New to this awesome community. Tips for creating hacks/mod?

[sumaS]

I've been playing a bunch of your hacks and I am having a blast. Escape, Lost World, ZERO, Hyper, Kaizo (Good god..). I downloaded SMILE but it is super intimidating. Is there any other programs you all use or is this the standard and/or best to go about creating something? anything would help like suggestions, youtube vids etc. Thank you and applause to everyone in this community. I feel like a kid again.

[nodever2]

Welcome to the community!
The current version of SMILE that is most up to date is SMILE RF, which is what most recommend using:
DOWNLOAD (see SMILE RF tab): http://sadiztyk.metroidconstruction.com/
Text guide for SMILE RF by begrimed: http://metroidconstruction.com/SMMM/
YouTube tutorials for SMILE 2.5 (an outdated version of SMILE, but still good info nonetheless) by MetroidMST: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtl4l889h2MjzLOt-1zlfcFehwQ79DEol

There are also new tools being made that will manage your freespace and pointers and such for you (which are not referenced at all in the above guides/tutorials). The one that's been released longer is SMART:
DOWNLOAD: http://forum.metroidconstruction.com/index.php/topic,3895.0.html
Guide: http://wiki.metroidconstruction.com/doku.php?id=super:editor_utility_guides:smart

Best of luck, and happy reading  :wink:

[sumaS]

This is awesome information. Exactly what I needed, dude! Thanks for the response! Ill get to it

[alexman25]

Also be sure to keep your eye on new up and coming programs such as SMART and Tourian Directory. They're not quite there yet, but they're on the way to replacing SMILE from what I've heard.

[dewhi100]

#1 tip for creating a hack is don't ask people to make your hack.

Second tip is start small. Otherwise, your ambition will begin to intimidate you until you burn out.

Good luck!