Newbie here; will equire help at some point...

[Einachiel]

Hi folks!

I've always wanted to create a hack for SM :metroid:. That game changed my perception of video games, it was a turning point for the platformer genre.

Most of the hack I see always have the same Ceres Station start/Mother brain ending. How hard would it be to change this?

You see, I have a dream...

But let's not get too carried away at first; I need to understand the SMILE tool and experiment a bit.

See you around!

[PonchGaming]

Welcome Einachiel. You should introduce yourself on the introduce yourself thread: http://forum.metroidconstruction.com/index.php/topic,26.0.html

So, I think that there is a patch to skip ceres station, and you can change having mother brain to beat ending, but i would recommend looking through the forums for it.

[Mettyk25jigsaw]

I think you could probably edit the rooms in Ceres (excluding The elevator shaft and ridleys room) as much as your heart's desire and I am fairly certain you would be able to copy and add more rooms to ceres to make it longer and bigger and more exciting (once again, excluding same 2 rooms).

As for Motherbrain subject, well motherbrain herself is complicated to modify and I don't know if anyone has managed to heavily modify it other than maybe a little. However it is possible I believe to change which boss sets off the timer to end of game. I think I'm sure there is a patch you can use to do that, but not sure of it's location on here, may be on the main site, idk...

Good luck with your project...

EDIt:  OOps, someone just beat me

[Einachiel]

Is it possible to start from scratch? A very different storyline? A complete overhaul?

[Quietus]

Yes, pretty much anything is possible, providing you put in enough work. Some hacks have already done wonders. Check out the Hacks page. :^_^:

I'm also fairly certain that skipping Ceres is a case of ticking one box in SMILE - most hacks do this nowadays, having you start at your ship.

[Zero One]

If you want to start from scratch, then I highly suggest my personal favourite patch, Squishy's Template Patch. Removes all rooms, tilesets, palettes and any information relating to item/enemy placement and door connections. From there, import your own tilesets and palettes and start building rooms. Though, it's certainly not the easiest thing to do, especially if you haven't done much work with Super Metroid. You'll certainly need to learn how to add in new door data, set up the door pointers, add and expand new rooms; a lot of stuff. But it does give you quite a bit of freedom.

[begrimed]

For a loftier project like that, you're looking at easily years of work, maybe more if you're busy in your day-to-day life. Only a few people have ever made changes to the cinematic aspect of the game like you're wanting, and probably not nearly to the scope that you're imagining.

Y'see, we don't actually have all of the contents of the ROM 100% mapped out yet either, and in general we're pretty slow to evolve. You're gonna have to learn and grow along with us for a long-ass time before your dream ends up loaded into our emulators. Always good to have another person along for the ride.

[Einachiel]

For a loftier project like that, you're looking at easily years of work, maybe more if you're busy in your day-to-day life. Only a few people have ever made changes to the cinematic aspect of the game like you're wanting, and probably not nearly to the scope that you're imagining.

Y'see, we don't actually have all of the contents of the ROM 100% mapped out yet either, and in general we're pretty slow to evolve. You're gonna have to learn and grow along with us for a long-ass time before your dream ends up loaded into our emulators. Always good to have another person along for the ride.

What!? but I want it to be fast...LOL Dont worry, I've got time on myside right now...

[Einachiel]

Now Step one: SMILE, where should I start? How does it work? Saw that there's a few vids on the main site, currently watching them, trying to figure out what's what...

Any suggestions/reading?

[Quietus]

Person701's guide is usually pointed out first. There's also the old FAQ. Once you're done with those, it's best to just get fiddling in the editor. Assume you're going to break a few ROMs, then start fresh. Once you're done with that, there are tonnes of guides available for more specific things. You can also jump on IRC and bombard people with questions. Details for this are on the main site. Happy hacking! :^_^:

[begrimed]

There's also SMILE RF and part 1 of its documentation.