What does ROM Hacking mean to you?

[Platinum Lucario]

ROM Hacking... means such a lot in my creativity. As I certainly like to learn more about how a game works, operates, and how every different texture and element is made. What I do enjoy... is finding out how it all works... and how the textures are made and all that. I'm certainly interested in finding out how the 5th generation mapping engine works and all that... and I certainly do enjoy looking for more information. Even though I may not be skilled at hex editing, or even adjusting the right values, but hey... it's never impossible to learn something new, is it? ;)

I would certainly be interested in attempting to hack the DS games... maybe bringing up bigger hopes... so that we could even have the ability to create our NDS games and edit any that are in existance. And I would also be interested in trying to see if there's any ways of adjusting the game engine totally. But I would rather start on the Nintendo DS first... then maybe some people might be able to build up a team to try and conquer the Nintendo 3DS in the future once it's released? Knowing about the Nintendo 3DS has made me think... about how much graphic detail it uses, I'm pretty sure it would be somewhere in the 1 GB range seeing as the game cards will be 2 GB in size, and wow... that's about the size of what a GameCube .gcm file has, isn't it? Well actually... it's likely to be a few hundreads of MegaBytes bigger than a .gcm file. If there is a 6th generation or something, we could give it our best shot... and build up a big team to create the map editors and stuff for the games.

And this is how ROM Hacking means a lot to how creative I would be if I ever had alot of knowledge about it. But hey... no one knows everything, not even I would, it's impossible to know everything, that's why we're always learning something new every day. ;)

 

[NekoNekoChan]

As for me, ROM Hacking is a form of art in which creativity clashes! ^_^;

 

[Firelizard]

For me, ROM Hacking means looking at a system, seeing where it can be improved, and just going there and doing it, for the good of everyone.
... Wait a second... I'm sure that was actually the standard definition of hacking ANYWAY.
... Well.... Even if it's mental-copy-pasted from a textbook, it still holds.

 

[Tropical Sunlight]

For me, ROM Hacking is a way to express the ideas that fly through my mind. I find it more fun than writing a book (I have tried).
And wow, some people really don't have a life O.O

 

[sky_queen3]

I play with the tools people make to use on roms, I can't hex edit/ASM edit to save my life as it went right over my head when I tried but I like messing with tools for fun to do various things.

 

[zel 2.0]

Hum... Let's make our official return first post on an interesting topic thread.

Keep in mind I'll talk about from the time I used to actively hack around two years ago.

What does rom hacking mean to me? I guess pretty much as creating a program. The excitement of making something (a PC program, a game) do whatever you tell it to do. You give it your rules, the appearance you want, the story development you want. Basically, everything (so, I agree with Team Fail, in which you are pretty much like a God with your very own world)
Of course, it also was an obssession for me at some point. I love games, and I always wanted to create one since I was younger, that's why I tried every RPG creator program out there.

If you ask me, what does it mean for me actually, I guess I can say it's an awesome hobby. It allowed me to meet a lot of interesting and talented people. So, it's also a way of making friends (and that's good since I'm not that "social" in real life)

So, it means a lot of good things to me. That's why I'm willing to try it, once again :)

 

[Zeikku™]

I'll also follow up on Zel's return, with my own return also!

What does rom hacking mean to me? - ROM hacking means improving what developers have already produced for us. To me it means - Creating my own world but it's different for me, I make graphics - I don't script. I get by with Spriting because I start projects that are actually successful with people such as linkandzelda, Hackmew and Destinedjagold to name a few. My objective is different, it's to make a last generation game look and have the same appeal as the new generation of games.

Unlike hackers, I have no Version preference. However, on Fire Red, I believe I did "set the bar" but not as much as I could have. I learned a lot more in my time off looking at screenshots than I did looking at tutorials. It's just about getting the most visuals out of a ROM, in my case. You can take a lot of visuals from the way Nintendo build Stock ROMS and make it your own. ROM hacking gives me the ability to learn new things about how graphics are assembled and can indeed help towards "the bigger picture", for example - I actually got into University by putting Pokémon: Liquid Crystal and all of the artwork I have done in general into my portfolio.

As for the community behind ROM Hacking - It's un-matched. There's nothing like it! I even used to call linkandzelda's phone! So yeah, we're pretty close! I don't think there's been a day where I haven't talked to him!

ROM hacking is fun, but it drained me. Towards the end on Liquid Crystal's completion I began feeling down. So I left the scene to get a job (which I did), get a girlfriend (which I did) and get into University (which I did). So now I'm back, even more motivated than ever!

 

[KingCyndaquil]

well, what it means to me is that:
it gives me a chance to express myself, which i dont do outside, although i have friends and go out on weekends, i have always had a problem with expressing myself, which i can do here, since i was younger i always wanted to make a pokemon game, i got motivated when i played liquid crystal, after i played a little bit i started doing research on how they do it, to tell the truth i thought it was gonna be hard, but its not at all, but back on topic, what it means to me is, not exactly a life style, but a place where i can feel confortable at with my OWN ideas that i can proudly say i thought of.

