Posts for link_7777

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Posted: 5/23/2012 3:19 PM
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link_7777
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Experienced player (852)
Joined: 11/15/2010
Posts: 267
I started taking a look at BizHawk, I like the goal of having a common interface with all the TAS tools sitting on top of all the emulator cores. I may be the exception or I may be doing something wrong, but I noticed that my three published movies desync. NES Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back made it part way through, NES Time Lord and NES Legend of the Ghost Lion desynched right away. Slightly unrelated I was wondering about the TAStudio implementation. From the interface and the little source I looked at it seems like the implementation is partial at this point, is this the case? I'm considering trying to contribute, but we'll see how much time I have available. For starters I'm just going to grab the trunk and see if I can get it to build and such.
Posted: 3/3/2012 3:07 PM
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link_7777
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Well, the text went too fast in the wrong language. That said I do love watching a good RPG get knocked over by way of TAS. Definitely a yes vote!
Posted: 2/4/2012 5:14 AM
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link_7777
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I have completed the next section and updated my WIP at http://www.grimsrud.net/TAS/Captain_Skyhawk_WIP.fm2 Note that there is still a bunch of junk input at the end. I did manage to save 145 frames from your WIP. I think most of the savings came from getting to enemies from the bottom faster. If you pull up, then dive there are a few frames when you get to the bottom where you can actually shoot lower. For example you'll see when I get 2 enemies that spawn from below I bounce up in between them, this is so I can get to the 2nd one earlier. I had a few more points to start with, but when I saved a few frames I ended up with the same score you had. At this point I'm almost thinking the best goal would be a primary goal of time, and a secondary goal of score. I feel like it's a bit of a waste to lose frames just for the score, but you'd still want to attack the enemy fighter mercilessly to run up the score. Just a thought.
Posted: 2/2/2012 3:33 PM
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link_7777
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Yeah, I started looking at the next part, but haven't gotten too far yet. I'll update my WIP once I have time to get through the next level. I don't think the hitbox of the enemy planes has a luck factor, I think it's just a little difficult to control the aim, especially in real time. It seems to be pretty straight forward so far with TAS Edit.
Posted: 1/31/2012 8:52 PM
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link_7777
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Posts: 267
I would expect the rest of it to desync. I just wanted to post the improvement up to the first boss, the rest of the input is just junk, mostly stuff left over from experimenting. edit: Some additional info, I found the boss HP to be at addresses (697,698,699,69A,69B). These numbers are initialized to 0, and increment to 8 which results in the death of that target.
Posted: 1/31/2012 12:56 AM
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link_7777
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Posts: 267
I recall playing this game a couple of times, may have been the genesis version. I remember the web swinging part was fun, but the game was way too difficult. Very nice run, voting yes of course. I also enjoyed seeing Gambit rock out.
Posted: 1/30/2012 5:47 AM
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link_7777
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I'm posting a WIP I started, just the first overhead level so far. I got the same score you did, but managed to save 66 frames. I haven't analyzed it to see where the savings came from yet. http://www.grimsrud.net/TAS/Captain_Skyhawk_WIP.fm2
Posted: 1/25/2012 3:21 PM
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link_7777
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Seemed like a pretty good run to me. Voting yes. Seems like a good platformer to TAS. Judging from the encode the game even seemed reasonably good, but it can be hard to say without actually playing it. I agree with aireca, there is a difference between a bad/crappy game and a bad game choice for TAS. This is clearly not a top NES title, but I also feel it is clearly not a bad game choice for TAS.
Posted: 1/24/2012 9:59 PM
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link_7777
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Experienced player (852)
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With regards to the battles themselves things like missing attacks make the battle seem sloppy, but often the alternative was death. I often explored all options for each turn, or even for sets of 2 or 3 turns to determine the best outcome. Further recursion exploring all battle options could save some frames, but would take quite a while to do. Part of the difficulty is that the outcomes in battle seem to be based on previous actions only. I was not able to manipulate battles by changing the timing or by adding in additional input. Now to address the issue of avoiding battles. Early in the game and on the world map encounters are based off of an RNG that changes every 16 frames, generally I could avoid battles by waiting a few frames. In later dungeons there also seems to be some sort of hard step count, bringing up the menu was the quickest way I found to reset the count and avoid the encounter.
