iMacmatician's videos

Marble Playground (35.34) and 4 other levels

Marble Playground (35.34): A tweak with the gyrocopter saves 1 second over the regular path. It's very hard to do unless you know how to use the gyrocopter properly and even then it's not easy.
Possible improvement: 0.3-0.5 depending on a few factors

Upward Spiral (14.82): A combination of the regular path with the MBU WR path. 2 seconds faster than doing it without the loop exit.
Possible improvement: 0.5...the TT catch can be better, best catch was 11.04 or so with an edge hit on the TT platform, but that was a fluke, more common best case catches are around 11.3

Darwin's Dilemma (8.51): Two main tweaks were made to my previous run of 15.48, the movement after the 4th gem was sooner (~1.5 seconds) and I got the TT instead of jumping on another block (~5 seconds). The ending could be done better (too far to the right) but the movement after the 4th gem was very quick.
Possible improvement: 0.25
Personal record: 8.45 (I had this on .rec but it messed up, I got a very good ending on that one, the marble jumped on the striped part of the fan block instead of the grey part)

Powerup Practice (43.53): One of the levels I haven't been good at for a while, I tried on this one by using a good path and managing to pull out the path segments that I couldn't do a long time ago. Ending could be improved a bit.
Possible improvement: 0.5-1.0

Slope Madness (11.56): Another level I used to be bad at, about a year ago I got very close to Platinum Time but couldn't beat it, then I forgot the path I used and so I wasn't able to get PT for a while afterwards. For this attempt I got a path and optimized it using a number of tweaks to get about half the final time. I think it can be optimized a bit more though.
Possible improvement: 0.3

Song: 3 Doors Down - Citizen-Soldier

On another note, I lost hundreds of my recent .rec files.

Great runs! Liked the song to.

pretty good job there!

Incredible! I saw the marble do things on Darwin's Dilemma that I had no idea were possible. Also, I didn't intend for those curvy things in PP to be used as shortcuts, but it's cool that you did.

Yea I love use the curvy things as shortcuts. Right when I saw them I was like wow this is a awesome shortcut. It also added fun to the level.

Great runs.

Very good runs, and darn on losing so many .rec files. How'd that happen?

Apr 19, 2010, 6:58pm, pablovasquez wrote:Incredible! I saw the marble do things on Darwin's Dilemma that I had no idea were possible. Also, I didn't intend for those curvy things in PP to be used as shortcuts, but it's cool that you did.That tweak wasn't mine by the way, it's hobo maan's. The helicopter tweak is also his. (As far as I know) I came up with the other paths though.


Apr 19, 2010, 8:14pm, admin wrote:Very good runs, and darn on losing so many .rec files. How'd that happen?I stored a bunch of them on my flash drive, stupid me never made regular backups, and I lost the flash drive.

I've lost most of the ones I made from late last year to last week, and almost all from May 2009 to September 2009. The majority of my .rec collection is still present (October 2008 to May 2009, parts of September 2009 to present, on other backups), that's about 2000 rec's and inf's. I probably lost around 1000-1500 files. I don't know if I backed up my No Gems compilation .rec's and .inf's (there's at least 500 there).

I was in the process of making my next video (Marble Blast Levels 6), and the loss of .rec's put a dent in that, but I redid the levels that I lost the .rec's to, and I must be getting luck because I got good times for many of those levels quite quickly.

I'm also lucky I recorded some levels on Camstudio/Fraps beforehand, those were done for my Through the Times videos so hopefully that won't be impacted as much.

Marble Blast Levels 6

New layout format, it resembles my Through the Times video layout format. Some runs have small yellow numbers to the right of the large blue number, the blue number is the time on the run and the yellow number is my best time.

Leap of Faith (7.17): I tried to use diagonal movement as much as possible for a low time.
Possible improvement: 0.07

Trap Door Madness (3.79): This is the third time I got this time. The marble edge hits on one of the trapdoors, which appears to nudge the marble to the left, giving a more direct path to the finish and probably saving time.
This particular .rec screwed up most of the time at the edge hit part, usually it wouldn't do the edge hit and the marble would fall off or get a 3.8x-3.9x.
Possible improvement: 0.02

Around the World in 30 seconds (9.87): I had a 9.98 using the path that involves a start where the marble jumps on Go rather than rolls, but that .rec was lost. I tried that again and got similar times, but I tried the roll on start path and I unexpectedly got a 9.87!
Possible improvement: 0.05

Acrobat (11.20): I got less height on this one than usual, so I was able to get a better time than usual (~.5 better than a good run). The sign hit annoyed me as usually I would not go up to the higher platform or edge hit on the sign and rebound away.
Possible improvement: 0.30-1.00

