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Hack Competition (discussion on themes, guidelines, etc.)

Started by Salanewt, 17, February, 2016, 05:43:21 PM

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Salanewt

An idea I had after some chatbox chatter; in order to inspire others to hack, we should hold a competition!

Basically, people could either work by themselves or in small groups to create their own hack within a certain time period, and then they can all be released at the end of the work period and played by each other to decide on a winner.

Still working out how this should work though. I was thinking that March and April would be pretty good "work" months, leaving June as a month where everyone can try them out before a poll opens to pick a winner.

Thoughts? Should there be any guidelines and/or restrictions on the kinds of hacks to be made, or should there only be basic points of advice to start with? Registration process?
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

Hmm..
@Time periods - Well months is a good option, however, not all of them have the same number of days, so we could even things out by doing it in weeks... i.e. 8 weeks of work, 3 weeks of play... (Maybe allot 3 days per hack? Plus an extra week?)

@Registration - Sort of think all we'd really need is just a number of people (5+ groups?) to say they'll do the competition... and then anyone else can join as they feel. (Or something.)

And 5+ groups will mean that 1st place/Gold, 2nd place/Silver, 3rd place/Bronze will have special meaning in a way. (But also in case someone decides to drop out.)
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

Salanewt

Could just make it the end of April? 4+ people could work at the very least, and if only a few people join then I can also participate.

As for winner, I was thinking that there could be some kind of badge (with Kain's support) for it. But at the same time participation may be too low to justify that.
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

End of April is fine... More or less was offering a suggestion... Works for those who plan their progress in weeks, probably...

Or... Assuming we can even figure out how it'd work, we could start with miniature hacks to see if this would even work at all? Since I am not quite sure...(Call it a practice round if you want)... Since that period of time can also be used to think about how to optimize the competition...

I thought about badges too... I also thought about a consolation one for those who participated in general... But umm.... probably doesn't matter.

So what exactly would this hack competition be about? (As far as guidelines and restrictions go.) Hmm...

For right now (at least until there's more info), I have decided not to count myself in the 4 people... even if for some reason I do decide to do this later. (Can't say yet.)
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

javi3

me parece muy buena idea

lo primero de todo, perdonarme por mi idioma ya que en ingles no me expreso bien y no quiero confundiros así no me entendéis hacérmelo saber.

es muy buena idea señor squirtle ya que la competencia siempre es buena y podemos avanzar bastante.

pero yo a lo que me refería es a intentar hacer nuestro propio proyecto "golden sun".

esta claro que necesitamos un motor gráfico estable y manejable ( no se como estará open golden sun)

pero lo demás lo tenemos todo

- editar y manejar gráficos y comandos
- nivelar estadísticas y personajes
- escribir nuevo guion para posible nuevo juego

yo sueño con un proyecto así que se podría llevar incluso a Android o Ios sin demasiado problema! y dar a conocer a mas gente esta gran serie y esta gran comunidad que sois todos vosotros.
se que lo que pido es una responsabilidad muy grande y muchas horas de trabajo , pero bueno lo mejor de todo es que si algo tenemos todos aquí en común es que nos encanta golden sun!!
saludos a todos y vuelvo a disculparme por el idioma( si alguien quiere traducirme adelante.)

dive_darkness

Quote from: javi3 on 18, February, 2016, 07:01:48 AM
me parece muy buena idea

lo primero de todo, perdonarme por mi idioma ya que en ingles no me expreso bien y no quiero confundiros así no me entendéis hacérmelo saber.

es muy buena idea señor squirtle ya que la competencia siempre es buena y podemos avanzar bastante.

pero yo a lo que me refería es a intentar hacer nuestro propio proyecto "golden sun".

esta claro que necesitamos un motor gráfico estable y manejable ( no se como estará open golden sun)

pero lo demás lo tenemos todo

- editar y manejar gráficos y comandos
- nivelar estadísticas y personajes
- escribir nuevo guion para posible nuevo juego

yo sueño con un proyecto así que se podría llevar incluso a Android o Ios sin demasiado problema! y dar a conocer a mas gente esta gran serie y esta gran comunidad que sois todos vosotros.
se que lo que pido es una responsabilidad muy grande y muchas horas de trabajo , pero bueno lo mejor de todo es que si algo tenemos todos aquí en común es que nos encanta golden sun!!
saludos a todos y vuelvo a disculparme por el idioma( si alguien quiere traducirme adelante.)


Anyone to translate ???


On another note... No idea how long it takes to build a hack, even a minor one which just change the texts in the dialogues.

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

I think Google Translate gives a fair good idea what he means. (The part where it says " golden sun will open" should be Open Golden Sun, I think? Basically keeping it not altered from the Spanish text.)