Posted: 1/24/2012 5:01 PM
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link_7777
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I was playing around for a bit this morning, and discovered a bug. If you barrel roll (by holding select) in the right place you can get outside the boundary. This seemed to work best on diagonal parts of the wall. I'm not really sure if this is particularly useful, or if there is anything to gain by doing it. I just wanted to post what I found in case anyone can find a use for it.
Posted: 1/21/2012 5:08 PM
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link_7777
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Well, I was thinking "high score" for the whole game. I think for most levels though it will essentially be the same thing. Killing all enemies will pretty much give you the highest score. I just suggested the change in goal because it should be about the same for most levels and a little better for the fast ones. Just my opinion.
Posted: 1/20/2012 6:33 PM
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link_7777
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Level 1 for example is already slow, can't slow down further or speed up. Level 3 is fast, but you can slow down and speed back up. In level 3 there is a red/orange enemy plane that tries to shoot you down the whole way through the level. If you shoot it down it re-spawns a short time later. To fulfill the goal of "kill all" would you only need to shoot it down once in the level? You get points every time you shoot it, so that's why I wonder if it would be better to go for "high score". That way you keep shooting it down to rack up the score.
Posted: 1/20/2012 5:58 AM
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link_7777
Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Experienced player (852)
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I took some time and messed with your WIP a bit. It looks ok so far, may need some clean up. I had planned on running the level you were on and posting a WIP, but I haven't gotten that far. I'm part of the way through, but I have a few thoughts. It seemed like I was able to get to a lot of the enemies, at least early in the level. If needed you can slow down and speed up on that fast level with select+down and select+up. I'm also a little unsure about how to manage special weapons throughout the run. Lastly for now I'm beginning to wonder if the run would be better off if the goal was 'high score'. Especially on the fast level the way the enemy ship re-spawns doesn't make a lot of sense with a 'kill all' goal, but you keep getting points for shooting it down.
Posted: 1/19/2012 5:14 PM
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link_7777
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I'm voting yes. Actually I'd also add 'pacifist' to the game objectives if you don't actually do any killing. While not the most riveting game I'd say it looked pretty well played and it was reasonably short. I feel like between finding the shortest path, health management, and enemy manipulation this run deserves to be published. I can see where some games get voted down. In my mind games with a lot of auto-scrolling or repetition can be extra boring, and difficult to improve upon. This game has freedom of movement though. I disagree with voting down games just because they suck (like this one does).
Posted: 1/17/2012 5:14 PM
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link_7777
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I really like this game, and have even considered doing a TAS myself. That said I'm not sure if the finished run will be interesting enough to be published. A fair amount of the game is a top-down shooter with a fixed pace. I'm also a little unsure about if a regular run would be better, or a 100% kill run. I'm also a little unsure if you could really call it a "100% kill" because of the way the path splits in places. I may be interested in checking it out, and possibly trying to help. Can you post the input file?
Posted: 1/14/2012 2:43 AM
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link_7777
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The horn is needed to get into the part of the world map where the witch is. I stop and play it to get rid of the giant rock in my way, this happens around 8:26 in the encode. You keep the horn after this, so getting the broom is just a matter of stopping to see the witch. I only warp a few times, but I think it was worth the extra walk. I didn't find an easy way to manipulate actions in battle. Timing and input didn't seem to do anything to change the results. Previous actions were the only thing useful. I often miss because the alternative is to attack and die. Early in the game and on the world map encounters are timing based, so I can avoid them by waiting a few frames. Later there is some sort of hard count, and the fastest way I found to avoid the encounter was bringing up the menu. Definitely not the most riveting game on here, but it goes by reasonably fast for an RPG.
