Can you imagine those movies in a different context than the internet? (I'd like to see them as visuals in dance-clubs, that would be cool. Have you ever heard of someone using them for that or any other purpose?)
I occassionally use these movies as screensavers. What do you folks use them for?
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
Enjoyment.
Easy sound player.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Besides enjoyment, there are some possible uses for these movies. Whether or not these uses have actually been realized, it's clear that the potential of them lie beyond just entertainment. Such things as:
Archiving: the fastest completion time, as well as the strategy and tactics required to reach it, and the aesthetics of the game are maintained in these movies;
Base for derivatives: we've got a lot of material on this site, more than enough to create impressive showreels of the best work that we've done (although it's too bad nobody has done so yet). Other examples are given, such as visuals in dance clubs, or clips in movies, possibly for commercial ends;
Live walkthrough/demonstration: although many movies deviate from normal gameplay in a sense that they fail to have this possibility, it's possible to use them as reference, which is usually easier than reading a text explanation.
Joined: 11/22/2004
Posts: 1468
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
FODA wrote:
I like the idea of the "fastest game completion database"
Yeah, and I also can't help but think about how these games deserve to be captured in a movie on which effort was spent, seen as how they're great games, but neglected in today's world of gaming. Who knows--maybe they'll be completely forgotten to have ever existed by the mainstream someday, so let's try not to let that happen.
Base for derivatives: we've got a lot of material on this site, more than enough to create impressive showreels of the best work that we've done (although it's too bad nobody has done so yet). Other examples are given, such as visuals in dance clubs, or clips in movies, possibly for commercial ends;
That's actually been one of my backburner projects, to produce a "best of" DVD series. I am currently working on a method to generate DVD-compliant video from emulator output. Of course, the best quality comes from FCEU movies, as it is a more accurate emulator than Famtasia. The basic gist is to take the 256x224 video output, do a horizontal bilinear resize to proper aspect and add borders to get 720x240, and then treat the video as fields and weave them together to get 720x480 video. I haven't worked on this in a while, and last time I did it, I experienced audio sync issues. This will generate "perfect" quality video, and should work on both NTSC and PAL (as long as you have a PAL60 capable set). I won't be making any PAL50 discs, seeing as I don't think there are any PAL50 runs.
I do have a DVD-DL burner now, so I can produce professional-quality DVD9 discs (although I'm still in the learning stages with Adobe Encore DVD). If I do this, I will make the selection of which runs to use a community project, so as to ensure that the best of the best are included. I'd probably start out by releasing a few system-specific (NES, SNES, Genesis) DVD5 discs with no big frills - basically menus and video. Once I see how well they're received, I'd probably release a "best of the best" DVD9 disc. On the latter, I'd probably offer "commentary" soundtracks to all people whose runs are featured (which basically consists of watching your run, record you talking about it, and send me the audio). If anyone could think of other extras that would be feasible to do, I'd entertain suggestions.
However, before I start any serious work on this, I'd like to gauge the interest in such an item. Would you buy one? How much would you be willing to pay for the DVD5 discs? What about the DVD9 discs? I'll say that the finished DVD9 disc would probably cost $20-$25, due to the high cost of DVD9 blanks. The DVD5 ones would be more reasonable.
Also, it goes without saying that, although it might be legal to use the runs without asking, as a show of good faith, I will ensure that I do have permission from the person who made the run, before using it. Which basically means, if any run author has qualms about the inclusion of their run, then it'll be replaced with another run.
Another idea for the DVD5s - perhaps it could be a yearly release, including the best of the new runs created within that time. So, for example, at the beginning of 2006, I could begin work on the "Best of 2005" disc, and release it after two or three months of good work.
I will say this - right now, since I don't know the interest in such a project, I'm not totally dedicated to doing it. However, if interest is largely positive, then I will probably do it. As of now, however, there is absolutely no work done on such a project, and it would probably be at least six months to a year before the first discs are done, as I'm quite anal-retentive when it comes to perfection with a video project.
I suppose it's a subset of "fastest completion database" more than anything else, but I'll download a run of a game I'm planning to speed through on console to see if there's anything I can pick up and use that I didn't think of before, and almost as importantly, if any of these methods are actually console friendly. Sometimes I pick up stuff that only saves a few frames, sometimes I see things that arguably don't save time when executed by a human but look really cool (Going through one of the sets of spikes in Level 9 of Battletoads; by the time I set up for going through them, it's probably just as fast to just go around them. ;)), but they help me out either way.
