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From Anonycat:
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I've been mapping out this level for gem relationships, with ideas with various levels of reliability.
Maybe others can find some ideas here that escaped us.
slamo may have found the fastest route already, but here's some other routes based on the above:
A key point about this last one is, that it avoids some cross over, and starts the final leg of the route at the bottom left. The middle of route 2 here may not be optimal, but there's a lot that can be reworked with the same basic idea, ending up with the final leg.
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Svimmer wrote:
The great drawback with that trick (let's call it phase-climbing) is having to make up for the time the block took to phase out and in again. With purples and lreds it wouldn't be so bad... So let's keep a lookout for that.
That's an extremely limited view.
In this exact case, it's dark red, and you start via breaking the block, and RETURN with your trick. Since it's RETURN, the time is not the issue here, and the trick is valid.
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Mitjitsu wrote:
Anything goes on this site, so yes vote.
You're voting yes to a movie which has already been obsoleted by another movie in the exact same category?
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Note, the blue route requires Svimmer's trick.
As does this one:
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SMB really isn't entertaining without the glitches.
Also, I think this movie has already been obsoleted.
Very strong no vote.
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slamo wrote:
I tried numerous combinations doing different sections in different orders, and this is the fastest thing I came up with.
Based on what I'm seeing, I think this can be done faster.
slamo wrote:
This is the longest level to date, but a lot of it is just waiting unfortunately.
The biggest wait is the circling the middle. The rest of the level needs to be planned around eliminating that.
I see you wait the moment a missile passes before you go towards the innermost gem, then you need to wait based on the second missile coming for you.
There's three very important points about this:
1) The two missiles distance from each other while constant, shifts their meet, as one direction is longer than the other. Meaning what may just barely lose out on being able to return directly may have some leeway on a different cycle. By how many tiles do you miss your escape by?
2) Your top speed matches that of a missile, can you manage to follow a missile around that at top speed? If so, you can follow the missile in, duck down the latter in your one tile leeway to avoid certain death, grab gem, and return hot on its tail.
3) A stunner appeared on the level. Perhaps with manipulation, you can make it appear sooner? The main point it can be helpful is for the middle.
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This is another of those levels where the enemies cause a lot of issues.
This overall is probably the route though.
Note the two possibilities for the gem and switch on the right.
I change colors halfway through from pink to blue to avoid some confusion with 3 lines of pink in the same tiny passage.
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The craziness is fantastic, I approve. I'm also surprised my alternate ending is slower, not sure where I miscalculated...
But this looks absolutely marvelous.
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Looks quite good, I think it's the route with the shortest amount of actual travel.
Edit:
Alternate Ending:
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We should see which gems can be gotten while teleporting.
This should help us route plan better.
Did I miss any?
Edit:
The next part of planning is finding which travel point each gem is closest to, this should help identify some collection groups and strategy.
Correct me if I made any mistakes here.
Based on the above, it appears to me that we should start by either getting the gem above Jetman, or to the right of Jetman, then head to the group around that gem's nearest teleporter. It seems we should end by leaving the teleporter directly above and left of the exit, and grabbing the gems around the exit.
Edit:
I think I missed some teleporter gem grabs.
All these should be grabbable while teleporting.
slamo: Can you do some testing and ensure we have a full list?
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There's tons of variations on what can be done with this level.
Here's an example where we go insane:
I think we'll need a lot of thought before we get close to the correct route.
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Svimmer wrote:
Nach wrote:
I embedded the videos for the first level using the new YouTube flashblock feature we have. Please weigh in with thoughts.
I think it's better like this. Is it a supported feature of Youtube or just something you did for this site?
Everything you find on this site is special for the site.
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In this level, it's important to note that the marbles can greatly screw up your plans.
In some areas, you can jump over them, some not. In every case, you can blow the floor out from under you, to send a marble on a detour, which you can hop over.
