FireRed hack: Hidden Ties

[trebornosliw]

What is Team Legend?
Why are they racing against the infamous Team Rocket, racing to what, where?
Who is this strange child of the forest, and why are both factions so interested in that child?

Ancient forces are stirring. The Yaesu region rushes unknowing towards a terrible clash between two titanic forces...

All of this will hinge upon one young child, with a very special gift...

Hack base: Firered

Hidden Ties is my first shot at a publicized hack. Feedback would be much appreciated.

Here's the basic storyline:

Spoiler:

The Hallowed Grove has been your home for as long as you can remember. Why leave? The food is plentiful, you can explore, and talk to the Pokemon that inhabit the little wood.
But now Gardevoir says it's time for you to go meet others like you, to help them, learn from them... and protect them.
Because something is coming. It can be felt as a writhing tension in the air, an unnatural stillness, the calm before the storm.
Gardevoir send you on your way equipped with enigmatic gifts, a collection of curious artifacts that she claims were once in the ownership of a great Pokemon trainer. Trainer? What is this? Train Pokemon?
You are told to choose a partner from volunteers among the Pokemon in the Grove, a partner who will assist and protect you, and teach you what it means to be a trainer in the human's world.
Choices will be made, and you will find enemies and allies both awaiting at every turn. Choose your path wisely, and be careful. You are the only thing standing between the Yaesu region and utter obliteration.
As you make your way towards civilization, a young boy from Frontier Town ventures into the wilderness, dreaming of new discoveries and adventure.
A girl trains her Pokemon tirelessly, vowing never to lose again.
A shadowed man commands a legion of minions to move ever closer to their ultimate goal, dispersing them throughout the region to watch and wait for the one with the Gift of prophecy, the one who will be the key to their final goal.
A younger man strokes the neck of his Pokemon as he contemplates how best to hinder this shadowed man, and to reach the prize first.
And deep in the blackest pits of the earth, something else stirs, waiting, always waiting for the right moment to enact its own plans.
Soon, very soon, it will have the final piece.
And the world will fall.

In-Depth Storyline/Fanfic
For a far more in-depth storyline, check out the fanfic thingy here: https://www.pokecommunity.com/posts/5525153/
...I didn't mean for that to become a fanfic, but there's really no other way to describe it now.

Well, I'll be trying out a few unorthodox techniques in this game, and one of them will be using the setvar command to create variable decisions throughout the game that will cause your choices to affect how other events play out. For instance, you might decide to kick a baby Larvitar very early in the game, and are then stalked and eventually eaten by its mother. Don't expect too many of these, they'll be a pain to script, but I can promise that there will be at least one climactic decision that could well decide the fate of the region.
I'm also planning to throw in a few optional side areas and stuff, bonus missions, that sort of thing, so we'll see how that goes. I already know at least two, though one of them isn't really optional... If you have a really good idea for a side mission, feel free to post it, but put it in spoilers please.

Screenshots: (NOTE: newly updated!)

Spoiler:

Feast your eyes in NiKaNoRoU's massive improvements on my Gardevoir/Ralts sprites!

I'm using the following programs:

Spoiler:

-Advance Map by Lu-Ho (the ultimate mapping program, just too cool for words)
-XSE by HackMew (incredible program, infinitely better than its competitors)
-Advanced Series tools by Wichu (Finally, finally I can insert sprites. This is an amazing and relatively new tool series, check it out.) NOTE: Well, my newly inserted Pokemon blew up the first attempt, so I may not be using this after all, but my sprite inserter did :\
-Advance Text by Scizz (very, very handy for those unscriptable dialogues)
-Overworld Editor Rebirth Edition (Haven't put this to use yet, but I will, and besides, it's awesome.) by HackMew.
-YAPE 0.9 by Silver314 (Darthatron's Pokemon editor is great, don't get me wrong, but this is so much more user-friendly.)
-Advance Trainer by HackMew (User friendly, useful, and impossibly awesome. Need I say more?)
-Attack Editor Pro by Darthatron (I might use this, better post it to be safe.)
-Item Editor Pro by Darthatron (Again, I think he made this. Haven't used it yet, but I probably will. I have some ideas for items and such.)

