Joined: 10/29/2014
Posts: 176
Location: Bavaria, Germany
Here is a WIP TAS of Keeper (made with lsnes rr2 beta23) up to the start of stage 15: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/49890341227130159
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About the game:
In total there exist 60 concrete designed (not randomized) levels in the puzzle mode, of which there is 50 normal levels and then 10 bonus levels after initial credits being triggered once the 50th level was done. Other than this there's also modes in which the game spawns randomized blocks that one needs to get rid of before the board is completely filled, in order to reach different high scores.
One can also play in 2 player mode, but then only against each other or together, but not through the puzzle mode. The options screen allows to change the appearance of the player's character (with no changes in gameplay apparently) and the block symbols, aswell as the controls for jumping onto blocks and pulling blocks can be changed for controller #1 and #2, and one can listen to background music and special effect sounds there.
Here are files that contain screenshots that show all the levels at their start:
Levels 1 to 15: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/490267536890527769/Keeper_levels_1_to_15.rar
Levels 16 to 30: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/490267656432255009/Keeper_levels_16_to_30.rar
Levels 31 to 45: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/490267789496549396/Keeper_levels_31_to_45.rar
Levels 46 to 60: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/490267915002576906/Keeper_levels_46_to_60.rar
And here's an example screenshot showing the current level 15:
Player character's actions:
The player's character (Keeper) can walk around and push any amount of blocks (from 1 up to 4) in front of the character forwards in a straight line either vertically or horizontally. One can also pull at most 1 block at a time that is directly in front of the character so the block is 1 floor tile positioned further in the direction of where the player's character was. Other than this, it is also possible to jump onto blocks to move past (or on) them without having to go around them or having to push them, and in case one is positioned on a block, one either can walk on them provided that all inner floor tiles in the same line (column or row) as the character in front of the character are occupied by blocks, or otherwise trying to walk in that direction will push forwards any amount of blocks (from 1 to 3) that are strictly in front of the character from on top of some block, so that one would need to jump in that direction to keep moving on blocks without pushing them.
Environmental objects:
In the puzzle mode, there's no time limit and infinitely many retries that one can take, and no further blocks will spawn. Blocks can only be moved from a floor tile to a vertically or horizontally neighbouring floor tile, but as often as one wants, and other than this the only thing that can happen with blocks is that they explode. Additionally, every level is 7 floor tiles by 7 floor tiles large, and the player's character can move on any of the floor tiles, but blocks can only move within the squared inner 5 floor tiles by 5 floor tiles range.
There exist normal blocks which will show up as coloured (red, turquois/bright blue, yellow, green, purple, grey, dark blue, brown) blocks together with a golden symbol (left-facing fish, spiral shell, flat broad shell, whirling shell, star, crab, right-facing fish, seahorse) centered on their top.
For these blocks it holds that such a block explodes if and only if
(i) either the character moves alongside any amount of blocks (each) from 1 floor tile to another such that afterwards the normal block has at least 2 other normal blocks next to it and forms together with these either a horizontal or vertical uninterrupted line of normal blocks that either all share the same symbol, or the same colour, or both
(ii) or the explosion of at least 1 time-bomb block has been initiated.
Then there is white glowing ''time-bomb blocks'' with a green clock symbol on their top. For these kinds of blocks it seems to hold that such block explodes if and only if
(i) either the player's character moves onto the block
(ii) or the character moves alongside any amount of blocks (each) from 1 floor tile to another such that afterwards the time-bomb block has at least 2 other time-bomb blocks next to it and forms together with these either a horizontal or vertical uninterrupted line of time-bomb blocks.
And there is another type of white glowing ''joker blocks'' that look like christmas present boxes. These kinds of blocks seem to behave exactly like normal blocks, except that joker blocks are to be treated (for the matter of explosion triggers) as if they had every single colour and every single golden symbol on them at the same time, and as if they simultaneously were time-bomb blocks on top of that (so that they basically explode whenever they are part of any otherwise matching combination of blocks that share an explosion-inducing property and come together).
Furthermore, to the far left (and the same on the right side), the game shows for every level individually the current number of remaining block-explosions that are allowed to be initiated by pushing 1 or more blocks at the same time from 1 floor tile to a neighbouring floor tile, and all blocks in a level need to be cleared within this number of block explosion triggerings in order to advance. Whenever a block-explosion is happening, there will be a glowing animation that covers exactly the floor tiles at which blocks were that are exploding, and until close to the end of this animation (which seems to take the same amount of time independent on the pattern that the exploding blocks form on the ground), one cannot move any other block onto any of these tiles (such that these floor tiles temporarily are treated like the floor tiles on the outer ring). In particular, if one is positioned on top of a block and walking in the direction of another neighbouring block, then this block will will not be pushed if for all further ahead floor tiles in that line it holds that it is either part of the outer floor ring, or a block occupies the tile, or a block-explosion animation covers the floor tile.
