Anti-Idle: The Game is an Idle Game created by Tukkun and playable exclusively on Kongregate, first released in 2009. The game follows standard idle game rules but also incorporates several elements from other types of games into one game. This is a first ascension tool assisted speedrun, killing the Ascendant as fast as possible, and ascending.

Run commentary

To ascend, I must get to level 9000. So the main strategy behind this run is abusing MindSweeper. At TAS speed, this arcade game can give 1040 insta-progress per second (so the progress bar fills up 1040 times per second). Most of the work in this TAS that's not mindsweeper is either increasing progress bar output or increasing arcade rewards, the rewards you get when you quit an arcade minigame (which make up 18% of the total exp gain in the run.)
At the start I rush all the achievements I can get. Each achivements gives some boost to the progress bar, which is my main method of progression. I can get these while waiting for the tutorial which is scripted. I also enter two codes which give me 250 white coins, enough to buy modules, and an expill. I get two EXP modules, a YC one and FCG cash to feed the pet later on.
At level 4 I unlock auto booster. This can start to give me boost, the meter on the lower right. Boost increases resource gain as well as progress bar speed so it's extremely important. Each level, I can enter the Konami code on the achivement screen, which gives +10% boost. I use this extensively throughout the early game. Boost can also be upgraded with green coins, which I'll do all throughout the TAS.
After I get Garden, I plant a tree and harvest it later, all while doing some konami to get my boost up. Once I harvest it I have enough for BA.
BA is the main "feature" of Anti Idle. The main point in going here now is to finish the newbie tasks, the quests on the bottom. Once completed they give a huge 20% boost to the progress bar. I get as far as I can before I unlock the next feature, the Button. Unfortunately I didn't get rank 12 so I have to go back to finish it.
Button gives much greater exp and resource gain, so I switch to it, doing perfect clicks. Sometimes I switch to an excellent click because the game has an anti cheat which resets your combo after 16 perfects in a row. Each perfect gives 1 purple button, and I buy a yellow boost potion with 250 of them, bringing me up to 1200% boost.
With arcade unlocked, the main part of the run starts. Note I started on a very specific day that gives 200% arcade reward. I also started so that the next day would be a Friday, letting me feed the dragon faster.
First, I have to unlock mindsweeper. To do so, I play Math Master twice. The first time I finish it, I unlock daily rewards, then save and quit, and buy two Pixelated Mystery Boxes (PMBs). These give Battle Arena exp when opened, so I open two and get enough to finish the tutorial, giving me that 20% increase to the progress bar.
The second Math Master run is done to get rating higher as well as to get enough blue coins to buy the arcade pack, which unlocks MindSweeper. Rating is a multiplier on the rewards I get when quitting a game, so doing another quick run like this is worth it. During this second run I also use my EXPill as soon as I unlock it, and switch day when I end the run, activating an hyper day and giving 300% exp to all features (except progress bar).
During the first MindSweeper run, I unlock all the other basic features: pet, career, business, as well as the epic license. I quit early in other to activate these. Pet gives me up to 40% arcade exp, a welcome boost. Career gives supply crates when you level up past 100, which I'll open at the end. Business gives a massive yellow coin boost which will help feeding the dragon. At the end, I farm for white coins in order to buy a Pixel module. This will help me level up quickly in BA at the end.
The second MindSweeper run focuses on levelling up Epic Skills with yellow coins. I level up Double Progress, which will give me more insta-progress from the progress bar, the coin epic skill, giving me more income, and the module master letting me proc modules more easily for more pixels.
Once I quit, I feed the dragon, buy some more boost, and go into the final mindsweeper grind. I quit so that I get enough exp to get level 9000 straight away, then I redeem business and open the supply crates. I feed dragon 1000 times to get the sword needed to ascend, which is required to beat the Ascendant.
