sobble_p completes the flash game Mini-Putt as fast as possible in 1:04.798s. Mini Putt is an exciting golf simulator! This is maximum golf in a mini-game! Mini Putt is the classic desktop version of everyone's favorite physics and spatial reasoning puzzler: Mini golf. You may be head honcho down on the greens, you may be the top putter at your local golf accessory store, but here on Addicting Games, you're just another player who has to prove themselves by swinging their way up the leaderboard. How many holes in one will you get? Can you outsmart the legendary windmills? Polish up your clicking finger and get ready to take on the whole internet at once with this insanely detailed and realistic approach to Americas favorite past time: Golf! Stay under par, regulate your every last muscle contraction and movement. Be in total control of your own mind, body, and soul and you just might be able to play a perfect game. Hop into a golf cart because you'll be motoring up the leader board in no time. Instructions: LEFT CLICK - to aim, release to putt.
Emulator operating system: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (libTAS ran through the terminal.)
Emulator configuration: libTAS > General options > Frames per second > set to 30 / 1. Runtime > Time Tracking > enable only clock_gettime() monotonic. I set no conditions for the Command-line options. Include only the directory of the SWF file.
SWF MD5 hash: fd3d32609faf95e3e7d37e68497b9f1a
Game Objectives
Complete Mini-Putt by making all 18 holes as fast as possible.
Time starts on first frame of hole 1 visible, time ends on first frame of the final score screen shown.
Comments
Here is my first public TAS of a video game. I chose Mini-Putt as my first submission to tasvideos. The version of Mini-Putt that is showcased is the version in BlueMaxima's Flashpoint flash game archive listed as the default newer version, which is why I put the game version as "unknown v1.1" as I am unsure if there are more than two versions released. Mini-Putt was the first of a trilogy, with the first game being created in 2005 by PsychoGoldfish and was published to addictinggames.com (which is also listed as the source on BlueMaxima's archive). The game contains a mini-golf course of 18 holes that are completed by putting to the hole. The fastest method of completing most of the holes, from what I have tested, is skimming the golf ball directly over the hole then bouncing it off a wall back into the hole. Once your ball is a slow enough speed, the ball always goes in as long as it's touching the hole. Skimming the hole significantly lowers the ball's speed and momentum, allowing you to hit the ball extra hard and still make it in (given you can bounce off a wall after). This method is trickier to perform on some holes efficiently, which means you will not see it in every hole. Each strategy I used for every hole will be explained below in the stage by stage comments.
Stage by stage comments
Hole 1
A simple start. I place the ball on an angle where I can hit it down the green really fast in the direction of the hole and also skim the ball.
Hole 2
This may appear slow but the tube holes do not affect the speed of the ball when skimming unlike regular holes, forcing a slower putt to make the tube shot.
Hole 3
This is even more simple than the first hole. Putt directly at the hole, skim the hole, bounce, and make it in.
Hole 4
I perform a very hard putt at an upward (45-ish degree) angle to make it past the sloped green (the darker and lighter parts of the green) so I can hit the back corner of the wall so I can skim the hole, hit the corner directly, and make it back in with the fastest speed I can.
Hole 5
A simple angle to bounce off the walls to make it in the hole. Skimming may or may not be faster here because of the available angles.
Hole 6
More bouncing off walls to make it in. Again, skimming may not be faster here.
Hole 7
I putt the ramp really hard to make it past the ramp as fast as possible. Hitting your putt really hard will always stop at the near-apex of the ramp in the same way, meaning putting it even harder saves no time.
Hole 8
Tricky angles but can still be skimmed. Bouncing off the second thin passageway gives you the proper angle to skim across the hole, which also means being able to hit it faster.
Hole 9
Unlike the ramp in hole 7, this loop does preserve your speed, meaning the correct speed is key. Putting the loop at an angle also preserves your angle, giving you the ability to properly angle to skim the hole.
Hole 10
Skimming is probably not efficient here because of the walls. I putt a normal shot off the wall to make it in. Putting it from a different angle without skimming may be faster.
Hole 11
I place the ball at an angle where I can skim. I putt the ball at the fastest speed I can so I can still make it skim, hit the wall, and in. You might ask: "Why didn't you bounce off the angled stones through the narrow path?". Well, the hitboxes of the angled stones are very inconsistent with a faster putt, making that route very tricky to make at a fast speed. It would likely require you to putt at a slower speed, which means skimming may not work here. I figured it's more likely that skimming with the angle of the wider path would be faster (and probably easier). Bouncing off the narrow path walls like the wider path with a different angle may be faster here (if it can also be skimmed).
