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[Archive] ROM Hacking Newsletter 2008 | Issue 1 - 18

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I agree. I'm sure that he is only busy.
 
I spoke with Dayboshahsh this morning and he said I should post this weeks interwiu... Until next Issures comming..
Spoiler:
 
itman1234 said:
Niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, love it :)

You guys are like born for this, the reviewing and interviewing rocks :) Born professionals ;)

Yea, surprisingly, I liked reading the interview (I thought I'd get bored), but I didn't at all!

Though, what happened to the tool part? I know no new 'amazingly helpful' tool has come out this week, but why not, always fun to have, even for an existing tool that isn't recognized that much.

I hope the makers of Septo Conquest don't get mad >.<
Click to expand...
I don't think the tools thing is really that important. Tools don't come out as often as hacks.

zel said:
Finished reading some parts, but not the whole issue this time. I'm gonna finish it later, but so far it seems another interesting issue. Good to see that you have what it takes to make reviews of not only the good games, but also the ones that need more improvment. Hope the creators take this as a warning and it helps them to keep improving.

By the way, since I see you are always looking for ideas, how about if you gather a small group that searches the web for more than just Pokemon hacks. There are a lot of non-Pokemon hacks out there and making reviews of them could lead people into liking other kind of hacks (there are a lot of awesome Mario hacks outside Pokecommunity), I'm sure it'd be a good addition to the hacking newsletter.
Click to expand...
Thats a really good idea I just don't know if people would be keen for it. If anyone would like to please leave a message for me.

Kawaii said:
Great second issue! I just got back from vacation and went straight to my laptop to check the issue. Lol! I loved reading the reviews, as they weren't repetitive. Also, I'll definitely try to work those tips into my hack...eventually, =). Maybe, you could have a section about different hackers and their strong points (scripting, mapping, etc.). Not necessarily reviewing hackers, but just as an FYI, or to mention who is good at making sprites, titlescreens, etc. For your name situation, I prefer ROM Hacker's Weekly, but...well, that's just me! Haha. Personally, I'd like to see Cooley interviewed, because, from how we've talked, he seems like an interesting person, and knows his hacking! Luckily, I'll start school after Summer Break to fill the meaningless void between now and the next issue, XD!
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot, those are some good ideas. I think I will implement them in further issues.

thethethethe said:
What's happening with this now dshayabusa? Are you busy or has this stopped production?
Click to expand...
I'm not really busy I've just decided that I need to concentrate on my studies. I won't be able to work on it for the next 3 weeks.

Son Sebbe said:
I spoke with Dayboshahsh this morning and he said I should post this weeks interwiu... Until next Issures comming..
Spoiler:
Click to expand...
sigh...... Sebbe...

Sorry I haven't posted the latest newsletter. Exams have gotten in the way. I'll be posting the latest one though..... Hope the staff don't mind the double post. :)
 
Rom Hacking Newsletter
Issue 3 - Friday, 29 August 2008
Introduction
Before we begin

Woooowwww!! Its been a while! I'm sorry I just suddenly left. I've been studying for my mock exams. I need to do really well in them for Uni. See the closing notes for more info. No one really seemed offended by my very critical review of Septo Conquest so I probably won't tone it down. Hmmm not much else to say... I've decided that having a team is kinda stupid. Anyone can contribute articles to RHN, just PM me and as long as it isn't outrageous I'll put it in. So send all your articles in!

P.S. Thanks XDRules!
Opening words by dshayabusa​



Hacking News
Staying current with the rom hacking scene

Flame of Rage Beta 1
The very popular hack Pokemon: Flame of Rage has finally had a beta release. I'm sure I don't need to say but this has been highly anticipated by a lot of the community. But does it live up to the hype? Find out in my review below.

Return of suspended hacks
OMG!! They are finally back! Two of my favourite hacks ever have finally come back! Pokemon Opal & Coral and Pokemon Azure Horizons! I highly recommend taking a look at them. I can't believe I was absent for their re-emergence. :'(

Article by dshayabusa​

GSC Scripting
Attention Gold/Silver Hackers!
Your hex days are over! Score_under and I will be working on the long-awaited Pokemon Gold Scripting program.The program will be integrated into PKSV, so no getting used to a new format of scripting
It will feature user-friendly command names, and a fast compiler.The expected release is within 2 weeks(tops) So look out Metal Generation hackers

PM me for more Information...And good luck waiting!
Article by cooley​



HOTW Winner
Spotlight on the Hack of the Week

POKéMON White Isle [Link]
Hack Author: riolu 9
Reviewed By: Time
Reviewer's Rating: 3.8/5

POKéMON White Isle is the first hacked-ROM based on an Emerald ROM which won in the 25th votings of the Hack of the Week, created/hacked by riolu 9.
Sounds amazing, huh? Well, to me, it is.