Features:
Okay, and maybe I'll post a list of features, so you can see what I'm up to... I'm not going to make a ton of these; I don't want to turn into one of those hacks with a million bonus features that never leaves the creator's computer.

Spoiler:

-Variable decision making
-New region (hopefully with a real World Map...)
-Gym leaders have been renamed the Yaesu Elite, and are basically a side quest, though you can get some good items by beating them. They are also massively strong for their areas, with Pokemon about 10 levels above what you'll have, so watch out! Oh, and there's no Elite Four, but the Champion has incredibly powerful Pokemon.
-Two rivals whose roles will change with the story. I have permission to name one of them after Cooley, so there's your first name, if anyone cares.
-Team Legend, but what's that supposed to mean? I'm not going to tell you :P.
-A new HM move system for Rock Smash, possibly others.
-DP Pokemon and one two Fakemon
-Special appearances by popular canon characters, in new and unexpected roles.
-Evolution edits on some of the more annoying Pokemon (sorry, Friendship is still there :P)
-A complex, multilayered plot that will hold your attention (hopefully)
-Some other stuff that I don't want to mention yet, in case it blows up in my face.

For those among you who wish to help.
Let me first say that if you offer to be a beta tester I will ignore you, shun you, and generally pretend you don't exist. I will select my own Beta testers when I get to that stage. As for the other positions...

Spoiler:

Spriting, music insertion, and cry insertion are the only things I could use help with right now (Giradialkia would probably volunteer to sprite, but really, I think I've given him enough trouble already :s). I can probably handle any of these, given the time to work at learning each skill (the spriting would be a custom trainer battle sprite). If you want to help, great, if not, it's not the end of the hack.
Applications: If you can help with any of these jobs, post or PM your name, what you want to do, and an example of your work.

As I finish more of this I will steadily post screenshots, maps and such.
Completion:
Maps-35%
Scripts-30%
New Pokemon-?%
Storyline-90%

Time I started a credits list, I suppose:
Cooley-Scripting help and obnoxious rival.
Mervyn 797-Creator of a totally awesome support bar
Destindjagold-Helped me out with a scripting issue and really taught me a lot.
Giradialkia-Beta tester, support bar creator, cry editor, and sprite/icon inserter. Too awesome for words. I also owe him credit for some great mapping advice. Really, this project would have died without his help.
Dark vs. Light-Creator of a second, similarly awesome support bar :)
NiKaNoRoU-Freakishly talented spriter.
Chrunch-Illustrious mapper :D
Metapod23-Scripting help
Pokeyomom-Fakemon concept
n0rul3s-Spriter
r0bert-mapper

I'm hopeless at support bars, but some of the supporters of this hack have made some fantastic ones, check 'em out!

Spoiler:

Here's a great one by mervyn797:

And the IMG tags (remove the asterisks, duh:
[*URL=https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=198057][IMG*]https://i33.tinypic.com/2nhjbz6.png[/IMG*][/URL*]

Another by Dark vs. Light:

You know what, don't remove the asterisks, if you need me to tell you. Just keep 'em and see what happens :P
[*URL=https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=198057][IMG*]https://i12.servimg.com/u/f12/14/62/07/92/banner10.png[/IMG*][/URL*]
And one by Giradialkia:

Same drill:
[*URL=https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=198057][IMG*]https://i48.tinypic.com/2db5nxu.png[/IMG*][/URL*]

And finally, if you have any ideas, post them. I promise not to bite your head off, and if it's a really good idea then I will use it (with your permission) and give you credit. I might even make you some sort of NPC, and I mean a cool one, not some nerd with glasses in a house somewhere who says "I contributed!" (Of course, if this hack goes really, really badly, you'll wish I hadn't mentioned you :). Too late for you Mervyn, I have plans for you.)
...wonders how the heck he will get an NPC name out of "Giradialkia..."

