Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that my theory about dying in the water was incorrect. Bonk floats very slowly to the bottom instead of sinking. The good news is that I was finally able to clear the flower that I've been trying to clear for the last few months. As a result, here a WIP for all of level 1: http://www.jerfo.com/bonk/bonk_wip.mc2. (Right-click and choose Save As...) A few notes:
    - I think that I saved a few frames at the beginning of Level 1-1 compared to my original versions. I grab the floating flower at a more optimal time. - In order to save energy, I don't go for a damage boost to clear the last flower in 1-1. So, I lose a bit of time there compared to my old WIPs. - In the second part of 1-3, I discovered that it's a bit faster to jump underwater and rotate twice (in order to regain control of Bonk) than it is to swim. Overall, I feel like there are a few more frames that can be saved in the swimming part. - Like in my previous drafts, I *almost* get Bonk and the boss positioned perfectly at the end of the fight. Perfect positioning would save another two frames. I'm not convinced that it's possible.
Let me know what you think! - Jerfo
Skilled player (1326)
Joined: 9/7/2007
Posts: 1354
Location: U.S.
Nice jerfo! Although there are some spots that might be improved, it is still great work overall. EDIT: I started a run now and I am 88 frames faster.
Skilled player (1326)
Joined: 9/7/2007
Posts: 1354
Location: U.S.
Sorry for the double post, but I finished 1-3 Part 1, and I am now 107 frames ahead of your WIP. On the way, I found some rather odd physics.
  • If you land, it stops all forward momentum. But if you jump on the first standing frame, your speed is kept.
  • Sometimes if you jump, you move slow. Doing a headbutt will increase your speed.
  • The flowers can be side bonked multiple times before disintegrating.
  • Beware, there is lag that ISNT picked up by the lag frame counter.
EDIT: I JUST finished Stage 1. Just to let you know, I HATE PIXEL POSITIONING! It is the most annoying thine I had to do while TASing. According to the emulator, I am exactly 7 seconds faster than Jerfo's WIP. I would like it if you continued your run Jerfo so that I could use it as a reference. I wouldnt want to crush your dream. Here is my WIP: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TB4SGOZS It gets to the point where I am having trouble.
Skilled player (1326)
Joined: 9/7/2007
Posts: 1354
Location: U.S.
Uhh... Any news? I haven't heard anything the past few weeks... I am having serious trouble! I haven't heard any help in the past few weeks! EDIT: It has been months now... Do you people even care anymore? Maybe I will leave this project to.
fruitbane
He/Him
Joined: 3/28/2005
Posts: 216
I am still very interested in seeing a polished run. I have been absent from most of my game-related forum memberships due to graduation looming and the workload associated with that. Also, I have a sucky work schedule.
Skilled player (1326)
Joined: 9/7/2007
Posts: 1354
Location: U.S.
Wow its been a while since I posted anything. I'm still stuck at 2-2. I still cant get past that dragonfly. It would be nice if I got some help now. :| Im glad this still has interest. :)
Player (52)
Joined: 4/10/2009
Posts: 226
I've been thinking of picking this run up but have been very lazy lately, especially with regards to anything TAS related. also I think that this will be fairly different then tool-assisting bonks revenge and if I ever do start it will take me some time to get used to the tricks.
Skilled player (1326)
Joined: 9/7/2007
Posts: 1354
Location: U.S.
FuzZerd....This will be very different to TAS. Anyways I wish you good luck. Make sure you watch my WIP to get the general idea of things. ;)
Player (52)
Joined: 4/10/2009
Posts: 226
so I don't know if you still want to work on this or not, but I finally gave getting past the dragonfly another shot, and managed it. its 68 frames faster then I managed to do with out it but it took some health to do. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4LLBTEG9
Skilled player (1326)
Joined: 9/7/2007
Posts: 1354
Location: U.S.
Ah. Of course I have still been interested in this. I thought that you could get over the firefly without a boost. But now youre saying that its faster? Wow. Anyways, I'll see if I could pick this up again after im done with school work and Sparkster. Edit: I cant download the movie. I can download my previous WIP but not your movie. :\ Ill try later.
Player (52)
Joined: 4/10/2009
Posts: 226
no I wasn't able to get over with out a boost... but I havn't tried the level from the start yet, though I doubt that will help. the movie is the same as yours until the very end. and boosting to go over the dragonfly is about a second faster then I was able to do going under the dragonfly (although that still took a little damage) I'm a bit worried you'll need the health later though as I don't know this game all that well, and don't know when the next heart you'd be able to get is.
Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
FuzZerd wrote:
no I wasn't able to get over with out a boost... but I havn't tried the level from the start yet, though I doubt that will help.
Take a look at my old YouTube video here, starting at roughly the 1:00 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSky-bxcYlw . This was done in the old Mednafen emulator (using VMWare for save states) and unfortunately I don't have the input file any more. However, it shows that it's possible to get over the dragonfly without a damage boost. I restarted my TAS and I believe that I was able to shave off a number of frames at the start of the first level: http://jerfo.com/bonk/bonks_adventure.mc2 . I'm only about 1000 frames in. I'll see if I can finish the first level this weekend. At this rate, I'll be completely finished with this TAS by the time the site has published its first PS3 TAS.
Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Here's a WIP through level 2-2: http://jerfo.com/bonk/bonks_adventure_wip.mc2 . I discovered that the smiley faces actually *do* waste time at the end of the level - about 8-12 frames each. I had to go back and make edits to 1-2 and 1-3 and then hex the rest back in. I was able to get over that dragonfly without a damage boost. Let me know what you think.
