Writing Update
My time for the past couple of weeks has been almost entirely spent on practicing Super Metroid. I really feel bad how I’ve let Emilie’s story languish; it’s not like this was a one-year hobby for me. (Most of my hobbies only last a year.) I want to say that it’s partly because of how hard it’s been to find a publisher, but I know it’s more than just that.
Video Games
Wednesday/Friday Stream
One thing I realized in playing through Immortals Fenyx Rising is that I had been missing out on a great game because of the reviews that came out at the time. I’d been expecting a cheap knockoff of Breath of the Wild. Yes, the game is smaller and yes, the graphics are more cartoony, but it’s still a very good game (and the comparison isn’t exactly appropriate, as I said in the last blog post on it). The dialogue in all directions that’s present almost constantly throughout the game makes it fun, engaging, and funny. I like how Ubisoft also added meta jokes, such as Zeus referring to the Tower of Hera, which isn’t in this game or even a recent one—it’s in A Link to the Past!
So far, the DLC for IFR (I’ve played four hours of “A new god”) is definitely reminding me of the Champion’s Ballad DLC of Breath of the Wild, where the devs didn't really add anything particularly new but showed us just how challenging they could make shrines. And I’m here for it! In both cases, the tasks at hand were sometimes a little infuriating or time-consuming, particularly with BotW’s ranged Guardian combat with the One-Hit Obliterator or IFR’s linked block puzzles that you can’t reset, but the puzzle-solving is generally right at the mark where it’s still hard for me but not impossible, and the action has some fun execution like the boulder race in Athena’s section or the monk battle in Champion’s Ballad.
Saturday Stream
This past Saturday served as my Twitch Affiliate anniversary (three days early) and was Emilie’s birthday. I ran a few polls (format, game, settings) and the final selection of the group was Super Metroid 100%. While the only requirement for the format was to finish a single speedrun of the game, I set up the stream to be 12 hours; I wasn’t particularly confident that I would finish even once in that time. (The game is pretty hard, and the route doesn’t give you much health until after you’ve beaten three of the five main bosses in the game.)
Then I went and finished the very first attempt that day.
I don’t know why or how I succeeded when none of my practice did, so all I can say is that God guided my hands and the RNG. (RNG is certainly at least some factor in the game, between enemy drops and boss fights.) I also don't know how I got a nearly 11-minute PB later the same stream, though I definitely can point to some decisions I made that helped at least a bit. I guess execution might be part as well but I don't know where that all applied. The resulting time is good enough for spot 591 on Speedrun.com, meeting my goal of top 600 and leaving me wondering how in the world I’m so much slower than that many people. I might need to actually learn that “mockball” trick if I want to do this again. Skipping Sporespawn would cut another huge chunk from my time.
Sunday Stream
My first remark on Sunday’s stream is that I did far less exploring and far more plot than expected.
My second thought is that the game is now going to force me to explore, which makes me grateful that I decided to actually get a move on with the plot first. The BBQ (not barbecue) system to get BP (not battle points) (and why is it inconsistent with the word “blueberry?”) in order to do things means that I’ll probably spend quite a lot of time on this DLC, which was probably the point. It doesn't make my games backlog happy, but at least my exploration won’t be pointless no matter how little I get done while doing it, especially since some of the quests can be things like walking around. I do find it funny that this was the first time I had sufficient incentive to actually use the in-game camera. I wonder if it’ll make me actually use the picnic system as well?
Free Time
Since I had only played Super Metroid once prior to it being selected for the speedrun, most of my free time for the past two weeks has been spent practicing Super Metroid 100%.
One thing I failed to notice when I started watching the world record (WR) was that it had been posted the same day. I find that incredible, especially with how old the game is. It turns 30 this year! I thought that speedrunning world records would be pretty much set in stone after like ten years unless some glitch was discovered (see: Barrier Skip, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker) that helped while not causing a new category. Anyway, I watched that to come up with my route through the game, which is not the exact same because some of the tricks within are really hard. Some I learned (or I learned backups), but many I just rerouted around. And I made a text walkthrough to help in case I got lost or forgot something, or learned something and decided to follow the WR route instead.
In case you’re wondering what the walkthrough looks like, it’s really rough. I just recorded room exits and items gathered. Here’s a short example:
--Charge Beam
RIGHT BOTTOM (Green)
RIGHT BOTTOM
RIGHT BOTTOM (Green)
RIGHT BOTTOM
RIGHT
RIGHT TOP (Green)
--Spazer
LEFT
--Make sure you have 3x Super Missile--
RIGHT BOTTOM
RIGHT
RIGHT
RIGHT
RIGHT (Requires 3x Super Missile)
TOP RIGHT
RIGHT BOTTOM
RIGHT
REROUTE: (To get health & ammo)
RIGHT TOP (Green)
--Refill
LEFT
RIGHT BOTTOM
--Kraid
RIGHT
--Varia Suit
Applications
This week’s featured application is my Dynamic Objective Checklists app. It’s also the app I made most recently, and therefore, will be the last application update until I make a new app!
First up, what is a dynamic objective checklist? I thought people might wonder that, especially since I might have just coined a new term, so I put a definition in the app itself: “A dynamic objective checklist (DOC) displays only what objectives are currently viable for completion. For example, if you MUST complete both A and B in order to complete C, but B is not complete, you cannot see C. Only upon checking off both A and B will C become visible. This format is perhaps most useful for tracking objectives in games but can also help you focus on only what is immediately necessary on which to work for other tasks.” I got the idea from flowcharts, if you’re wondering about that, particularly from GMTK's Boss Keys, though also I’m fairly sure I’ve seen it before somewhere. I just couldn’t find it when I went looking.
With that said, what does the app do? Essentially, you can create your own checklists with their various conditions, then fill out the checklists as many times as you like. I’ve tested it with Final Fantasy I, which has a few sets of any-order quests and series objectives. I’d say it works pretty well.
That said… there are some bugs. I can’t tell why, but sometimes the app will fail to update the checklist when you uncheck a box, and sometimes it just shows all objectives at all times. It’s very inconsistent and I’ve only gotten it to work right with Final Fantasy I. If I were to guess, I’d say that there’s probably some temporary memory thing going on, but with how inconsistent the errors are and how little they seem to correspond with the backend I really can’t tell.
Conclusion
This might not have been the most positive of blog posts in the stuff that wasn’t about video games, but I do actually like things that aren’t video games. It’s just not as easy to write about them. (Every time I want to say something about World of Chaos or Emilie, I need to think about whether I want people to know that. I don’t want to over-spoil the book! I see companies doing that with films and games enough these days.)