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hejops wrote:
To be completely honest, TAStudio would crash every time upon loading the .tasproj if I used the GBC core. That's the only reason. But I suppose ThunderAxe posted a good enough reason too...
I bare the blame here for GB not being very TASable in the most recent release. I do believe the current dev build has returned to being very stable though:
https://ci.appveyor.com/project/zeromus/bizhawk-udexo/build/artifacts
If you need help with anything feel free to pm me.
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Thanks to some speedy work by judges and publishers, we can now cross off 3 more runs from here!
This is further then I expected to have gotten by this time, maybe 2018 can see this wrapped up!
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I fixed a couple bugs in C64, including the exceptions above.
I would encourage anyone interested in C64 to download the dev build and test things out and make sure there are no regressions.
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That's interesting. Based on the comments in those threads, it probably expects un-initialized data to be in a certain form, and BizHawk is probably not doing what it expects. I'll look through and see if this is the case, and set things up properly if needed.
EDIT: the game thinks WRAM initialized with 0 is some kind of valid data. initializing instead to 0xFF does not have any files when the game loads, so this seems to be the solution here. I jus commited a Hash based check to make this the case for this game.
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DrD2k9 wrote:
This entire topic then begs the question: Does the term 'educational' actually aid in determining a degree of triviality for a more concrete rule? It seems to have created more confusion than anything.
Would the rule benefit from dropping the word 'educational' all together and just stick with 'non-serious' (Assuming that can be defined)?
I don't think the rule (as written) is intended to seperate out games based on triviality. No argument against 'Math Blaster' has been about how trivial the game is or even whether it's a game at all.
I would say the the one word that sums up the current rule and judgement is 'style.' I think the intent of the rule , and certainly the the way it is used in this judgement, would be more clearly stated as:
'Games in the style of educational games or board games are not accepted in the vault.'
Then, at least it's clear that we aren't differentiating games from non-games here, nor trying to define some notion of 'serious game', nor judging the game based strictly on it's content. The style alone is what is at issue. Then you could even use 'math blaster' as an example.
I still wouldn't think this is a good or necessary rule (I think it can be safely scrapped altogether), and 'style' would probably still be contentious, but at least it's clear about what's being judged.
On the notion of triviality, I think that aspect should be re-inforced even more then it is. The current 'Porky's' run for example can be almost exactly reproduced real time with a little practice and only 1/4 chance luck.
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hegyak wrote:
Gambatte's sprite rendering is incorrect for GB Games. Is this expected to happen?
(I replied to this on GitHub but it seemed worth it to put a similar reply here.)
It's actually the background that isn't rendering here, but that's besides the point.
It's not expected, and actually I totally forgot that even happened.
Being able to load GB games in GBC mode in gambatte was a derivative of having BIOS support. Originally Gambatte did not have this capability (I had to load up 1.13.1 to even realize this was the case.)
So, I reverted it so that GB games will not load into GBC mode in Gambatte, they will only load into GB mode.
In the event that a GBCHawk core ever comes into existence, the ability to play GB games in GBC mode will be once again added.
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Interesting. I looked over things quickly, and I don't think there is much room for manipulation here.
SGB deosn't change the relative time between CPU and timer, so I don't think that will help.
As mentioned by Dwedit, double speed mode requires the game to turn it on.
I looked at where this is happening. It takes exactly 2304 (256 * 9) cycles between the time FF04 is read between those two addresses, and interrupts are not enabled at that time. So there really doesn't seem to be anything that would allow difference to be something other then 9.
Too bad, that would have been cool.
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Mothrayas wrote:
Nope, started out as "arithmetic assignments, in the same vein of those done as school assignments". At no point was any reference to what Math Blaster does referred to as arithmetic for non-educational purposes, until you simplified my statement to "arithmetic". Nice try, though.
Yeah I know, starting it off 'arithmetic assignments' is what I'm saying was wrong. It's not inherently assignments, it's just everyday arithmetic.
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It's actually the other way around, you turned 'arithmetic' into 'arithmetic (school) assignment', there is nothing inherently 'school assignment' about the 'arithmetic' in Math Blatster, or even the form of it. The same arithmetic can be used as a school assignment, but it's also just an everyday life skill.
