Topic revival!
I've been working on this game some, and so far I've done the first two levels. This current WIP is:
*808 frames (13.47sec) faster than
the published run.
*370 frames (6.17sec) faster than
Guybrush's WIP.
*550 frames (9.17sec) faster than
max's rejected run.
*52 frames (8.67sec) faster than
my previous WIP (after level 1).
Here it is.
The biggest improvement is oscillating my movement speed, increasing my average movement speed. This is done by pressing right every fifth frame instead of holding down right when moving. Another way to achieve the same movement speed is by pressing left,right,left,right, wobbling your way forward. this will increase my average movement speed from by an additional 16 subpixels per frame, which adds up to quite a lot at the end.
In the example below, if I say that my speed is X it means 16*x subpixels per frame. The reason for this is because you only move in 16 subpixel intervalls. So if I say that my speed is 18, it's actually 18*16 = 288 subpixels per frame.
An example: Nemo's normal speed is 18. The game will calculate if it should increase speed by reasoning like this: When right is held down, if your speed is >=18 then set speed to 18, else increase speed by 4. If I release right when moving at top speed in air, my speed will be decrease to 17. Now, if I press right again, my speed will increase to 21. I now release right, which causes my speed to decrease by 1 per frame. The I repeat this procedure, making my movement pattern look like this: 17-21-20-19-18-17-21-20-19-18-17-..., giving me an average speed of 19, 1 higher than your normal top speed.
The wobbling movement trick is essentially the same, except that once my speed is 21, I press left, instantly decreasing it to 17. This gives me the movement pattern 17-21-17-21-..., with an average speed of 19.
Another new trick, which somewhat connected to the oscillating speed trick, is only possible to perform when in the gorilla or lizard form. When you land on the ground after a jump, you will keep the speed you had the frame before you hit the ground for a few frames. By optimizing my movement speed right before I hit the ground, I can keep a higher speed on these few frames after the jump.
Some comments on level 1:
*Jumping up the first two mushrooms is faster than running.
*After picking up the key above the big mushroom, keeping the frog form is faster than transforming back to Nemo, at least when using the movement trick. (I did some testing and it turns out that it's 4 frames faster to keep the frog)
Some comments on level 2:
*When climbing up the tree as the gorilla, max climbed the right side of the tree, while I (and Guybrush) climbed the left side. Climbing the left side is actually faster, even if it might not look like it. (I tested this too, and it's at least 35 frames faster than climbing the right side of the tree)
Any thoughts or comments? Any interest in this?
Perhaps you can use those spikes in the background as rules of thumbs on where to stand? Perhaps the rule "Never stand to the right of the third spike" could be a good rule of thumb.
2. I'm afraid I can't help you much here, though the glitch does sound promising. Maybe (a big maybe!) I can look into this sometime soon and try to find out how it works.
Hmm, as for other suggestions... you should read my submission comments carefully, 