@stardog573 The rules now don't mention fast-forwarding anymore? I guess there isn't really a clear consensus yet but I think it definitely needs to be handled somehow, either with a separate category where it's not allowed or forbidding it entirely or at least for the glitchless runs. I'm pretty sure all the current runs can be beaten easily with it.
I guess for now the simplest solution that should be ok for everybody would be a separate leaderboard i.e. [Any% | no-major-glitches | no-major-glitches, noFF]. We can always remove it again if it remains empty. Alternatively, allowing FF on Any% but not on no-major-glitches also sounds ok.
@Dustbag I don't see how a timer tool will help with this? Can't you just edit levels together the same way and edit in the timer tool? I'm not necessarily against it (and also I probably won't be running much full game runs so I guess my opinion doesn't really matter) but it's still more complicated and requires more set up so I wouldn't do it if there isn't a clear benefit.
Also, your YouTube link is broken, is that intentional?
@Khloë Shadow Tactics had its leaderboard separated into the different difficulties until very recently but there were no runs for most levels on Easy and Normal so they removed it.
I don't feel strongly about this and wouldn't really mind the sections for the other difficulties, especially since there is actually a real difference now (in ST there wasn't really a reason to play on easy or normal since it didn't usually enable a better time) but I also don't really think the lower difficulties are that important. Most people I have seen still only run on Desperado difficulty. But I guess at least for now it's still a good idea to allow all difficulties and see if there are any runs on them.
As for glitches, there is currently a completely game-breaking glitch that makes all levels trivially easy so there is definitely a rule changed needed there but @stardog573 said he will create a separate leaderboard for really glitched runs. But I don't think it makes sense to separate runs by versions since the community is so small anyways so there aren't that many runs that they can be filled meaningfully. But adding a variable for it makes sense I guess. Honestly, from my experience with the devs I don't expect most glitches that safe time but don't completely break the game to get patched so I would just wait for now until something actually comes up.
As for time acceleration, if anything this should definitely be a separate category. I don't think it's reasonable to completely forbid it but IMO it also doesn't belong into a normal run. There is no real reason to ever have it off since it effectively halves your time but it also turns off all the time e.g. after cutscenes or when you get spotted. It just makes all runs much harder since you have to do everything at twice the speed while also ensuring that you always reenable acceleration. But it doesn't really add any interesting strategy or something and I also don't think it's that fun to watch 2x runs.