Pet Peeves of a Hacker

[machomuu]

Yes I did, in my first days of Pokémon hacking.


If people aren't capable of doing it, then that's because they're too lazy, as no rocket science or programming skills are required to replace the tiles and graphics. Like I said, I did it on my first hacking days.


Oh, give me a break. The point of making ROM hacks is replacing the game's original content with new one. The maps in the official games are fine too, so I suppose people just reuse them rather than making new ones, then?

First I'm going to say that it's rather...surprising that you follow the romantic thought that "if you can't do it your not trying hard enough", which is a little harsh in and of itself. Well I'll tell you that there are some things that people try really hard and and just can't do. That's life. And have you ever figured that some people are just physically or mentally unable to create new graphics or do various other things in hacking (or in life in general) for some reason or another? That's not laziness. Laziness is not doing something simply because you don't feel like it, and that's not the same as not doing something because you don't want to or can't.

Also, a Rom Hack can replace a game's original content, but that's not the only point. A Rom Hack can do a multitude of things, and some people may just want to change the story or the music. That's still a rom hack. You don't have to replace maps, in fact the original Touhoumon Puppet Play hack, which is pretty popular, just replaced sprites, moves, and names and nothing else. Looking at the 4th and 5th generation Pokemon hacks, no maps changed there in most cases, and few sprites are usually changed as well, some of them only change the difficulty and nothing else, but they're rom hacks. A hack is what the creator wants it to be, and thus the point of Rom Hacking is simply what's in the power and mind of the hacker, plain and simple.

 

[Mikke]

First I'm going to say that it's rather...surprising that you follow the romantic thought that "if you can't do it your not trying hard enough", which is a little harsh in and of itself. Well I'll tell you that there are some things that people try really hard and and just can't do. That's life. And have you ever figured that some people are just physically or mentally unable to create new graphics or do various other things in hacking (or in life in general) for some reason or another? That's not laziness. Laziness is not doing something simply because you don't feel like it, and that's not the same as not doing something because you don't want to or can't.

Scripting is harder than replacing or modifying the tilesets, yet I see hacks that have new scripts but no new graphics all the time. Which leads me to assume that the ROM hacker was too lazy to modify them (or to learn how to modify them).

Also, a Rom Hack can replace a game's original content, but that's not the only point. A Rom Hack can do a multitude of things, and some people may just want to change the story or the music. That's still a rom hack. You don't have to replace maps, in fact the original Touhoumon Puppet Play hack, which is pretty popular, just replaced sprites, moves, and names and nothing else. Looking at the 4th and 5th generation Pokemon hacks, no maps changed there in most cases, and few sprites are usually changed as well, some of them only change the difficulty and nothing else, but they're rom hacks. A hack is what the creator wants it to be, and thus the point of Rom Hacking is simply what's in the power and mind of the hacker, plain and simple.

Yes, and the more things the ROM hacker changed, the more time and effort he spent.

Reusing the original graphics makes hacks seem (at least from looking at the screenshots, which are what usually sells a game or ROM hack) like lazy works quickly thrown together, which is why many people look down upon ROM hackers, thinking of them as lazy hacks (no pun intended) who can't make original games so they resort to applying minimal modifications to games made by other people. Seeing new graphics in a hack's screenshots gives me the impression that the ROM hacker put effort into every detail, which makes me want to try the hack.

Moreover, just about every Mario or Sonic hack released these days features new graphics, as for the Mario and Sonic hacking communities, just editing the maps is considered too lazy. The fact that most Pokémon hacks reuse the original graphics makes us look like we're miles behind them.

 

[machomuu]

Scripting is harder than replacing or modifying the tilesets, yet I see hacks that have new scripts but no new graphics all the time. Which leads me to assume that the ROM hacker was too lazy to modify them (or to learn how to modify them).

Yup, in many cases because they don't want to, so they don't. That's not laziness. As a scripter, I can sympathize. I'd only add new graphics if I needed to. Why? Because I like the current graphics and think they're good enough. It's a matter of preference, not laziness. Laziness would be wanting to do it, but not doing it because I just don't feel like it.

Yes, and the more things the ROM hacker changed, the more time and effort he spent.

That's not necessarily true, take translations, which take years to make sometimes, and they don't have to add new graphics or even new music. Heck, one could say in that case the less that's changed the better. Also, going back to Puppet Play, which just changed the pokemon and moves, people were fine with that. They didn't want more, because they were free to edit it and make their own hacks from it.

