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Finished level 4 after going through it a second time. Managed to reduce a lot of lag frames this time around. The one thing that did happen this time though, was that one of the big turrets was there, when on the first playthrough it wasn't. This time there were a couple of those laser forcefields missing, which helped a little. Anyway, here it is! http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/18462641476418640 Edit: Tompa found some improvements, so I'm currently redoing stage 4.
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
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"Okay, finally done with level 4 (I think, never know). Saved an additional 253 frames over the last version I posted. Thanks to Tompa for making me aware of spike slide boosting!" http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/18507128064956571 Edit: Found an interesting boost in level 5, but I doubt it's usefulness in the TAS. Jumping near a boulder sometimes allows you to get a double jump in midair. I was hoping to catch another rock here and do it again trying to get over the top of the level (if that's even possible). However the other rock doesnt spawn until you despawn the first one (off screen). Here's a gif anyway: Edit2: So I successfully found a way to double boost using the falling rocks. Doing it again might be tough or impossible but we'll see.
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
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That's pretty awesome. At the very least you may be able to use it to get a slight boost in the section going up after the 1st auto scroller in this level.
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Editor, Experienced player (941)
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Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
PJ
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OMG that double jump! :O
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Okay, I'm impressed. Nice work!
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
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Any particular reason you're choosing to do this on easy mode? Aside from that, looks awesome :)
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Vykan12 wrote:
Any particular reason you're choosing to do this on easy mode?
See #3779: link_7777's SNES Super Star Wars in 22:00.41's judgment note.
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.
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So I've finished a test version of stage 5, and some interesting things happened. First of all I got up the wall with the rocks, which saves a bunch of time. It can probably be done a little bit faster though. Secondly I kept one of the worm creatures from spawning by scrolling the camera down a little bit before reaching him. I'm not sure why that causes him to not spawn but I'm glad cause they cause a lot of lag. On the autoscrollers I kept the flying enemies from spawning by changing certain inputs. They generate lag when they spawn so that's necessary. Finally though, I found that if you time your shots/slides a certain way, you can get the Banthas to not spawn their body. I didn't test whether this was actually faster or not, but I thought it was funny so I left it in. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/18599661517161540
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
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Thanks for all the encodes, solarplex! That boulder skip is sexy. This is looking to be a really nice run!
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
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This game gets better and better.
effort on the first draft means less effort on any draft thereafter - some loser
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I see that Jedi level takes longer to beat than on Easy. Jedi gives you less life and you take more damage. You would have to rely on extending your life bar. Easy mode has no need. I also liked how you caused a glitch in where the boss fails to load at the end of the sand crawler.
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So I found out that the thermal detonator does 40 damage to the boss. The time saved isn't quite that much because it costs a few frames to manipulate the drop, and it causes a bit of lag. Saves about 30 frames or so in the end. I want to use this opportunity for a screenshot I think, but I'm not sure if I should waste a couple of frames to do it. The amount of time wasted is anywhere from 2-9 frames. Here are some possible screenshots, which one is the best? OR Also, the new file http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/18740099852936123
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
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My top 5:
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Stage 8 test is done, going to go back and see if light saber will be faster on the Kalharr boss. In the section of stage 8 where I stand around for a sec before shooting the enemies, if you try to cut them off by sliding to the left, when you come back right you'll have to wait for additional enemies to spawn before the stage advances. I also manipulate a detonator to drop so I can clear the whole next room. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/18833888612350027
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
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That's one hell of a plasma blaster. What reasoning is used to decide when to use the lightsaber (e.g. vs. Mutant Whomp Rat) or the blaster?
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
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On the Mutant Womprat, the blaster only does 1 damage per hit, and since he has 110 hp (after the Detonator reduces 40 hp from 150) that means it would take 110 hits. It does 2 damage vs the Kalharr boss, which makes it twice as fast, and faster than the saber (I think). The womprat is a little easier to hit than the kalharr boss, but I'm still going to test the saber on the stage 8 boss.
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
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So, I found a way to make the stage 8 boss repeat his attack over and over, by shooting him for a bit until he attacks me. Then I use the jump-saber attack into him for maximum damage and to keep him looping his head attack. The result is 50 frames saved overall. http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/18878900796103846
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
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Just posting this, it IS the offical WIP up to this "glitch" I found. It's not so much a glitch as abusing the mechanics of this block door to get on top of the ceiling. If you manipulate the top blocks to being the first ones to disappear you can jump on it and jump over the ceiling. However it results in a deadend in which you can do nothing, not even kill yourself. I was hoping it would result in an accidental stage end for reaching the end while the boss didn't spawn, but no such luck. Solarplex is uploading a cut encode: Link to video
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.
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I have been able to stop the mini boss from spawning on this level and the block wall starts blowing up as soon as you see it. It seems pretty common if you access the level through the debug menu. But I have only had it work once through normal progression.
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pootrain wrote:
I have been able to stop the mini boss from spawning on this level
That's interesting, were there any specific actions you did to have the wall blow up? I have kept the miniboss from spawning by sliding across the roof, but the wall just sits there and doesn't blow up, so I dismissed it. Even though I think the miniboss can be entertaining to kill normally, it's quite laggy so skipping it would be a good timesaver. I might experiment with this later on today.
Current thoughts: Hachiemon (J) for GBA.