Hole 12
That thin wall in the middle has no hitbox. Just putt it directly into the hole with a skim while tweaking the speed for the sloped green.
Hole 13
I think this is the only instance where a double-skim is used. Due to the hitboxes of the windmill, putting it even harder allows you to make it in faster without hitting it. The windmill also preserves your speed. Waiting some frames for the windmill then hitting the hole with a single skim may be faster or maybe even taking the side paths without skimming.
Hole 14
Very simple hole. Putt to the hole while compensating for the sloped green without skimming. It may be faster to putt REALLY REALLY HARD to skim over the hole and over the sloped greens.
Hole 15
Another instance where skimming might be slower than just a normal putt. Bounce off the walls and putt it in.
Hole 16
Now, we skim. I place the ball at an angle where I can skim, putt it, bounce it off the walls of the path, skim, bounce, and in.
Hole 17
This one is deceptively tricky with the sloped greens. My strategy was to hit it really hard at an upward angle to make it past the sloped greens while still having enough speed to skim and make it in. Putting it at a direct angle of the slopes is very tricky, but still possible to still skim and make it in (I think?).
Hole 18
Simple last hole. Putt it off the wall to the hole without skimming while compensating for the sloped green.
Other comments
Overall, it's a pretty fun game to TAS. Somewhat simple, too. If you guys enjoy it, I will consider TASing the two other games if I can.
Possible Improvements
Possibly skimming somewhere on Hole 5 for faster putt.
Possibly skimming somewhere on Hole 6 for faster putt.
Different putting angle without skimming on Hole 10 for faster putt.
Putting through the narrow path on Hole 11 for faster putt.
Single-skim or alternate path on Hole 13 for faster putt.
Theorized alternate skim method on Hole 14 for faster putt.
Possibly skimming with a different angle on Hole 15 for faster putt.
Putting with a different angle to skim on Hole 17 for faster putt.
This is an interesting and new case we have here. As I said in the thread, this run uses some mouse clicks outside of the game window, which is not possible through regular gameplay. Because this breaks our rules on accuracy, this movie can't be published.
However, we do have the Playground class, which is not so strict and can break a rule or two. In this case, the movie meets our optimization standards, and is clearly entertaining enough that I think some people would still be interested. So, moving to Playground with the branch name "no mouse limits"!
Note: This run syncs on the 22-11-16 nightly, which has fixed some of the textures in this game, so it would be better for presentation purposes.
So, like the current Hedgehog Launch submission, this movie also uses mouse inputs outside the bounds of the intended game resolution (550x440) for several holes. Maybe this is possible if you resize the Flash Player standalone window, but we will first need to resolve whether we should allow this or not.
Personally, I think we need to limit the mouse to the native resolution of the game. While this input might be possible in the standalone player, the reality is that 99% of Flash games were intended to be played in a browser where the mouse cannot move outside the intended area. This capability can be exploited in many games, and the game's author often won't account for this happening.
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11492
Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
slamo wrote:
So, like the current Hedgehog Launch submission, this movie also uses mouse inputs outside the bounds of the intended game resolution (550x440) for several holes. Maybe this is possible if you resize the Flash Player standalone window, but we will first need to resolve whether we should allow this or not.
Personally, I think we need to limit the mouse to the native resolution of the game. While this input might be possible in the standalone player, the reality is that 99% of Flash games were intended to be played in a browser where the mouse cannot move outside the intended area. This capability can be exploited in many games, and the game's author often won't account for this happening.
I searched on google and couldn't find any evidence that FlashPlayer provided any standardized way to switch to proper fullscreen, embedded or standalone. Yes you can randomly resize standalone FlashPlayer window, and even go windowed fullscreen. But for embedded flash content, you only had a programmatic way to enable proper fullscreen in your game, and a few external-hackery options to do it in your browser. Resizing the embedded window looks even more hacky. Fullscreen is kinda more relevant here, because it can often result in mismatch between game aspect ratio and screen aspect ratio, exposing offscreen contents and giving interactive access to them. And none of that looks like an intended feature of the platform, unless someone can find an official proof that it is.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
I think in any case, the window at least needs to be resized to use this. This run clicks outside of the game window without resizing it, which is obviously not reproducible on an embedded or standalone player, and only works when fed as a mouse coordinate through libTAS.
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11492
Location: Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg
slamo wrote:
I think in any case, the window at least needs to be resized to use this. This run clicks outside of the game window without resizing it, which is obviously not reproducible on an embedded or standalone player, and only works when fed as a mouse coordinate through libTAS.
It would be tricky to check if a Flash TAS doesn't click out of bounds. I don't know if FlashPlayer in libTAS allows that, but I feel ruffle itself shouldn't... somehow.
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
