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Adapting to our times: Speedrunning

Discussion in 'Game Design' started by Volcanicus, May 1, 2019.

  1. Volcanicus

    Volcanicus

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2018
    Posts:
    169
    A couple of years ago I discovered AGDQ and SGDQ and then the whole world of speed running came to my knowledge.
    Lately, other games have adapted a speed-run mode for their games. This includes a timer and sometimes performance enhancing features. An example is A Hat in Time.

    I am asking if anyone has done any speedrunning features for their games.
    So far, all I got are the following:
    - A recording timer
    - A redux on load time through alternate loading
    - Speedboosts (non-permanent)
    - Momentum boosts (get more coins to go faster)
    - Shortcuts requiring skills
    - Boss encounters having a fudge shortcut

    What else is there?
     
  2. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner

    Joined:
    Jul 20, 2017
    Posts:
    966
    I have gone out of my way to make sure that my game is speedrun friendly.

    • I record each level's fastest time, people like to race themselves
    • I give each level a par time like goldeneye, it can be beaten by good gameplay but no tricks
    • I also have a gold time which will not be beatable without sequence breaking
    • I also have an optional full game run timer (turning this on also skips all cutscenes)
    • I made sure that grenades are powerful enough to jump off of, but not powerful enough to kill me. I also know how long / high a grenade jump will be and plan sequence breaks around it
    • I make sure most triggers work if you sequence break by going tricky wall jumps, however, I do require some triggers to mix things up and prevent players from skipping directly to the end
    • I never use invisible barriers, if you can get on top of the level, you deserve to be able to explore behind the fourth wall
    • I made bunny hopping make you up to 100% faster than just walking, but the timing is fairly precise and precise jumping is tricky
    • Levels are short, most of mine can be beaten in less than 60 seconds, with a casual time closer to 10 minutes
    • I added error correction to prevent out-of-bounds clipping. Games become less interesting when walls are mere suggestions.
    • I do not have one-hit kill enemies in my game, if you die, it's your own fault, you had plenty of buffer
    • I make special care that further away enemies are, the less CPU they take. Lots of times speedrunners will active most of the enemies on the map, but kill very few of them, leaving all that AI running.