Darkman425
He/They
Editor, Judge, Skilled player (1288)
Joined: 9/19/2021
Posts: 263
Location: Texas
End of contest update: The final results can be see here: Post #526229. Thanks for all the participants for joining in this contest!
A new TASer looking to test the waters? An experienced TASer looking to try out new challenges? An old TASer looking to make a comeback? Or just a team of TASers looking to make a collaborative project? Well, I've got just the thing for you! This is Dream Team Contest XI, the 11th entry in the Dream Team Contest series. Your host/GM/show runner for the event this time is me, Darkman425.
Contest Info For those new to this or those needing a refresher, this is a contest where teams of 3-4 people work together to complete and optimize as much as they can for a given game. The winners will be etched into the annals of Dream Team Contest history. While this is open to anybody, I really do want to see new people join in. This contest is a great learning experience for both general TASing skills and teamwork skills. Remember that people have trouble with different things, so working with others gives better opportunities for folks to do their best in what they excel at. Some of the contests have different approaches for game choice for the contest depending on the host. This one will simply be me selecting a game that I've already got on the docket. It just makes it easier on me since it'd be a bit of work for me to handle a game choice vote after signups. As an extra thing I wanted to do I will give out little PNG trophies depending on your placement in the contest. Think like the QLDC trophies from the SMW Central contests. There will be 1st/2nd/3rd/participant trophies that you can cherish if you want to. Or don't. I'm not your dad. They will be revealed along with the game reveal.
Signup Rules First and foremost: the deadline for signups is 16 September 2023, 23:59 UTC. Use a time zone converter to figure out what time that would be in your time zone. This means a little over 2 weeks to get signups in and teams formed.
  • As stated in the Contest Info section above, teams will be in groups of 3-4 people
  • You must post in this thread to sign up
  • You can sign up as either a team of 3-4 people, or as individual entrants or as incomplete groups which will be grouped into teams after signups
  • Team signups require each member to confirm their involvement in a group
  • For randomly formed teams, it will be assumed to be 4 people per group
  • Team names and team logos are highly recommended but not required
  • If you have signed up but have to drop out during the signup period for some reason, please post that you have to drop out before the deadline
  • Please refrain from trying to guess the game in this thread as that'd be weird, especially if you somehow get it right

Contest Rules First and foremost: the deadline to submit your work to me is 4 November 2023, 23:59 UTC. Again, use a time zone converter to figure out what time that would be in your time zone. This means 7 weeks will be given to complete a TAS of the given game from start to finish.
  • All input files, whether complete or partial, will be submitted via the TASVideos private messages system
  • Multiple submissions can be made by a team but it is highly recommended that the most recent submissions are the ones that are most complete
  • I will do my best to figure out which input file sent by a given team is the most complete but if I can't I will simply select the most recent submission
  • The submissions are required to sync on BizHawk 2.9.1, the most recent version (as of 30 August 2023) of BizHawk
  • While it's possible to use other versions, you must make sure it syncs on the required BizHawk version
  • In the event of a Arbitrary Code Execution/Game End Glitch situation being found, there will be a split between runs that use said techniques and runs that refrain from using said techniques
  • In the event of a tie at a given place, the teams that tied will share the same placement
  • The contest deadline can be reduced or extended if ALL TEAMS agree to the change
  • If you try guessing the game after the game reveal, either you look weird for guessing it right or look extremely weird for guessing it wrong

Pre-reveal Game Info The game will be revealed around 1-2 hours after the signup deadline has been reached assuming I don't forget like a dingus.
