Dream Team Contest number 8 is here! I will be your host.
For people unfamiliar, Dream Team Contest is a competition between teams of TASers who try to create a TAS of a mystery game chosen by the host. You will have a certian amount of time to create a movie of the game, whoever has the fastest movie once the contest is finished will be the winner. The winning team will be engraved in Dream Team Contest history.
Game info
The game will be revealed when signups end but here are some details
The game platform is PCE/TG16
The game genre is Action/Platformer/Top Down. (Some levels are side scrollers and some are top down)
The estimated TAS length is about 10-15 minutes.
Has branching levels.
Will require getting 3 special items in order to defeat the final boss
game is not as difficult as Donald Land.
Rules
You sign up as a 3-4 person team or you can request to be put in a team. You cannot be placed in more than one team, and you cannot be placed multiple times in one team (I for one would not want to see a team of 4 Masterjuns). Each person in a team must post confirmation in the thread that they are participating. You may optionally also provide a team name and a logo; after the contest starts, teams can't be changed.
On October 30th 23:59 UTC sign ups will expire, game name will be revealed and the contest will start.
The teams must provide their movie file to dreamteamcontest8@gmail.com before Jan 17th 23:59 UTC; improvements of the run can still be submitted within the deadline; the deadline can be extended if all teams agree.
In the case an Arbitrary Code Execution/Memory Corruption/SRAM Glitch/Game End Glitch/Wrong Warp Glitch is discovered (looking at you Masterjun), competition will be held for movies both exploiting such a glitch as well as not using it.
The team that provides the movie file that completes the game from power-on to credits the fastest (input end) wins.
The movie should sync on BizHawk 2.3.1, though any Bizhawk 2.x version should work as far as is known. BizHawk 1.x versions have the 1 and 2 buttons swapped in the input log, which results in the movie desyncing if this is not correct, but otherwise movies made on those versions should also sync. In any case please ensure the submitted movie syncs on BizHawk 2.3.1.
The winning team will submit its movie to TASVideos, preferably with any improvements discovered by other teams, and anyone who will contribute will be added to the authors list.
All submissions must also abide by TASVideos rules.
Here are the current sign-ups. Note that individual player sign-ups have time until contest start (30th Oct 23:59 UTC) to decide or change their team; if they don't, they will be randomly shuffled into 4-people teams. If the player amount is not divisible by 4, they will be shuffled into 3 or 2 person teams. If there is only one individual signup, existing teams with 3 players will be asked if they'd be willing to accept the individual onto their team. Remember that team members cannot be changed after signups close, but name and logos can be changed.
Team sign-ups
Individual player sign-ups
Note please indicate if you are planning to sign up as an individual to be assigned at the start of the contest or are simply expressing interest in joining a planned team.
none at the moment
Looking for more players
Sign-ups are closedThe gameLink to video
Genpei Touma den is an arcade multi-genre game, that contains platforming, fighting, and top down playstyles. The story follows of a Samurai who is resurected and is sent to destroy the monarchy or something.
There is currently an unoptimized TAS that misses some obvious tricks, but should serve as a good refrence. (alternate Nico link for those who prefer it)
Checksums for the PCE ROM file
Important note
In order to defeat the final boss, you need to collect 3 sacred items, a Magmenta, a mirror, and a sword. According to the Walkthrough, there are two places you can get the Magmenta and Mirror, but only one place you can get the sword. Keep this in mind when doing the routing for this game.
Tips
Divide the tasks.
Everyone has own strengths and weaknesses. Make your team members work on different jobs in order to improve efficiency. This is crucial.
Keep in contact.
Use a private and secure chat group of your choice to talk with your teammates about your progress, discoveries, ideas, and share your files.
Play it a lot first.
Game mechanics are easier to understand by playing the game casually, with some code cheating if necessary. Start TASing when you feel that you know enough.
Take note of everything.
Any trick and glitch may come useful in a way or another, even if it does initially not seem. Also remember that your discoveries may come useful after the contest.
Try anything.
Even after you've finished TASing the game, use the remaining time to try and improve the run. A sudden discovery can turn the tide of the contest.