Now this project's story's common in every hacked-ROMs we see around here. Nothing exciting about it for now, at least.

The screenshots are truly awesome for we can finally feel a true day-night system in a GBA game.

Towards the scripts, well, riolu 9's not providing much proof in scripting, so I can't tell for now whether the scripts are awesome, or boring. I guess only time can tell.

Now the tiles are nice in my eyes, though it's a ROM base, but still, it's pretty cool.

The hack's great so far. What can we expect from a hack which won HotW #25?
Article by Time​



Hack Review
Hacks in review

Pokémon: Flame of Rage [Link]
Hack Author: Rom Reaverz Inc.
Reviewed By: dshayabusa
Reviewer's Rating: 3.5/5

Its been in production since March and they've finally come out with a beta. Obviously one of the most popular hacks around with some very well known team members.

I've always had a problem with people working in teams to make a hack. I've tried it a few times myself but its never really worked for me. Flame of Rage should reveal whether teams work or not.

Lets talk about mapping first. Neti's style of mapping is very different to my own. Some people even recognise him as the best mapper in PC. His style is completely different to that of Nintendo's and is supposedly more natural. The maps are certainly neat and well designed, not my style but they are very good non-the-less.

The scripting is really good. They are implemented really well. They just seem to be missing the small things like text colour and spelling etc.

Sorry but this has to be really short, I'm a little busy now! I might do a better one later.
Article by dshayabusa​



Tips and Tricks
A cool new trick that you may not have known about

Hi, Everybody
I'm writing a tip this week, D-Trough told me about it, so let's go "yay" on him…
You properly seen in the Help section people asking about how to expand the rom, and it are pretty simple…
First we open our Hex Editor and in the end we put a few new bytes in… Now we expended it, but this won't do any difference since a pointier only can point from 0x000000(Deci - 0) to 0xFFFFFF(Deci – 16777215)
But to point after this, we only change the 08 to 09
09 points too 0x1000000 to 0x1FFFFFF
This should be pretty useful for people who are scared to run out of space or will need a lot of space for another reason… I must say through, the free space in the roms is pretty big, so in the start you would be able to use it, and for long…
*If you expand the rom file to much then some emulators won't play it
**Give D-through a huge hug!
Tip donated by Sebbe and D-Trough​



Interview
An in-depth chat with...
Spoiler:

Interview by dshayabusa​



Closing Notes
Some house keeping

I will be away until September 12th. It seems a lot of exciting stuff has happened in the short amount of time I have been away. So hopefully I'll have tonnes of stuff to write about when I return. Also as I said in the opening if you have any articles you would like to see in the newsletter just PM me you can even say what issue you want it to be in. If possible take the time to make sure your article will look nice in the newsletter. Use proper paragraphing etc.
Closing by dshayabusa​
CSS design by dshayabusa. Ask for permission if you want to use it!
 
Yeah, I agree.
What does it mean by change 08 to 09? There wasn't any 08 mentioned!
Maybe you should have written it, not Sebbe?

Well, this issue was pretty good...Yeah, I think you should extend it to more than just Pokemon ROM Hacking. I mean, it's not the "Pokemon Rom Hacking newsletter" so...yeah.

Ooh! Mock tests? You're studying for something like the HSC or something, right?
 
Wow, so the third issue's up. Sweet. :D
Though the tips and tricks are truly written bad. -___-

Anyways, exams sure sucks. -__-
But we, your team, will be here for ya! ;)

Spoiler:
 
Dark Lakitu said:
No, Son Sebbe. It's his tip. Without his tip, you wouldn't have a mention. And yours sucked so no-one could possible be jealous.
So there! -yays D-trogh-
Click to expand...
I command you to take back that yay:pirate:
Time said:


I really hate the way to talk, Sebbe.
Click to expand...
So, Are you with me?
 
