Author Topic: Interview  (Read 2004 times)

nightmare975

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Interview
« on: March 16, 2007, 03:16:47 pm »
Say Zeality, can I interveiw you for this hack? Just wondering.

ZeaLitY

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Re: Interview
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2007, 08:21:12 pm »
Boy, I hadn't thought about the fanfare that would go with it. I suppose we will have to do a feature spotlight. So sure. Any other contributors will also be interviewed, preferably on a one-page feature above my own words. I've hogged it too long.

nightmare975

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Re: Interview
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2007, 02:10:58 pm »
Nice, I'll come up with some questions in a while. Do you want me to ask them here, a PM or email?

ZeaLitY

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Re: Interview
« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2007, 10:52:35 pm »
Here's fine.

nightmare975

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Re: Interview
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2007, 01:08:06 am »
Let's just start off with some easy questions.

*Why did you want to make this hack?

*What is this hack about?

*Who worked on this?

*When did you come up with the idea about Magus in Zeal before Chrono arrived?

*How long did it take to make?

(That one can't be answered untill it's finished)

*Could you give a bit of a teaser of Crimson Echoes?

ZeaLitY

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Re: Interview
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2007, 03:22:16 pm »
I guess we can still do this, but Chrono'99's going to get top billing now as director. I'll go ahead and answer my questions. Think up some for him, JCE, Vehek, and perhaps one for FaustWolf (like, what are your thoughts, etc.)

I don't have FTP access, so I'll host the interview at the hack's encyclopedia page for now.

*Why did you want to make this hack?

Temporal Flux was released in 2004, and since then, we've had a couple demos and one Colosseum. Even if it'd only be two chapters long, I wanted to release a new story of some kind after a quick development phase to stir interest in hacking and also get fans interested again. I've also long thought about some kind of hack featuring Magus, and filling in a blank in the adventure of Chrono Trigger seemed like a natural idea.

*When did you come up with the idea about Magus in Zeal before Crono arrived?

In line with wanting to renew interest, Magus is one of, if not the most charismatic character in the series, even as an "optional" character. It was enchanting imagining what Magus would have thought and done upon finding out that he'd return to his old era and home after thirty years in utter darkness among vindictive peoples. On top of this story, Zeal already exists in the game's code, making development relatively easy with a few expansions and a couple custom maps here and there. For me and several others, Zeal was the point at which Chrono Trigger became legendary in our minds, and to visit there again with a real purpose with something absolutely anchored to Chrono Trigger canon sounds too good to pass up.

~

Well, the other questions are answered in the readme, and the CE thing is better for Chrono'99.

nightmare975

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Re: Interview
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2007, 09:41:35 pm »
For a quick recap, JCE is music and Vehek is Graphics, right?

justin3009

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Re: Interview
« Reply #7 on: December 23, 2007, 09:42:48 pm »
Pretty much.  Graphics with Chrono'99 as well..and Faustwolf

nightmare975

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Re: Interview
« Reply #8 on: December 23, 2007, 09:43:52 pm »
Okay, I'll think up some more in a bit.

Vehek

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Re: Interview
« Reply #9 on: December 23, 2007, 10:19:01 pm »
I only really did some palette hacking and a little bit of music insertion.

ZeaLitY

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Re: Interview
« Reply #10 on: December 23, 2007, 10:29:49 pm »
Is Final Confrontation still a possibility, or will percussion prevent its inclusion>

nightmare975

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Re: Interview
« Reply #11 on: December 24, 2007, 01:00:55 pm »
Chrono '99

*Why did you want to work on this hack?

*What have you done in this hack?

*Any difficulties you experienced why making it?

*Could you give a bit of a teaser of Crimson Echoes?

Zeality, I have one last question for you.

*Why the name? Any special reason behind "Prophet's Guile"?

ZeaLitY

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Re: Interview
« Reply #12 on: December 24, 2007, 02:42:16 pm »
There's an obvious Guile reference in there. It's a shame that more people don't know about the Magil character Magus becomes in Radical Dreamers and was set to be in Chrono Cross before his characterization was removed due to difficulty representing it among a sea of characters. Magil is completely awesome; he's Magus after the darkness has mostly passed. Guile, despite not having a backstory, is close in his gentlemanly mannerisms and refined, mysterious charm. This guy is a prince of Zeal, and after thirty years as a prince of darkness, he really fills those regal shoes by looking human again and becoming an interesting, intrepid person. Guile probably has a little more sense of humor than the Magil of Radical Dreamers, but the behavior is mostly similar. Magus's trip to Zeal is really the genesis of his change away from the Mystic disguise he's worn to acquire power. He sees Schala and his home again, and though it's all ultimately lost a second time, and takes away the will to defeat Lavos with Crono's group and depart through time in search for his sister, believing she is alive. His previous mission of vengeance fulfilled, he's now doing something positive. One of my greatest hopes for a new Chrono game is that Kato will say "yeah, we had to keep him out of Cross but now...introducing, Magil!"

