Today I’d like to take my own crack at an effort post on design arcs.
I’m going to be talking about more or less like the mindset for how I’ve learned to hack vs what I thought I needed to do when I hacked. Originally I tried typing something out that was a lot more specific to my hack and funny takeaways I had, but I realize how many could be generalized to a much more applicable scale instead of “niche interactions I had to adapt to”
For context my hack can be reduced to a gimmicky double dancer FE6 fanfic hack (I am working with fe8 thankfully), but that’s not the focus of this design arc. These thoughts are ideals I believe can be transferred to anyone.
1. You ultimately don’t know what your project is going to end up as
Originally, my hack was supposed to be a mini hack. It was going to teach me the ropes prevent me from learning to mugging which I used to be scared for a bit longer. (Side note I still learned how to mug, it is just a very good skill to know regardless if you want to mostly use F2Us or whatever to fix frames or tweak something for an alt scene)
However, I realized I had stumbled into a unique circumstance that had capability of using such a large cast to my benefit. The ability to have an infinite move lord almost needs a large cast to justify not skipping side objectives. So I leaned into this. It took shape into something I didn’t intend, and had to sit down and plan out and restructure a lot of things.
Not to mention, I turned my jagen into someone I planned to be written out by the end of the 6th map into the deuteragonist of the plot. It took soul-searching and backtracking in my writing… it made everything else better than someone occasional chiming into the plot but isn’t allowed to advance it because they could be dead. I do not regret it for a second.
Am I perhaps less planned and more free formed than other hackers? I presume so. However, I don’t think that should take away from the idea you need to religiously stick to your guideline. Your guideline can always be revised.
Never throw out a good idea because it might be tedious. You may just regret it for ages otherwise.
2. Taking vs Adapting isn’t a 1 to 1 process
When I started Ballad of the Bard I knew my system was messed up. Not because my hack is designed around two dancers, but because I had process’d of eliminated my way into having a somewhat speedy combat jagen that dodgetanked too well by having access to two weapon types.
In my head, I went to think how Four Kings (the first hack I had beaten and used as a reference frequently) handled this for the most part by giving everyone +5 skill and strength bases to roughly every class to help check it’s rogue jagen. When I started out, I only knew how to think in black and white terms of what I did and didn’t want out of another hack. This absolutely was a good short term idea for both reliable hit rates and threatening combat to the combat footie jagen. (Almost more centralizing than the bardtrain mechanic, but that’s not the focus here.)
Only after like over a solid year into my hack did I realize that these systems have their own strengths and weaknesses specific to the context of their source material. Four Kings is a unique hack that has a very unique midgame where the progression of your player units and enemies slow down massively due to the route split having you jump back and forth between totally separate armies. This format struggles under more traditional enemy scaling.
So ultimately, I reverted and tweaked a lot of class bases to accommodate my needs instead. I buffed weapon hit rates and nerfed the avoid formula as well because I realized for this fangame. I wanted a very reliable setting to prevent my fragile lords from being punished from a miss. The point is that I could have done anything only by realizing what I want out of my hack.
I think every hack is such a specific amalgamation of context that I think saying “this will never work” or “this is always a great addition” can be a bit of a misnomer if you can make it benefit other systems in place or if it goes against a core idea of your game.
3. Do not stop taking in forms of inspiration
This is ultimately a follow-up to points 1 and 2, but I think it still needs to be said.
Play other hacks, super polished [COMPLETE] projects, someone’s first ever short demo and everything in between.
This can def extend to more than just hacks obviously, to become a fire emblem romhacker you do not need to forsake every other form of media out there. I do think however, contrasting yourself primarily to other fire emblem fangames (or mainline games you aren’t super familar with) can help you think critically about how things are done in another project and how you want to adapt or avoid that. Once you’re more familiar with hacking you can def go further at being more ambitious for stripping away or questioning what is like “Fire Emblem”. Shoutouts Sigmaraven’s S72 + Dies and KrashBoomBang’s Dream Spirit.
Not to say. “Obviously throw out everything because you saw how [insert popular hack here] handled [weapon usage] and decide your hack’s entire weapon design philosophy suddenly needs to be uprooted from scratch to accommodate this system.” I personally believe having an open mind that your structure isn’t 100% unchanging until you decide the hack is [Complete] and you might discover something that helps tie together a lot of concepts you already were working on.
4. Asking for help is a great thing
On surface this is a very obvious thing because:
“Duh yeah it helps your project get finished!”
But no, being open to receiving help and eventually paying it back is sincerely how I started some extremely close friends who have gone on to shape a lot of my hack/how I think of hacking.
If you take the time to ask for help and get those who do play your hack, help clean up a mug, or import some music for you? Show your sincere appreciation. Everyone who is helping you is another person dedicating their time towards another FE fan’s work. Please listen to their feedback closely. Observe how they did things. Don’t be scared to ask for more detail. They’re kind enough to go this far, they won’t mind talking a bit more. You don’t always have to agree with what they say, but you should try to understand their perspective on the matter.
Not to mention, the more you learn in response by trying new things even if you need help, the more you can share these skills with others and find other indebted to you.
…to which you can guilt trip/trick some poor new sap into playing your hack obviously. That’s why you should put on a kind face
If there’s anything to take away from what I’ve written is to not be scared to pop into FEU discord and politely ask for help for anything you might be struggling on.