www.geocities.com/sliverjazz/Ghostbusters_2_and_Alien_3.zip
I was to lazy to make a second post but the point is to show a route for Alien 3 so someone can maybe do this game.
I've started on a run of this game, mainly because SOTE desynchs every 15 seconds or so.
I know max12187566 did a run of it earlier, but it was rejected for not being optimal enough. Would there be any interest in a run for this game?
Also, as Cardboard put it...
As many as needed, easily. The last problem was unoptimization, yet firing for no reason at all looks unoptimized. The solution: lose the frames for perfection.
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1916274156/Alien_3_%28U%29_%5B%21%5D.fcm - Mission 1's test run is done, time to redo it. I think I can save more frames, and I'll take sticky's suggestion and fire only when needed. Currently 5 seconds ahead of max's submission.
The menu screen is horrible, it looks slow because the game makes you wait 8 frames between each action.
Jumping 2 platforms at a time may actually be slower than jumping one at a time, because movement is significantly slower in the air. However, there is the landing pause to think about (4-5 frames).
I think this game isn't easy to make
I had done it,the time is secret :)
And I need to find a short way
Rejected for not being optimal enough,so I improved myself in a hard way..... ^-^
After watched your movie,I don't think you done well.
First,when you drop the step,you should directly
Second,level select,if you choose hard,it maybe waste a lot of time,so I choose normal
And my movie already offered many methods that may help a lot ^_^
Max: the rule here is that we play on the hardest difficulty. We only break this rule when hard isn't more entertaining than normal/easy. This is usually the case for games where hard just means that the player takes more damage or the enemies have more health. I haven't actually played this game, but if there are more enemies, or the enemies move faster, or something like that, then it's worth playing on Hard.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/476722473/Apo123%20-%20Alien%203%20edited.fcm - Redid level 1 (without wasting any ammo this time). Saved a couple frames of lag, and jumped 2 platforms at once instead of 1 at a time where I could.
You can jump over a platform when it's lower than you, but not when it's higher.
Me
Platform A
________Platform B
_________________Platform C
Is possible, but
_________________Platform C
Me______Platform B
Platform A
Is not. You can't jump far enough to do it :\
Anyways, movie 2 is 90 frames faster. I'll run it once more, and see if I can coax a few more frames out of it.
L+R and U+D doesn't have any effect as far as I can tell.
Edit: Bah, it didn't accept the spaces. Using underscores instead.
The hard isn't like what you said,hard is only have less
time,the rest is the same as easy/normal.So,my advice is don't chooes hard,the best is default : )
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/808862825/Apo123%20-%20Alien%203%20lv2%20test.fcm - Level 2 completed. Unfortunately, I don't think I did very good on this one, and will definitely redo it. One major problem was those damn elevators. Since there's nothing to do but wait around, I burn through most of my ammo. Jumping onto the platform at the top is faster than riding the elevator up.
Anyone have any suggestions on improving this? If you spot anyplace where you think I can save some time, please say so.
Don't know much about the game, but I was interested when I watched your level 1 wip. Give me ~24 hours and I will have something to say. Whether it is helpful or not is questionable :)
Hey, any feedback at all is appreciated :)
Random notes: The RPG can be fired again a couple frames after the current shot explodes or goes off the screen. 1 RPG = 2 machine gun shots.
The machine gun fires in 3 frame bursts - hold A for 3 frames to fire 1 shot.
Normal enemies take 3 shots (9 frames). The machine gun builds up a cooldown time, after which it cannot be fired for a couple seconds.
The machine gun can be fired upwards diagonally, the only weapon to be able to do so.
Grenades (the throwable kind) are powerful but slow. It does either 3 or 4 machine gun shots equivalent, I'll have to test it. Even after it "leaves" your hand, movement can affect the trajectory, so fire a few frames early of what you'd normally throw. You stop for 6 frames to throw one.
The flamethrower cannot be fired while moving, and it also burns through ammo the slowest. It appears to be equivalent to grenades in terms of damage, but faster with a shorter range.
My guesses: RPG = 2 MGS, grenades = 3 MGS, flamethrower = 4 MGS. I'll need to do more testing, though.
"Pit" type platforms (with a hole in the middle for you to jump down, like an elevator shaft) have clipping issues with the left side. If you jump off to the right, then start holding left on a particular frame, you can clip inside it and fall through.
The game's physics creates invisible walls to the left and right while falling; at one point you will simply drop straight down after colliding with the boundary.
Edit: Bah, the 2nd run is several frames slower than the first. Redoing it again.
http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/1949931479/Apo123%20-%20Alien%203%20lv2redone.fcm - Level 2 redone, 2 seconds faster. It ends at a different time than the previous movie, so I dunno how many frames I saved (probably around 70).
Climbing up to the prisoner, then dropping down results in better elevators, even though I still have to wait.
Anyone have any tips for fighting bosses? I think I'll stay as close as possible without getting hit, and constantly walk away + turn and fire to hit as much as possible without taking damage.
Wow, way to forget to watch the WIP Alex.
The second level looked good to me, one question about level one, though.
When you shoot the alien who is climbing the ladder, you then have to climb down said ladder. Would it be faster to get hit by the alien and fall all the way to the bottom of the ladder?
Otherwise, I think it looked good.
Oh, in case you didn't know, pressing the . key should show the frames played in the movie... compare the last input frames, and you have your frames saved :)
I do have the frame counter showing, but my movies both end at different times and I'm too lazy to find the ending point on the one that ends earlier. All I know is the ingame timer says 45 seconds instead of 43, and the redone one is faster.
The alien on the ladder at the end of level 1 knocks me back horizontally, which wastes time. By the time I get onto the ladder it's down too far for me to really save time by taking damage since it moves faster (I can't catch up until near the bottom).
Edit: First boss dead, tell me what you think. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/440559366/Apo123%20-%20Alien%203%20lv2redone.fcm
Apo123: I didn't just say it was rejected because it wasn't good enough, I also strongly suggested that this game should be run on Genesis. It is the same setup with weapons, crawling in corridors, and rescuing people. But with much better graphics and sound and everything.
Your movie looked okay, the part i saw, but please take the above into consideration.
Thanks for the info, Truncated.
I've been basing my routes off Exilant's run. Levels 1 + 2 are completed on the Genesis version, but I'm currently working on finding a route for level 3. I believe several seconds can be saved (maybe even 10-15) by using a completely different route than he does. I'll update the Genesis topic with a new WIP after level 3 is completed.
One thing I don't like is that that site doesn't host the emulator movie files, only the video capture.
Joined: 4/20/2005
Posts: 2161
Location: Norrköping, Sweden
I made a TAS of this game, just for fun. It turned out 2 min 3 sec faster than max's run. It is also faster than Apo123's WIP. I decided to not waste ammo, for the sake of the run looking less sloppy, even though it does waste some time at the end level count down. Much faster boss fights, some new strategies, killing aliens faster and optimized movements make up for the time saved.
Here's the movie file if anyone is interested. The Genesis version of this game looks/sounds a lot better, so that's probably the version that should be TASed, which means I don't think I'll be submitting this.