If the marbles are really a problem, make note of the marble trap spots in which you can permanently trap some marbles (yes, multiple at once!).
Off the top of my head, here's an initial route idea:
I'll need to look closer though to see if I can come up with something better. I dislike the repeat travel.
It's important to note in this route map, the initial stages of it is around the heavy marble trapping areas. If they need trapping, probably best to do so early on.
Edit:
Another route:
Edit:
Our level editor image shows a full fuel tank on start, so ignore my routes.
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I embedded the videos for the first level using the new YouTube flashblock feature we have. Please weigh in with thoughts.
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Please don't speculate.
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feos wrote:
I've heard TVC got a time limit for copyright violation. Is it true, and what to do if it is?
It's not clear what happened.
We're looking into it, wait patiently.
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You can grab gems while enemies are stunned on top of them.
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Wouldn't getting some of the other stunners speed up the collection?
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I liked the beginning of that video very much, you looked awesome.
Here's some ideas, most of which I doubt, but room for thought.
All these alternates change fuel requirements, and time point differences will mean different enemy placement at other time points.
1) Grab the rightmost gem before heading to the left, if the Marble and Missile are out of the way, no enemy's to bother you, and a more direct finish to the level.
2) Perhaps bust a wall on your way up? You can bust the brick directly to the right of the gem, or the one above it, on your way there, and then go through it on the way back, which direction you need to go in anyway.
3) Go above, maybe you can more effectively go around the springs this way. For one thing, it looks like a cleaner way to get to the door on return.
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Getting the gem right below the barrier is really faster on the way there as opposed to on the way back?
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That's the same general idea I had for the level. The main thing I'm wondering though is if you can really outrun the marbles, or if you need fuel.
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This should be the shortest route.
However, due to the enemy's I don't think the shortest route will be possible. They're really really annoying in this level.
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Maybe others can find some ideas here that escaped us.
slamo may have found the fastest route already, but here's some other routes based on the above:
A key point about this last one is, that it avoids some cross over, and starts the final leg of the route at the bottom left. The middle of route 2 here may not be optimal, but there's a lot that can be reworked with the same basic idea, ending up with the final leg.
Note, the blue route requires Svimmer's trick.
As does this one:
Note the two possibilities for the gem and switch on the right.
I change colors halfway through from pink to blue to avoid some confusion with 3 lines of pink in the same tiny passage.
Did I miss any?
Edit:
The next part of planning is finding which travel point each gem is closest to, this should help identify some collection groups and strategy.
Correct me if I made any mistakes here.
Based on the above, it appears to me that we should start by either getting the gem above Jetman, or to the right of Jetman, then head to the group around that gem's nearest teleporter. It seems we should end by leaving the teleporter directly above and left of the exit, and grabbing the gems around the exit.
Edit:
I think I missed some teleporter gem grabs.
All these should be grabbable while teleporting.
slamo: Can you do some testing and ensure we have a full list?
I think we'll need a lot of thought before we get close to the correct route.
Off the top of my head, here's an initial route idea:
I'll need to look closer though to see if I can come up with something better. I dislike the repeat travel.
It's important to note in this route map, the initial stages of it is around the heavy marble trapping areas. If they need trapping, probably best to do so early on.
Edit:
Another route:
Edit:
Our level editor image shows a full fuel tank on start, so ignore my routes.
All these alternates change fuel requirements, and time point differences will mean different enemy placement at other time points.
1) Grab the rightmost gem before heading to the left, if the Marble and Missile are out of the way, no enemy's to bother you, and a more direct finish to the level.
2) Perhaps bust a wall on your way up? You can bust the brick directly to the right of the gem, or the one above it, on your way there, and then go through it on the way back, which direction you need to go in anyway.
3) Go above, maybe you can more effectively go around the springs this way. For one thing, it looks like a cleaner way to get to the door on return.
This should be the shortest route.
However, due to the enemy's I don't think the shortest route will be possible. They're really really annoying in this level.