Um...yays for issue #3! Although, the grammar has gone downhill TERRIBLY, and not just in the Tips and Tricks section. I noticed many spelling and grammar issues in every section. Also, unless there is some standard for rating a hack (i.e. some sort of system based on certain aspects), I think giving the hacks a x/5 is irrelevant, since different people are reviewing and each person seems to have different standards. Even though I'm giving quite a bit or criticism, don't take it personally, since the Newsletter is overall very nice...and of course, attractive.

On the grammar/spelling note again, maybe you should have people PM you an idea and a preliminary article, and then you can edit or re-write it, so the Newsletter keeps a similar writing style. Or, you could have a, sorta, ohh, shoot!...what is it called? Um, kinda a Bulletin Board of sorts, where people can post their own news (i.e. "Hey guys, it's Kawaii, Inc. here! Just wanted to post about an opening in Tree of Peace's Team. We're looking for a spriter to help with overworlds and the such!"). Kinda like that?
 
Wow, I'm glad to see issue three up, although the Tips and Tricks section discouraged me from continuing to read... Maybe write the article yourself next time? Anyway, I thought it felt a bit rushed :/ Oh well :D I'm looking forward to seeing the next issue ;)
 
Wow, that was just very poor compared to the first two issues. It seemed very rushed. Also, the tips and tricks (as everyone has said) was very hard to understand. Don't get me wrong, I love the newsletter in general, just this issue wasn't the best, but you are studying, so yea, not your fault I guess :)
Good luck!
 
It was nice, it was a bit short but I'll understand it if you were busy. I just hope the next one returns with really long (well, not THAT long) hacks reviews. I really hope you manage to gather some people who love hacks because I still believe that adding non-Pokemon hacks outside Pokecommunity is something that will, not only increase the size of the issues, but will inform us about what's going on outside, or... are we living in a bubble?

Dont start to get annoying about grammar problems (reporting is fine, but dont start to fight), with time it'll be improved, I'm sure, for now let's be happy about having the RHN back, right?

Can be better, but good work guys!
 
Ah, here comes the third newsletter. It was a fine newsletter in my standard. But yeah, I think it was abit rushed. I didn't understand a things about the tip. But it was a fine article.
 
D-Trogh said:
The explanation of the Tip/Trick is bad.. AND my name is written wrong..!
Click to expand...
Really sorry about that D-Trogh. I'll change it when I have the time. I'm only online to reply to this thread right now.

Dark Lakitu said:
Yeah, I agree.
What does it mean by change 08 to 09? There wasn't any 08 mentioned!
Maybe you should have written it, not Sebbe?

Well, this issue was pretty good...Yeah, I think you should extend it to more than just Pokemon ROM Hacking. I mean, it's not the "Pokemon Rom Hacking newsletter" so...yeah.

Ooh! Mock tests? You're studying for something like the HSC or something, right?
Click to expand...
Maybe I will re-write it for the next issue... Linking to other forums are against the rules but I'll work something out.

Mock exams are just like practice exams. Its usually just papers from the previous year.

Kawaii said:
Um...yays for issue #3! Although, the grammar has gone downhill TERRIBLY, and not just in the Tips and Tricks section. I noticed many spelling and grammar issues in every section. Also, unless there is some standard for rating a hack (i.e. some sort of system based on certain aspects), I think giving the hacks a x/5 is irrelevant, since different people are reviewing and each person seems to have different standards. Even though I'm giving quite a bit or criticism, don't take it personally, since the Newsletter is overall very nice...and of course, attractive.

On the grammar/spelling note again, maybe you should have people PM you an idea and a preliminary article, and then you can edit or re-write it, so the Newsletter keeps a similar writing style. Or, you could have a, sorta, ohh, shoot!...what is it called? Um, kinda a Bulletin Board of sorts, where people can post their own news (i.e. "Hey guys, it's Kawaii, Inc. here! Just wanted to post about an opening in Tree of Peace's Team. We're looking for a spriter to help with overworlds and the such!"). Kinda like that?
Click to expand...
Excellent point on the reviews I never thought about that actually. Hmm I'll have to think about what I'm going to do... The bulletin is a good idea too I might implement that soon.

itman1234 said:
Wow, that was just very poor compared to the first two issues. It seemed very rushed. Also, the tips and tricks (as everyone has said) was very hard to understand. Don't get me wrong, I love the newsletter in general, just this issue wasn't the best, but you are studying, so yea, not your fault I guess :)
Good luck!
Click to expand...
I totally agree this issue really sucked. I'll make sure the next one is a lot better.

zel said:
It was nice, it was a bit short but I'll understand it if you were busy. I just hope the next one returns with really long (well, not THAT long) hacks reviews. I really hope you manage to gather some people who love hacks because I still believe that adding non-Pokemon hacks outside Pokecommunity is something that will, not only increase the size of the issues, but will inform us about what's going on outside, or... are we living in a bubble?

