The Process of Making a Great Hack

[Chozunsda]

Hey all. Recently I have not been hacking much, but i was wondering how alot of the hackers here plan out there level design and such.

Right now im just changing around Pallets and just doing redesigns of the landing site and nearby rooms, but whats the process of area design that you go through? Do you just make it up as you go and leave unconnected doors to work with later, plan the whole area in advance and troubleshoot as needed, or somewhere in between? Also if someone has some sort of general metroid map planner that would be pretty useful.

[begrimed]

There's no set methodology for making a good hack. You just do it. If you're good at what you do, then it will be a good hack.

Some use graphing paper, some don't. Some draw up 'skeletons' of a room before they add details and slopes, some don't. Some change the palettes right away, others wait and do it later. Hopefully you get the idea.

[Scyzer]

My method (which allows for creativity with rooms while avoiding map room placement fraks), is to draw a map in the map editor first, before doing anything. I only draw the maps for 1 area at a time, so maps don't overlap unless intended. Then once I have a basic map done, I build a room from scratch that fits into the map somewhere.

When I build a room, I miake sure there is NOTHING in there to start with. This allows for complete creativity, instead of being tempted to cheat and use existing formations (something a lot of starters do). When I've built that room, I move on to one adjacent to it. By methodically building adjacent rooms, you can make sure the game flows through areas, without having dratic changes in room design that is present in the original SM. That's just my opinion though. I'm sure some people like the drastic changes :P

[Blarget2]

that is some amazing advice. better then what i do.
usally i dont even go into the map editor untill i finish the whole area.
what i do is i always work on the main room 1st by erasing the whole thing. then i would make a new palette and/or new tiles. then make the room. then i would find a random medium size room and empty that one for the next room... etc etc.

when it comes to expanding the rom for space for adding new rooms, im a newb.

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Possibly similar to what Fish was referring to, but sometimes I look at other rooms to get an idea when I'm drawing a blank on some detail or piece of a map that's giving me trouble. Even if it's a room using different tilesets, as sometimes I can get an idea for the tileset that I am using from looking at other stuff. An example might be looking at Maridia to get an idea for what I might do with the Crateria's watery tiles. But that's more to do with my I get ideas in general.

I often draw ideas from all kinds of other references. I can get ideas watching movies, reading books, playing other video games, and then put them towards something I'm working on even if all they did was inspire me to come up with something new or give me an idea for working something I saw into what I'm working on at some level. I might point out that I have a harder time drawing without a reference than I do without, unless I've got a good idea in my eye and can picture it really well. I have trouble getting ideas from my head to whatever without a lot of effort and even then it doesn't always look right.

I also like to think of a theme for what I'm doing, unless there's some kind of underlying storyline at work, but even then having some theme or concept or idea for a given area or map is helpful in deciding how you want it to look. But the bit about underlying storyline could give you ideas for details or other aspects.

[FullOfFail]

As Grime already stated: There is no one set method. Everybody has their own techniques and that's part of what makes each hack unique.

What I did is went ahead and reconnected all the rooms and set up the whole game's map. As soon as I'd enter a room I nuke it and re-attach the doors as needed. I then proceed to add the layer 2 and change the pointers and all that good extra stuff. A good amount of my rooms are skeletons at this point.

But if you're resizing rooms you may want to reconnect the rooms as you design them. Any pallet/tile changes probably should be done beforehand. As to you'd just be fixing up the previous rooms you made that has messed up tiles.

What makes a good hack? That's subjective. But I'd say nice aesthetic details along with fun puzzles. Try to put certain items in difficult spots, but give hints so it won't be too obscure. Put yourself in the player's shoes.

[Hiroshi Mishima]

I didn't see the bit about "what makes a good hack", sorry. For me, one of the aspects of a good hack is that it keeps the difficulty level subjective to that of Super Metroid itself. It's okay to be a little harder or a little easier. You'll be more likely to get the largest positive response by ensuring that more people can play it, which is partly what made Redesign one of those "love it/hate it" hacks since not everyone could play it even when they wanted to. You're free to make it how you want, but just keep in mind that not everyone who loves to play Super Metroid is a TASer and a lot of us can't pull off some of the insane tricks such as infinite bomb jumping, mockball or quick speed charge.

[FullOfFail]

 

I didn't see the bit about "what makes a good hack", sorry.

I don't think anybody asked what makes a good hack, I just threw it in there. Kinda fits along with the title though.

[personitis]

infinite bomb jumping

Pfff, that's not hard. lol.

Whenever I decide to do anything hacking wise, I start broad. Take the game area by area. So for example, Crateria. Then, I'll use graph paper usually due to the fact I can get comfortable in other places besides the computer and let my creative juices flow. But with graph paper, I'll make the map of the area which will outline where rooms where be. If I happen to get a cool idea for something, I'll grab a piece of paper and jot the idea down. Then when it comes to rooms I take the room screen by screen after it's wiped clean and enemies and PLMs are off or out of the way. This let's me focus on what screen to stop/change at and keeps me less focused how I want a long stretch of tiles will look. I've always found that randomness at times produces great detail. ^-^ Then I'll proceed to connect with another nearby room and start the process over. Also when doing a map I keep item progression in mind.