Mudslide (10.81): One of my favorite paths, but really annoying. You have to overshoot the 2nd gem (but not so much that you miss it entirely), use a lot of forward movement to get to the slope but start turning and turn enough so that you don't go OOB, then jump twice and then to the 3rd gem and its platform. The regular path around these gems involves 3 jumps before the jump to the 3rd gem, not 2. In this run, you see I did a natural bounce after the second of those jumps, because I didn't get the leftwards momentum I needed. My top time of 10.63 was done without the natural bounce.
Possible improvement: 0.25

Shimmy (2.43): Like Trap Door Madness, I think I've gotten this time 3 times.
Possible improvement: 0.02

Ordeal (10.09): In my case I think you can say that my ordeal was losing all those .rec files recently and having to redo a number of runs. I'm not entirely sure what happened with this video of 10.09 (maybe I thought i was lost? In any case, it wasn't), but I do know that I tried to practice this level so I could .rec it again with a comparable time. It only took me a few minutes before I suddenly got a 9.73! That really shocked me because my next best times were 10.09 and 10.46. I wasn't able to get sub-10 on video, but this is still a relatively great run.
Possible improvement: 0.4

Tango (3.21): Wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I was able to do the path in October or November last year but only recently did I get it on .rec.
Possible improvement: 0.5

Diamond Round-Up (15.50): I tried both ways for this level, one wasn't significantly faster than the other, at least not for me, but this time and this path was the one I got.
Possible improvement: 0.25

Learn the Friction (4.09): I had my PR 4.06 on .rec but it was lost. That time I also got 3 times (I think).
Possible improvement: 0.05

Learn the Wall-Hit (11.73): This is the kind of level with a high average success rate and so what I do is improve my time bit by bit as I get more used to the level. That's what I did here and I think I got my time down by almost a second.
Possible improvement: 0.25

Learn the Bouncy Floor (6.71): In the past, it annoyed me how many of my attempts of this level didn't get me all the way to the finish after the Jump Boost, but hit one of the bouncy floors before the finish. I realized that if I time my jumps so that the marble hits the bouncy floor under the Jump Boost without touching the regular surface in front of it, I was able to directly reach the finish.
Possible improvement: 0.02

King of the Marble (17.87): I changed my route on this from my previous video of this level. It could be faster, I'm not sure. I also added the Speed Boost trick that Pascal used and matched the path for the inside gems to Pascal's.
Possible improvement: 0.3

Cyclone Launch (9.21): I tried to get the right amount of slowdown before the cyclones. I may have neglected the angles though, the last cyclone gave a bunch of curve which I had to correct.
Possible improvement: 0.2

Spin Practice (13.23): One of the levels I used to not be good at. At least I got Ultimate Time now (I think it beats UT). I tried to do an edge hit on the platform before the last gem but on this run I overshot it and did an accidental wall hit instead.
Possible improvement: 0.5

Roll Like the Wind! (14.01): I'm certain of the UT for this level because my time is 0.01 seconds over it! I tried to do the part with the Anti-Recoil and the 1st gem quickly and smoothly.
Possible improvement: 0.2

Downhill Racing (1.89): Now with Start pad trick and extra speed going down. I love the bit at the orange platform where due to the angle the marble hits it, the marble doesn't bounce but rolls.

Crash Course (9.79): Don't you get that one run every once in a while where you're like Wow! I didn't expect this good of a run so far…I can't afford to screw it up now, I have to finish or else? This run was one of them, the bit after the TM was the best I ever got and so as that realization dawned on me, I was extra careful not to mess things up. I almost did at the end, but I was saved by the edge hit and a subsequent finish.
Possible improvement: 0.2

Michael's Adventure: MBP (2.00): Unfortunately I have not gotten this time 3 times (only two), but I have also got 2.01 twice. I slowed down before the 1st Jump Boost because otherwise I hit the trim above.
Possible improvement: 0.10 (I got 1.90 and stayed on, but screwed up right after. I got 1.93 and finished, but the time went to 2.01 at the end)

Songs: Sixpence None the Richer - Kiss Me, Timbaland feat. Katy Perry - If We Meet Again

Also, I found the backup of my No Gems .rec's, so I saved 500+ .rec's and their .inf counterparts, which is a good thing.

Great job!

Good stuff

Great stuff my fav was the trapdoor one.

Nice job!

Amazing!

Marble Blast Levels 7

My second longest video (I think) after my No Gems compilation and that's mainly due to the long levels used.

