My feelings on The Demon Rush
Game Page: Doesn't exist yet
Marko 'MASTER-88' Vanhanen's run
Verifier Responses
Decision: Accept
Reason: Did not fuck too much on last boss.
Marko 'MASTER-88' Vanhanen's run
Verifier Responses
Quote:
Verifier: hey mike, finally verifying joe & mac
Verifier: av quality is fine, there's progressive audio desync but i guess that can be fixed
Verifier: it's a straightforward, random and dull game so i don't have much to say. the runner doesn't get hit often in levels, though sometimes it doesn't matter because damage boosts can go either forward or backward. there are fewer backward damage boosts than forward ones
me: yeah master-88 runs always have that desync
Verifier: okay
Verifier: he sometimes stops to shoot enemies that are needed for powerup drops, but you can shoot without slowing down if you do a high jump
Verifier: you just need to anticipate well enough. he also passes up a 'shortcut' of sorts past two plant enemies in 2-1 that the tas does, though he does a similar one in the save level. i'm assuming he was trying to conserve health
Verifier: the bosses go decently, but they're pretty random and have weird hitboxes so not that much fault can be placed on the runner
Verifier: overally i say accept, though not a strong one. there's a good amount of luck that went the runner's way but obviously more could be had in that regard. there's some time that could be saved with a smarter approach in the levels and some bosses could be executed even better. good first effort for this game altogether
Verifier: same* level in my third to last message
Verifier: sorry again about taking so long verifying this :{
Verifier: av quality is fine, there's progressive audio desync but i guess that can be fixed
Verifier: it's a straightforward, random and dull game so i don't have much to say. the runner doesn't get hit often in levels, though sometimes it doesn't matter because damage boosts can go either forward or backward. there are fewer backward damage boosts than forward ones
me: yeah master-88 runs always have that desync
Verifier: okay
Verifier: he sometimes stops to shoot enemies that are needed for powerup drops, but you can shoot without slowing down if you do a high jump
Verifier: you just need to anticipate well enough. he also passes up a 'shortcut' of sorts past two plant enemies in 2-1 that the tas does, though he does a similar one in the save level. i'm assuming he was trying to conserve health
Verifier: the bosses go decently, but they're pretty random and have weird hitboxes so not that much fault can be placed on the runner
Verifier: overally i say accept, though not a strong one. there's a good amount of luck that went the runner's way but obviously more could be had in that regard. there's some time that could be saved with a smarter approach in the levels and some bosses could be executed even better. good first effort for this game altogether
Verifier: same* level in my third to last message
Verifier: sorry again about taking so long verifying this :{
Quote:
Audio and video
===============
Correct. The audio is pretty desynched, but I believe you already mentioned that it could be fixed.
Legitimacy
==========
Nothing fishy caught my eyes.
Gameplay
========
General notes
- The runner chooses not to damage boost off enemies during the stages (as do the unofficial tas). By limited testing (I don't possess much tas skills), I concluded that damage boosting actually costs one frame each time, so that seems to have be the right decision.
- Contrary to what the runner says, charged up shots inflict more damage than normal shots.
- Most (all ?) enemies appear in the same places in a speedrun (=no stopping), so it should be possible to find ways of getting through most of the game without stopping or getting hit.
Ok, on to the level details.
Level 1.1: Perfect (but anything else is not to be expected either). Runs without stopping and jumps whenever attacking.
Boss 1.1: Looks good. Uses the same strategy as the tas.
Level 1.2: There are better combos taking out the caveman with the stone wheel that do not involve stopping. Bad luck with the last bomb dropper.
Boss 1.2: Not perfect, but still pretty fast. The spawns are random and not much to do about.
Level 2.1: Question mark here. By using the tas strategy of jumping in the water at the first electric fish, about 3 seconds can be saved. The downside is that you only arrive at the boss with 4 bars of energy left, since bouncing on the water costs health. (the runner only lost two bars of energy against the boss though)
Boss 2.1: Hard and random boss handled in an efficient manner.
Level 2.2: Another question mark here. Why did the runner wait for that stone to fall down before jumping up. I can consistently do like the tas (shoot jump the stone). From that ledge it's then not hard to jump directly to the next ledge (where the runner got the burger) without dropping down in between the two ledges. It looked like the runner got stuck a little jumping back up and thus losing some momentum.
