This is a very simple maze game with only four stages in total. The routes for escaping the maze are quite straightforward. However, during gameplay, players must evade enemies while finding their way out.
Originally, while observing previous TAS, I noticed that taking the left path in Stage 3 could save about 8 frames. Interestingly, however, this 8-frame improvement proved ineffective. Further research revealed that each stage has a 32-frame rule, and specific input timing can shorten the post-clearance reward sequence. Of course, you must also avoid bumping into the reward bowl during this sequence.
Regarding enemy RNG, it appears to depend on the position and timing where enemies stopped in the previous stage – I didn't verify this thoroughly. I only needed to linger for a few extra frames before reaching the goal, without violating the frame rule, to manipulate the next stage's enemy behavior. This became key to achieving improvements.
Since the overall routing is simple, the final result was gaining an advantage of 2 frame rules in Stage 3, equivalent to 64 frames. Additionally, I terminated the recording early during the final stage's reward screen.
Darkman425: So imagine a wagon. Claiming for judging.
Darkman425: It's weird that this game has frame rules at all, though it's cool to see utilizing that knowledge to save time. Nice work!
Joined: 1/24/2018
Posts: 413
Location: Stafford, NY
Because of avoiding the bonus reward, playing the game for points is going to look different from a straight up speedrun, possibly different enough to justify a separate branch for "max score".
HOWEVER, it would be remiss of me not to point out something I discovered recently - the game will eventually lock up on the bonus screen (with the only way out being a hard reset or power cycle on console) if you play it long enough:
Link to video
That should be the end point of any hypothetical "max score" run, and because the game stops accepting input completely can't be bypassed through TASing, making it a suitable alternative endpoint according to the movie rules for a speedrun. I will leave it to the judges to decide whether to let the current submission stand as it is or insist a speedrun go all the way to the "killscreen".
I can also provide a bk2 file of my own efforts for the judges to verify that it is indeed impossible to get past the lockup without a hard reset.
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
