3 ms·

My favorite romhack is https://alttpr.com/en https://alttpr.com/en (A Link to the Past Randomizer). It basically takes your rom and swaps the location of all it

My favorite romhack is https://alttpr.com/en https://alttpr.com/en (A Link to the Past Randomizer). It basically takes your rom and swaps the location of all items in chests, pendants / crystals, and can even swap enemies, keys in dungeons (for cross dungeon shenanigans) and entrances. So I much prefer the romhack to the original now, given my familiarity. Now if only I could play it on the switch... Edit: a recent playthrough had me without the bow for much of the game. A different one had me start without my sword and I got through a dungeon before finding it. Fun times.

SkyBelow 7y ago
I wonder how it ensures that the game can be completed. My guess is that someone worked out every 'lock' with it's 'key' (be it an actual boss key for the boss dungeon, bombs for an item behind a broken wall) and then the randomizer has to swap out items anytime a key is found behind it's own lock. Maybe it is even possible to allow for play troughs that are winnable but where some items are inaccessible.
- duskwuff 7y ago
  The randomizer has detailed knowledge of which items are required (or sufficient!) to make progress in the game, and will assemble the game in such a way as to make everything accessible. Here's a user-level overview of how it works: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vh5voea4s0e3cha/how_to_read_the_logic.pdf?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/vh5voea4s0e3cha/how_to_read_the_lo... And here's the source: https://github.com/sporchia/alttp_vt_randomizer/blob/master/app/Randomizer.php https://github.com/sporchia/alttp_vt_randomizer/blob/master/...
tombert 7y ago
I'm partial to Parallel Worlds myself; so much of it is new, that it just feels like a brand new Zelda game, not just a modification.
tim58 7y ago
A Link to the Past randomizer is easily the most popular randomizer, but there are now many more randomized games. There are other Zelda games like Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, and there are non zelda games like Final Fantasy and Castlevania Symphony of the Night. This is becoming a bit of a trend in classic gaming speed runs. Multiple people will play the same "seed" or arrangement of items/characters and you can watch them race on Twitch or even at live gaming events. In some games the top non-hack gamers have crossed over and spend significant effort playing the randomized version of their favorite game. While there is an element of luck in this game format, the best players tend to consistently rank high in tournaments so skill is a large factor. Of course, the legality of this is highly questionable. Most people that play A Link To The Past Randomizer do not have a legal copy of the v1.0 Japanese game the hack operates on. For those that do their license would allow them to make a rom, but would it allow them to make modifications to that rom and upload gameplay videos online for profit? Some game developers have noticed this trend. For example, Cadence of Hyrule (2019) plays similarly to A Link to the Past Randomizer in that key items are distributed randomly across the game. They even call a specific item distribution a "seed" which is terminology borrowed from the randomizer community. It's easy to ignore this trend in gaming because it's not very large like loot boxes or two tier currencies and it doesn't have a marketing budget. It is however a fun grassroots movement branching out from people's love of classic games.
- jerf 7y ago
  "They even call a specific item distribution a "seed" which is terminology borrowed from the randomizer community." Random number generators have been getting "seeded" for decades now; that terminology may well predate video games entirely, though I can't prove that either way with an HN comment's worth of effort. Probably originates from a "seed crystal" in chemistry, which goes back even farther.
  - swsieber 7y ago
    Oh, definitely. But even for randomly generated games that term doesn't usually get surfaced (with the notable exception of minecraft). So I think it getting surfaced more often is a sort of a sign of influence from the randomizer community

SkyBelow 7y ago

I wonder how it ensures that the game can be completed. My guess is that someone worked out every 'lock' with it's 'key' (be it an actual boss key for the boss dungeon, bombs for an item behind a broken wall) and then the randomizer has to swap out items anytime a key is found behind it's own lock. Maybe it is even possible to allow for play troughs that are winnable but where some items are inaccessible.

duskwuff 7y ago
The randomizer has detailed knowledge of which items are required (or sufficient!) to make progress in the game, and will assemble the game in such a way as to make everything accessible. Here's a user-level overview of how it works: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vh5voea4s0e3cha/how_to_read_the_logic.pdf?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/vh5voea4s0e3cha/how_to_read_the_lo... And here's the source: https://github.com/sporchia/alttp_vt_randomizer/blob/master/app/Randomizer.php https://github.com/sporchia/alttp_vt_randomizer/blob/master/...

tombert 7y ago

I'm partial to Parallel Worlds myself; so much of it is new, that it just feels like a brand new Zelda game, not just a modification.

tim58 7y ago

A Link to the Past randomizer is easily the most popular randomizer, but there are now many more randomized games. There are other Zelda games like Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, and there are non zelda games like Final Fantasy and Castlevania Symphony of the Night. This is becoming a bit of a trend in classic gaming speed runs. Multiple people will play the same "seed" or arrangement of items/characters and you can watch them race on Twitch or even at live gaming events. In some games the top non-hack gamers have crossed over and spend significant effort playing the randomized version of their favorite game. While there is an element of luck in this game format, the best players tend to consistently rank high in tournaments so skill is a large factor. Of course, the legality of this is highly questionable. Most people that play A Link To The Past Randomizer do not have a legal copy of the v1.0 Japanese game the hack operates on. For those that do their license would allow them to make a rom, but would it allow them to make modifications to that rom and upload gameplay videos online for profit? Some game developers have noticed this trend. For example, Cadence of Hyrule (2019) plays similarly to A Link to the Past Randomizer in that key items are distributed randomly across the game. They even call a specific item distribution a "seed" which is terminology borrowed from the randomizer community. It's easy to ignore this trend in gaming because it's not very large like loot boxes or two tier currencies and it doesn't have a marketing budget. It is however a fun grassroots movement branching out from people's love of classic games.

jerf 7y ago
"They even call a specific item distribution a "seed" which is terminology borrowed from the randomizer community." Random number generators have been getting "seeded" for decades now; that terminology may well predate video games entirely, though I can't prove that either way with an HN comment's worth of effort. Probably originates from a "seed crystal" in chemistry, which goes back even farther.
- swsieber 7y ago
  Oh, definitely. But even for randomly generated games that term doesn't usually get surfaced (with the notable exception of minecraft). So I think it getting surfaced more often is a sort of a sign of influence from the randomizer community