Dont start to get annoying about grammar problems (reporting is fine, but dont start to fight), with time it'll be improved, I'm sure, for now let's be happy about having the RHN back, right?

Can be better, but good work guys!
Click to expand...
The problem is that people aren't always reliable. They might do it the first week but they'll probably just forget the next week. But I will definitely make an effort with the non-Pokemon hacks.


I know I said that people can start submitting their own articles to RHN but I don't think that idea is going to work from the comments people have made. I think that maybe I should just work on this by myself or have only one other person work with me. When I first thought of creating a newsletter I thought that making regular issues would be hard if I did it alone.

The thing is if I start making it myself the newsletter will inevitably get shorter because I just won't have that many things to write about. But if I do that I'm sure the quality will be higher. At most there will be two reviews (HOTW and my own choice). This might not be a bad thing though, I think I might start having an Editor's Choice award and a Interviewee's Choice award.

So what do you guys think? Should I do the newsletter by myself? I can definitely do it, the problem is that there will be fewer articles and it'll have less of a community perspective.
 
No, you shouldn't do it by yourself, but whoever you work with should have some sort of good credentials and stuff. You can always re-write their articles, but I think it'll be better with other people helping.
 
dshayabusa said:
I know I said that people can start submitting their own articles to RHN but I don't think that idea is going to work from the comments people have made. I think that maybe I should just work on this by myself or have only one other person work with me. When I first thought of creating a newsletter I thought that making regular issues would be hard if I did it alone.

The thing is if I start making it myself the newsletter will inevitably get shorter because I just won't have that many things to write about. But if I do that I'm sure the quality will be higher. At most there will be two reviews (HOTW and my own choice). This might not be a bad thing though, I think I might start having an Editor's Choice award and a Interviewee's Choice award.

So what do you guys think? Should I do the newsletter by myself? I can definitely do it, the problem is that there will be fewer articles and it'll have less of a community perspective.
Click to expand...
Well...Like I said, I think it should just be people send ideas to your team, not write the articles themselves.

Also, my perspective is quality over quantity. If that means shorter/fewer articles, then people will have to grow to understand that. Now, that doesn't mean do the whole thing by yourself. I still think you should have a team. It seems to work for real newspapers, it should work for this application if done correctly. =)

{EDIT: I like the idea of your awards a lot. It would be a good way to recommend hacks, and get a little bit of an added spotlight. Unfortunately, I can guarantee that unless you add some guidelines to the hacks that can be chosen, the same hacks will get chosen over and over again. I think you know the ones I'm talking about. I love them to death but...hrmm.
 
Hey, make it those awards can only won once by any hack?
 
Dark Lakitu said:
No, you shouldn't do it by yourself, but whoever you work with should have some sort of good credentials and stuff. You can always re-write their articles, but I think it'll be better with other people helping.
Click to expand...
Thats the problem, how will I know that they are going to be dedicated to this?

Kawaii said:
Well...Like I said, I think it should just be people send ideas to your team, not write the articles themselves.

Also, my perspective is quality over quantity. If that means shorter/fewer articles, then people will have to grow to understand that. Now, that doesn't mean do the whole thing by yourself. I still think you should have a team. It seems to work for real newspapers, it should work for this application if done correctly. =)

{EDIT: I like the idea of your awards a lot. It would be a good way to recommend hacks, and get a little bit of an added spotlight. Unfortunately, I can guarantee that unless you add some guidelines to the hacks that can be chosen, the same hacks will get chosen over and over again. I think you know the ones I'm talking about. I love them to death but...hrmm.
Click to expand...
Yes you're right, working in a team would be desirable but the problem is coming up with the team. I'll make sure the same hacks aren't chosen again.

Dark Lakitu said:
Hey, make it those awards can only won once by any hack?
Click to expand...
Yeah I think I'll have to do that.

I think the next issue will be done entirely by myself. I'll work out what I'm going to do in the following weeks.
 
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