Also known as: Dotsarecool, Dots
Knows of: SMW hacking from 2008, CSS/HTML, Javascript, Java, C, C#, x86 assembly, and bits of PHP, lua, Python
Join date: June 7, 2007
Birthday: February 8
Known For: SMWCNews, CaffieCraft administrator, former hack moderating, Dewotts, being that one moderator that no one knows too well
Introduction
I joined SMW Central what seemed like forever ago to ask a question about where the Springboard and Jumpin' Piranha Plant graphics were located. I was new to Super Mario World hacking at the time, and wanted to try to make a decent hack. I worked on this new hack project for about a year, then gave up on it due to lack of creativity, motivation, and organization. I have yet to make another hack since then, but don't expect anything from me.
History at SMWC
I joined SMWC on June 7, 2007 at exactly 07:32:19 PM EST with user ID 931. I believe this is the only lasting archive of my pre-wipe account. Ever since I joined, I had been on and off in activity. When I first joined, I would go to the forums everyday, but not post a whole bunch. After a couple months or so, I slowly trailed away from visiting the forums.
Then came the time where SMWC was about to have a database wipe, and everything including posts and tools would be deleted. I was very anxious to see what would happen, so I hung around for a little while. I also hit my 100th post around this time. Here's an old glimpse of what the aftermath of that day looked like.
After the wipe, I was one of the first users to register again, receiving user ID 48. What took over three months to do earlier, I posted over 100 times in just two days. After a small hiatus around the following March, I came back to the forums to notice staff sign-ups were starting. I instantly entered, volunteering to be a local moderator of the Art, Computing, and the new Forum Games forums. Surprisingly I was chosen to be on the staff team, and was on the team for around 9 months before asking to be demoted due to lack of activity.
Again, I came back to the site to notice that hack moderator sign-ups were starting. I instantly entered, volunteering to be a hack moderator. Surprisingly I was chosen to be on the staff team, and was until November 2011 when I decided to resign. I then went completely inactive for about a year.
I returned a third time around November 2012. This time, there were not moderator sign-ups going on so I had to ask myself. I returned to my hack moderator position; however, I couldn't handle it for long because of school, so I just became a forums moderator. I moderated the Talk, Computers & Technology, and Gaming forums. I resigned again at the start of 2015 due to lack of interest in the community.
Almost two years later, I received the helper role for the SMAS ROM and RAM maps. I still hold on to that role today, despite the slow going of it all (it's not even on the sidebar anymore).
View on SMW Hacking
I think the best types of hacks are semi-vanilla ones because of the simplicity of graphics and plots. I used know how to insert ExGFX, custom music, blocks, sprites, etc., but everything has changed since back then. I think a SMW hack will become too complex if to much is added to it.
I think a hack with superior level design is much more appealing than a hack with boatloads of ASM.
I don't really hack SMW very often anymore because of how uncreative I am. However, I am looking forward to advancements in Super Mario All-Stars hacking.
Other Stuff
I made a mini-golf webgame here. It currently features 18 holes and two difficulties. In the future I plan to add a course editor you can use to make holes and share them with others.
I speedrun games sometimes. Mostly SMW--you can find my Speedrun.com profile here. You can find my stream at twitch.tv/frieze__. I usually stream Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays at 8am eastern.
I have a few SMW/SNES programming projects that you might be interested in:
- SMW Practice Cart: This is a romhack that you can use to help learn how to speedrun Super Mario World.
- DiztinGUIsh: This is an SNES ROM disassembler program.
- SMWDisX: This is an SMW Disassembly that can be reassembled with asar. It supports 5 versions of the game: U, J, E0, E1, and SS.
- SuperTileMapper: This is an SNES tilemap and graphics editor. It's still a work in progress, so currently it's more of a viewer than an editor.
I also run a YouTube channel called Retro Game Mechanics Explained which you can find here.
Timeline
Gray = inactive
Green = active
Yellow = staff