Release!
Known Bugs:

Spoiler:

-There's a notebook at one point in the game that needs some sort of closeonkeypress-very minor
-The borders of the player's house are glitched:
EDIT: This glitch has been fixed in the next version, but it's still an issue for Beta 1, so I'll leave it posted until the next release.

Spoiler:

-There is a sprite floating in the trees near the entrance to Prospera City. I'm not sure how to get rid of him :\
-Certain item/egg scripts have no fanfare. I could fix this, but I'm too lazy right now.
Please report any additional bugs you find during play.

NOTES:
1. Battle Wild Pokemon to level up early in the game, as they're all you'll have to face.
2. This is a difficult game. Don't play it if you're looking for a cakewalk.
3. The Yaesu Elite are a side-quest, you don't have to battle them, but you'll get stuff if you do. They're also ridiculously strong, so be careful!
4. Explore each area thoroughly. There's at least one instance where you'll learn a lot by looking around.

Alpha 1 Download link: Alpha 1.ips

Beta 1 Download link: Beta1-tested.ips

Beta 1 Megaupload Mirror: Beta1-tested.ips

Tell me what you think!

 

[Hedgehogger]

I like the storyline a lot, and I'm pretty sure anyone can appreciate a game with positive/negative outcomes. (Will the Tyranitar spit you back out? ;p)

As far as the Rom base goes, the trees and all look decent, but the tall grass...It's just so contrasty. It looks kind of funny being lighter at the bottom where a shadow or something would be. And on your Gardevoir OW: Is that one of the in-game palettes? If it is, I think it has a lighter shade of green in its palette; Maybe you could use that instead of the brownish color in the hair?

But yeah, this hack definitely looks promising. The sad part is, I would help with sprites, if I weren't so busy lazy.

 

[mervyn797]

the first map is kinda blank x_x
but hold on, the other ones are awesome! the tree placement is also good!

 

[Sarcastic Prince]

Well, the Hack itself is awesome, but I don't like the Gardevoir
OW. It's not outlined.
If it is outlined, then it would be better.

 

[trebornosliw]

Alright, thanks for all the comments.
mervyn, you're right about the Hallowed Grove Map, I'll be changing that up soon.
Sorry, but I probably won't be changing the DP tileset after all, hedgehogger, because I'd have to reinstall all the information for the Pokemon I added, which would be a major pain. I'll look at it in block editor though, and see if I can darken it or something.
Ruka_Prince, thanks for the complement, and even more for the criticism. Okay, here's my problem in that area. I'm color-blind, so I can't tell if her hair is green or red... If someone would do a new Gardevoir for me IN A PALLETE THAT IS ALREADY IN THE GAME, I'll insert that instead. for now, I guess I could outline the Gardevoir. Sorry about that, it was only my second shot at an OW.
...My Ralts is probably pretty bad too. Although there's an interesting glitch I've found now where if you exit the start menu while you can see Ralts, you become Ralts and the hero OW just sits there.
I'm not sure just how much I want in the Alpha, but for now I'm planning on putting a good amount in, so you're not bored to death.
I'm afraid Gardevoir might have to wait a bit; scripting and mapping are higher priority right now.
By the way, whoever voted that the plotline was an embarassment to hackers... I'm coming for you. :P

By the way, Hedgehogger, no, the Tyranitar chews and swallows :)

Hmm, a lot of people have been voting in the poll, but not posting. If you vote, please write a quick post saying why you voted whatever you did, so I can focus on that and make the hack better.

 

[mervyn797]

okay, i made a banner :)
its the first time ive put a pokemon in it. x_x
lol

 

[trebornosliw]

Mervyn, that's awesome, I love it! I'll post it right now, thanks!
By the way everyone, I've run into a scripting issue, but I'm working around it while it sits hopefully in the script help thread and finishing up some other stuff while I wait. If you want to help with my script though, I'd really appreciate it. Check Script Help thread.
Oh, and Mervyn, I updated the Hallowed Grove map, so let me know what you think. I'll be updating Tangled way soon too, and Pike Peaks (both maps have some gaping empty spots.

