The movie must be complete
Your movie should begin from the console power-on and end when the last decisive action has been delivered. There are no specific rules for an exact endpoint but it must adhere to the following rules:
It must beat the game (1-level movies are rejected).
It must be able to reach the credits or end screen without requiring any further interaction; all input must come solely from the input file (e.g. configuring the emulator to autofire after the end of playback is not allowed). An exception has been allowed for Rygar.
It should end with the last input. Don't leave any blank input at the end of the movie.
So Im currently working on nes game called 'Hudson hawk', I have my test run done but Im wondering what is exactly consired to be an end screen in it, since it doesnt have any "the end" screen or credits.
If I end input as soon as possible, game shows these two screens on its own:
After that I have to press A to continue:
And then after pressing A again it brings up high-score table:
After inputting name(or skipping it by pressing start) it goes back to title-screen.
So which one of these is considered to be the end screen?
Determine what the ending of the game is (and be prepared to present an argument of why that's a valid definition of "end"), and then end the input when no further input can make the ending be reached faster.
Typically in many games this happens when the final boss is delivered the final hit, for instance, even if the ending screen then requires keypresses to proceed. You simply argue that the ending is when the boss dies (after which the game proceeds on its own to the first ending screen).
Sometimes it can be subjective and up to opinion.
I think it would be best to enter your name and after the button press that sends you to the title screen you can end input.
The Mario Pinball Land TAS and my Bubble Ghost TAS does this.
Determine what the ending of the game is (and be prepared to present an argument of why that's a valid definition of "end"), and then end the input when no further input can make the ending be reached faster.
I'd prefer if you didn't state this as a matter of fact, as this is just opinion. Some people prefer to end input as soon as no further input is required to reach the ending, others think that it should be ended when no further input can prevent the ending. In this case, I agree with MUGG and think that entering your name would be best (as that's where a regular play session would end).
creaothceann wrote:
Then someone else doesn't and supersedes your movie.
Of course not. If someone else submits a TAS that only cuts out the name entering without improving on the gameplay, it won't be accepted.
Determine what the ending of the game is (and be prepared to present an argument of why that's a valid definition of "end"), and then end the input when no further input can make the ending be reached faster.
I'd prefer if you didn't state this as a matter of fact, as this is just opinion. Some people prefer to end input as soon as no further input is required to reach the ending, others think that it should be ended when no further input can prevent the ending.
If you end the input when no further input is required to reach the ending, you end up with ridiculous TASes where the game ends minutes after the input has ended, which calls into question how long the TAS actually is.
If you end the input when no further input can prevent the ending to be reached, then you would need to exclude certain buttons or their combinations from consideration on a game-by-game basis (because eg. pressing the pause button in many games would stop the ending from being reached; or more prominently the reset button. In some cases some key combination that effectively resets, etc.)
The form I advocate minimizes the such ambiguities, exceptions and cornercases. (I'm not claiming that there exists no game which would require an ambiguous interpretation, but I posit that there are significantly less of them than with those other two approaches.)
If you end the input when no further input is required to reach the ending, you end up with ridiculous TASes where the game ends minutes after the input has ended, which calls into question how long the TAS actually is.
It's not ridiculous imo; anyway, what happens after the gameplay should not be a consideration for the TAS.
Anyway, for a case like the one we have here, I think it's not a big problem.
If you submit a movie that ends the inputs early (end at the hexagon thing), and if enough people say it's not good enough to stop at that point, the judge can ask you to "finish" the movie (continue adding inputs and enter your name). It's easy to do and the case will be closed.
It's really a case by case thing.
As you can see, it's a recurring debate on TASVideos and the answer depends on the game. It wasn't a bad idea to ask here first ;)
After that I have to press A to continue:
And then after pressing A again it brings up high-score table:
After inputting name(or skipping it by pressing start) it goes back to title-screen.
So which one of these is considered to be the end screen?
