Exploring ROM hacking and game development through the decomped Pokemon Emerald codebase
Background
Around the time that I quit my job, I was making an effort to explore as many different software engineering niches as possible, in an effort to find which ones interested me the most, when I stumbled on CS50's Pokemon coding tutorial. If you've read literally anything I've ever written, you probably know that games have always been a part of my life and that game dev is super interesting to me, especially now that I've taken the leap into software.
At this point, I had played countless Pokemon ROM hacks with friends, but it wasn't until I discovered this video and Emerald decomps that I seriously started to think of Pokemon as something that is actually running on code.
After quickly becoming overwhelmed with the size of the codebase and the then-unfamiliar repository conventions/terminology, I discovered an awesome YouTuber called Team Aqua's Hideout and their series on ROM hacking tutorials and promptly spent a couple weeks working through much of the playlist.
Now possessing a small amount of Pokemon ROM hacking expertise, my brain started exploding with all kinds of creative ideas for new games and features and maps, and I spent the next couple of weeks mapping out several full ROM hack concepts on digital walls of sticky notes (MURAL). I, of course, was getting way ahead of myself and still completely unaware of just how much work game dev truly involves.
After becoming disillusioned with the fact that my walls of sticky notes would not be magically transforming themselves into the vibrant games that I imagined in my head, I turned back to coding fundamentals in preparation of Fractal Tech's program coming up in a couple short months.
Gallery