Basically, he says this is a good idea (even though this isn't what he meant.), and that he speaks in Spanish because it is easier for him to express himself... Edit again: The rest of what he says should actually go in a new topic.

Quote from: Google TranslateI think it's a good idea

first of all, forgive me for my language and in English I do not express myself well and do not want to confuse you and not let me know what I mean.

It is a good idea Mr. squirtle because competition is always good and can move a lot.

but what I meant is try to make our own project "golden sun".

it is clear that we need a stable and manageable graphics engine (not as golden sun will open)

the rest we have everything

- Edit and manage graphics and commands
- Level statistics and figures
- Write a new script for possible new game

I dream about a project that could even lead to Android or iOS without too much trouble! and to inform more people this great series and this great community that ye all.
I know I'm asking is a very big responsibility and many hours of work, but hey best of all is that if something we all here together is that we love golden sun !!
greetings to all and again I apologize for the language (if someone wants to translate for later.)
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

dive_darkness

Thanks for the translation ^^
I also want a full new hack (which changes the plot too). But nobody ever did it.


On another note: a contest is indeed a good way to get people moving. I'd maybe take part in one if it gets done.

zman9000

I don't have that great of an interest in hacking golden sun anymore for a few reasons. but something i've been thinking about is how no one has really made a full hack of the game yet.

Like nothing on the level of a rom hack even. as far as it has gone so far is just little changes to dialog, and small stat changes. Its clear that some people are making clear progress into other areas that would 'open' tons of things up to people that are interested in doing so, but its still going to take a while.

I like the idea for a competition, however i'm not sure how many people would be able to pull it off. There are a few people i'm sure would have great success with this, however most of the active people i'm not totally sure could pull it off.

This is just my two cents on this despite having little to no ability (or want) to join in.
Check my youtube channel out for lots of cool gaming related videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/xXzman9000Xx

Salanewt

Groovy! But yeah, plot hacks right now can work in a more minimal way due to the fact that maps and stuff are harder to change (barring compression issues with the text). Like, an abridged GS or a rewrite to make the characters have more personality to them should be pretty easy to do, but you're mostly still limited by the actual locations... which can be relocated if you know what you're doing. Should be up to the people making their hacks if they wish to do plot changes though.

Practice round: I like that idea if we can get people involved, although I was also considering the possibility of this competition laying out the groundwork for future competitions. So far it looks like there are 1-2 of us on board, so that's good.

I also thought of another idea, but I'm not too sure about it. Should the competition be open to hacks that were started before the competition period? That may make it easier for those who are currently working on hacks to enter because they won't have to start working on yet another hack to be eligible, but at the same time it can give them a time advantage over others. Not really sure at the moment which is better or worse.

Badges: Two badges? The winner(s) can get one or both badges, while the second badge is just a participation thing. How does this sound?

OpenGS: Maybe for a separate competition in the future, but the nice thing with ROM hacks is that you are forced to work within the confines of the actual game and GBA system engine, which one can certainly play with if they have the knowledge to do so. It's a different medium as well.


Zed: Those are definitely some good points, most of which could justify this competition idea not taking off if it gets to that. Still worth a little work to encourage others in my opinion. Plus, as an added bonus, there is some fairly detailed documentation for those willing to delve into code (that would most likely be linked in the first post of the actual topic for the competition). Now if this were a Superstar Saga hacking tourney... it isn't though, lol.
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

- 1 week later -

Well, you do realize it's very well possible to make a hack that removes the map compression altogether...  but the thing is you'd need to fix it for the other rooms as well.. For small hacks, compression certainly doesn't matter. Remember that (after removing the compression code) it's just as easy as copying the data as it appears in RAM to the right location in ROM. (if you're willing to deal with actually changing the indexes for each tile in memory viewer... or even making some type of in-game map editor, even...) - Should one of us even make a patch for this type of thing? - (Note that if removing compression, it might not work with Atrius's editor, though.)

As far as text editing goes... people still only using Atrius's Editor should note that there are these alternatives to getting by the char-to-char incompatibilities.
@Text Editing - Uncompressed
- You could use gstoolkit, but it might not work with Atrius's editor. (Unless I missed a check from a long time ago... but I doubt it.) Edit: Caledor in the next post says it works with Atrius's Editor.
@Text Editing - Compress with regenerated char tables
- You could use a version of my program I posted once. (Should still be compatible with Atrius's editor, I think.)
- Could use one made in Haskel that someone else built... (But not sure if it works with Atrius's editor or not... I don't see why not, though.)

