Asking the community
7 years ago

Hi everyone. My name is Nathan and I'm a student in the UK at Bournemouth University as well as a gaming YouTuber. As a part of my degree I have to write a feature story, which can be on anything I want. As such I thought it would be interesting to find out a bit more about the speedrunning community, which I've recently just been getting into.

So I was wondering if I could ask this community a few questions:

Firstly how much practice do you do for some of your attempts? I know some records will take much more time to get right than others but a rough idea would be great.

What are some of your favourite games to set records on? Why?

Finally, how often have you repeated record attempts, either to beat your own record or to better someone else's?

(Also if you could include your first name so I can properly quote you that would be brilliant)

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European Union

always glad to help (although my answers shouldn't have the same weight as other people's, as I'm shiiiiit)

  1. none, I always attempt to be world record, always attempt to beat my own record. If there is something really tricky, I might consider trying a few times, but no more than 5 times.

  2. I guess Monster Hunter (if it needs to be more specific: Monster Hunter Generations or currently Monster Hunter Double Cross), as there's a lot of randomnes involved, so I don't just get better at doing a certain button sequence, but also in reacting towards certain scenarios. Also the active japanese competition.

  3. I try to attempt as often as possible, but my work tends to get in the way and thus I usually do 1 or 2 attempts per week. I'm probably at the lower end of the spectrum.

~Kev If you need the full name: [spoiler]Kevin[/spoiler]

Edited by the author 7 years ago
oddtom and
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Texas, USA

Hey Luton! I'd love to glance at that paper when you're done with it.

I started speedrunning this past December on Disney Crossy Road (mobile game like Frogger). Then I moved to webgames because they are much easier to record. I've noticed a lack in web-game runs since I've been here -- the games that I run usually have to be submitted as new leaderboards.

Before I answer your questions, you should know that I speedrun for different reasons than most. For me, its not about grinding to achieve a new record and beat others. Really, I just like building community -- I actually encourage others to beat my scores. It's really cool when it happens, too -- as a mod, I can verify the run they submitted and it goes straight to the speedrun.com front page for all to see. During its time on the front page, usually 30 or more people will watch the run and, hopefully, at least one or two people will consider running the game themselves! I also like starting new leaderboards to help spread the word about less well-known developers who are looking for a chance to get their game on Steam. One example: https://www.speedrun.com/Code_Red

Now to answer your Qs: Firstly how much practice do you do for some of your attempts? With the exception of Disney Crossy Road, which I play for fun a few days a week, I practice enough to upload a competitive first run. This means that I will play the game through at least three times before I make a recording. After my first recording, I may choose to improve the time before uploading. I usually won't run the same category again once its on the leaderboard.

What are some of your favourite games to set records on? Why? Disney Crossy Road was my start to speedrunning. Since they frequently release new levels (Beauty and the Beast came out this week), I like to set records for those to help promote the game on the speedrun.com front page. Color Switch is a lot of fun to run because it is also a popular mobile game with tons of levels. Many of the categories don't have record holders, so it's fun to be the first one to attempt WR. Finally, I enjoyed running Code Red so much that I set up and played three categories for it. The first is your regular Any%, but then I added a Pacifist% (kill nothing) and a Genocide% (kill everything). I hope other people run the game with me and help promote the guys who made it!

Finally, how often have you repeated record attempts, either to beat your own record or to better someone else's? As I said before, I rarely go back and PB once my run is on a leaderboard. I'm just not that competitive haha. Maybe I should, if I really want to get people interested in running the games I moderate...

Edited by the author 5 years ago
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Minnesota, USA

For me personally I will practice a game for about 30 minutes to an hour depending on how long ago I last ran the game, sometimes I'll just jump right into runs but that doesn't happen often.

Game I like to set records on are either games I really like, or just really bad games like Space Chimps or Ninjabread Man, I don't know why I like running bad games, maybe it's because they're short most of the time or maybe it's because they're usually broken to all hell.

I don't usually go for WR unless it's I game I really care about bringing to it's limits but for the couple times I did go for lots of WR attempts I usually run for about 3-4 hours depending on how long the run is.

~Micah

Edited by the author 7 years ago
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United States

Hey Lutonrules, more than happy to answer some questions if it'll help you out.

I find that for most games the majority of my time practice is the first month after learning a game, when I'm still trying to get comfortable with the techniques and tricks involved. So initially I spend more time practicing than actually doing runs, but the longer I run the game the more it shifts the other way and the more it becomes about grinding attempts and just getting the strategies in a run that I already know. Some runs that aren't quite as popular will only take a couple attempts to get a record for, but others like Superhot, it took 3-4 months of grinding to go from my first run to the WR, with a lot of sections of relearning and repracticing levels as people came up with different ways of going through them. Really the time spent practicing comes down to how much a runner cares about the run and their personal mindset towards running. Some people prefer to just start running as soon as possible, while others (I fit more into this group) practice a ton and want to feel prepped for their first run. Neither is wrong, just different approaches.

As mentioned above, Superhot meant a lot because it was a lot of grinding and effort put into it. When I first started running the game I got to a point where I was about 2 minutes off the record but had no clue how I'd be able to save that additional time. So going from that to actually getting to a point where I had a legitimate chance was a good feeling. The records I'm proud of are the ones I've put time into and feel like they're about as clean as they can get, such as Call of Juarez Gunslinger. It's less about the title of a "world record" for me and more about the quality of the run I've had.

Currently, just for the main Any% category, I've got about 4600 attempts with Superhot, about 2000 of those coming after I already beat the record. Only around a hundred of those are completed runs. Other games vary from a thousand attempts to a few hundred depending on how long I've been running them. Attempt count does depend a lot of the length of the game and how early the first few reset points are, so that can be a bit misleading.

Feel free to contact me if you've got any more questions about stuff, would be more than happy to answer them.

  • Matt
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England

can i submit my run even though i didnt use splits?

Russia

yes you can but please, don't necro threads.

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United States

I really like this. I'll be glad to help, though my answers probably aren't really good. :)

Firstly how much practice do you do for some of your attempts? I know some records will take much more time to get right than others but a rough idea would be great. It depends on the game. I usually dive into "New Super Mario Bros Wii" with no practice, while with "Xenoblade Chronicles", I generally practice for around 30 minutes. "Eternal Senia" usually takes around 10 minutes for me to practice.

What are some of your favorite games to set records on? Why? All the ones I listed above, haha. "NSMBW" was the first game I ever did a speed-run of. It's fun, fast, easy, and the community is pretty friendly. "Xenoblade" and "Eternal Senia" aren't quite as well known, but it's fun to improvise the different strategies in order to get the best times.

Finally, how often have you repeated record attempts, either to beat your own record or to better someone else's? I've done around 10 for "Xenoblade", 15 for "Eternal Senia", and over 40 for "New Super Mario Bros Wii", haha.

Canada

How do you add pictures to your run submissions? everytime i drag an image to the description it just opens up its own window. help me pls and thanks.

European Union

you upload it to an image sharing site like imgur or puush and copy the image link into the description.

~HDK

Edited by the author 6 years ago