This is a general Guide on how movement works and what kind of Tricks / Glitches you might want to use when speedrunning Karlson.

#Before You Start

Read the "Game Rules" and the "Category Rules".

I recommend using the autosplitter made by Micrologist. Times without it will still be accepted but you won't be able to use IGT for timing unless you use the autosplitter. Here is a guide ,if you don't know how to set it up : https://www.speedrun.com/karlson_itch.io/guide/lik7n

When you launch the game , then you will be greeted by a friendly little config window in which you can change the game's resolution, quality and other graphic thingys.

You can also change the keybinds in the "Input" tab, you should be fine with the default controls for now.

Once you start the game you will be able to see an options button. This will give you some options to change , which you don't really need to change . I would recommend changing : "CAMERA SHAKE" and "MOTION BLUR' .

When using IGT(in game time ) you should use slowmo. If you use RTA ( Real-Time Attack) you can also use slowmo but the timer wont slow down with the game.

There is an ingame console in which you can display additional stuff like your fps . You access it by pressing tab while playing a level. type "help 1" to display all possible commands "speed 1" and "fps 1" might be ones that are nice to have. They also help with verifying runs.

There are 2 minor bugs when you start the game that can happen :

First is that your audio is louder than what it was actually set to. To fix this you will simply need to go to the options once (you don’t need to do anything else there just quit out of there after you clicked the button)

Second bug that might happen is the reset button not working after the game launching . You simply tab out of the game and get into it again.

#Strategy Because the goal of the game is to get to the milk as soon as possible, the basic strategy of this game is to build up a lot of speed and maintain that speed while taking the shortest path to the milk. You will need to figure out where you want to sacrifice speed for a shorter route or where you want to take a longer route that results in more speed overall. It's a tough balance to get right. That being said, it is almost always possible to go faster using a route you are familiar with by being more precise or attempting it enough times to get a very luck run.

#Movement

In Karlson you got the standard WASD controls. Apart from just moving around with WASD you can jump,crouch and shoot. Those 4 options form all kinds of movement options/strategies in the game.

Walking:

By simply pressing forwards the player will gain a speed of around 20 m/s .

Straferunning:

You can get a lot more speed by straferunning. (forwards key + left or right) You never want to simply just walk. If you have no other options just do this.

Jumping:

Jumping also increases your speed by a little , so if you just keep jumping around . Then that should always be faster than just walking.

Strafejumping:

If you combine those 2 above you will get a big boost in speed. You might notice that if you turn your camera that you get even more speed. That is the next key to going ZOOM .

Airstrafing:

Like i said before, its key to strafe with your mouse while bunnyhopping. You wanna slowly go from 45° to looking forward. It will only boost you if you strafe in the direction of your strafe keys .( the keys you press when going sideways)

Crouch:

Crouching maintains most of your speed or at least way better than just standing. It also gives you a little boost in speed . If you bunnyhop and crouch, then your bunnyhops will be more consistent and you will be able to space your jumps without losing speed. You can also kill enemies by sliding into them.

(i used mouse for crouch)

Wallriding:

You can wallride pretty much every wall in the game that is vertical. Staying on a wall / doing a wallride for a longer time will result in you losing speed but gaining height. You will only gain a small amount of height, so be sure to jump off asap if you want to maintain speed.

Crouch Jumps:

Another thing that will greatly increase your speed is crouchjumping. You can start off with a crouch jump in almost every level, by simply just pressing crouch and jump at the same time and the direction you want to move. It's also possible to combine your bunnyhopping with crouchjumps.I prefer to hold crouch while bunnyhopping and everytime you hit the ground you uncrouch for a moment. This still gives you the effects of not losing speed from crouching on the ground.

one single crouchjump (i used mouse for crouch) strafejumping with crouchjumping

Ground Edge Jump :

A Edge Jump is done by uncrouching right at the edge of a platform after jumping onto it. ( also simply uncrouch and crouch around a second after again. you dont have to do it like i do it in the clip it makes it alot harder.)

What also might be noteworthy, is that there are actually 2 variations of a edge jump. One that gives you a lot of forward momentum and one that gives you height and forwards momentum.

Wall Edge Jump:

The same can be done with a wall but you wont need to uncrouch. you simply jump onto the very edge of a wall.

Crouch Wall Jump:

A crouch wall jump is done by crouching right before you jump off a wall. You will get a slightly faster and higher jump compared to a regular wall jump.

Super Wall Jump:

A super wall jump is done by performing an immediate wall jump and crouching at the same time off a wall, giving a boost similar to a wall edge jump.

Reverse Ground Edge Jump / Ceiling Edgejump:

This is the same as a normal ground edge jump but you don't do it from the top, but rather you uncrouch when you hit perfectly the edge of a ceiling or the bottom side of a platform.

(i used mouse for crouch)

Explosions: There are 2 ways to cause an explosion in the game . Once by the grenade launcher and by the barrel. Both are pretty much the same. The further away you are from the explosion the less boost you will get from it. So try to get as close to the explosion as possible. Doing that will cause the boost to be harder to control , so keep that in mind .