  • As hinted at from the DTC 11 logo graphic this will be an arcade game
  • No it's not Snow Bros 2 despite the title card. I'm not that mean
  • The game is a platformer, though
  • As stated in the Contest Rules, the emulator that must be used is BizHawk version 2.9.1
  • Friends don't make friends use Final Burn Alpha
  • MAME-rr is too out of date and doesn't have tools like TAStudio and such
  • 1 credit clears for the game range around 10-20 minutes

Signups Status Signups are now CLOSED and individual members have been sorted randomly. You can still send team names and logos if you want. Teams
  1. Samsara, EZGames69, ikuyo, InfoTeddy - This Cannot Continue
  2. DrD2k9, CasualPokePlayer, ThunderAxe31, RetroEdit
  3. moozooh, Invariel, FatRatKnight, Denial140
  4. g0goTBC, Lightmopp, WarHippy, enderpal7 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, + some 4th Guy
  5. PearlASE, andypanther, Randomno, Truncated - Part-Time Crime
  6. CloakTheLurker, Mikewillplays, somyeol, Mizumaririn - Rolling Knuckles
Free agents AKA individual signups without a team Partial teams looking for a tank extra team members
And your game for the contest is... ... Dangit. Forgot to turn off MAME cheats. Give me a bit... Get into that... Change that little bit, and... The 1989 arcade game from Taito, Crime City! Any resemblance to other movies or games is definitely ripped off totally coincidental. In all seriousness, this is a platformer in the vein of Rolling Thunder. You control Tony Gibson and/or Raymond Broady to rid Crime City of criminals, but without their car from Chase HQ for some reason. There are 6 stages with subsections to clear. The game's attract screen shows the controls for the game well enough that I probably don't have to explain them myself. Y'all will be doing a 1 player TAS on the Hardest difficulty setting. The goal, of course, is fastest completion to the last input required to start the ending sequence. Here's the version to be used for this contest:
Crime City (World)
MAME short name: crimec
Make sure your input syncs on that version of the game! Oh, and here are your little PNG trophies that you can potentially win. They're all Taito themed which is why I held off the reveal until now. Participation Trophy: Chack'n from Chack'n Pop doing a big stretch. This is awarded for teams that simply participate in the contest but didn't get top 3. Think of it as one of those "I was there" T-shirts you can sometimes buy at events. 3rd Place Trophy: a bronze Tiki from The New Zealand Story riding in a flying duck balloon. This goes to the team who submits the 3rd fastest input file. Truly a trophy for a guardian digger. 2nd Place Trophy: a silver Sayo/Pocky from Kiki Kaikai swinging her gohei. This goes to the team who submits the 2nd fastest input file. It's a nice blue silver that makes it stand out from just using the greyscale tool. 1st Place Trophy: Bubblun from Puzzle Bobble 2/Bust-a-Move 2 ready to strike. This goes to the team who submits the fastest input file and is thus the contest winner. A bit fancier than a gold star of success for good grade school homework.
Game Specific Rules Do ask me directly if anything needs clarification.
  • Under sync/DIP switch settings, difficulty must be set to Hardest with nothing else changed
  • No continues allowed which for this game I doubt would save time anyways
  • One player only though character choice is up to the team
  • The end time is determined by the last input needed to start the ending sequence
  • You can have an alternate input file sent to me inputting your name(s) after the ending sequence for the high score screen but I recommend making it clear that it is an alternate input
  • In the event that a team doesn't finish the game but has submitted a partial input, their partial completion time will be the screen fadeout on the furthest scene cleared

Helpful tips Admittedly this is mostly the same points as DTC 10 but with my own writing.
  • Keep in touch with one another! Be sure to message your other team members however you can if there's anything worth mentioning. You can use Discord, the forums Private Messaging system, Skype, email, telegram, carrier pigeon, or any other progressively more absurd communication methods to keep tabs on each other. Even just talking advice, ideas, or just updates on your status to do things is worth mentioning to your teammates.
  • Divide the work up! Remember that some people have specialties and expertise in some skills. Also remember that some people have trouble with different things. Definitely split the work amongst yourselves based on that kind of information to maximize the work being done.
  • Play the game yourself! You don't have to necessarily get the 1 credit clear to properly TAS a game. I certainly haven't for some games. However, there's incredible value in simply playing through the game yourselves to get a good idea of how a TAS would look and feel like.
  • Take your time! This game isn't particularly long and 7 weeks should be a lot of time to not only complete but also refine your work. You don't have to go into a mad rush to finish this in the 49-ish days of the competition. That generally leads to burnout, so take some of that time to take a break once in a while. Don't procrastinate, though, that's probably bad.
  • Everything is useful! If you're working on something for the game, then generally you're also helping the team. RAM searching and watching, route planning, and other TASing things on the game are helpful. Doing research on other complete playthroughs of the game to gather data that's already known is helpful. Giving advice on what can be done, doing extra passes on the input yourself, and general discussions about the game are helpful.
  • Take notes playing the game! Any bit of info you can find for the game can be potentially helpful in the now or the future. You might find weird tech that might not be immediately helpful but can be clutch when the time comes.
  • Do external research if you time! It's worth noting is checking around for information about the game out there. It's an arcade game with a number of 1 credit clear videos out there so it helps to check out information beyond just the standard speed run videos. You don't need to reinvent the wheel if someone did it first but even if you do that means you've got proof something you've found is probably something that works.
  • Most importantly, have a good, fun time! This isn't a serious contest, so don't take it too seriously. Even if this one technically higher stakes, you're just competing for some tiny PNGs I whipped up in a night with Paint Dot Net. it's not burning yourself out over tiny pictures you can download through your computer. If you aren't having fun, it's fine to take a step back for a bit as long as your teammates know as well. Even small contributions are still contributions, after all.

Alright, now let's all go for a kill time. This line will make sense when you start the game, I promise. Anyways, have fun y'all!
Switch friend code: SW-2632-3851-3712
Emulator Coder, Judge, Experienced player (720)
Joined: 2/26/2020
Posts: 773
Location: California
Definitely signing up here
Memory
She/Her
Site Admin, Skilled player (1552)
Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1765
Location: Dumpster
This logo is way too high effort I am offended, but impressed. Not joining because I don't have enough time to work on my own tas let alone this but hope yall enjoy.
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
DrD2k9
He/Him
Editor, Judge, Expert player (2211)
Joined: 8/21/2016
Posts: 1086
Location: US
Heads up to any potential teammates: My time is limited, but I’ve typically enjoyed working on these. I’m in. Edit: CasualPokePlayer and I are teaming up.
Editor, Active player (458)
Joined: 2/11/2018
Posts: 240
Signing up. I have plenty of time but motivation is a bit of a question mark.
Samsara
She/They
Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player (2108)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2821
Location: Northern California
Hell yes. I've been looking to put together a team in advance, but just in case that falls through, here's my official signup.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Samsara
She/They
Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player (2108)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2821
Location: Northern California
Double-posting for visibility: Teaming up with ikuyo and EZGames69, with potential for a fourth. Confirmation:
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
EZGames69
He/They
Publisher, Reviewer, Expert player (4456)
Joined: 5/29/2017
Posts: 2761
Can confirm.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
ikuyo
She/Her
Judge, Experienced player (505)
Joined: 7/8/2021
Posts: 101
Confirming as well
Memory
She/Her
Site Admin, Skilled player (1552)
Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1765
Location: Dumpster
Samsara wrote:
Double-posting for visibility: A team made entirely out of staff members
Congrats in advance on getting second to last place.
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
Samsara
She/They
Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player (2108)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2821
Location: Northern California
Memory wrote:
Samsara wrote:
Double-posting for visibility: A team made entirely out of staff members
Congrats in advance on getting second to last place.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Memory
She/Her
Site Admin, Skilled player (1552)
Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1765
Location: Dumpster
Samsara wrote:
Memory wrote:
Samsara wrote:
Double-posting for visibility: A team made entirely out of staff members
Congrats in advance on getting second to last place.
WE WERE THIRD??? FOR SOME REASON I THOUGHT WE DID MUCH WORSE.
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero
Player (204)
Joined: 8/18/2013
Posts: 146
Location: location, location!
