anything "new" about it. So let's take for instance Kanto:
Kanto is a pretty simple region. But let's look at two spoilers and tell me, which one is better, and which one you will be more inclined to play, in your opinion.
IDEA #1
Spoiler:
IDEA #2
Spoiler:
Now out of those two, I'd rather play the second one. It may not be the best idea out there, but its a change from the typical normality of the Kanto Region. So keep this in mind when making a second region, to change up a few things about it, and give a different experience.
After a long hiatus, here is more of the guide.
Pokémon:
Every likes Pokémon. Pokémon are small. Pokémon are tall. Pokémon are cute. Pokémon are just ugly. Whether, you like them are not(your on Pokécommunity, I'm pretty sure you do), you have to have Pokémon, in a Pokémon ROM Hack; It only makes sense. So I'm back after trying to rewrite this, to bring you guys, more helpful planning tips.
Wild Encounters:
Hey look, your a kid and you got these little red balls, and you catch wild animals with it. Then you raise them like your children and battle them. Seems legit. Now, how in the hell are you going to make your wild encounters good? Because you can screw them up and its imperative that you, the creator, doesn't do this. So I'm gonna give my insight to this.
Okay, let me give you an example. Pokémon Fire Red. In my opinion, this game was horrible in its encounters. Nothing was really planned together, with this. Of course with Pokémon Red, it was excusable. There were only 151 Pokémon, and it was the first game(
So what do you need to do, to make your game have better wild encounters? Well, its more simple than you may actually think. The thing is, the Pokémon that you have accessed to mid-route, kind of spells out what challenges you'll be facing in the future. So let's talk some bad examples, once again, look at the spoiler and tell me, what's wrong.
Spoiler:
There is alot wrong with this. Okay, let's start of with the most obvious. The Pokémon levels for the first route are WAY too high, for a first route. Most likely, you have a starter that starts out at level 5. When you enter the grass.....then that 40% chance encounter rate, will bite you in the ass. Here's why. Route 1 for FireRed and LeafGreen are set at 7%(or 6, I always forget) For me, Route 1 is very annoying to get through. Now let's nearly multiply it 7 times! The player will be very annoyed by how many times, it runs into a Pokémon. And when they do, they will be 5 levels above it, so you can't run away, because they are most likely faster than your starter. For those who are not aware, the chances of you running away, is calculated by precise comparisons between both Pokémon, the lower your speed, the harder it is to run. And once you faint, you will be sent back to the last city, lose money, and repeat. You won't be getting anywhere, neither in experience nor progression. Fun.
Problem #2. The Pokémon Selection itself is very off. Some Pokémon aren't even NFE's. Take for instance that Beedrill. When making a route, take into consideration of which Route it is. Late game routes for evolved Pokémon. Early game routes for NFE's. Also some of these Pokémon, are not even related to other Pokémon, at all. That Skarmory and Ditto sticks out sore thumbs. Now what, is REALLY off, about this? I kinda hinted this with Blaine's description. Yes, most of the Pokémon are weak to Fire-types, and that's a big problem. You see, depending on the starter you chose, you maybe fine, or absolutely screwed. That's what the problem was with Brock, if you chose Charmander. You barely had any Pokémon to counter his, and dealing with his Rock-types were a pain.
Problem #3. Little gripe, but WHY, in the world of Pokémon, would anyone make the weakest Pokémon, in the series, rare encounters. It's like your parents saying "For Christmas, we are gonna give you something special", and you know in your mind, that if it were going to be "special" it'd be that new car, you always been asking for. Then when Christmas rolls around, you get a pair of socks. It doesn't feel good. So at least, have some rewards for the player, for getting a rare encounter.
So let's fix this, shall we?:
Well, first off, let's lower that encounter level a bit, like I said before, Route 1's encounter rate is 7%. So that's a reasonable amount.
Spoiler:
Well...now let's lower the levels of these Pokémon a bit. Since the starter you get is usually Level 5. Making them Level 3, would be a perfectly reasonable level.
Spoiler:
Good now, let's address two issues right now. The Pokémon Selection, and Rare encounters for this route. Alright, as we may know, almost the entirety of this list is weak to fire, and the first gym will be Fire. So let's add in a few Pokémon, that can counter it. So what is Fire weak to?
Spoiler:
Now let's think of a few Pokémon who fits this bill. While we can just put in any water NFE, it's best that it makes sense to be able to find it on land, rather near or on water. Marill can ge found in tall grass, and so can Psyduck. Now a common Pokémon for Rock and Ground, is Geodude. Now that we have our Pokémon, let's put them in. Make them harder to find, than the common encounters, for the route. So here's the result!
Spoiler:
Let's do something about that Beedrill. It's simple, replace it with its pre-evolved form, we'll also do the same with Metapod.
Spoiler:
Finally, let's change these rare encounters. Something that is both useful and appealing according to your personal prefrence will fit the bill here. So let's take away the Sunkern and Ditto, and add some of my favorite NFE's, Ralts and Eevee.
Spoiler:
GREAT! You did it, now you have a planned out Route, that not only takes into account, challenges up the road, but added more variety and fixed a few issues it had, without causing new problems to appear.
So in order to make your encounters better, you have to realize what lies ahead for the player, and what challenges that player must overcome. Without this, comig up with aqeuate encounters will prove rather challenging.
