Done. :-)

Alright, I've submitted a request to SRC to have it added.

I did want to, but couldn't figure out how on my first attempt. Will properly look into it when I get a chance.

Hello,

A couple of things I wanted to ask about. Firstly, the rules for the ZX Spectrum version are currently copied over from those for the PC version. For the start time of the game this is fine, but as the game doesn't end by going through a door I think this needs to be updated.

We discussed the best point for time to be called in the Speedtrum Specrunning Discord (https://discord.gg/x2cnNV2nD4), and it seems like the moment when the text box for the last downgrade ("You've lost any ability to move. Good luck") has been dismissed makes the most sense, as from this point onwards you have no further control over the gameplay.

Also, for 100% on the Spectrum, the current rule "Finish the game with every ability" is a little difficult to quantify, given that 1) some of the abilities appear in the game more than once and 2) the Epilogue removes all of your abilities anyway. I've done a 100% run which involves obtaining every single collectable in the game (upgrades and info) which I've just uploaded, and am wondering if this would make more sense as a rule?

Finally, I'd like to propose adding a Low% category for the Spectrum version as I'm intending to do a run of this soon. This run basically entails completing the game with the lowest possible amount of collectables. I've made a spreadsheet that outlines which ones you have to collect to complete the game and which ones you don't: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_4fnKSOpB8ffq5MEMJkcya9ZZ43awl-B7j0fZCqKxbo/edit?usp=sharing

Anyhow, please let me know about your thoughts on all this. RB

Hello,

I recently downloaded the ZX Spectrum demake of Nothing:

https://zxonline.net/game/nothing/

Having just finished my first playthrough, I enjoyed it a lot and am considering learning to speedrun it, as it builds a lot upon the original and would make a decent challenge. I don't own a ZX Spectrum myself so have been playing it on the Fuse emulator.

Basically, I was just wondering if it would be possible to add categories for the ZX Spectrum version as well (I imagine both Any% and 100% would apply, although I've not played it enough quite yet to know for sure)? And whether emulators would be permissible for the Spectrum categories?

Cheers, RB

That's great, thanks for the updates.

Regarding Cheer Skip, it does appear that the earliest point at which you can jump forward to the congrats screen is the moment your worms start the celebration dance. Any earlier than that and you'll get a "Mission Failed" message instead.

One more thing while I'm here: was wondering if it might be worth adding the passwords to each mission title on the IL leaderboard? Some of the runners have been using the passwords as the de facto 'title' for each mission as it makes it slightly easier to remember which one's which rather than trying to remember them by numbers alone.

I have to concur about the wesuckatspeedruns run, and just to be clear, this is no shade against them - they are clearly good IL runs, and the playlist was submitted by kompowiec2, not by wsas themselves. But in its current form, the wsas run breaks three out of four of the current Category Rules, including:

• Timer starts when you confirm "start game" and stop on the results screen after last mission
• Timing in RTA and timer MUST be shown on screen
• Runs Segmented aren't accepted.

Plus, as was pointed out under the video, Mission 42 is missing so it isn't even a full run.

It's clear that there is still moderation happening here, given that Sycotropic's run was approved, so why has this been allowed to slip through?

Hello,

I wanted to ask a few questions about the IL leaderboard for Worms 2, as myself and a few others in the community have been recording a bunch of IL videos and sharing them in the Worms Speedrunning Discord server (https://discord.gg/EvPHwCeK5X), and it would be nice if runners are able to submit them here too. However, the current rules might stop many of them from being eligible, so I wanted to ask for the following clarifications:

1. The Game Rules note that videos "Must show a timer for the duration of the run". Thus far, none of the vids have been recorded this way, so would it be impossible for any of these to be submitted at all? Or would you at least accept a video with a timer added on in post using editing software?

2. The Category Rules state "Timing ends when screen has faded to black, and control returns to Frontend" and encourages runners to submit ILs from a longer run. However, as you may be aware, we've been shortcutting from the game screen to the frontend using a trick called Cheer Skip, in which we hit Alt+F4 during the victory cheer and it takes you back to the frontend quicker. Would any IL run completed using Cheer Skip result in a rejected entry?

Cheers, RB

Excellent, thank you.

Also, good shout on adding the IL leaderboard, as we've been generating a lot of videos for those recently. Should those be split into Original and W2+ as well?

Oh, I checked the original resolution for Worms 2 btw and it was 640x480. Dunno if you would want to make that a rule?

Sure, I didn't think you were against emulators or anything like that. More I was just trying to make the point that with games on defunct platforms/operating systems you're going to severely limit who can run the game if there's no leeway regarding contemporary methods of playing it.

I'm glad to hear that you would at least be up for making a main W2+ category at any rate. Personally I feel it would make more sense as a sub-category of Any% rather than a completely separate one, given that both runs have more or less the same aims, but as long as it's possible to submit such runs in some way then it's all good. I got a response to my query regarding playing W2 without the mod, and the advice given didn't fix the issue, so it seems like this is the only way for now.

And in answer to your question re: GOG, the support staff at GOG do suggest on their help page that people install W2+ in order to make the game work, which I think can be strongly interpreted as approval.

Thank you very much!

Hi Hex, thanks for the detailed response.

