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Male
United States
Seen 7 Hours Ago
Posted March 24th, 2023
272 posts
7.1 Years
Hi everyone! Sorry I've been so inactive. Work is getting in the way of life, as we all know it does =P Since hitting a lot of brick walls in the development for this game, I've been thinking a lot about its future.
Rom hacking is really fun for me but the fact that it has so many limitations for what I want to do is extremely annoying - I am kind of considering moving to RMXP for this exact reason - not having to worry about space just sounds amazing haha. Although, I know this would mean a lot of you guys wouldn't be able to play (those with mobile devices/macs.)
My other alternative would be to make AoF a series on its own, which could work as it's a lot more linear than MoT anyway. This is due to the fact that there just isn't enough space in the rom for everything that I want to accomplish and the various limitations. There would need to be one game for each character, which I wouldn't mind doing, though it'd take a lot longer. Let me know your thoughts on either option!
I'm fine with moving this to RMXP, but I'm biased as I'm not playing on a Mac.

Avara

She/Her
Seen 5 Days Ago
Posted April 10th, 2022
1,305 posts
11.4 Years
What is RMXP? :p
Long story short, it's an engine for making games from scratch, so switching would mean the game was its own standalone .exe file and not a rom hack - the downside is that only Windows computers can run them. =/

Avara

She/Her
Seen 5 Days Ago
Posted April 10th, 2022
1,305 posts
11.4 Years
I find it hard to believe you could ever run out of space if you're using it efficiently. Have you tried expanding the ROM to 32mb? That's more than enough for anyone.
It's not just rom space as such, I'm talking about things such a the limitations of a certain number of maps, player backsprites, amount of songs, tilesets, palettes, amount of blocks in a tileset, OWs (I am aware that OWs can be expanded and I have tried it but although it worked it also caused more problems which I do not know how to fix, making it more trouble than it's worth). Engine limitations is more what I mean I guess haha. Also the fact that for the mechanics I wanted in this game, they are such a drag to maintain/implement/some don't even work properly (i.e, the player's OW not changing properly depending on character), but RMXP/Essentials has the capacity for them already working.

Also, if I really wanted to make my original idea into a reality, the outcome would be either 1 huge RMXP game or like 6 seperate rom hacks. The latter of which sounds the opposite of realistic lmao!

chrunch

Male
Seen December 10th, 2021
Posted February 24th, 2021
1,343 posts
13.6 Years
It's not just rom space as such, I'm talking about things such a the limitations of a certain number of maps, player backsprites, amount of songs, tilesets, palettes, amount of blocks in a tileset, OWs (I am aware that OWs can be expanded and I have tried it but although it worked it also caused more problems which I do not know how to fix, making it more trouble than it's worth). Engine limitations is more what I mean I guess haha. Also the fact that for the mechanics I wanted in this game, they are such a drag to maintain/implement/some don't even work properly (i.e, the player's OW not changing properly depending on character), but RMXP/Essentials has the capacity for them already working.

Also, if I really wanted to make my original idea into a reality, the outcome would be either 1 huge RMXP game or like 6 seperate rom hacks. The latter of which sounds the opposite of realistic lmao!
Fair enough, I was confused by your wording. Most of what you mentioned bar palettes can be expanded with some know-how, but I can understand wanting to take the easier route

Avara

She/Her
Seen 5 Days Ago
Posted April 10th, 2022
1,305 posts
11.4 Years
Fair enough, I was confused by your wording. Most of what you mentioned bar palettes can be expanded with some know-how, but I can understand wanting to take the easier route
Sorry, I'm just home from work and have had next to no sleep so I probably suck even more at coherent sentences now haha! I still am kind of thinking about sticking to hacking, especially for the first Mirage of Tales, but then I wouldn't want to have two games on two different engines or whatever for some reason. I don't know why it feels like such an astronomical decision lmao

crimsonwolf8439

Male
Australia
Seen 2 Days Ago
Posted April 20th, 2019
7 posts
6.8 Years
I'm new here, and I specifically made this account just to say this: all your work is appreciated and the game does look amazing. Personally I would prefer it to be on a ROM seeing as GBA4IOS just got released. Again. So the it would be great to be able to play the game on the go. But think about yourself as well, and the enjoyment in hacking the ROM. I have no experience whatsoever, but maybe getting together a team would help?

Good Luck!