 

[MysticFlames]

I wasn't planning to post, but I reeeally wanted to point out the weird rom hacking is better than game designing thing going on here. Designing a game generally has you building that whole thing up from scratch. It's a much more complicated process than mere rom hacking, where you have all the tools at your disposal for editing an already existing game. Some people made it sound like rom hacking is a much more intricate process than game design and that's just really bothering me. Sure, when you design you don't have to know how to hex edit, but instead you have to know how to code and know how to write code in a functional way. In rom hacking you don't even necessarily need to know how to hex edit because of the existing tools. And I don't know where this nonsense of "you don't understand a game if you just 'design' it" is coming from. If you built it up yourself, then obviously you know what exactly is happening. You know every inch of the game. Let me, once again, point out that you are rom hacking. You are hacking an existing and already designed game. I'm sure most "hackers" don't truly understand the inner workings of that game they are editing. At multiple times in my life, I've helped friends design games from scratch and I'll assure you that it was rather difficult and annoying. One of those games never even got past designing a physics engine, in fact. It was just an "okay, I'm done with this."

Some of what was said on their view of game designing was, quite frankly, atrocious; I'm just baffled. I'm going to be blunt and say that rom hackers are at a lower level than game designers and some hackers need to cool it with their attitudes unless they go out and build me up a game from nothing.

Now then. To make a relevant post; like a lot of people, rom hacking to me is merely a time waster. And, actually, because the rom I'm working on is by me and one other real life friend of mine (actually, my boyfriend, but I feel like saying friend is sufficient information for anyone who needs to know), it's been this fun project for both of us to work on together in our spare time. I'm not gonna be cheesy and say that it's helped us bond (not that we needed to bond), but it has been fun seeing the plan in our heads for this game come in fruition.

 

[Sawakita]

I wasn't planning to post, but I reeeally wanted to point out the weird rom hacking is better than game designing thing going on here. Designing a game generally has you building that whole thing up from scratch. It's a much more complicated process than mere rom hacking, where you have all the tools at your disposal for editing an already existing game. Some people made it sound like rom hacking is a much more intricate process than game design and that's just really bothering me. Sure, when you design you don't have to know how to hex edit, but instead you have to know how to code and know how to write code in a functional way. In rom hacking you don't even necessarily need to know how to hex edit because of the existing tools. And I don't know where this nonsense of "you don't understand a game if you just 'design' it" is coming from. If you built it up yourself, then obviously you know what exactly is happening. You know every inch of the game. At multiple times in my life, I've helped friends design games from scratch and I'll assure you that it was rather difficult and annoying. One of those games never even got past designing a physics engine, in fact. It was just an "okay, I'm done with this."

Now then. To make a relevant post; like a lot of people, rom hacking to me is merely a time waster. And, actually, because the rom I'm working on is by me and one other real life friend of mine (actually, my boyfriend, but I feel like saying friend is sufficient information for anyone who needs to know), it's been this fun project for both of us to work on together in our spare time. I'm not gonna be cheesy and say that it's helped us bond (not that we needed to bond), but it has been fun seeing the plan in our heads for this game come in fruition.

What? No, really, have you at least the vague idea of what you're talking about?
What you're referring at, calling it "rom hacking", is actually "tool using", or "game partial-designing".
Maybe you should inform better about the actual meaning of "rom hacking".

I probably can understand your situation: it seems that you've been around here for more than 5 years (looking at your "subscription date"), so odds are that you've been infected by the many wrong things and behaviours that happen here.

I barely can tolerate the fact that 99% of Pokecommunity-ROM Hacking-Section's users misuse the word "hacking", so when posts, like this, mistake the real meaning of "hacking" for "brain-less tool-using", I really can't remain silent and quiet.

ROM hacking is the act of exploring, studying, figuring out the internal structure and mechanics of a ROM. So, since the game was programmed and built by someone else, figuring it out is actually pretty hard, and requires a certan amount of effort and dedication. It's like walking through a jungle.

 

[MysticFlames]

I've never said that the definition of rom hacking is using tools, it's just that the thing is, you have the tools at your disposal, so of course one would use them. I understand there could be more going into rom hacking, but really. How many people could truly tell me they'd be able to change every little detail of the rom? I do agree that the majority's idea of rom hacking today has become just mindless use of tools, but it doesn't change the fact that designing a game is no simple process, which was my true point.

True hacking can be a rather intricate thing, it has just been lost in recent years, but it doesn't change the fact that true game designing (not using RPG maker or something of the sort) requires extensive knowledge and skill.

 

[Sawakita]

I've never said that the definition of rom hacking is using tools, it's just that the thing is, you have the tools at your disposal, so of course one would use them. I understand there could be more going into rom hacking, but really.

No, it's not that "there could be more", it's just that it's something completely different. It's like confusing "eating" with "cooking", they're two different things.

How many people could truly tell me they'd be able to change every little detail of the rom?

Every real hacker could tell you.

but it doesn't change the fact that designing a game is no simple process, which was my true point.

