Accepting Volunteers - Team Shingetsu

[Corrobin]

Just now, shadowofchaos said:

Those aren't in a convertible format.

You are better off switching over to FEXP if you actually want to use that music.

I'm. Not. The. Musician. I. Don't. Know. What. You. Mean.

[Erren]

And I’m not an expert when it comes to that. I fucking did my best. 

But you can see this game for yourself when the demo is released by Valentines Day. 

[ChaoticHoundoom]

This whole thing from the start to now is a mess. You've presented not much to us unless asked and shown that maybe you don't know all the stuff you need to know about FE hacking as you should. I said before that taking a step back and regroup. Once you have a bigger and cleaner presentation for us, come back with the idea. Right now as is, no one is really interested because you look disorganized from presentation to answering our questions.

[Zane Avernathy]

4 hours ago, Erren said:

But you can see this game for yourself when the demo is released by Valentines Day. 

Setting a goal is a good idea!

Be sure to read all of the documentation that you can. Give this entire section of the forum a read, especially the resources and questions subforums. Be sure to check out FEUniverse.us, too, which houses a lot of technical info. I don't know exactly what you guys might have read, so I'm going to dump some common resources here as a starting point.

Blazer's Ultimate Tutorial

This is one of the most common starting points for GBAFE hackers. It's pretty old and uses outdated tech/methods, but is certainly a good starting point for figuring out how to work with GBAFE. Please note that the ideas, not the techniques are important. Tools and programs have changed.

Arch's advice for hackers

Big names talk big ideas here. Read this.

Unified FE Hacking DB

This is the wizards' playground. Although most of this isn't particularly useful for newcomers, there's a Toolbox folder containing a lot of common tools. This DB also has plenty of ASM, doc, and musings from talented people.

I'm not about to go link the entire Resources subforum, but you should probably check it out.

 

[Erren]

22 minutes ago, Zane Avernathy said:

Setting a goal is a good idea!

Be sure to read all of the documentation that you can. Give this entire section of the forum a read, especially the resources and questions subforums. Be sure to check out FEUniverse.us, too, which houses a lot of technical info. I don't know exactly what you guys might have read, so I'm going to dump some common resources here as a starting point.

Blazer's Ultimate Tutorial

This is one of the most common starting points for GBAFE hackers. It's pretty old and uses outdated tech/methods, but is certainly a good starting point for figuring out how to work with GBAFE. Please note that the ideas, not the techniques are important. Tools and programs have changed.

Arch's advice for hackers

Big names talk big ideas here. Read this.

Unified FE Hacking DB

This is the wizards' playground. Although most of this isn't particularly useful for newcomers, there's a Toolbox folder containing a lot of common tools. This DB also has plenty of ASM, doc, and musings from talented people.

I'm not about to go link the entire Resources subforum, but you should probably check it out.

 

Thank you. I will look into it

 

[shadowofchaos]

11 hours ago, Corrobin said:

I'm. Not. The. Musician. I. Don't. Know. What. You. Mean.

To Clarify:

Your team *WILL NOT* be able to use that. Music in the typical format (aka files that record *ALL of the sound*) do not work with the GBA. This was to conserve space in the hardware. That music is, effectively, useless.

Edited December 13, 2017 by shadowofchaos

[Corrobin]

Well then, we'll just have to find a way to convert it.

[shadowofchaos]

9 hours ago, Corrobin said:

Well then, we'll just have to find a way to convert it.

There is no way to convert it.

What I am saying is that you are creating assets without first doing planning. What your team is doing a headstrong "we'll wing it" approach attempting to recruit help.

What I am saying is that your team's entire approach is lacking in structure when attempting to pitch it to the community. And I am majorly highlighting it with this very one example about the music aspect of Fire Emblem no one on your team attempts to even listen to.

There is no conversion from actual audio to the synthesized music format.

Any work you put towards it is useless. You have to remake it using a MIDI file.

As in REMAKE it from scratch. And that's not even getting into quality deterioration.

What I suggest is making an actual project file listing everything you need. Not just making a general set of things you think you need. And before you even waste effort creating assets, find out what particular and absolutely LIMITING restrictions the GBA has.

 

Because hoo boy, the hardware is way harsher than I can ever be. Take a step back and reevaluate what the community has said.

Even to the point of thinking of switching to a different engine (like FEXP) that makes insertion of assets easier. You wouldn't have to deal with MIDIs.

If I had the guts to say "we'll just find a way to convert it" and was able to back that up at my dayjob... I'd be making a hell of a lot more.