I understand the arguments re: trying to preserve the original game experience without modification, and I do think it is important to aim for that as much as possible. However, I also think accessibility counts, particularly for older games. If game rules are too insistent upon real hardware for their runs then the leaderboard becomes less a celebration of the runner's skill and more a celebration of what they happen to own. Which typically makes for an empty leaderboard.

To give an example, I've been part of the ZX Spectrum speedrunning community for a year and a half, and for most games that I'm aware of the mods tend to permit emulators purely because it's too difficult to obtain the original hardware for most people (the leaderboards which don't allow this are pretty much dead). To counterbalance cheating, however, the community has run tests on all known emulators to check accuracy, so as to ensure that runners only use emulators that accurately replicate the Spectrum's speed. Minor differences to colour occur across the emulators but given that these do not affect the speed of the game these are ultimately overlooked.

With regards to Worms 2, it's worth noting that runs on its successor, Worms Armageddon (which I'm one of the mods of), are not done on what one would call the OG game. In fact, we currently have a rule that runs should be performed using on the most recent community patches for the game provided by Deadcode to Steam, to ensure a unified experience. These patches are technically approved by Team 17, despite them having had no influence on the creation of them themselves (none of the original devs who worked on the second generation of Worms games are still at the company).

Worms 2 Plus, whilst not quite as 'official' in its rollout, is nonetheless approved by GOG. To the best of our knowledge also, the gameplay effects of W2+ are purely tweaks to the music functionality and to multiplayer games, not to the missions. Should evidence come to light that W2+ drastically affects, say, the enemy AI or other key aspects of the missions then I feel adding a rule about it might be applicable, but I worry that implementing it pre-emptively proves too limiting.

With ReSolution, I acknowledge that the ability to see the entire map at once could indeed be seen as an advantage, but it is not one that I am particularly interested in using. I can't remember what the original gameplay resolution was for Worms 2 but I've set mine to 1024x768, as I find 4:3 resolutions work better with overlays for streaming and it helps viewers see the game better. I don't need to be able to see the entire map to figure out the shots I need for a speedrun, and the zoom feature I am happy to disable in the .ini file given that I only ever trigger it by accident anyway!

If creating a separate category for Worms 2 Plus is necessary then so be it, although - ego-driven argument alert! - I have to admit I would be slightly dissuaded from the project if it had to be a Misc category. It would feel a little unsatisfying to route and complete a 2.5+ hour speedrun for it to not even show on the default view of one's profile. I feel perhaps something as simple as a Worms 2 Plus subcategory for Any%, or a column denoting its usage, might prove an acceptable compromise.

In the meantime, I am currently asking around the Worms 2 community to see if there are any viable alternative options to W2+, but at present it doesn't look too promising.

Anyhow, do let me know your thoughts on all this.

RB

Hello,

I'm a Worms Armageddon speedrunner and in the last week I've started learning how to run Worms 2 as well. I bought a copy on GOG, but it did not seem to work with my Windows 10 PC at all. I looked up possible solutions and found Worms 2 Plus on GitHub, which has done the trick.

However, I have noticed the following stipulation in the Game Rules:

"You may not use any 3rd party modifications, e.g. ReSolution or other Worms 2 Plus tools, because these alter the game and result in minor differences to the original game."

Obviously I don't want to complete a run of the game only for it to be disallowed, so I have two questions as to how to proceed:

1. Re: "minor differences", are you able to advise upon what these are and to what extent these would give a runner an advantage over playing the original?

2. Do you have any ideas on alternative ways in which one could play Worms 2 on a Windows 10 PC without using Worms 2 Plus?

Thank you, RB

Also, the runner's name is wesuckatspeedruns, and the top runner of any leaderboard should be someone who is good at speedruns.

Tbh, we haven't really given it much thought yet. Does GBC even have the Missions/Deathmatch modes?

Hi all,

Just a heads up that I've been writing up speedrun notes for All Missions (both Any% and All Gold) into a Google Doc, and these are now available in the Guides section of this page.

The guide's a work-in-progress, so there's still several parts I need to work on (especially for All Gold), but it should at least be able to help runners make a start in its current form.

If you have any corrections/updates you'd like me to make at any point, feel free to let me know here.

Cheers!

Updated. Cheers adrianus!

I've now added it to the page as the official Discord link for the game.

Hi,

I'm interested in running Saturn Bomberman, as it was a big favourite of mine as a teen back when I still owned a Saturn. I notice that a few of the runs on the board were done on emulator, and I was just curious as to which emulators are considered best for running the game? There seems to be quite a few Saturn emulators about, so I want to make sure that I'm using something that gives a valid reproduction.

Cheers! RB

Hi all,

So further to previous threads, we have now updated the Game Rules section to provide a list of basics we expect from all submissions. I'd say it's currently a work-in-progress, as we don't know all the potential issues that might come up with speedruns, but if you do have any thoughts on the rules please discuss them here.

Additionally, I've added a couple of new Categories to the leaderboard. The All Missions category has now been split into Any% (for obtaining any medal per mission) and All Gold (for obtaining Golds for all missions). This will mean notable route changes on several missions in the run for the latter, so should be an interesting challenge.

Also, I've added the 100% category I've been threatening for a while now, which requires completing All Trainings, All Missions (All Gold) and Deathmatch in one sitting. I suspect this one won't have a huge number of applicants (I do plan on running it at some point), but on the upside you're more likely to get WR in this one for that very reason!

Anyhow, if you have any questions, let me know below.