So I decided to give Spelunky a try in hourglass, but I have the steam version, so that doesn't work.
But Spelunky Classic does work in Hourglass r81! I think this would be a great game to TAS if anyone is up for it. I might play around with it tonight to see if I'm up for the challenge.
If anyone has the non-steam version of Seplunky HD and could give that a try in Hourglass and let me know if it works, I'd appreciate it as I'd much rather TAS that version.
If anyone wants to try out Spelunky Classic, it is avaible for free here:
http://www.spelunkyworld.com/original.html
EDIT: I may have spoken too soon. It does run and will record, but save states are causing it to crash sometimes at the moment.
I have messed with the threading options without luck (disabling it makes the game unplayable). I'm on windows 7 64-bit and from reading a bit it sounds like that doesn't play well with multi-threading in Hourglass. I might give Windows XP in VirtualBox a shot and see if that works.
It seems like usually a save state will successfully load once, but if I try it again, it crashes.
I tested Spelunky HD while dealing with mouse support, and it kinda works (with mouse!). However, you get the same desyncs as in meat boy (during loading screens). Also, the randomness may not supported.
Try using XP in a virtual machine; the OSes after that fuck up (from Hourglass' perspective, at least. It's probably considered a feature by the rest of the world) critical section threading, causing savestates to become corrupted (due to the game thread being allowed to continue).
I've actually played around with the original version on my XP laptop just recently and it runs flawlessly with Multithreading and Wait Sync set to disabled. As a matter of fact I've made a test run to see how effective the Teleporter is.
I ran through the first level as fast as possible, but half messed around, half prepared for the rest of the game on the second level. Every other level after that is just a demonstration how fast they'll be when you can abuse the Teleporter to the fullest. The best time is achieved when you can continuously fall down all the way to the bottom without ever touching the ground (or using the Jetpack) before you reach the door.
A couple of interesting things I've discovered is that if you run and jump on the first frame possible when you begin a new level (including the "menu level") you'll fly faster for that jump. Another thing is that it takes two frames for the game to register fall damage, so you can both enter doors and use the Teleporter on that first frame and ignore the fall damage completely.
The "best" possible run would be if you get a first level where you can fall down straight to the exit and a second level with a shop with both a Teleporter and bombs. Alternatively if you could find easily accessible bombs on the lower levels as well. Of course optimizing the boss fight better than I did as well.
Link to video
"An artist who can’t take constructive critique on their work is only hurting themselves and their potential.
Conversely, and artist that can’t communicate a critique in a constructive way isn’t helping anybody."
Okay, that was pretty nuts, once all the tedious gambling was done with.
It was hard to follow the teleportation, but I don't think you ever teleported downwards. Can't you teleport down as long as you're in the air?
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Not as far as I've tested at least. I only seem to be allowed to teleport up, left and right, but I can throw bombs down at least.
"An artist who can’t take constructive critique on their work is only hurting themselves and their potential.
Conversely, and artist that can’t communicate a critique in a constructive way isn’t helping anybody."
Maybe I'm misremembering, then. I admit to not having experimented much with the teleporter. Pretty sure I've seen it used to teleport downwards in the remake, but that doesn't really say anything about Classic.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Maybe I'm misremembering, then. I admit to not having experimented much with the teleporter. Pretty sure I've seen it used to teleport downwards in the remake, but that doesn't really say anything about Classic.
Can't, not in the remake either. That key combination (down + use) just drops the teleporter.
EDIT: Watched the movie, holy cow that was awesome. I'm wondering how fast this can get. Meddling with the initial system time in Hourglass could help with getting better levels, as it seems the gambling is far too time-consuming and I think you could do with a lot less bombs. I guess stealing from a shop would be fastest, as you're insanely fast (won't get shot) and the jetpack doesn't really seem necessary (doesn't make you fall faster).
Maybe I'm misremembering, then. I admit to not having experimented much with the teleporter. Pretty sure I've seen it used to teleport downwards in the remake, but that doesn't really say anything about Classic.
Can't, not in the remake either. That key combination (down + use) just drops the teleporter.
EDIT: Watched the movie, holy cow that was awesome. I'm wondering how fast this can get. Meddling with the initial system time in Hourglass could help with getting better levels, as it seems the gambling is far too time-consuming and I think you could do with a lot less bombs. I guess stealing from a shop would be fastest, as you're insanely fast (won't get shot) and the jetpack doesn't really seem necessary (doesn't make you fall faster).
You can most definitely teleport downward in Spelunky HD, but you have to be in the air first (so jump then press down and use).
Can you get teleporters from crates in Spelunky Classic? I know you can in HD. If you can, then the best seed would be one that gives us a crate right near the start with a teleporter.
Dunno about crates; you can definitely find them in walls, but then you'd have to bust the wall open somehow (presumably with a bomb).
Some fairly large amount of bombs would be helpful for killing the boss quickly, but it seems likely that the best time to get them is after getting the teleporter, not before. In particular, all the crates in Olmec's chambers can be accessed while waiting for bombs to explode...unless of course going up to get them takes you far enough from the bombs that they enter the frozen zone. Also, the use of bombs in that run was...profligate, at the very least. :) Most of them exploded pointlessly in the air.
Can walls in Olmec's room have items? If so, manipulating a pickaxe so you could dig while waiting for bombs to blow up might speed things up marginally.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
I just did some testing and you can get a teleporter from a crate on stage 1. Also, it seems like the crate content is not determined until you open it.
It looks like there is a TAS mod of this game, only in French unfortunately :
Link to video
Basically, it saves automatically at the beginning of every level, and you can press "1" to load this save. Otherwise, you have only one save slot : you can save with "R" and load with "L".
Pressing "9" allows you to check a kind of RAM watch that shows you x/y positions of your character, the exit, the black market, the Moai statue and the gold city door.
Pressing "6" send you back to the transition which allows you to generate a different level.
You end up with a set of image files so you can't have an input file.
Some TASes have been made with this mod, this the best time I could find :
Link to video
I don't know why it doesn't use the teleporter, there are also some flaws (especially the boss fight) but this is still something. Sub 2 min should be rather easy though, with teleporter and more bombs.
I problably made mistakes, sorry for my bad English, I'm French :v
Here's a run by someone over at Nicovideo who's both using the Teleporter and skillfully blowing up the ground beneath the boss. There's room for improvements if you can get a great starting seed and probably get the Teleporter from a crate in the first level as well, but it's an excellent example how the run would look like in the end (apart from the bonus stuff afterwards).
Link to video
"An artist who can’t take constructive critique on their work is only hurting themselves and their potential.
Conversely, and artist that can’t communicate a critique in a constructive way isn’t helping anybody."