Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
I do love it when runs come in and make me think "Holy crap, wasn't expecting that one!" Fantastic improvements of a game that I forgot looked this good when TASed! My one minor nitpick is the copied playaround sections from the published run, but since they're so few and far between (especially with the new improvements) it doesn't take anything away from the experience at all. Definite Yes vote, definitely inherit that well-deserved Star!
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
CasualPokePlayer wrote:
So, is using the USA version of Ghoul Patrol absolutely mandatory or is PAL/JPN allowed (well, PAL under normal PAL caveats I assume).
It's waaaaaay easier for me and more fair for the contestants if everyone uses the same version of the game. Checksums are for the (U) version, so that's what should be used.
That being said, if there's some huge version-exclusive feature or glitch on (J) or (E), I'd like to know about it so I can potentially announce a change over to that version of the game.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
The game is...
Ghoul Patrol is the oft-forgotten sequel to Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and has the same overall goal: Get through each level while rescuing between 1-10 innocent people. If all 10 victims die, then you really hecked up. If 9 victims die, then you're probably running any%!
You're running any%! One player, fastest completion.
This is the current RTA WR. There is no other speedrun-relevant information on this game. Good luck!
Checksums:
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
That notice is a goldmine.
We patiently await to welcome you in freedom's holdout - the freenode.
"Freedom!", cried the Freenode, immediately silencing anyone that even remotely disagrees with them.
It's a new genesis for a new era.
Oh sick a new Genesis, finally I can play Comix Zone™.
Thank you for using freenode, and Hello World, from the future.
"Hey Steve..."
"Yeah Mark?"
"I'm writing the thing. Y'know, the warning thing, the one about, like, how we made a new Freenode and how we're gonna kick everyone and make 'em reconnect."
"Why not just go the route we normally do and force people to do what we want without any warning, and ban anyone who says anything other than glowing praise?"
"That gets old after the first 60 times! Look, I need something... Catchy. Like, like a good zinger line. Something really evocative of the current time."
"And you don't wanna use the new motto?"
"No, Steve, we can't use the motto again. These are nerds, they don't know that much about cars and transmissions anyway."
"Fine... How about a phrase that originated in the late 60s, when we were kids?"
"Are you sure?"
"Put 'from the future' after it to make it modern."
"STEVE, I COULD KISS YOU RIGHT NOW, BUT I'M NOT A F-"
*Mark gets a promotion for his expertly timed usage of a slur*
freenode is IRC.
"Old, outdated, and full of illegal activity."
freenode is FOSS.
"Oh, sorry. FOSSILS. Freenode is FOSSILS. We're old."
freenode is freedom.
"And if you say anything otherwise, we will hunt you down and force you to think the same way we do."
It's a new world. We're so happy to welcome you and the millions of others.
M I L L I O N SO F O T H E R S
Otherwise, see you on the other side!
*points to an arrow-shaped sign reading "Libera"*
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
The 7-letter M name quota has officially been met for DTC10! Mittenz gets the post-last-minute signup, and over on Discord, moozooh has gone from alternate logo maker to official participant, so... Good news, we now have 8 full teams of 4! Bad news, I have now officially learned that ending sign-ups is the best way to drive up participation, so as of right now, sign-ups are officially closed to the next event I run. Expecting a massive turnout for it!
I've decided to just resort to random placement, since there's only two spots and two people. Using the scientific method of "clicking a button on random.org", moozooh joins Team 7, and Mittenz joins Team 8! Everything is balanced now! I can't allow any more signups! Don't resign me to the fate of having to click buttons again!!!
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
Invariel wrote:
Apparently I am too late for signups. :(
I'll allow it! There's still roughly a day and a half until the game's announced anyway, I'm not sure why that's even there. Man, One Month Ago Samsara had some real hecked up viewpoints on time or something. It does slightly complicate the final team-building process, but nothing I can't handle. I've read our Movie Rules, I'm used to things being overly complicated for no reason.
I think the best option here is to arrange the final three sign-ups into the 8th team: R30hedron, FatRatKnight, and Invariel. FRK has already given general confirmation, Invariel has confirmed on Discord, just waiting on R30 to make it official. RIP guessing game, gone before its time :c
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
FatRatKnight wrote:
I'm up for grabs on any team. Or maybe my past victories gave me enough ego to count as three other people. (Considering the time left, assume I will confirm any team assignment - EDIT: First come, first serve. I'm not sure I'd have the time to pick from multiple offers, so only the first suggestion should be assumed to be taken!)