Learn the Time Modifier (0.96): Wow. I didn't even get this time on my No Gems compilation (0.99). I got a 0.98 catch but screwed up shortly after and so I was disappointed, but very shortly after that, I got a 0.96 on the TMs. I did the edge hit and I shot up to the top platform thing. I quickly got the next TM and finished without a problem.
Possible improvement: 0.01

Medieval Maze (26.54): Not a complex level. The important part is turning the corners properly, as well as the ending (which can be improved).
Possible improvement: 0.5

Basic Agility Course (31.64): This level annoyed me partly because I kept hitting platforms after Jump Boosting. For the ice part just before the 7th gem, I didn't hit the trim because it's harder than hitting the ice (which is slower).
Possible improvement: 0.5

Wall Master (30.87): Not very optimized, but that was because I used a tweak to get the 4th gem a few seconds faster than otherwise. That tweak isn't that easy for me and I was lucky to get the sign hit later in the level (I was like please get a sign hit, please get … yes!), so I think it would be hard for me to beat this time.
Possible improvement: 1.5

Puzzle Ordeal (17.46): I was able to do both shortcuts, pushing my time down from 21.xx to 17.xx. Going through the second and fourth gaps could be better, but few runs got to the 4th.
Possible improvement: 0.5-1.0

Nuke Field (36.32): Nuke tweak at the start so I can get the TM quickly (I for some reason moved slower than expected when getting the TM).
Possible improvement: 3

(So I just noticed the HUD isn't visible for this one and NëonTech…oops)

Slip Up (23.95): The part with the 2nd gem was weirdly annoying for some reason, and I missed many runs there.
Possible improvement: 1.0

NëonTech (13.20): Made a path that allowed me to get a good time. The Helicopter part was almost impossible for me before I realized that just jumping and activating makes the subsequent catches so much easier than jumping, wall-hitting, and activating. I didn't jump on the last diamond, because that wastes time.
Possible improvement: 1.0

Perilous Road (45.73): I never really did this level for over a year because I kept screwing up at the fans. Recently I was good enough to make it up the fans much of the time, and the method you see here is the one I found to be most reliable. I got a brief scare when I thought I missed the last TM, but I got it.
Possible improvement: 2.0

Treacherous Path (16.89): Probably the luckiest time on this compilation. The 30 second TM catch was one of only two or maybe three catches I made in all my attempts, because I kept messing up the Speed Boost. The earlier TM catch of 9.76 was my best catch. I was extra careful after the 30 second TM catch because I didn't want to mess up.
Possible improvement: 0.5 (maybe more)

Songs: (I don't know the first one), Metallica - No Leaf Clover

linkmeplease

Impressive!

Nice!

good stuff

Not bad

Marble Blast: more fun stuff

A second set of fun stuff videos, this one is similar to my first one although I think the first one was better.

Pitfalls (13.75): It seems that turning the camera right instead of left when coming up to the top part of the level saves about .1 second, allowing me to beat my previous PR of 13.82 (interestingly enough I got 13.81 using the turn camera left path variant shortly before the 13.75)
Possible improvement: 0.1

Platform Party (18.93): A bit tricky because the camera angles I use mean it's harder to get to the stationary platform after the edge hit compared to the usual edge hit.
Trivia: Before I was able to do the 11.xx path, I considered this path, but never did it
Possible improvement: 0.05-0.1

A-Maze-ing (3.76): It was probably close to 2 years ago that I found this path (that was before I knew the 3.3x path). There are a few variants of this path, including a 3.4x path that is crazy hard, but this is the original.
Possible improvement: 0.05

(4.65): Same as one of the videos in my Marble Blast fun stuff, but this is done differently

Free Fall (7.06): This is somewhat tricky to do, but you can get close if you know when to move the marble. This was a lucky finish. I think I got 6.92 or so earlier on (no .rec).

Recoil Training (18.06): Alternate path that is about as fast as the regular path (with Marble Recoil, without Anti-Recoil)
Possible improvement: 0.2

Wall Master (32.90): I got this run shortly before finding another tweak and getting my 30.xx. It seems to be 0.5 second slower than the regular path, but it may just be a matter of more optimization needed.
The first half of the video is cut to fit in the song, that part is just the regular path, no 4th gem tweak.
Possible improvement: 0.5, more with the 4th gem tweak

Downhill Racing: Get enough speed to not rebound after hitting the lower parts of the level, and a well positioned edge hit boosts the marble to the top

Showcase: Platform Race: I've known this for a year or more but I never bothered to make a video until recently. I wait past 23.xx before exiting the trap because ~23.xx is when the platform is supposed to rise up again.
This trap goes up on a bit of an angle, it's also possible to go straight up (it goes up higher, obviously)
The Darwin's Dilemma interior is scaled 31.6x in all three dimensions (31.6 = 10^1.5) and its position is (-700, 0, 3000)

Despair: Ever since I realized that this level had a low IBT, I've wanted to remove the IBT and trap to the finish. I've made it twice (best time 18.xx), but this was put in because it was a close one.

Song: Bon Jovi - Livin' on a Prayer

Awesome! WTF is with the Darwin interior

Is the Darwin interior REALLY in Platform Race??

Go check

No, it's not.

Great video.

TBH I liked Despair and Recoil Training the most

Ladies and gentlemen, iMac is a ninja.

Not like that was obvious or anything...

Nicccceeee...

If I could do that, I would spend more time playing MB and less time thinking about it

Jun 3, 2010, 5:45pm, pablovasquez wrote:Awesome! WTF is with the Darwin interior I added it to Platform Race and removed the IBT to better show the speed and height of the marble.

I knew that, it was just random.