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Remember when you first started hacking smw?

This thread is more aimed toward people who've been hacking for a while

I remember when I first joined smwc I was 13 and designing Mario levels in smw seemed like something out of a dream. I loved it, and did it every single day. It was so surreal, I was making my own super mario world.

Nowa days, it feels pretty normal. Don't get me wrong, I still have fun with it when I do it, but it's not like, spectacular anymore. But I still enjoy it a lot :3

How did you feel when you first joined? Has your experience changed since you joined? Got any notable memories from back then?

I remember I started hacking because of a lets play by a guy named Khold of a hack called Super Khold World. I became Qwholl so I could make Super Qwholled World, and so I could LP it. Kinda cringe when I think about it nowa days, but I also laugh. And I got my name out of it :3
My youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbX4pLm713laHTRtLj9xpxw
My twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theqwollone
Damn, I remember, such great times, copying Kaizo Mario World and Cool or Cruel and pretending I came up with those ideas. At least I didn't share it and kept it all to myself. I wonder if I still have those...

The first time I used some inserting tool and CMD openend and I felt like a hacker by typing the rom and list name (for some reason, it still feels great to type the ".txt" and ".smc"). When I finally managed to insert something 13 year old me felt sooo great.

For me the magic of SMW hacking hasn't faded out yet, now that I have more knowledge in the tools and design I want even more to make hacks (wich I can't all that much because busy life).
Listening to metal, loudly.

My Youtube



i remember when i joined a lot of people came off as rude and unfriendly, making fun of my hacks rather than helping me
one example was being made a mockery of by raocow when i made a crap cldc level

i do my best to be friendly to new/inexperienced users so they don't have to go through that same feeling of shame(?) that i had
Finding out about hacking was a dream come true. My earlier works weren't any greater than you would expect. Fresh right out of the brainstorm machine
When I joined the site I was constantly scared to not screw up and not make a bad impression, as I really did not know english. It was fun to be here, to be helpful and to increase my posts
It's easily the best thing I've done
So why the empty numb?
When I started hacking SMW, I was remaking levels from various Mario games (SMB1, SMBTLL, SMB2, SMB3, SML, NSMB). I haven't posted anything about it until early January 2016.

On mid-January 2016, I started to make a hack with forest-themed original (designed from scratch) levels, and its levels had repetitive design.



Ah, the nostalgia. My levels weren't that great when I first started on the hacking scene years ago. I remember when I even made a poor level completely based on Forky and release it in the old kaizo hack submissions thread among other works (RIP).
My English also really sucked when I registered with multiple accounts back then. I was pretty shy and gullible at the time and didn't understand what others said. Oh well, fun ensued.
Windowless ride, feeling alive
Are you alive or just breathing?
When I was first into hacking, I was really inspired by Cool or Cruel and Forky, and even then I knew that inspiration wasn't the same as copying. I remember making the final stages in my first 2 Kaizo hacks subtly inspired by Forky and a difficulty spike compared to the previous levels, probably even more-so than Forky compared to Rampageous. I also tended to make puzzle and labyrinthine levels more-so than currently. I've gone thru numerous motivational valleys and hills and come back each time with a batch of creativity. I guess I still sort of am interested in Kaizo hacks, just not like the really hard kind that abuses slowdown and advanced tricks and glitches. I've found that to be kinda nuanced.
Legacy custom music
A site with a non-useless dislike button
SMW hacking channel

It was really fun because I really liked SMW, however I was horrible at this back then, so my levels looked pretty ugly. I tried making hacks but I ended up failing, however I think I managed to make a few contest levels though...
I remember I first discovered SMW hacks sometime around late 2006-2007, since my super nerdy older cousin showed me all sorts of crazy stuff on the internet back then. I recall wanting to join this site or Acmlm's (as well as SomethingAwful and Youtube), but my parents were against the idea - and I'm like one of the few people on the planet who obediently clicks out of a website when there's an 18+ warning, so how could I disobey D:


I didn't finally try my hand at hacking until late 2013, when I suddenly remembered this place existed due to summer boredom and ultimately joined the forums here. I'm actually kind of really shocked that it's been almost five years since then, I loved those times. It really sucks how much time flies..
Twitter
The handomest people in the world are ones who follow my Twitch
Picture it: New Jersey, 2001...

I was a freshman in high school and some kid had a Texas Instrument calculator with a ratchet bootleg Super Mario level editor on it. I was instantly amazed and wanted to figure out how I could edit Mario levels on my own computer.

After some searching, I came across Lunar Magic and was instantly hooked. I messed around with the editor and made several levels before joining Acmlm's Board nearly a year later. At that point, my first hack release, SMW+, was ready.

