torben656 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 Hi guys, my name is Mark.. Im a 15 year old boy who's sooooooooooo much interested in hacking Fire Emblem GBA games. I skimmed tutorials , I always mess up.. but i keep on focusing instead of getting disappointed with my skills. I can make events, Um.. VERY VERY UGLY MAPS even though i carefully read PrimeFusion's tutorial about mapping. In creating sprites, i can do a little splicing. like just two or three characters max. But somehow i really want to ask a question to those veterans who are my inspirations in further honing my skills in hacking. What do veterans prefer? Story? or Challenge? cause I seem to have problems balancing them. and also character stats, i really have a big problem about stats. like, is 9 speed okay for the main character? or 5 to make it a challenge? I always get confused. Somehow, what i do is to edit the stats. go to the emulator and try it out.And, i don't know how to judge if its okay, or not. my next question is. In making a hack? what should be done first? the map? the events? the custom character sprites? or yadi yadi yada.. And also , any other advice when it comes to hacking may help. I just wanna be a successful hacker. And i need a great teacher to help me. Thank you for reading..^3^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maritisa Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 The balance of story and gameplay is very difficult to pull off, but Markyjoe1990 once said the best way is to "Marry the Story and Gameplay". An excellent example of this execution is Xenoblade Chronicles, which incorporates the story mechanic of seeing the future into gameplay, even out of battle. In battle you can see visions of lethal damage and change them, and even outside of battle, if you get a quest item you'll need in the future, the game will tell you with a vision. In a Fire Emblem game this might be a bit harder to pull off without throwing a neat gimmick to your story, but the point is that you should design your gameplay to support your story and your story to back your gameplay. Fire Emblem Awakening's Valm arc felt very weak because the story tried telling you of a huge and powerful army, but you never face such an overwhelming foe, so the play doesn't line up with the story. Since most of FE's story is told by cutscenes and GBA games don't have much to work with outside scripted battles, it might not be a bad idea to try telling story mid-chapter, too. Sensically, of course. I personally play games more for an amazing story than their gameplay, but that's just me... One of Fire Emblem's main points is that you're raising your units from a low level and watching them grow. The entire Jeigan archetype usually involves that the aforementioned unit is usually a veteran and has "very little left to learn". Aka high beginning stats but bad growths. Don't make your starting units too strong, never inflate stats where you don't have to. Unless you're a Thief or something crazy you probably shouldn't have NINE speed at level one. Five is probably fine. Pacing is very important. The earlygame should be simple and easy to get into, but it should still take thought, and not be a complete steamroll. Midgame shouldn't get repetitive, as it often does. Never rely on grinding as the main way to progress, ever. Nobody likes that in any game, and many people here view the Arena with similar disdain. Your work order usually varies based on the person, but a lot of people, even the guys at Extra Credits, will tell you to make bare minimum projects before delving deeper. For a hack, this means bare bones maps, with the most basic tiles you can, and units placed about, nobody needs to be named, there doesn't need to be any dialogue, just stick some units down and play with them. See what builds work for your player characters, see how enemies line up to your own guys. Test basic map concepts... Make yourself a debug room to just test your ideas in, and once you get a feel for the balancing you can refine the map. Graphics should be last priority. Game devs have their elusive debug rooms for a reason! But most importantly, no matter what order you work in, PLAYTEST. Absolutely playtest your game. Get others to playtest it, don't give them any guides or tips, just analyze their playing and take their experience into account. Some people like to be aggressive, some will turtle, some will be tactical and others might skimp on the details. And playtest it yourself whenever you can, too. It really helps give the feeling that you're making progress, and is usually a nice break from the textwork. Always consider advice and critique, they're your greatest allies in any form of art. I'm mostly echoing Extra Credits here though, so I think looking them up on youtube might help. They had a segment on "your first game" not long ago, and while it may not be exactly the same as what you're doing here, they present a lot of points that you should take to heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torben656 Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Thanks for that heartwarming reply! now im getting new ideas.. I'll try what you said that. Very little left to learn. I now see that you need to balance the story to the gameplay to achieve a very good game. thank you! Now i think of giving changing the stats and giving them something worth it. Thank you >3> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT075 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 don't just make a hack "because i want to", because that's going to end up canned and boring. if you're making a hack, make it because you have an inspiration, and be willing to grind it out and remake, remake, remake everything until it reaches the standard you want it at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torben656 Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Yeah but my main problem is balancing the stats >3> i can't figure out what's best with what. But yeah, I dont want to make hacks because I want to. It's because I want to make my own hack. My own game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT075 Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 (edited) I dont want to make hacks because I want to. It's because I want to make my own hack. My own game. what's the difference Edited April 21, 2015 by CT075 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torben656 Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 i dunno :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghast Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 like creating your own lore and story, instead of using existing fire emblem stuff like elibe, or making a nightmare hack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torben656 Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Ghaaaaaast!?? Thank you for replying to my noobish thread.. Your my mentor you know xD hahaha by the way, how the hell did you load all those maps In the opening event on your hack Fire Emblem : BloodLines And also, how did you make those units in the map with The druid look like there dead? Im curious how you did those two xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czar_Yoshi Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 (edited) If stats and balancing is your issue, I think the best way to remedy that is just to get really good at FE. Play it a lot, play different ones so you can see how the differences between games affect how things fit together. Watch for and take note of cases where you're like "if I had one more Spd I could double this guy" or "if I send unit X to clear out those 3 enemies, they'll hit the next weapon rank in time for the boss"- being aware of stuff like that is the prerequisite to being able to do it deliberately. You also might want to look into making some other, non-FE games using a platform other than romhacking. Even if they're nothing like what you envision yourself doing in the future with FE, experience making any kind of game in any way transitions very well to making other games- you'll build skills like keeping your project's goal in mind, keeping track of many different parts, and so on. It'll also be a good indicator of whether you should be making games in the first place (which you very well might): if so, it'll be fun on its own, which is a win-win for you. Scratch by MIT is a very useful tool for this, since it keeps track of syntax, doesn't need to compile and has a built-in graphics editor, but also works like a real programming language. I dont want to make hacks because I want to. It's because I want to make my own hack. My own game. He's basically asking if you're in it for the end product (I want a game with my name on it that'll suit my specifications exactly and thus be really fun to play) or for the process of making it (I want to make a game because a) I'm an artist and a game is the best medium for expressing my ideas, or b) I just love to program and it sounds fun). The latter case will give you a significantly higher chance of sticking around until you're good enough to finish something, and then until you finish something good, and then some more after that. People who are in it for the former usually burn out before their game is done, and if not they find that either their game stinks and is no fun to play, or they spent so long playtesting and debugging it that it's great, but they're really bored of it. So back to your original question, what you should do first is make some really small stuff. Like, really small- 1 chapter or so. 2 if you're feeling ambitious. Do it for fun and don't worry how it turns out while you're making it, but do take note of what you made afterword (or not, if you don't want to). And also play lots of FE games. Anyway I think it's very neat that you're getting into this and have a good amount of drive, and completely encourage you to keep it up. Edited April 22, 2015 by Czar_Yoshi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torben656 Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 Well, somehow your right, how can I professionally hack a game if i ain't able to consider the possibilities of each action like you said >3> If stats and balancing is your issue, I think the best way to remedy that is just to get really good at FE. Play it a lot, play different ones so you can see how the differences between games affect how things fit together. Watch for and take note of cases where you're like "if I had one more Spd I could double this guy" or "if I send unit X to clear out those 3 enemies, they'll hit the next weapon rank in time for the boss"- being aware of stuff like that is the prerequisite to being able to do it deliberately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghast Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Ghaaaaaast!?? Thank you for replying to my noobish thread.. Your my mentor you know xD hahaha by the way, how the hell did you load all those maps In the opening event on your hack Fire Emblem : BloodLines And also, how did you make those units in the map with The druid look like there dead? Im curious how you did those two xD hahaha well you're welcome i suppose! the maps loading in sequence were just LOMA codes and some other stuff. pretty simple haha. the dead people sprites were custom map sprites :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torben656 Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 hahaha well you're welcome i suppose! the maps loading in sequence were just LOMA codes and some other stuff. pretty simple haha. the dead people sprites were custom map sprites :o Whaaa? sorry to ask you very noob questions XD what do you enter in LOMA though? >3> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT075 Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 how can I professionally hack a gameyou can't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torben656 Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 oh XD i mean.. more pro-ish , i mean... XD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT075 Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 i'm pretty sure nobody has actually been paid any amount of money that would come anywhere close to being classified as "professional" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torben656 Posted April 22, 2015 Author Share Posted April 22, 2015 i mean, like pro-is is by not asking dumb questions XD nothing more.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czar_Yoshi Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 i'm pretty sure nobody has actually been paid any amount of money that would come anywhere close to being classified as "professional" Dude you know what he means, come on. This is about quality, not money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghast Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Dude you know what he means, come on. This is about quality, not money. what Czar said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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