Author Topic: New Mini-Rom Hack  (Read 2414 times)

chrono.source

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New Mini-Rom Hack
« on: November 20, 2018, 12:30:46 pm »
I've been thinking about divulging in some temporal flux learning and thought I would try a small side story like Phrophet's Guile. Haven't come up with any major plot points in particular, wondering what everyone's thoughts are regarding unexplained times/areas. What plot holes would you like to see explored?

Mauron

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Re: New Mini-Rom Hack
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2018, 01:49:30 pm »
If you have any questions with the hacking process, I'll be happy to answer them.

chrono.source

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Re: New Mini-Rom Hack
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2018, 02:22:30 pm »
If you have any questions with the hacking process, I'll be happy to answer them.

Thanks Mauron! I'm sure I'll have plenty

Boo the Gentleman Caller

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Re: New Mini-Rom Hack
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2018, 02:35:39 pm »
So Mauron, myself, and a few others had an idea for a ROM hack a few years back. I can safely say that we have pretty much abandoned it at this point. It followed a Nu, Kilwala, and Johnny (as seen in the Chrono Trigger OVA) in which they bounce around through time. Events happened alongside the events of Chrono Trigger, so they are always a step ahead or a step behind Crono on his adventure.

For example:
1.) They are the ones who find Marle in the forest and return her to the castle, thinking she's Queen Leene. They return to 1000AD just as Lucca is arriving in 600AD.
2.) They are infiltrating the prison at the same time as Lucca in order to help free Fritz.
3.) They accidentally join the army in 600AD and end up being lackey's in Magus' army.
etc.

The tone was lighthearted and more humorous than Chrono Trigger, sort of a Hamlet/Rosencrantz and Guildenstern side story. The Nu was incredibly dim, the kilwala was a kleptomaniac with an obsession with shovels, Johnny was hyperactive and a bully, in addition to other characters: a bipolar Reptite scientist who warned of Lavos' fall; an advanced version of Gato from 2300AD who is vain beyond reason; and an evil cat who lived in Magus' castle and ends up being the Magus-type edgelord character. The lead was a new character that is from Choras in 1000AD.

The story was zany and silly, but there were a few main plots of the game that weren't completely zany:
-Balthasar, in the ruined 2300AD, is looking for a secret dome called the Vault, which supposedly holds the lost treasures of Zeal (he needs it to complete the Epoch). He sends a copy of Johnny back in time to try and find it before it is supposedly destroyed in the Day of Lavos. For this reason, this time hopping version of Johnny is a driving force for the characters, and sometimes acts as a foil to the more silly party members of the game.
-The main character is a teenage girl from Choras who is literally mute and can only communicate by sign language. You eventually learn that she and her family are time travelers from 1999AD; her dad was head of a time travel institute and they managed to travel back in time during the Day of Lavos. However, the girl's mother died before they could get to the time gate.
-The final boss would have been some version of Lavos. They would have infected him with a virus that would have weakened his shell enough for Crono and company to punch through it with the Epoch, revealing that they are unsung heroes of Chrono Trigger who didn't want any spotlight (and even Crono and company were completely unaware of their aid in defeating Lavos).

The entire game would have been built from the framework of Chrono Trigger, so it was mostly the events that would have to be hacked. No new resources would've been needed outside of PCs and a few new environs, and existing enemy placements on maps could've been entirely reused, saving valuable time in the hacking efforts.

The only major changes would have been a playable 1999AD replacing the pre-Fall of Zeal 13000BC, and 2100AD replacing the post-Fall of Zeal 13000BC. That was only because of ROM limitations in the number of overworlds. Zeal is so iconic and it already had time travel shenanigans with Magus, so I couldn't figure out how to include them without is sucking.

That all being said, we never really got far into it. I wrote up most of a treatment but this was during my super depressed era and I gave up writing it. I have a few resources and WIP sprites for it. Here's a few I've found off the top of my head...

You could maybe take this idea, shrink it down, and make it a small little timehop. I know we got the new 1999AD and 2100AD tilesets implemented into a ROM, so we were able to get that working.

chrono.source

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Re: New Mini-Rom Hack
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2018, 11:59:30 am »
That's definitely an interesting idea that I'm pretty sure I've seen you voice before. Thanks for the worldmap and sprite graphics. Not sure if I'll head in that direction this time, because my thoughts for something along those lines would be much bigger than what I have time to create at this point.

Currently I'm having some troubles grasping placing and visualizing NPC sprites on maps. I'm not sure if I just don't have the right window or view open or if it is all done through the menus first and then visualized once the rom loads.

Mauron

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Re: New Mini-Rom Hack
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2018, 02:04:38 pm »
LoadNPC selects the NPC to display. SetObjectCoords places them on the maps.

If you select the SetObjectCoords command, it will draw a blue box on the currently open map where the NPC will display.

If you move the mouse over a map, the coordinates in the lower right of the screen will change. For some commands these can be used directly, but with others you'll want to take the highest two digits only, so (1F0, 0D6) would become 1F and 0D.

chrono.source

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Re: New Mini-Rom Hack
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2018, 02:24:28 pm »
LoadNPC selects the NPC to display. SetObjectCoords places them on the maps.

If you select the SetObjectCoords command, it will draw a blue box on the currently open map where the NPC will display.

If you move the mouse over a map, the coordinates in the lower right of the screen will change. For some commands these can be used directly, but with others you'll want to take the highest two digits only, so (1F0, 0D6) would become 1F and 0D.

oh great this helps a lot thank you!

Mauron

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Re: New Mini-Rom Hack
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2018, 02:38:25 pm »
Let me know if you have any further questions.