A little overwhelmed, need some advice

[HeroMaster47]

I'm a little overwhelmed by all of the hacking that I may potentially need to do, and it's leaving me confused. I'd like to ask about the general order in which the hacking is done, as in, what's normally done first in terms of actual hacking after most of the planning elements (like story) are finished? I struggle a little when I'm not really given a specific order to do stuff in and am just told to "mess around until you figure it out" so I'd really appreciate some advice. Thanks in advance.

[CT075]

pretty much do whatever you feel like

i know that's not helpful at all but winging it is seriously probably the best way to go about things

if you feel like writing a story, write the story

if you feel like you should probably get some progress on the chapters, start writing some events

if you then realize you have no map, you should probably go do that

etc

like, do things in whatever order feels most natural; any order anybody tries to give you is (most likely) going to feel "wrong" at some point or other

[Pixelman]

Do not stress, it's not overwhelming at all.

Advice:

1.) Start with whatever your strong point is. Apparently for you, it's writing.

2.) Try looking up a tutorial on the basics. If you start working on events, you'll find it isn't the hardest thing in the world, you just have to get used to it.

3.) If you are stumped with your maps, or your maps are bad, why not try looking at Prime's tutorial on how to make maps?

4.) Try to make simple recolored sprites or splice a head of someone on another's body. Try working with eyes or articles or clothing. That is how I started making sprites.

5.) If you find yourself with too much stuff, try to organize it. Or you can be messy as you want, either way.

6.) Just don't get frustrated! If your events seem to not work, or your sprites look bad, there are always people who can help guide you through and help you.

7.) Make sure you and your friend both can work on something different, it makes hacking faster.

8.) Don't think you can't do it. Trust us, you probably can.

9.) Don't rush! Quality is key if you want to make your hack enjoyable. If you need quality references, just look at Elibian Nights and Dream of Five. They both are great games!

That's all I got on the matter. Don't give up! Don't be like me and cancel your project on the first chapter!

Edited January 6, 2014 by PixelmanFE

[AstraLunaSol]

if you're making a full hack, getting plot points that you want present in your story is a start, then somehow make them all link together

through making those plot points, you'll end up with some enemies and playable characters, add more of those and see if they can have relevancy in the story

after you've got the story generally, it's a good time to start hacking but never make the story concrete, since things will change depending on what is capable in the rom

when making a chapter my usual process is first getting the map or dialogue. having the map first can improve dialogue since it gives you a general idea of the surroundings but if the writer is really good and knows what the setting will be, they won't need the map. after that, formatting and inserting the script via feditor would be the next part, note down the blocks you use in feditor for events. after that, you move to events and you write them according to the map. now for the gameplay element, there are multiple ways to approach this. I usually just place enemies wherever i think are good, but you could also carefully plan where each enemy is so the map is like a puzzle, i personally find this not to be fun, so i don't do this. then after you have to estimate where the player will be on the map after each turn, and generalize how many enemies are on the map and if you need to put reinforcements. after you get enemy placement, you have to put stats using nightmare, this is the longer part I find, since after putting stats you think are okay, you have to test it for yourself. play the map and make adjustments according to how difficult you want to make the hack. repeat, etc