How do you like to start (making a rom that is)

[aar2697]

I start off with making the world map. Then, I come with the basic story and build from that as I work on the game. I make my maps piece by piece; I do not do the city and all of the interiors at one time. I'll make the outdoor of the city, do all of the events outside, then map one building and do events in there, then another, et al. I often come up with little ideas to make the game more unique, such as the weather system I made, so I'll do things like that randomly. There will also be points in development where I'll focus a lot on the in game music. My development structure is very unorganized I guess, but everything still works fine in the end.

 

[Notepads]

I start off with the title screen then making the maps/sprites and then scripting and storyline. Works well i guess :P

 

[Spherical Ice]

Haha, i wish I had a more systematic order like the guys above me. I really have no structure at all. The most organised I get is my folders for everything and even that isn't overly organised.

Anyway, I tend to start off with just an idea, then brainstorm. I generally get a friend of mine in an msn conversation and just spout ideas at them and get some ideas back. This helps me see what things are stupid, could be improved on, and also gives me a place to refer back to (i.e the msn chat log). In that chat I normally decide what rom base. If I want to apply any patches (JPAN's engine, decapitalisation patches, etc.), I do that before I start working.

By then, I get pretty hyped to start working so I just start mapping the starter town, then literally start doing whatever I want after that. Normally I find myself tile editing and reorganising the FireRed tileset so it's easier to use (e.g put the Pokémon Center in one chunk so I can just select it all at once instead of searching for the individual tiles each time).

After I've mapped the first few areas I start scripting, adding in sidequests etc. I never plan out the entirety of the storyline, just the basic stuff. In fact, I rarely plan anything haha. But yeah, in general I just wing it.

(disclaimer: the above is not very good advice)

 

[Chaos Rush]

I plan out everything, and create an outline with multiple notepad and MS Word files.

For my upcoming hack, Pokemon DarkViolet, I've already planned out the regional Pokedex, along with all Gym Leader and Elite Four teams. However, I haven't planned their levels, only their Pokemon, because levels are something that should be figured out as you go along making the hack. I've also written out the entire story, and a general outline of the route that the player takes through the region.

I have my entire hack planned out, but the only reasons why I haven't (re)started it yet is because:
1) I am planning on having resized DS sprites for every Pokemon, both front and back
2) I'm working on a ROM base that has 493 Pokemon
3) That ROM base I'm working on is also going to have most, if not all, 4th Generation attacks

Even though I won't get to start my hack for a while, I have EVERYTHING planned out, all in a bunch of notepad files. I even have an extra "drawing board" ROM that I use to test out tiles and maps, so then I can just import the data when my main ROM base is complete.

 

[Pinta77]

I normally start by mapping the first area and then getting all the starter scripts ready. (first pokemon etc.) Then i build from there, but im not all that sure that it's the best idea. While my current hack is definately a step up from what I used to do when i was, oh 12 maybe, I still think I could do a little better.