While that initial wonder and awe of making your own Mario levels is long gone, it's still fun to do every now and then to this day.
Lunar Magic was really astonishing since the very beginning. I looked for Mario editors, most of them weren't good or much usable. When I started using it, I used to make blatent edits of original levels or default vanilla levels until I acknowledged custom graphics and music. When I everyone find more about this editor, it gets even more interesting and that's great. I still want to do more stuff and probably publish some of my new works. #lm{hidegfx}
Oddly enough, what's only been two years has felt much longer for me. I remember attempting to make my first ROM hack under the name of Island Noir. It was supposed to involve an array of small challenges that would get harder throughout each level. I think I called it quits when I realized excessive muncher pits wasn't the best level design (or challenge, really). 2016 wasn't my true first encounter with ROM hacking, though.

A few years earlier, I somehow stumbled upon Lunar Magic and downloaded it onto my computer. I didn't know what emulation was at the time, so the tool was useless to me. (I think I might've gotten Lunar Magic off of FuSoYa's website at the time, since I recall seeing a Super Demo World level on it?)
What is a Lunar Magic, and can I eat it?
I've been around for a long time.. since 2006 I think? Hence my id being 27. I was 15 at the the time and now I'm 27. I really wish I would have finished an actual hack. I had a few projects and never finished them. I guess I was way more into tinkering around with the game. That's why I designed the Laser Suit and made some patch submissions. I'm more interested in the workings of the game and doing cool stuff. Never been a great level designer. If I came back and made a hack, I wouldn't even know where do start. It's become so complex with your ASM, sprites, music, and whatever else there is now.
I've only been around for... god, it's already been 1 1/2 years? I didn't know I was gone for that long. Well, I learned about SMW hacking from EvilGuy019's SMW Custom Boss Rush. Those videos also caused my unhealthy obsession with boss fights. It makes me joyful to think that there's still a chance that the series will come back at some point. They got rid of most of the SMW music for copyright reasons, which disappoints me, but it's still the same series. Jeez, you can see how passionate I get when I bring up the SMW Custom Boss Rush series. Really shaped what I like in video games. Considering

I don't really recall much of my early time here. I remember being a special snowflake and uploading a horrible ice tileset, which was given a critical review and rejected by Noivern. Looking back, it definitely warranted all the criticism it got, but I was bitter about it at the time. Luckily I didn't try to retaliate on the forums or something dumb like that. That's all I care to remember.
I remember watching custom levels on YT and I was baffled. SMA2 already was one of my favorite games at that point, so to learn about Lunar Magic and this community was absolutely mind-blowing.

As for my first hack... it was a poorly made 105 edit. What did you expect?
Originally posted by Minuy600
As for my first hack... it was a poorly made 105 edit. What did you expect?

who else didn't build their first levels ever on 105, like really. makes me want to return to the time we were babies on Lunar Magic due to our sheer amount of nostalgia
Windowless ride, feeling alive
Are you alive or just breathing?
Originally posted by Katerpie
Originally posted by Minuy600
As for my first hack... it was a poorly made 105 edit. What did you expect?

who else didn't build their first levels ever on 105, like really. makes me want to return to the time we were babies on Lunar Magic due to our sheer amount of nostalgia

I don't think I did. I don't know what my first hack of all time was, but I remember working on a hack called "Mario in Candy Land" with a bunch of Map16 palette swap blocks. I also made something else I still have lying around, but I don't feel like explaining it, so I'll record it. Later.

Edit: Technically I think it was a 105 edit, but I didn't try to advertise it as a "hack", I was just testing out Lunar Magic.
First time i used the Lunar Magic was in 2007 and was fun, despite the limitations and slowdown.

There's something i realized over the years of SMW hacking:
Make a fun SMW hack without slowdown, cutoff, glitches and bugs, with fun and epicness to play.
I recall that the first thing I ever did in Lunar Magic was way back in 2010. I loaded up Kaizo Mario World and proceeded to edit all of the palettes and swap the cement blocks with brown blocks and then play it over again looking all different.
                                                                                                                  
                              
I think it was maybe like... 2008, when I found Lunar Magic. Didn't really understand anything or what anything was. Found SMWC about a year later and kicked myself for not finding it sooner.

A lot of my way early hacks had horrible palettes, bad level design, flat and boring and all that stuff. However! I wasn't one of those floating muncher guys #wario{>:|}

And some other of my early attempts at hacking were hacks based off other hacks that were unlocked because I didn't understand Sprite Tool or how to insert ExGFX. I think one of them was based on Pac's Super Mario Bros remakes and another from superwiidude's Luigi and the Island of Mystery - because they all had cool sprites and graphics I wanted but didn't know how to insert!

Since then though I look back and think "why didn't I understand that" lol - but it amazes me the advances in hacking knowledge this community has made since then #ab{:D}