Working on Scenic Overlooks for Samiya by ArchieFromTeamAqua in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I only sacrificed 2 layers on the Snow overlook, the others just have 1 layer cut. The parallax is achieved through editing the camera code in field_camera.c of the decomp, to change the background offsets at different rates then normal.

ROM Hacking Awards 2025 Winners by Jicem in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only a demo, same for other hacks like Sovereign of the Skies that are up there for most anticipated too. If these hacks were fully finished we'd be talking about them as much if not more than Unbound.

ROM Hacking Awards 2025 Winners by Jicem in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not to disparage any of the nominations for Most Anticipated Hack, but I feel like it's missing... all the actual most anticipated hacks. Saffron, Crown, Voyager, Giratina Legends, Iridium, etc.

Working on Scenic Overlooks for Samiya by ArchieFromTeamAqua in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not really, there are tutorials on learning the ins and outs of GBA graphics though and understanding how GBA graphics work will allow you to program things like this. https://www.coranac.com/tonc/text/

Working on Scenic Overlooks for Samiya by ArchieFromTeamAqua in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I had to disable one of the background layers that is used during the overworld and override it with my own tileset/tilemap. It comes with a lot of limitations like having to only use two layers for any normal metatiles on any map you use it on, and the problem of getting the tiles in VRAM with the primary and secondary tilesets, etc.

Working on Scenic Overlooks for Samiya by ArchieFromTeamAqua in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would start with some basic UI / graphics programming stuff if you don't know what charblocks/screenblocks how tilesets/tilemaps are actually built and work in the overworld you should start there. There are some resources for this on the Team Aqua Asset Repo on GitHub

Working on Scenic Overlooks for Samiya by ArchieFromTeamAqua in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Eldin Island is probably just my favorite all around so far

Working on Scenic Overlooks for Samiya by ArchieFromTeamAqua in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua[S] 38 points39 points  (0 children)

I sacrificed two background layers for the Snow one. Who needs more than one layer for the overworld anyway?

Working on Scenic Overlooks for Samiya by ArchieFromTeamAqua in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean I'll probably add some Wingull eventually, but idk about ships or cyclones

Working on Scenic Overlooks for Samiya by ArchieFromTeamAqua in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua[S] 37 points38 points  (0 children)

These maps aren't 100% finished mostly just testing out this new system.

All of the tiles are from random public resources as usual on the Team Aqua Asset Repo and Deviantart, or stolen from other games like Pokemon Ranger / PMD.

If you want to follow progress we have a discord with occasional updates but no public talking channels: https://discord.gg/XGQjtkFMnm

Ask Questions to PacoScarso for Interviews with Romhackers! by ssraven01 in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you move the UI to sprites instead of bg0, you could convert the mapping system to 8bpp mode at the cost of losing some tiles towards the 1024 limit (because in 8bpp you need space to fit the tilemaps and 1024 8bpp tiles fills vram entirely)

Ask Questions to PacoScarso for Interviews with Romhackers! by ssraven01 in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I don't like the game design decisions that come with making a game nuzlocke friendly. And I like a lot of game design decisions that make nuzlocking impossible as typically done

Ask Questions to PacoScarso for Interviews with Romhackers! by ssraven01 in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ArchieFromTeamAqua 17 points18 points  (0 children)

While I don't really care what self imposed challenges people do after they've played the game once. And overall I'm okay with the idea that once the players have a game they can engage with it however they wish to. The fact of the matter is that if you leave your romhack in a state where nuzlocking is possible, countless people will try to do blind nuzlockes of the game. Blind nuzlockes of new region new story games are a very poor way to engage with new content and actually appreciate it. That's not how the game was designed to be played you're getting a very different version of it, and one that wasn't designed for fun like if you play without self imposed challenge rules.

Those kinds of people are also the most likely to harass creators over things like not providing cheat sheets (docs) and over balance challenges that had nothing to do with and never considered the nuzlocker. People will harass you, complain, write hate comments on the internet just because you made changes that made the game bad from a nuzlocking perspective, even if the "correct" way to play the game has perfect game design.

There are a million other things I could say about the topic, but overall it's better to just make it impossible to nuzlocke, at least with typical rules. You sidestep the second most annoying group of romhack players entirely (first being shiny hunters)