I first did speedrunning casually with Sonic Advance 3's Time Attack mode. This was back in 05/06, so I didn't really have a PC back then. It's somewhat unlikely I will return back to it, as I grew up, I realised how bad the level design actually is, even for speedrunning (death trap cycles at the end of paths, anyone?).

Then in 08/09 or so, I did more speedrunning in the Sonic Rush series Time Attack. I find it bad as a casual playthrough game (esp the first one), but it's fun to speedrun in, with some nice tech. I might come back to it, once I get a capture card. My touchscreen is developing strange dark splotches though (I haven't been using it much). I did not know of internet leaderboards back then.

At some point I lost interest in the series and moved on.

Skip all the way to 2013, and I consider getting into Jazz Jackrabbit 2 speedruns, one of my childhood games. But I don't start properly considering it until 2 years later. And now I'm taking (almost) real action, routing and establishing strats. Just haven't posted a run yet mainly due to me being unable to get the autosplitter working. I dont like manual splitting.

What delayed that before taking real action though, was Freedom Planet. Watching speedruns helped me pass the game, and that ultimately may have made me get into them again, along with it feeling really rewarding to go fast.

Also by giving up RNG grindfest games, maybe speedrunning will help me persevere more, which is important for many other skills (and...something I started lacking in). Also uh, someone asking me to record footage of a bug may have set me off finally making videos too.

Jazz Jackrabbit 2! Fast paced and not too hard/easy to pick up with some interesting quirks/glitches. Although I haven't submitted any runs for it yet, I will soon. In fact, there's lots of literally free WRs, especially in The Secret Files! The only active runner right now is BinaryBlob.

Here's what I consider the best run so far:

Unfortunately, the game is long out of print and it seems Epic has no intention of rereleasing it, so you will probably need to "sin".

And there's the other game I run, but it has a lot more attention - Freedom Planet. It may not be easy, but it's a blast when you go fast - you have to work to retain momentum. You may initially think "OMG wat a Sonic rip off!" but there is actual combat (no jumping on enemies, you got to use your attacks), no enemy collision damage, and a lot more interesting tech, especially with Lilac. Each character feels distinct from each other in playstyles.

It's actually relatively popular as a speedgame, but not among the famously ran. You can find it on GoG, Steam, or the Wii U eshop. Be warned though, it is rather well optimised, so only run this if you have fun. Also, uh....theres a few ridiculous tricks...and the occasional dropped input. Every now and then, you'll also get an unintended glitch.

There seems to be a lot of bugged blank name records coming through.

How about this? I lightened the middle a bit.

I was never completely happy with my logo, so I made some improved versions. Now with hue shifting - the way it was meant to look in the first place.

The bottom one is a bit more true to the original style, but I think the one above looks better.

Yes..a forum game. Which can have useful tips.

1. Everyone mains/plays Lilac until proven otherwise.

2. If you're not as experienced, don't compare yourself to the top players - or you'll give up very quickly.

3. Record everything. - I break this one a lot

Wow, I switch tabs and get a big suprise with all my changes put in. :o Looks snazzy. Feels like something is missing though. It's probably the lack of animated stars. Can't seem to find the sprites for those though.

I don't have discord, that's why. I'll have to get it sometime, I guess. I know it's free, I just have had no need for it in the past.

As for colour scheme ideas:

Purple, light purple and blue - represents Lilac, the main character of the series.

Primarily blue, with some purple and white - represents the main menu. I'd go with this.

I thought of a temporary background. Know the menu background, right? That would work nicely. It tiles seamlessly.

Also, I don't know if speedrun.com allows you to have a bottom bit of the background (tiling vertically with this thing would look horrible), but if it's possible, it would be this;

Yes, I had to flip it in the middle so it would tile seamlessly. Looks alright, though.

The thing is, he has a lot of different guns. Which gun of his is best for speedrunning overall?

Anyway, I'll add transparency to the logo. I wanted to make sure others were happy with the kerning.

Drawing the background will take a while, as I'm not so experienced with general digital art. No rush though, since the guys technically aren't finished.

EDIT: here's the transparent version.

I think the Freedom planet speedrun.com page could do with a bit of visual customisation. Here are two titles I made with the in-game fonts.

EDIT: The first font striked me as too generic and small, so I went with the second one and edited it anyway. See at the bottom.

EDIT 2: Ehh I think this "temporary background" is nice enough to be a permanent one. My deed is done

EDIT: Went and made my polished version of the logo anyway. Much easier on the eyes. Anyone is free to tweak it as they wish.