The other main puzzle starts here: how do I beat the Ascendant in the Battle Arena with an extremely underleveled character? First, I level him up as much as possible with my pixels. I opened supply crates earlier one, which give battle arena exp, so I get some battle arena ranks from that.
Then, I go dump my currency on mystery boxes. I buy more PMB, which give arena exp, to leevel up, and buy six Apocalypse crate. Each crate has a 1/334 chance to give me the armor I want, the Knightmare armor, and I have to get five of them. So a bunch of RNG manipulation is required. I also get a weapon finalizer for the sword.
Finally, I switch oranges bonuses on Knightmare to Attack, get some skills, turn on mana power, and Ascendant goes down quick and I finish this run in around 15 minutes.

eien86: Claiming for judging.

eien86: I fail to sync, so asking for additional information that can help sync

eien86: Replacing movie with a cropped one provided by the author

eien86: Welp, this was a hard one to judge. Let's analyze all factors:
  • Game choice. The game binary (v1861.swf) is an official release provided directly by Tukkun, its author. The fact that it is provided in a Google Drive is not ideal, since this link can become stale at any moment. Nevertheless, it's a perfectly acceptable distribution.
  • Category choice. Here the author goes for 'First Ascension', a special event that occurs when the player achieves level 9001 (obvious Dragon Ball Z reference). Given the game continues forever after this event (i.e., it is possible to have infinite ascensions), the chosen end point is perfectly acceptable and would qualify for a 'Standard' category.
  • Use of in-game codes. The author uses special input codes, one of which is a homage to the classic Konami code, which enhances level-up rewards. Although the community accepts this for RTA speedruns and the game author considers this an easter egg, it does contain many of the main ingredients of a cheat code. That is, (a) it is secret, (b) it is enabled via an unnatural sequence of inputs, and (c) provides an advantage compared to a casual player. The use of cheats is further betrayed by the clearly visible 'Cheater' moniker, a tongue-in-cheek accusation from the author themselves, which is displayed during the run. Seeing this, an average TASVideos viewer would be confused why we started accepting cheated runs for the standard category. For these reasons, we cannot consider their use part of a 'Standard' run, but instead, a 'Alternative' run where the use of in-game codes is clearly marked.
  • Optimization. The run is visibly optimized. That is, for an untrained eye (myself), it looks like things are going as fast as possible. However, Spikestuff has identified that the code inputs can be done in fewer frames than it is in the movie, but it isn't clear whether this can lead to a faster overall time.
  • Entertainment. Given this movie has an alternative goal, it is a matter of entertainment factor whether it can be categorized as such, or stored in Playground. The opinions are divided here, with split votes (majority YES). Some users manifested that their unfamiliarity with the game and the quickly shifting menus make it for a terrible experience. But I think I can understand the enjoyment of seeing a game where you are supposed to spend hundreds of hours being beaten so fast. One can see the collective knowledge of the community and the effort of the TASer behind this movie and I think that's valuable. The game's community members will surely know how to appreciate this movie.
  • Sync. Several staff (including myself) tried very hard to get this to sync without any success. Surprisingly, only the author (France) and user McBobX (Morocco) were able to sync. It wasn't until fsvgm777 had a stroke of genius and connected the dots: the desync happened because the aforementioned users had a different keyboard layout (AZERTY). After changing her own layout, fsvgm777 was able to make the movie sync.
  • Photosensitivity. A warning needs to be displayed do to the flashing produced by the quick changing menu screens.
Accepting to Alternative 'uses in-game codes'
fsvgm777: Processing.


TASVideoAgent
They/Them
Moderator
Joined: 8/3/2004
Posts: 15610
Location: 127.0.0.1
This topic is for the purpose of discussing #9151: xy2_'s Flash Anti-Idle: The Game "in-game codes" in 15:23.83
GJTASer2018
He/Him
Joined: 1/24/2018
Posts: 306
Location: Stafford, NY
There's something vaguely hypnotic about watching a game like this being speedrun. Too bad you can't abuse framerate shenanigans like in some other Flash games! That said, I'm a little concerned about all the flickering in the encode, especially the screens near the beginning; this might need an epilepsy warning on it.