Double Crouch: You can gain way way more speed by abusing an exploit / bug that lets you maintain your speed and gain at the same time. To do this you will simply need to use 2 crouch keys. The first crouch will be held all the time and the second will be spammed.

THIS IS NOT ALLOWED IN ANY% OR ANY OTHER CATEGORY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN THE RULES

Wallclipping: The most common way to clip the ceiling is, wallriding the wall that is connected to that ceiling while crouching and uncrouch when you have reached the apex of the wallride ( you need to be really close to the ceiling). You can also clip walls but that is weirder and currently only used in esc2 . You can just keep in mind that corners are always very vulnerable to clipping.

(Wallclips are possible anywhere two separate walls meet. This means seemingly flat walls can be clipped through if there are multiple pieces to it i.e. Escape 0 above door frames, sky 1 under the last room, Escape 1 Spoo pb clip)

(i used mouse for crouch)

Prop Jumping:

You can hold any prop in the air and you can jump on it . Because of that you can pretty much hold the item while jumping on it , even if it's in the air. This won't get you to a lot of speed , but it will help in getting height. There are also methods to get infinite height with this glitch. It isn't of any use tho.

Prop freezing: You can hold a prop mid air while being far away and make it fly towards you when you want . There are 2 main ways to achieve it. The first way is to grab a prop with left click and without letting go you pick up a gun . Unless you let go of the mouse the prop will stay in place. If you now drop your gun, then the prop will fly towards you . The other way is by using your pause menu. Simply hold a prop midair , press esc to go into the pause menu, let go of left click and you will see it has the same effect. You release it by releasing the mouse button.

#Weapons

The weapons play a big part in karlson. Knowing how and which one to use is important. Every weapon is an instant kill, that means if 1 projectile hits the target its dead. The same also goes for the player, except explosions, they don't hurt the player at all. There is a pickup radius for every gun , that means you can just pick them up while not even looking or through the wall .That being said ..let's look at all our options.

Shotgun:

This weapon shoots out multiple projectiles and is bad in longer range . It gives you a good amount of knockback ,that you can use to launch yourself in any direction. It’s mostly effective if you are in the air.shooting a barrel for a boost with the shotgun gives you a really strong explosion boost (best example is sky0)

Shotgun is in these levels: tut,sand1,sand2,esc1,esc2,esc3,sky0,sky1,sky2

Grenade-launcher:

The grenade-launcher shoots 1 projectile that flies like a grenade in a curve. When it hits a wall or enemy it explodes like the tnt barrel. You can use this weapon to get extreme speeds in less than a second . Knowing how to control that speed is something else tho. Crouching and shooting it right under you will make you fly forwards with no height .(only if you walk forwards ofc)

The grenade-launcher is these levels: tut,sand0,sand1,esc1,esc3,sky0,sky1

Pistol:

This is just a general pistol. It's good for long ranged attacks.it shoots slow though ,so be sure you hit whatever you wanted to hit. The enemies have this weapon equipped most of the time.

The pistol is in these levels: tut,sand0,sand1,esc0,esc1,esc3,sky0,sky1,sky2

Uzi: The uzi is like the pistol ,but faster and with a lot of spread. Use it when you need to kill in short range.

The Uzi is in these levels: tut,sand0,sand1,esc1,esc3,sky0,sky1,sky2

Grappling Gun:

This gun can't hurt enemies and is kinda its own thing. You can fling yourself around with it as if you had a rope holding you onto the platform. You wanna do big swings to gain speed with this gun, not many small ones.

The grappling gun is in these levels: tut,sand1,esc2,sky1

#Props and level objects

Door:

These wonderful things will ruin your run sometimes. They can break into 16 pieces if you shoot it or smash into it with enough speed. A simple crouch jump should do the trick. You can also open the doors by simply left clicking it. The door pieces have collision , so jumping off from it is possible . If it's broken by the player smashing into it or by an explosion it will trigger slow motion .

Cabinet:

They are mostly just decoration,but can be used for prop jumps or prop freezing.

Table:

Tables will always have the milk on them at the end and are also used for decoration . You can crouch under them and uncrouch when you are in the middle to reach the milk , if you fail to get on top of it.They are also sometimes used for prop freezing bcs they are pretty big and good for getting hit by for a boost.

Barrel:

These bad boys hold a big explosion inside, if you shoot it it will explode and make you fly away. The closer you are the bigger the boost . They will also kill enemies if they are too close, but not the player. They also activate slow motion if you kill enemies with it.

Jump Pad:

The yellow platform will revert the momentum you had and fly you up . The jump pads wont boost you alot ,they just revert speed and add a little.

Monitor:

Just a decoration. Not a lot to say about it.

Enemy:

Enemies will be the ones actively trying to kill you . They can walk and shoot with a variety of weapons. (except the grapple gun) They shoot towards you as soon as you are in sight of them and if they can't see you after they have once seen you , then they will try to walk towards you until they can see you again. You can kill them by sliding into them or shooting them with one of the weapons except the grapple gun. They trigger slow motion when killed with an explosion.

Lava:

Lava kills you if you touch it. Not a lot more to say about it.

Glass:

You can break it if you touch it or shoot at it. Enemies will treat it like a wall and won’t see you behind it. It also triggers slow motion.