What makes a great hack though has a simple answer: hard work and dedication.

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Pfff, that's not hard. lol.

Says someone who seems capable of doing it. This is exactly the kind of thinking you don't want to go into making a hack with unless you intend for it to be a hack designed towards people who can pull off tricks or do super speed runs and so forth. I personally cannot Infinite Bomb Jump, although I can occasionally pull off Mochballing from time to time but it isn't consistent. I can do a form of Quick Charge, but it still requires a fair amount of room. Actually, I have trouble just doing 2-3 Bomb Jumps. Have always had trouble with it in Super Metroid, to be honest, though I can sometimes pull it off, but rarely.

[begrimed]

Oh, since I didn't explain how I do it in my first post, here goes.

I don't really stick to one method. Sometimes I do what FoF mentioned and have 3-4 empty rooms in a row that are the size I want, then build those up with or maybe without the 'skeleton'. Sometimes I erase everything completely and build from scratch, or back to rooms I've already made, copy chunks of the level design, then place them in the new room modify things so they're not really recognizable - this is usually what leads to really large tile tables. I don't usually bother with the map editor until a room's done, so I know the size and shape of a room. I don't invest a lot into maps; they're very vague. Tells the player where Samus has and hasn't gone. All the player needs to know.

Oh, but I do almost always save the layer 2 backgrounds for last. And I don't start building until after I've repointed the level data so I'm not worrying about size restrictions.

[Chozunsda]

Yeah I guess the title was abit off. Pretty much what I was looking for was what you the hackers do individually, to get some advice. I don't have a bunch of free time that i devote to hacking and when I do hack I often get lost in my own map. This is all good advice and thanks for all the replies!

[spoiler=A wittle bit of offtopic advice]Also a note on complicated tricks mockballing is like riding a bike, once you figure it out you do it without even thinking about it, but i do agree that learning that one can be really frustrating especially on a keyboard. For learning IBJ I recommend starting by learning how to do it out of a jump. Morph like 2/3 of the way up and drop a bomb immediately, when you fall back to that bomb drop another right as it hits you, and after that keep dropping them each time you get to the last bomb. Honestly I would only incorporate these tricks for early missiles or maybe some 100% stuff. [/spoiler]

[Hiroshi Mishima]

In my case I can't do stuff like Infinite Bomb Jump because I have trouble keeping time in my head. Possibly a side effect of the Tourette Syndrome, or something, I dunno.. it's just something I've always had no luck with. I may be able to do it for a couple seconds at best but then lose track. I'm not good with rhythms/patterns even when I recognize them. Hence for me, something like infinite bomb jump is pretty much impossible.

Mochballing I can pull off in certain rooms. For instance I can do mochballing pretty much consistently in Super Metroid normally, but in hacks I find I have more difficulty because I just can't get the right spot or height, or whatever it is down very well. I suppose others would find an easier time, but for me a lot of technical stuff can be hard to do, even though I still consider myself a decent player and can go through the games fairly quickly.

[Lunaria]

The biggest skills needed to make a great hack is as following:

Patience,
Dedication,
and lastly, a good idea.

Everything else comes with time as soon as you start to hack. There is not "right" or "best" way in terms of making your hack.

[MetroidMst]

I pretty much have used all of the points brought up already. One other thing I try to do is make sure the room looks nothing like they did originally. I even change the 1*1 save rooms pretty dramatically so the player won't be sure exactly if it was a save room in the first place.

This is my hack, and I don't want it to be seen as "another Super Metroid." I want it to feel and look different.

[Digital_Mantra]

I light several candles around the computer area and put on some ambient music.
I then put on a silk kimono and light a cigarette.
Now here's where things get weird.
I look at the screen of an empty room for several hours, meditating on how it should look.
I then slice open a piece of my cranium and rub my brain juice all over the monitor.
Room finished.

[Quietus]

I light several candles around the computer area and put on some ambient music.
I then put on a silk kimono and light a cigarette.
Now here's where things get weird.
I look at the screen of an empty room for several hours, meditating on how it should look.
I then slice open a piece of my cranium and rub my brain juice all over the monitor.
Room finished.

I believe every word, apart from the kimono.

I map my hack out on paper, in its core form.  No joining rooms or anything, just where the item progression will take you.  I then pick the room which is the heart of my hack.  What I mean is I always feel like 'this is my hack idea', and it always centres around it, so I'd start with THAT room.

After that, I basically go room by room, so that I get a consistent feel.  When creating rooms, I grab just one tile, something fairly obvious, and splurge it in the rough shape of the room.  Once I've got the shape done, then I can look into edging stuff properly, and adding detail.

[JAM]

Very valuable information! Thanks you all!

My 2 cents.

Think of item progression (especially if you have new items). You must do it if your hack is linear and should do it in other case.

As for new items, think of certain places where you can pass only having this item or using the special trick (mockball etc.) without this item.

Example: Mach Ball item from Project Base.
When having it you can pass horizontal morph ball tunnels with floor made of crumble blocks and break speed blocks in such (and regular) tunnels.
If you can perform mockball / speedball trick, you can do a sequence break and pass these tunnels without Mach Ball item.