Dying?

[Quilava's Master]

Hi, I'm QM, co-creator of Pokemon Shattered Dreams and the now defunct Eon Legends. Lately it seems to me that rom hacking is dying. Now I use the word dying because it can apply to various aspects. It could mean that its popularity is dying or the creativity is dying or that the originality is dying. You decide which one you think it is.

To me it seems that the creativity and originality of hacks is dying. A lot of hacks are just remakes or rehashses of old hacks. Not that anything is wrong with doing what you like, but seriously? When you bring nothing but the same to the table, what seperate your hacks from the others? I know a few people who have the mentality Why would I wanna play your hack when it's not different from his hack?

Maybe its just me but it seems like the overall quality of hacks has dimished, and i don't see rom hacking living much longer with this many competitors doing the same old thing. Thoughts?

PS: This has nothing to do with me or my personal hacks. I can honestly care less about how strong my own hack is going, its about the other hacks in these forums. Sometimes I want to kick back and play someone elses hack, to see what i can bring to the table, and frankly I've found very little hacks that i can get into and enjoy playing. To be honest we've (Team Vortex) done over 3300 downloads, i would be satisfied with 100; either way it means that what I'm doing appeals to someone else.

 

[Binary]

I would like to think that the popularity of Rom-Hackers is actually increasing. I remember when I joined here 3 years ago. I don't remember as many threads of hacks, sub-sections like progressing hacks and all. It could be that we couldn't fit it all in one sub-forum XD. At the same time, the number of tools are increasing; knowledge is increasing day by day. I doubt it could be easier than this really. It might just be that we're all being a little too lazy, a little too dependent.

The last time I checked, there were quite a lot of new-ish threads in the Progressing Hacks. I don't remember, nor can I compare with the past. But, I don't think rom-hacking popularity is going down; I don't think it ever will.

I do see a couple of threads now and again with boring stories. That might just be a little lack of creativity. But then I see some threads with a really interesting story, features and so on. I think the amount of G/S/C remakes is going down too. XD; I remember a lot of people trying to remake G/S/C a couple of months ago, but there's an improvement in the numbers. XD
Frankly, I don't know how I can make my hack different from others. People are doing new features and an awesomely cool storyline all the time. I don't know whether I can differentiate or not.

There are many competitors, they're doing the same things, that just means that rom hacking is more popular than ever really, even if they are doing the same old things. A few might pop up with something completely different, original and unique, eh?
I'll just stop here. .__.

o/

 

[Alice]

Well, I've always liked to try new ideas in the games I made (in rom hacking and otherwise) so I did just that in my new(first) hack. In fact, there aren't even any battles in it. (I wont go into details so people don't think I'm advertising it,) but if nothing else, I'm trying new ideas.

 

[countryemo]

I would disagree, alough some hacks are getting less updates, which my take is school or busyness with life, as this is happening with some games also. about originality, there is not a whole lot of ideas that work in pokemon that have not been used. i mean beat 8 then e4 right? ofcoarse some are different, or have cool unknown featurs or something, im making no sense here. This is probally gonna end like up the name thread. closed :x not. haha.

 

[Kevin]

Dying? I thought this place was getting more lively. Especially when they made this private, but then they made it public again to get even more attraction xD

 

[Banjora Marxvile]

The quality is seen to be dying, but there is no true original ideas anymore because... Well, most that are possible have been taken. Hacking is getting more popular, but variety is dying more and more (such as what is being hacked. There used to be a fe more DS hacks, but now... Everyone hacks FR or Ruby, everything seemed better when there was more balance with people studying the 4th gen more)

 

[Chad -]

I am not seeing creativity and originality in current hacks, for it's maybe due to the fact that ideas are not available, as in used already by others. However, there is and will always be room for a lot of unique hacking and one should just scratch his head a little more.

Regarding the issue that ROM hacking is "dying", I don't really see it that way. A lot of new users are interested in hacking and it seems to be spreading a lot, through many popular sources. Nevertheless, real hackers are not so common now; you know, the ones that actually developed the tools, made a scripting language from scratch, and so forth. I'm not saying there aren't any good, capable hackers now, because there are.

Let me be honest for a second. Take Pokémon Seinna for example, a hack developed by Manipulation. When I first joined PC, it was because of hacks like it and because it attracted me the most, being a hack of FR. It's indeed a 100% quality hack, one of which I rarely am seeing now.

There are interesting, capable hacks, however, they do not appeal to me as much as Seinna and few other hacks do. Hacking is an art that will not die anytime soon, and will eventually be something common between Pokémon fans. I will stop writing now, seeing as I said what I want and expressed my view on this.

 

[psychicboy]

I'm going to have to disagree with the OP here.

If you think a lot of the newest hacks that are in the progressing hacks section have no creativity, think about who the hacks were made by. I'm pretty sure we have lots of Ten year olds on this forum that decided to give hacking a try right :3?

But thats not the point. I think Rom Hacking is just starting to get fired up.. When was the last time a hack made it to the Showcase? 2 days (That would be my hack) :P

Also all the ideas being taken up is not a very good excuse for lack of creativity. I can think of at least 6 ideas that would make great hacks due to those ideas being diffrent from the others. Creating a hack is the same as telling a story. You've got your plot, your middle, and your ending. Some people may read (play) your story (hack), some may not, but with each new person that plays a new hack, something inside of them may make them want to start hacking on thier own. Rom Hackers create other Rom Hackers right?

