Would it be feasible (not possible, because obviously it is possible) to hack a pokemon game and change enough coding, if i knew the game's addresses and values well enough, in order to change it into an entirely different kind of RPG?
For example, i was thinking about hacking pokemon platinum into a unique turn-based, final fantasy-style role-playing game. Although by final fantasy style i only mean that i will recreate the gaming mechanics, likely based on ff8, because they had my favorite gameplay mechanics to experiment with. Still, I would do this mainly and probably only because i would be able to play said hacked rom on my hacked PSP 3000 (which, as a man who also has both a part-time job and studies full-time [14 credits on average] at a community college, i need the games to run on my PSP so that I can efficiently satisfy my daily gaming desires, which is between an hour and an hour and a half, depending on how stressed i am about presentations, exams, and my homework needing immediate attention)
Or, would it be more feasible to simply create a brand-new video game on its own unique engine with the following knowledge i gained up to this point? After all, I have only used these talents for small-scale web projects and a few large-scale so far, so i don't know if it would be any use in creating a worthwhile video game. key note - worthwhile. I am the kind of person who doesn't mind graphics being crummy (after all, i probably will use a freeware 3D modeling program and paint if i desire even slightly complex graphics), and thus i find that a game that i will play every day, that i myself created, should be free of glitches (fixed by troubleshooting), but also run well enough so that the gameplay is enjoyable and slightly unpredictable (which i could do), even to me, the creator.
The main point is: I am trying to make a game for personal use, planning an adventure RPG with a very story-intensive gameplay, but with turn-based battle mechanics, and gameplay mechanics slightly similar to that of final fantasy games (such as the random encounters on world maps, for example, where walking in one area of the map you find a certain enemy, but to enter a nearby forest or walk a bit southeast, the enemies are completely different, even though you did not change maps. so in other words, intuitive mapwork).
My main question is - by hacking any (not necessarily platinum, could be HG/SS, B/W or even the GBA generation if it works) of the pokemon roms would it be remotely possible or slightly feasible to create Final Fantasy-style overworld battles (such as the encounters a single map being varied based on the terrain, and by map i do not mean areas like a city or cave, which are actually multiple sets of maps, but for a route, which is normally only one map), which creates a realistic sense of unpredictability and diversity?
Well, that being asked of anyone, in order to properly evaluate the possibility, i must also give information about any of my experience using programming languages, my estimated knowledge levels and also details on any specific projects which i think may be related, even slightly, to the one i plan to undertake:
Knowledge and estimated skill rank on a 1-10 scale (10 being a master of the language, 1 being a complete rookie who's still learning how to use the code tree):
Web-based:
HTML: 9
Javascript: 8
Java: 4 (I love to hate Java[updates], and even though it was easy to learn i put little effort into learning it)
Flash: 6
Console(platform)based:
Basic: 5 (It was my first programming language, but I stopped using the programs once I took a fancy to Visual Basic)
Visual Basic: 7 (i find the engine and the metaphorical 'greenhouse' that i plant my code trees in easier to use than with the old basic. [note: greenhouse means window = window where i make the code tree]...)
C: 1 (i never used C, i started with C++, and i don't really plan to revert to it even unless i need to learn something specific)
C++: 7
Visual C++: 1 (I have not begun to learn using any visual-based C++ software yet, however I do plan to in the future. That is, if it suits my style better than normal C++ which i already have a lot more experience in, i use microsoft's non-visual [second generation] C++ software in case anyone wondered, released around the time of windows 2000)
Hybrid(platform and/or web)based:
Python: 7 (I learned the language initially because college classes required it, but then i enjoyed working with it and i got hooked trying to figure out every single one of the features i could create using the software)
Unique Projects that may bear influence:
Aksurtep Antivirus:
This was an antivirus I created for the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search, while still in high school, which of course, I created in hopes of a 500,000 dollar scholarship. I received neither 1st place nor 500,000 dollars, however by landing in 13th place, I was made to clearly realize my programming flaws, and also the holes in my virus definitions. Still, it netted me a comparison to the other brilliant applications who had placed from 6th-12th and from 14th-16th, or in other words, the top 16 (excluding the top 5, whose applications were not made available to the public, for reason of copyright and scholarship condition). Also, those who placed in the lower half of the top 16 were each awarded 5,000 dollar scholarships to cover costs toward a computer science-based degree in college.
