Post subject: Croc: Legend of the Gobbos
Editor, Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
A platforming PSX game I had owned back then. Long story short, I think it would make an entertaining TAS. Opinnions?
Warepire
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 3/2/2010
Posts: 2174
Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
I think Croc 2 would make a more interesting TAS but that could be because I never played this one. Go for it and let the WIPs decide if it is worth finishing.
mz
Player (79)
Joined: 10/26/2007
Posts: 693
Once I made a crappy short TAS to show a glitch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcbtUjb4orc This game probably has one of the best soundtracks in any game, but it's very long and repetitive. I also think Croc 2 might be a better choice for a TAS.
You're just fucking stupid, everyone hates you, sorry to tell you the truth. no one likes you, you're someone pretentious and TASes only to be on speed game, but don't have any hope, you won't get there.
Joined: 1/3/2006
Posts: 334
Loved this game. I think Croc 1 is the best choice, because of the flying glitch and the Gobbos cloning glitch. So go for 100%
Joined: 5/17/2010
Posts: 8
Location: Kentucky, US
I say go for it. I had both games when I was really young, and I don't remember much from either game, except that I didn't beat either one haha. I think they would make for a good TAS.
Post subject: I'll take a bite at this game
Experienced player (510)
Joined: 4/14/2009
Posts: 116
For my first TAS, I've started working on this game. Right now I'm still in the testing phase, but I've found some interesting stuff, most notably that the fastest way of movement is diagonally [peaks at 155 speed vs 139 for forwards], maintaining as little time on the ground as possible (AKA lots of hover glitching). I'm planning to do an any% run...if all goes well, I may do 100% after that. I did a little test run of Chumly's Snow Den because it is an easy level...the boss isn't well optimized and I missed an obvious improvement in the second room (skip grabbing a ledge), but I think it is pretty good for a first TAS done in only around an hour. Do I just need to upload the .pxm (and I assume say which game I'm using)? Does the state I started from come with it? I'll do that tomorrow...maybe I'll improve it a bit first. I know about the hover glitch (obviously), the gobbo duplication glitch, and the out-of-bounds physics of the game. I've searched SDA and youtube, and there are no other exploits of note I could find. Anyone know of any? (I don't mean minor things like "hover over X to skip Y" or the Gold Key skip in 2-3)
Editor, Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
Yeah, you only need to upload the .pxm Interesting finds, and I'm eager to see a WIP
Experienced player (510)
Joined: 4/14/2009
Posts: 116
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M7AQ8V53 <-- .pxm of the second room of Ballistic Meg's Fairway, just a test to see if I'm doing things correct technologically. (Using Croc_-_Legend_of_the_Gobbos_[U]_[SLUS-00530]) Can somebody watch and verify? I don't want to do an entire run only to find out I was doing everything wrong. Anyways, right now I'm working on optimizing angle changes. Rotation speed/acceleration is different depending on whether you are holding forward or not (i.e. you can spin faster at the cost of gaining forward distance), so it is a balancing act. Also, after 7 or so frames, Croc starts spinning fairly quickly so it often jumps over the optimal angle, meaning either accepting a slightly suboptimal angle or wasting more time adjusting it (which will have to be done on a case by case basis). Furthermore, every time you jump you lose 27 "degrees"(there are 4096 "degrees" in one full rotation), unless you take a small dip in speed. So yeah, right now it seems like the hard part of running this will be angles, as maintaining speed throughout obstacles is not difficult. Definitely looking forward to this project.
Editor, Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
Movie syncs with me. From a technical standpoint, I can't see anything wrong with it, in fact, I wasn't aware you could enter doors like that.
Experienced player (510)
Joined: 4/14/2009
Posts: 116
WIP of the full-game TAS (1-1): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=446LF0CL It is amazing how many things you can change to be faster and look better, only to have a net gain of 0 frames. Anyways, I'm pretty sure this is optimal, unless a new trick is discovered (which I'm not counting out...I had to go back and redo the first room after I found a random trick to slightly reduce the slowdown upon landing and rejumping). If I'm averaging about 700 rerecords per room this early in the game...I'm a bit terrified of the later levels. Anyways, in my testing, I've also found a lot of other cool tricks (mostly for 100%). I've managed to clip past 5 color crystal doors, and I didn't even finish testing all levels (1-3, 1-4, 2-1, 2-2, 4-5). I've also managed to skip a few keys, like the one in the test video I posted before. Floaty jump also wrecks some "create platforms" puzzles, like the second room of 4-1. And of course, a bunch of tricks that save a frame or two that you wouldn't notice if you weren't watching frame-by-frame with memory watch.
Experienced player (510)
Joined: 4/14/2009
Posts: 116
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFU6DWkrRg0 And this is why I need to learn to do real encodes. Anyways, since I gather nobody watched my 1-1 WIP, I decided to try to make a video of it so I can get critique. The video turned out awful, with an unstable framerate and no sound, but you can't have everything in life. Just over 5,000 rerecords btw. Pre-emptive responses: 1] I can't pound that well any lower down...if you are a certain distance away from the well and you hit pound, the game simply stores a jump for when you next land. By pounding on a specific frame of a specific jump height I was able to cut off about a quarter of the normal height needed here, but thats it. (Note that you can do really close pounds on things that are the same level as you...the well is not). 2] There is a lot of directional wobbling in midair (especially 1-2 room 2). This is just to perfect my angle and, in the case of 1-2, avoid slowing down at all by hitting the sides of the platforms. It doesn't slow me down at all. 3] Yes the TAS will get more interesting than just these first two stages. But there will be a lot of jumping and hovering (vertical levels or levels with unskippable keys, for instance, will have a lot more to them). 100% would be undeniably more interesting, but I want to see an any% TAS done first because it is significantly easier and good practice.
Patashu
He/Him
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4000
A TAS full of hovering like that would be hilarious to watch.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Editor, Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
I watched the 1-1 WIP. But since I'm on a laptop here, I cannot watch the .pxm, so thanks for the encode. Looking forward to seeing more of this.
Experienced player (510)
Joined: 4/14/2009
Posts: 116
Same awful framerate, new levels: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnLeMHtMcQ8 Included in this video are 1-3 and 1-B1. From now on I plan to post WIPs only after every island, but as this includes the first boss level I thought I should make sure I'm being interesting (for some reason I'm a terrible judge at what is entertaining). The fight starts at 1:12 in that video (also you can pause at 1:22 to see something fairly humorous). If the fight needs to be improved, any suggestions? Croc's moveset is really limited and I have a few more ideas, but those would be better used on later bosses.
Patashu
He/Him
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4000
As long as every hit is as early as possible, just make sure to keep him on screen as much as possible and make him do silly antics/near misses/other oddities. If there are any movement glitches that aren't useful for saving time, boss fights would be a good place to show them off.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Joined: 1/3/2006
Posts: 334
Looked really nice, especially like the part in the boss fight when you chased him. As for encoding psx games, maybe this will help: http://code.google.com/p/pcsxrr/wiki/AviHelp
Editor, Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
Really looking forward to this.
Warepire
He/Him
Editor
Joined: 3/2/2010
Posts: 2174
Location: A little to the left of nowhere (Sweden)
I'm liking it so far... Keep it up!
Experienced player (510)
Joined: 4/14/2009
Posts: 116
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqVv3tPUVbQ Hey, about time a decent-ish encode. It has sound and a stable framerate at least. Good enough to be uploaded to my main channel. This contains everything so far, about 7 minutes of content (a significant portion of that being loading screens) in 19,4xx rerecords (too lazy to check the last 2 digits). I'm definitely happy with how this is turning out. Time for the snow world now. One thing to note is in the last room of 1-6 (Darkness Descends), I seem to hover right only to hover back left. This is because when you are hovering left for a certain ammount of frames, Croc's body angles a bit, lifting his legs up and allowing me to land on the platform (which is higher than it seems). Edit: Redid this to save 512 frames, because someone on youtube told me if you press -R1- about 2/3 of the way through the company introduction cutscenes you can skip the last bit of them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O28YpBc6N7Y
Editor, Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
Booyah! Shame you don't get to listen to the music for very long though.
Experienced player (510)
Joined: 4/14/2009
Posts: 116
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atsaknaxt5w World 2, should be significantly more interesting than world 1.
Editor, Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
Nice. You going up the waterfall was especially cool
Experienced player (510)
Joined: 4/14/2009
Posts: 116
I've changed things a bit since that upload: I added playaround on the arrow and improved the last phase of the Demon Itsy fight by about half a second. I doubt anyone cares much, but I can give the pxm if anyone wants to see (it isn't that that impressive).
Experienced player (510)
Joined: 4/14/2009
Posts: 116
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l24Me8GdhsY World 3, featuring more hovering, another gold key skip, some amusing oddities, and EXCESSIVELY BORING AMMOUNTS OF SWIMMING. Not as interesting as world 2, but entertaining nonetheless.
Editor, Skilled player (1402)
Joined: 3/31/2010
Posts: 2081
RingRush wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l24Me8GdhsY World 3, featuring more hovering, another gold key skip, some amusing oddities, and EXCESSIVELY BORING AMMOUNTS OF SWIMMING. Not as interesting as world 2, but entertaining nonetheless.
Nice, I like! The Gold key skip and death warps were especially cool, though why didn't you pick up the second heart in the boss level. I'm sure you'll be forced to death warp more than once. It's almost a shame, all this cool music, and it doesn't get to play out.