Aright, obviously mandating encodes be attached to a submission is a bad idea for many reasons, especially in that it discourages submissions. I didn't realize I'd be striking so many emotional chords in the process, chill out guys.
I stand by my idea that getting TASers to accompany their TASes with a temporary encode should be encouraged. Could be as simple as providing a convenient link to the video dumping section of the encoder guidelines.
Anyway, I guess my first 2 posts could’ve had the tonality of an ungrateful brat. For that I apologize. I appreciate the work encoders do on this site, and I’m amazed how many volunteers this site has garnered. That doesn’t change the fact that I find submissions without encodes annoying, hence why I proposed some solutions. It’s nothing to get butthurt about, and even if you are, some good came out of this topic if this gets implemented:
Would it be possible to extend the submission system to mark submission threads that contain an encode? It might be as simple as a two-line heuristic in TVA's forum module:
if (stripos('[video', $submissiontext) !== false)
$posttopic = "(encode) $posttopic";
All this does is delay watching it for people who can watch it using the movie file. It doesn't get the encode out any faster. No real point, imo.
A workaround to this is to post the completed movie file in the appropriate thread in the games section.
Another idea is to force the TASer to accompany his submission with a temporary encode. Making an avi dump in SNES9x and VBA is extremely easy, you just need the right compression settings, and to playback the whole movie (you can even use turbo), and BAM: you have a decent quality avi ready for youtube uploading. If someone can put weeks, months, or even years into making a high quality TAS, surely they can spare an hour or two to make a temp. encode, especially when they can do other things during playback/uploading.
This is considerably more difficult for N64/PSX/DS/others, but those are the runs that are more difficult to watch in movie file form anyway. Imagine if the Super Mario 74 submission didn't come with a temp. encode? The rom patching instructions are so complicated, I followed them step by step TWICE and the patched rom wouldn't even run.
Perhaps mandating a temp. encode is too much, but it needs to at least be encouraged. Have a look at the workbench right now:
Sonic VR It's a hack, which already makes watching the movie file a pain. Yet the encode doesn't show up for 5 days, and the encode isn't embedded into the OP.
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. 27 posts without an encode. Ironically, the last post in the topic is: "I would like if someone would encode this please."
Mega Man X6 A PSX run with no encode, and no posted emulator settings. Good luck getting that to synch. Also, PSX ISOs are like 4GBs, if you download the wrong one now it's 8 GB. I can only download 50 GB/month, I can't be wasting capacity like that just to watch a TAS.
Contra 14 posts without an encode. Seriously, how hard can it be to make a NES dump?
I'm not saying the TASers are to blame or anything. Just that if they were encouraged to provide temp. encodes we'd probably have to deal with a lot less unecessary waiting for youtube-ing.
Just an idea, hear me out.
I can't be the only person who gets annoyed when the first 10-15 posts in every submission is basically "encode pl0x!!1". It's also annoying to have to check a topic multiple times before an encode is embedded into the OP, and sometimes that won't even happen. Instead you have to trudge through posts hoping to find a youtube link.
Sure, there's always the possibility of watching the movie file, but this presents a number of problems.
1- You're screwed if the run desynchs. This is especially true of newer platforms (N64, PSX, DS, etc).
2- You're screwed if the game is obscure and the rom is therefore hard to find. Not usually a big deal, but still a nuisance. It's also irritating to get the rom version to match (a lot of the ones out there are pre-patched).
3- You're royally screwed if the game is a hack. You have to go to all the effort of patching the game correctly just to watch the movie (+ it could still desynch anyway).
5- You might be forced to download a new emulator to watch the run (think SNES9x 1.43 vs 1.51 as a prime example). Also true if you're watching a run on a weird platform, such as arcade or sega CD.
6- You might be forced to download a new plugin.
Individually these might not seem like a big deal, but collectively these factors are annoying enough that probably 90% of viewers will just wait for the encode. So why not provide the encode right away?