History aside, the antivirus was built with an intuitive and user-friendly engine on the surface, while a background directly linked to it scanned source code data from any specified files of said user, and any procedures that would execute external procedures are ran under monitor, and immediately said processes are killed if they are determined to be malicious. under a monitored test run, these procedures have access to 0.1% of system files on average (your mileage may vary based on how many system files you have and also your free hard disk space) - (also, the test run only uses a small sector of a single file, which is installed during the initial installation of the antivirus).
In simple terms, it would first run a thorough file scan on a user's entire computer after setup, if said user allows, and then any files that contain any directory links or links to external files on the computer's hard disk will immediately be archived and quarantined, and, under monitored quarantine, the source codes of the files are then scanned line-by-line. Files with dead links (or in other words, programs that cannot run) are ignored because what cannot run cannot recreate, however any links to the web or system files which are not standard to the operating system (Windows XP, Vista, 7 are the chosen platforms, however, the initial Version only included XP and Vista, as Windows 7 was not officially available at that time) are immediately checked for any malicious procedures (procedures that i deemed cause an undesired effect on a user's computing experience, such as execution of suspicious files, or multiplication of files to waste space, or parasitic files that send information to any third-party sources.) and if any malicious procedures are found, the procedure is run and redirected on the segment of the test file that came with the antivirus, and if more than 1024 KB of data is written to the file (1024 KB = exactly 1 MB) the antivirus program immediate kills the procedure, while running on a priority level above all other programs except windows task manager.
In terms that are so easy a caveman can learn it: It scans your PC, it kills bad files, it saves your life.
...
<>End of Unique Projects that may bear influence<>
With this information, my original question stands, since I have never hacked a pokemon rom before: Would it be more feasible, to obtain my desired result, to hack a well-made but flexible pokemon engine as a base, or to create my own engine from scratch and accept that the start of the project will be more painful but finishing it will be an accomplishment?
Mind all of you, I only ask this because above being a programmer for this particular case, I am an average (not casual, but not hardcore) gamer.
Sincerely,
Zerotones (my new alias)
For example, i was thinking about hacking pokemon platinum into a unique turn-based, final fantasy-style role-playing game. Although by final fantasy style i only mean that i will recreate the gaming mechanics, likely based on ff8, because they had my favorite gameplay mechanics to experiment with. Still, I would do this mainly and probably only because i would be able to play said hacked rom on my hacked PSP 3000 (which, as a man who also has both a part-time job and studies full-time [14 credits on average] at a community college, i need the games to run on my PSP so that I can efficiently satisfy my daily gaming desires, which is between an hour and an hour and a half, depending on how stressed i am about presentations, exams, and my homework needing immediate attention)
Or, would it be more feasible to simply create a brand-new video game on its own unique engine with the following knowledge i gained up to this point? After all, I have only used these talents for small-scale web projects and a few large-scale so far, so i don't know if it would be any use in creating a worthwhile video game. key note - worthwhile. I am the kind of person who doesn't mind graphics being crummy (after all, i probably will use a freeware 3D modeling program and paint if i desire even slightly complex graphics), and thus i find that a game that i will play every day, that i myself created, should be free of glitches (fixed by troubleshooting), but also run well enough so that the gameplay is enjoyable and slightly unpredictable (which i could do), even to me, the creator.
The main point is: I am trying to make a game for personal use, planning an adventure RPG with a very story-intensive gameplay, but with turn-based battle mechanics, and gameplay mechanics slightly similar to that of final fantasy games (such as the random encounters on world maps, for example, where walking in one area of the map you find a certain enemy, but to enter a nearby forest or walk a bit southeast, the enemies are completely different, even though you did not change maps. so in other words, intuitive mapwork).
My main question is - by hacking any (not necessarily platinum, could be HG/SS, B/W or even the GBA generation if it works) of the pokemon roms would it be remotely possible or slightly feasible to create Final Fantasy-style overworld battles (such as the encounters a single map being varied based on the terrain, and by map i do not mean areas like a city or cave, which are actually multiple sets of maps, but for a route, which is normally only one map), which creates a realistic sense of unpredictability and diversity?