 

[Abnegation]

Okay I'll just make a quick post here with my opinions on what I've seen. I skimmed through the storyline (forgive me XD) but i feel, from what I've seen, it's rather odd. Not saying it's bad, it's just rather different and very unorthodox. Now, you said the hero will be able to talk to pokemon, something evil is coming, so you are needed to meet others like you to save the region from destruction. You shuould expand. What is coming? Give a slight more insight on this. Also show WHY you are needed, not just saying your power can save the world. I know what you're trying to say, but expand on your point as it's some what vague as to why you are needed so badly, especially when there are others like the protaginist.
Now, moving on. The ROM base you are using; I'm not a big fan of it. There is some clash of style, some may disagree but I think using DP style trees & grass tend to clash with the mountains you're using within the game. That's just aa personal prefferance but it turns me off wnating to play it. Another issue is your mapping. It's so so open and repetitve. You seem to struggle to fill up the space. Also, I notice in this map:

Spoiler:

There happens to be very little playablity. Notably, to the right hand side of the map where the green terrain, if I may call it that, hits the mountainous terrain. The trees litrally block the way to the mountains so your playability amounts to zero. There are a few other errors in your maps I could pick out but I'd rather you find out for yourself, it's better for you to develop your style.
My next protocall is your spites, which look rather un professional and not very well done.
This

Being my main concern. The colours are very dark and the entire sprite is unclear. Try think about what an actual pokemon would look like.
Your Gardevior sprite needs some touching up also, I would recommend checking to see if Kyledove has released some OW's for that pokemon in thier public resources as he happens to sprite very well.

If I were to point out some positives in this hack, it would be the fact that you've implemented some original ideas and it does look different to most others.
Best of luck on this. I hope I didn't seem too harsh but try to take it in a light where it will improve your hack!

 

[mervyn797]

hey!!!!!!!!!!!
what did u do to my beautiful transperancy effect? those black lines in the bottom? :S XD
that new map looks a lot better now. :D
what's that thing on some of those trees?

no worries. i fixed the size, this one should work without a hitch

 

[NiKaNoRoU]

OW/trainer/Fakemon spriter here. I can help you with them. I'm already the current spriter for Pokemon Eruption, so I'm not joining a team or something. If you want to, I'll just make your requests come to life.

As for my proof of work, um, I'm busy to search myself right now, but you can search my posts to find out what I've done.
I think you already know my fakemon work from my hack (Pokemon BCL)...dunno if you like it.

As for the maps, they're fine, you seem like you're an average at about everything, so that's good.
That's one nifty storyline you got there, though. It spliced me for a minute, that idea of natural order.

Good luck job.

 

[Chimchar 9]

This hack sounds good, but doesn't really look it.
The maps are *YUCK.*
You really need to improve your mapping, or get a mapper that's good.
So in the mean time you can improve on clean roms.
I think you may need to change the tiles, because the ones you're using are not very pretty.
Well, I hope you do good to improve this hack.
Gooood Luck!! :)

 

[trebornosliw]

Okay I'll just make a quick post here with my opinions on what I've seen. I skimmed through the storyline (forgive me XD) but i feel, from what I've seen, it's rather odd. Not saying it's bad, it's just rather different and very unorthodox. Now, you said the hero will be able to talk to pokemon, something evil is coming, so you are needed to meet others like you to save the region from destruction. You shuould expand. What is coming? Give a slight more insight on this. Also show WHY you are needed, not just saying your power can save the world. I know what you're trying to say, but expand on your point as it's some what vague as to why you are needed so badly, especially when there are others like the protaginist.
Now, moving on. The ROM base you are using; I'm not a big fan of it. There is some clash of style, some may disagree but I think using DP style trees & grass tend to clash with the mountains you're using within the game. That's just aa personal prefferance but it turns me off wnating to play it. Another issue is your mapping. It's so so open and repetitve. You seem to struggle to fill up the space. Also, I notice in this map:

Spoiler:

There happens to be very little playablity. Notably, to the right hand side of the map where the green terrain, if I may call it that, hits the mountainous terrain. The trees litrally block the way to the mountains so your playability amounts to zero. There are a few other errors in your maps I could pick out but I'd rather you find out for yourself, it's better for you to develop your style.
My next protocall is your spites, which look rather un professional and not very well done.
This

Being my main concern. The colours are very dark and the entire sprite is unclear. Try think about what an actual pokemon would look like.
Your Gardevior sprite needs some touching up also, I would recommend checking to see if Kyledove has released some OW's for that pokemon in thier public resources as he happens to sprite very well.

If I were to point out some positives in this hack, it would be the fact that you've implemented some original ideas and it does look different to most others.
Best of luck on this. I hope I didn't seem too harsh but try to take it in a light where it will improve your hack!

Thanks for your criticism, I really appreciate it. I'll try to address all teh points you raised:
-The fakemon sprite: Yeah, this is my brother's work, and our first time ever spriting, so cut some slack for now. I haven't installed it because I know it needs work.
-Gardevoir's sprite: I'll look up Kyledove, thanks for the suggestion!
-The map: You're a little confuse on this one. The trees do not completely block off the mountain because you can walk behind the two top tiles of the trees. I'm more concerned with the emptiness of the left hand side... but I'll have that fixed soon enough.
-The plotline: Okay, thanks for the input, I'll work on getting some more on that ready, I was just being paranoid about revealing my storyline before the beta, but what the heck.
-The ROM base: I'll try another one. I'd rather not start completely fresh because I've gone through all the work of installing thirty or so Pokemon (not the fakemon, you'll be happy to hear), but I've got some other rom bases I want to try.
-Hmm, not sure why you don't like my mapping, but I'll work harder anyway, might as well :)
Seriously, thanks for your comments, I appreciate them. Keep talking, I could use your experienced criticism. Actually, I'd appreciate it if you'd beta test later. I prefer to have mildly hostile testers. PM your answer please.

hey!!!!!!!!!!!
what did u do to my beautiful transperancy effect? those black lines in the bottom? :S XD
that new map looks a lot better now. :D
what's that thing on some of those trees?

no worries. i fixed the size, this one should work without a hitch

Lol, sorry! I'll post the new banner.
Glad you like the new maps. If you mean the rope hanging from the tree, I put it there because I needed some sort of house mechanism away from civilization.

OW/trainer/Fakemon spriter here. I can help you with them. I'm already the current spriter for Pokemon Eruption, so I'm not joining a team or something. If you want to, I'll just make your requests come to life.

As for my proof of work, um, I'm busy to search myself right now, but you can search my posts to find out what I've done.
I think you already know my fakemon work from my hack (Pokemon BCL)...dunno if you like it.

As for the maps, they're fine, you seem like you're an average at about everything, so that's good.
That's one nifty storyline you got there, though. It spliced me for a minute, that idea of natural order.

Good luck job.

I've already seen your proof from your Cyndaquil sprites for eruption and your (fantastic) spriting work for your Bug Catcher game. I'd love for you to do a few sprites when you have time. If you could do new hero/heroine OWs, that'd be great (erm, I know this sounds noobish, but if possible please use palletes that are in the game already. I had a very traumatizing experience with pallete editing recently...).

This hack sounds good, but doesn't really look it.
The maps are *YUCK.*
You really need to improve your mapping, or get a mapper that's good.
So in the mean time you can improve on clean roms.
I think you may need to change the tiles, because the ones you're using are not very pretty.
Well, I hope you do good to improve this hack.
Gooood Luck!! :)

Okay, got it. The DP tiles die. Sorry mew_ryn.
Actually, if anyone has a rombase that they really like, feel free to recommend it.
Hmm, I hope you all don't mind if progress is slow for a time, it's going to take me awhile to implement this; I already had a lot of mapping done.
I find it interesting that so far everyone either loves my maps or absolutely hates them. Either way, I'll aim to improve!