Player (52)
Joined: 4/10/2009
Posts: 226
what really? I thought they only wasted time if you got more then a certain amount and the ending had enough time to finish.
Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
FuzZerd wrote:
what really? I thought they only wasted time if you got more then a certain amount and the ending had enough time to finish.
Yup. I found out the hard way. I'd collected four smiley faces in level 1, whereas Sonikkustar had collected two in his WIP. I was 21 frames ahead after delivering the last hit on the first boss, but somehow ended up 11 frames behind at the start of level 2. After making some changes and only getting one smiley face, I was 28 frames ahead at the start of level 2. I think that I lost a few frames due to inferior luck, so the smiley faces ultimately added between 8-12 frames each. I wasn't 100% scientific about my testing, so maybe there's something else going on here.
Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
I just discovered a Bonk's Adventure speedrun on YouTube: https://youtu.be/A4A1DpaA2zo?t=18m42s . Much to my surprise, they perform a shortcut at the beginning of level 5-3 (the dreaded swimming stage) that skips the entire thing! Is anybody up for making a new TAS that incorporates this skip? I'd love to do it myself, but it's unlikely that I'll ever have the time to get around to it.
Memory
She/Her
Site Admin, Skilled player (1556)
Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1765
Location: Dumpster
Might as well work on this version of Bonk as well! So far I have saved 7 frames over the published TAS through a different opening strategy that builds speed to the right faster. Link to video http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/50512526865202605
[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
Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Memory wrote:
Might as well work on this version of Bonk as well! So far I have saved 7 frames over the published TAS through a different opening strategy that builds speed to the right faster.
It's been a long time since I worked on this (I started in 2009), so my memory is probably a little fuzzy...but, I seem to recall that I was once able to clear the flower at the 0:21 mark in this video instead of having to land in front of it and jump over it. I ended up losing that draft of the TAS and could never repeat it. It's worth trying if you haven't already.
Memory
She/Her
Site Admin, Skilled player (1556)
Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1765
Location: Dumpster
jerfo wrote:
Memory wrote:
Might as well work on this version of Bonk as well! So far I have saved 7 frames over the published TAS through a different opening strategy that builds speed to the right faster.
It's been a long time since I worked on this (I started in 2009), so my memory is probably a little fuzzy...but, I seem to recall that I was once able to clear the flower at the 0:21 mark in this video instead of having to land in front of it and jump over it. I ended up losing that draft of the TAS and could never repeat it. It's worth trying if you haven't already.
I've actually managed it myself. Problem is that it requires a damage boost off the turtle crocodile thing and in order to manage that I need to slow down to speed 5 in order to avoid hitting the ledge, making it actually slower. I might be able to manage it at just speed 6 if I slow down sooner? EDIT: I tried at 6 and it was still slower. Unless you can maintain 7 speed it doesn't seem worth it. EDIT2: Link to video I'm sad
[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
Memory
She/Her
Site Admin, Skilled player (1556)
Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1765
Location: Dumpster
So apparently collecting any smileys at all in a level adds 128 frames of waiting to the end of that level. Given that avoiding the smiley at the end of 1-2 costs 8 frames, I'll avoid it to save a total of 120 frames. EDIT: Speaking of: Link to video 49 frames saved on the published run but it should save an additional 128 frames at the end of Round 1 due to avoiding the smiley.
[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
Memory
She/Her
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Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1765
Location: Dumpster
...Apparently despite triggering "Round 1 Cleared" Faster, having 0 smileys makes it take longer for "Begin Round 2" to go away. Welp. EDIT: Looking at the video of the current publication, it appears to work that way for all stages. Might be best to collect 1 smiley per stage as a result. It saves nearly 200 frames to pick one up so it'd usually be worth it. EDIT2: Also the health it adds does not add any additional time so it means I have 1 extra half health per stage.
[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
Memory
She/Her
Site Admin, Skilled player (1556)
Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1765
Location: Dumpster
Link to video I went back and changed 1-2 so I grabbed the smiley face so I could have a shorter delay when "Round 2 Begin" starts to display. Since the smiley face restored a half a heart for no additional time cost, I changed my 1-4 strategy to take more damage since it was guaranteed to be healed. 130 frames saved so far over the published TAS.
[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
Former player
Joined: 10/30/2008
Posts: 29
Memory wrote:
...Apparently despite triggering "Round 1 Cleared" Faster, having 0 smileys makes it take longer for "Begin Round 2" to go away. Welp. EDIT: Looking at the video of the current publication, it appears to work that way for all stages. Might be best to collect 1 smiley per stage as a result. It saves nearly 200 frames to pick one up so it'd usually be worth it.
Oh! Now that's something I didn't expect. Good find. I'm loving the WIP so far. It's significantly cleaner looking than my old run. The strat in 1-2 surprised me, and the swimming section in 1-3 just looks so much better now.
Memory
She/Her
Site Admin, Skilled player (1556)
Joined: 3/20/2014
Posts: 1765
Location: Dumpster
The TAS was finished btw, I'm waiting to hear back if I was accepted to a marathon where I plan to premiere it, but I'm holding off on making it public until then.
[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
Challenger
He/Him
Skilled player (1689)
Joined: 2/23/2016
Posts: 1061
Memory wrote:
The TAS was finished btw, I'm waiting to hear back if I was accepted to a marathon where I plan to premiere it, but I'm holding off on making it public until then.
Didn't expect to be finished so soon. Really nice work! I'll wait for the submission ;)
My homepage --Currently not much motived for TASing as before...-- But I'm still working.