Evolution As A Hacker

[Innocence]

Back story: When I was probably around 8 years old, my friend gave me a computer game that he referred to as "The DBoy", which was obviously Pokemon Gold, running on the DBoy emulator. This Pokemon Gold, however, was one of those crappy half-finished translations with strange characters.

Moving on, I was about 9 years old when I remembered this game, and realised how much fun I had playing it, to the point where my mum restricted me to playing it only one day a week. After some quick research on the internet, I found out that I was playing what was called a "ROM". I instantly felt compelled to play these things, so I downloaded Pokemon Gold, as it was the first game I had played.

Not too much later, I came across Zophar.net, and found Pokemon Brown, and played it after some messing around with figuring out IPS. (I thought Brown was awesome at the time, and it was, but I now see how amazingly crappy it was compared to CBM's more recent work.) I was like "Wait, a fan-made Pokemon game?" so I researched it, and discovered the wonderful world of Rom hacking. I downloaded Pokemap and various other editors, soon telling my friend who got me started about this.

Strangely enough, I learned to hex edit in the first week or so, downloading hex editors until I found Transhextion, which was and is still my favourite to this day. Mostly I started with simple text editing, but along with reading various tutorials, it was a necessary skill for most tasks in the GB(C) world.

Please note that the VAST majority of my hacking experience has been with GB(C) hacking, and I've only done a tiny bit of Advance hacking, being interested. I DO know how to script in both G/S/C and R/S/E though. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Most of my hacking experience has been a blur since then, but I can tell you I've been involved in many projects, yet finished none.

I can now do pretty much everything in hacking 2nd and 3rd gen, except for ASM, but I'm trying to change that. It's pretty confusing though.

What an inadequate finish. Oh well, can't be helped. There's an account from a veteran, who goes through phases of hacking and not.

 

[Ooka]

Wow, let's just say quite a bit. But then again, I got started quite a while ago. Actually, I was on a hacking team with thethethethe back in thethethethe day.

https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/102676

And of course there was my first hack, haha:

https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/109941

So yeah, my spriting is much better, I can make better tiles, I can actually script, well, basically I've improved over everything from back then, but again that's where everyone starts, knowing nothing. :P

(Actually, looking at this stuff, wow, nostalgia slap)

 

[Cello]

enCODED. Arguably my turning point in ROM Hacking, because when I was working on it I had met Harry and he helped out a lot (and from Harry I met others, such as Chibi Robo, Ben., Pokepal17, etc.). I then joined Cello's hacking team, bangBANG, which sort of made my mapping better.

Oh bangBANG. Those were fun times, kind of sort of.
When we weren't taking heat for turning down applications anyways. :[


Anyways, to stay on topic.

I started looking into ROM hacking in August, 2009 with my cousin, who gave up instantaneously like he does with most of the things he tries to pick up.

After about a week or two or practice and constant question asking in the "Simple Question Thread", I managed to damn near master Tile Insertion.

Upon learning Tile Insertion, I felt the need to write and publish a full on Tile Insertion guide covering everything the other tile insertion guides lacked. I felt that my creation of this guide made my name more apparent in the ROM hacking community. Afterwards I started receiving a lot of friend requests and friendly comments/messages from users which I was really happy about because I finally felt like I started fitting in around the community.

All the while I was maintaining my hack "Pokemon: Let's Go!", later named "Pokemon Crossroads."
Pokemon Crossroads was my only hack, using the concept of "Pure freedom as a trainer to explore the world as you please."
I had received a lot of good feedback on the tile insertion, sprites, and all around concept.

As time moved along, I felt the need to start somewhat of a "team."
I then started team bangBANG. BangBANG was intended to be more than an average team, rather a group of hackers with outstanding hacks under something of a ROM hacking "label" which displayed each member and their team's hack.
BangBANG consisted of people like Manipulation, Spherical Ice, Abnegation, TB Pro, and ChibiRobo to name a few.

BangBANG was ultimately a success and a failure.
I started receiving loads of applications in my inbox on a daily basis, and I unfortunately could not accept everyone. For the lot I did not accept, I took a lot of heat from.
Between the angry messages from declined applicants, to the people expecting me to work on their hack, I ultimately decided that it would be best to leave PokeCommunity for awhile.

