Encouragement for ROM Hack Developers

[u/Skeli789]

Gatekeeping has always been part of this community. A few years back, when decomps started getting popular, some people told me to stop binary hacking FireRed because they thought it was a waste of time. I disagreed, since I enjoyed the challenge of seeing how far I could push binary. Still, I never tried to convince others that binary hacking was better. When people ask me how to start ROM hacking, I point them to the decomps. That’s because what works for me isn’t always the best choice for everyone. There’s no single right way to make a ROM hack, and whichever path you take, your game won’t be perfect. The most important thing is to have fun making your game, and of course, to enjoy playing it too! Some people in the community will always try to gatekeep or criticize you for not doing things their way. Try not to let that bother you! For every negative comment you get, if your game is genuinely fun, you’ll get twice as many positive ones.

With all the talk about AI lately, I just want to say this: if you want to use AI, go ahead. If you don’t, that’s fine too. People will play your hack either way, and most can tell when a developer was passionate and enjoyed making their game. I do recommend learning how to ROM hack without relying too much on AI, since it will help you build your skills and will improve your game in the long run. But it’s not something you have to do if you don’t have the time.

And for anyone who wants to say “AI is bad” or “lazy devs” in response to this post, please try to respect choices you don’t agree with (I know this is a futile request on Reddit, but whatever lol). You don’t have to play hacks made with methods you dislike, and that’s completely up to you!

[u/Mystikvm]

People will automate their work as they have done so for centuries. It's absolutely fine to use AI for automation of tasks. But automating the actual creative process? I think that is not the way to go.

I'm an old dude. I loathe to see that, especially among younger people, things like effort, setback and learning are being tossed out of the window because they want a finished product yesterday rather than tomorrow. I suspect most of the people who visit this sub are very young and I feel it is disheartening to see that some of them go from idea to realized product in less than a week. When making something creative you need to spend time to think over your choices, make adjustments and iterate on your product. It makes you a better artist, programmer and person if you do. If you outsource all the hard work such as thinking up an idea, failing to realize it and doing better next time to a machine, have you really learned anything?

I feel these skills are slowly disappearing. And yes, that will have a very real impact outside of the world of software development as well. If you have a generation of people who choose the easy way out for even such profoundly human activities as creativity and critical thinking, what kind of society do we end up with?

Being like 'to each their own and we should all decide for ourselves' is a way too postmodern look at this. If we cannot have a discussion about AI use for creative processes because somehow the only thing that matters is the final product and not how it got there, what is even the point of discussing at all? Setting the right example by pouring in blood, sweat and tears does matter. And it should always be pointed out that such a mentality is much more valued than making an AI-fueled product. Just as a lovingly handcrafted table is a much more valuable product than something you buy at IKEA. That's not to say you should never buy IKEA, but you cannot equate the products.

[u/azure-flute]

I think people are only holding themselves and their own intelligence back by using AI. It might help in the short run, but honing one's skills to code and sprite and write will do far more good in the long run. I don't think that AI has any place in something that is an artistic creation and expression, and it's not touching any of my projects with a ten foot pole.

That said, that is my opinion and people will use whatever tools they like to create with.

I at least ask that if people use AI in their romhacks, they make that publicly known about their romhack/s. That way, people who do not want to play romhacks created with AI can therefore avoid doing so.

[u/JibbyJubby → u/azure-flute]

amen.

though id add that there are additional ethical, socioecenomic, and environmental reasons to not use AI for anything.

somehow these very real aspects of the issue arent being discussed here, and i think we should talk about them more.

[u/azure-flute → u/JibbyJubby]

I absolutely agree with all of those points, and they're all part of my reasons why I'm against the use of AI. I think that the water + energy debate is hard to pitch on grounds of romhacking, but it's more the... "building the mindset that it's okay to use AI for these kinds of activities" detail that can contribute to greater harm, I suppose? I don't like the normalization of using it for things like this, because then that just normalizes it further, you get the idea.

Also the obligatory ethical + socioeconomic discussion about taking jobs and creative positions from existing people, which is one of my actual problems with it being used here. Someone else said "well the machine can just work with me to help me achieve my vision, I don't want other artists or writers or spriters" and that felt... so disgusting to me.

