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How do you judge ROM hacks?

I don't care how much time or effort was put into a project so long as the end output is good. I could spend weeks trying to sculpt with clay, but It would still be horrible, and a great sculptor could have worked for several hours, and done much better. For the hack vs. hacker thing, it's kind of redundent, because a hacker can only get really well know if he/she has a good hack. So if you judge a hack based on the hackers popularity, it should work pretty well.
 
I like hacks based on what I get from playing them, but I also appreciate it a lot more if I know that the hacker put tons of effort into the final product. Similarly, I try to judge a hack based on its own merits and not on the attitude of its creator, but if the hacker's real arrogant and such I'll probably be a lot more critical towards their work.
 
I would hope to base the hack based on just the hack, but, as a human, my feelings for the hacker will get in the way of my decisions. Whether that's a good thing or not is really dependent on the situation, but it's human nature. That's about all I have to say, really.
 
SoaringSomeone said:
but if the hacker's real arrogant and such I'll probably be a lot more critical towards their work.
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I try to base hacks on their own merit, not just on the way the hacker presents (himself and the hack). BUT in accordance with the quote if a hacker acts like their hack is the best thing since sliced bread then I will judge it in that manner. If you make it seem like you're the greatest prepare to be able to back that up. If you can't be prepared to be called out on it.
 
I'm going to assume that I'll be the first to say that if I don't like the person (to a great extent; minimal dislike really doesn't affect anything), I'm not going to like the hack. I'm biased in that manner, I suppose. At the point where I can't stand someone, I usually cannot stand anything that they've said or done, including a hack. Also, a hack somehow always manages to be a reflection of its creator; a straightforward hack generally happens to go along with a straightforward creator. Likewise, a half-ass hack goes with a half-ass creator.

And as far as a hack itself, effort =/= quality. I cannot judge a hack based on how hard "lucario_master41" worked on it, I can only judge it on how well it plays. That's the only viable way in my mind.
 
How good the hack is. And this is the thing with most gen 1/2 hackers such as Sawakita and Miksy91, they act like their hacks are better because they put more work into it. I don't care how hard you worked on it, I'll like it if its good. Also what Vrai says, if I don't like the hacker, I'm not going to like the hack either, which is also part of the reason I don't like hacks made by people like the others I just mentioned, because I don't like their attitude. Also, if there is a hack with amazing scripts, but terrible maps, as opposed to a hack with decent scripts and maps, then I will enjoy the latter more.
 
Well, in general a good hacker will make a good hacker. [That's to qualify a hack as 'good' in my book]
THEN I look at a storyline (look up 'function crawling' -- a good game ruiner, that good hackers may be likely to inflict on their hack) and if the storyline is no good, I look at the features for inspiration (beit artistic/hacking related)
If a hack doesn't have a good/well known hacker, but has a [really] good storyline, then I like to try and give out tips/hints to help improve what they have on the first post/most recent updates.
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When I see hacks, I like good storylines, good scripting, and good mapping. I tend to play hacks with a brand new theme sort of, but hacks that I don't like are the ones where I can tell what map was changes and where the original scripts were. Kind of like some of the others up there, I could care less how long you worked on it or how much effort is put into it, as long as it has some good reason for the effort.
 
Vrai said:
if I don't like the person I'm not going to like the hack.
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altariaking said:
if I don't like the hacker, I'm not going to like the hack either
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This is what I dislike most about this forum. Everything's too political. Why can't we all just hack and let hack? I'm not saying that I'm not guilty of this, because I most certainly am and definitely more so than the average forum-goer. In these past two and a half years, I've made more enemies than I can count on two hands in just this section of PC. And I hate how my personal relationships with people influences how I comment on their hacks. I guess it's just human nature.
 
As long as the gameplay is good I don't care who the hacker is. It can be the most horrible person in all of PC, but they have a very well developed hack to have people play. I mean, seriously, what does personality have to do with skill?
 
I respect anyone trying to hack but if the hack if bad of course I'm not going to say "Hey loser! Your game sucks, give up" I'm going to tell them how they could do better and suggest some things I'd like to see them add.
 
For any ROM hack on the forum, here's what I would usually do. I would always have a look at the ROM hack first and decide how good it is and brilliently done it is. Just look at Light Platinum for instance, it's nicely done with the tilesets and many other things done with it, I would rate it more than Zel's Shiny Gold, that's for sure (not meaning to disapoint Zel or anything, because I know his FireRed hack is great as well). It's because the storyline is well done and all that, many sprites made. And of course... unlike most people... I would never ever ever EVER dislike a hack just because I dislike the person or how much the person dislikes me, I would always think how nicely done a ROM Hack is, I would always give out some good advice when replying to a hack thread on what to do to improve the hack and all that (eg. tiles, sprites). I repeat, I would not dislike a hack just because I dislike someone or if someone dislikes me, I always look at the ROM Hack itself, not judging the hack author or anything like that. This is why I just wonder... "what is going wrong with us?!". :x

I always look at a ROM Hack and see how much effort has been put into it, not just looking at the storyline or anything like that (which some new people would).

