Posts for Derakon

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Posted: 9/4/2011 5:08 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Impressive! Keep it up. :)
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 9/4/2011 3:17 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
There is such a bonus, and it's pretty easily achievable on two levels: against Donkey Kong in Classic (he tends to commit suicide if you just stand in place), and on the F-Zero race in Adventure, if you just don't get hit and avoid using your third jump.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 9/3/2011 5:38 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
The problem with Fox is that people who aren't big into the SSBM community get tired of watching him very quickly. He may be the optimal character, but he's not fun to watch unless you have a strong technical understanding of the game and can appreciate all the subtle things the TASer is doing.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 9/3/2011 7:11 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
This is an impressive technical achievement and the author clearly knows what they're doing...but entertainment-wise it wasn't there for me. The AI simply isn't able to put up a decent fight in this game, even if you aren't a comboing master, and unfortunately the combos themselves just don't look all that impressive. My personal recommendation would be to make a series of 2/3/4P exhibition matches with and without items. There's far more room for entertainment there than there is in beating up on the AI. I'm voting meh -- the run is technically strong but doesn't meet the entertainment bar for me.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 9/2/2011 7:28 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I recommend downloading the NSMB TAS published on this site and examining how the authors move when they have the shell. You should be able to replicate those movement patterns to maintain your speed.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 9/2/2011 3:59 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
When monsters are nearby, the characters will automatically brandish their weapons and switch to fighting stance. Once the monsters are dead (or if the characters get far enough away) they'll sheath their weapons and switch back to normal stance. When you compare the TAS to a normal run of the game, there's three major things the TAS does to be faster: it moves through monster zones quickly, it manipulates bosses to do as little as possible, and it glitches the hell out of Kevin's attack power.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 9/1/2011 5:49 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Alcohol has any number of uses -- it sanitizes, so it can be used as a cleanser (including for injuries, so that qualifies as a medical use). It's usable as fuel, albeit not as energy-dense a fuel as gasoline. Most gas in the USA has a 10% ethanol mix as part of our addiction to corn subsidies. You can also use it as a solvent (part of why it makes a good cleanser -- it thins out oils) and I'm sure it has tons of industrial applications. I could easily believe that in an alternate universe where cannabis is legal and alcohol isn't, people would be touting all these non-drug uses for alcohol as evidence that it should be legalized. Just like they do today with hemp.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 9/1/2011 5:45 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Hourglass isn't up for this kind of game yet, I'm pretty certain. But do remember that "TA" just means "tool-assisted", and there's any number of tools beyond just emulators. I'd guess that in this case the tool used is a programmable macro keyboard to send a certain sequence of inputs with sufficiently precise timing.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 9/1/2011 4:58 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Yeah, when going for the secret exit in 1-2 you should definitely be stopping and then running instead of sliding all the way back to the left-hand wall. And spinning in the shell is slower than running; check out the recent NSMB TAS and you'll see that they're constantly jumping whenever in the blue shell suit so that they don't lose speed.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 9/1/2011 3:37 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
The suggestion was to play game A only enough to generate a savegame that unlocks stuff in game B, then to switch to playing game B. The theory being that the unlockables would save more time than is cost by generating the savegame. I have trouble believing there is such a scenario. It'd have to be for a rather lengthy game (e.g. in the adventure/RPG genre) to warrant such shenanigans. Or the unlockable would have to allow for a significant skip. I have trouble believing that the above approach would, in general, be more entertaining than just playing game B straight. In the specific case of the first movie published with such an approach, I could see getting some entertainment out of the sheer novelty value...but it still feels weird.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/31/2011 2:26 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
American gas is simultaneously subsidized and taxed (pretty heavily in both directions), so our gas prices have very little correlation with reality.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/30/2011 5:32 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
TASManiac wrote:
This site is to judge TASES, not hacks. Saying the TAS is bad just because the hack is bad doesn't make sense to me unless it has a direct impact on the entertainment value (a hack where Mario just runs to the right without any obstacles clearly shouldn't be accepted).
So you say the site judges TASes, not hacks, and then proceed to say that the hacks are also judged. :)
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/29/2011 10:55 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Copy/pasted from the game thread: Having watched the YouTube video, my opinion is that the run's very well made. There's excellent showmanship and many creative solutions to the puzzles (like ditching platforms behind, grabbing extra powerups, going through walls, etc.). The run's hampered early on by autoscrolling and water levels, but after the ghost ship things get much better, up until the Bowser fight, which is boring again but I guess there's not much that can be done about that.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/29/2011 10:53 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
It's been done already; nitsuja used it (both the normal game and ReallyJoel's Dad) as tests for Hourglass rather early on. :) Unfortunately I don't know that he uploaded the videos to YouTube or anything. They're probably somewhere in the main Hourglass thread.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/29/2011 5:28 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Some (many?) European cards use the equivalent of one-time pads -- each time you use the card, you input a code from a pad you carry with you, and each code can only be used once. Much more secure than a PIN, since the codes would have to be physically stolen from you for the card to be usable.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/29/2011 5:25 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Sounds great! Nine minutes is a huge amount of timesaving, but it's clear your detailed breakdown of how the game works is paying off. :) Shame about discovering a potential improvement after it's really too late to take advantage of it, but them's the breaks, I guess. Keep it up!
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/29/2011 5:19 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I don't think even the judges could give a definitive answer one way or another without seeing the reception on the workbench. The main questions are 1) how good of a run is it, and 2) how well differentiated is it from existing runs. Generally I think you shouldn't assume that the publication of any existing run sets some kind of precedent that means that another run must be accepted; nor should you assume that the rejection of a run means other apparently similar runs would also be rejected. Judging runs is a subjective matter at its core. Having watched the YouTube video, my opinion is that the run's very well made. There's excellent showmanship and many creative solutions to the puzzles (like ditching platforms behind, grabbing extra powerups, going through walls, etc.). The run's hampered early on by autoscrolling and water levels, but after the ghost ship things get much better, up until the Bowser fight, which is boring again but I guess there's not much that can be done about that.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/28/2011 5:42 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I'd say that the first run should be any% with however many players makes it fastest (probably 1 or 2). The second run should be a 4-player 100% playaround.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/27/2011 12:51 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Are you sure that's not just due to Metal Slug characteristically having delayed sound effects when a lot's going on? I noticed there's a lot of "bullet hit" effects that play after one of the boss phases, but frankly that's just a fact of the engine, not a problem with the encode.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/27/2011 12:50 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I'd say that using bonus content for prior saves wouldn't really be a "pure" run of the game any more, but that's just my opinion, and I don't hold it that strongly. I could definitely see room for a dual-game TAS, though. The example that leaps to mind is Oracle of Ages / Oracle of Seasons, where a continuing game gets a slightly different plot and a new endgame section.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/26/2011 10:23 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
It's a very straightforward improvement of an existing published movie -- all that changed was the final boss fight, which is markedly faster. Discussion isn't really needed in this case. Also, Metal Slug games tend to be popular, which means that people are more willing to do the work involved in pushing a movie through the publication process. I'm actually surprised this was on the workbench as long as it was.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/26/2011 10:20 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
First-world poor have a malnutrition problem, but typically not a calorie problem. Malnutrition's less serious but it's still no laughing matter.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/26/2011 5:58 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
Fear of Muslims isn't "racist" by the dictionary definition, because "Muslim" isn't a race. But we don't have a well-known word for "fear of members of a religion" so "racism" came in to serve. Language is fluid that way. I would generally consider most modern "racism" to be just generalized xenophobia (that is, fear of those who are different from you). Fun fact: the USA is only about 64% Caucasian.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/24/2011 7:25 PM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
If I recall correctly, the NES zapper just has a simple light sensor -- pulling the trigger makes the game redraw the screen differently so the gun can say if it's seeing a specific color (or color transition, or whatever). There's nothing that directly says "the zapper is pointed at this pixel". That said, the ability to say "fire the zapper now", regardless of positioning, would seem to be rather important. :)
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Posted: 8/24/2011 2:20 AM
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Derakon
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Joined: 7/2/2007
Posts: 3960
I'd say go with the (E) version. The improvement from running in NTSC is not particularly interesting IMO, and there's a lot of text to read throughout the game.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
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