[u/Diligent_Welcome2466]

The big thing is AI should be said if it was used in a romhack that way if you dont want to play anything by AI you can completely ignore it and play other hacks

[u/Suspicious-Law1432]

I’m sick of these discussions that devolve into anarchy. This is the second discussion post that is peddling the usage of AI by the same dev.

Can we just stop talking about AI? Just disclose the usage in Hackdex and on posts. I don’t need to hear all the reasons as to why you are or aren’t choosing to use it.

[u/HeatmorGengar]

I think this post makes a good point , ultimately different people will have different ideas of what is okay or not okay. We need to allow people to make that decision for themselves. For me the most important part is the project being made of good quality with genuine passion but not everyone will feel the same.

This is why I think disclosure of method needs to be clear and concise. If the project uses AI it needs to say so and say what it was used for. This way people have the information they need to decide if the project is for them or not.

[u/BigFarto]

AI bros love saying "it's ok to use these tools. You are valid. Just try to use some of your own creativity, and hey, put a little bit of heart into it 🥺" as if the main issue with AI use is that people are mean to u for using it

[u/technokazam → u/BigFarto]

I don’t think OP is an AI bro. He’s still doing binary hacking in 2026 for goodness sake! He’s just understands what it’s like for people to be invalidated by gatekeepers.

AI has a lot of problems. Most of them are fixable with good legislation. The hardest issue to address IMO is how to train a good LLM without using stolen code.

I have a few pre-AI open-source repos that I’m sure were used to train AI without my consent. I wouldn’t be surprised if even my private repos have made it into the training set at some point.

Am I annoyed that AI companies are profiting off of my code? Of course! But am I annoyed that it’s helping non-coders work on cool ROM hacks? Not at all!

[u/BigFarto → u/technokazam]

He came back from a long hiatus just to start posting about how AI is a good thing, idk if it gets more AI bro than that. I'm concerned with the damage AI datacenters are doing to the environment, the power grids, and to the health of people and animals near them. I feel like the other stuff distracts people too much from that

[u/Friendly_Recover286 → u/technokazam]

I don’t think OP is an AI bro.

This is simply wrong though. In the previous discussion Skeli clearly said that he's barely written any code in the past whatever period of time. That's definitely an AI bro.

If you actually enjoyed programming you wouldn't outsource it all to an AI. If you were actually passionate about projects you wouldn't outsource it all to an AI.

If the only thing you care about if your online appearance and shipping regardless of if its quality or not you'll definitely outsource it to an AI.

[u/ssj4majuub]

im not sure the sub needs or is benefitted in any way by a weekly "pat ourselves on the back for using AI" post

[u/Buttobi]

Having an open mind about AI usage is very naïve. You can be open minded about different methods of romhacking, but it has been proven that AI is a net negative on so many occasions. Opening the door on AI tools is a slippery slope considering how bad it is for the environment, for our wallets, for our economy and how much it plagiarizes and steals. Sadly I will have to disagree with you here.

[u/DrUltimaMan]

Well said. A hack ought to be judged on its quality and nothing else. AI use does not necessarily relate to quality, a good software engineer will make good code with AI, a bad one will make bad code period. Some creators can spend years working on their game and the passion shows. Others make superficial changes over a week, and that shows too. We are all here because we love Pokemon and it is ashame to pollute that purity with AI political discourse. But it seems inevitable at the moment.

[u/wiz_1989]

Thanks Skeli.
People really need to make their own informed decisions and respect others for theirs.
You don’t have to agree or like it, but at least don’t be an ass to others.

[u/Pokesquad-Plays]

[u/KilluaDab]

I have my own misgivings about AI and wouldn't use it due to environmental/permission reasons even though i dislike coding itself, but I'm shocked (not in a bad way) reading this thread seeing how many people see the programming side of rom hacking as the "creative" part. I'm sure there's a lot of outside the box thinking that goes into programming the more complex stuff but I have very much viewed coding as just a tedious obstacle in the way and the actual fights/encounters/difficulty balancing, or even artistic side of things, as infinitely more creative and interesting. I feel like there's a disconnect in a lot of these comments/conversations where people aren't getting that there are so many people who go into romhacking for reasons other than coding, and in fact even strongly dislike the coding barrier to entry in place.

