That's much better! Movement is clearly better optimized, and the decision to take damage is better stylistically IMO because there's much less waiting for obstacles to get out of the way.
Great work!
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
The problem with compartmentalizing is that many TASes require you to perform suboptimally in the short term in exchange for better optimality in the long term. A bot that only ever sees 30 (or 60, or 1000) frames into the future can't do that.
Not to mention that even if you only have four inputs, 30 frames is over 1 quintillion states. If you could process a billion states per second then it would take you 36 years to process one 30-frame section.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Now, now, I'm reasonably confident there are some females here. They may have decided to keep silent, given the usual reaction on geek sites ("TITS OR GTFO" etc.), of course.
Would it be better to use the JP version of the game or the PAL version? JP isn't in English, but it's also at 60FPS. I don't know if one is inherently preferable over the other, but if you're going to redo the run, now's the time to decide.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
That depends on how much you value indirect benefits. You get value from poor people having access to health care -- they're more likely to be able to become productive members of society and thus provide goods and services that you might use, for example. Even if you don't drive a car you get value from having a good interstate system, since it's used to deliver goods that you need. And so on. Even the uber-rich, theoretically the most independent people out there, need someone to sell their products to; if the rest of the country is destitute then their empires fall apart.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
If that's really the case, the emulator should probably be modified to by default set the console clock to a specific epoch time instead of a system-relative time.
How much sharing around of Gamecube/Wii TAS files has there been so far? I would think we'd have run into this issue before, since it's very common to use the console clock to initialize the RNG, and our TASers certainly aren't predominantly in only one timezone.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Interesting that very shortly after the creation of a thread about this game, a complete and clearly-carefully-researched TAS is submitted. Had you just happened to be working on this, or were you holding it in secret, waiting for other people to discover this game? :)
I can't watch it right now, but if it's anything like the short clip of a TAS I saw on YouTube it should be enjoyable.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
The difficulty with keeping data in the forum is that only mods and the thread creator can modify the first post in a thread. Oftentimes the thread creator is long gone (we have threads that have been around for most of a decade), and the mods don't have the time to keep every thread up to date, or even just the more popular threads. The wiki would be better; we just need more people to contribute. Right now the wiki's pretty low-profile, which means people don't pay attention to it and it gets out of date. A shame.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Why use DirectX and OpenGL instead of something like SDL, which seems a bit easier to port? Well, one downside is that Windows comes with DX while Linux and Mac OSX come with OpenGL, whereas SDL is a separate thing users would need to download.
Users wouldn't need to download SDL so long as its libraries were statically linked into the application, but developers would. One big problem with SDL is that it has very primitive windowing limitations -- you get one window, which SDL holds sole control over. It also doesn't do so hot with direct pixel manipulation. It's basically designed for simple 2D sprite-based gaming applications, which ironically enough emulators don't do (because they're at too low a level to be able to observe what the sprites in the game are).
Using SDL would also pretty well lock you out of ever adding an N64 or PSX emulator core, let alone something more advanced; you need 3D acceleration for those.
My vote generally is for OpenGL, because of its cross-platform capabilities. If your program uses DirectX, then you're locking out a potentially significant proportion of the community (Linux/Mac users) because they simply can't run your code. Dual-booting is enough of a pain that only the really motivated people will be willing to bother with it.
As for performance of OpenGL vs. DirectX, my impression is that BizHawk is aimed at the TASing community, so while it's nice if the emulator is as optimized as possible, it's not absolutely vital that the game be able to play back at its native framerate. In any event, are the bottlenecks really in the graphics engine at this point?
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
I think people just don't like destructive criticism which uses lots of swear words. I saw dootbeep's posts. He was providing harsh and blunt criticism of the emulator's original feature where it refused to load files that did not exist in a database.
If you want criticism to be listened to, the burden is on you to phrase your criticism in a such a way that the recipient won't dismiss it out of hand. Otherwise you're just venting your spleen, regardless of how accurate or pertinent the criticism is.
Put another way, just because someone did something wrong doesn't mean you have carte blanche to insult them for it.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
To my knowledge double Maulers are only possible on the alien ship level. Dual-wielding is rare in all of the levels, since you have to find a left-handed version of the weapon you want to wield (that is, you have to find an enemy that starts out dual-wielding, kill him, and take his weapons). Skedar Temple already introduces a bunch of new weapons to the player; I guess they didn't want the player to be distracted with a weapon they've already played with.
Come to think, I think every single level in the game has at least one never-before-used weapon in it. I wish more games had that level of variety...
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
How are the games unfair? In the sense that a shot is impossible because the game simulation is overly digital? I mean, that's going to happen at some level no matter what because your framerate is limited. Or is it that the physics aren't even a good quantized approximation of reality?
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Given the authority with which you speak (as well as the seemingly-instant antagonism you have with the administration), I'm guessing you're an alt for a previously-banned account, which would be grounds enough to ignore everything you say.
It would be nice if the admins informed us of why different people get banned, but oh well. They're handling a nasty job with more grace and goodwill than anyone could reasonably expect, and they have my respect for that.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
I'd suggest making it intentional whether or not you hit walls. That is, if you hit a wall, hit a lot of walls (like, all the ones possible in a given region), as a way to add some variety into the overworld. Or if you don't think that's a good idea, just don't hit them at all. Hitting them occasionally does seem bad even though it doesn't cost any time.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Yeah, the judges are perfectly capable of saying "No, this isn't a legitimate improvement". If your run doesn't actually show more skill than the previous one then it won't get accepted.
I don't get why everyone thinks the rules here are so absolute and every exception to them is setting some kind of horrible precedent. This isn't a court of law; it's a community of gamers looking for entertainment. The rules are there to help guide you in terms of what is likely to be accepted, so you don't spend a lot of time and effort on something that nobody will want to watch. If you make a run people want to watch, then it'll probably get accepted. That's rule 0 right there.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Pretty soon all the Zelda runs on the site will be using the Japanese version!
How much of the improvement is due to the timesaving glitches vs. the faster text?
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
IIRC the Jets are immune to throws but can be slammed. Only problem is that if you try to grapple them odds are good they'll end up slamming you instead. I never did figure out how to ensure that I'd be the grabber instead of the grabbee...
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
A few comic books I've thought were worth my while:
* Sandman, naturally.
* Maus. This is pretty heavy stuff (Holocaust), so it's not for the squeamish, but it's well done.
* Usagi Yojimbo. On the opposite end of the scale. Basically semi-fantasy feudal Japan with anthropomorphic animals (I'd say furries but then people would assume that it's pornographic, which it assuredly isn't).
* Blacksad. Film-noir, again with the anthropomorphism. And some bloody amazing art.
I have to admit that I've yet to read an interesting superhero comic. I'm sure they exist, but...
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
I'm not convinced that the movement is fully optimized here -- for example, when returning from the desert you fly over a platform that you could have walked on, which implies that you jumped a bit high, which in turn means you were using the slower horizontal speed of jumping rather than the faster speed of walking/hovering. Similarly when backtracking across the broken bridge shortly thereafter -- it seems like it would be preferable to land on some of the moving platforms rather than jump so high. But I can believe that optimizing movement for this game would be a royal pain and I don't think it's worth going back to change these areas.
Other thoughts: it doesn't seem like it takes very long to switch weapons. It might have been worth using the tornado in the cave after getting the Candle of Lethe -- you have to go out of your way to get to a ledge to jump up from when you could have just made a platform.
I enjoyed watching it, though I'm familiar with the game. It's almost a point-for-point remake of the Gameboy version though. Also kinda weird how the ghouls are deathly allergic to UV. Oh well. Nice work!
mklip: I would assume that rapidly toggling flight would get you more distance than just holding it, but that assumption relies on:
* starting hovering immediately stops your vertical velocity and immediately starts you on "flying" horizontal speed (per goofydylan, 1px/frame).
* starting/stopping hovering doesn't cost any extra from your flight meter
The reasoning behind this is simply that gravity accelerates you downwards, which means that you can "glide" for a bit after stopping hovering. This gets you decent horizontal distance coverage without sacrificing too much vertical distance. If you use all of your flight meter at once and then fall for the remainder then you have a much worse glide ratio (horizontal distance : vertical distance).
Thus your best option (for maximizing distance) would be to toggle flight on and off as fast as possible such that you are just barely above your destination when you reach it.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
do normal people even donate to charities? the only time I’ve donated money was for Japan’s earthquake a year ago
Sure, normal people donate money to various causes all the time. They just don't donate enough to be newsworthy. But most charities are happy to take your donation even if it's only $10.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