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
RetroEdit
Any
Editor, Reviewer, Player (169)
Joined: 8/8/2019
Posts: 152
Yeah, definitely could benefit from a photosensitivity warning.
Patashu
He/Him
Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4045
This is such a fun idea for a TAS, haha.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Reviewer, Skilled player (1019)
Joined: 11/18/2011
Posts: 316
Location: Morocco
Syncs for me on libTAS 1.4.6 and Ruffle Nightly 2024-06-14 with the same game version provided by the author (v1861.swf) As for the game goal, it does look interesting. I see that your goal is to ascend as fast as possible by reaching highest level. From watching the encode, it does look optimized for that, and the author has explained every part about it. So the TAS has good quality gameplay, and the goal seems to be well fitting for such game, also it is pretty clear at the end that he reached the goal. Good stuff!
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
eien86
He/Him
Judge, Skilled player (1875)
Joined: 3/21/2021
Posts: 262
Location: Switzerland
This desyncs for me around pretty early on (frame 5000) Using: fr_FR locale libTAS v1.4.6 3eb9ecfe00d0a6e6dee7bd2ca3b50b57 ruffle-nighly-2024_06_15 (md5: 0d1e58db36759296d794edf6c070b730) v1861.swf (md5: d98ae7bab6c6a07aedaf42cf415f18bc) Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS Command: libTAS -r movies/ruffle2.ltm ./ruffle --no-gui -g gl anti-idle/v1861.swf Any help would be appreciated.
Reviewer, Skilled player (1019)
Joined: 11/18/2011
Posts: 316
Location: Morocco
eien86 wrote:
This desyncs for me around pretty early on (frame 5000) Using: fr_FR locale libTAS v1.4.6 3eb9ecfe00d0a6e6dee7bd2ca3b50b57 ruffle-nighly-2024_06_15 (md5: 0d1e58db36759296d794edf6c070b730) v1861.swf (md5: d98ae7bab6c6a07aedaf42cf415f18bc) Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS Command: libTAS -r movies/ruffle2.ltm ./ruffle --no-gui -g gl anti-idle/v1861.swf Any help would be appreciated.
I did get this to sync in the following environment:
  • libTAS 1.4.6
  • Ruffle Nightly 2024-06-14 (I believe this is why it desyncs for you)
  • v1861.swf as the game used
  • WSL2 (but Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS was used from Microsoft Store)
  • --no-gui -g gl as the cmd, and fr_FR locale (I don't remember I forced the region)
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
eien86
He/Him
Judge, Skilled player (1875)
Joined: 3/21/2021
Posts: 262
Location: Switzerland
McBobX wrote:
eien86 wrote:
This desyncs for me around pretty early on (frame 5000) Using: fr_FR locale libTAS v1.4.6 3eb9ecfe00d0a6e6dee7bd2ca3b50b57 ruffle-nighly-2024_06_15 (md5: 0d1e58db36759296d794edf6c070b730) v1861.swf (md5: d98ae7bab6c6a07aedaf42cf415f18bc) Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS Command: libTAS -r movies/ruffle2.ltm ./ruffle --no-gui -g gl anti-idle/v1861.swf Any help would be appreciated.