There exist passwords to start out at any of these levels, and they are listed at GameFAQs: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/571092-keeper/cheats
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Optimization aspects:
For the optimization it is relevant to figure out in which qualitatively different ways (regarding the number of caused explosions to be used, which and how many blocks and in what formations/shapes they can even explode together) the individual levels can be solved, and to then tackle the levels with various approaches to find the fastest (for which the number of steps from 1 floor tile to the next throughout solution paths is usually a good measure).
File that contains all comparison lsnes movie files for the levels from 1 to (including) 14:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/490294119009353728/Keeper_comparison_movie_files_for_level_1_to_14.rar
The following levels among the levels from 1 to 14 have been thoroughly checked and are less likely further improvable by taking a different path: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14
The following remaining levels among the levels from 1 to 14 might be slightly further improvable by taking a different path: 4, 6, 8, 10, 11
It seems that there's no difference between jumping off a block by walking or jumping off by pressing the jump button regarding the time it takes. In order to get to the opposite side of a block that one is standing next to, it is faster to jump over it in 2 steps rather than to walk around it in 4 steps (even when the latter doesn't need any of the somewhat slower jumps). If one trades/substitutes walking 2 steps on the floor (or on blocks) for 2 jumps, then the costs are about as much time as doing 1 additional walking step (except 2 frames more). Apparently every pull that can be substituted with a push saves 3 frames. And because of differences like these, a solution to a level that has a smaller number of tile position transitions of the player's character doesn't necessarily need to be faster than a solution with more such steps (but usually once it is 2 or 3 steps shorter, it is faster aswell).
Here is a text file that contains comparisons for all the different level approaches above throughout the WIP TAS (of which there's none remaining to be implemented into the WIP TAS):
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/491046868814659594/Keeper_WIP_TAS_comparison_tests.txt
And here is a file that contains a list of timestamps for milestones (mainly the frames when levels are started or cleared) throughout the WIP TAS:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/491023962705231884/Keeper_WIP_TAS_timestamps.txt
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Observations:
Apparetly the "time is out" sound from jumping onto a time-bomb block can be cancelled if one shortly afterwards pulls a block.
In the following movie,
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/491047768698126347/Keeper_strange_delayed_block_destruction_in_stage_4_with_UpDown.lsmv
I pushed a block into a floor tile spot at which it would trigger an explosion (which it did), but during the pushing animation I held Up+Down which kept the blocks from exploding right away until a short time period passed (during which I couldn't move away or do anything else either apparently) until the blocks actually started exploding as they should.
Here's a video of the WIP TAS:
Link to video
Edit: I have since continued a few stages further up to the beginning of stage 20. File that contains all comparison lsnes movie files for the levels from 15 to (including) 19:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/527535570658787329/Keeper_comparison_movie_files_for_level_15_to_19.zip
Current WIP TAS up into stage 20: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/52131139095508726
collect, analyse, categorise.
"Mathematics - When tool-assisted skills are just not enough" ;)
Don't want to be taking up so much space adding to posts, but might be worth mentioning and letting others know for what games 1) already some TAS work has been done (ordered in decreasing amount, relative to a game completion) by me and 2) I am (in decreasing order) planning/considering to TAS them. Those would majorly be SNES games (if not, it will be indicated in the list) I'm focusing on.
1) Spanky's Quest; On the Ball/Cameltry; Musya; Super R-Type; Plok; Sutte Hakkun; The Wizard of Oz; Battletoads Doubledragon; Super Ghouls'n Ghosts; Firepower 2000; Brain Lord; Warios Woods; Super Turrican; The Humans.
2) Secret Command (SEGA); Star Force (NES); Hyperzone; Aladdin; R-Type 3; Power Blade 2 (NES); Super Turrican 2; First Samurai.
(last updated: 18.03.2018)
Player character's actions:
The player's character (Keeper) can walk around and push any amount of blocks (from 1 up to 4) in front of the character forwards in a straight line either vertically or horizontally. One can also pull at most 1 block at a time that is directly in front of the character so the block is 1 floor tile positioned further in the direction of where the player's character was. Other than this, it is also possible to jump onto blocks to move past (or on) them without having to go around them or having to push them, and in case one is positioned on a block, one either can walk on them provided that all inner floor tiles in the same line (column or row) as the character in front of the character are occupied by blocks, or otherwise trying to walk in that direction will push forwards any amount of blocks (from 1 to 3) that are strictly in front of the character from on top of some block, so that one would need to jump in that direction to keep moving on blocks without pushing them.
Environmental objects:
In the puzzle mode, there's no time limit and infinitely many retries that one can take, and no further blocks will spawn. Blocks can only be moved from a floor tile to a vertically or horizontally neighbouring floor tile, but as often as one wants, and other than this the only thing that can happen with blocks is that they explode. Additionally, every level is 7 floor tiles by 7 floor tiles large, and the player's character can move on any of the floor tiles, but blocks can only move within the squared inner 5 floor tiles by 5 floor tiles range.
There exist normal blocks which will show up as coloured (red, turquois/bright blue, yellow, green, purple, grey, dark blue, brown) blocks together with a golden symbol (left-facing fish, spiral shell, flat broad shell, whirling shell, star, crab, right-facing fish, seahorse) centered on their top.