Don't procrastinate
You may make mistakes. However, you have the ability to fix these mistakes but only if you give yourself the time to be able to.
Don't give up.
there is still always the chance for motivation to plummet. Try to keep at it even if you hit a roadblock.
I would like to wish you all the best of luck, the best of fun, and declare the contest started!
The result
The contest is over. Here are the rankings:
#4: Team 1: "Frogs With Afros" in 10:08.262 - Youtube Encode - movie file
#3: Team 3: "Magic Staff" in 9:50.879 - YouTube encode - movie file
#2: Team 5: "Having Second Thoughts" in 9:40.816 - Youtube Encode - movie file
#1: Team 2: "🐻🐦" in 8:00.258 - YouTube encode - movie file
Thank you to everyone that participated and a special congratulations to Team 2 for winning!
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't
12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!"
Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet
MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish
[Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person
MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol
Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
Oh, another one.
I am bowing out, however.
No sign ups from me this time.
Haven't felt much TASing desire in a while.
Since it's branching levels, it doesn't sound very conducive to the idea of incremental submissions that clear one level at a time. I mean, if it's anything like the Zook Man layout with an intro, a choice of stages, and the final stages, we could at least cut it into three segments, but it's a thought for later, I suppose.
And hey, it might be interesting to see if the competition would try to analyze rivals' movies to figure out what techniques their opponents found to try and optimize later stages. And to discourage "hiding" the techniques until later, if optimizations were submitted for stages already due and done, cut the value of those frames saved down to a third or something.
Anyway, for the rest of you, no repeat defending champ to worry about, so TAS this with confidence you'll all win!
Maybe you hust want to keep your player score at 1337 for the leet? Kappa
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't
12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!"
Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet
MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish
[Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person
MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol
Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
I should mention that the game is both a side scroller and a top down game. They switch between some levels.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't
12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!"
Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet
MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish
[Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person
MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol
Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
I'm in.
NYMX and I are teaming up but open to a couple more teammates. I've asked one other person, but am waiting on a reply. So currently I'd say we have one teammate slot open, which may become two slots.EDIT 1: We have two slots open.
EDIT 2: NYMX decided it'd be better if he didn't do this years DTC. And thus I'm now all alone. Who wants a teammate?
If I were to join in, it would only be for glitch hunting and documenting, mostly. The previous few games have been way too tiring.
I will decide later.
This game sounds like Contra III...
I'm interested in joining as a team player. Never TAS'd a PCE game before but this should be promising enough. Haven't decided on a team yet, though, so put me under individual signups for now.
Banjo-Tooie runner, DTC 8, 9, 10, and 11 winner, but more importantly, "When's GR?"
Current projects:
Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge - 100% (50 minutes)
Mario Party 1 - All Boards (est: 4-6 hours)
Mario Party 3 - All Minigames (est: 40-50 minutes, not sure)
"Ooooh, I saved some more subpixels. Look at those sweet subpixels. You can't look at them, because they're subpixels, but they look so good." - The8bitbeast
"It's as if I knew what was going to happen. It's as if I had the plan written in front of me and I was reading it. I mean, I do have it in front of me, but I'm not reading it." -garagedooropener
2 teams of 2 we can do a team of 4 :) (not a proposition, atleast at the moment) but we will see how it ends. To everyone, ask us in PM if you want to join DrD2k9 and me or The8bitbeast and g0goTBC.
There is a 3rd person they are looking into joining.
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't
12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!"
Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet
MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish
[Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person
MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol
Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing
Please have Mike post his confirmation in the thread
[14:15] <feos> WinDOES what DOSn't
12:33:44 PM <Mothrayas> "I got an oof with my game!"
Mothrayas Today at 12:22: <Colin> thank you for supporting noble causes such as my feet
MemoryTAS Today at 11:55 AM: you wouldn't know beauty if it slapped you in the face with a giant fish
[Today at 4:51 PM] Mothrayas: although if you like your own tweets that's the online equivalent of sniffing your own farts and probably tells a lot about you as a person
MemoryTAS Today at 7:01 PM: But I exert big staff energy honestly lol
Samsara Today at 1:20 PM: wouldn't ACE in a real life TAS just stand for Actually Cease Existing