I’m going to have a lot of free time this winter and decided that I wanted to make a rom hack, and why hack any other game than fe8? Then I realized from past experience that that is a lot of work so I want to get some additional hands to help out.
This is a project for beginners, I thought calling out group of scrappy young rom hackers who want to test their mettle on something other than chapter 1 of a rom following along to tutorials would be most fun. Why not come join me and make a rom with a group?
You would be assigned to a particular area to focus on but responsibilities can and will vary based on what it is needed, and everything will be needed! Script writing, cutscene eventing, music creating/importing, sprite art, stat calculating, map making, you name it and it can absolutely be done. No matter how mediocre it turns out to be, just doing it is enough to gain experience.
No matter how low your own experience or skill it is all okay in my book. I personally have created three reskins, two unique scripts, and two standalone chapter roms. Would not call myself an expect in anything but I know my way around FEBuilder GBA.
If you’re still interested view the details below:
Summary
This rom would be mainly created in FEBuilder GBA due to convenience
I already have a basic plot for the story I need to plan out everything between the beginning and the end
While the end product will not be perfect it does need to work
Characters in the story will be created for the plot as needed and none will be added in because you want to put in your OC
There will be a discord used a central hub for information and task allotment
I will technically be in charge and any disputes will be settled and decided by me, this also applies to the possibility of removing someone from the team should a problem arise
You can very easily quit the team at any time, but it would be preferred if you would finish any task assigned to you before leaving. (Your name would still be in the credits.)
Requirements
Basic rom hacking understanding recommended but not required
Ample access to rom hacking tools (FEBuilder GBA, Usenti, Sappy, etc.)
A moderately decent internet connection
Enough free time to participate (Don’t ruin your friendships for this)
Everything Decided for the Rom
It’s a fire emblem game so the main character is a princess
Youngest of three siblings and the only girl
Take back kingdom from evil invaders (obviously)
A lot of Gaidens that need to be completed to get the true ending ala FE6
The main lord is an archer, because ballistas cool
Roughly 20 main game chapters
Interested in Participation
Fill out the form linked below
I will get back to you on 12/9/2019
If you submit a response passed 12/9/2019 I will get back to you in a timely manner
I don’t think any talented people would show up without any signs of progress or some sort of monetary compensation. This does seem cut above your generic everyday concept thread though, so good luck. Looking forward to wherever this goes.
I am actually really bad at hacking, so I do not know how much I can help, but I filled the form because I want to help regardless. I can at least help with choosing or possibly creating some assets(bad at pixeling, but depends on what is needed) and with the script by suggesting a few things and testreading the script once it is finished
I wouldn’t expect anyone of actual high skill to volunteer either, so the beginner approach is way more realistic. Thank you for your appraisal though, and I’ll be sure to update the thread whenever any actual milestone is achieved. Hope to see your critiques in the future.
That’s all I could ever ask for. When it comes to customizing a rom hack building the script is always the longest part for me so any help in that area is much appreciated.
As for the visual assets I wouldn’t set your standards on how the rom has to look too highly, my pixeling ability basically comes down to just being able to splice relatively efficiently so your ability is more than adequate.
I’ll be sure to get back to you in the coming days, more specifically the 9th.
There’s also the matter of:
What are you looking for help with, exactly?
Everything isn’t a great answer, so - what are you going to do yourself?
How do you plan to wrangle a collaborative project with FEBuilder?
Fantastic question, I would be personally interested in getting help with both script writing and script implementation. As well as extra hands when it comes to making the actual maps each chapter takes place on, and help creating character sprites as there are many of them. Then enemy placement too, because that is a lot of maps to antagonize.
The area I am the least confident in is actually eventing cut scenes, with the on map movement and such.
I will be mainly be working on the script writing and map and unit creation. Making sprites, maps, and enemy placement due to the volume of those tasks.
As for the FEBuilder collaboration, I assume you are referring to how multiple peoples work will eventually be put onto one rom. The answer to that comes in that all start and ending chapter events can be easily exported and imported within FEBuilder so those files can be shared between people very easily. This includes the events for talk, village, recruitment conversations. It’s not all easy with the actual conditions behind these events can’t be copied over easily, but I know enough about temporary flags and range conditions that after receiving all of the events I can implement them all back in properly.
In short, by assigning chapter specific tasks (I.E. Map building, new sprites appearing in that chapter, and chapter dialogue) everyone will be obviously split into different tasks. Then after completing what is assigned exporting it and sending it over dropbox, or screenshotting FEBuilder specific stats. (I.E. Base stats and ability boxes)
The basic plan would be to finish by the end of January, or at least the way I’m planning it out ends by January 31 2020. This is of course not set in stone but the absolute latest I would want to take would be the end of February.
I personally have 0 capability for hacking (I tried, and failed miserably). What I do like though is playing FE hacks. way more than the original games in fact. I’m rooting for you Midias. Can’t wait to play your hack. Also, I can help a little with proofreading the script if needed
Welcome to FEU! The idea of beginners collaborating on a project to learn from experience sounds excellent, but I can’t help but feel like there’s a red flag:
I don’t think this is a good idea for your project. You’re going to be putting in a lot of extra work for something that players may not even see, or the game will go to lengths to let them know it exists and since Fire Emblem players are perfectionists the side chapters will essentially just be padding for the chapter list. Someone who typically plays a fan game/mod will only play it once, even if it’s the kind of person who plays vanilla FE games over and over. Whether or not they are a perfectionist, they won’t be getting the “you get the bad ending, then you replay the game a year later when you’re bored and you get the good ending” experience that, say, FE6 has.
Since you’re trying to recruit beginners for this, I would highly recommend shortening the planned game length in general, but more than that I think you should focus on completing the main game first while leaving room to add side quests later. Imagine you end up with four people (including yourself) working on this project, and you each make two chapters. Yes, this is only eight chapters (ten if you count the side quests), but your story doesn’t need to be novel-length to have a compelling narrative. You don’t need to do the FE7 thing of introducing all the cool stuff at a drip-feed over 20 chapters to have interesting gameplay. There’s no need for a lengthy tutorial section because anyone playing this has already played Fire Emblem and knows the basics, and we don’t need to spend ten chapters fighting bandits at the beginning because we’ve all already done that before. If you’re afraid the stat balance/unit growth/etc will be out of wack, you can always change it as needed.
Several chapters that were well polished and had a lot of love put into them are a much more memorable experience than a bunch of bare-bones ones, and you can always make a sequel later. Since you want to make a collaboration project, you could even have a timetable of one chapter per week and still take under two months.
Having a lack of technical skill to actual edit the rom is not a bar to entry if you still want to help, non-editing skills like helping with the script and simply theory-crafting map design is helpful and does not require any skill with any program. If you do decide help out anyway I’m sure you can improve your ability passed 0.
Of course it is all up to you and I’ll keep you in mind for any post game testing.
Considering your experience on the matter I will take your words with great consideration, as changing the story size down to roughly 8 or 9 maps is very plausible. It will all come down the size of a workforce, but I do see it as possible that I this project will turn into a story the length of Lyn mode for example. I’ll be sure to put the ability to finish above all else.
I’m pretty interested in the future of this hack seems like a interesting premise. Sadly I won’t be able to help hacking as I am occupied with my own hack however I’ll be happy to play future betas/alpha stages of this hack.