When I judge the hack, I always judge it solely on the ROM Hack itself. I would not want to judge it on the hack author, because the hack author has nothing to do in how the ROM Hack was made, remember... there's teams in which help each other out and create stuff. Just think of how Nintendo also creates their games, it's not just one person.

So yeah, that is all. Thanks for reading! ^^

~Davin (aka Platinum Lucario)
 
PokémonShinySilver said:
I would not want to judge it on the hack author, because the hack author has nothing to do in how the ROM Hack was made, remember... there's teams in which help each other out and create stuff. Just think of how Nintendo also creates their games, it's not just one person.
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Are you saying that if a hack was made by a single person, with no help from any other hacker, you would be willing to dislike the hack if you disliked the author?

Also, "the hack author has nothing to do in how the ROM Hack was made" sounds incredibly paradoxical to me. :\
 
PokémonShinySilver said:
And of course... unlike most people... I would never ever ever EVER dislike a hack just because I dislike the person or how much the person dislikes me, I would always think how nicely done a ROM Hack is, I would always give out some good advice when replying to a hack thread on what to do to improve the hack and all that (eg. tiles, sprites). I repeat, I would not dislike a hack just because I dislike someone or if someone dislikes me, I always look at the ROM Hack itself, not judging the hack author or anything like that. This is why I just wonder... "what is going wrong with us?!". :x

I always look at a ROM Hack and see how much effort has been put into it, not just looking at the storyline or anything like that (which some new people would).

When I judge the hack, I always judge it solely on the ROM Hack itself. I would not want to judge it on the hack author, because the hack author has nothing to do in how the ROM Hack was made, remember... there's teams in which help each other out and create stuff. Just think of how Nintendo also creates their games, it's not just one person.

So yeah, that is all. Thanks for reading! ^^

~Davin (aka Platinum Lucario)
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I feel the need to respond to you because you bolded and italicized some words that make me feel like you're saying my response is demeaning in some way, shape or form. And that last sentence of your first paragraph makes me believe that you think there's something wrong with the way I think.

Let me start off by saying this: the fact that I dislike a hacker does not mean that I think they have a bad hack. I mean, I can dislike a hack for being bad, but a hack cannot be bad for me disliking it's creator, and in that manner my dislike for a person does not have any effect whatsoever on the quality of the hack.

Secondly, if I dislike the hacker, I'm not going to go and post rude comments on their thread. In any situation, I'm unlikely to view their thread at all. Improvement is no concern of mine for someone I don't care about.

Again, I'd like to highlight the fact that effort is not quality. Quality is worth judging hacks on; effort is not. You can try and try and try all you want but if all you can do is manage simple talking scripts you're probably not going to have a good hack.

I can see where you're coming from as far as judging a hack solely for the hack itself. However, your attempt to back up that point was unhelpful for your argument; a signficant amount of hacks are indeed created by a single person. If you haven't noticed, there really have never been any solid teams created in the Team Discussion section, and even if the threads get lots of posts they never go anywhere with the hack. Joining a team tends to be something that happens when new hackers come and that's become what it's associated with. Most, if not all hacks nowadays have a single creator, so their influence (and therefore personality) dominates the hack. So, um, yes, the creator has everything to do with how it was made, and that is my main reasoning behind disliking hacks with creators whom I don't like.


People can go enjoy that person's hack if they want, I don't care. My point is that I do not like hacks of people I dislike, and I wanted to show you (and everyone else) my reasoning behind that so I'm not automatically assumed to be "wrong" or "rude" or "ignorant" or whatever.
 
Going to agree with Manipulation here. You like hacks if you like them. There's really no need for much more of an elaborate explanation here, in my opinion. Sure I might have different viewpoints on different people, but overall the hack surpasses the author in terms of expression for me.
 
2RandomStudios said:
i think that the hackers attitude greatly affects the final product, if the hacker does their best, then the final product will reflect it
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Sorry, what? These two things differ a lot. For example, let's take Manipulation. (THIS JUST AN EXAMPLE)


Personally, I didn't enjoy talking to him, and I presume he didn't enjoy talking to me as well. Not the best attitude among people, I'd say. BUT, his devotion has earned him a great hack overall. So yeah, I'm definately not the type to have the hacker affect my opinion.
 
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