Edited December 13, 2017 by shadowofchaos

[Shin]

Converting to MIDI is pretty bad, it will struggle with anything than's not monophonic. MIDI is essentially a set of instructions for a set of instruments, the software that does exist won't be able to pick out which sounds belong to each instrument. Unless you've composed things originally with a MIDI output, everything would need to be re-written from scratch. There's also the question of the quality of the music you've produced. If you're going to end up having to rewrite it, it may be an idea to try and develop the pieces a little more!

[Erren]

Figures. Of course, we could use other music and give credit to where they're from.

[Erren]

And here is some of the artwork so far, thanks to: Jack, Giselle, and Bai (chinese name on Discord)

[Erren]

Its progress but Codings going to be a problem with how little coders we have.

[Erren]

For those following this thread, as many of you could have found out on Amazon, Reddit, or any other page, there is a Nintendo Direct coming up, and, if the leaks were found to be true, this project will be abandoned. However, if it is far from that, the project will continue.

[Erren]

Of course, due to the holidays, we will have to push this back to nearly late spring, early summer.

[Mysticblade]

Q. If Hawkatana is the project lead, why has he never posted in the thread? It seems like either you or Corrobin are in charge. 

Also, I still have no clue what you mean by coders and I doubt the people reading this thread are certain either.

[shadowofchaos]

On 1/8/2018 at 7:05 AM, Mysticblade said:

Also, I still have no clue what you mean by coders and I doubt the people reading this thread are certain either.

At this point, I'm just wondering if any assets are even in the game.

[Corrobin]

A coder is... get this... someone who can CODE.

I know, it's really hard to understand, but we all went through that phase.

[Tequila]

Code what, though? Assembly? Do events? Make animation scripts? All of those could conceivably be thought of as "coding"*.

*Actually the latter two are more "scripting". Assembly hacking could be considered coding, but at this point you really don't need those.

[Zane Avernathy]

I know this is really hard to understand, but different types of "coders" aren't useful in the same ways when making a project.

Someone who knows THUMB assembly
Someone who knows Python
Someone who knows 65816
Someone who knows C, C+, etc
Someone with experience using GBAFE's engine(s)
Someone who does RPGMaker scripts
etc.

all do very, very different things. Are you looking for some type of programmer? Someone who can write events? Do you need some kind of external tool made? Don't get defensive, get specific.

It sounds like you don't know anything at all about what you need.

[Corrobin]

Well, we're working on FE8, if that helps. Eventers would greatly help, as is anyone experienced with map creation.

Edited February 1, 2018 by Corrobin

[InvdrZim13]

On 2/1/2018 at 4:52 PM, Corrobin said:

Well, we're working on FE8, if that helps. Eventers would greatly help, as is anyone experienced with map creation.

You're going to have an easier time if one of your people learn to event. Most everyone who can event is working on their own thing already. Anyone can learn how to do it.

[Gaado]

On 2/1/2018 at 4:52 PM, Corrobin said:

Well, we're working on FE8, if that helps. Eventers would greatly help, as is anyone experienced with map creation.

This sounds like you are trying to get experienced people to do most of the leg work for you. Coming up with ideas and making sprites, while requiring a time investment, don't really help with building a functional game. 

A decade ago I was a part of 'designing' an FE fangame. All of us were either sprite artists, map designers, or writers. We had the vast majority of the game script written, sprites edited, and maps designed. Despite this, none of us knew how to put any of these assets into a ROM by hacking. None of us even understood the bare minimum outside of editing stats in Nightmare. Despite all of the designing put into the game, we probably had completed less than a third of the work a fully-functioning game would require. And because none of us knew how to implement our design work into a game engine, no one knew how to manage what would make the game cut and what would not. 

Like many of the individuals in this thread, I implore you and your group to at least look into the basic concepts that go into eventing and map insertion. It is a lot of trial and error. Even if you do not want to personally engage in those activities if this hack sees the light of day, it will give you the perspective of what kind of work load a prospective volunteer might be expected to accomplish, as well as the foresight to see what designs may be more difficult than expected to implement. 

You probably have some of the main characters statt'd out and a basic script written - or something close to it. Try and make a simple map, even if it is not what you would intend to put into the final draft. Get a prototype chapter 1 out there - even if it has issues, starting from there might get the attention of more advanced hackers to help you with what problems you encounter with implementation.

[Corrobin]

Well, to be completely and utterly fair, we do have a bit of a leg up on you-we have one or two guys who can do that. We'd just like more, to make it easier.