Tool-assisted speedruns (also known as TAS) are quite well known on other platforms such as the NES, but there aren't so many for the Spectrum. However, in the past year people have started to submit runs to the archive at TASVideos. Here's one for Old Tower:
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUKC-k8v76A[/media]
And here's a really impressive Castlevania 100% run. There's a lot of clever route planning and optimisation being used to achieve a time of a little over half an hour.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR_WoitoaPQ[/media]
It seems they use an emulator called BizHawk to do these runs. Since it's designed to support many systems, it doesn't use RZX but a special format that only records which keys are being pressed for each frame. This isn't as accurate as RZX, but most games only check for input at most once a frame, so it probably doesn't make much of a difference. The advantages of using using this particular emulator are the features specifically designed for this type of speedrunning, such as frame advance and rewinding.
Here are some runs and commentary if anyone's interested:
Castlevania: Spectral Interlude
Donkey Kong
Kong
Old Tower
Tool-assisted speedruns
Re: Tool-assisted speedruns
Thought I'd have a go at making a small TAS myself. Level 1 of Bean Brothers completed in 20.62 seconds:
Spoiler
- Ast A. Moore
- Rick Dangerous
- Posts: 2641
- Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:16 pm
Re: Tool-assisted speedruns
Bloody hell. One of the Old Tower levels has a completely different solution from what I came up with. And a much, much simpler one.
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.
Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
Re: Tool-assisted speedruns
Re: Tool-assisted speedruns
That's amazing. I love it...djnzx48 wrote: ↑Wed May 22, 2019 10:02 am OK, one more.
Here's 1:47.30
[media]https://youtu.be/E2KXR-nSXgc[/media]
Derek Fountain, author of the ZX Spectrum C Programmer's Getting Started Guide and various open source games, hardware and other projects, including an IF1 and ZX Microdrive emulator.
Re: Tool-assisted speedruns
Mate, that was extremely satisfying to watch! Makes me want to play it again, great game.
ZX Soft - ALIEN(BUGFIX) - GB Soft - Demoscene