I don't think this would be that hard to implement. Basically, when a run is submitted, it should only be viewable to encoders (and maybe judges). One of the encoders claims the submission for encoding, exactly the same way a judge claims a submission for judging. Once the encode is finished, the submission then becomes public to the rest of the forum. If there are technical difficulties, the runner, the encoder, and other encoders can communicate privately.
I'm all for universal health care (helps when you're from Canada :))
but,
Because human life is significantly more important than a car. It's the duty of the entire community to take care of each individual. This basic right should not be tied to how much money you own.
How do you explain the fact that we need to pay for our water supply? Drinking water is necessary for human life, yet people living in houses/apartments are charged a water bill every month. There's bottled water too.
Same logic applies to food, even though the type and quantity of food varies wildly from person to person. You can stretch this argument even further, and say a psychologist should be free for all individuals. By some weird utilitarian logic that would probably increase the overall happiness of the community.
The next submission to the workbench better be exploding with testosterone.
Barbie-ness aside, definite yes vote. Nothing was outstanding, but it had its cool elements (eg/ zipping through a falling bridge). I have to say the noises Barbie made when jumping were just wrong.
Have you people lost your minds? When you're legitimately enjoying a show designed for young girls, your masculinity really should come into question. Having an ego that can look beyond bright pink colors has nothing to do with it.
What's even scarier is that this MLP phenomenon isn't limited to TASvideos.
Wiki wrote:
Despite the target demographic of young girls, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has become an Internet phenomenon with many fans of the show being males aged 15 to 35.[33] The response from the Internet is traced to cartoon and animation fans on the Internet board 4chan, responding to Cartoon Brew's Amidi's negative essay on the show and state of current animation trends.[34][32] The members of the cartoon or "/co/" board of 4chan, having not yet seen the show, considered the alarmist nature of the essay and began watching the show, and quickly warmed up to the series for plot, characters, and animation style.[34][35] This reaction soon spread to the random forum, /b/ of 4chan, where elements of the show quickly caught on as recurring jokes and memes on the site.[34] The number of Friendship Is Magic posts, counter to the usual attitudes and image of 4chan, caused a large stir on the site, with fans of the show unrelenting against various trolling attacks from other 4chan boards, leading to a temporary ban on anything pony-related, which was soon overturned.[35][36] Christopher Poole, the founder of 4chan, briefly acknowledged the popularity of the show on 4chan at the 2011 South by Southwest festival.[35][37] Though the discussion of the show would continue at 4chan, many fans of the show created other venues to discuss the show, leading to its spread onto other forums and the rest of the Internet.
I weep for humanity and all the adult male virgins that made something like this possible.
Watching Adelikat's tutorial TAS videos made me appreciate this a lot more. There's clearly a lot more going on than running right for justice, and it was great to watch.
Booyaka vote.
Did you try this idea from the previous thread?
nitsuja wrote:
jlun2 wrote:
Found it. It seems that stages 5 - 8 are part of another game, and that other game doesn't seem to have the first 4 stages.
It has all 8 stages, and it lets you pick which one to start on. I'm not sure how well it runs, but I think that version can be found here.
If you TAS the 8 stage version with the space bar I'd be more inclined to vote yes.
I liked this run better than w/o spacebar, despite the awkward sound desynchs. Voting meh for the first time ever.
Voting no. Perhaps I'm the only one out of the people who've posted that hasn't played the game, but that wasn't impressive to watch. The game looks like super mario bros meets MS paint, and we're treated to "run right for justice in a graphically abhorrent game".
MMX runs are always a pleasure to watch, and this is no exception. Definitely publication worthy, though I found the run a bit repetitive once the nova strike was acquired.
They really should make a rule mandating encodes be attached to new submissions, particularly N64/PSX/GCN/Wii/etc type runs since those are hard to synch. It might take longer for the submission to come out, but at least we wouldn't have 20 straight posts of "encode pl0x!!!!"
Should get a yes vote for the game title alone. Who could forget a title like "Legend of the Lost Spatula"?
A sequel idea: "Tale of the Missing Funnel"
There we go