13/04/2018 EDIT
Due to inconsistencies in the game physics caused by the instant restart mod the previous rule change has been reverted. For now, no mods are allowed and runs must start in the menu, upon pressing the "new game" button.
08/04/2018 EDIT
Based on community feedback we've decided to change the rules to permit the use of the Instant Restart mod by AS13B. The mod itself can be found in the resources page.
Instead of:
Time will begin upon completion of the loading screen after starting a "New Game" and Modding the game in any way is not allowed
The new rules state:
Video must include the entire run, from the initial panning motion of the camera and pot animation to the gray end screen and The Instant Restart Mod by AS13B is the only permitted mod. Using any other mod will result in the run getting rejected.
Please keep in mind that if you're using the mod and any irregularities that could arguably change the run in any way (such as a strange animation or incorrect respawn position) occur we will still reject the run, so make sure you pay attention. We believe this mod has the potential to make the game more enjoyable to speedrun, especially for those with slower PCs. Happy climbing!
02/02/2018 EDIT
Due to a recent patch making it possible to skip the credits with the space bar, pausing is no longer allowed under any circumstances on PC and only allowed on iOS to skip the credits.
Hey everyone. As the title says, we've made a small change to the rules. Here they are for snake%, but the changes at the end effect glitchless as well:
"You must ride the snake once and then complete the game.
Time will begin upon completion of the loading screen after starting a "New Game".
The Ingame Timer will be used, with completion time determined by the endgame screen.
Restarting the timer by jumping into the water at the beginning is not allowed.
Runs must be completed without pauses or quitouts. Accidental pauses before the credits may be permitted on a case by case basis.
The Barrel Glitch/Warp Glitches are not allowed.
No gameplay should be obstructed (the cauldron, character & any walls and objects the hammer is interacting with).
The following minimum video standards must be met:
Video source is from either capture card or capturing software (OBS, Xsplit, Action,etc) Video resolution is at least 360p and framerate is at least 25 FPS with no excessive stuttering or frame drops at any point. Endscreen is shown long enough to tell what the final time is. The video is not too dark or too bright to see the run clearly."
Gameplay wise the rules are the same, but we've added minimum video proof standards to avoid ambiguity and personal opinion when verifying runs. Hopefully this makes it easier to verify runs and makes it fairer for everyone.
I have a few concerns regarding these changes and also about some rules in the past.
First off is this rule, “Runs must be completed without pauses or quitouts. Accidental pauses before the credits may be permitted on a case by case basis.” I am an iOS player, (still the only one) and this rule is a slight issue because of that. So the first issue is that to skip credits, (saves ~2:10) is in the pause menu meaning to actually get a good time you need to pause at the end. This isn’t so much an issue since the “Accidental pauses” part of that rule can cover it up nicely and excuse it. The other issue I have with this rule is about speedrunning iOS in general. The games settings can drastically fluctuate in response time and sensitivity depending where you are in the game. I think this is caused by sections fluctuating in lag and being overall inconsistent. Due to that often I need to pause at at least 2 points to fix my sensitivity settings midway through a run. Usually just before orange hell and sometimes at ice mountain/tower. How I would fix this is to make the rule say there can be a max of 3 pauses and none of those pauses can exceed 5 seconds in length. That way it allows for such fluctuations to occur and not cause issues with the run.
My second concern is regarding the recording standards that have been set. I will go through them and address my concerns one by one. So I do have a recording software but it is very broken and often dosen’t have audio. Video quality is capped at 1080 and at 30fps but often it may dip due to lag. (Thats why I play with wifi off and all apps closed.) This shouldn’t be an issue but there may be a possibility that the recording software may dip below 30fps. I have no control over this and because Apple’s limitations I can’t change any settings on it other than record at 1080 or 720, thats it. For my second concern here is the game itself. The game often lags extremely badly at the rocks before chimney and at planets, sometimes at ice mountain too. Due to this random lag even with the most optimal settings I have no way of getting a solid 25+fps at any time, dose in game lag matter in this case since it isn’t video quality related it’s game quality related or dose it? These issues I have no way of fixing or making better since it is impossible to fix them without removing the rule. Obviously that isn’t a good course of action since having a base set of recording rules is necessary but the iOS version just wont cooperate with these rules at all times.
As a quick side-note how dose this rule work, “No gameplay should be obstructed (the cauldron, character & any walls and objects the hammer is interacting with).”? How would that even happen using a proper recording software? Usually when one of those gets messed up it’s due to a glitch therefor making the run invalid from the start. Why is this rule needed?
Yes, pausing the game to skip the credits on iOS seems fair and is allowed. I'll add it to the rules.
Your second point I have trouble agreeing with. It seems that iOS just isn't a good platform to run this game in general with the numerous issues you seem to been having with it and I just don't see us getting anywhere by making rule exceptions to compensate. These rule exceptions make even less sense with the relatively high rate at which patches are coming out for the iOS version, that both remove and introduce bugs and glitches. What happens if the next patch fixes the sensitivity issues but introduces another thing entirely, do we change the rules once more? It just doesn't seem productive to me and would only serve to confuse things.
The phrase "no excessive stuttering or frame drops" is somewhat vague, but the issue is quite hard to provide concrete rules for, but judging by your past submissions you should be fine as far as recordings are concerned.
The gameplay obstruction rule is there because we've had some submissions where recording programs would place a watermark on the centre of the screen. So far the watermarks have been semi transparent, but it did raise the question of what to do if eventually we get a submission that has a more serious obstruction.
Don't take anything I say as the official mod stance by the way, this is just my opinion on things.
Thank you for the reply. Funny enough less than an hour after I posted that they released an update on iOS that for the most part fixes some lag and made sensitivity perfectly stable, (for my current testing.) So most of my concerns espiccialy regarding the pausing rule are not needed or are outdated now. I did a test run then did a full run and had no need to pause at all to fix inconsistant sensitivity issues. Meaning that no rule change is needed anymore. I also agree that even if it want fixed that a exception should not be made. I’m the only person who runs iOS, i’m not that needy to have a rule ll to myself. The fact that the iOS version is much more unstable than the PC also is a good reason to why there shouldn't be rules for one version.
So with the minor exception of credits skip every other rule works out, and with lag minimized in the current game it makes all other rules managable. Thanks for responding!
Also thanks for clarifying what was meant by the no obstructions rule. I had a feeling someone had to have submitted a run that had some weird property with it to cause such a specific and awkward rule. Makes sense though. Overall now that iOS is a lot more stable there are no other issues or questions.
I just read the rules to see that new section on iOS credits skip and find it may be best to change some words to make it as clear as possible. Possibly change it to read this, “Pausing on the iOS version is allowed only when skipping the credits.” That way it’s more clear when your allowed to pause, at least it makes sense to me written like that. I’m not good at words...
This is a follow up to the previous news post, see
It has now been decided by the mod team that mobile runs should not be allowed on the individual level leaderboard due to their inaccuracy in timing. All mobile runs will be removed and no more will be ac
