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Level config is a list of objects to spawn in a level when the camera reaches the next position. You don't need to count slots to spawn objects, they just occupy the lowest free slot. It's a pointer because it points to the current ROM location to read object descriptors from.
What the actual object counter does it iterates through objects from min slot to max, and on the next frame from max to min, to make their sprites blink when there's too many of them.
http://tasvideos.org/FastestCompletion.html
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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We discussed it some more with adelikat and here's the result.
We have to closely follow the movie rules especially when dealing with Vault content, because Vault is meant to be free from any subjectivity, and the speed records there are meant to be as legitimate and clear as possible.
So any decision that we make about this movie should align with movie rules, and if we need to decide something that doesn't align with them, then we should check if the rules themselves have to be improved. Because it's impossible to write the rules that are 100% future proof and perfect, even though it still doesn't make sense to challenge the rules upon every submission that breaks them.
The current rule for prototype versions bans this game entirely, because there is an official release. Even though there is a published movie using prototype, it doesn't mean it's allowed for all the future ones. If we enforce the current rule, then this movie gets rejected, and the released version has to be TASed.
If we completely allow all prototype versions even when there's an official release, then it turns into a complete mess, because movies done on under-developed versions would be obsoleting official releases, and that compromises the environment that all of us were running those games in: we used official releases, and that's the most legitimate version, so TASing with official releases is the best approach. Prototypes differ from official releases in having more bugs that were intentionally fixed, no prototype was meant for regular use. Some prototypes have debug functionality available right away without codes, and it's obvious that we shouldn't use that in regular TASing.
If we partially allow prototyles, then it becomes impossible to draw a clear and reliable borderline that would also allow this movie to be published. We have the 50% gameplay cutoff rule, where if half of the levels (or something similar) is completely different between game versions, they can be considered different games and can have both versions in Vault. If the difference is optional (up to the player) and not inherent, then only the most optimal option is vaultable.
If we allow prototype for any% and release for full completion, then I can't come up with a future proof rule wording that would allow that, because it would mean that in some cases prototype and release are equal and inter-changeable, which we don't want.
If we make an exception for this submission, then how do we even make Vault rules predictable? "The movie must meet the rules unless we feel like making an exception, and no one can know in advance what we allow as an exception, so rely on pure luck!"
If we invent some clause about the prototype being "better", then it also turns into a mess due to subjectivity of what people may count as "better". How do you check in advance exactly if the prototype you're TASing is better? And then, if it's better, a whole bunch of prototypes may end up replacing official releases, which reduces the overall legitimacy of our content, because playing a prototype is exceptional in itself! It's like playing a broken cart where you can do things no one else can do. It's probably possible to showcase in a Moons-only branch, but we can't afford that in Vault.
Conclusion:
If we want Vault to represent equal competition for everyone, to have reliable and clear rules, we have to make them equally unpleasant in some cases. Unpleasant but fair. Like blind justice. No one wants this movie to be rejected, but I see no way to incorporate it into any future proof Vault policy, only into subjective exceptions. And that means it's not fair and predictable anymore.
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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PC jumps to open bus, which is near the end of NES RAM, not ROM. Open bus means whatever was last on the data bus of the device repeats forever, and the CPU interprets that as code to execute. Most of the time there's nothing special, so it keeps rolling forward until it reaches ROM: $8000. At the beginning of ROM there's code that decides whether it should execute continue or game end, depending on a certain flag. That flag is player lives IIRC, and it gets corrupted by spawning an object with negative ID, so its attributes are written by index, which is now negative, corrupting memory above object slots.
I should also explain that what Zlomus mentions as ObjectCounter is in fact level config pointer. Object counter is a different thing that only corrupts attibutes like the stick in level 4, most of the time it only corrupts sprites.
Regarding legality.
If you can make the PC jump to arbitrary locations, that should be used in any% if it makes it faster, possibly in a playaround too, but it's banned from other branches, because there ACE would be considered sub-optimal and arbitrarily limited. If you don't use techniques that allow PC to jump to arbitrary locations, then you can corrupt memory all you want in non-any% branches.
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.
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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Can you make the PC jump to something arbitrary then?
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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When depending on other images is an intended feature, and in this case it's almost the same game, and if it's the only way to unlock that stage, we may allow it for moons as a save anchored movie. Generate the save with the first game as a verification movie, then use that save on the second game with the actual movie. Moons only tho. Unless there's a cheat code to unlock it.
