Posts for unagi

Posted: 8/31/2014 6:09 AM
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unagi
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 4/7/2008
Posts: 4
hello all. first let me say i've been a fan of tasvideos for a very long time. i was thrilled to see my video had been published. though i have not produced any more runs myself over the last six years, i have regularly visited the site and enjoyed watching your artful creations. thank you all. regarding my run, i am confident it can be improved. i dug up my old notes, and i hope future Q*bert runners can make use of them. i made extensive use of luck manipulation to control enemies, in particular to manipulate sam/slick into helping me complete puzzles (sam and slick are actually two separate characters -- slick has glasses). the only way i found to do this was by pausing the game, which wastes a significant number of frames over the course of the run. with more modern TAS tools including direct memory access, there could be a more efficient way. regarding the escape discs, i was not able to find a way to use them without slowing down the run. although they can save time by killing coily, completing the top square, and shaving 15 frames off the end of round bonus scoring, this is all less than the amount of time lost to the disc animation itself. the only glitch i discovered is the ability to jump through enemies, usually a 1-frame window, which i utilize many times throughout the run, mainly with coily. i expect additional glitches exist, which could certainly speed up the run. without glitches though, i believe i did achieve perfect times on the first two sets of rounds. the board has seven horizontal rows. there are 16 squares on the odd rows and 12 squares on the even rows. since every jump alternates between odd and even rows, and because Q*bert starts on an odd row, a minimum of 16*2 = 32 jumps are required to complete each of the first four rounds. and then in level two, the next set of four rounds, a minimum of 16*4 = 64 jumps are required. in both these rounds sam/slick can only undo progress. for the later rounds, optimal bounds are harder to determine because of sam/slick. they come down at different times in the different rounds, so the number of jumps needed to complete each round varies even within the same level. i was not able to find a way, but if sam/slick appearances can be manipulated that would create substantial time improvements. furthermore, as the monsters become much faster, a significant amount of time is wasted on luck manipulation and waiting to jump. this of course can also be improved. finally, like many NES games, this one has a frame rule, in Q*bert's case the value is 16. so speeding up a given round only improves the final time if it can be completed before the previous mod 16 cutoff. below is a table with details on my run. i believe the jump speeds are predetermined for each round, but if they can be manipulated that would also be valuable. the columns are: level-round jumps used extra blocks of 16 frames wasted beyond the given number of jumps (jump speed measured in frames) 1-1 32 0 (34) 1-2 32 0 (32) 1-3 32 0 (31) 1-4 32 0 (33) 2-1 64 0 (31) 2-2 64 0 (30) 2-3 64 0 (30) 2-4 64 0 (31) 3-1 31 5 (29) 3-2 34 2 (29) 3-3 34 3 (29) 3-4 34 2 (29) 4-1 64 0 (29) 4-2 64 0 (24) 4-3 64 1 (26) 4-4 64 0 (30) 5-1 53 4 (29) 5-2 52 3 (29) 5-3 53 5 (27) 5-4 53 11 (27) 6-1 53 9 (27) 6-2 53 10 (27) 6-3 47 9 (27) 6-4 53 9 (25) 7-1 53 7 (25) 7-2 53 4 (25) 7-3 53 9 (25) 7-4 47 7 (25) 8-1 53 7 (24) 8-2 49 8 (24) 8-3 53 2 (24) 8-4 53 3 (24) 9-1 47 7 (24) 9-2 47 6 (24) 9-3 53 3 (24) 9-4 47 9 (24)
Posted: 4/7/2008 1:58 PM
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unagi
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 4/7/2008
Posts: 4
>>Havent watched this WIP, but yes, you are supposed to record from reset. Thanks. Anything else I need to know before I start a final draft? >>I have a better question - does the game even end? In the original coin-op version, I believe it goes from 9-4 back to 9-1 and then loops those four rounds forever. In the NES version it goes from 9-4 to 1-1*, with a minute long "ending" animation in between. 1-1* looks and plays the same as the original 1-1 except it is slightly faster, and the same is true for 1-2* and 1-3*. I have no idea what happens when you complete this "second quest", and I also don't know any way of accessing it without finishing the first one. I certainly think ending a TAS after 9 levels is a fine, satisfying conclusion, but I worry about it get boring over the last four levels. I mean, 1 through 5 are all fundamentally different (the rules for flipping tiles), whereas 5 through 9 are all the same. Edit: So how about this idea. I play the first 5 levels as fast as I can (though still being entertaining when it's free), and for the last 4 I sacrifice time for entertainment. Sound good?
Posted: 4/7/2008 3:40 AM
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unagi
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 4/7/2008
Posts: 4
Okay, I discovered dehacked. So here's my Q*bert run: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1381470462/Q-bert%20%28U%29.fcm Q*bert is an old coin-op arcade game that was ported to NES (as well as many other systems). The only glitch I found was that you can jump through enemies if you time it right (usually it's a 1-frame window), which I frequently do in the later levels, especially in the corners. I also make frequent use of luck manipulation by pausing for a few frames at a time. The run involves no deaths, because I couldn't figure out a way to save time by doing so. I used FCEU 0.98.15. This is a rough draft that I'm posting for a comments. I have two main questions. 1) Should the final draft go all 9 levels or stop after 5? The game becomes the same after level 5, just a little faster. The monsters even come in basically the same order, and I complete all the boards in roughly the same way. However, as you can see in my video, you get a little animation sequence after beating level 9, although it does just restart you on level 1-1 (though it's now 1 frame/jump faster than before). 2) How can I make it more entertaining? I realize this is somewhat boring; how can I make it more interesting? I try to maximize near misses with monsters by altering routes, but everything else I can think of would cost time. Is it worth sacrificing speed for entertainment here?
Posted: 4/7/2008 3:31 AM
Post subject: Q*bert
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unagi
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Player (67)
Joined: 4/7/2008
Posts: 4
I made a Q*bert time attack (Q-bert (U).nes). I tried to post it, but the submission forum complained that "FCM error: Movie does not begin with a reset". Was I supposed to record from "Reset" instead of from "Start"? I'm using FCEU 0.98.15. It's just a rough draft anyway I was positing for comments. Where else can I upload it? thanks.