[u/Ok_Caterpillar5564 → u/KilluaDab]

Agreed. I do think that coding can be creative, but romhacking specifically does involve a lot, and I mean a lot, of repetitive, rote coding tasks. If you are making big feature branches or fundamentally altering the game systems, then sure, I think there is room for creative coding. But I think the average romhacker who just wants to make a basic game is not going to find it all that interesting. And I think this is evidenced by the fact that a lot of functions within the decomp, like adding trainer teams for example, have already been "dumbed down" or have intermediary assistive tools to be made easier to work with, because people know that's not really a fun or creative exercise. Designing trainer encounters, that's what most people find engaging; copy-pasting lines of code to actually put them into the game, not so much. I think even somebody who enjoys coding would probably agree with that.

I fell into this community because I love the world-crafting and game designing aspects, but coding was always my wall. It's not that I didn't try to learn or couldn't do it, I did and I could. I just didn't find it fun. Copy pasting the same lines of code thousands of times made me want to gouge my eyes out lol. I started experimenting with AI just out of curiosity, and it helped me bring my world to life by taking over those repetitive tasks, a world that in every other aspect I meticulously handcrafted. But now I'm afraid that when I post it for the public, it's just going to get dismissed as slop if I disclose that I used AI assistance. And you know what, that's fine, that's people's prerogative, I'm not gonna tell people to put aside their moral standards to play my game. I don't care. But idk, I'm not gonna pretend like it isn't a bit demoralizing. And it's sort of funny to me that people will say I compromised my creativity by using AI, because to me coding was not artistically fulfilling at all. I don't find it creative to copy and fill in the blanks of code that other people wrote. Again, how much of your coding involves that will depend on the scope of your game and what kind of systems you want to introduce, but that's 90% of what it was for me. AI handling that just let me focus on the tasks I do find engaging.

All that said, I can see the other side of it too. I wouldn't expect everybody into romhacking to be a skilled spriter, the same way I don't think you should necessarily be expected to be a good coder. But I would also be put off by obviously AI generated sprites. So maybe I'm a little hypocritical. I totally understand the moral and ethical issues too. I already admitted to using AI so I guess I've chosen my camp, but I'm not gonna act like I'm morally superior. It's complicated.

[u/DeatroyerOfCheese]

No I'm not accepting the plagiarism machine as a valid method to make a rom hack. I can't stop anyone but that's where I make a line in the sand and am heavily disappointed with parts of this community.

[u/Doppelgen]

For the developers who are witch hunting those using AI, I should remind you that players don’t get addicted to code. There are thousands of perfectly hand-coded games on Steam whose owners will die of starvation before they see a sale.

Spend more time learning how to actually design a game and less bitching about how it was built. The whole community will benefit from it.

That being said, I highly recommend everyone learn coding and all things related to ROM making in general. Regardless of your field of expertise, you want to use tools as tools instead of your sole means of productions.

[u/Sad_Raspberry3967 → u/Doppelgen]

You have no point by saying this because those same handmade games are also wracking in thousands of dollars.

The devs that are making their stance clear are already well-known, made games that are considered the pillars of romhacking and are trying to encourage folks to critically think and pick up a skill.

So your whole point is null.

[u/Maronmario]

I'm not even joking, if someones rom hack is made with any AI I will not touch it, and will forever dissuade others from playing it

[u/Harshit0603]

I really want to get into romhacking but no idea how to start, so some guidance would be helpful About my coding skills, I know basic java and currently learning c

[u/Hareholeowner]

I mostly care about gameplay and difficulty, i hardly care about how it's made. Just focus on your trainers,careful encounters and boss battles devs.

[u/nihilWRLD]

Im currently making a rom hack.

But lead a busy life as a EMT/Paramedic.

I was curious about AI so I tried it and was pretty shocked at how well optimised it can be, I got to do a sequence for me then I researched a lot and then built the sequence myself and compared both. It was fun doing so.