Posts for arkiandruski


1 2
8 9 10 28 29
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
Off topic, but seeing that really makes me want to have an English version of that show. I just like the concept. Also, I see now that my comparison video is gone forever.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
In light of adelikat's statement and actually getting some good arguments against the feos proposal, I am now in favor of having no tiers at all and using categories to organize the site. On the issue of server drain, if my proposal from up above can't be implemented, I'm in favor of all list pages turning into a series of links to the actual movie page. (As thatguy said) That way each user that's searching will only pull up the picture, video and description when they've decided on a movie. The thing I've not budged on is the tier system as is needs to go, and I still prefer feos' proposal over what we have now.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
If the problem is with lists getting too long, then maybe we should reorganize our site like SDA does. I actually like how their site is set up. The runs are under a games list, where you can choose a specific system or just see everything, but the list is just a series of links, which will be less of a strain on the server. When you click on a game, you can see every run of that game. If we want to put our best foot forward on this, we can make the games pages sort with highest rated run on top by default. As far as submission process goes, any% and 100% runs are auto accepted as long as no improvements can be found. Give a reasonable amount of time for people to suggest improvements, if no objections are made, then the run is accepted. Alternate goals have to defend themselves a bit more, but people should be encouraged to go after entertaining alternate goals. All other sorting can be done with categories. Vault and Moon as is are meaningless distinctions. Let's make distinctions meaningful. My understanding was the purpose of the original tier system was to be more inclusive, both in terms of providing runs that don't necessarily go for pure speed and including more games. I think this will allow it to happen. As for me, I like to watch every movie on the site, but I use my "not yet rated" list to find runs. If I want to find a specific run, I just search for the game anyway. I almost never use the system lists. If we want, we can feature some of the more popular categories on the home page: e.g. Stars, heavy glitch abuse, playaround, contains commentary?, console verified?
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
In light of the Vault/Moon Tier misplaced Movie thread, I think it's time to open up this discussion again. Some people have voiced their opinions again over in that thread, to make it easy, the proposed change is altering the definitions of the Vault and Moon tiers slightly. What is currently the Vault tier (which I propose be changed to Records) will be all runs with the goals of any% and 100%. What is currently Moon tier (which I can't think of a proposed name for) will be any runs that choose different goals for the purposes of entertainment. That's playarounds, alternate goals for completion, and glitch avoidance runs. I have read through this thread again, and the discussion never reached a satisfying conclusion, and from all the naysayers I haven't seen any good reasons to not implement these changes. Some reasons against I have seen: * If it ain't broke don't fix it: except it is, demonstrably. The thread I just linked shows that. * But what about making a good first impression: We have multiple systems already in place to ensure we put our best foot forward, like the featured movies and newcomers corner. Those systems will not go away with the new tiers.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
Samsara wrote:
This sure is a thread about discussing Vault runs that are good enough to become Moons.
Fine. Can we split off the tangent. I think this needs to be discussed. (feos, are you able to do that?) Barring that, what is this forum's view on necroing threads?
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
That's what featured movies and newcomer recommendations are for: so that new people to the site get to see the better movies first. There's no reason that any movie we're willing to accept to the site should be hidden away in a dark corner with a sign warning people to turn back. If the stars and newcomer movies are not enough, people browsing are more likely to first view runs form games they know and love, and are thus more likely to be entertained by them.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
Makes it something to strive for. That's the part of my proposal I'm least supportive of. If all movies that aimed for fastest time and got through the selection process ended up in the vault, we wouldn't need this discussion about movies erroneously being placed in the wrong category.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
I agree with what Warp said, except for the use of "privileged." (I know that was just used to make a point) The Vault should be all 100% or any% runs that aim for pure speed. They are to be judged solely on whether or not anyone can find any way to improve them. If improvements are known, they are not eligible. The moon tier should be any runs that fall outside of that, pure entertainment runs, alternate goals, glitch avoidance, stuff like that. Those runs should be judged on entertainment value. Different focuses. Different goals. Ending up in the Vault should not be seen as a punishment, though.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
micro500 wrote:
I thought about that too. I may play with the idea a bit, but the answer already takes almost 30 seconds to draw as it is and I'd rather not drag it out any longer.
