Changes...

[~Teh Panda~]

What has changed since you have joined?

Newer Post: Revision of this

For me all I can say is diversity of hacks. Since there are definitely more resources out now a days and still many more being released it is always interesting to see a hack with a newer idea. Hacks like Super Rising Thunder are definitely different from the usual. Also graphical hacking has changed a ton. I remember the first titlescreen BG hack tutorial and all that. It was a great time of innovation in early 2008 through summer. With the release of XSE it was a joyous time period. Then in the end of 2008 a lot of new hackers joined which i soon befriended and even co-hacked with a few. This was a joyous time period as I learned a lot then. Now a days I sometimes chat with those people and now have a sort of set in stone group of matey's here. Another notable thing of when I actually came here in summer 2006 and was yet a troll on the site for about a year until I actually joined. in that summer of '06 I remember the ever growing popularity in one hacker who's name begins with letter Z and ends with L. Yes, 'twas Zel, the mighty creator of be hailed upon "Shiny Gold" Version. Yes the biggest remake of a GSC game and to this day may still be number one competing with the likes of hacks such as Liquid Crystal (by friend/hacker LinkAndZelda). Also another force in the name of hacking then was Serg!o and Naranja. A hack based in the lovely Orange Islands. Most always wondered what a game would be like in this region. But never were we given an official game... So we have Naranja ^^. Now back to the start of my actual career here which officially took off in summer 2007 when I began Aurora Nights and Underground. The later unsuccessful hacks still have lots of meaning to me and I would want to pursue making them once I gain inspiration for them and I work hard enough on Sea of Dreams to actually complete it! Which may take years, yes years. Then there was a gap where I was virtually inactive for probably 2 months. While I was not posting anything I was continuously studying tutorials and documents learning how to make a successful and joyous hack for all. Then came Endigo Islands, my longest lasting project which I successfully was about to release a beta then my computer was stricken by the deathly conficker b virus and I had no backups... I soon became a tad sad and quickly dumped that project. Then I went on about a months break to regain a grip on my real life which had somehow fell apart. Then I began to work on something with Surf which we quickly dropped...

Basically I am trying to say up until now I have been an undeserving and over glorified hacker... Hopefully now I will have the power to complete a project...
​

What has happened to the forums and you since you have came to this site?

 

[Banjora Marxvile]

My attitude towards hacks I guess.

Not necessarily other peoples. True that the scrapbox is slowly getting more ideas, less practical hacks, but that isn't the biggest change.

What has changed is that I hate working on hacks nowadays. I prefer going at things at my own speed, no rush, no one waiting. Which is why my main focus has changed to ROM Bases. Also, I have noticed more people learning to Tile Insert, and if they can even do a small change, I am glad, as I have helped people understand Tile Inserting, and to see more and more people doing it is kinda nice, as at least they understand something that isn't as straightforward as mapping, as loads of things can (and invariably do) go wrong.

 

[Tropical Sunlight]

lol When DJG brought up the idea of Ruby Destiny: Rescue Rangers I remember I only saw hack in which you play Pokemon is Scrapbox... xD

 

[Ninja Caterpie]

lol When DJG brought up the idea of Ruby Destiny: Rescue Rangers I remember I only saw hack in which you play Pokemon is Scrapbox... xD

wat.

dere be moar n00bs dan dere wuz b4.

 

[thethethethe]

The ROM Hacking section is a totally different place now as to what it was when I first joined. It was a place without progressing hacks, and the scrapbox had not been born yet. In my mind people like Zel, Serg!o and Baro ruled hacking. Blazichu was still a moderator. Irish Witch hadn't disappeared yet. ScriptED and Pokescript were the main scripting tools, and the functions of Elitemap still rivaled the uses of Advancemap.

I was technically just another Shiny Gold fan-boy and proud of it. I picked up Pokescript quite quickly and was a major contributor to the old script help thread. I was scripting with EarthsVisitor on his hack Rocket's Revenge. I started my only hack that actually 'got off the ground' and started, Legends of Dragons. If I ever saw a post from Zel in my thread, I was happy. It was something that made my day.

