Let's Hack FF6 Stream - 5/12/2016

After a crazy week off (for me, anyway) I am back to streaming this week! Really missed you guys last week and can't wait for another stream.

First off, as part of an informal vote in-thread... do you guys think it would be worth creating a sub-forum for my stream and/or all of our streams to keep track of topics individually, as well as a hub for sharing the videos, patches, etc... created by the hacking streams?


So this is less of a "what should i do THIS week?" and more of a "Here are some ideas, let me get some feedback." I've got a couple of ideas. I know we aren't quite finished with the Desperation Enhancement yet, but I'm going to use this thread to explore a few project ideas with you guys, and see what you want to do with the stream going forward. I want to take this a bit more seriously and really try to improve the quality of the stream content. I am leaving multiple options on the poll, so pick the topics that you are most interested in, not just for this week.

Here are my current ideas:

Q&A Nights/Hack Let's Play Commentary
I lump the let's play idea together with the Q&A as a sort of backup for if there aren't specific questions to explore. Maybe we could plan to have 1-2 of these a month depending on how much enthusiasm they generate. I like the idea of the stream very specifically helping people instead of just being me blah-ing out content on you guys. Let's Play Commentary would be me playing any kind of FF6 Hack and talking about it with a specific focus on what it would take to do on the hacking side, or whatever idea's about hacking it makes me think of, even if the hack doesn't currently have it in there (I say this because a lot of hacks are primarily graphical/story edits, with limited ASM work).

Hacking Beginner Series Tutorials
These would be from the ground up FF6 Hacking tutorials in various aspects... things like Hex Editing, Event Editing, and Battle Scripts are my strong suits, but can also do some spriting/MML work too (tho I am FAAAAAR from the best).


Some specific topics I'm looking at for the near future:

Desperation Attack Enhancement
Ok, so some things I'd like to hear from you guys about... first off, of course we have the option to continue with the Desperation Attacks enhancement... spell edits can be fun and have a bunch of places they need to hook to...

Primal Ifrit Boss Battle

Spoiler (Click to View)

A while back I did a Titan Extreme hack that was, *ahem*, a little over-the-top... I was really excited to work on my AI Upgrade hack and coming off of a FFXIV kick and wanted to make a superboss, and didn't make it very accessible or intuitive. Well, its time for Titan EX's little brother, Primal Ifrit to have a go... This would not be geared towards max level, super-geared characters, nor require near-perfect execution to win... However, I am a big fan of skill-based boss battles and not something to just run over with Ultima... That being said... out-leveling or out-gearing the boss will still be possible to lighten the experience on those who can't handle all the mechanics well... All that to say... I've got a neat idea for this boss, and I'd be happy to build in on stream... One of the big bonuses for doing this kind of thing on stream is that there is a lot of play-testing, as well as it being very presentation-based in nature so it will be a lot less dry than pouring over hex all night.

Low-Level Superboss!
Yes, another boss hack idea... I don't have a sprite/backstory worked out for this one (lots of room for input!) but I've wanted to do a low-level optional boss for a long time... I've always been a proponent of the idea that content should be spread out throughout a game, not be solely focused on the end-game... but one of the major problems is skillsets and itemization in low levels are limited... This will be especially true with this super-boss. I am taking this one all the way back to the Narshe Mines, and it will be fought by Vicks/Wedge/Terra in their Magitek Armors... I've got a few good mechanics in-mind and think it would be a really fun project. I would definitely like to hear some ideas on themes, mechanics, and a backstory for the boss (that would make sense for it being there). Once we've got a good idea, I'd be open to original sprites from our spriters here on the site.

FF6 Expansion Toolkit
This may be something I put together off-stream, or coordinate with others on the site... but I want to put the idea out there... The idea basically stems from the vanilla version 1.2 idea put forth by Imzogelmo. What I'd like to see is the majority of the bugs in FF6 found/patched, as well as expansion of all the primary expandable categories (ROM size, sprites, music, battle scripts, item names, monster sprites, maps?, etc...), with full documentation to be released as a new base ROM for hackers to work with. This would standardize expansions instead of making everyone do it themselves and help avoid potential conflicts... Also, how many times have you come across code that you have no idea what it is because it came from a patch you applied but exists in the same section of code you want to work with? Creating and annotating a disassembly of all these standardized changes means for the majority of the grunt work, its all right there in plain English for you. This would make the only you have to worry about in your hack is your hack.

Children of Vector

Spoiler (Click to View)

This is a thing... it probably isn't going to die, but it will probably also never live... it is a bottomless pit of things to do... as morbid as that all sounds, working on Children of Vector would be a great way to spend time on-stream, and allows me to do a bunch of different topics. This would also be a great place to talk about FF6 in general... Theories, speculations, general geeking-out... This project was my baby, but is much too big a project to actually complete.

Other...
I really love input from you guys. Seriously, the only reason doing the stream is interesting at all is because you guys are there... I like bouncing ideas around, I like discussion, I like togetherness. "Other" really is a major category... So let me hear what you guys want.



***UPDATE:*** We are going to be starting on the Primal Ifrit boss fight tonight! Lot's of good topics tonight. Here's what we will be covering!

Applying AI Upgrade Patch
AI Upgrade Patch and overview
using lunar ips

Monster Sprites
.png format
GIMP 2
FF6 SE (Sprite Editor)

Hexwork
HxD
C2 Disassembly
Mold editing!

**IF WE HAVE TIME**
Event Editing
Event Script
FF3 LE Rogue+


Happy Hacking!

https://www.twitch.tv/b_run_
https://countingdownto.com/countdown/let...down-clock