P.S I voted Kala :p

PPSS I would love to help out ;)
Hi! Come chat with me on discord!
Also willing to help out with hacks!
Female
Seen August 26th, 2020
Posted July 3rd, 2020
24 posts
7.8 Years
Personally I don't mind the shift to RPGMaker since I've played many games on it and I've seen some really good stuff done with it. Just to make sure - its the same engine Zeta/Omnicron and Insurgence use, correct?

My main concern here ins't exactly the change itself but whether or not you'll be able to deliver it. An engine change usually means starting from scratch and that is something that can be a morale killer for many developers. Your project is already quite ambitious as is, not to mention its the second game you're working on at, the present time, of a similar magnitude, so I'm worried you're shooting for the stars in the hopes of making something great but then end up quitting halfway through because you're burned out, facing technical complications, can't finish it, etc... :(

But don't let my worries stop you - I sincerely hope for the best and to see both projects come to fruition! :)

Avara

She/Her
Seen 5 Days Ago
Posted April 10th, 2022
1,305 posts
11.4 Years
Hi everyone! Sorry for the long span of inactivity on this thread.
I've been working non stop and needed to take a bit of time to think what I was actually gonna do with this haha.

I'm really just posting to say that it isn't dead! I've decided to stick with rom hacking since I already know it.
As much as RMXP seems like an amazing engine (and I wish I'd found it first) I simply don't have the time to commit to learning a whole new thing.
This will bring a lot of changes. This is a LONG post, so I've spoiler-ed it. If you don't care that much about what I'm doing, you can skip it =P

Spoiler:

- The Ages of Faith will be its own standalone series.
For those of you who don't know, Mirage of Tales was my first hack. AoF was supposed to be the "prequel" of sorts as part of a series because it tells the story of the game-world's history.
Another reason for making this as its own saga; the idea with MoT was to be sort of an open world game with many branching storylines and choice-dependant events.
Since AoF is supposed to be telling a set story, it's fitting to be a lot more linear, making it not like Mirage of Tales at all - however, the two projects are still part of the same "universe".

- Each character will have their own game.
Doing it this way will let me go into a lot more detail. You can experience the tale through lots of different viewpoints and really get every side of the story.
It'll be split into chapters and seasons that coincide with the other games, so that if you decide to play them all together, it'll be like the Pokemon version of Game of Thrones =P

- Each story will be relatively short and have easy-ish gameplay.
There will still be boss battles and stuff, but seeing as it's not a beat-Gyms beat-Tournament kind of hack I'm not concerned about making it overly long or particularly challenging; it's all about the story.
I don't want people to not be able to progress with the game just because they can't beat a tough trainer. If you don't like reading, you'll hate it. Sorry =P


TL;DR: AoF will be its own thing, it's going to be extremely story heavy, and likely won't be completed for years.

Keeping in mind that this is purely a hobby project for me, don't expect to see any betas soon, since I'm just working on it as an when I feel like it.
I understand if this causes people to lose interest, but it's something I want to make a reality for my own reasons, so it'll never be cancelled.

Thanks a lot for all the support in the past guys, it genuinely means so much, and I'm sorry if I've disappointed anyone in any way.

~ Avara
Male
United States
Seen 7 Hours Ago
Posted March 24th, 2023
272 posts
7.1 Years
Hi everyone! Sorry for the long span of inactivity on this thread.
I've been working non stop and needed to take a bit of time to think what I was actually gonna do with this haha.

I'm really just posting to say that it isn't dead! I've decided to stick with rom hacking since I already know it.
As much as RMXP seems like an amazing engine (and I wish I'd found it first) I simply don't have the time to commit to learning a whole new thing.
This will bring a lot of changes. This is a LONG post, so I've spoiler-ed it. If you don't care that much about what I'm doing, you can skip it =P

Spoiler:

- The Ages of Faith will be its own standalone series.
For those of you who don't know, Mirage of Tales was my first hack. AoF was supposed to be the "prequel" of sorts as part of a series because it tells the story of the game-world's history.
Another reason for making this as its own saga; the idea with MoT was to be sort of an open world game with many branching storylines and choice-dependant events.
Since AoF is supposed to be telling a set story, it's fitting to be a lot more linear, making it not like Mirage of Tales at all - however, the two projects are still part of the same "universe".