I met so many people here, many of them now just very inactive while a few still hanging around. Erimgard, EarthsVisitor, destinedjagold, foullump, BC, and according to him, 'my rival', Cooley. It's a great feeling being new to the forums, or it was for me. I didn't know anything, so curiosity got the better of me and this led me to meeting all these people.

Last year (2008) probably marked my height in activity, and I assume led to me attempting to leave the forums. I like to think I was active over the course of 2008. I wrote the majority of my tutorials in that year, wrote on the ROM hacking newsletter run by dshayabusa/Thrace, and even got to give my opinion for the 2008 hack of the year (That was great). Things were even just different last year compared to this year. So many hackers that now just troll around were quite active in 2008. D-Trogh, Darthatron, Thrace, Time (:P), Gabe, TD, Esmas, ZodiacDaGreat and probably others.

Hacking itself is of a much better standard thanks to the many hackers that contributed to this community. I like to think I've been one of them, and that what I've done around has helped improve the hacks of everyone around here. I guess I can only hope that.

Today its good to some hackers of when I started still trolling around the place. Even if they're only posting once in a while. I'm just glad people are still hanging around putting crap on newer hackers supporting the community. I still plan on finishing Legend of Dragons... one day.

 

[Ninja Caterpie]

So many hackers that now just troll around were quite active in 2008. D-Trogh, Darthatron, Thrace, Time (:P), Gabe, TD, Esmas, ZodiacDaGreat and probably others.

Like me. Just trollin' around.

Hacking itself is of a much better standard thanks to the many hackers that contributed to this community. I like to think I've been one of them, and that what I've done around has helped improve the hacks of everyone around here. I guess I can only hope that.

I would believe the opinion of the majority would agree.

Today its good to some hackers of when I started still trolling around the place. Even if they're only posting once in a while. I'm just glad people are still hanging around putting crap on newer hackers supporting the community.

I'm not even old and it feels strangely relevant to me.

I still plan on finishing Legend of Dragons... one day.

I'll be waiting for that one day.

Now to be on topic.

When I first joined, there were so many people to look up to...thethethethe, dshayabusa, coolboyman, etc, but now...most of them/us have quit, or just go trolling around <s>insulting those newer hackers</s>. It feels like there's just nobody to look up to and say "that's a good hacker!" or "I want to make a hack that's as good as that!". It's almost every man for themselves now, and it feels like the quality of the hacks around are deteriorating for that reason...

 

[destinedjagold]

Changes? Well, back in the first year when I joined in this lovely chaotic forum, things were more organized and peaceful.
The Scrapbox and the Progressing Hacks didn't exist in the time, and Scizz was still one of the moderators of this crazy sub-forum. :P
He was the one who helped me worked more on Reign of Legends by giving me his honest opinion that it wasn't good enough to be accepted. So the third time I tried to make RoL from scratch, it was finally accepted.
Later on, I was in love with PMD that it gave me the idea to make a hack just like it, which came forth Rescue Rangers. :P
thethethethe was always there to help me with scripting problems before since I first tried to understand how to map than how to script.

I was a bit proud of my work, 'cause by the time I released Reign of Legends, that's when new hacks came out with 'time-traveling ideas. :)
Also, after Rescue Rangers was done, soon came other PMD-based hacks which were better than my work.
I feel glad to give other pipz ideas and giving them an example that we can always expand our imagination further. Our imagination has no limits.

Yeah, zel has always been my inspiration during my early days here. At first, I aim to be as good as zel was, but time flies by as I hack, that goal started to fade and was slowly replaced to hack just for fun. :)

I am also proud to give thethethethe's hack the name 'Legend of Dragons'. :P
I don't think he still remembers it, though, but I still can remember it, where he asked everyone to post/suggest a name for his hack. :D

I was still scripting with PokéScript, until I started with LoG, then a virus came to my PC and I had no choice but to reformat it, and after that, I can no longer open PokéScript so I decided to move to XSE. This is the first time I was thankful for my PC getting infected by a virus. xD
If that didn't happen, then maybe I was still scripting with PokéScript.