My skill still sticks with me. I will always be a Tile Inserter, Spriter, and Mapper. I look forward to picking up other field in the future.
I really have had no intention of picking up ROM hacking again, until recently.
As for now, I should just say that i'm working. :]

 

[Equin]

Well, it's been 15 days since I started hacking, but I sure consider making progress. In addition, I don't want this thread to go off the shore, so...

I'll try and make it look like a journal. Since it's only about two weeks, it doesn't really matter.

• Day 0 [---]

  I learned what hacking is, and that through this forum (but as a guest). This happened at early Fall, but I can't tell exactly which day.

• Day 1 [November 24th]

  No experience whatsoever. Starting out, I learned-theoretically-every part of hacking: what is mapping, spriting, scripting, inserting, music editing, ASM (I used to think it means 'Advanced Scripting Method'). I downloaded some tools and started messing around, especially A-Map. Which, of course seems the best one so far. I also installed Hex Workshop and found out what '10 = A' means.

• Day 3 [November 26th]

  I made my first map. Twas actually a clone of Slateport City, but I liked it. Continually searching around the forum's archives, I learned what's good and what's bad, and I went to sleep knowing that one day I'll make a hack that will satisfy me enough to move on. If you get what I mean.

• Day 4 [November 27th]

  I started learning sufficient information about what a sprite is and what graphics mean to a hack. I also found out that my Paint is one of those that corrupts certain .bmp files, and therefore NSE is no good for me on that part. What's more, I started hating Win7 Paint, because I just saw how annoying ribbons can get.

• Day 5 [November 28th]

  I made two more maps, this time they were forest routes, but they turned out bad. I started thinking how the hack I'd prefer to work would be like. In the end I decided two things: 1. It's going to be on Fire Red, and 2. It's going to follow a canon gym course, but with specific alterations.

• Day 6 [November 29th]

  Tile inserting's in it for me today. And I also seems to have a problem here. My ROM always ended up a mess, but I think I'll get it correctly eventually. I was mostly trying to do a RSEFRLG tile blend, following Banjora's tutorial. Also started meddling with more Hex numbers, often resulting in a crash. Oh how would my ROM scream if it could talk.

• Day 8 [November 31st]

  I need to set my priorities right. I still haven't even touched XSE. And in the end I did. Simultaneously trying to find any good resource from the forums. Commandslist, raws, specified values, the Miscellaneous Script Thread, and above all, XSE's guide itself. I did make a few successful scripts, which finally led me to the conclusion: Scripting is the most thoughtful part of hacking. It's easy, and hard the same time. And is probably as important to a hack as brains are to an individual.

• Days 9-11 [December 1st-3rd]

  I got addicted to scripting. I have now comprehensive thoughts of level scripts, movecamera scripts, earthquakes, multichoices, special manipulation commands, but I guess there's still a whole lot to know. Besides, know about them and practising doesn't mean they always came out right. In fact, only once they did. ASM is still a 'shoo-no' for me, though.

• Day 12 [December 4th]

  Guess what. I finally decided to start working on my hack. I'm still all sucky to that, so I didn't do much. I organised my files to an extent where I could find what I want with a few clicks, and began sorting out several stuff.

• Present day (16) [December 8th]

  I'm not as active as I was the past days, but I started learning about a few, lesser important stuff, like editing the Introduction, the World Map, the Pokemon stats, etc. This is my World Map of the Nebuil region:
  Spoiler:

  

Overall, I wish to continue at such a pace. Thank you for your time and I hope you fare well at your own hacking part of life, too.

The days that are not mentioned in the 'journal', explain when I was dozing off, or testing out already existing hacks, or being probably off.

 

[miksy91]

• Days 9-11 [December 1st-3rd]

  I got addicted to scripting. I have now comprehensive thoughts of level scripts, movecamera scripts, earthquakes, multichoices, special manipulation commands, but I guess there's still a whole lot to know. Besides, know about them and practising doesn't mean they always came out right. In fact, only once they did. ASM is still a 'shoo-no' for me, though.

Gotta say that you progress way faster than most people ever :D
Here is a suggestion from me; as you happen to learn everything fast and seem like a person who actually wants to learn as well, why not check out what scripts actually look in the ROM and study what different commands do ? As you probably realize, no commands such as "display text" and "walk 1 square upwards" exist. Somewhere in the ROM is just defined that when a script is load, a random byte defines a different thing whileas when a map is load, the same byte could represent for example a roof tile.

