Oh, this game. Has it really been 7 years since my last post here?
I have a run uploaded to Microstorage that I suggest viewing, assuming it still syncs in the latest FCEUX for the most part. In fact, look over this topic for information you might want to know.
As for your playaround, thanks for your attempt. I do have a few criticisms, after briefly looking over the first level.
Salamander/Life Force has the possibility of two players. With just the one ship, there's only one player-controlled thing to look at. In addition, Salamander lets you have three Options following the two players, giving more objects to fool around with (although between the two players, you won't have enough power-ups for the Options after going for maximum speed-ups, so these glowy things are for later levels).
Very little of the environment was considered. Well, okay. You obviously fly in ways that you don't crash into stuff, but I don't mean merely surviving. There is little consideration made in "acting out" with the various objects and terrain. Shooting out curious patterns in the terrain that can break might be nice to see, but you just sit still and shoot a straight line forward.
Combining the two points, a second player can give a little better storytelling in that there is something else to interact with. Making it look like the lone player impaled itself on a spike ("acting out" by playing with a particular hitbox) might be a little fun. Having a player look like they rammed the second player onto said spike after stealing a power-up adds much more to the visuals.
Playarounds are tricky things. I think this game is suited for it, but it's going to take some careful thinking to make it look like you gave character to what is otherwise just a pair of ships flying around. I hope to see more, but I know full well the difficulties of getting it done.
Thank you so much for your opinions! When I am not busy in real life, I will try improving it. Or maybe having someone else improving it is better. :D
This is my completed TAS in Salamander. In this run, I use only speed upgrades and dodge enemies and projectiles. Be sure that controller U+D/L+R is turned on.
This movie can only work correctly in TAS Editor, not in Play Movie in FCEUX, because it desyncs from stage 2, whether it is exported as FM2 or kept as-is as FM3.
Movie file: User movie #41311504568918546
Encoded video: https://youtu.be/_KpMXQ1XjlU