Boss 2.2: Not the perfect fight execution wise, but the job gets eventually done. More concerning though, this boss would have been perfect to employ charged up shots against. While it's off-screen, you charge up and then unleash when it comes back on screen again. Charged stonewheels make twice as much damage as normal stonewheels. I think in average it would save 2 rounds of the fight (around 7 seconds).
Level 3.1: Mostly running, so not much to comment on.
Boss 3.1: A few missed shots, but not even the tas could do it in two rounds, so not much time lost I believe.
Level 3.2: Loses some time waiting for a firewheel drop, which is understandable.
Boss 3.2: Perfect plan and execution !
Level 4.1: The runner used an awkward route when he got hit. There are easier and more consistent ways of getting through this level without stopping.
Boss 4.1: Can be done much faster by more targetted shooting. Shooting when not in position to inflict damage only brings the character more out of position. I would also suggest to make normal jumps and not super jumps when the boss returns backwards as it's easier to get in hits (at least for me). 5 seconds should be easy to shave off here.
Level 4.2: Again, the runner stops too much. Many places it's possible to just continue forward while doing a jump and damage boost instead of waiting for an enemy to pass by (or bump into one getting a negative damage boost). The runner says that going faster is extremely risky, but I don't fully agree. With more planning/practice, this level can be completed with hardly no stopping or getting hit.
Boss 4.2: Well done. Charged shots could have been used again, but it would not have saved much time since the difference between normal and charged firewheels is pretty small.
Level 5.1: The runner gets tossed around a bit again. With more planning, it's possible to find faster ways around this level.
Boss 5.1: Well done.
Level 5.2: The occasional hickup, but overall well done.
Boss 5.2: Random boss that is hard to optimize. Not bad.
Recommendation
==============
This is a fairly random game for speedrunning (hard bosses and rare item drops) and this seems to be the fastest human speedrun around. However, I'm still leaning towards rejection. It's not by much though. If 10 is a super accept and -10 a super reject, I'd give this run a -1 or -2. The runner has clearly put some effort into this and many things look good. There are just a little too many places that can be done faster with better planning (and I believe it's planning, not execution mistakes). Whether you decide to accept or reject this, I feel bad for recommending a rejection. The runner has been very open about his progress including publishing his runs on youtube, giving many occasions for me to come up with the above comments earlier on, but I was just too lazy to review his work until now. So my deepest regrets for that and hope to see an improvement that finds its way on to sda.
===============
Correct. The audio is pretty desynched, but I believe you already mentioned that it could be fixed.
Legitimacy
==========
Nothing fishy caught my eyes.
Gameplay
========
General notes
- The runner chooses not to damage boost off enemies during the stages (as do the unofficial tas). By limited testing (I don't possess much tas skills), I concluded that damage boosting actually costs one frame each time, so that seems to have be the right decision.
- Contrary to what the runner says, charged up shots inflict more damage than normal shots.
- Most (all ?) enemies appear in the same places in a speedrun (=no stopping), so it should be possible to find ways of getting through most of the game without stopping or getting hit.
Ok, on to the level details.
Level 1.1: Perfect (but anything else is not to be expected either). Runs without stopping and jumps whenever attacking.
Boss 1.1: Looks good. Uses the same strategy as the tas.
Level 1.2: There are better combos taking out the caveman with the stone wheel that do not involve stopping. Bad luck with the last bomb dropper.
Boss 1.2: Not perfect, but still pretty fast. The spawns are random and not much to do about.
Level 2.1: Question mark here. By using the tas strategy of jumping in the water at the first electric fish, about 3 seconds can be saved. The downside is that you only arrive at the boss with 4 bars of energy left, since bouncing on the water costs health. (the runner only lost two bars of energy against the boss though)
Boss 2.1: Hard and random boss handled in an efficient manner.
Level 2.2: Another question mark here. Why did the runner wait for that stone to fall down before jumping up. I can consistently do like the tas (shoot jump the stone). From that ledge it's then not hard to jump directly to the next ledge (where the runner got the burger) without dropping down in between the two ledges. It looked like the runner got stuck a little jumping back up and thus losing some momentum.
Boss 2.2: Not the perfect fight execution wise, but the job gets eventually done. More concerning though, this boss would have been perfect to employ charged up shots against. While it's off-screen, you charge up and then unleash when it comes back on screen again. Charged stonewheels make twice as much damage as normal stonewheels. I think in average it would save 2 rounds of the fight (around 7 seconds).
Level 3.1: Mostly running, so not much to comment on.
Boss 3.1: A few missed shots, but not even the tas could do it in two rounds, so not much time lost I believe.