I also came to meet a lot of friends here in PC, of course. I can't name them all. Too lazy, but you know who you are, pipz. :classic:

Also, I still don't understand why others admire my RoL hack, since it was so darn n00bie hack. :\

Oh, and also...

Time (:P)

>:[

 

[Aljam]

I remember going to to shiny gold, playing it, and learning the wondrous joy of hacking. I remember starting pokemon reign of fire with druyii and his team, and basically just getting to know people here. hacking has improved a lot since then, and the scrapbox is still full of potential hacks as it was then. (even though now you have to look harder >.>)

 

[sab]

biggest thing that I can think of off the top of my head is that Dp havcking has grown hugley. I remember when there where no Dp hacks. We may not have then complely figured out but we've gotten far better.

 

[hi sir tomato my password is syvniti]

Pc didn't change, that's the problem, the place needs to change.

 

[Perri Lightfoot]

I think my story is a bit of an odd case in that even though I've been hacking Pokemon Ruby for five years (going on six), I didn't actually make real leaps in progress or grow in skill until I started posting here late last year. Sure, I lurked before then, since early in '08 - made very occasional posts in the help threads and downloaded tools - but I didn't post anything about my first hack project until sometime early this year, even though it had been in production since '04.

A particular hack didn't inspire me, though I do remember that the time I started hacking was when Quartz was still in production. Quartz, in retrospect, wasn't the greatest of hacks (though it did result in an awesome Something Awful Let's Play XD ), but in its time it was a bit of a pioneer, and knowing that it was possible to hack into Ruby (there was little tool coverage for Fire Red at the time; which is why I became a Ruby hacker) and make something approaching a whole new Pokemon game...I loved the concept. The Pokemon hacking section on Acmlm's Board at the time is where I mainly hung out (and if you think the Scrapbox here is bad....oh boy. You should have seen some of the stuff there XD ); and Elite Map and its pack of tools reigned supreme. This is the era in which my first hack, Pokemon: New Jersey Quest, was born. It was a flawed project in my opinion because it had been in production for so very long; and suffered from the same deep issues that many hacks of that early era did - the presence of most, if not all, the original scripts; badly done Fakemon and overworlds because I had little experience in pixel art at the time and had not done anything to improve them in ages; no new tiles; and maps that hadn't been significantly changed (in '04, my idea of a changed map was to turn all the paths into paved roads via Elite Map!). Because of my limited access to the internet at the time, and because...well, it sounds foolish, but it had never really occurred to me to check for new tools and advances in the ROM hacking world until 2008...I worked on this game possessing only '04-era skills, knowledge and tools. But Jersey Quest did have one thing going for it that I still consider the most important part of my own personal ROM hacking experience - and that was story.

Not knowing at the time that I could do so much more than just change the text with PokeScript and Rubikon (thank goodness for PKSV and, later, XSE...soooo much easier XD ) since Acmlm's Board wasn't exactly rife with tutorials for the Pokemon ROM hacking section and blindly assuming that all ROM hacks had to be like Quartz that I had to simply work around the original scripts that Ruby gave me, I started thinking of how I could tell a story that was reasonably new and interesting despite the familiar path it trod. At the time, I was really into Pokemorph fanfics and decided to create a plot revolving around them; changing every bit of dialogue I could to fully flesh out this world and its characters. The early version of Jersey Quest might have failed severely in some regards as a good hack, but I appreciate so much that it taught me how to write compelling game dialogue and how to bring a game character to life with personality. I hope sometime in the future, after I finish with the above mentioned Super Rising Thunder, to return to Jersey Quest and completly remake it as an involving story that can stand on its own, without it's flaw of closely following Ruby's storyline and scripts.