There is a tutorial about third gen. scripting somewhere which you could read before starting to mess with scripting tools ;)

 

[Equin]

[/LIST]
Gotta say that you progress way faster than most people ever :D
Here is a suggestion from me; as you happen to learn everything fast and seem like a person who actually wants to learn as well, why not check out what scripts actually look in the ROM and study what different commands do ? As you probably realize, no commands such as "display text" and "walk 1 square upwards" exist. Somewhere in the ROM is just defined that when a script is load, a random byte defines a different thing whileas when a map is load, the same byte could represent for example a roof tile.

There is a tutorial about third gen. scripting somewhere which you could read before starting to mess with scripting tools ;)

Well, actually, I have already done all of what you said, but since you didn't know, thank you, for if I didn't do them, your reply would guide me to that point.

The thing is, I am hesitant right now as I began to realize how 'used' Fire Red is. Don't take me wrong, it's the best option out of those three, but I s'pose that many chocolates in one stomach can cause stomachache. Although, in the end I might solely work on Fire Red, just because it suits me best in hacking. As in, it is a land already explored, so no dangers are lurking around.

Other than that, I don't know if I progress quickly or not, but speedy knowledge is never a good thing, so...

 

[colcolstyles]

Don't take me wrong, it's the best option out of those three

I'd be careful with statements like those. Each ROM has its ups and downs and I would hesitate to single out one as the "best option". I'm not saying that you should switch ROMs (hell, I used Fire Red for an entire year before switching to Emerald), just that you should shop around before settling on one ROM.

 

[Omega Zero]

Lol... where to begin.

I First signed up 2 years ago in a profile called Pokefreak2.
I had good friends i played shinygold and thought i wanted to hack too.
I learnt scripting but really, that was the only thing i could do.
I tried mapping utterly failed i mean probably worst on pc, so bad i quit a-map deleted
it cause i sucked. i didn't try anything else i stayed with scripting... then
i started playing World of warcraft again and basically quit hacking... xD

Few months later i came back to it, I learnt alot more i relearned how to script but was much better then before. I learnt to map, tile insert, Music hack and all sorts of things.
And now i'm trying to learn how to sprite... but... i Utterly fail at it.

 

[FoggyDoggy]

I started ROM hacking when I was 14, and I started with the standard package at the time, kyofu kawa and the Helmeted Rodent's Elite Map Package to be exact.

ScriptEd was out of the question when I started, I had no logical processing in my head, so I fiddled around with the Map Editor.

Then PokeScript Came out, and more tutorials started popping up everywhere, so I decided to take a crack at scripting for once.

thethethethe is the only reason I am what I am today in terms of scripting prowess, and I thank him in my head every time I finish a script.

It's been 4 years since the start, and I can say I've progressed a lot, gained a logical mind, (which is a good thing for ROM hacking, but I completely destroyed my moral fiber and opinions on everything in the process, now I'm full of un-biased opinions... wololo)

I took time to learn some graphics editing, dabbled in ASM, I get the gist of it I suppose.

I still can't music hack, but I have a BEAUTIFUL score for a snowy route, from a song I heard a woman's choir/pianist play earlier today.

Even though I don't really hack mainstream, like, complete hacks, or released hacks, and only do it as a hobby sorta, I keep myself updated and I like to write scripts and not compile them since my PC is too slow to actually ROM hack...

(TRUST ME KIDS, when I get a better computer, I will create something beautiful, I've already got a NOVEL LENGTH MANUSCRIPT for me to follow and hack to, complete with maps, music, ASM, you name it, IT WILL BE EPIC... someday...)
*cries*

 

[Echidna]

hmm, well, at first i was thinkign about advance replay and stuff, and downloaded pokesav for platinum. (at the time i hade no idea that hacking existed, i thought that hacks i downloaded where programmed and needed a super computer genius to do).

anywho, one day, i thought: 'maybe there's a program that could make hacking easier for stupid people like me', and i googled it. i founf some tutorial stating that you only need two programs to hack, advance map and a-starter. i was like: 'cool'.