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Mothrayas wrote:
No part of YHTBTR includes school assignments. Reading on its own is not a school assignment. It only contains text in relation to gameplay, which is also not a school assignment. Therefore, it is not an educational game.
Math Blaster contains arithmetic assignments, in the same vein of those done as school assignments, as a primary gameplay element. Therefore, it is an educational game.
I honestly cannot make it any more obvious than this.
Arithmetic isn't just an assignment, heck I know people who haven't gone to school a day in their lives who do arithmetic of that exact form every day.
But it seems all this is un-necessary...
Nach wrote:
If your argument is you don't like the rule, you're wasting your time. The senior staff very much likes the rule and will be keeping it.
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That's not an answer.
I'm asking what you see as those specific elements that exist in stage 2 of 'math blaster' that don't exist in 'you have to burn the rope' that transform it into a 'serious' game.
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@Mothrayas: Except the only 'real points' here are precisely about appearence. What differentiates 'you have to burn the rope' from level 2 of 'math blaster'? Both are platforming mixed with educational elements, one reading and another addition. If anything the math blaster stage is more of a 'serious' game since at least you can fail.
EDIT: oops, bobo the king posted in between, edittted for clarity.
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I'm really not seeing the need for this definition of a 'serious' game.
Let's take an even simpler example. Why is [2891] DS You Have to Burn the Rope DS by NitroGenesis in 00:25.87 a serious game (where incidently you cannot fail) and not a cleverly disguised reading comprhension test?
The answer now would seem to be 'because it's not designed like one,' but maybe it's just a really clever disguise? :O
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The carrot attacks are fixed, her movement is what is being manipulated. All bosses have behavior that varies mainly based on your position relative to them. In this case we want the pattern that brings her toward the roof in time to defeat her by throwing her into it.
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zoboner wrote:
Cool game and nice run.
voting yes.
Why your movie file give SMS, then than it's an GG game ?
Bizhawk don't doing the difference when you play SMS or GG ?
I'm sure this question is dumb, but I prefer know why !
This is on my to-do list of things to fix in the SMS core.
The game is being played in GG mode (you can see in the movie header that IsGameGear is set to true) but it just isn't setting the system ID to Game Gear.
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For anyone interested, the solution appears to be located at $3082, $3084 in RAM. I haven't worked out what value goes to which person.
The solution appears to be calculated around frame 836 in the movie.
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Bobo the King wrote:
I bring it up because Final Fantasy Legend has a spell (I think it's FLARE or P-BLAST?) that is utterly impossible to obtain using the Game Boy's RNG. I've never tried getting it using GBC or SGB, but it is, technically, an element of the game that is locked out by the RNG.
If anyone would like, I can run a few traces and show how the RNG table is compiled and compare them across the three platforms.
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Yeah, I just don't agree that there should be a blanket ban on games with those design asthetics. I don't see a need for it and don't see it as desirable.
The existing rules regarding non-games seem sufficient to me to cover non-game educational content.
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Mothrayas wrote:
Can you explain how either game features education as a primary game element and purpose?
Carmen Sandiego is basically an aggrevated multiple choice test about reading comprehension, hard to get more school house education then that. Education isn't just math.
Actually, many games require you to be able to read in order to understand and play. Reading and reading skills are certainly school subjects. As a current example, take [3590] SMS King's Quest: Quest for the Crown by BZero & Challenger in 03:07.46 . Played casually, this is basically little more then a big reading comprehension test. The only reason it's not classified as an educational game is because nobody called it that. If an edutainment company had published the exact same game and called it educational, would it suddenly become unpublishable?
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Actually I think Math Blaster is a good and fun game (I remember playing it when I was little.)
I was more referring to the rule itself, in that I don't think it makes sense.
If I had created an otherwise identical game called 'Waldo Blaster' where instead of doing addition you just have to identify and shoot Waldo (and do equivalent things in the other stages) and I had published that in the 1980s instead of Math Blaster, that game would publishable here, since it's a game with clear gameplay and a goal.
My point is I don't think the fact you have to do math instead should be what stops it from being published.
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I think this rule should be changed to allow this run to be published.
I can't think of a good reason why 'do basic math' should not be publishable.
We already have 'click a predetermined spot on the screen' [2792] NES The Great Waldo Search by MESHUGGAH in 00:51.83 and this is a better game then that.
