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My hack is in development hell

So for the last 6 months I've been developing a hack that I wanted to have SMB3 & SMTLL vibes. The development of the game has gotten worse and worse and I'm on the verge of just cancelling it. This is my first hack that I gave almost gotten a beta completed. But right now the game is like Super Mario's Wacky Worlds' brother. I'm sure I'm posting this in the wrong forum area, but if anyone wants to help, PLEASE, let me know, but for now I'm no longer developing for the hack and I'm going to start something fresh. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Mr. Denton
What exactly do you need help with? How exactly has the development "gotten worse"?

If you're looking for advice on whether to cancel your hack or not, here's mine: if you're no longer having fun making it, cancel it. You haven't been hacking for very long, and it's perfectly normal for your goal and abilities to change quickly at this stage. Don't be afraid to abandon projects and start fresh if that's what you feel is better for you.


 
I know what that's like.

I really like SMW and I really like what I've done with it in my hack but I just don't want to continue with SMW's engine because it's an enormous struggle. I'm working on an original game coded from scratch right now and it's so easy to work on it. I enslaved a pretty good programmer so if I get a sudden flash of inspiration, I can set up anything I want with relative ease. A new kind of enemy or level gimmick? No problem, just draw it up and change up some variables.

With SMW it's just an uphill battle. Either you have to depend on what others make and have made, or you gotta spend some years of your life to learn ASM. Depending on others to do your work for you is unreliable and if I have to learn an incredibly unintuitive language to make the things I want, I'd rather just use that time to make original games, which is exactly what I did.

It wasn't fun any more so I stopped. Nothing wrong with that.
Just cancel your hack if you're no longer having fun with developing it (or take a break if needed), but it's also fine if you don't want to create hacks anymore. I know how it is to work on a hack where you have a good amount of motivation at first but it suddenly ceases over time. You can even implement ideas from your previous hack to the new one once you feel like it's time to start fresh.
Windowless ride, feeling alive
Are you alive or just breathing?
Originally posted by Gregor
or you gotta spend some years of your life to learn ASM.

ASM is a ridiculously unintuitive language that literally no one uses outside of special cases (homebrew, romhacking, optimization) but it does not take years to learn, boy



Anyway, re: OP, if hack development is stressing you out, feel free to take a small hiatus for a while until you get your motivation back.

This is just a hobby. There are no real deadlines here, so take as long as you like.

However, if you'd rather just cancel it and start a new project entirely, that's okay too.
Don't feel bad about it, situations like this happen sometimes!
HackPortsASM"Uploader"

Originally posted by lion
Originally posted by Gregor
or you gotta spend some years of your life to learn ASM.

ASM is a ridiculously unintuitive language that literally no one uses outside of special cases (homebrew, romhacking, optimization) but it does not take years to learn, boy

You overestimate my abilities.
Well, without much context it's a little hard to give advice on what you should do. Like how far are you into your hack and what exactly are you having trouble with? I have a hack that's been in development for a couple years and it went through one straight year of development hell. Though I was about half way done with it I wasn't really satisfied with the direction it was going and considered cancelling it because everytime I worked on it, it was just a struggle trying to get anything finished and it stopped being fun. In fact it was cancelled for a few months but I decided to start over and take the hack in a new direction which was less complicated and more within my grasp. I'd suggest either taking a hiatus until you've gain inspiration to work on it or maybe try taking the hack in a new direction? Perhaps it can be one less ambitions and that's easy to make progress in. The thing is you can cancel hack and perhaps start a new one but what's to say you may not end up doing the same thing with that hack? I've seen a lot of people get into the habit of constantly cancelling each hack they start. In the end it is just a hobby and I suppose there's no consequence canceling stuff but In my opinion It seems like just a waste of time.
My Youtube Channel for Hacking and Gaming.
If you don't have fun when you test your hack, you'll never feel the desire to work on it. Starting over may not help with that and you might do better to go back, play each of your levels and identify each point in each level where you feel like you're not having fun. That's where your hack's salvation may lie.
GANYMEDE

Chapter Two: Land of No Shame