And here's is where we meet the problem again: people, here, misuse some words, so with game-designing, they actually mean game-editing (with tools).
You know, trying to change the things here is a hopeless mission.

 

[deneric]

Rom Hacking, to me, is something COMPLETELY over my head. Still, I find it very interesting and, since the start of Christmas Break, I've been trying to teach myself Hex Editing. While I am pretty much lost, I figure that's how everyone starts off, so I'm not too worried. I think it's a little funny that the only reason I'm trying to learn REAL hacking is because I couldn't find an evolution editor for GSC (maybe santa will bring me one? :P) so that I could make a hack with all 251 pokemon for my friend as a christmas present.

 

[MysticFlames]

(How would game designing ever mean "game editing"? I'm now just confused by what people see game designing as. What game are you editing in order to "design"? =|)

Now, I do apologize if I've ever sounded like an ignorant prick, but again, my main point stands. Designing is not a simple thing. I have personally seen today's "hacking" as a severely (I can't stress this enough) dumbed down version of "true hacking," and I understand you may not agree with that. I, unfortunately, had to point out the dumbed down version multiple times because it has become the majority's view on it. I merely didn't understand when the conception of game designing has also become dumbed down. (Really, when did that happen?) I've never looked down on true hacking, I just found the misconception of game designing to be atrocious, whether it's coming from a true hacker or not. Actually, I'd be more offended if it came from a true hacker considering they'd understand a game's complex nature.

I'm not trying to argue what is hacking but rather go on an angry tirade about what "hackers" today view game designing as.

I understand we're both trying to defend the "true" definition of something, but again, I have no idea when game designing lost its definition.

 

[Sawakita]

as far as I'm concerned I respect game designers: without them I wouldn't have games to hack, so... It's like the "circle of life", or the "food chain" (ok, I should stop using similitudes).
Here on PC I don't think that, even in Game Development section, there is a game built from scratch. So that's the possible reason of this misuse of the expression "game design".

 

[sab]

as far as I'm concerned I respect game designers: without them I wouldn't have games to hack, so... It's like the "circle of life", or the "food chain" (ok, I should stop using similitudes).
Here on PC I don't think that, even in Game Development section, there is a game built from scratch. So that's the possible reason of this misuse of the expression "game design".

There are a few games that are built from scratch, but most aren't. Most hacks aren't from people who know what they are doing down at the hex level 100% of the time (coolboyman and a few others are exceptions) either though.

 

[MysticFlames]

Mm, I can see that. I haven't ventured much into the game development section because I've noticed that a lot of them rely on RPG maker or whatever else. I'd support their work, but I wouldn't consider them to be "true" game designers.

I've never considered myself a hacker, on another note, but rather one who's creating a "hack" for the... craps and giggles.

Now then, this thread probably needs to be brought back to the original topic. XD

 

[Fabi_ash]

Like someone said, the biggest part of us is ROM modders, so I will say what ROM modding is for me: ART; in fact it includes story writing, Pokémon, characters and map drawings (I usually draw what I should put in the game) and music composition.

Obviously it is also something whixh makes me stay with friends and have fun with them :)

 

[Cutlerine]

For me, this is almost art. I draw and write well and frequently enough to not need another creative outlet - but the problem is that my mind makes too many jokes, creates too many subplots and random nonsense in one go to put into any one drawing/comic/story/book.

So then, the sole reason I hack - and I use the term ignoring the massive debate above this post - is to take the excess trash from my mind and do something useful with it: cram it all into an overlong game and think to myself: Yes, I can now truly claim to have inflicted something on the world.

Oh yes, and it's much more fun to see people struggling to solve the fiendish puzzles I dream up in real life, rather than in my head. I derive some sort of schadenfreude from that.

 

[TamashiiHiroka]

Rom hacking is actually how I met the love of my life.

It began as a want to play a new Pokemon game - before Diamond and Pearl came out. I had all the ideas in the world for one, if only Nintendo would MAKE one... Wait, why wait for Nintendo to make one? I'll figure out how to do it on my own!

Well after a while I learned, and started posting videos of my hacks on YouTube which became quite popular. This attracted the attention of another Pokemon hacker on YouTube, and soon our romance began.

About a year and eight months after we met, we decided to meet in person.

Since then, I've been happily dating him for three years. Pokemon hacking has without a doubt had a bigger impact on my life than anything else. It's gotten me a wonderful boyfriend, 6,800 adoring subscribers, and finally I've been able to become a part of the Pokemon world I only dreamed of as a kid.

Also, adding on to this sub conversation I just noticed,
I wish people would stop being so "elitist" about what hacking is and what it isn't. What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Who cares what you call it. If the people doing it are having fun, where is the crime in that? Sure I would understand if you feel like someone is taking credit for your work if you made the program, but most "hackers" or "people who use tools" or whatever credit the program they used and never claim they made it themselves. So honestly, if you're going to get all pissy about people calling themselves "hackers" without making the programs they use, you're fighting a losing battle. You'll be much happier if you calm down, get off your high horse, and let the people who aren't expert enough to make their own programs have fun with their hobby.