For these blocks it holds that such a block explodes if and only if
(i) either the character moves alongside any amount of blocks (each) from 1 floor tile to another such that afterwards the normal block has at least 2 other normal blocks next to it and forms together with these either a horizontal or vertical uninterrupted line of normal blocks that either all share the same symbol, or the same colour, or both
(ii) or the explosion of at least 1 time-bomb block has been initiated.
Then there is white glowing ''time-bomb blocks'' with a green clock symbol on their top. For these kinds of blocks it seems to hold that such block explodes if and only if
(i) either the player's character moves onto the block
(ii) or the character moves alongside any amount of blocks (each) from 1 floor tile to another such that afterwards the time-bomb block has at least 2 other time-bomb blocks next to it and forms together with these either a horizontal or vertical uninterrupted line of time-bomb blocks.
And there is another type of white glowing ''joker blocks'' that look like christmas present boxes. These kinds of blocks seem to behave exactly like normal blocks, except that joker blocks are to be treated (for the matter of explosion triggers) as if they had every single colour and every single golden symbol on them at the same time, and as if they simultaneously were time-bomb blocks on top of that (so that they basically explode whenever they are part of any otherwise matching combination of blocks that share an explosion-inducing property and come together).
Furthermore, to the far left (and the same on the right side), the game shows for every level individually the current number of remaining block-explosions that are allowed to be initiated by pushing 1 or more blocks at the same time from 1 floor tile to a neighbouring floor tile, and all blocks in a level need to be cleared within this number of block explosion triggerings in order to advance. Whenever a block-explosion is happening, there will be a glowing animation that covers exactly the floor tiles at which blocks were that are exploding, and until close to the end of this animation (which seems to take the same amount of time independent on the pattern that the exploding blocks form on the ground), one cannot move any other block onto any of these tiles (such that these floor tiles temporarily are treated like the floor tiles on the outer ring). In particular, if one is positioned on top of a block and walking in the direction of another neighbouring block, then this block will will not be pushed if for all further ahead floor tiles in that line it holds that it is either part of the outer floor ring, or a block occupies the tile, or a block-explosion animation covers the floor tile.
There exist passwords to start out at any of these levels, and they are listed at GameFAQs: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/571092-keeper/cheats
- - -
Optimization aspects:
For the optimization it is relevant to figure out in which qualitatively different ways (regarding the number of caused explosions to be used, which and how many blocks and in what formations/shapes they can even explode together) the individual levels can be solved, and to then tackle the levels with various approaches to find the fastest (for which the number of steps from 1 floor tile to the next throughout solution paths is usually a good measure).
File that contains all comparison lsnes movie files for the levels from 1 to (including) 14:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/490294119009353728/Keeper_comparison_movie_files_for_level_1_to_14.rar
The following levels among the levels from 1 to 14 have been thoroughly checked and are less likely further improvable by taking a different path: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 14
The following remaining levels among the levels from 1 to 14 might be slightly further improvable by taking a different path: 4, 6, 8, 10, 11
It seems that there's no difference between jumping off a block by walking or jumping off by pressing the jump button regarding the time it takes. In order to get to the opposite side of a block that one is standing next to, it is faster to jump over it in 2 steps rather than to walk around it in 4 steps (even when the latter doesn't need any of the somewhat slower jumps). If one trades/substitutes walking 2 steps on the floor (or on blocks) for 2 jumps, then the costs are about as much time as doing 1 additional walking step (except 2 frames more). Apparently every pull that can be substituted with a push saves 3 frames. And because of differences like these, a solution to a level that has a smaller number of tile position transitions of the player's character doesn't necessarily need to be faster than a solution with more such steps (but usually once it is 2 or 3 steps shorter, it is faster aswell).
Here is a text file that contains comparisons for all the different level approaches above throughout the WIP TAS (of which there's none remaining to be implemented into the WIP TAS):
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/491046868814659594/Keeper_WIP_TAS_comparison_tests.txt
And here is a file that contains a list of timestamps for milestones (mainly the frames when levels are started or cleared) throughout the WIP TAS:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/491023962705231884/Keeper_WIP_TAS_timestamps.txt
- - -
Observations:
Apparetly the "time is out" sound from jumping onto a time-bomb block can be cancelled if one shortly afterwards pulls a block.
In the following movie,
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/491047768698126347/Keeper_strange_delayed_block_destruction_in_stage_4_with_UpDown.lsmv
I pushed a block into a floor tile spot at which it would trigger an explosion (which it did), but during the pushing animation I held Up+Down which kept the blocks from exploding right away until a short time period passed (during which I couldn't move away or do anything else either apparently) until the blocks actually started exploding as they should.
Here's a video of the WIP TAS:
Link to video
Edit: I have since continued a few stages further up to the beginning of stage 20. File that contains all comparison lsnes movie files for the levels from 15 to (including) 19:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/218520158963105792/527535570658787329/Keeper_comparison_movie_files_for_level_15_to_19.zip
Current WIP TAS up into stage 20: http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/52131139095508726