Reusing the original graphics makes hacks seem (at least from looking at the screenshots, which are what usually sells a game or ROM hack) like lazy works quickly thrown together, which is why many people look down upon ROM hackers, thinking of them as lazy hacks (no pun intended) who can't make original games so they resort to applying minimal modifications to games made by other people. Seeing new graphics in a hack's screenshots gives me the impression that the ROM hacker put effort into every detail, which makes me want to try the hack.

That's implying that that wasn't the creator's intent. Some creators don't want new graphics, some creators don't want new music, some creators don't want new stories. Heck, some creators just want their hack to do simple things. Basically, Simplicity =/= Laziness, Desire =/= Laziness, More =/= Better. One must realize that just because a hack looks better, doesn't mean it is better, and often times there are simple ideas that people love, like the Castlevania 2 Redacted hack, which was a simple idea that made what many thought to be a "broken game" into a good one worth playing. He didn't want to do more because he could only add things, and that's not what he wanted to do, he just wanted to fix what was broken. That's the point of simple hack, to do something simple. That doesn't mean less effort is put in, they did what they wanted to do.

Moreover, just about every Mario or Sonic hack released these days features new graphics, as for the Mario and Sonic hacking communities, just editing the maps is considered too lazy. The fact that most Pokémon hacks reuse the original graphics makes us look like we're miles behind them.

There's a difference, there's much more that goes into making a Pokemon hack then there does a Mario or Sonic game. I'm not saying they're worse, but they're completely different, comparing the two would be, for the most part, inaccurate. Plus, from what I've seen from most of the most popular/famous Mario hacks (or just Mario hacks in general, I spent a good few months playing Mario Hacks), they don't add new graphics unless they need to or want to either; when people review them, they usually just don't rate the graphics if they're unchanged. Plus, if people actually say the word "lazy" when describing them, they need to find out more about the creator or get a dictionary. Or both.

 

[Mana1]

I'm going to butt in and say that inserting tiles is easy, but finding an entire tileset that works as a whole is something new all together, which brings me to a some new pet peeves:

• When people insert tiles that clash, just for the sake of new tiles.
• When people only edit key sprite, leaving in default FR scripts on some sprites - this often leads to random remarks, and things that don't fit with the new game.

Now please guys, stop arguing as you are far off topic.

Unless your pet peeve is when hackers are too harsh on each other.

 

[machomuu]

I'm going to butt in and say that inserting tiles is easy, but finding an entire tileset that works as a whole is something new all together, which brings me to a some new pet peeves:

• When people insert tiles that clash, just for the sake of new tiles.
• When people only edit key sprite, leaving in default FR scripts on some sprites - this often leads to random remarks, and things that don't fit with the new game.

Now please guys, stop arguing as you are far off topic.

Unless your pet peeve is when hackers are too harsh on each other.

Well I don't think we're off-topic yet, since we're discussing his pet peeve, but I agree that this will veer off track very soon, so we might as well stop.

One pet peeve I have is when a hack has bad grammar. In some cases it can't be helped because maybe the hacker is foreign or just isn't good at spelling, but it makes me just want to whip out XSE and change things.

 

[SK3]

And an excellent game can be made with ugly graphics, awful music, and a poor storyline. Doesn't justify the game's makers being lazy.

Ugly graphics, awful music, and a poor storyline wouldn't make a good game in the first place...
And is it laziness not to have an entirely new tileset inserted? Because, unless you find yourself a custom tiler, the tiles you use probably have been used by other people, and will be used by more. So some people, including me, just don't change the tileset. You can't just attack someone's preference and call it laziness.

 

[war rock exe]

I hate how people but hacks in the Hacks Showcase section when they aren't even complete. I also hate when people take forever to release betas or release an alpha that only a minute long XD

 

[DarkMatterLemon]

I have very few rants for this.

I dislike the people who rush the guy/girl/team making the hack when the're taking time out of there life to make hacks for people to play or what ever the reason. It's rude and childish. If I where some of these hackers I would drop or not share my project because of that.

And my 2nd thing. I hate getting lost in a hack. It's probably because I hardly read what the game is telling me though. lol

Not to be a suck up. But if your a hacker my hat is off to you.
I'm making a personal hack myself and it's really hard. Tile sets are nightmares.
And don't get me started on over world sprites lol. that is all. :)

 

[esperance]

Just like giradialkia said, I get really annoyed by people that complain about hacks not in English. Really? Is it so hard to learn the language or just suck it up and play? Come on. Give the hacker a break and enjoy the hack for what it is, don't demand an English version.