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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Fast pace and cool graphics, lots of shooting, but little variety in gameplay IMO: it gets old after a couple levels, and the raft level makes it even more boring. Voting Meh.
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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Depending on how much time it saves, the improvement can be called minor and hard to pull off, or it can compromise the speed record that the current run represents. If it's only a few seconds, we can publish as 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.
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How much time will it save?
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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Stop creating these topics about "potential emulators" being allowed on the site. First, it must even be possible to rerecord with them. Second, it must be stable and reliable, proven as deterministic. We won't be doing research to answer your questions about them if you don't know whether they meet any of those requirements or not. It's like asking "Will a PS6 emulator be allowed? Will it be any good?"
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.
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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When so many iterations were honestly considered final within such a short period, we can conclude that none of them was actually final.
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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How many times within the last 2 submissions of this branch was an improvement considered final?
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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Not when there are so many consecutive improvements.
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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It was intentional, and it was designed as a clear cutoff, to fit all Vault cases.
Initially Vault only allowed fastest completion and full completion, and it was believed that for any given game there can only be those 2 branches eligible for Vault.
Then we discovered that there are separate episodes within some games, where you can play entirely different levels available from the start. Those count as separate games and we can have the any%/100% pair for each of them.
Then we discovered that separate game modes can work the same in representing entirely different gameplay, like fighting and beat-em-up modes in some fighting games. So we wanted to find this cutoff, and I think we found something very clear and reliable.
If you have 2 route options with just one character, Vault only allows one of them. Because otherwise it won't be limited to a single fastest branch per game. Therefore the unique difference a given mode provides should be inherent. I'm pretty sure it was meant to say unavoidable. Because once it's avoidable, it's a subject for Moons branches, which Vault games don't get to have.
Bottomline: I think the logic behind that rule was indeed designed to require unavoidable gameplay differences, not just options that you may ignore to make it look different.
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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How is that a reason for specific publication order?
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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It will be published when improvements stop arriving at the rate they have been arriving. Having a new submission of this branch every month with 10 file replacements doesn't look like any of those improvements is actually final.
Why do you need to get it published before 100% is judged though?
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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It's interesting.
My mind refers to the rule about different vaultable modes that says:
If you forgo diagonal movement, your solutions in Pinocchio will be similar to those in Ottifanten. I can't call the difference between 2 games inherent. It's not like you're forced to go through 50% of unique levels.
At the same time, the rule wording doesn't require that you're forced to stick to a different route, it just says that such a different route is inherently offered. Maybe I'm overcomplicating this, and the meaning is exactly that?
My heart on the other hand feels that this movie has value as well, and outright rejecting it would be too harsh. You mention that this "easier mode" doesn't make it easier to stand out from unassisted play, quite the opposite. I also think that this kind of argument is more about Moons and superplay potential a given game has. But in Vault we also value clarity of a record. Being impossible even for a skilled human is a meaningful trait.
If not the possible full completion criterion in Ottifanten, I'd require that this movie is accepted and then obsoleted by Ottifanten. Ottifanten having more levels (I haven't checked yet) is also a good thing for a full completion kinda run.
Not sure if this solution is derived clearly from all the current rule wording (need help in terms of English language here).
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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Reached level 18, I have no idea how to beat it.
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/66144640781107698
From what I'm seeing so far, the released game feels more like a hard mode, purely because there's no way to truly move diagonally. However that's most likely an oversight in the prototype version, because with it you can skip most of the puzzles. I think they just patched it away (as a bug), just like infinite lives and level select. The "completely different" solutions look like just the way it was designed to work originally, not like intentionally/inherently unique gameplay.
Easier gameplay isn't what we look for most of the time, especially if the game is an interim draft, and the official release is harder.
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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The previous movie was accepted to Moons, but the rating wasn't impressive. Can we have more feedback please?
Link to video
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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Hard to give advises when it's about being considered art or not. I didn't feel much when watching that video. For a playaround to work, I think it has to look clearly superhuman/impossible even to people who're seeing this game for the first time, and also it shouldn't look like randomly hitting your opponent. Glitchfests are much easier to comprehend as superplay imo. I've written this page, but it's mostly about speed: http://tasvideos.org/TasingGuide/TASArt.html
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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Yeah it's ok.
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.
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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What's the verification setup? Did any input have to be tweaked?
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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Done. I think the major skip glitch class should stay, to indicate what this movie was thought to be, for historic purposes.
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.