In mid 08 when I started lurking around here more often, I was astonished at some of the amazing things people could do - it was like I'd been living in a cave all this time and I was finally coming out into the open XD Tools like Advance Map, PKSV, and others that took the place of the old Elite Map tools - or were entirely new things - were everywhere; there were these strange things called "tiles" (for a while after learning about them I had resisted adding tiles to Jersey Quest; considering them mere "window dressing," but I eventually caved in and am much the better for it ^^' ) that could give hacks unique graphical looks; and scripts could do so many more amazing things than just make people say different stuff! I realized how pathetic my hack looked compared to all these amazing people's in Progressing Hacks, and worried that if I made a thread for Jersey Quest, it would be booted into the Scrapbox. ^^' So I took some time before starting a thread for that game by trying to learn these new tools and new skills, but even after making Jersey Quest's thread I realized I still had so much to learn and that my game was still showing its flaws and its age. This is why I decided to start a smaller, less ambitious hack to practice on, Super Rising Thunder. Not only would I be teaching myself skills like making scripts that didn't rely on what was already there, of interesting tile arrangement and block editing; hacking other graphics, and improving spriting ability...it was also a chance for me to come up with a uniquely new story that wasn't just a retread of the original games that I could script all myself and truly make my own. :)

Of course, this is all about how I, personally, changed, rather than how the forum around me changed. Pokecommunity has not differed much from when I first started visiting here as an active member until now - the Scrapbox is still...well...the Scrapbox; new hacks are showing up in the Progressing Hacks forum all the time, and the revolving door of talent is always coming and going. I've tried to make an effort to be more helpful and to post more often - especially in the Scrapbox where it seems it's needed most - and I try to address all constructive criticism in my hack's thread and learn from it (In my earlier days, I might have shrugged it off thinking I was already perfect! XD ). While I might not have been here as an active presence long enough to see the parade of mods and hacking greats come and go, or witness the rise of PKSV or Advance Map...I can see and recognize how much I myself have grown, and for that, I am deeply thankful for all my experiences in the ROM Hacking community, short as that time may be. ^^

 

[Matteron (96)]

probably what changed is there is a heck more people on the rom hacking forum, granted most of them are just looking for shiny gold(that is like the 7th time I say something like that)
P.S. ya I know I was one two years ago ;P

 

[NarutoActor]

Besides deferent moderators, like bazechu. The Progessive hacks was not has crouded, it was like curent day hackshowcase. Now the progessive hacks section is filled with hacks(which is a good thing and a bad). Team Threads were few, and only the good got in. A better Distingwish between good, and bad hackers. Now with so manny tools, and rom bases, and tutorials people can learn rom hacking in a shorter time, and with less efort.

 

[Blaziquaza]

Definately more noobs making uneeded threads,and less good hacks.Very few stand out these days.

 

[.Seth]

Usually for a question such as this, I would post a long wall of text. But, as it's 11:16 PM my time, I'll post a list for now and edit that wall in later. Moving on...

• Tools have changed/upgraded. XSE was released. I still use and love it after over a year.
• More and more hacks have appeared. Some in better quality than others.
• Some D/P/Pt hacking. HG/SS translations.
• More n00bs that don't know what they're doing. The Scrapbox and Progressing Hacks exemplify this very nicely. Though, some hacks in those forums are good.

And that's about it really.

 

[TB Pro]

Moar newbz and crap hacks(like mine :)). Scrapbox. Progressing hacks. Awesome tools. Rom editability. A whole lot.

 

[~Teh Panda~]

Wow!

Well here is basically what I can sum up from what people have said so far

Most references will be referred from TheTheTheThe, DJG, and Pink Parka Girl due to their large messages which have most info.