i downloaded them and read the rest of the tutorial. realizing that all it said i could do was change maps and starters, i was like: 'what the hell ? how do they mak those awesome hacks ?'

i googled again and again, and discovered some more tutorials o other stuff, the stumbled upon 'diegoisawesome's mega huge scripting tutorial'.

it seemed unimaginarely hard, and i though reading wouldn't hurt, so i started. of course i had downloaded the new XSE, and nothing would work, (mostly because of the outdated commands in the tut). So i went on to self education. i read the beginning of the official XSE guide that comes with it, and i understood what an offset is, what pointers are, and the general layout of commands. then i just used the command help feature (which only give five words about the commands unction, and a list of the parameters needed for it. and i understood scripting like how i knew my name. its so easy to me now, the only prob is that i virus attacked my pc, and one of tools is now bugged, i think that's why every script i have written for month have caused a reset bug.

anywho, i started to learn other aspects o hacking, and i also became an expert and pokemon sprite inserting, people sprite inserting, tile inserting, and ow inserting and mapping. lolz.

 

[metapod23]

My inspiration for hacking began in 2009, when I decided I wanted to try to play Pokemon Yellow as close to the anime as possible, with only Ash's team. I made a few videos, but then decided it wasn't close enough to the anime and didn't feature enough of the trainers Ash faced to be accurate.

Afterward, I began learning the basics of hacking, and decided to make a simple hack of Fire Red that would feature all the events from the anime to make the playthrough more accurate:



After making a few episodes, I determined that it simply wasn't good enough. If I truly wanted to make a game that was accurate to the anime, I'd need to learn scripting.

Shortly after that I was able to make fairly elaborate events, that more closely represented the events of the anime:



I'd already come a long way from the very basic hack I had begun only a little more than two weeks earlier. But that wasn't good enough either. With some patience in learning the fine points of scripting, and the help of JPAN's hacked engine, in about a year my events would become more than rudimentary and much more advanced:



The videos show my timeline as a hacker, progressing from a very basic hack with (not very good) superficial sprite changes and trainer battles to uniquely created scripts to more advanced scripts and techniques (many of which wouldn't have been possible without JPAN's hacked engine, I admit).

In two years I've come a long way, but there's still more I need to learn and accomplish if this hack will be as good as I want it to be.

 

[BloodPact]

I think I really havent changed much in the past few months since I've begun hacking. This is mainly because I got stuck awhile back on something and have yet to find anyone to help me. I couldnt seem to figure out how to make a cave entrance work, and I still am unable to now. So, a PM would be apprciated from anyone able to help.

 

[LapeFruitz]

Haha, well, I started about 2 years ago, sucked badly. I started mapping, did it for about a month and wanted to learn to script, I did, now I look at myself as an excellent scripter, and a decent mapper. kthbai

 

[hinkage]

A ton. Like, really.

I started drawing maps before I knew about map editors

For awhile I hacked Super Smash Bros. Brawl with custom music, stages, and textures.

Then I went to G/S to edit maps.

From there, I restarted about a dozen times.

After about 9-10 months later, and after taking an intro to programming class, I was able to complete Pokemon Awesome Version in a month.

 

[Shinypoliwrath]

I like to think I've improved a decent amount.
I started making sprites back in 2004, hoping one day I could put them in-game. But although I had the tools back then, I had no idea how to do it, and my attention span was so short I couldn't sit there and ready a guide. :P

Now I've advanced onto putting new pokémon/trainers in-game, although mapping and scripting are things I still need to work on.

 

[shinyabsol1]

My evolution as a hacker? Well, I started messing around with hack tools a few years before signing up here on the forums. Back then I had no idea what I was doing...my mapping was failure, I couldn't script, and I couldn't insert titlescreens/worldmaps. I also had no clue what indexing an image meant or how to palette edit. The list goes on and on.

Over roughly the past year, I have learned to do all of these things. So I have gone from knowing nothing to knowing quite a lot. Since the beginning, I envisioned myself creating a hack that I could someday post on the forums for people to play...and that day is still to come. Right now I do not even have a thread, but with each passing day I get closer to posting what I have done in the Progressing Hacks section.

There are still many more things I have to/want to learn about rom hacking before I can truly be happy with my skill set, but for now, I suffice in knowing that I have come a long way. :)