 

[firekoopa]

Well, my pet peeve would be Fakemon. I don't like ones even that are considered "good" (I'm looking at Pokemon Sienna. Some of them are good, such as the fire Starter-I-Forgot-Name-Off, but the rest I just find ugly. That's why I tend to stick to a team of canon Pokemon in that game)

I also dislike those little kids who think it's funny to make an "adult" Pokemon hack by adding "Hi my naim is profasor ***** and i like pokimon and raep them lulz" and stuff like that. (Hope I'm not getting any infractions for that terrible imitation)

Hm... I think that's about it. Oh right, I'm also quite annoyed at the fact that I lack the time to actually properly sit down and start learning Scripting. I mean, a three hour limit a day and only on weekends? WTF parents, you were never that ridiculously strict! (Personal problem though so ignore the last point)

 

[Obix]

Dont want to sound like a douche or anything but ive read all these "pet peeves" and complaints about using old tiles or having sprites that are the same as original games adding new pokemon everytime a new game comes out, Ya it sucks when you release a game and the players want mods or the new pokemon added and you have the ones that say oh well you didnt use any custom sprites. All i can say is haters gonna hate there is someone that is always going to talk down your project but as hackers you gotta remember that youve done something alot of people dont understand how to do and the haters are usually the ones that tried to do it and just couldnt do it but ya it can get annoying but dont listen to other people keep doing you

 

[siper x]

1. when people rant about a hack instead of give constructive crit.
2. when people complain about how the story is too similar to nintendo's stories, i mean nintendo's games have been popular for how long? it works!
3. bad fakemon ideas. when people can make good ones, i dont complain, afterall with nintendo eveery new region has new pokemon.
4. when people rant hackers. they take time out of their day to make these hacks.

 

[Alistair]

...Is it so hard to learn the language...

Yes, it is. It takes years of studying a language to become fluent in it if you aren't a native speaker.

As for my personal pet peeve, mine would have to be completely disjointed graphics. I don't mind bad graphics as much if they're consistent, but having graphics that don't come together evenly is incredibly jarring and off-putting to me.

As for when I hacked, I can't really remember if I had any pet peeves. It's been such a long time since I touched a ROM.

 

[~Anbuja]

1. Is that whenever i insert tiles and have them 3+ weeks in the ROM i start to dislike them even thought therye good, i just cant get satisfied with my work.
2. people puttting hacks down just because the sprites,scripts,palletes etc. arent that perfect, if u can do it better go ahead~
3. i really hate much what other people said until now like complaining about different language, or complaining a beta isnt coming out, or asking about release dates when u stated in the first post that its against the rules, thats probably the reason why i dont really post in hack threads or anywhere else that much.
4. other tings too but i dont want to repeat other peoples thoughts~

 

[Alignment]

deese complains

1) When you finish a long script, go in game, then you get the white screen. That white screen's been the cause of much annoyance. (I keep forgetting to backup)

2) When you sprite something for your game, only to realise that it looks terrible in comparison to the official things.

3) Losing motivation to work on something because you can't figure it out. I spent weeks trying to figure out how to make your Pokemon evolve during a battle (when it levels).

4) Making promises about updates then not keeping them. I have quite the reputation in that lol. Made a second hack, promised updates, went inactive :D

5) Pallette 7. It changes and I don't like it changing. I used it personally for my gym, then realised that I had to import the pallette every time I used the gym.

6) When you talk to someone and they say "Vo". Ussually happens when you use a pointer in a script but forget to put something there.

7) Beta testing. I can never tell if my game is too hard or too easy or boring. That's because I know what's going to happen, where to go, who to talk to and where I hid the secret items at. I have the luxury of using my little brother, but I'm sure most of us don't have that :P

8) Having to make new tiles to fix tile errors. Especially when you need to sprite them. It's not hard, but it ussually takes time to make sure that once it's inserted it's the right amount of pixels from left, right, top and bottom.

9) Hacking tutorials that are very badly done and very obvious. For example, a tutorial on how to change the hero's sprite in Fire Red and all it is, is a wall of text with no evident organisation or pictures.

10) Hackers that call others bad. OK, you're good. Stop stroking your own dick and making fun of people now. I know not all hacks are as good as others and that not all hackers have the time or committment to make a good hack. That being said, we should not make fun of newer hackers. It's demotivational, rude, and just plain saddening because often time the people saying so, don't know what they are doing themselves.

