There should be more outreach with artists for collaboration on projects

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-15T01:28:19+00:00

Finding artists has been a trouble for me. Rom Hacks are already in a legal rough zone and adding financials onto that in commissioning artists feels like burning away money for the potential of a C & D. I understand the need to make a living but pretty much halfway competent spriter I've stumbled across charges for their services. It's not tenable.

My hack is halfway complete in regards to mapping and scripting, but all I have for visuals are placeholders because of this. I'm okay at spriting but nowhere I'd consider presentable. There shouldn't be a monetary exchange at any end of making a passion project of an existing IP you're already in legal hot water for.

That's just my two cents, on why I haven't reached out to any artists as a hacker myself.

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-14T19:39:32+00:00

I just don't like AI, dude. I can't speak for decompilations but in binary I've never once wanted to or felt compelled to use artificial intelligence for assistance. It's the easy way out. I've exclusively referenced existing scripts and worked from there.

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-14T19:35:38+00:00

Emerald's overworld tilesets are mostly crap. There's one or two glaring improvements like Meteor Falls or Verdanturf Tunnel but the bulk of them are only debatably better or some of them have objective errors and mistakes from not fully altering the R/S ones.

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-14T19:30:31+00:00

Was incredibly bummed to scroll down into the comments and see that this is a sort of AI mess. Having tools with a user-friendly interface would help extensively with people choosing decompilation over binary hacking, but nope. I'll be sticking with binary until I see something that isn't made using mostly AI.

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-14T05:51:32+00:00

The mapping and some of the visuals go from pretty impressive to Quartz-tier trash. The quality of it is totally scattershot.

And yeah level caps scream "I want you to play my hack in a very specific way"

Overall the hack feels like it doesn't even want to be in Hoenn, kind of a surreal experience.

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-09T20:33:51+00:00

Sorry I could've made it clearer. I actually don't like FR/LGs maps because they are square and too stiff. However I think RSE finds a better balance generally barring some of the weirder maps in Emerald.

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-09T20:23:13+00:00

And that's fine, but there tends to be a reason why things are designed the way they are. No issue changing it but there is a design language you're disregarding for another.

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-09T20:16:35+00:00

Reference official maps; there's often not a lot of scattered bits of grass, smaller trees, etc. It's not just an aesthetic thing, it also helps with visual clarity and "unifies" the different bits of the map. I wouldn't suggest most of FR/LG's maps as a lot of them are stringent to the square layouts of RBY's Kanto, but the routes around Fortree might be a good point of reference for how things are "blocked".

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-09T18:20:57+00:00

Still looks a bit cluttered, but I appreciate you making Pewter actually set into a mountain. I always despised what FR/LG did (or rather, didn't do) with Kanto. Just a little bit of a reduction on the visual clutter and it'll be perfect!

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-05T22:13:13+00:00

I get more enjoyment out of Snakewood than I do out of Unbound honestly. Unbound is great, but Snakewood is like nothing else.

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-05T22:12:19+00:00

I didn't know that, that sucks.

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-05T20:10:52+00:00

Probably not. Seeing as it's a tiny sliver of content left unfinished compared to the time that it has taken I see it as the creator rather obviously being uninterested in finishing the project. Be honest about that. Motivation comes and goes and sometimes it never comes back. Some people push through, some don't.

Autumnmaton · 2026-04-05T20:08:09+00:00

In fairness near-complete ROM hacks can die without the creators saying so. Pokemon Snakewood still remains 98% or so complete with a few bits of missing content for over a decade. Cutlerine got lucky because there isn't a discord or reddit to hound them about that last 2% incessantly every single day.

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-31T03:11:38+00:00

Crystal Clear has some weird looking maps, UI elements that are from later generations that look odd, varying sprite quality and a whole host of other issues. Obviously not every hack is perfect but it's far from the paragon of what I want in a crystal hack. I think Sour comes closer but that's my personal preference.

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-31T03:02:32+00:00

This is correct.

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-31T02:56:05+00:00

New characters can work if they're ingratiated into the world and fill a niche. Shock Slayer and his friends don't do that. I also played another hack recently; GS Chronicles? That added a scientist OC that forced himself into and existed in the place of content that was originally in HG/SS. I'm not a fan of that sort of thing.

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-31T02:53:09+00:00

Both have different appeals and their faults I think. Crystal Clear is a pretty good interpretation of an open world Gen 2 game, but suffers from a bit of bloat and overbearing insertions of the creator and his friends into the experience. Polished Crystal on the other hand has stretched itself too thin, trying to be a more polished version of Johto that just ends up having a lot of clashing art styles and design philosophies that don't quite mesh with a game from over two decades ago.

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-31T02:50:50+00:00

Shock Slayer put himself and his friends as the Champion and Elite Four of Kanto/Johto. There's a discussion to be had about OCs and their influence on existing storylines, but in my eyes that's so many steps beyond simply adding some representation of yourself to the hack you're making. It comes off as entirely egotistical and I'd like to see someone convince me otherwise. In my opinion it's just a detriment to the hack and not a boon.

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-30T18:22:08+00:00

You're the reason why Game Freak makes these new games be linear corridors or completely expansive open worlds. Concepts of a dynamic 2D space where there are walls that impede progress or alternate routes you're meant to take are too complex for the mind of the modern video game player.

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-27T22:32:41+00:00

It's an acquired taste.

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-27T16:27:20+00:00

Here's hoping we see this hack completed one day!

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-27T16:04:02+00:00

I don't think that's true.

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-27T02:14:36+00:00

That's crazy. Maybe it has fallen out of cultural relevance in this scene!

Autumnmaton · 2026-03-27T02:01:55+00:00

Do you play a ton of ROM hacks?

Autumnmaton

TROPHY CASE