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Why not hack the game a bit more and make the bonus countdown faster? After all, the hack already produces longer bonus countdown sequences than normally possible, so hacking them shorter would not ruin the game more than the hack already does.
I think the movie is very boring. Both the hack and the movie are technically well done, though.
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Saturn wrote:
Xkeeper wrote:
I'm just going to come right out and suggest that this TAS's rejection is due to the author.
It's too obvious, yes.
I will definitely vote for denouncing a judge, who does this kind of stuff! The case is not obvious to me, though. Could you please tell me what was so special about this particular author that his run was rejected? (A list of behavioral characteristics will suffice.)
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Bisqwit wrote:
nfq wrote:
Bisqwit, why don't you believe in a true Finnish religion like Kalevala instead of this dude Jesus from middle-east?
In general I ignore your posts because of the low signal-to-noise ratio, but since you asked a direct question...
Simply because I'm not a religion shopper.
By the way, Kalevala is not a well established religion anyway. It is a piece of epic poetry. "Kalevalaism" brings 0 search results everywhere.
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Indeed, there were many entertaining moments and the action felt fresh.
Maybe I missed some detail, but couldn't it have been faster to use the Star Fire as the final hit in the "wall boss" refight? Now you used Comet Flash and it seemed that the three targets got hit in sequence as opposed to the possibility of hitting them simultaneously with Star Fire.
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ventuz wrote:
...looking at password, exit (or reset) back to title screen, enter password...
I had this thought some time ago too. I came to the conclusion that using passwords like that is somewhat strange. You know, the imaginary superplayer would know the password already, so he does not need to go and take a look at it. If he was going to use a password, he would have used it immediately in the beginning.
At what point would you reset exactly? At the first frame the password is visible on the screen?
Xkeeper wrote:
No different from save, soft reset, load.
I think it is different.
The game state behaves like this:
Case 1 - Using a savegame
State A - Game begins
State B - Basic stuff happens
State C - Game is saved
*reset*
State D - Game begins again, but the game state is not identical with State A. The player can now load the savegame, which was not present in State A.
Case 2 - Using a password
State A - Game begins
State B - Basic stuff happens
State C - Password is seen
*reset*
State D - This state is identical with State A.
It seems that the password case brings forth some sort of meta-content, which is not present in the actual input file or the game state.
I don't know what the resulting Megaman 5 movie would look like. Maybe it would be more entertaining to some people. In any case, there could be problems in introducing "uses passwords for entertainment" category.
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LagDotCom wrote:
The meaning of life, as made obvious by such things as just about every living thing ever and evolution, is to reproduce.
How did posting that help you reproduce, LagDotCom? Or did you post it for another reason?
What would you tell to the unfortunate people who (for a reason or another) can't reproduce?
I would be genuinely interested in your answers.
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This is what I think about it:
1. The goal is well defined and reasonable.
2. This was slightly more entertaining than the basic movie.
3. I got very bored, when I watched both of them.
4. If only one publication is accepted for this game, then I would prefer this one.
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AKA wrote:
I wasn't aware the game had any lag. Was it avoided by not killing enemies and collecting items?
I'm not sure about avoiding items, but jumping and killing enemies has a high chance of producing lag. I suppose it is due to the many falling objects (the player and the dead enemies). It is pretty random, so jumping at different times can sometimes reduce lag.
AKA wrote:
All I can say is that it's all yours.
Well, maybe I'll try continuing it a bit further, but I have the feeling that I can't finish it.
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Just wanted to test what it's like to TAS this game.
Here are the first two screens done 21 frames faster than in the current published movie: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/532435146/chuckrock1.gmv
Mostly it's just lag reduction. Boring. I'm probably not continuing it.
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I went ahead and tried to find how the randomness works. I noticed that jumping sometimes affects the enemy behavior. I would not have understood it without watching RAM. Eventually, I found some really useful RAM addresses for enemy manipulation. I'll post them here, when I've studied them a bit further.
I tested recording from the beginning and saved 25 frames in the first few screens. But I also lost 26 frames, because I wanted to collect some gold. Hopefully these frames will be gained back later.