So I was thinking about this for a short moment... and now I'm brought with a question? Do we even need it to be a hack vs. hack competition? Or just one hack where it is map vs. map or idea vs. idea? (Does not have to be a real or serious hack in the way that the Community hack may have been... but more of an experimental hack... so events could be all twisted/maybe even senseless and such... probably.)
1. - I'm thinking of map-based hacks... where each individual could work on ONE map, and not a whole hack... and then we can put all the maps together in the end... each map would have their own story and may or may not continue off from other maps and such. (Maybe similar to The Missing Stars SM64 hack.)
2. - Another idea is that people can submit their ideas for in-game events anonymously to you.. and you can list them out in a poll... Whose idea wins gets points to their name. And that's before the hacking part comes in... I have not worked out how the points could be distributed for the people putting the stuff in the game itself, though. (Maybe the hacker could give a description of exactly what they did, though.) - Anyone offering suggestions where those suggestions have a majority vote can also get additional points.
Both ideas put in the same hack could be judged after play-tested as well... so umm...
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

Caledor

I can confirm full compatibility between the editor and gs(tla)toolkit. As everyone probably already knows, i have the balance age mod ported on my Italian ROM and i use gstoolkit there, both on GS1 and TLA. Never had issues and never went back to the stupid text compression.

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

Thanks... thanks for the confirmation!

Stupid text compression?  :Sweat: But it does a good job at saving space... (And it is also simple enough to understand too... once you know how it works. Literally arranged so that the most frequent char combinations take the least amount of bits in the text data... That could even be 0 bits if there is only one combination starting with a certain letter. - So think of combinations like Qu/qu (in English). Heheh.) - I wouldn't say it is perfect, though.... I bet it could be compressed even further if one wanted to. :P (The char tables in the (U) version - most definitely... each "next char" has 4 redundant bits. - Well, its 12-bit... the char part is 8-bit, and the section part is 4-bit... but since there's only one "section".. the 4-bit isn't needed.)
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

Caledor

I never liked that cause editing text with the editor has always been a nightmare for me. For starters, some lines aren't shown (with the Italian game), then I couldn't use some words cause some char combinations were not valid, and finally it messed up my rom from time to time and i had to start all over again. The toolkit was nothing less than a blessing for me. Text editing made ridiculously easy from notepad, I could use all the words I wanted and (most important) no more screw-ups. BTW... who cares about space if ROMs can be expanded at will?

Also, there's the fact that being a hacker/modder, text compression is more often than not only a pain... Lol I don't want to understand how it works, I want to edit the actual lines!

Salanewt

Text compression: I would like it a lot if singular letters were also available to make most words valid, but it would seem that the game either doesn't have all of them or is inept at actually using them. Makes me wonder if this is the main reason why most characters constantly say things in 250+ words that can be covered in 50 or less, rather than the translators themselves being lacklustre. Probably some mix though.

One week/map: I guess, but a patch to fix it would also be necessary in case someone wants to make it compatible with the editor again. I have no plans for making such a patch at this time though.

Hack vs. hack: Not necessarily, but I brought up this idea because compilation hacks never seem to go anywhere on this site. Especially when you bring up: 3 (or 4) community hacks, at least 3-4 clan hacks, and the fact that every hack currently available was only made by a singular person. I mean, I like the idea. It's just a matter of actually getting people on board.

Points/events: For which?
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

Quotewho cares about space if ROMs can be expanded at will?
Only up to 32 MB for GBA ROMs... In that case, it'd be better if I did what I did with the Icon Compressor... (Notepad text to Compressed data... then easy manual insertion into ROM.)

---
Singular letters? Like if a string only included one letter... with the ones that regenerate char tables... that should definitely work. - The #1 thing to note is that how Atrius's editor works... since it doesn't regenerae the char tables, only char combos that were used in the original text would work. ALL those not used would not work.
The very first char in any text string is listed under the table for char 0x00.... Under that character, has every letter that can appear at the start of the line. - At the end of a sentence, the last character should also have 0x00 as a char.
Basically what I'm saying is that in the worst case scenario... With regenerated char tables, you can compress/decompress and still have what you had... but w/o regenerated char tables (Like Atrius's Editor), you'll be unable to compress.

I am 99.99% sure Camelot generated the char tables automatically and not manually... because they are ordered by frequency. (Node frequency first.) If you look up huffman, it is the same thing... (Except each letter having a table.)
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

leaf

Man, this idea came two years too late for me... This would've been a great motivator to work on GS hacks a few years ago, but at this point, I don't really have the time to work on one, and even if I did, that time would be better spent developing games from scratch.

