This is identical to Fortranm's previous TAS with some small exceptions. I saved 16 frames on menuing at the beginning by using the second controller. Three of these frames were lost in the second stage because I had to manipulate some of the enemies. The main menu is the only place which accepts input from both controllers; any inputs on the second controller during the game are ignored regardless of selecting a 1 or 2 player game. A 2 player game is selected here, just like the original submission.
Sorry, no temporary encode this time since it's virtually identical to the already published TAS.
In the movie rules there is a line stating "When comparing against a prior movie for faster time, the faster time must come from improved play in the actual game-play segments. For example, gaining time by switching to another version which loads faster, has shorter cut-scenes, or by more optimized usage of the title screen menus is not counted as an actual time improvement. A movie which doesn't have any actual in-game game-play improvements over its published predecessor will not be accepted."
However, this segment has an implicit assumption in it that menus etc. will not affect gameplay. This is frequently not true. While I see no issue with ignoring simple time differences between versions, if a movie is well optimized in terms of gameplay but has improvements in menuing, menuing should be seen as an improvement. Allowing one to freely delay the start of a game in order to manipulate RNG would be a bad precedent to set.
This segment should be edited at some point to reflect this.
There wasn't much feedback due to the lack of an encode, but I'd expect it to be fairly similar to the published run.
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11478
Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
Memory wrote:
However, this segment has an implicit assumption in it that menus etc. will not affect gameplay. This is frequently not true. While I see no issue with ignoring simple time differences between versions, if a movie is well optimized in terms of gameplay but has improvements in menuing, menuing should be seen as an improvement. Allowing one to freely delay the start of a game in order to manipulate RNG would be a bad precedent to set.
This segment should be edited at some point to reflect this.
We've had a staff talk and agreed that it should be updated:
http://tasvideos.org/diff.exe?page=MovieRules&rev=425&prev=424
If this movie was submitted alongside the current publication, we'd need to figure out which one improves more. A fair cutoff here is the movie length alone. And the only exception to judging it by movie length is when the ending actually occurs later. As long as the ending occurs sooner, it's also fair to improve menuing and whatnot.
If we don't allow that approach, then we implicitly allow menuing to be sloppy or delayed arbitrarily, as long as in-game time remains short. This really gets in the way of record keeping.
For Moons stuff it can be argued that a more complicated game deserves in-game improvements too, but even then, it's only if we can find those improvements.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
