So, you think you're ready to begin. You still have much to learn, young one... but a journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step. Let us begin.

- Life, the Universe, and Everything

Look at an EarthBound ROM, and the entire game world lays before you. People, places, monsters, everything you can imagine. As a hacker, you can weave all of these disparate objects together to create new worlds for a player to enter and explore. But if the game has no meaning, would anybody want to explore it? In a moment, you will learn how to give that vital meaning to your game...

- A Matter of Scope

I'm going to stop you for a second here... I have to tell you something. You may not want to hear it, but...

Many people assume that to make a hack, they have to change things throughout the entirety of EarthBound. With our current knowledge of the game, it's completely needless. On top of that, such a project - assuming you don't take advantage of any new knowledge like graphics compression or map editing - will take over a year. Believe me, I speak from experience.

I suppose, at this point, you must feel a bit like Alice... tumbling down the rabbit hole, hm? In the coming tutorials you will learn to design a nice, pleasant hack that... one that somebody may actually enjoy. Are you ready? All right, let's get our hands dirty.

- There's More Than One Way To Skin A Cat

The possibilities are wide open when it comes to creating a hack. You can modify as much or as little as you wish - the important thing is doing it well. Here are a handful of categories which make up a good portion of what you can accomplish.

* Experimental Hacks
These aren't really hacks in the normal sense, but I'm going to throw them in for good measure. An experimental hack will show off what can be done with a particular block of data, to illustrate the meanings and effects of various systems within the ROM, and so forth. If you ever manage to pull off something really cool, you can wrap it up in a nice little patch and gloat about it to the rest of the community.

* Cosmetic Hacks
Cosmetic hacks are probably the easiest to do. They are much like what was seen in the early days of PK Hackery, when the only editor we had was the community's namesake. Ignoring the plot, text, maps, and all other such concerns, a cosmetic hack will deal with what are considered some of the more superficial aspects of hacking - enemy and item names, appearances, and effects, for example. They can be completely weird and random, or they can be crafted with a specific theme in mind - it's really up to you. You should try your hand at several cosmetic hacking sessions before making an attempt at a larger, more complex hack. You'll be surprised how far some concentrated effort in the beginning will go in terms of your later abilities. Keep these around - as your ability grows, they may snowball into one of the following forms.

* Easy/Hardtype Hacks
A hack such as this entails modifications in the game's difficulty. Cosmetic concerns are almost completely ignored. The sorts of things you might edit are enemy stats, strength, and attacks, item drop frequency and prices, et cetera. If you're feeling adventurous, you may even want to go as far as hacking things like enemy appearance frequencies, level up experience requirements, PSI learning levels and PP costs, main character statistic growth data, and so forth. This type of hack requires some serious thinking and lots of play-testing. Above all, gameplay should be balanced, so it is neither too easy nor too hard to be enjoyable.

* Story Hacks
A story hack is just a cosmetic hack taken to the next level - text editing. The average story hack won't take things very far beyond the preexisting bounds of the game, and only changes the text on a superficial level. Don't get me wrong - this is by no means simple. When working within the bounds of the story, you have to find ways to be creative with what's already there. Instead of a meteor, what else could have crashed on the hill? Why is the local arcade swarming with enemies? Why does your hero have to go on a quest at all? Learning to deal with those situations gives you a powerful sense of the game's dynamics, as well as bolstering your own creative talents. You'll also face hurdles with respect to control codes and event flags - learning what you can get rid of without frelling up the plot, as well as an eventual grasp of pointers, are often key to the success of a story hack. Such a hack is also a great learning experience, and can be a major stepping stone to bigger and better things. A good knowledge of EB itself and a strategy guide are big assets when making such a hack.

I know there are many of you out there who won't be satisfied with this EB hack form, and I don't blame you for feeling that way. Who could resist the siren song of map editors, advanced control codes, compressed graphics, and the other myriad things we understand today? Aren't hacks without them overly amateurish and simplistic? Just remember one thing: JonBound: Dark Future is a story hack, pure and simple. It just goes to show that as long as you do it well, you don't have to be on the cutting edge for people to enjoy and praise your hacking.

* Full Game Hacks
This is the big tamale, folks. Playing in the major leagues. A full hack basically consitutes stripping away most things that make EarthBound EarthBound. It's not a challenge that should be attempted by the beginner - in fact, many of this community's brightest and strongest members find the task to be a daunting if not impossible one. New maps, new items, new characters, enemies, and dilemmas... You've got to be bleeding-edge here, taking advantage of every technology you possibly can. Though such a hack seems impossible, I assure you it can be done. It requires much more effort than many beginners - and even veterans - are willing or able to provide.

* So, what the hell? How could ANYBODY do this?
Your best bet, if you intend to make a full game hack at some point, is to hack, hack, hack, a thousand times hack. Make cosmetic hacks, story hacks... just play around as much as you can. Hacking ability isn't something like being tall... it's something you build up over time. And the only way to get it is through constant effort. Most of the time, you won't even know that you're learning - just be diligent with your hacking efforts, seek out knowledge, and above all have fun... before you know it, you'll be slicing up bytes like a pro.