I did get this to sync in the following environment:
  • libTAS 1.4.6
  • Ruffle Nightly 2024-06-14 (I believe this is why it desyncs for you)
  • v1861.swf as the game used
  • WSL2 (but Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS was used from Microsoft Store)
  • --no-gui -g gl as the cmd, and fr_FR locale (I don't remember I forced the region)
Thanks, but the ruffle version you are using produces the 'Game executable hash does not match with the hash stored in the movie!" message. The correct version used by the author is 2024_06_15
Reviewer, Skilled player (1019)
Joined: 11/18/2011
Posts: 316
Location: Morocco
eien86 wrote:
Thanks, but the ruffle version you are using produces the 'Game executable hash does not match with the hash stored in the movie!" message. The correct version used by the author is 2024_06_15
Yeah, for some reason it syncs with that version for me, not sure why xD
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
Editor, Experienced player (854)
Joined: 5/2/2015
Posts: 696
Location: France
I don't remember which ruffle version I used, can check if it's important For syncing I used WSL2 ubuntu, same version as mcbobx, maybe the issue is with using ubuntu directly For libtas I used a nightly for making it https://ci.appveyor.com/project/clementgallet/libtas/builds/50045924, but only for recording sake, because it fixed a crash when loading savestate, so it should sync on a stable libtas version
eien86
He/Him
Judge, Skilled player (1875)
Joined: 3/21/2021
Posts: 262
Location: Switzerland
xy2_ wrote:
I don't remember which ruffle version I used, can check if it's important For syncing I used WSL2 ubuntu, same version as mcbobx, maybe the issue is with using ubuntu directly For libtas I used a nightly for making it https://ci.appveyor.com/project/clementgallet/libtas/builds/50045924, but only for recording sake, because it fixed a crash when loading savestate, so it should sync on a stable libtas version
Tried with WSL and it desyncs exactly at the same place. Any further information you can provide will be vital
Site Admin, Skilled player (1255)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11489
Location: Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg
Trees 1 minute in aren't getting seeded on my end (xubuntu 23.10, everything else matches).
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.
Editor, Experienced player (854)
Joined: 5/2/2015
Posts: 696
Location: France
xy@DESKTOP-DV45JI0:~$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS"
xy@DESKTOP-DV45JI0:~$ ./ruffle/ruffle --version
Ruffle 0.1.0-nightly (30cc299ed6fd74225420372f8698490532ce8652 2024-06-14)
xy@DESKTOP-DV45JI0:~$ sha1sum ./ruffle/ruffle
c8d897ad62f26cbbd36d50ea15f149e59b235cea  ./ruffle/ruffle
xy@DESKTOP-DV45JI0:~$ libTAS
Interim commit d910638c built on 2024-06-15
xy@DESKTOP-DV45JI0:~$ sha1sum /usr/local/bin/libTAS
aaf271bf578d98375d2365f0348321414a230bd3  /usr/local/bin/libTAS
libTAS sync settings https://imgur.com/a/SgbDUuy
Editor, Experienced player (854)
Joined: 5/2/2015
Posts: 696
Location: France
syncs on latest libtas https://i.imgur.com/fOjpaER.png
Reviewer, Skilled player (1019)
Joined: 11/18/2011
Posts: 316
Location: Morocco
xy2, are there any blank frames in your movie at the end? I noticed that but not 100% sure if they are blank.
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
Editor, Experienced player (854)
Joined: 5/2/2015
Posts: 696
Location: France
yeah there are blanks, i forgot to clean it up 😅😅
Reviewer, Skilled player (1019)
Joined: 11/18/2011
Posts: 316
Location: Morocco
xy2_ wrote:
yeah there are blanks, i forgot to clean it up 😅😅
No worries! It is necessary so subtitles are correct :)
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
Site Admin, Skilled player (1255)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11489
Location: Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg
We need a correctly cropped file that still syncs. We can't make it on our end since it won't sync for us.
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.
Editor, Experienced player (854)
Joined: 5/2/2015
Posts: 696
Location: France
fsvgm777
She/Her
Senior Publisher, Player (226)
Joined: 5/28/2009
Posts: 1215
Location: Luxembourg
I believe I finally found the root cause of why it desynced for everyone but the author and McBobX. They both very likely have an AZERTY layout. I set the keyboard layout to French (an AZERTY layout) via setxkbmap fr, then launched libTAS. The result: Movie syncs for me.
Steam Community page - Bluesky profile Oh, I'm just a concerned observer.