Thanks everyone for your comments/criticisms, keep them coming!

UPDATE: I've chosen my rom base, the firered base by Synyster Zeikku, Alistair, Peyi, Kyledove, TB Pro, on this page: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=193327
I rather like it. You can check it out and tell me what you think. I'll be posting maps showing what I've done with it... eventually.

 

[trebornosliw]

Alright, here's the latest update:
I think I'm going to have to start over, and this time I probably won't be able to insert any new Pokemon. A major glitch has popped up that has about 3 different parts to it: 1. When I run into a Pokemon that I inserted, the whole game freezes for about 10 seconds before the battle starts. 2: When I use a Pokemon that I inserted, the moves are all different from what it was supposed to know. 3: When I try to use an attack in battle with an inserted Pokemon, the game crashes.
If anyone can help me fix this, great. If not, I'm afraid Gallade is no longer an issue.
Darn it all, I'm getting discouraged.

 

[mervyn797]

omg! that's quite a problem.
the gardevoir OW isnt good.

 

[trebornosliw]

Okay, getting back on track now.
Thanks a lot mervyn...
Lol, anyway, I've decided not to use a rom base, so you'll be seeing mostly tiles from the original FireRed game, with a few tweaks. I'll be posting maps eventually, until then you can gaze at the outdated ones and wonder with captivated rapture what the new ones will be like.
From now on, nobody's allowed to complain about the Gardevoir OW unless they can give me a source for a better one (and not the one from HGSS, already tried it and it didn't really work out).
Don't worry, I will be working on fixing Gardevoir. I admit that it's a bad OW. But I GET THE IDEA ALREADY!!!
Anyway, I'm in a much better mood now, and feeling motivated to get this do-... no... restarted...
...
and depression sets in once again...
Ah, whatever. Anyway, as always if you have ideas for the plots, the maps, anything at all, let me know.
And I need a world mapper. Badly. Preferably someone who can walk me through the steps of installing the map, because for some reason the tutorials haven't worked for me.

 

[trebornosliw]

Whoa, Mervyn changed his avatar. That completely threw me off for a second there.
Anyway, back to relevant things. I have finished re-scripting the opening events, and I am absolutely hyped now, because they're all actually working better than they were in the original version! I've finished remapping all but one of the maps I had done, and one of these days I promise to actually post them (uploading pics is just so boring...). Anyway, look for some serious progress soon, because I'll be getting a lot done in the next few days, with any luck.
Speaking of luck, your prayers are welcome right now, my ACT is on Saturday :\.
By the way, I really need an intro screen editor, or else a link to a good tutorial (I was searching earlier, but couldn't find one...). I need to swap the Prof. Oak sprite for Gardevoir, change all the text, get rid of the stupid PokeBall animation, get rid of the part where you name your rival, and probably change the hero/heroine sprites later on.
Anyway, it's past my bedtime. I'll get some more work done tomorrow in between college applications (prayers in that area would be appreciated too, by the way).

 

[Dry]

Dude love it great idea its awsome despite what people say.
They see problems i see what will deffinatly become a great hack so supporting this hack .

glad to know youve done ur hw. Most people wouldntknow how much goes into a decent hack and lol i ment to look at this like the other day but forgot cause i found some other hack but i so should have looked at this btw the other hack was a dead end lol... good luck

 

[trebornosliw]

Uh oh, crisis! Somehow my map connections are messing up the game, is there anyone out there who'd be willing to help me with this? Scripts are working great, and I'm getting really close to an alpha release, but when I try to move from one map to another, the game freezes. If there's anyone who's seen this sort of thing before, or who thinks they can figure it out (and has reason to think so), I need you.

 

[mervyn797]

map connections?
just edit or say delete the unwanted ones.

 

[trebornosliw]

...I don't think I explained the problem correctly...
There's a map connection I want to have, and it's spontaneously combusting. I've already removed the map connections I don't want.