Well, that being asked of anyone, in order to properly evaluate the possibility, i must also give information about any of my experience using programming languages, my estimated knowledge levels and also details on any specific projects which i think may be related, even slightly, to the one i plan to undertake:
Knowledge and estimated skill rank on a 1-10 scale (10 being a master of the language, 1 being a complete rookie who's still learning how to use the code tree):
Web-based:
HTML: 9
Javascript: 8
Java: 4 (I love to hate Java[updates], and even though it was easy to learn i put little effort into learning it)
Flash: 6
Console(platform)based:
Basic: 5 (It was my first programming language, but I stopped using the programs once I took a fancy to Visual Basic)
Visual Basic: 7 (i find the engine and the metaphorical 'greenhouse' that i plant my code trees in easier to use than with the old basic. [note: greenhouse means window = window where i make the code tree]...)
C: 1 (i never used C, i started with C++, and i don't really plan to revert to it even unless i need to learn something specific)
C++: 7
Visual C++: 1 (I have not begun to learn using any visual-based C++ software yet, however I do plan to in the future. That is, if it suits my style better than normal C++ which i already have a lot more experience in, i use microsoft's non-visual [second generation] C++ software in case anyone wondered, released around the time of windows 2000)
Hybrid(platform and/or web)based:
Python: 7 (I learned the language initially because college classes required it, but then i enjoyed working with it and i got hooked trying to figure out every single one of the features i could create using the software)
Unique Projects that may bear influence:
Aksurtep Antivirus:
This was an antivirus I created for the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search, while still in high school, which of course, I created in hopes of a 500,000 dollar scholarship. I received neither 1st place nor 500,000 dollars, however by landing in 13th place, I was made to clearly realize my programming flaws, and also the holes in my virus definitions. Still, it netted me a comparison to the other brilliant applications who had placed from 6th-12th and from 14th-16th, or in other words, the top 16 (excluding the top 5, whose applications were not made available to the public, for reason of copyright and scholarship condition). Also, those who placed in the lower half of the top 16 were each awarded 5,000 dollar scholarships to cover costs toward a computer science-based degree in college.
History aside, the antivirus was built with an intuitive and user-friendly engine on the surface, while a background directly linked to it scanned source code data from any specified files of said user, and any procedures that would execute external procedures are ran under monitor, and immediately said processes are killed if they are determined to be malicious. under a monitored test run, these procedures have access to 0.1% of system files on average (your mileage may vary based on how many system files you have and also your free hard disk space) - (also, the test run only uses a small sector of a single file, which is installed during the initial installation of the antivirus).
In simple terms, it would first run a thorough file scan on a user's entire computer after setup, if said user allows, and then any files that contain any directory links or links to external files on the computer's hard disk will immediately be archived and quarantined, and, under monitored quarantine, the source codes of the files are then scanned line-by-line. Files with dead links (or in other words, programs that cannot run) are ignored because what cannot run cannot recreate, however any links to the web or system files which are not standard to the operating system (Windows XP, Vista, 7 are the chosen platforms, however, the initial Version only included XP and Vista, as Windows 7 was not officially available at that time) are immediately checked for any malicious procedures (procedures that i deemed cause an undesired effect on a user's computing experience, such as execution of suspicious files, or multiplication of files to waste space, or parasitic files that send information to any third-party sources.) and if any malicious procedures are found, the procedure is run and redirected on the segment of the test file that came with the antivirus, and if more than 1024 KB of data is written to the file (1024 KB = exactly 1 MB) the antivirus program immediate kills the procedure, while running on a priority level above all other programs except windows task manager.
In terms that are so easy a caveman can learn it: It scans your PC, it kills bad files, it saves your life.
...
<>End of Unique Projects that may bear influence<>
With this information, my original question stands, since I have never hacked a pokemon rom before: Would it be more feasible, to obtain my desired result, to hack a well-made but flexible pokemon engine as a base, or to create my own engine from scratch and accept that the start of the project will be more painful but finishing it will be an accomplishment?
Mind all of you, I only ask this because above being a programmer for this particular case, I am an average (not casual, but not hardcore) gamer.
Sincerely,
Zerotones (my new alias)