Posted: 1/12/2012 1:52 PM
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link_7777
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The dagger is pretty useless, but its either that or use an item that has no effect. I'm not sure there is much of a time difference. I don't think it had much of an effect on luck. I usually tried most if not all options in battle every turn, but I didn't always go back to redo previous turns unless I had to. Early on and on the world map the encounters seem pretty well tied to a 16 frame RNG. Later on there also seems to be some hard count tied to steps. Stepping any direction would get me the same battle, even if I waited. Bringing up the menu was the fastest way I found to reset/change the count.
Posted: 1/1/2012 4:05 PM
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link_7777
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For a game about a Rocketeer this game seems a bit stingy with the rocket fuel. Good run though.
Posted: 12/12/2011 3:55 PM
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link_7777
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I concur. I enjoy a good Arkanoid run, even if it becomes long a full run would be exciting to watch. With TAS some things can be done surprisingly fast. For example Baxter's NES Arkanoid is just fascinating.
Posted: 12/1/2011 4:36 PM
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link_7777
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It seems to me like this could make for a reasonable TAS. This game is very much stolen from Dragon Warrior with a female protagonist and a slightly different battle/level system. I'm starting a first pass run now to see if the length and entertainment will be reasonable for a TAS. Seems like so far random battles are easy to avoid, looks like they're based on an RNG that changes every 16 frames. The battle outcomes seem a little more difficult to manipulate, so we'll see how it goes. I figured I'd make a post just in case anyone had any good tidbits to share about this game, or any glitches.
Posted: 11/26/2011 2:06 AM
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link_7777
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I have some new information for this old thread. I was thinking luck manipulation would make for a good run of this game, but I've concluded that it just isn't a good game choice. I made a test run to just play through the game, and found out that it doesn't really have an ending. My score kept going even after 10,000,000 so who knows how far it goes. The level gets stuck at 99, and level 99 just repeats, probably indefinitely. My conclusion is that there just isn't a very good goal to create a TAS for.
Posted: 11/22/2011 5:21 PM
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link_7777
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I thought most of the run was reasonably entertaining with the exception of the flying stages of course. I'm a bit of a crash fan, so I like the game choice. I had a couple of questions about the TAS though. It's a little difficult to tell, but just based on the video something didn't seem right with water levels 2, 13, and 17. A few places going around corners and changing directions didn't seem optimal. Like hugging a wall or swinging wide around a corner. I was wondering if the idea of the Jumping off Ledges common trick applies. Meaning cutting the corner as close as possible at full speed. In levels 6, and 11 it looked like you had to wait for a log to move, and the waiting was done hugging the log. I wondered if you'd be faster getting a run at it and timing it so you get there at full speed just as the log moves out of the way.
Posted: 11/21/2011 12:07 AM
Post subject: Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge
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link_7777
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I didn't see a topic for this, and wondered how much interest there would be. I know these event/mini-game type games don't always get tons of support. Personally I find some of the Technos Japan games like this fascinating. They're usually fairly intuitive and have a I think they did well with the physics. Think River City Ransom or Super Dodge Ball. I did a first pas run and it ended up around 13 minutes, which was a bit longer than I thought. I usually think speed first, but it might take some entertainment trade-offs to keep it from getting repetitive. Anyone have thoughts on this game? Or maybe know any fun tricks or glitches?
Posted: 11/20/2011 4:22 PM
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link_7777
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Voting yes now that I've watched the encode. I'm not too familiar with the game, but the puzzles were smashed pretty quickly and it was fun to watch. It seems like 160 levels is a lot, and I get the feeling that time limit would be intimidating in real time.
Posted: 11/13/2011 4:51 PM
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link_7777
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In the comparison video your level 1 is slower, but you catch up later. Could you make improvements? Ore are all the differences based on yours being the Europe version? Is the first boss fight fixed, or could you luck manipulate the spikes into falling faster?
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