This topic is for the purpose of discussing #10280: eien86, WarHippy & Twisted_Eye's NES Pac-Man Championship Edition "maximum score, Extra" in 03:08.556

This is not max score, and I don't believe your bot knows what it's doing just to keep it blunt. I was able to get 100 more points at the ending input. Even doing something arguably much more sub-optimal and sketchy I was able to get something that was 50 more points. And both were completed in less frames cause your bot does unnecessary input (which is more important to bring up for the 100 more points file). I don't want either userfile used as a replacement, cause I don't believe in the bot's work that it produced for the TAS. "I guess bots can't get everything right." - My comment in the userfile for the other submission.

My first attempt at Extra Mode weeks ago broke 400k. It's definitely trickier than Normal Mode--there are a couple points where new patterns spawn without Power Pellets, forcing you to either drop your combo or go through extensive gymnastics to keep it up, which I don't think are worth it. Only getting 3 minutes instead of 5 also makes the question of "should I focus on Ghosts or Fruits" less obvious than before. Maybe Jaffar needed to be retooled to the harder mode's context to find a better result? A little more time in the oven and I think it could do even higher.

Thank you Spike and Twisted. It seems obvious to me now there's something wrong with my submission. In my log, the bot had scored 392k points but in the submission it's only 378k:

[J+] Current Reward (Win / Worst):                392450.000000 / 391250.000000 (Diff: 1200.000000)

So I must have messed something with the transcription of the solution to the movie. But now I know 400k is possible, I'm not going to even bother fixing it. Instead, I am going to try a different approach and relaunch it. If a judge picks this up, please set this as delayed, as I'll be working on the improvement.

wow

Here is the improved version, 417200 points. Please replace the submitted movie with the following: User movie #639104029958023959 Link to video

Hi Nymx! We've found yet a new improvement to this movie so I'll ask you to hold on judging for a bit ;)

Hi Nymx! We've found yet a new improvement to this movie so I'll ask you to hold on judging for a bit ;)

No problem. Just let me know when you are ready. :)

Putting this submission on delayed, so that I can keep up with what I'm waiting on.

Alright, we are ready to resume judgement on this submission. The new final score comes out to 445,050. https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/639113606756929873

Alright, we are ready to resume judgement on this submission. The new final score comes out to 445,050. https://tasvideos.org/UserFiles/Info/639113606756929873

Thank you. I'll get back on this one here soon.