O-Oh. Um.
Given your, uh... Pretty illustrious history with DTC (along with being the sole leftover entrant), I'll make it a simple game so everyone gets a fair crack. Currently asking one person from each team for a 4 digit number, the closest to the one I'm thinking of will get you.
Teams, the cutoff point for this mini-contest will be 4:00 PM Pacific time on the 14th (about 15 hours after this post), or whenever the last team submits their number. Anyone from a team can submit a number but I will only take the first one I see. Either post here or ping me on the TASvideos Discord (I will most likely see this first, also I've already pinged a member from each team on there anyway).
Current numbers:
"TAS to the MAX!" - 6029
"FEIJOADA" - [waiting]
"The Trans-Atlantic TASers" - 4269
"The Galaxy Brains" - [waiting]
"DENT" - 2222
g0goTBC, cyberpotato, WarHippy, lapogne36 - [waiting]
ViGadeomes, arnaud33200, KiwiCracker, R30hedron - 9521
OOPS THIS WHOLE PART OF THE POST JUST AGED INCREDIBLY POORLY INCREDIBLY QUICKLY, LIKE PEOPLE IN THE 1800S. For posterity, DENT was closest. They will be awarded 1 bonus point, which they can trade in at the Prize Counter for a spider ring or a sticky hand.
As for everyone else, sign-ups are officially over! Forty-five minutes late, even, because I am amazing at timing! If my amazing timing keeps up, the game should be announced on June 15th, before 4PM Pacific time.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
route 'Ogre Mage'
The encounter places Ogre Mage in the north of Fin castle. It's too difficult for me to manipulate the random seed and win the battle with the initial skills. If you picked up the spellbook luckily, the Gadea inn is the best place.
I looked into this, and I don't think this route could work. I can get the Ogre Mage encounter quickly, but I haven't successfully gotten even close to killing it due to its high stats. Even if it was possible to kill it at the initial levels, I think getting Blink from the battle would take longer than walking to Poft and buying it.
The fastest encounter I could get is at 9000 frames. This submission gets the Blink spellbook and returns to the world map at about frame 16200, so in theory we have about 7200 frames to work with. The best damage values I was able to get for each party member in my limited testing:
Firion - 10 damage (attack)
Maria - 14 damage (Fire spell)
Guy - 7 damage (attack)
These were all on individual turns, and I admit I didn't test it as much as I should have for a reason I'll share later. Regardless, in theory, this could be 31 damage a turn. The Ogre Mage has 140 HP, meaning the battle could be over in 5 turns if this could be manipulated to happen every turn, but there's a number of catches here.
Most of the time, one turn with this strategy takes about 1200 frames. This means we have a 6 turn window for the fight to be even with this run.
It relies on Maria using Fire, as her physical attack is extremely weak. Getting it and teaching it to Maria is a 1273 frame detour. We now only have 5 turns to work with.
After the battle, we're still northwest of Fynn, and need to get back to Gatrea to use the Inn. This is another 1400 or so frames by itself, not counting the second encounter that needs to be gotten into.
I haven't even proven a single one of these turns is possible. I haven't even managed to hit the Ogre Mage with multiple characters in the same turn, let alone all 3 for maximum damage.
Even the best case scenario that I've personally theorized, the Ogre Mage route would still be slower than this submission.
I don't even think the Ogre Mage route is possible at all, though. The Ogre Mage has four spells:
1: Blizzard 5 - Hits everyone for high damage, can one hit kill
2: Sleep 4 - 40% chance of Sleep on everyone
3: Blind 4 - 70% chance of Darkness on everyone
4: Blink 3 - Adds 3 more chances to evade a physical attack (if I understood it right)
In other words: Two spells that incapacitate characters and two spells that make it much harder to hit. The Ogre Mage already has a 40% evasion rate to begin with, in my testing it was rare that I landed a physical attack at all, let alone one that did respectable damage. This made testing extremely hard in the first place, even harder since the Ogre Mage tends to default to using Blizzard, which would often kill Firion and Maria outright in one hit.
On top of all of this, the only way I've found to manipulate RNG mid battle is to change what each party member does: Attack, Attack, Run may lead to different results than Run, Run, Attack, for example. This means that the theoretical best case scenario just might not work at all, since different actions would have to be taken just to be able to survive the fight.
