I've done some runs and have a couple of ideas for runs. I've only tried level 5 myself, so far, but intend to give the others a spin as well once I have some time.
Category ideas:
- Level 5
- Level 20
- Unlock all areas (either including La Colina Sangrienta, or excluding it so we can choose between Benita and Ramon)
As for board structure, my suggestion is to have one initial board with variables for difficulty (Default, Economic, Gangsta, Chillout). These do not fundamentally change how the game plays, and there might be a case for custom difficulty in which case "Custom" can just be added as an option. I would personally suggest separating entries on the boards by variable (so every person can have one run displayed per difficulty they want to try) but that seems like a detail.
When patches get released, if they do really change how things work out (which seems unlikely at this point, for quite a while, at least), we can then separate the board by patch instead (Such as "Patch 1-6" and "Patch 7+").
As for timing, my suggestion is starting the timing when the player appears on the pier after the intro. This is the easiest to verify visually, and there is already an autosplitter that starts at this point.
I would personally suggest this as a board structure. As for initial times, my current PB for level 5 is a 29:55, though there is still plenty to shave off, I think. Still investigating precise experience rewards.
Excellent suggestion, imo!
Personally I don't see the need to fully separate sub-categories based on the selected difficulty preset. iirc you could just set the board to not obsolete runs with mismatched variables, and people viewing the board can then filter to their liking.
For difficulty, I feel like Custom and the hardest difficulty would be enough. Otherwise this is decent. Unlock all areas could be replaced with getting max reputation in all areas, but it could also be its separate category. Max rep would basically be the Lvl25 runs from DDS1 (Longest run before Any%)
The difficulty tweak seems reasonable; chillout is not far removed from "easiest possible custom", anyway, and economic is a bit of a middle child. I have no particular feelings, myself, on unlock all areas versus max reputation. Since most areas get pushed to 4 as part of the story, anyway, the biggest difference would be.. I suppose whether the capital is unlocked or pushed to 4. I can't speak for what that difference implies.
The game has released, and some of us DDS1 runners are playing through this and testing things. No categories have been made yet, due to it requiring us to have better knowledge of the game so we don't have to redo categories every patch or new finding. The game in it's current state is also clearly