I'll supplement the questions for others:

Chrono'99 - "What are your thoughts on the ROM hacking community in general at this point?"

Well, I guess I'll wait for FW and Vehek until they're actually done.

ZeaLitY

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Re: Interview
« Reply #13 on: December 24, 2007, 10:09:47 pm »
JCE's answers:

1. How easy were the FF6 songs and the RS3 song to translate to Chrono Trigger? Was there a trial and error process of instrument selection?

Importing Final Fantasy 6's SPC sequences/songs was rather easy actually, only a few modifications to the actual sequence needed to be done--but of course since I am a musician it was reletively easy for me.  Picking the instruments used in this particular mod was a bit time consuming because I really wanted the right sound since it is a xmas mod.  Importing Romancing SaGa 3 and Final Fantasy 6 tunes was a bit tedious in terms of getting the instruments at the right octaves due to some of Chrono Trigger's instrument samples being recorded an octave or two higher than Final Fantasy 6's.  Most notably was the Strings.  Romancing SaGa 3 was a bit more of an animal--as it is a newer core than Chrono Trigger.  Some sequences needed a bit of TLC to get sounding right.  Otherwise, since the SPC cores for these and a few other Square games were relitively similar it was an overall easy process.

2. So Chrono Trigger and a few other games use a common SPC core? When was this Square SPC core first developed?

I'd say that this SPC core originated from Romancing SaGa 2 which was released in Dec. 1993.  Final Fantasy 6 (released April 1994) saw a significant evolution with more commands and routines being added to make ths songs sound more complex.  Then in March 1995 Chrono Trigger again evolved the SPC core adding yet more commands, and later in November 1995 Romancing SaGa 3 again slightly evolved the SPC core.  The last games to be released with this SPC core under a few final revisions were from the Satellaview online Super Famicom system in 1996.  Those games were, Dynami Tracer, Radical Dreamers, and Treasure Conflix.

3. What are your thoughts on the future of the ROM and SPC hacking?

I am excited about the prospect of future SPC and music in general being modified in older games to give them even more of a new flavor.  I've recently semi-documented Final Fantasy IV and Mystic Quest, something I've always wanted to do.  Having more things for the "rom hacker" to change in their projects the better.  i've even coded an quaint Visual Basic application that aids the rom hacker when they import new songs between those games mentioned in this interview by allowing the user to easily edit what instrument samples are used in the songs in question.  I orginally coded this program to help me edit the samples on the songs I was importing for Pandora's Box and my own projects.

Chrono'99

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Re: Interview
« Reply #14 on: December 25, 2007, 08:00:17 am »
*Why did you want to work on this hack?

I always wanted to create a fangame of sorts, but I never managed to write a decent story on my own due to a lack of imagination, or at least self-confidence... or maybe just laziness. That's why I joined the Crimson Echoes project, since it already had a large plot draft to work with. When I read Zeality's plot outline for Prophet's Guile, I was excited in the same way. It described all the events of the game in details from the beginning to the end. I had never written a complete plot outline, and there was a really nice one right here at disposal, so I jumped on the opportunity to code it.

*What have you done in this hack?

I coded the events, mainly. I also did some maps, a bit of graphic hacking, and altered the monster stats.

*Any difficulties you experienced why making it?

Magus was supposed to wear his Prophet hood during the whole game. From the start we decided that he would remove it during battles, since otherwise this would have required too much graphic hacking. Various tricks were considered to have the player control the Prophet sprite outside of battles, but all possibilities required at least a bit of sprite assembly hacking. We eventually decided that it wasn't really worth the effort, given the short nature of the game and its "quick development" philosophy. In the final version, Magus wears his hood only during some cutscenes. The other difficulties were very minor because the project was well-planned from the start and we had a clear idea of what we could and couldn't do with the CT engine.

*Could you give a bit of a teaser of Crimson Echoes?

The project was resumed in October, and it's now 25% complete. The plot is huge and blends the creative styles of many different people. The game intends to fill the gap between Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, but one of its main purpose is to further develop the overarching themes of the series rather than simply involving the old party in a new adventure. I don't want to give away anything precise since it would spoil the surprises, but I can say we're expanding the Chrono themes of "hope" and "dreams" with the notions of "reconciling differences" and "personal attachment". Finally, while Prophet's Guile isn't meant to be a direct prequel to Crimson Echoes, it does allude to an event in the past which will have huge repercussions in the latter game.

*What are your thoughts on the ROM hacking community in general at this point?

Well, apart from the Compendium's forums, I'm not much in contact with the ROM hacking scene. I just hope Prophet's Guile will lead more people to try their hand at hacking Chrono Trigger. Before the release of Temporal Flux, I had never actually hacked anything. Temporal Flux makes things really easy once you've familiarized yourself with the program, but I have the feeling that many people don't realize this because there's a lack of documentation. I encourage people to open Prophet's Guile in TF to see how events were coded, and to ask questions in the forums if they want to start using TF.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2007, 08:02:18 am by Chrono'99 »