Emptyeye.com- Come for the music, stay for the blog.
For me, it's mainly because I have a lust for perfection and speedruns. These are, obviously, just that.
I've watched nearly all the videos at the site, and I even watch the updated versions to see what all can be done.
Alas, though, I have a quirk when it comes to these vids... since I like perfection the most, pure speed isn't my cup of tea. I like the 100% completion vids, since I never play a game any other way.
More than anything though, these videos are a learning experience. I love the videos and I love this site.
<i>A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.</i>
I enjoy them too.
With my Boomer's Adventure in Asmik World movie I have make a FAQ, because I have miss it on GameFAQs. Now you can find it. ;)
Its near complete and miss only unimportant things. With the FAQ its now easier to play the game I think.
Last TAS finished: Final Fantasy Adventure (4.0 Warp Glitch Run)
WIP in the moment: Tail Gator (GB)
Matty
Joined: 6/21/2004
Posts: 247
Location: New Hampshire
I used one of sdkess' ~5min SMB runs for a school project about videogames of the 1980s as an example of how short they are compared to modern games...
I also used clips from Sleepz' RCR TAS to demonstrate how flexible games could be despite only having two buttons (punch/kick/jump/pick up item/use item/throw item and so on)
* Enjoyment, both in watching and making
* Shows insane speed that no one ever thought was possible back in the days when these games were top of the notch
* Show glitches and other fun stuff
* Bitchslap modern games as these retro games still holds HIGHEST quality.
I treat these things as if they were movies in a movie theater. In college, I arm myself with a candy bar or some other sort of snack and pour on the pounds as I eat myself silly to a TAS.
However, if I find any downright boring, then I will quit it and move onto another speed run.
Joined: 4/21/2004
Posts: 3517
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Deviance wrote:
download, watch, enjoy, delete.
Scratch that last part.
I will someday burn these babies to a dvd disc (once I've filled to 4,4gig or 2x 4,4gig). But I only have about 3 gig TAs's and Speedruns so there is a bit left. Of course I have a own folder for megaman, which includes rockman to the recent speedrun of MegamanX5 (dont like MegamanX8), Metroid Prime & Echoes and finally all the Zelda games. I love to show these videos (both TAS's and Speedruns) to my friends and my cousins, because I just loooooove to see their expressions ^_^ So far they have enjoyed watching mostly Rockman, Rockman2, TSA's OoT run and especially his final battle with Ganon and SprintGod's sonic run. I obviously explain to them the difference between TAS and Speedrun but they still enjoyed watching them.
Nitrogenesis wrote:
Guys I come from the DidyKnogRacist communite, and you are all wrong, tihs is the run of the mileniun and everyone who says otherwise dosnt know any bater! I found this run vary ease to masturbate too!!!! Don't fuck with me, I know this game so that mean I'm always right!StupedfackincommunityTASVideoz!!!!!!
Arc wrote:
I enjoyed this movie in which hands firmly gripping a shaft lead to balls deep in multiple holes.
natt wrote:
I don't want to get involved in this discussion, but as a point of fact C# is literally the first goddamn thing on that fucking page you linked did you even fucking read it
Cooljay wrote:
Mayor Haggar and Cody are such nice people for the community. Metro City's hospitals reached an all time new record of incoming patients due to their great efforts :P
Joined: 7/28/2005
Posts: 13
Location: UNCA, North Carolina, US
Bag of Magic Food wrote:
Maybe they could be the basis for future game design, as in "What kinds of exploits tend to crop up?"
I'm a game developer, and they've actually had the opposite effect.
I wanna include weird tricks so my games can be speedran in insanely short (relative to the normal length) times :)
Maybe they could be the basis for future game design, as in "What kinds of exploits tend to crop up?"
I'm a game developer, and they've actually had the opposite effect.
I wanna include weird tricks so my games can be speedran in insanely short (relative to the normal length) times :)
I have to agree with this statement. :)
It's nice to leave around infinitely tiny holes to see if someone someday finds them.
Joined: 5/1/2004
Posts: 4096
Location: Rio, Brazil
Such "hard to do moves" only make the game funner. A game with a slow walking, too easy to control character looks dull. A game which allows for better players to play better than the average gamer, looks better and works better, since you dont have that feeling of "i wish the character could do this". You need options to play. An easy, slow way and a fast, hard way.