Together with sub-pixel optimization and better enemy manipulation, I was able to reach the first boss 20 frames faster than before. (It would be 46 frames, if I hadn't collected the extra money.) With less than a second saved in the first four minutes, the movie will not look much different, so I can't recommend watching it, but I'll post it here as a backup: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/858068076/wonderboyinmonsterworld-wip-backup.gmv
I'm not working on this actively, but I might continue recording it from time to time. The project has a high probability of not being completed, though, because running into any difficult problems might take my motivation away from it. The beginning was easy and fun to do anyway.
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adelikat wrote:
I did test to see if 2 players would be faster. But it turns out they aren't. 2 players means each players weapon does less damage.
Choosing Fang in the beginning wastes 27 frames, am I right?
I suppose you already tested this:
--> Start with Ray to save 27 frames
--> Let player 2 join the game as Fang
--> Suicide Player 1 with less than 27-frame loss
--> Proceed normally with player 2
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Here is a route demonstration that completes Rolan's Curse II in about 23 minutes: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/483403804/rolanscurse2test.vbm
This test run shows that the big healing potions are not very useful, because manipulating the item drops and using the potions wastes too much time. It is almost always faster to avoid the damage.
An item called "Fairy's tears" heals the player fully, so a few of those should be collected for the final boss fight.
No magic is needed, because all the spells are slow.
If somebody makes a serious attempt someday, add these to the memory watcher for starters:
;================================
; >> ROLAN'S CURSE 2
;================================
[ROLAN'S CURSE 2]
C1BB,2u,Boss HP
C1DB,2u,Enemy HP
C1FB,2u,Enemy HP
C21B,2u,Enemy HP
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Apo123 wrote:
Any suggestions?
Generally, I would suggest trying harder to optimize every minor detail.
I tested recording from the first ladder in the first level. When Ripley returns to the surface, my movie is already 37 frames faster: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1385908647/alien3test.gmv
I think your movie looks very good already, but this kind of minor details probably accumulate as the run progresses. You should always test even the craziest ideas. There could be surprising ways to avoid or kill the aliens.
TASing is not easy. That's why it's fun. :)
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Whoa! One of the enemies has a chance of dropping the pick axe, so I don't need to get it from the chest! I think this saves a few hundred frames.
The new version will not be significantly different, so I won't cancel this submission. Maybe the game gets rejected anyway, so it's good to keep it just one submission. Uh, my submitting finger has always been a bit too sensitive. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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Thanks for the comments everybody.
this is me wrote:
i am curious as to why the first one was done instead of the second
i never played either but i naturally assume the second would be a better game
Well, I didn't originally plan to make either one, but after I found the glitch, I decided to record the movie for everybody to see. The sequel would require much more work and I have no motivation for bigger projects. It is indeed a better game in all aspects.
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Looks very good!
I don't know the game well, but I noticed that the player gets knocked backwards when damaged, so if you need to take damage, you should turn to the opposite direction at the last frame before touching the enemy. The damage boost works easily when jumping on the enemies and turning in the air, but it is a bit harder to do on the ground.
maTO wrote:
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Highness wrote:
Always keep full health on all buildings.
I wonder how precise the slow-down effect is. Maybe it is enough to keep the health at the green level, or does every single damage point matter?
This could be tested easily by having a savestate at the beginning of a process (like spice unloading or unit construction) and then timing the process with different health values inserted to the building.
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Apo123 wrote:
I do hold the directions as I get off the ladder, I dunno why it makes me turn the wrong direction :(
In some games, the getting-off-the-ladder direction depends on what the initial direction was when the climb begun. I'm not sure if that's the case here, though.
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Wow, this is SO much better than your first submission. There were many entertaining moments and the ball control was outstanding. The game gets a bit repetitive, but the movie is definitely worth publishing in my opinion. I hope to see more stuff from you, dwangoac. Please choose a game with less fireworks next. :P
Indeed, there were many entertaining moments and the action felt fresh.
Maybe I missed some detail, but couldn't it have been faster to use the Star Fire as the final hit in the "wall boss" refight? Now you used Comet Flash and it seemed that the three targets got hit in sequence as opposed to the possibility of hitting them simultaneously with Star Fire.