file What is a "Catch Level"?

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20 Nov 2024 21:10 #1
The title is basically the question, how do you define a catch level in Marble Blast? Is it a level where you can finish the run with the timer still stopped? Would that include Bouncing Fun as a catch level? What do you all think?

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20 Nov 2024 21:41 #2
Seems pretty self-explanatory. A level in which you keep your first Time Travel catch to the end, or for more complex levels like Speed Attack, where you keep a Time Travel catch that you get near the start of the run.

Bouncing Fun would not count as the Time Travel bonus runs out near the end of the level, only to be frozen again

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20 Nov 2024 21:44 #3
I love this idea of a thread.

My general definition of a catch level is when one can reach the finish with the time stopped since the first (or only) Time Travel, so the extent of getting the best time essentially ends long before actually reaching the finish.

That, however, does not intend to diminish the handful of levels out there where keeping the time stopped from the first Time Travel is difficult and requires either or both a lot of skill and exciting gameplay - Speed Attack is the first example that comes to mind.

I just rewatched the run of Bouncing Fun from the fourth rampage; I wouldn't consider it to be a catch level, as the time restarts thrice between the first time travel and the finish. The fact that time is stopped for the majority of the run, I think  is countered by Xedron's blistering pace throughout the whole level and not keeping the time stopped from the beginning.

Despite this, mentioning Bouncing Fun did spark the thought that sometimes the definition of a catch level can be a case-by-case basis, and that a run in this category can be judged on its level of entertainment from a viewing perspective, and its level of entertainment from a room-for-improvement speedrunning perspective.

These are just some mildly scattered thoughts, but I hope it's a good way to continue. (I also finished writing this before I saw Mazik's post.)

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21 Nov 2024 03:43 #4
Math brain engaged. Let me try to define some properties that every catch level must fulfill.

(i) A catch level must reach the finish pad with time stopped. I think this is the most basic requirement.
(ii) The in-game time with which you finish must be achieved within a certain percentage of the total real time you spend playing the level. If we say the catch must be made in the first 50% of the run, that would include levels like Time Trial while excluding big long levels like Mastery, where the final TT catch is made closer to the end of the level than to the beginning.

Of course, then you could say "what would be the easiest way to break one of the criteria and still have it seem like a catch level?" By moving the time travel closer to the finish in Time Trial, so that you pick up the time travel just after 50% of the run is done, that feels like such a small difference from the original level that it should still count as a catch level. And what about those triggers in PQ that stop time? What if you make most of the end of a level one of those triggers? Does that also count as a catch level?

Curious to see what else people have to say about this.

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