Hacking started mainly as editing text, some graphics, minor event edits, and fake pokemon to add in a new game sort of feel. Narrowly edited maps would cap off some of the other things. When a hack like Quartz reigned almighty now a days you might be like "Oh no, this hack has badly drawn fakemon, horribly unoriginal plot, and only minor edits >.>". But back then it was a masterpiece because the little edits it did have were some of the biggest 'til that date. Tools of Hackmew had not even been made yet or even AdvanceMap. They had EliteMap which basically was a suite of tools which had little tutorials and were far inferior to those in which we have now days. In 2005-06 when quality began to pick up another pioneer had risen (no not Zel, nor Serg!o). There was the "Irish_Witch", the creator of pokescript which still is used by some of our community's best such as TheTheTheThe. This enabled hacks such as Zel's Shiny Gold and Serg!o's Naranja to gain their much needed edge to what other hackers believed was impossible. After this era came the growth of the hobby which some say still is going on. Many new hackers appeared in late 2006 and mid 2007 (including myself :D). This was definitely the start of a great thing at PC which I would like to call "PROGRESS". What was not seen in quantity for a long time in the field finally began to pick up for the rest of us behind the iron curtain of Zel and Shiny Gold, Serg!o and Naranja, and finally Baro and Quartz. The rest of finally said "Hey, why don't we step it up a notch!". Well we can definitely say we did. It just took a while. About a year passed of mass knowledge growth and then it stopped. Those who learned quickly begin to create their own hacks and the showcases grew. But many of the newer members of late 2008 had not been enlightened by the earlier movement, well there are exceptions they are but a few and you know who are I presume. This era is considerably known as the "Dark Ages". Spam has come to PC like a new form of Internet Swine Flu. The beloved subsection plunged perilously into a stand still until last summer. Hope was restored as those began to learn and the cycle continued. Those with more time on their hands began to research more, they begin to look into things themselves and they even learned some of the most advance things which are touched only by a few of the members here and by hackers nationally.

Now for those specific members who have had great impact on this site. There is the one and only HackMew. The pioneer of the tools showcase with tools like XSE which picked up the slump in mid 2008 and other various tools which would help tedious things within the games engine. Partially helping Mastermind on some of his ASM routines which lead to the almighty Day and Night System which still today is a hackers love in RSE. Then there is Lu-Ho, the creator Advance map which up to date is still probably the most widely used hack tool up there with the likes of A-Text (teh noob tool!). Then there is the hacking bunch. About 16 hackers here really stand out to me. I do not want to go into close detail on every single one of them but there is something I have to say about them. They all are very selfless and do things for the good of other hacking knowledge which put them on top of those who come here for self glory.​

Thanks for reading... Although I doubt you read it all! XD

~Teh Panda~

 

[Tropical Sunlight]

Besides deferent moderators, like bazechu. The Progessive hacks was not has crouded, it was like curent day hackshowcase. Now the progessive hacks section is filled with hacks(which is a good thing and a bad). Team Threads were few, and only the good got in. A better Distingwish between good, and bad hackers. Now with so manny tools, and rom bases, and tutorials people can learn rom hacking in a shorter time, and with less efort.

What?
Please, write in Caps and with commas and dots...

 

[Ninja Caterpie]

Besides deferent moderators, like bazechu. The Progessive hacks was not has crouded, it was like curent day hackshowcase. Now the progessive hacks section is filled with hacks(which is a good thing and a bad). Team Threads were few, and only the good got in. A better Distingwish between good, and bad hackers. Now with so manny tools, and rom bases, and tutorials people can learn rom hacking in a shorter time, and with less efort.

wat.

I have no idea what to say to this.

 

[.Seth]

Fine, I'll fix it for you.

There are different moderators now. The Progressing Hacks Forum wasn't as crowded. It was a bit like the current-day Hacks Showcase. Now the Progressing Hacks forum is filled with hacks, some good, some bad. There were little team threads. There was a better difference between good and n00by ROM Hackers. Now with so many tools, rom bases, and tutorials, people can learn to rom hack in less time and less effort.

It went something like that...I think.