140

2016-01-20 07:18:38 pm

Just found this game by searching through the forums and decided after playing it a couple times that I'm going to start speedrunning this game, too. What I've considered most is actually running the first level (without the boss) blindfolded - personally, it has that jibe to it where going by rhythm alone would be a really cool way to speedrun this. Whether that actualyl pans out, I have no clue. I'm still going to play this game to death and back trying to beat your records XP.

Also, how would a 100% run in this game work? Just curious, if anyone is still here.

Zet

Edit history:

Zet: 2016-01-22 08:14:20 pm

Zet: 2016-01-22 08:09:19 pm

2016-01-22 07:57:07 pm

Hello new runners. Smiley

I'm glad, 140 still gets some love. There's actually a few active runners at the moment. Definitely give it a go, it's a fun game for running but also for just playing.

@Gelly: 100% would theoretically be all normal levels + mirrored levels. But the mirrored levels are exactly the normal levels again so it's basically playing through the game twice, as you don't want to die in a run through the normal level anyway.
PSVM has completed a few 100% runs, if more people are interested to run it, it could be considered a category, but as jymotion once said on twitter - and I agree - 100% doesn't really make sense except get to your nerves more and there's not a real difference.

There *could* be another category however that includes the "grab and hold the window" trick, which can mess up the game quite a bit. Cheesy

I'd ban it for any% though, since it disturbs the engine itself and not just the game mechanics.

And, most importantly:

A new strat has been found!!!

A glorious genius called Gameguy, who can't speedrun because he has a bad computer but analyzes games all day has found a new trick, that saves about 2.2-2.4 seconds. I'll let this video speak for itself.

http://www.twitch.tv/zet237/v/37055854

So, with this material go for the new WR! But go for it quick as I am going for it myself as well. Cheesy

Edit:

This is the first completed run with a GameGuy Bridge btw. It's a horrible run, but I got the new strat first try. Cheesy

http://www.twitch.tv/zet237/v/37071330

Hello new runners. :) I'm glad, 140 still gets some love. There's actually a few active runners at the moment. Definitely give it a go, it's a fun game for running but also for just playing.

@Gelly: 100% would theoretically be all normal levels + mirrored levels. But the mirrored levels are exactly the normal levels again so it's basically playing through the game twice, as you don't want to die in a run through the normal level anyway.
PSVM has completed a few 100% runs, if more people are interested to run it, it could be considered a category, but as jymotion once said on twitter - and I agree - 100% doesn't really make sense except get to your nerves more and there's not a real difference.

There *could* be another category however that includes the "grab and hold the window" trick, which can mess up the game quite a bit. :D I'd ban it for any% though, since it disturbs the engine itself and not just the game mechanics.

And, most importantly:

[b]A new strat has been found!!![/b]

A glorious genius called Gameguy, who can't speedrun because he has a bad computer but analyzes games all day has found a new trick, that saves about 2.2-2.4 seconds. I'll let this video speak for itself.

http://www.twitch.tv/zet237/v/37055854

So, with this material go for the new WR! But go for it quick as I am going for it myself as well. :D

Edit:

This is the first completed run with a GameGuy Bridge btw. It's a horrible run, but I got the new strat first try. :D

http://www.twitch.tv/zet237/v/37071330

Gelly

2016-01-23 12:34:03 am

Oh my lord, that bridge skip...

See, at first, I thought I should know the game a little bit better before digging deep into the abyss of skips. Got a 20:00 run today, which means I'm pretty close to sub for that.

Nope, that bridge skip has completely changed my mind. Time to go for ridiculous practice now XP

Zet

2016-01-23 05:02:23 am

Well, I would honestly recommend to first go for deathless runs without all the skips and as soon as you have these runs perfected out, take the tricks one by one into your run. E.g. the little Zet skip (level 3 time save) I found one page ago, it saves about 0.6 seconds if you get it but loses you about 4 if you don't and it's EXTREMELY precise to pull of. That bridge trick isn't too easy either and once you get to level 3 pb pace, your nerves won't be in their best shape, so rather go for a safe pb than an unsafe little better pb.

I won't say, that these won't work out for you, but this might get frustrating quick. And 140 is such a short game, you can easily do a few runs in a row, even after a pb. Smiley

Zet

Edit history:

Zet: 2016-02-13 06:40:55 pm

2016-02-04 05:26:21 am

Seeing all those new runners submit their times at speedrun.com makes me really happy. As mentioned, I am currently running this game again, trying to get a flawless run done with Gameguy Bridge and I *think*, we might have figured out what causes the orbs's "quick activations", at least we have a theory:

Since the game's engine is controlled by the audio, it is possible, that an activation can only happen at certain "intervals"; think of it as very short cycles, possibly an eighth note or sixteenth of the music (at 140bpm, that's approx. every .21 or .11 seconds). It would make sense, as I noticed, quick activations happen more often if you get to the activation panel more quickly. As of now, I was able to recreate quick activation for quite some panels and for me what jymotion said a few posts earlier, that this game could become optimized enough so that these matter, has become a reality.
If you are really quick at the panel, you have a chance of arriving at the end of the previous cycle, as opposed to the beginning of a new one. If you reach it at the beginning, the animation will take longer, since the possible activation time is a few tenths of seconds away. Also, I played back to back with a video once and my music was perfectly synchronized, as well as the activation sound and after that. To be THIS precise the same speed twice is extremely unlikely, unless, of course, the activation can only take place during certain intervals.

