(Link to video)
Submission Text Full Submission Page
Welcome to a new, small improvement for the Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee Maximum Casualties TAS. This run is 1246 frames faster than the current published movie (excluding bootup) due to some optimizations and not manually killing 28 Mudokons at the start of the game. I contacted Dooty a few weeks ago about what Oddworld TASes are left to improve and I asked him about the Maximum Casualties TAS and told him that exiting RuptureFarms to kill the 28 that get slaugthered at the end of the level is faster and he told me he regrets manually killing them as it was a bad choice speedwise, and he agrees with me that a new run would be a lot faster. Also Alphatemp has shown in an realtime speedrun that this new method is quicker. But since the new emulator core is here, this improvement is two seconds slower than PCSX-RR thanks to better loading times and accurate PSX emulation. This run also uses shortcuts taken from the 100% and any% runs. In addition to all of this, Abe marks is 20th Birthday this year since this game was was first released so this movie makes it perfect to mark Abe's 20th Birthday. Happy Anniversary Abe!

Game Objectives

Playaround/Glitchfest Uses Skip to Kill 28 Mudokons at Once
Uses Death to Save Time or Not
So here are the glitches that are used in this run:

Death Delay

Often abbreviated as DDG, it makes Abe invincible and can corrupt his sprite and eventually become invisible when rolling into mines or UXB's allowing him to get past enemies that would kill Abe. Abe will die if he falls of a ledge or gets zapped. A video made by Sligfantry can show you how this glitch works:

Auto Turn Delay

This glitch works by standing on the edge of the ledge and pressing the down button quickly and run towards a spot where you would like to hoist down. You will need to press either 'left/down' or 'right/down' depending on which direction Abe was facing.

Stop Turn and Backwards Jump

By timing this glitch perfectly you can make Abe stop and turn. To set it up, Abe needs to be standing near a ledge (pressing up whilst tunring arround) you will be able to make Abe do a backwards jump. Notice that when you press the opposite direction to where Abe is standing at the incorrect frame, Abe will just jump up and stand. But if you time it perfectly, Abe will jump backwards and possibly jump to another screen. This will allow you to jump backwards to areas and skip Zulags. Sligfantry's video can show you how this glitch works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIo1TJUBGlo

Multiple Backwards Jump

Whilst performing a backwards jump, simply press up/jump and Abe will do a multiple backwards jump.

Diagonal fall

This is done by combining the stop turn and the auto turn glitch. It is used as a time saver in Monsaic Lines and to save a frame in RuptureFarms.

Bird Portal Closure

This run contains a new glitch which saves a few frames. You can free the required Mudokon in the second part of Rupturefarms a few frames earlier than a normal rescue. Here is the before and after video on how it looks when using the glitch.

Level Improvements

Rupturefarms This level out of all the other levels has been the biggest improvement, leaving the level which kills 28 Mudokons automatically.
Monsaic Lines The early use of the diagonal fall glitch is used to save time.

Scrabania

There is a faster setup of the DDG.
Zulags The use of the multiple backwards jump has saved time here and there is a quite a funny moment in Zulag 2 when a Mudokon decides to glitch off the ledge and run into a mine.

Suggested Screenshot

frame 22141

feos: Judging...

TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 14878
Location: 127.0.0.1
Player (26)
Joined: 8/29/2011
Posts: 1206
Location: Amsterdam
See, here's the thing. This is not a pure speed record, this is supposed to be an entertaining moon-tier run with a rather unique goal, i.e. killing all the friends you're supposed to be saving. In a movie with a goal like that, I want to actually SEE the main character killing the mudokons - not rush out of an area and have the mudokons be counted as automatic off-screen deaths. The skip doesn't sit well with me. So voting no. For a pure speed run, speed is best. For a special goal, show the entertainment.
Samtastic
He/Him
Player (60)
Joined: 11/30/2012
Posts: 765
Radiant wrote:
See, here's the thing. This is not a pure speed record, this is supposed to be an entertaining moon-tier run with a rather unique goal, i.e. killing all the friends you're supposed to be saving. In a movie with a goal like that, I want to actually SEE the main character killing the mudokons - not rush out of an area and have the mudokons be counted as automatic off-screen deaths. The skip doesn't sit well with me. So voting no. For a pure speed run, speed is best. For a special goal, show the entertainment.
Ok. I will re-do that part of the movie and kill the 28. I see what you are wanting for this type of category.
Enjoys speedrunning, playing and TASing Oddworld games! Has TASed: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee in 12.06.13 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Adventures II in 20.03.78 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 100% in 2:08:28.4 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:05:01.65 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 37:18 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 37:15 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 100% in 2:!5.44.12 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee any% in 13:01.3 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee any% in 12:59.95 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:04:16.27 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:04:01.07 Currently working on: Waiting for Windows TAS Tools to work so I can TAS PC version of Exoddus.
Experienced player (543)
Joined: 11/18/2011
Posts: 245
Location: Morocco
I think that the objective of this category is to show more entertainment rather than saving time, which means playing around with everything you got in the game and make a lot of enjoyment. Probably, the comparison to the current run will be by how best is this run than the other one rather than how much time saved, you may lose a lot of time but you will show more best things that the current run don't and beat it. Take as an example, Mortal Kombat for SNES. That what I understood from what "Playaround" means, which is the goal of this branch.
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2292)
Joined: 10/12/2011
Posts: 6337
Location: The land down under.
I guess what got killed here... Was the Entertainment.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. Something better for yourself and also others.
Joined: 5/9/2005
Posts: 748
I can't really believe I'm arguing this as I'd usually agree with the complaints in a 'completionist' play through... But I'm fine with running through the starter area asap, to count as getting the Muds killed. As they get killed. I can see both sides, for sure. I think the quick no's could be knee jerk reactions though. I guess it's a superplay/speed run argument. I'm fine with either.
Editor, Skilled player (1172)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
My gut reaction was that I did not like the idea of running through the start area as quickly as possible because of this checkpoint doing the killings for you. I can go through the emotional response that it looks all cool and stuff that you're going out of your way to slay them yourself, but I soon thought of a more rational approach. My main thought boils down to one thing: Differing content. Well, we have any%. It's goal is to clear through the game as quickly as possible, with rather few restrictions. We have the 100% that has the additional restriction to save everyone, and the "maximum casualties" which is to slay whoever you can. A choice was made in the previous run to give more differing content. An effort in that, even though the game kills everyone up until this checkpoint, the run still goes out of their way to kill them personally. If we use this checkpoint as an excuse for not doing so ourselves, then for this segment of the run, we are using, effectively, any% rules. We lose out on differing content for the sake of a faster run and our deaths counter remaining the same. I can always throw a hypothetical: What if someone was hacking the game a bit and found some unused piece of code, another of these checkpoints, that bring the casualties up to 65 if you haven't rescued any of them. And through glitches, we can trigger this unused code. Such a run triggering this hypothetical checkpoint would squeeze us much more closely to the any% run. The most extreme hypothetical is, naturally enough, we use Arbitrary Code Execution to tweak the counter directly. This is almost certainly unacceptable, so I want to ask, where's the best spot for our line? I'm of the opinion that we keep the line rigid with past choices, so long as these choices improve or maintain the differing content I adore. The moment any segments suddenly snap to what an existing run already does, despite being an entirely different branch, I get a little upset by this. We lose an interesting detail, only to show another detail covered elsewhere anyway. I will still respect any decision made here, however. I just wanted to advise that the point of different branches is to show viewers interesting things that wouldn't normally be covered by our standard any% rules.
Samtastic
He/Him
Player (60)
Joined: 11/30/2012
Posts: 765
So would it be better if I did an updated run manually killing the first 28 Mudokons? Looking at the PCSX run I can still improve on a few things like doing the multiple backwards jump on leaving a secret area.
Enjoys speedrunning, playing and TASing Oddworld games! Has TASed: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee in 12.06.13 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Adventures II in 20.03.78 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 100% in 2:08:28.4 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:05:01.65 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 37:18 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 37:15 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 100% in 2:!5.44.12 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee any% in 13:01.3 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee any% in 12:59.95 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:04:16.27 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:04:01.07 Currently working on: Waiting for Windows TAS Tools to work so I can TAS PC version of Exoddus.
Joined: 6/4/2009
Posts: 893
i'll go with the general voice: skipping those 28 isn't entertaining also, we need to find a way to kill those 8 last mudokons... no
Site Admin, Skilled player (1236)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11268
Location: RU
If the content (butchering mudokons) is the same, I don't think anyone will mind it being faster.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
Editor, Skilled player (1172)
Joined: 9/27/2008
Posts: 1085
I don't mind optimizations based on apparent skill or techniques. Everything after Rupturefarms are all fine, as we need to kill stuff ourselves. Time is still a good criteria for obsolescence, and having a lower time is often better, no argument there. The point of contest is Rupturefarms itself, though (as I perceive it). Do we allow a maximum casualties run to use a checkpoint to skip the kills?
Samsara
She/They
Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player (2121)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2793
Location: Northern California
It doesn't really matter if it's faster, since this isn't a Vaultable category and everyone seems to think there's no more entertainment in it. It's fine for RTA where they don't have distinct tiers or categories, but considering everyone seems to hate this new run, I would have to say that this new skip shouldn't be allowed.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | Cohost
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samtastic
He/Him
Player (60)
Joined: 11/30/2012
Posts: 765
To avoid rejection on this movie I am cancelling this submission and working on an improvement whilst killing all the Mudokons in the first stage. The next movie I submit will include some movement improvements in one of the secret areas with Abe jumping backwards near walls.
Enjoys speedrunning, playing and TASing Oddworld games! Has TASed: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee in 12.06.13 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Adventures II in 20.03.78 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 100% in 2:08:28.4 (with Dooty) Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:05:01.65 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 37:18 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in 37:15 Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus 100% in 2:!5.44.12 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee any% in 13:01.3 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee any% in 12:59.95 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:04:16.27 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee 100% in 1:04:01.07 Currently working on: Waiting for Windows TAS Tools to work so I can TAS PC version of Exoddus.
TASVideosGrue
They/Them
Joined: 10/1/2008
Posts: 2738
Location: The dark corners of the TASVideos server
om, nom, nom