Since the joke is mostly going to be sold by the commentators reactions, I'd say that you can get away with the message lasting longer. You need time for the commentators to notice the error, panic, reassure the audience that they'll fix it, and discuss what they might do before the answer finally clicks through and everything continues as normal. That will take some time. Also, I think the surprise from this skit happening in the first place and the initial confusion while the audience tries to process it and decide whether or not it's an act will allow it to last longer. Seriously, do this right and time it right, it will get one of the biggest reactions of the entire Brain Age run, and I feel the right timing will be even longer than what you have right now (try practicing your commentary over it. See what happens. You want a pause after you go and start fiddling with the cables before the answer comes up as right.)
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
For the error message, since the lines overflow, I think there should be a pause before each new line starts, while the pencil sound continues to go, no visible change is made on screen for about a second, then the next line starts. That way it looks like TASbot is continuing to write, but doesn't have the space to show what's being written. I think that would add a little authenticity. That said, I think this is great work. I like how it starts out answering the questions for real, too.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
Should this TASAttack discussion be taken to another thread?
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
You know what might be cool for that TASAttack channel is if we could have people dedicated to answering questions on the chat. The "why"s and "how"s basically. For example, maybe PM the author a few days out to say "hey, your run will be shown at this time", or maybe someone who's knowledgable about the game, or TASing in general. I think with that and a little advertising, the channel to be a great community reach out tool. To clarify, author will be answering questions by typing in chat. They don't have to talk on stream.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
Regarding poll results, if I understand correctly, it's long been site policy that poll results are only a small part of the decision making process, and the much more valuable data is the discussion connected to the polls.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
I'm going to put my vote in for going with feos' suggestion, basically not doing "tiers" but dividing movies based on the goals they have, with generic any%/100% getting one category and others, such as playaround/limitations/glitch aboidance/special goals getting the other. I didn't like tiers based on quality anyway, since that is subjective, and causes a lot of cases where the category is ambiguous.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
I'd like to see at least one TAS on the block that's not a speedrun at all. International Super Star Soccer was already mentioned. I'd like to also put Super Mario All Stars and River City Ransom up for consideration. I'm especially partial to River City Ransom because it feels like the player characters are actors putting on a show for the audience.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
I'll do one if you like.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
There are people in America who know what Ab Fab is. It aired on Comedy Central , I think.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
Here's something to try, don't try to do the entire commentary in one shot. Find small segments (any length that would lead to a natural pause) and record those over and over until they are how you want them. Put them together in a mixing software of your choice (like Audacity)
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
Links have been added to the previous post.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
Cool, man glad I could help. Reading through your latest draft, I noticed that the common tricks sections was kind of bare bones. Maybe I can help expand on it. I also have some ideas for clips related directly to those tricks, some of which haven't been suggested yet. Common tricks: Damage boosting: Depending on how a character reacts to damage, it might have different purposes. From (in my mind) least impressive to most impressive: Sometimes damage is difficult to avoid so players take damage in order to keep moving forward (especially if damage doesn't freeze you for too long.) Bypassing obstacles that would take longer to remove or go around using invulnerability In games with knock back, it can be used to reach platforms that are just out of reach. (Castlevania bat boost https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fM-_p0S_9E&t=1m and skeleton bone boost https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fM-_p0S_9E&t=7m36s) Some games a damaged character will be catapulted in a certain direction faster than they can normally move. (Super Metroid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JsGQiFxq6g&t=9m30s (there's another place two rooms later) or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JsGQiFxq6g&t=6m5s) Death Abuse Some games will respawn you exactly where you were when you die. In these cases death may be used as a slower damage boost, of a way to allow yourself to take more damage. (Blues Brothers: dying on a platform