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I will point out only two (minor) flaws. At the start you don't finish the trooper right off and have to return, and at the end you get stuck in front of the exit door for no apparent reason. Both instances look a little awkward. Otherwise it's a nice little relaxed demo.

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I'm no expert, but the best way to improve runs overall is to make them faster.


I'm really tempted to just end this post there, but since you've come here with such a humble request, I'll actually be helpful instead of just sarcastic like I usually am. I figure that it's better to show you how to improve your run than to tell you, so I've recorded the same max demo in 0:51. Feel free to go and watch it now - it's in the attachment. I can wait for ya.

*whistles*

Okay, so you're back? Good. Now, let me try to explain my strategy here. The goal, when recording a max demo, is to be firing your weapon (at monsters, of course) as closely as possible to 100% of the time. To achieve this you have to plan your route so that it's absolutely as efficient as it can be, with no unnecessary side-trips or backtracking. You should be able to see that, in my demo, I'm almost always moving towards the next necessary location in the level, like the next switch I have to press or the next door I have to go through; I only make side-trips to kill certain monsters that I can't kill from my main route. It can be difficult to plan fast routes that still let you see and kill every monster, considering that monsters tend to roam around, but Doom monsters are creatures of habit - they always move in predictable ways, and with some experimentation you will find a route that doesn't allow any monsters to slip through the cracks.

Another important thing to keep in mind is multitasking. Never only do one thing at a time if you can do two. Don't stand still while fighting, but move towards your next destination at the same time. Don't kill all the monsters you see in a room, press a lift switch, and then spend time waiting for the lift to move; press the lift switch first, and then kill the monsters while the lift lowers. Et cetera.

Finally, keep your eyes open for "tricks." This level doesn't give you the chance to pull off any crazy rocket jumps, or anything like that, but I did find two gimmicks that speed things up. I start my demo off by firing my pistol - this alerts a nazi in the room to the right, who then opens the door to his room, saving me the time I'd spend opening it myself. Also, later on, I leave an imp alive so that it can open the door to the room with the demon, allowing me to leave the room more smoothly.

ga01-051.zip

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Everything that Creaphis said it correct. Also instead of always planning your route in game try to use an editor and plan out your route.

Sometimes its better to leave enemies behind as they tend to somehow navigate the map and you can run into them without having to waste much time. Fade away kills can save a good amount of time also.

Key thing is to focus and relax. I cannot really say much more as Creaphis has made a very detailed informative post.

(Practice makes perfect)

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TendaMonsta said:

Everything that Creaphis said it correct. Also instead of always planning your route in game try to use an editor and plan out your route.


Right. I use a number of resources to plan a route. I thoroughly dissect any level that I plan to run in an editor, so that I know exactly where all the items are, where the monsters are, where the switches that I have to press are, etc.

Another helpful tool when planning speedruns is the IDDT cheat. Open your automap, type "iddtiddt", and you should now be able to see the position of every thing in the map. If you're playing with PrBoom+, all monsters will be displayed as red triangles, and this way you can watch how all the monsters in the map are moving. Because monsters always try to move towards the player, different routes through a level cause monsters to move differently, and with the help of this cheat you should be able to find a route that groups monsters together, or moves them out of your way, or does whatever else you need your route to do.

TendaMonsta said:

Key thing is to focus and relax.


I agree again. I find that, when I'm consciously trying to play as fast as possible, I make tons of mistakes. It's better if I just rely on my natural skills and focus on killing the current monster, or moving around the current obstacle, and avoid thinking about a mistake I made, or how fast I want the run to be, or anything else.


Anyways, I hope the OP has actually been reading these posts.

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Creaphis said:

I agree again. I find that, when I'm consciously trying to play as fast as possible, I make tons of mistakes. It's better if I just rely on my natural skills and focus on killing the current monster, or moving around the current obstacle, and avoid thinking about a mistake I made, or how fast I want the run to be, or anything else.

i'd say this ties directly to the length of the run. long levels or episodic runs really require calm mood, avoiding risks you're not sure about, not caring about small errors... on the other side of the spectrum are sedlo-style near-perfect speedruns that require trance-like mindless focus and ungodly amount of grinding until your fingers learn the route like a piano play. my problem is i bring this mindset even into long runs and then quit after tiny mistakes or try to run past monsters that i should kill instead.

then there's the special bullshit runs like adamw-style pacifists.. those aren't about calmness or focus, i just wait for all the luck in the world and in the meantime i growl, swear at monsters and architecture, listen to loud music and generally let the emotions flow. :p

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In my experiences with max running, especially single-level runs, a pumped-up "homicidal" state has given me the aggressiveness required for improvements. Levels with periods of no opposition have the disadvantage of not allowing one to easily keep that state up during the whole run. They need some kind of predatory instinct, while shorter speed runs need a more tense precision, and longer speed, more calmness to switch between necessary killing and the possibility some ad hoc evasive moves.

These states come more easily or naturally with more iteration and practice. If you still need to think about the route, the brain keeps interfering with them, so good forehand planning is beneficial.

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