GJTASer2018
He/Him
Joined: 1/24/2018
Posts: 306
Location: Stafford, NY
For reference, the AZERTY layout is the de facto standard in France. xy2 is from France and McBobX is from Morocco, which was partly a French protectorate for many years and still utilizes French often as a language for conducting business and diplomacy with the outside world. You wouldn't think we'd need to specify the keyboard layout for syncing purposes in libTAS submissions, and yet now we may have to do exactly that in the future... (facepalm)
c-square wrote:
Yes, standard runs are needed and very appreciated here too
Dylon Stejakoski wrote:
Me and the boys starting over our games of choice for the infinityieth time in a row because of just-found optimizations
^ Why I don't have any submissions despite being on the forums for years now...
Site Admin, Skilled player (1255)
Joined: 4/17/2010
Posts: 11489
Location: Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg
libTAS does hook those bindings, but ruffle recently added some "feature" that broke this.
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.
Reviewer, Skilled player (1019)
Joined: 11/18/2011
Posts: 316
Location: Morocco
Yeah... Azerty or Qwerty doesn't matter if the libTAS has already registered key code. I would also think that Ruffle is the one reading keys based on which keyboard layout set up. So it would be user input -> libTAS -> Ruffle... User inputs A, libTAS takes key code for A (layout doesn't matter anymore), then Ruffle interprets it incorrectly as Q, cause it treats it as a user input... Hopefully I understood this correctly :)
I still learn more about English. https://www.youtube.com/user/McBobX100
I wrote:
Working is the best way to achieve goals in speedruning. Hardworking is a pain.
Post subject: Entertaining or not? Opinions needed
eien86
He/Him
Judge, Skilled player (1875)
Joined: 3/21/2021
Posts: 262
Location: Switzerland
I am still unable to sync, but it suffices that fsvgm777 was able to. There remains some issues with this movie. One is the use of the Konami cheat code (among others), which increases level up rewards. The use of in-game codes are not allowed for publication on the standard category: https://tasvideos.org/MovieRules#GoalChoice
Codes that modify or disable in-game mechanics are not allowed, unless they unlock an in-game item or a skill that does that.
However, they are allowed for the 'Alternative' category, clearly indicated in the category, e.g., 'in-game code use'. Alternative movies must still be (a) thorougly optimized, and; (b) be entertaining. Here, we have an issue with both. - It seems the gift code is inputted sub-optimally. This is not necessarily grounds for rejection, but the fact that one of our staff was able to quickly find this issue makes us think about the rest. - The movie is not particularly entertaining for the uniniated in the game. On the contratry, it can be offensive to the eyes with so much flickering. The entertainment issue decides whether this movie goes to Alternative or Playground. For this, we need input from the community. Please watch the movie and vote whether you found it entertaining or not.
Editor, Experienced player (854)
Joined: 5/2/2015
Posts: 696
Location: France
thanks, regarding these issues: for konami (and gift codes), we don't consider it a cheat. both are allowed in speedruns. this is because it's intended to be done in the game, and has achievements related to it (see the secrets achievements section) which is needed for completion. both are intentionally balanced: - konami can be done only once per level, and gives a minor 10% boost. it can't be spammed to cheat your way out and get more levels - the two gift codes can only be used once and give a minor amount of resources why do i say this isn't a cheat? beacuse we have actual cheat mechanics in the game: https://i.imgur.com/8O3LlcR.png -> requires clicking an enable cheats button, irreversible this leads you to a cheat menu https://i.imgur.com/NlS0yjn.png, and the savefile permanently has a CHEAT SAVEFILE banner plastered across in my opinion a run using these kinds of cheats would not be real sorry for not explaining this 😅 for the optimization, i agree the start isn't optimized. i know about typing multiple keys at once and the existing tools to do that, i didn't bother at the start because no matter how fast i get the achievements, the exp for the first four levels (until 0:50 in the encode) is hardcoded and can't be changed in any way, so getting it faster doesn't change the total time