I'm entirely new to the speedrunning community, but i see something really special in Insomniak's Sunset Overdrive, and I would love to develop tech and run with it as my first game. The only problem is that the running community is almost entirely dead, despite getting a recent pc port, and I have no idea who I could talk to when it comes to new ideas for a run, since I'm so new to runs in general. How would someone like me go about helping regrow a community from scratch?
[quote]develop tech and run with it[/quote] the answer lies within. build it, and they will come.
I don't think "regrowing the community" is a realistic goal. There are certainly things you can do to make the game more approachable to potential new runners, or showcase it to others who may be interested (most of which come down to running the game yourself, developing tech and strategies, writing guides and being available to answer lots of stupid questions about the run, etc), but at the end of the day if nobody wants to run it, nobody's gonna run it, and there's not a whole lot you can do about that. Most games have very few active runners at any given point in time, and most will stay that way for a very long time. That's just how it goes.
Like ShikenNuggets said, unfortunately a lot of games will be inactive for a long time / forever no matter what you do and regardless of how good a speedgame they are. There is an abundance of games and relatively few runners. If it is vital for you that your speedgame has a buoyant community, it's best to look for an existing one.
While I certainly don't think @Komrade 's Field of Dreams quip is feasible for every game, I think it is possible for most. =P
Try to run it, and run it impressively. Then, try to find similar games, or discords for games like it. Post and share your runs. Talk about them, heck even to friends and family, SOs and partners. Make tutorials for difficult tricks and strats. Then, if someone really wants to learn and start running it, follow the hell out of them. Give pointers, tips, and encouragement realtime if wanted.
Some folks get the idea that people are just naturally good at things and they don't try running them because it's daunting, and "clearly that guy is better". They may be completely obsessed with the game, but might be to afraid to try to speedrun it. Truth is, almost anyone can speedrun. It just takes practice (and a disturbing amount of patience sometimes).