Consider me signed up. I'm not sure I have the time or the motivation (hi teams looking for an extra player, great advertising right here) but I'm not known for thought-through decisions so here we are
Current TAS: [SNES] Jelly Boy [NES] Street Fighter 2010
Invariel
He/Him
Editor, Site Developer, Player (171)
Joined: 8/11/2011
Posts: 539
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Sure, I'll sign up as an individual, what's the worst that could happen? Edit: Please note that I am a support, not a tank.
I am still the wizard that did it. "On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." -- Satoru Iwata <scrimpy> at least I now know where every map, energy and save room in this game is
Former player
Joined: 6/30/2010
Posts: 1107
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
I'm signing up, even though I'm not the most skilled TASer yet. Looking for a team that helps me improve.
Current project: Gex 3 any% Paused: Gex 64 any% There are no N64 emulators. Just SM64 emulators with hacky support for all the other games.
Emulator Coder, Judge, Experienced player (720)
Joined: 2/26/2020
Posts: 773
Location: California
DrD2k9 wrote:
Heads up to any potential teammates: My time is limited, but I’ve typically enjoyed working on these. I’m in. Edit: CasualPokePlayer and I are teaming up.
Confirming this (don't know why I didn't confirm earlier lmao)
Samsara
She/They
Senior Judge, Site Admin, Expert player (2108)
Joined: 11/13/2006
Posts: 2821
Location: Northern California
Team 1 has picked up Info Teddy as a fourth, fully completing Magic Staff 3: ...But They're in Space! DISCLAIMER: That is not actually our team name.
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 Currently unable to dedicate a lot of time to the site, taking care of family. Now infrequently posting on Bluesky
warmCabin wrote:
You shouldn't need a degree in computer science to get into this hobby.
Judge, Moderator, Player (200)
Joined: 7/15/2021
Posts: 112
Location: United States
Samsara wrote:
Team 1 has picked up Info Teddy as a fourth, fully completing Magic Staff 3: ...But They're in Space! DISCLAIMER: That is not actually our team name.
Confirming. (The part about being on the team, not the team name.)
enderpal7
He/Him
Player (248)
Joined: 6/20/2022
Posts: 20
Location: Wales
I'd like to sign up as an individual! I've never tried one of these before but it sounds great! If anyone wants me, I'm here, but I'm fine to be randomized as well :]
LoganTheTASer
He/Him
Banned User
Joined: 7/3/2022
Posts: 463
Location: Berkshire, UK
i’ll sign up as an individual.
YouTube: @LoganL2008 Discord: sneakers_o_toole Watch my TASes here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmcAd4CTuEymf4qWKIE0Pv_NlA031cYR1&si=m1hP9qz9c8Ip35Ur
Editor, Experienced player (679)
Joined: 1/7/2023
Posts: 67
Location: Somewhere on planet earth probably
I would like to sign up as well
Player (228)
Joined: 12/5/2022
Posts: 23
Location: Canada
Signing up as individual but keep in mind my brain is not wired for time attack TASing as of yet.
Emulator Coder, Judge, Experienced player (720)
Joined: 2/26/2020
Posts: 773
Location: California
ThunderAxe31 is joining our team.
EZGames69
He/They
Publisher, Reviewer, Expert player (4456)
Joined: 5/29/2017
Posts: 2761
Are we about to see two magic staff teams?
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't 12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!" Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish [Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
Memory
She/Her
Site Admin, Skilled player (1552)
Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1765
Location: Dumpster
Samsara wrote:
Team 1 has picked up Info Teddy as a fourth, fully completing Magic Staff 3: ...But They're in Space! DISCLAIMER: That is not actually our team name.
It is now legally your team name.
[16:36:31] <Mothrayas> I have to say this argument about robot drug usage is a lot more fun than whatever else we have been doing in the past two+ hours
[16:08:10] <BenLubar> a TAS is just the limit of a segmented speedrun as the segment length approaches zero