The Pokémon Themselves:
You need Pokémon, in your Pokémon ROM Hack. Obviously. So Game Freak, had this uncanning idea, as to confuse our innocent minds, with misleading designs, and some weird typings. So that's why, Pokémon can make absolutely zero sense, sometimes. "Why is it that Sudowoodo is pure Rock, and not at all Grass?". So you get the point, Pokémon makes NO sense, sometimes, and you want to make some innocent changes that you hope everyone will love. Well, I got news for you, it ain't simple. When making changes to Pokémon, its better that it makes sense. No one is expecting, your changes to a Pokémon to ring in their heads, the moment they see it.
Let's give yet another example. But this time, let's paint a picture in your head. Let's say you are playing a Pokémon ROM Hack, and you run into a wild Dunsparce. In your mind, you think "It's a Normal-type" let's send out my Hitmonchan(or lee or top, whatever your presence may be). You decide to go for Mach Punch, thinking that it would OHKO it. You go for it, but here's the thing, it doesn't do super-effective damage, rather, it resists it. Dunsparce then goes for Dazzling Gleam, and completely knocks you out. How would you, the hypothetical player, feel at a time like that? Assuming that no aesthic changes were made to the Pokémon, and that you figured out that Dunsparce was now Fairy typed, without any notification that it was. Pretty upset huh? Or maybe not, but misleading the player, isn't something you want to constantly do. So, when making changes, you need to have it ring in the player's ears that it is now a thing.
Good Example:
Let me give you a good example, and a bad example. Let's start of with the good example. You see Drayano's hacks, always stuck out to me, not only because they were diffucult, but that the retypings, made so much sense. Let me point you in the direction of Electivire. He was retyped to be Electric/Fighting. Make sense? Okay, glad we are on the same page. You see, GF, already tipped us with Electivire's design. Big, burly fists, coupled with its intimidating stature, how wasn't this thing part-Fighting?! To casuals and veterans alike, you could already have an idea for Electivire's typing, based off appearances alone. So when you can make a retyping, that makes sense with the Pokémon's aesthetic changes, it then makes sense to the player. So they won't feel cheated, if the Pokémon, had a typing that eventually swept them, because it was completely faulted by the player, if you change a type, that would only make sense.
Bad Example:
Now a bad example, and yet another reason, why I don't personally like Generation 1. Gengar. Yes, we were all wondering, why I didn't choose Gyarados or Charizard, for lacking in a Dragon-typing. But Gengar's the worse, out of them. You see, in Generation 1, Psychic type, had no equals. It had no resistances, and its only weakness, Bug, were the weakest links. Now Psychic types also had another weakness, Ghost. But Ghost only had one move, that one being Lick, which isn't even a strong move. Now in comes Gengar, the only Ghost-type, introduced in Generation 1. Buckle your seatbealts, because this is going to get a bit crazy:
Spoiler:
This is misleading the player to its very worse. While it maybe one thing to have a misleading Pokémon, its worse when a type's strength and weaknesses are put into question. There is a few more things, I want to talk about with Pokémon. What moves it gets leveling up?
You see, a Pokémon's move, hints at what it is. As I know, that you guys aren't stupid, I'll breifly touch on this. A Pokémon's moveset is very important. It determines alot, in relation to its battling capabilities. These battling capabilities determines how strong a Pokemon can acually be. This is why we don't see Quagsire with Sap Sipper, becuase its asking to be abused. You know what I mean? So it's important that what moves you give them, if you you choose to change them, not only reflect the Pokemon, you gave the new moves too, but not overpowered to an extent, that it could get abused. Let's give an example. Let's say we wanted to make Altaria a Dragon/Fairy, from which it was orignally a Dragon/Flying(as most of you know). Simply changing the type, will not be enough to hold itself.
Altaria only learns one Fairy type move, which is Moonblast, at Level 60. Other than that, it only learns Dragon and Flying type moves(Obviously). So if we are changing its secondary type to Fairy, we don't want Altaria's moveset to be filled with Flying and only one Fairy move....so we want to change it around. In the spoiler is a link to Altaria's learnest
Spoiler:
If you looked at the link, it'll tell you that Altaria learns more Normal moves than Dragon or Flying moves. So we have room to replacement. Some moves on here, can be replaced with better moves, but we don't want to remove ALL the Flying moves. It won't make much sense to do so. We just want to replace some Flying moves, as well as add Fairy moves to be used.
So by viewing its learnset, we can see that its safe to replace its starting moves, Pluck and Peck. Sky Attack can be replaced by Moonblast, since Moonblast is currently the strongest Fairy-type move. Pluck and Peck can sit on the opposite spectrum, so we can replace those with Fairy's weaker moves. These moves are Disarming Voice and Fairy Wind. So let's view its moveset with these changes:
Spoiler:
Okay, with that out of the way, I'll leave it here. Mainly because I said, I wouldn't touch on this much, as its only finding moves you want to replace and finding a good alterantive to them(or expand the learnset using GH3S), I'll make only one more point. Since Swablu evolves into Altaria at Level 35, it means that to have access to moves it learns before Level 35, you need a move remember. If Move Remembers aren't in your game, I suggest having moves you want Altaria to learn before Level 35, to be in Swablu's learnset as well, of course, before Level 35(not sure if I came across clearly enough).
With that, I'm finished covering, the Pokemon themselves! Next update, I'll be covering Fakémon.
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEXT PART
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