The Greatest Penguin Heist of All Time

**Update**: The Properties Update has patched this abuse.

Due to untimed control of the penguin during beginning cutscenes, retiming rules are being applied for some runs. If cutscenes are "abused" (see abuse rules), retiming will add real-time to the run's original official time on the leaderboard. This retiming is any untimed time the penguin could be controlled (see definition rules). Not all runs will need to receive this retiming.

**What counts as cutscene abuse?**

**Cutscene Abuse rules**: "Abuse" is when *advantageous (helpful) actions* are performed before the last cutscene ends. Advantageous actions include:

- Using a helpful item.

(Examples: consuming a soda or using a jetpack.)

- Moving the penguin in a direction or manner that is helpful for the speedrun strategy used.

(Example: sliding or walking towards the goal.)

Examples of actions ***not** advantageous or helpful (not abuse)*:

- If you switch to an item that you do *not* use before cutscenes end, that does *not count* as abuse.

- If your penguin is jumping because of pressing spacebar to skip cutscenes, that does *not count* as abuse.

Not all runs "abuse" the untimed cutscenes. Retiming is **only** applied if abuse is determined.

**When exactly does the retime start and end?**

**Retime Definition rules**:

- Retiming **begins** on: The first frame of the level loading for the run. This frame is black (except for the IGT timer if on).

If the level seems to load multiple times for some reason, the latest load is considered the official load. (Example: Seasume's On a Rail seems to start twice because the train rail audio restarts).

- Retiming **ends** on: The last frame that the last cutscene is visible.

The real-time difference between these frames (inclusive) will be added to the original time shown on the end-screen of the level.

- If a run's time is very close to another run, the highest available fps of the provided video will be used for finding frames.

**What game versions or runs will be considered for retiming?**

- In general, versions from the "Heist Reworks" (20 June 2023) through the "Heist and Housing Update" (inclusive).

- More specific: any run *where the IGT starts after control is possible*, giving untimed control of the penguin.

Again, not all runs which could abuse untimed control actually abuse it. Abuse is determined by the abuse rules above.

**What if I didn't do anything during the cutscenes?**

Don't worry, look at the abuse rules above to see what counts as "abuse". Not all runs will receive retiming.

**What if I started moving or using items in the middle of cutscenes?**

That still counts as abuse, and it is too difficult to find the exact moment you began to abuse the untimed control. For consistency, any run where abuse is present will receive abuse retiming. This accounts for factors such as human reaction time or muscle memory.

**Why?**

At approximately the "Heist Reworks" update, the IGT changed from starting at the beginning of the level to starting when the cutscenes ended. However, the penguin was still controllable during cutscenes. This opened up the possibility of "0-second" runs, if the run was played almost entirely during the cutscenes. This was shown to be possible in the official game's Discord server, where some players achieved end-screen times of less than 200 ms on Research Station. On a few level leaderboards, especially On a Rail and Research Station, even 2 or 3 seconds of untimed control allowed for major record breaks. For consistency with other game versions, this needed to be retimed fairly.

This retiming will normalize the affected game versions to include the entire time the penguin was controlled, as other versions used to do and will do in the future. The official bugfix confirmed by the devs (thank you) is that the penguin becomes no longer controllable in cutscenes.

These retiming rules will not apply to any versions without the problem of untimed cutscenes control.

**If you have any questions or concerns please let me know about it!**