- Each character will have their own game.
Doing it this way will let me go into a lot more detail. You can experience the tale through lots of different viewpoints and really get every side of the story.
It'll be split into chapters and seasons that coincide with the other games, so that if you decide to play them all together, it'll be like the Pokemon version of Game of Thrones =P

- Each story will be relatively short and have easy-ish gameplay.
There will still be boss battles and stuff, but seeing as it's not a beat-Gyms beat-Tournament kind of hack I'm not concerned about making it overly long or particularly challenging; it's all about the story.
I don't want people to not be able to progress with the game just because they can't beat a tough trainer. If you don't like reading, you'll hate it. Sorry =P


TL;DR: AoF will be its own thing, it's going to be extremely story heavy, and likely won't be completed for years.

Keeping in mind that this is purely a hobby project for me, don't expect to see any betas soon, since I'm just working on it as an when I feel like it.
I understand if this causes people to lose interest, but it's something I want to make a reality for my own reasons, so it'll never be cancelled.

Thanks a lot for all the support in the past guys, it genuinely means so much, and I'm sorry if I've disappointed anyone in any way.

~ Avara
The changes sound good. I'm okay with every change that you feel will improve the story.

Avara

She/Her
Seen 5 Days Ago
Posted April 10th, 2022
1,305 posts
11.4 Years
Wow, it just occurred to me that I haven't posted here in over a year or something haha! Obligatory post to let anyone who might have had any interest in this project know that it's still alive =)
Male
United States
Seen 7 Hours Ago
Posted March 24th, 2023
272 posts
7.1 Years
Wow, it just occurred to me that I haven't posted here in over a year or something haha! Obligatory post to let anyone who might have had any interest in this project know that it's still alive =)
Thanks! I'm still interested, fear not.

Avara

She/Her
Seen 5 Days Ago
Posted April 10th, 2022
1,305 posts
11.4 Years
Hello Avara. Does this hack have any new mechanics such as guard/defend? or its original pokemon combat system?
Hi! Sorry pal I'm not 100% sure what you mean by guard/defend, could you maybe elaborate a bit on that? It's the original Pokemon combat system in terms of battling =) re other mechanics, there are a few extra bits and pieces that I've added, such as choosing where you place sections of your "army" and decide what they'll be doing for big battles, but idk if that could really be considered a mechanic or if this is anything close to what you meant haha.

Avara

She/Her
Seen 5 Days Ago
Posted April 10th, 2022
1,305 posts
11.4 Years
Are we traditionally gonna have 3 starters?
Sadly not I'm afraid! Seeing as there's no access to Pokeballs, you also don't catch Pokemon the traditional way. You obtain a few as you progress through the game, and some others are available through short side-quests. Not all Pokemon will be obtainable either. I can understand that this might sound unappealing to a lot of people so I'd get it if it puts you off!

I'll definitely be updating the main post to include all of this with a better explanation as soon as I can!

ranger016

Age 28
Male
India
Seen June 5th, 2021
Posted June 23rd, 2018
30 posts
8.9 Years
Hi! Sorry pal I'm not 100% sure what you mean by guard/defend, could you maybe elaborate a bit on that? It's the original Pokemon combat system in terms of battling =) re other mechanics, there are a few extra bits and pieces that I've added, such as choosing where you place sections of your "army" and decide what they'll be doing for big battles, but idk if that could really be considered a mechanic or if this is anything close to what you meant haha.
Guard is a feature present in many JRPG games, it basically means defending instead of attacking in that turn, pretty much a free Protect or a way to decrease damage taken from strong enemies in some games, I don't find them very useful but might work in some cases.
However I don't see how this could be a good idea in Pokemon where every move cost PP. You could potentially use Guard and then Protect next turn until your opponent runs out of PP, which would make the whole fight pointless.
@Mercilec, if your idea was different then sorry.

Sadly not I'm afraid! Seeing as there's no access to Pokeballs, you also don't catch Pokemon the traditional way. You obtain a few as you progress through the game, and some others are available through short side-quests. Not all Pokemon will be obtainable either. I can understand that this might sound unappealing to a lot of people so I'd get it if it puts you off!

I'll definitely be updating the main post to include all of this with a better explanation as soon as I can!
Since we are talking about starters I will add my demands, could you make it so that you can choose the starters instead of making them different for each main character? For example if I choose the male character but I like the starter of the female character then I would either have to play as a different character or play with a starter I don't like.
Although if you are going to make the starters important to the story then I can see how it could be a problem, I would just have to get used to it in that case.