That's my and GameguySD's theory and we haven't found any contradictions to it in the game as of yet.

Seeing all those new runners submit their times at speedrun.com makes me really happy. As mentioned, I am currently running this game again, trying to get a flawless run done with Gameguy Bridge and I *think*, we might have figured out what causes the orbs's "quick activations", at least we have a theory:

Since the game's engine is controlled by the audio, it is possible, that an activation can only happen at certain "intervals"; think of it as very short cycles, possibly an eighth note or sixteenth of the music (at 140bpm, that's approx. every .21 or .11 seconds). It would make sense, as I noticed, quick activations happen more often if you get to the activation panel more quickly. As of now, I was able to recreate quick activation for quite some panels and for me what jymotion said a few posts earlier, that this game could become optimized enough so that these matter, has become a reality.
If you are really quick at the panel, you have a chance of arriving at the end of the previous cycle, as opposed to the beginning of a new one. If you reach it at the beginning, the animation will take longer, since the possible activation time is a few tenths of seconds away. Also, I played back to back with a video once and my music was perfectly synchronized, as well as the activation sound and after that. To be THIS precise the same speed twice is extremely unlikely, unless, of course, the activation can only take place during certain intervals.

That's my and GameguySD's theory and we haven't found any contradictions to it in the game as of yet.

Gelly

2016-02-13 08:15:57 pm

So, much like framerules in Super Mario, there is now a hard hard limit to the actual speed of the game and the only gains are through skips?

Like, the most recent WR, you(zet) mentioned you were unhappy with falling down too much at the end of chapter 2, but it was a pretty quick activation. Does that mean that if you had gotten that orb optimally, you would have been slowed by orb activation anyway?

That's pretty crazy. Guess it's time to start routing blindfold.

Zet

2016-02-14 09:54:35 am

If by "most recent WR" you mean this one

here I got it okay; not entirely sure if you can reach the activation panel one beat earlier.
(Yes, I beat my pb last night, this is now the current WR for 140 and I have no intentions on beating it until a new skip gets found or someone beats me. Smiley

)

If you compare my old PB and my new one with each other before BOSS-2, you'll see that the orb activated one beat of the measure earlier in the new one. This is, in a game so optimized as this, a valuable time save. I'm still not sure whether activations happen at full beats or at eights. According to my splits, eights makes more sense, however I believe I just split inaccurately (still dreaming about that autosplitter, but unfortunately seems impossible for someone like me). If you listen closely, you'll hear that orbs always activate at one of the beats. The only exception is the final orb in level 1 (always quick), which is probably to reset the game's metronome to make the first shot at BOSS-1 always a miss.

The metronome probably gets started the moment you start up the game and the title screen with the music show up. This would explain why you have different activation times for the very first orb according to when you hit A/return in the title and why the animation sometimes takes more or less time.

I've given up on blindfolded though, since a lot of movement in the game comes from your (at least my) predictions of where and when I land exactly. I'm sure it's possible but it's too much work for me for now.

That being said, yeah - I think I'm done with this game. I might return for fun but I don't think I'll ever pb again without any new tricks. I hope some of the new runners will climb to the top one day. Smiley

Also I'll submit 140 to ESA. No high hopes, but one can dream, eh? Cheesy

(Nice Venetian Snares Avatar, btw.)

If by "most recent WR" you mean this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkWzJN-2D5s

here I got it okay; not entirely sure if you can reach the activation panel one beat earlier.
(Yes, I beat my pb last night, this is now the current WR for 140 and I have no intentions on beating it until a new skip gets found or someone beats me. :) )

If you compare my old PB and my new one with each other before BOSS-2, you'll see that the orb activated one beat of the measure earlier in the new one. This is, in a game so optimized as this, a valuable time save. I'm still not sure whether activations happen at full beats or at eights. According to my splits, eights makes more sense, however I believe I just split inaccurately (still dreaming about that autosplitter, but unfortunately seems impossible for someone like me). If you listen closely, you'll hear that orbs always activate at one of the beats. The only exception is the final orb in level 1 (always quick), which is probably to reset the game's metronome to make the first shot at BOSS-1 always a miss.

The metronome probably gets started the moment you start up the game and the title screen with the music show up. This would explain why you have different activation times for the very first orb according to when you hit A/return in the title and why the animation sometimes takes more or less time.

I've given up on blindfolded though, since a lot of movement in the game comes from your (at least my) predictions of where and when I land exactly. I'm sure it's possible but it's too much work for me for now.

That being said, yeah - I think I'm done with this game. I might return for fun but I don't think I'll ever pb again without any new tricks. I hope some of the new runners will climb to the top one day. :)

Also I'll submit 140 to ESA. No high hopes, but one can dream, eh? :D

(Nice Venetian Snares Avatar, btw.)

Zet

2016-05-25 06:23:04 am

In case new runners come along with the upcoming console release, we have created a discord server for everything related 140.

Come here and chill, if you want to. Smiley

https://discord.gg/0120d88XLWr71Ktd0