In short, I believe this run to have used the fastest known route for this glitch.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
RGL wrote:
Samsara wrote:
and an experimental core for the latest BSNES, which needs to be tested thoroughly.
Just curious, whats different in that version?
BizHawk's current BSNES core is v109 I believe, this core is the latest release (v115), so the differences are whatever was changed in BSNES from v110 to v115.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
If possible, I'd like to request that Scumtron be added as a co-author to both this movie and [4353] NES Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos by Xipo, Scumtron & Samsara in 09:12.34, ideally as "xipo, Scumtron & Samsara". Having Scumtron as a co-author was Xipo's intent, which I agree with, and a miscommunication prevented that from happening.
EDIT: Thank you, Spike. I've updated the submissions as well.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
I've just been made aware of what I apparently did wrong: Scumtron was not listed as a co-author on the either of our NG2 submissions. I believe I understand where things went wrong here.
This is Xipo's first PM to me, after I announced I was working on NG2. The last line is of importance, because I think this is the "promise" that I broke. I misunderstood this line: I assumed that Xipo had intended to reach out to Scumtron so that all three of us would actively work on the improved run. The run ended up being created by just Xipo and myself, so when I submitted the run, I did not include Scumtron as a co-author, since we did not get in contact with him and he had no actual input in the improvement. At no point did Xipo make me aware that omitting Scumtron was a broken promise, though. Across both submissions, for as long as they were up on the workbench, Xipo never got in contact with me and directly asked me to do this. He even provided me with an improvement for the second submission once it was already up, and he did not mention that I was doing anything wrong with the co-authorship.
This is a case of misunderstanding on my part, and I'd like that to be corrected no matter what, but I do need to stress how there was no communication from Xipo that anything was wrong in the first place, and if there was I would have swiftly fixed things.
EDIT: Scumtron has now been credited on both NG2 movies.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player
(2120)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2792
Location: Northern California
I can only think of two things I may have done wrong during the creation of NG2:
1. Submitting what is now the currently published run without asking Xipo first. I felt asking wasn't necessary for such a small improvement to an incredibly technically polished run.
2. I changed up small portions of the platforming sections for entertainment purposes. I felt this was entirely in line with what Xipo asked me to do with the run, which was adding playaround after the boss fights. I figured it would be okay to do that as much as I could throughout the movie: Considering how tight Scumtron's previous run was, and how there was only just over a second of improvement, it made sense to me to try and help provide a unique viewing experience to a run people have been watching for over a decade.
At no point did I detect any hostility from Xipo during our correspondence, and I can provide the entire PM log to prove that. I was aware of the previous incident with TASeditor and I was specifically hoping to avoid that. I can even provide offsite conversations I had with friends regarding my worry of doing something wrong, conversations that even preceded Xipo approaching me with the idea of co-authorship. If either of the things I listed were what I did wrong, then, yes, I'm sorry, but apart from that, I am pretty confident I did nothing wrong and don't deserve to be attacked for "plagiarism".
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | CohostwarmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Ghoul Patrol is the oft-forgotten sequel to Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and has the same overall goal: Get through each level while rescuing between 1-10 innocent people. If all 10 victims die, then you really hecked up. If 9 victims die, then you're probably running any%!
You're running any%! One player, fastest completion.
This is the current RTA WR. There is no other speedrun-relevant information on this game. Good luck!
O F O T H E R S
This is Xipo's first PM to me, after I announced I was working on NG2. The last line is of importance, because I think this is the "promise" that I broke. I misunderstood this line: I assumed that Xipo had intended to reach out to Scumtron so that all three of us would actively work on the improved run. The run ended up being created by just Xipo and myself, so when I submitted the run, I did not include Scumtron as a co-author, since we did not get in contact with him and he had no actual input in the improvement. At no point did Xipo make me aware that omitting Scumtron was a broken promise, though. Across both submissions, for as long as they were up on the workbench, Xipo never got in contact with me and directly asked me to do this. He even provided me with an improvement for the second submission once it was already up, and he did not mention that I was doing anything wrong with the co-authorship.
This is a case of misunderstanding on my part, and I'd like that to be corrected no matter what, but I do need to stress how there was no communication from Xipo that anything was wrong in the first place, and if there was I would have swiftly fixed things.
EDIT: Scumtron has now been credited on both NG2 movies.