 

[Resultz]

I gotta agree with Psychicboy. I am by no means an expert hacker, but when i first started visiting this forum, there was so much creativity. Now it seems to be filled with pretentious little kids who think they will be awesome at hacking... but then dont reaise the commitment it actually requires.

Like i said, i'm being very modest about my talent (if youd call it that), although from an onlooker's point of view, the quality is indeed declining.

 

[Zeffy]

Last year when I first joined, all I see was crapbox scrapbox threads being very active. When they removed scrapbox, activity became slow but hackers got urged to do more in their hacks. Like there was a hack in the scrapbox before that had nothing but an idea and features, and now the hack's creator applied his ideas to the ROM and now...its a good hack! :D

tl;dr: Hacking takes time. Since there is no more scrapbox, activity lessened and hackers got urged to do more in their hacks so their hacks can be accepted. It's not necessarily dying, in-fact its progressing.

Well that's my two cents, don't take it for gold or anything. :P

 

[chrunch]

I hardly see creativity in hacks anymore. Rom Hacking is definitely not dying, but I'm hardly ever seeing a hack that I really want to play anymore. the majority of hacks in the Progressing hack section seems like the same old thing to me. someone makes a storyline, the same thing almost every time, involving a legendary, 8 Gyms, and the evil team. they put a rombase on it to make it look attractive, then post it.

What I'm saying is, most hacks in progressing hacks are just the same thing with edits like the rombase, or the story. nothing really shines in the progressing hacks. nothing that makes me want to play a hack real badly anymore. yet, when I look back at rom hacks in 2008, or 2009, most of them have things that make me want to play them.
I think the quality of Rom Hacking is decreasing.

 

[Mab]

I really agree. I won't name any hacks, but some of them are just plain horrible. I hope quality will increase in the future.

 

[Quilava's Master]

I hardly see creativity in hacks anymore. Rom Hacking is definitely not dying, but I'm hardly ever seeing a hack that I really want to play anymore. the majority of hacks in the Progressing hack section seems like the same old thing to me. someone makes a storyline, the same thing almost every time, involving a legendary, 8 Gyms, and the evil team. they put a rombase on it to make it look attractive, then post it.

What I'm saying is, most hacks in progressing hacks are just the same thing with edits like the rombase, or the story. nothing really shines in the progressing hacks. nothing that makes me want to play a hack real badly anymore. yet, when I look back at rom hacks in 2008, or 2009, most of them have things that make me want to play them.
I think the quality of Rom Hacking is decreasing.

Finally someone else, if you were here from 2008 til now you'll see that the qualities of hacks are nowhere near what they were. We had gems back in 2008, now it seems like it all about a cool looking rom-base and that's it. Weak stories, weakers scripts...What I really mean by "dying" is that the quality of hacks is dying, rapidly at that.

 

[Mab]

We need to change that, I hope.

 

[chrunch]

Finally someone else, if you were here from 2008 til now you'll see that the qualities of hacks are nowhere near what they were. We had gems back in 2008, now it seems like it all about a cool looking rom-base and that's it. Weak stories, weakers scripts...What I really mean by "dying" is that the quality of hacks is dying, rapidly at that.

I wasn't here from 08, but I look back at old hacks from then, and they look much better than most now.

 

[Zeffy]

Finally someone else, if you were here from 2008 til now you'll see that the qualities of hacks are nowhere near what they were. We had gems back in 2008, now it seems like it all about a cool looking rom-base and that's it. Weak stories, weakers scripts...What I really mean by "dying" is that the quality of hacks is dying, rapidly at that.

Quality is dying but at least hackers do their best so their hacks can be quite playable. I admit, the great hacks were the hacks back then but don't judge a book by its cover.

This forum can change. If the people cooperates, that is.

 

[~Teh Panda~]

This seems to be an age old debate. Personally I haven't seen much difference in the flux. Every once in a while a new good hack is out and everyone flocks to it. It seems that its been a while since a new hack with this caliber has caught the attention of anyone. Well certainly if you look deep enough you will find there is that gem somewhere. That in my mind being Sienna currently as the gem of the forum. Also don't just stay here to look for good hacks, look all around the net and you will find some.

 

[psychicboy]

This seems to be an age old debate. Personally I haven't seen much difference in the flux. Every once in a while a new good hack is out and everyone flocks to it. It seems that its been a while since a new hack with this caliber has caught the attention of anyone. Well certainly if you look deep enough you will find there is that gem somewhere. That in my mind being Sienna currently as the gem of the forum. Also don't just stay here to look for good hacks, look all around the net and you will find some.

Must... Drag... Attention.. Away... From... Sienna...

I think my hack can compete with Sienna, I just need a bit more time to make others realise the same thing :3

 

[Hermione Granger]

to me the standout hacks on this site hands down is Sienna & Light Platinum.

Now on subject, I do agree with some of the reasons stated for the time I been here which I think is a little over a year I haven't seen lots of hacks that stood out to me, there is only 2 hacks that really stand out and those are what I stated. Though I found one still in the progressive forum that to me I'm finding some interest in it. Hope to see some more standout hacks in the future.

 

[chrunch]

Honestly, there's only one hack currently, that I really want to play. One hack that I like alot. That's Identity. It doesn't have a rombase to conceal any mapping, it looks amazing without one. as well as a great storyline and good mapping, great scripting.
back in 2008 (yes, I realize I wasn't around back then), and 2009, there were lots of amazing gems. more of them than now. now, all there is is 1 or 2.