https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCgCWPVLy8c&t=4m7s) In more open worlded games, dying brings you back to certain points like towns and entrances to dungeons, which cuts on backtracking (Ocarina of Time, Dragon Warrior https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWufS8a0vnc&t=9m20s) More rarely, in some platformers you can mess with spawn points, which will allow you to respawn farther into the level than the place you died. (Batman. Already on the list.) Overriding maximum velocity Games will often cap how fast you can go, but sometimes oversights allow you to ignore that cap, which causes the player character to zoom off in the desired direction. Messing with boundaries Certain objects will push the player character away to avoid sprite overlap. They can sometimes be manipulated to imbed you in a wall (Metroid doors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFd2SezV-v0&t=3m50s) Sometimes by approaching walls at the right angle and speed, you can find a point where the walls don't prevent you from going through (Mario to first warp pipe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYCOwxHa_sU&t=1m) If you travel fast enough you might make it so that you completely bypass the wall's trigger. Zipping Walls ceilings and floors will try to push you back in bounds. Often at high speeds (Mega man 2 item manipulation) Level wrap If you can travel far enough to the left, you can sometimes end up on the right side of the stage. (Sonic) Luck manipulation By knowing the game well enough, or just trying over and over again until the right event happens, you can change the outcome of random events Anything that has to do with corrupting RAM, sprite overflow, loading the wrong sprites, or calling from the wrong addresses I'm not as versed in, so you'll have to get input from someone else. Links to clips incoming.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
That looks pretty good. Here's my idea for how I tackle different games. 1. Choosing a game. Familiarity and interest are very important. I also like to think about what would look good. Is the action fast? Are there sections that require you to use really impressive and difficult strategies? 2. Doing research. At this point I haven't even toiuched the game yet beyond having played through it normally. Resources you can use here are speeruns that have already been made (either real time or TAS), game walkthroughs, or lists of glitches and bugs you can find online. 3. Attempt to find memory addresses. Speed, X and Y position, and boss HP are the mostly important values. Other games have other special values that help (suubpixel position, for example) 4. Make a test run. This is basically a proof of concept. The goal here is to not make a finished run, but to try things and see if they can work out. This is when WIPs begin to be posted. In my experience, the first version you make of a run is never the final version, so trying to make it the final version is a waste of time. This is still a learning phase. You just got done with theory. Now is time for prac app. 5. Make revisions to the test run. This is where you tweak and start saving frames. Search for optimal paths, find movement techniques, etc. Usually step 4 and 5 are happening around the same time, with 4 being a few stages ahead of five. Community input is important at this point, as it will focus you and give you ideas of things you may have missed. 6. Work on the final run. At this point you start solidifying your stylistic choices as well. When we know what's fastest, we now need to decide what's most entertaining within that frame work. 7. Post final WIP. Sometimes after a certain point members will stop posting WIPs so the final project is a surprise. When I did my Gunstar Heroes run, I only showed WIPs to a select few members that I thought were most helpful in the thread after I felt I had a good grasp of the game. 8. Decide that you have a finished project. Sometimes this step never happens. 9. Submit. Wait for the judges and community to rule on your work.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
I think it would be great to have an English language TAS commentary show, along the lines of 88 mph. The only ones I've been able to find were in French, unless there's a NicoNico show I'm unaware of.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
How do TASers find the tricks they’re searching for? How do they know there’s still frames left to shave off the time at the finish? Well, they don’t! They just have to try things out.
There are some general tricks and rules that TASers can use to help them find the best path. Glitches tend to be more random and a bit harder to find, but there's still some overlap between games. The rules for what makes optimal movement are well documented, and memory addresses are often a great help for discovering stuff.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
Actually, I think that looks pretty spot on. Andrew g can probably point out a few subtle differences that make TAS only tricks.
Active player, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Reviewer (276)
Joined: 12/14/2006
Posts: 717
I've always seen TASing as either a creative endeavor or a form of puzzle solving, maybe more toward the latter. You have a specific thing you want the game to do and you're looking for the best way to get that done. But it's an open ended puzzle which leads to the myriad solutions people may find.
1 2
8 9 10 28 29