Yeah, keep it easy to encourage more people to do a speedrun. Again, we can later add a 100% category where this is required.
Just to confirm, re-breather is not required for Full Game, right? It's not a bug and it's part of the game since there is an achievement. Also, it doesn't save that much time, maybe 40-50 seconds to get it but collecting 8 health packs can take 3-4 seconds, each, and you may have to go to Medical twice because of that. (Or diving back-and-forth for air adds ~40 seconds.) I would say, everybody can choose how to do it.
I think I got it right now but you're both gonna be pissed... Aliban did not do the battery-trick in his run although this is now allowed in Any% and iensomania did not do the boss re-stunning although this is now allowed in Full.
At least, so far you're both still on 1st rank.
Please look through the category rules and tell me if you like it. For Any% anything is allowed (any skip, glitch or bug) and for FULL the only two things not allowed are wifi-skip (which saves 4-5 minutes in the blue area) and battery-trick (which saves 4-5 minutes for orange keys and Transit A).
We can add more categories that take longer, or anything in between, I really don't mind. I do like the fact that Any% and Full are easy to understand and differentiate. I also like that we no longer need to use the word "glitch". :)
For Any% it is now allowed to duplicate the INSERT key to a different key in whatever way so you can press E twice more reliably.
Also, for Levels I've added some rules for the "Full" category that hopefully make sense to everyone.
You brought up some good points! I'll think about how to mix everything together and make it look good. You guys had so many great ideas and we all profit from that!
Your thoughts on:
- jump from a ledge and roll within 0.4 sec (e.g. my latest run at 28:40): takes no damage
- Jump between door frames (Aliban's run at 1:06:28): no damage
- fall down and enter door (iensomania's Tutorial Soft-glitched at 3:22) : no damage
On the opposite side, do we need a category where:
- boss re-stunning
- skip re-breather
- not get ammo in Tutorial
is allowed since they are not bugs/glitches?
Liquid Terminator! :) You are not wrong.
Let's go through it, the major glitches are wifi and battery because they skip 5 minutes each in the blue zone and orange zone. That's the difference between Any% and Full Game. Bam, done.
Then there are minor bugs:
- mine to no-weapons is clearly a bug. However, it only saves 10 seconds or so.
- go through a door 3 times to skip enemy saves 3 shots, I think it only happens twice
- re-breather bugged grate, as awful as it looks, only saves 3 seconds
On the other hand, there are rooms with 5 enemies where you can simply run through without taking damage. Is that intended or bad design? I don't know. Is re-stunning the boss intended? Maybe it is!
(Trapdoor in room 9... Isn't that always there?)
In conclusion, we can create a third category "Full - no bugs at all" that you want to run.
Oh, all those are bugs that you want to list for Full Game? That's a lot...
Oh, yes, now I get it. Full game WITH glitches doesn't make sense.
Okay, so you want glitches allowed in Any% and explicitly allow to duplicate the E button (in whatever form)? Let's see if iensomania has any objections.
I agree, re-stunning is difficult to put in either category. Once you know how to do it, it seems easy and "natural".
Like I said before, it's strange that we have 8 categories but only 2 runs so far. The other extreme would be to put everything in one category (and add annotations, i.e. more columns in the leaderboard) so everyone needs to figure out for themselves what is what.
That would make it simpler, yes. My problem is that the battery-glitch can most easily be reproduced with a script, macro, key redirect or two keyboards. We have no way of telling if someone is using any of that. Or if he is just very fast at hitting E twice. I know that I can do it but my assumption is that people feel inclined or even invited to cheat.
On the other hand, for wifi-skip or re-stunning no cheating is required or helpful. I see a clear line between the two.
Adjusted some level rules, particularly Decoder to make it shorter, and allowed any weapons for the boss fight. The goal might not be to be extremely fast but to compare different strategies and just have fun.
Oh, I called it battery-door-glitch, but you have the right to give it a proper name! Battery trick works for me, too. :)
No, if you fall and click the door I would consider that part of the game. I also noticed a few rooms where enemies don't spawn if you leave instantly. It is what it is. Those delays are part of the game, some might not be intended, others are technically required for the animation. There's also the fall-and-roll trick that has to be triggered just before falling (I think it's 0.4 sec). Aliban's run contains a fall that lands in a door frame and for some weird reason doesn't do damage (at 1:06:30) which is repeatable.
But those are very consistent. The battery trick you found sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. It's easy to trigger with macros or special settings in the keyboard (turbo/quick fire). That's the main reason I would consider it a glitch, a different category.
Maybe the keyboard age/type matters for how it handles debouncing. I don't think a higher USB polling rate helps (125Hz=8ms should be enough). But I use E to interact (I couldn't do it with the mouse bound to interact). It felt easier in Windowed mode (not fullscreen), and on 120fps (not 60 or unlimited). Probably the game input needs to be processed fast enough so a lower resolution might help. Here are 4 more tries:
Yeah, the stars have to align, but I would say less than 1 out of 20. You have to be very relaxed and don't press the button twice but intentionally try to create a double-input. I don't think mouse speed matters, just start moving your mouse with the first click.
You can see in the video that it takes 8-9 frames @120Hz ~ 66-75ms to press the button twice. Anything below 100ms opens the door before the grate is activated.
Here, a variable is set so the door is actually closed. In the tutorial level the grate is never closed so the door stays open.
I moved your run into the new "Soft glitched" category. However, I still think your run is great and exemplary! Just the button-door glitch seems to be more than just a skip. I hope you understand!
I admit it's a bit strange that we only have 3 runs and yet over 30 categories... Anyway, at least everything is neat and tidy. :)