Level 3.2: Loses some time waiting for a firewheel drop, which is understandable.
Boss 3.2: Perfect plan and execution !
Level 4.1: The runner used an awkward route when he got hit. There are easier and more consistent ways of getting through this level without stopping.
Boss 4.1: Can be done much faster by more targetted shooting. Shooting when not in position to inflict damage only brings the character more out of position. I would also suggest to make normal jumps and not super jumps when the boss returns backwards as it's easier to get in hits (at least for me). 5 seconds should be easy to shave off here.
Level 4.2: Again, the runner stops too much. Many places it's possible to just continue forward while doing a jump and damage boost instead of waiting for an enemy to pass by (or bump into one getting a negative damage boost). The runner says that going faster is extremely risky, but I don't fully agree. With more planning/practice, this level can be completed with hardly no stopping or getting hit.
Boss 4.2: Well done. Charged shots could have been used again, but it would not have saved much time since the difference between normal and charged firewheels is pretty small.
Level 5.1: The runner gets tossed around a bit again. With more planning, it's possible to find faster ways around this level.
Boss 5.1: Well done.
Level 5.2: The occasional hickup, but overall well done.
Boss 5.2: Random boss that is hard to optimize. Not bad.
Recommendation
==============
This is a fairly random game for speedrunning (hard bosses and rare item drops) and this seems to be the fastest human speedrun around. However, I'm still leaning towards rejection. It's not by much though. If 10 is a super accept and -10 a super reject, I'd give this run a -1 or -2. The runner has clearly put some effort into this and many things look good. There are just a little too many places that can be done faster with better planning (and I believe it's planning, not execution mistakes). Whether you decide to accept or reject this, I feel bad for recommending a rejection. The runner has been very open about his progress including publishing his runs on youtube, giving many occasions for me to come up with the above comments earlier on, but I was just too lazy to review his work until now. So my deepest regrets for that and hope to see an improvement that finds its way on to sda.
Quote:
My Verifer respond Joe and Mac run
**************************************************************
LEVEL 1-1
Thats went very well. Nothing else can,t say.
**********************************************
LEVEL 1-2
Pick upping stone wheel drop. Runner not haved fastest boss fight.
*************************************************
LEVEL 2-1
Everything seem going well at all. Not best boss fight encounter again.
**********************************************
LEVEL 2-2
Runner got beat boss in 8 round. Could be cleaner though.
**************************************************
LEVEL 3-1
Thats very ok level, though boss not went perfected.
***********************************************
LEVEL 3-2
Runner pick ups flame drop. Nothing wrong with boss.
************************************************
LEVEL 4-1
Runner not haved make greatest boss fight. Ok
***********************************************
LEVEL 4-2
Awesome job with boss encounter.
****************************************************
LEVEL 5-1
I enjoy a lot with this level. Descent boss.
*************************************************
LEVEL 5-2
Level look almost like TAS. Boss fight not was very good. 3 energys remain in end. Thats make runner close call to die. Thats might make runner very nerves i can only imagine. But he survive alive and thats it.
***************************************************
There is room improvements in this run. I hope runner redos someday. I know he can got beat this run. It is still good enought and surely accetable.
ACCEPT
**************************************************************
LEVEL 1-1
Thats went very well. Nothing else can,t say.
**********************************************
LEVEL 1-2
Pick upping stone wheel drop. Runner not haved fastest boss fight.
*************************************************
LEVEL 2-1
Everything seem going well at all. Not best boss fight encounter again.
**********************************************
LEVEL 2-2
Runner got beat boss in 8 round. Could be cleaner though.
**************************************************
LEVEL 3-1
Thats very ok level, though boss not went perfected.
***********************************************
LEVEL 3-2
Runner pick ups flame drop. Nothing wrong with boss.
************************************************
LEVEL 4-1
Runner not haved make greatest boss fight. Ok
***********************************************
LEVEL 4-2
Awesome job with boss encounter.
****************************************************
LEVEL 5-1
I enjoy a lot with this level. Descent boss.
*************************************************
LEVEL 5-2
Level look almost like TAS. Boss fight not was very good. 3 energys remain in end. Thats make runner close call to die. Thats might make runner very nerves i can only imagine. But he survive alive and thats it.
***************************************************
There is room improvements in this run. I hope runner redos someday. I know he can got beat this run. It is still good enought and surely accetable.
ACCEPT
Decision: Accept
Reason: Did not fuck too much on last boss.
Thread title: