This guide is old and from 2018, please check my new one I made instead here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kmMbNckhYXD7igSkrD6nd8X8v-B-LJigUOIen1eDy-I/edit?usp=sharing ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Who Is This Guide For? I will assume that you’ve played the Tutorial (Playground) as well as completed all levels or at least most of them. I will not cover the basics of how to play the game but more focus on the hidden and advance mechanics that might not be universally known or explained.
What Is The Focus of This Guide? The goal with this guide is to bring light to the most useful and necessary techniques and mechanics for speedrunning this game. As this game isn't really documented at all I felt the need to at least try to make something for the community.
Any Questions? If there are any issues with this guide, whether something is misspelled or explained poorly, do notify me and I’ll fix that. Furthermore if you feel there is something that should be added or expanded upon, don’t hesitate to let me know.
I’m open for questions from anyone, regardless what you may have troubles with I will try my best to help you! ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── **[big][section=Terminology & Concepts][/big]**I will go through and explain what Single and Multi-binding means as well as some common but useful concepts in this game.
[big]Single-bind (1 Action, 1 Key)[/big] This is not that used as often as Single-bind is basically just not using Multi-bind. This refers to the traditional or normal way of playing games. With this I mean that all keybinds are 1 Action, 1 Key.
For example: • Space = Jump • Q = Slide
[big]Multi-bind (Multiple Actions, 1 Key)[/big] This is the most common term as it’s mainly what’s used by speedrunners of this game. This is because it’s simply just the fastest option for most of the levels. It’s also the go-to way of running full-game for the added consistency.
Multi-binding just means that you bind 2 or more actions to only 1 key, so the opposite of Single-bind. This is just a general term and can be binding in any shape or form. However there are two different ways that we refer to when we talk about Multi-bind.
For example: • Space = Slide + Jump • W = Left + Right + Forward
Keep in mind: Anything that Multi-bind can do in terms of techniques or whatever is technically possible to do with Single-binds. It's however either super hard and inconsistent or simply just a pain to do. Therefore this is usually exclusive to Multi-binds only even if it's possible without.
I will go more in-depth of the Multi-bind techniques later on in this guide.
[big]Double Jump & Delayed Double Jump (DJ & DDJ)[/big] While the concept of Double Jumping is basic, people might not always know the mechanics behind it. Once you Jump you get the chance to do so again for a Double Jump. However depending on if you Jump early or late will impact your height gained.
There are two ways of Double Jumping: • Double Jump = If you Jump and then again shortly after you will sort of get the height of 2 Jumps, which makes sense. • Delayed Double Jump = If you delay it after the window for a normal Jump you will get what I like to call “Short Jump” which has much shorter height than that of a normal one.
It’s really important to know what causes the different Jumps to occur as they’re fundamental to speedrunning this game and can determine if you die or live.
[big]Bunnyhopping[/big] This is a universal term in many games so shouldn't be to unknown to many. This term refers to the concept of jumping and landing and repeating this process in order to increase your speed each time you land. This is crucial to improve your times as the increased speed really makes all the difference in saving time.
[big]Wallrun & Wall Boosts[/big] While Wallrunning is a basic thing that everyone knows how to do if they’ve played this game, they might not really understand the concept of Wallrunning and what I call “Wall Boosts”.
While Wallrunning you can press Jump to obviously gain height by jumping. However we can use that an increase our speed to the extremes in some cases. This is done usually by angling yourself to the side and then jumping (usually Double Jumping). While it’s hard to know how it exactly works it’s fairly easy to get the hang of once you try it.
I usually try to "flick" when I'm going for Wall Boosts. I sort of "charge up" by angling myself far to the side and then flick it forward again while jumping. This is super important to get the hang off as it sets up many of the strats on the levels. Most of time it's honestly just luck if you get it or not, but you'll get more consistent as time goes by. Below is one of the best examples to showcase the importance of Wall Boosts.
[big]Elevators & Rising Pillars (Jump While Rising)[/big] Both are technically the same as there’s nothing referred to as “Rising Pillars” in the game. I just like to use two different terms to differentiate between the two different looks between them as Elevators have a Squared platform while Rising Pillars have a Round one.
Anyway, if you jump while either of these are rising upwards, you will usually get increased height while doing so. This is crucial in some strats that are used in some of the levels. In the video below you can see how it's commonly used.
[big]Capped Framerate vs Unlimited[/big] There is actually a difference between having for example either capped or around 200fps and lets say 500-600fps. When using the LRF method to gain speed when moving the mouse left and right you gain way faster speed than otherwise possible.
See the video from Andzura to understand the differences:
**[big][section=Techniques][/big]**In this section I will go through all of the techniques that are used in speedrunning Inertia.
[big]Slide Jumping[/big] This is done by first holding Slide and then move and Jump. You will slowly lose speed as soon as you jump but this gives you more height than of Slide Double Jumping but less speed as it accelerates over time. It’s super useful as in many situations you can't Slide Double Jump across.
Below is an example to show an example of how it's commonly used.
[big]Slide Double Jump (SDJ)[/big] This technique is performed by Sliding and then quickly pressing Jump, this should make you Slide at 1680u/s. This is the first part and now all you need to do is Jump again and you should fly forwards while being capped at 1680u/s. You can delay the second jump if needed. This is technique is important as each time you land you will increase your speed each time, in other words Bunnyhopping.
In this video you can clearly see that each time I land I will get a speed increase.
[big]Air Strafing[/big] It’s simply just angling yourself so you are sort of Strafing while moving forward in the air. It’s useful but also really hard and annoying since you will not really see that much in front of you.
It can also be used by flicking to the sides to initiate it and then just slowly turn back forward. This is useful as sometimes you just need it for a small period of time as the stages aren't always straight forward.
Below you can see how I simply flick it to the side and then gradually move back forward and thus increasing speed while doing so.
[big]Multi-bind Jumping (Also known as NJT)[/big] While this technique is possible with Single-bind it’s just not viable to do so and thus I will refer it to as Multi-bind specific for keeping it simple. I just want say that the term "NJT" (New Jump Tech) is just a placeholder name so don't take it too serious.
This requires binding both Jump and Slide to the same key, at least in order to do consistently since simply Jumping will trigger this technique. This then allows the player to make a useful jump which can be commonly seen in all speedruns of Inertia. It sort of combines the speed of a slide (1680u/s) and the properties and height of a jump, albeit slightly higher. You can get some ridiculous height with Double Jumps.
The problem is that you will no longer get increased speed upon landing (Bunnyhopping) so you will always be capped at 1680u/s. Therefore there are some stages that it's not useful in.
In this video you can easily see the importance and posibilities of Multi-bind Jumping as this gap cannot cross it otherwise.
[big]Extended Multi-bind Jumping[/big] While Multi-bind Jumping is super useful we can make it even more so. If you hold Jump we will almost instantly (~0.3s) accelerate to the max speed of 1680u/s. If we just tap Jump it will usually take 0.5 to 0.6s to get to the max speed. This is super useful and easy time save.
Obviously it’s not always useful as sometimes the faster accelerate can make you arrive too early to land on platforms or also overshoot them. You only need to hold for as long as it gets to 1680u/s then you can just let go like normal.
This video below is me testing tapping and holding and you can see the difference yourself.
[big]Multi-bind Jump - Reset Sliding[/big] If you Multi-bind Jump you will have no access to Slide as that is also binded to Jump. However we can work around it and actually Slide. There are however restrictions as it can only be used at the start of a level. If you Jump and hold it while then proceeding to Reset the level you will (as long as you hold Jump) keep Sliding at the start of the level. This will be super useful but only in very few and specific levels.
In this level we can clearly see how I can slide and turn around the corners. This would otherwise only be possible with Single-bind.
[big]Multi-bind - Gate Slides[/big] Now we previously talked about how we can Slide while using Multi-bind Jumping. There is also another way of doing it which is crucial to know off.
There are these so called “Gates” that I call them, they're these small spaces that requires us to Slide underneath them. This requires us to be right in front of the “Gate” and then Jump and holding it. Holding it is the key part to make this work as it sets up for the Slide that is about to occur. If done right you will start sliding upon landing and as long as you keep holding Jump you will stay in the Sliding state.
Below you can see the use of this technique.
[big]Multi-bind - Instant Gate Slides[/big] Now we know how to Slide underneath “Gates”, but we can do it even faster if we get it right. I don’t exactly know the details but you just aim to time the press and hold of your Jump as you land. You need to aim your landing to be that of exactly in front of the “Gate” but not high up so you touch it, just land right before it. Then as you land you Jump and hold and you can instantly pass underneath without having to do the slow “Jump → Wait to land → Slide Underneath” strat.
The most common example can be seen below where I just instantly pass underneath.
[big]Multi-bind Jump - Fast Turns[/big] With the same concept of holding Jump we also gain the property of doing some pretty fast turns.
Normally you would lose speed when turning around and whatnot before accelerating again, if at all. With this method you can quickly turn around without losing much speed as you will speed up super fast again.
You can see a common example below:
[big]Multi-bind Jump - Wall Boost Fast Turns[/big] Now we know how Fast Turns happens. We can then apply it and extend it's usefulness even further with combining it and Wall Boosts.
It's as simple as doing a Wall Boost and holding down Jump. This gives us the benefits of Fast Turns along with the insane speed of the Wall Boosts.
An example of this can be seen below:
[big]Multi-bind - Left, Right and Forward (LRF)[/big] The game will increase your speed when you sort of strafe in the air, and we can abuse this to our advantage by some keybindings.
If we bind Left, Right and Forward to a single key (W) we will gradually increase our speed with any mouse movement. The more you do it, the more speed you get.
The negative part with doing this is that you will no longer have the ability to strafe, so turning around corners will prove rather difficult.
You can just let it naturally increase your speed with normal mouse movement to clear the level but to really take advantage of it you will need to move your mouse left and right constantly. This can be rather harsh on the eyes, depending how much you do it and it's really hard and annoying so it’s rarely used and only in certain levels (Classics 1-6 most notably). This is due to while you flick your mouse, left and right, you can very easily lose your direction and fall off the sides.
Below is an example of an extreme case of using LRF to gain speed. I'm not sure if being this excessive is nessecary though but you'll get the point.
[big]Zipline Acceleration[/big] It seems to only work on the Zipline in the level Classics 22 for some reason. To make this work you hold Left, Right and Forward as well as Space. While holding all these you then just flick your mouse left and right to increase your speed while on the Zipline.
Regardless, it's a must use on Classics 22 which you can see in the example below:
[big]Wall Boost Triple Jump[/big] It seems that if you enter a Wallrun which 1 Jump left, meaning that you land and Jump into the Wallrun, you can actually perform a Triple Jump afterwards.
This can be super useful and one of the best examples can be seen below:
[big]Perma-Sliding[/big] What It Does: Possible to enter a "Permanent State of Sliding". This let's you slide around for as long as you want, whereas normally you only have a few seconds before you stand up again. It also gives tons of other benefits listed below.
• Gives you some INSANE air control, easily noticed after a Wall Boost. • Makes it impossible to get the "Ceiling Stuck Glitch" that occurrs sometimes when you get too much speed into the ceiling and get stuck for a bit. So with Perma-Sliding it doesn't seem to happen which is super nice. • It seems that you are still "Sliding" in the air, meaning that your Hurtbox is way lower so you can avoid stuff easier.
Not all levels has use for this technique, but it saves a considerably amount of time in those levels that can take use of it.
How To: You can either press Slide + Pause at the same time, or you can press Slide and then quickly Pause afterwards. If you use Multi-bind Jump then it's just the same method, just use Jump instead of Slide and it should work just as fine.
Most of the time the glitch is initiate on the second attempt, not sure why that happens. It is possible to do this with Multi-bind Jump as well but it can be a bit more tricky.
What Removes The State? • Pressing Slide • Multi-bind Jump • Zip-lines • Completing a level
Below is an easy example of how it would be executed and how it looks if you got it correctly.
**[big][section=Resources][/big]**This section will contain various resources and whatnot that will be useful.
[big]Discord Server[/big] I highly suggest joining our Discord in order to connect with the community of Inertia. Here you can ask anything, anytime and someone will be sure to answer!
[big]All Levels Playlist (Classics | Annex | Unify)[/big] These are several of my playlists for the game. I have playlists of the all my WR's and PB's. They include all of the levels split between Classics, Annex and Unify for easy access. There’s also some less useful playlists with all of the Community Levels (Steam Workshop) for those interested in that. I also have a playlist with various Bugs & Glitches that I've found.
• [big]Classics[/big] • [big]Annex[/big] • [big]Unify[/big] • [big]Community Levels[/big] • [big]Bugs and Glitches[/big]
[big]Faraziels Classics Tutorials in French[/big] Faraziel is a fantastic runner and I highly suggest watching him if you aspire to focus on full-game runs (Classics & Annex). This tutorial is however only for the Classics levels and not Annex but you can always ask him about making one. He’s French so you will not understand his tutorial unless you speak that language. If you're nice he might make one for you.
[big]Speedrun Goals[/big] This is mostly just a document for myself but maybe it can be of use to someone out there. It’s really just a document so I can track which levels I have WR. If I don’t have the WR I can then easily identify how much time I need to beat it and by how.