Good luck to anyone that decides to participate.
[spoiler=quotes]
[9:00:50 PM] Randel Peltier: Ok...what did I do last night?
[9:01:19 PM] Kain: Something boring, repetitive, and lasted for about sixty seconds.
---
[10:45:08 AM] Salanewt: But yeah, the elemental phalluses are being... Stroked up by Saturos and co., and the energy will go towards... Mt. Muffin, where the Golden Climax will arise.
[7:28:42 PM] Salanewt: An added bonus is that Isaac and co. were trying to stop Saturos and co. because their beliefs state that Mt. Muffin should remain a virgin.
---
[9:54:21 PM] Randel Peltier: Guess the number in my head an you get to pick what I say. Number between 1-10
[9:54:28 PM] leaf: 11
[9:54:36 PM] Randel Peltier: @#$%!
---
[8:38:13 PM] Randel Peltier: Shes like this queen up on a pedastal that I have yet to court.
[8:38:29 PM] Kain: You've tried courting her.
[8:38:43 PM] leaf: and failed spectacularly
[8:38:44 PM] Randel Peltier: Ive tried...shes the best dating game ever.
---
[12:24:35 AM] Salanewt: I need to find a picture of a naked person to put on the Christmas tree next year.
---
[2:19:06 PM] Zeadra: wait... Rief's a guy???
---
[1:09:57 PM] Zeadra: well if you want to know if its a new effect or something weird, just check GS1, if side step is there maby it is the nimble dodge thing
[1:10:35 PM] Kioll: For once, you've contributed something useful.  o.O[/spoiler]

zman9000

look if you want more people to get into working with the code. i feel like people need to see what can be done with what has been found so far. i don't mean an explanation, i mean a video or pictures of changed game play.

I my self am not interested in the coding at all... i mean i dropped out of college for programming because i learned that i hated programming... which really i should have figured out sooner but... that's not important right now.

right now we have "hey we are working with the code so we can do more then the editor ever could" but most people won't join into that until they see something that inspires them to actually try their hand at it.
I may have totally missed it but i'm not sure i have seen anything like that yet (on this site)...

This is just my thoughts on this. thoughts of a person who really isn't helping, and doesn't plan to start coding again. just from the outside looking in, the stuff on the site just looks like theory's about the code, with nothing else to it.
Check my youtube channel out for lots of cool gaming related videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/xXzman9000Xx

Salanewt

Fox: Chances are, or else I imagine there would be some more sensible ones.

leaf: That's a shame, but totally understandable. In all honesty, I am starting to have similar thoughts and would likely have started making a game from scratch by now if I knew a good language for it and/or had enough free time to learn. Assembly hacking is certainly helping me a bit though.

Zed: That's the plan for more complicated stuff, but the complicated stuff is also optional for this thing. I want to document more of this battle animation stuff before I make a post for it though. That way I can upload what I have documented and update every once in a blue moon. The issue with doing that now is I only have a handful of animations.
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

leaf

Honestly, if you wanna get into game dev, download either unity or unreal and just get started. Unity has support for both c# and javascript. Unreal has support for blueprints (visual scripting) and c++. If you understand code but don't formally know any language, blueprints should be fairly easy to get into. If you already know one of the languages listed, you'd prob be better off just coding in that.
[spoiler=quotes]
[9:00:50 PM] Randel Peltier: Ok...what did I do last night?
[9:01:19 PM] Kain: Something boring, repetitive, and lasted for about sixty seconds.
---
[10:45:08 AM] Salanewt: But yeah, the elemental phalluses are being... Stroked up by Saturos and co., and the energy will go towards... Mt. Muffin, where the Golden Climax will arise.
[7:28:42 PM] Salanewt: An added bonus is that Isaac and co. were trying to stop Saturos and co. because their beliefs state that Mt. Muffin should remain a virgin.
---
[9:54:21 PM] Randel Peltier: Guess the number in my head an you get to pick what I say. Number between 1-10
[9:54:28 PM] leaf: 11
[9:54:36 PM] Randel Peltier: @#$%!
---
[8:38:13 PM] Randel Peltier: Shes like this queen up on a pedastal that I have yet to court.
[8:38:29 PM] Kain: You've tried courting her.
[8:38:43 PM] leaf: and failed spectacularly
[8:38:44 PM] Randel Peltier: Ive tried...shes the best dating game ever.
---
[12:24:35 AM] Salanewt: I need to find a picture of a naked person to put on the Christmas tree next year.
---
[2:19:06 PM] Zeadra: wait... Rief's a guy???
---
[1:09:57 PM] Zeadra: well if you want to know if its a new effect or something weird, just check GS1, if side step is there maby it is the nimble dodge thing
[1:10:35 PM] Kioll: For once, you've contributed something useful.  o.O[/spoiler]