So I've been thinking of what would be a pretty interesting program that we could use in conjunction with HatPC (and any other game, for that matter).

If it were possible to record keystrokes - the buttons that are pressed, the amount of time they are held down for, and of course, the order they are pressed in - and then make it possible to "play" these keystrokes in another window, like HatPC, we could create something that could be something of a checkpoint system for HatPC.

For example, let's say you're playing a cave and you're using this program. You get very far and then die. You can then replay your keystrokes so that you can repeat all of the same actions you performed in your previous life and get to the same point.

Of course, it wouldn't be unlikely for the program to fall out of sync with the cave, especially if there are movements like jumping into one-tile crawling spaces and other such luck-based events, but I think that, in spite of this, it could still have potential to be very useful.

Anyway, this is all speculation because I have no knowledge of programming and I'm not sure if such a program would be possible. I've looked on the internet for such a program, but all of the "keystroke recorders" I've seen have just been about the memorization of keystrokes but not the playback of them.

So, to the programmers of the Interguild:  do you think such a program would be possible? To everyone else, do you think it would be practical?

Personally, I don't like the idea.  One of the fun parts of HATPC is getting there again. (Most of the time)

I can name 50+ caves were it isn't fun. Maybe we could implement it so it'd be activated only after a certain part of the cave has been completed or after a certain percentage. I have no idea it that'd work, though.

If you replay the keyboard strokes aren't you gonna make the same action and die AGAIN?

and what happens if you are doing a puzzle cave and you THINK you did the right thing and then you die and keep playing from that point not knowing that you did it wrong?

Yeah, but that's why you stop it before you died.

And I think it would still get you into the crawlspaces.

Well, the idea would be that you could stop it at any time.

And as for the puzzle thing, that doesn't really have anything to do with the program; it'd be up for the player to determine whether or not what they're doing is right, and there'd be nothing forcing you to use the playback each time.

I don't think it would be possible to implement this so that it only works after a certain percentage of the cave. Also, I understand that some of the fun of some caves comes with playing it again and again. But again, there'd be nothing forcing someone to play it with this program, and I think that the likelihood of the program falling out of sync with the cave is great enough that it wouldn't make every cave a cakewalk. In fact, with all of the luck-based things that occur in a typical HatPC level, I'm not even sure it would be useful. But I can think of some good applications for it.

that's a really cool idea. I have no idea how to do it, though.

well you don't need to - there are many programs of that kind, i've used many of them to cheat neopets.
they all exist, just like automousclick. they just cost money, and i don't remember their name. but that's a cool implementation...

I'm sure such a thing would get blocked by spyware detectors and stuff.

but this would be a great thing to add to the site. too bad we have no idea how to do it, and if we did, it'd probably involve stuff that I'm not familiar with

A programmable checkpoint system would be great. It would give the Life crate a purpose for once.

are you talking about Aeon jebby?

This idea, could be trouble. You could distribute max-point playthroughs of each of the levels, and then everybody could get the maximum score, lol.

Maybe for the user levels. What i am really interested in, is how to get past extremely hard levels of mine or shos. At least not all of them are entirely based on puzzles. I know how to get past all of my evil traps, but the problem is, how do i beat an big evil cave in one shot (I'm not talking about NWYEII but my caves), for that reason, i would totally APPROVE and want the program somehow.

cool. let's flood neopets with send scores.

Yeah. APPROVE

Lol, so good luck whoever's making this? Nobody's making this, right? And it totally wouldn't work. Just, the frame rate on your own computer probably varies enough to make it not work, let alone transferring it to someone else's computer (not that that was the purpose), but then there's also HATPC's randomness, including enemy starting directions.

csd is right; this wouldn't work.

HatPC works at a framerate of around 30 fps. This means that pretty much all the button inputs would have to be that exact. But the game often lags. Humans are smart enough to adapt to such small variations, but a program can't.
Probably the program itself will make the lag large enough to make it useless.