11) Hacks that are very silly are annoying. I don't mean funny, I mean pretty stupid. I was responsible for this when I started my first hack (now somewhere in the depths of my recycling bin). You go outside, there is nothing. You find a shiny Mewtwo, he is now your starter ect..ect..

12) Some of the default graphics. Some of the default tiles are fine, but some of them I don't really like. In my opinion, R/S/E is a mess. Most of the tiles are very poor, the overworlds don't look very appealing, even the Pokemon sprites look rushed compared the FR/LG. If you don't believe me look at Gloom's Emerald backsprite.

13) Overuse of an element. Most of the time this is a mapping tile or scripting element. I.e move camera script every 5 mins in the game. I.e.2 Too many little rock tiles

 

[Zeturic]

I'm usually pretty positive when it comes to playing hacks, but there are a few things that really bother me:

When the protagonist speaks. In a Pokémon game, it just feels very unnatural and jarring. It's not bad, in and of itself, but I don't like it. At all.

Overuse of swearing. It doesn't tend to be too big of a problem, but sometimes it is. Now, I understand that sometimes it is appropriate - but when it's every other word it just gets irritating.

Grammar / spelling errors. Now, I understand that there are some words that are so uncommon that people don't even realize they're misspelling them, and, of course, there's the occasional typo. My other pet peeves are about style choices - this is not. Unlike the others, it looks lazy and unprofessional (not to mention irritating), which are not things that I would hope that any aspiring ROM Hackers would want to convey.

Teams. Well, not exactly - I've no problem with teams in general. My issue is with teams that the "leader" of the team does absolutely nothing, besides come up with the original idea. You know, when people find out about hacking, and they jump in, feel in over their head, so they recruit a half dozen people to do everything for them. I can understand people having difficulty with some aspects of hacking - if they didn't have any whatsoever I'd be amazed - the problem with them shielding themselves with a team is that it, ultimately, just hurts them. They never learn how to do it, because they don't have to. Ask for clarification and help, don't give up and declare that you need a team.

As for making ROM hacks, I'm okay with pretty much everything. Except, I hate doing graphics - I'm not a sprite artist by any stretch. Also, I hate typos in codes, both scripting and asm. For example, I remember, when I was first learning how to script, I made a simple applymovement script, and, when I loaded it up, the game messed up [it didn't crash, but the player sprite and camera messed up]. I spent, like an hour, looking over that script to see if I'd forgotten to set something, or set something incorrectly. Finally, I figured it out - instead of "applymovement", I'd mistakenly written "applemovement".

 

[itman]

Things I hate doing:

Inserting OWs. It has to get done, but it takes so long to change all the pointers, point all the frames, insert the sprite, usually have to recolor it...ughh.

Tiles I add always bore me and I start hating them after a few weeks. I now don't add tiles until the very end.

Things I hate that other people do:

People that make a hack but use ruby and or firered's original scripts. I feel like I'm playing the same game just with edited maps.

Everyone seems to be so obsessed with tiles now a days. Sure they look good in screenies, but in game after the first map nobody pays much attention anymore.

 

[NatureKeeper]

I've stopped ROM-Hacking for who knows how long, but there is something that annoys me. People that use Advance-Text and call it a hack. Heck, I've seen a video on YouTube called Pokemon Ruby Super Hack, and it was an awfully lame hack whipped out in Advance Text in five minutes.

The things I hate doing? Music and Tile hacking. Thanks to the lack of proper tile editing software, I use Advance Map (I do not have an idea how outdated I am, to be frank, it might've became easier lately), which has no sense of palettes and indexing, and usually destroys the rest of my palette. Plus, the palettes produced by AdvanceMap cannot be imported by IrfanView (I haven't tried GIMP yet), so you need to recolor each and every part carefully and not forget a single foreign pixel or else your game is a mess. Plus, you cannot identify the problem, especially if the colours are too similar. The reason for the former, however, lies mainly in how heavily incompatible Sappy is with later versions of Windows, but I guess a new program got release lately.

As for DS hacking, to start with, PPRE just ruins the scripts. Plus, having to separate the ROMs into files and use a ROM map to find everything was downright frustrating that I quit six scripts into the game. I even forgot what the project was about, mainly.

 

[Renegade]

When I feel like I need all of the tiles in A-Map to be exactly correct and look exactly how I want them to look...

 

[Controversial?]

Sticking to the formula.

As in story-wise. Unless there's a really good reason, I just find that hacks that all start out the same just don't inspire me to play, or help make them.