Hack download here.
Fair warning, this will be bad news for most of you. (I'd appreciate if you read this entirely, though skimming through it and reading the bold points will suffice.)
I really don't know where to start with this... yeah, it's about my hack, Pokey's Adventure (a hack starring Pokey, for those of you who haven't heard of it). I've been working on it since late 2007 if I recall correctly, and it's accompanied me through all this time. I've always been thinking of it as my "Magnum Opus" - that is, my greatest and most popular work.
Now, I've been thinking about it lately (sometimes more, sometimes less), and realized that the above description already holds two important issues. Issues that, to me, put the entire hack's production in question, even suggesting a cancellation.
First, the length. As I said, I've been working on it since 2007 - for more than four years now - and haven't made any significant progress on it as far as worlds go. I had a one-world demo finished at one point, but since its relaunch in 2009 I haven't been able to complete more than five levels. (Heck, the entire Pokey Village has taken me a freaking year to complete). I haven't even touched the hack in months. Now, imagine how long it would take, at this rate, to finish the hack entirely. With more than six worlds left to do, I probably still wouldn't be finished with it by 2030, and who knows what the hacking scene will be like then, if it exists at all. My free time will also significantly decrease by the end of this year, delaying a possible release even further.
Secondly - and more importantly - I don't think I want to be known for making Pokey's Adventure any more. See, I started the hack in 2007, when I was learning my way around YY-CHR and trying to replace Mario with something else. Pokey was something I came up with by pure chance, and perhaps naivety. I never had anything planned for it - I never thought "Yeah, I'm going to do this-and-that, this is the experience I want the game to convey", I just went on with it.
I've realized, however, that Pokey's Adventure is not the hack I want to make any more. Over the years I've slowly found out what I want my own hack to be, and what I don't want it to be. Pokey's Adventure has evolved into a story-based hack full of cutscenes (the story isn't even great and probably full of loopholes), accidentally aiming at an audience inexperienced with the original SMW, with Pokey being nothing but a Mario graphics swap. I never wanted to have the story play such a large role, I never wanted to teach the player the very basics of SMW in the game, I never wanted to have this many message boxes explaining this-and-that - it just... happened. Restarting the hack again won't help, I'm afraid - its "premise", its very structure, prevents it from becoming a hack I will be completely satisfied with.
In fact, it's become so different from my current goals that I might as well make a new hack from scratch - a hack that has the potential to satisfy me. Not too long, a little more gimmicky, neither too silly nor too serious, with level design that introcudes features nonverbally, and as little focus on the story as possible. "The Coin Hunt" and "A Strange Mission" are already better examples of what I want my Magnum Opus to be. Not perfect, but a lot closer than Pokey's Adventure will ever be.
And you know what? I'm currently working on such a hack. I don't know if it's exactly the hack I know I want to make, but I'm trying. I'm having something in mind this time, and - most importantly - I'm having fun making it.
And that is why I've been considering cancelling Pokey's Adventure. I'm not completely sure yet, but writing this has made it even clearer to me that nothing too good is going to come out of it.
The only question left is... what to do with the hack now. I know a lot of you people have been waiting for another demo release, and I do have a relative lot of material that's never been played by anyone else before. The most obvious solution would be to release what I already have as an unofficial beta or something, like so many people have done (see: Lynnes this C3). What do you guys think?
I've always admired people for their ability to stick with their hacks for so long and eventually finishing them (see: FPI with his TSRP series, Supertails with A Severed Freedom), and giving up on a hack I've stuck with for four years isn't an easy decision for me. Makes me feel somewhat like a hypocrite. I believe it's for good reasons, though.
...and I think this is all I've got to say on this. I might show a bit more of the new hack I'm working on, in a manner similar to what Supertails has done with IT (now A Severed Freedom). We'll see about that, though. For now, I'm glad I got this off my chest, and I'm hoping for some responses, by they positive or negative, understanding or upset.
I really don't know where to start with this... yeah, it's about my hack, Pokey's Adventure (a hack starring Pokey, for those of you who haven't heard of it). I've been working on it since late 2007 if I recall correctly, and it's accompanied me through all this time. I've always been thinking of it as my "Magnum Opus" - that is, my greatest and most popular work.Now, I've been thinking about it lately (sometimes more, sometimes less), and realized that the above description already holds two important issues. Issues that, to me, put the entire hack's production in question, even suggesting a cancellation.
First, the length. As I said, I've been working on it since 2007 - for more than four years now - and haven't made any significant progress on it as far as worlds go. I had a one-world demo finished at one point, but since its relaunch in 2009 I haven't been able to complete more than five levels. (Heck, the entire Pokey Village has taken me a freaking year to complete). I haven't even touched the hack in months. Now, imagine how long it would take, at this rate, to finish the hack entirely. With more than six worlds left to do, I probably still wouldn't be finished with it by 2030, and who knows what the hacking scene will be like then, if it exists at all. My free time will also significantly decrease by the end of this year, delaying a possible release even further.
Secondly - and more importantly - I don't think I want to be known for making Pokey's Adventure any more. See, I started the hack in 2007, when I was learning my way around YY-CHR and trying to replace Mario with something else. Pokey was something I came up with by pure chance, and perhaps naivety. I never had anything planned for it - I never thought "Yeah, I'm going to do this-and-that, this is the experience I want the game to convey", I just went on with it.
I've realized, however, that Pokey's Adventure is not the hack I want to make any more. Over the years I've slowly found out what I want my own hack to be, and what I don't want it to be. Pokey's Adventure has evolved into a story-based hack full of cutscenes (the story isn't even great and probably full of loopholes), accidentally aiming at an audience inexperienced with the original SMW, with Pokey being nothing but a Mario graphics swap. I never wanted to have the story play such a large role, I never wanted to teach the player the very basics of SMW in the game, I never wanted to have this many message boxes explaining this-and-that - it just... happened. Restarting the hack again won't help, I'm afraid - its "premise", its very structure, prevents it from becoming a hack I will be completely satisfied with.
In fact, it's become so different from my current goals that I might as well make a new hack from scratch - a hack that has the potential to satisfy me. Not too long, a little more gimmicky, neither too silly nor too serious, with level design that introcudes features nonverbally, and as little focus on the story as possible. "The Coin Hunt" and "A Strange Mission" are already better examples of what I want my Magnum Opus to be. Not perfect, but a lot closer than Pokey's Adventure will ever be.
And you know what? I'm currently working on such a hack. I don't know if it's exactly the hack I know I want to make, but I'm trying. I'm having something in mind this time, and - most importantly - I'm having fun making it.
And that is why I've been considering cancelling Pokey's Adventure. I'm not completely sure yet, but writing this has made it even clearer to me that nothing too good is going to come out of it.
The only question left is... what to do with the hack now. I know a lot of you people have been waiting for another demo release, and I do have a relative lot of material that's never been played by anyone else before. The most obvious solution would be to release what I already have as an unofficial beta or something, like so many people have done (see: Lynnes this C3). What do you guys think?
I've always admired people for their ability to stick with their hacks for so long and eventually finishing them (see: FPI with his TSRP series, Supertails with A Severed Freedom), and giving up on a hack I've stuck with for four years isn't an easy decision for me. Makes me feel somewhat like a hypocrite. I believe it's for good reasons, though.
...and I think this is all I've got to say on this. I might show a bit more of the new hack I'm working on, in a manner similar to what Supertails has done with IT (now A Severed Freedom). We'll see about that, though. For now, I'm glad I got this off my chest, and I'm hoping for some responses, by they positive or negative, understanding or upset.
