Why do HROT requests keep getting rejected?
3 years ago
Czech Republic

HROT is a new fastpaced, Quake-like retro shooter. It features a full campaign episode of 8 levels. Requests to establish a leaderboard for it keep getting rejected on the basis of the game being in Early Access. This is incredibly hypocritical for several reasons.

  1. Speedrun.com has a rich history of leaderboards for games in Early Access. Factorio and Black Mesa are just two high profile examples. Factorio had many major patches, each requiring a new category because it changed the route. Black Mesa had a successful leaderboard for many years before the last four chapters of the game were even added.

  2. The current game request rules say nothing about Early Access games being unacceptable. Specifically, the rules state:

"Games in a very early development stage will be examined much more thoroughly, and if balancing and bug changes are happening quite frequently we may hold off on accepting the request for a board until the game is more developed."

This is not the case with HROT. The core mechanics of movement, weapons and enemies have remained unchanged for the last 7 months. No major changes have been communicated by the developer and none are expected. It is fair to say that the mechanics and hence the speedrun route are established and the game is in Early Access only because more levels will be added in future. This addition will in no way invalidate runs that would be submitted now.

  1. Finally, the fact that HROT has been rejected despite the facts I stated above seems to be in high contradiction with the fact that the shooter ULTRAKILL (also in Early Access) not only also has a leaderboard but has had a leaderboard since it was merely a Steam Demo, something that HROT was 7 months ago.

Following directly these points, I would ask any moderator in question to please reconsider the stance towards HROT and accept the request for the establishment of a speedrun.com leaderboard.

Thank you

Edited by the author 3 years ago
Greninka likes this
Antarctica
Kai.
He/Him, She/Her
3 years ago

I can't help much but make sure you know this,

From https://www.speedrun.com/gamerequestrules under "Request Processing Details"

"Site Staff reserve the right to reject any game request even if it meets the minimum specified criteria."

Gelly and Bob-chicken like this