Hello everybody! For a long time now the rules for the Noita category have been a little unclear, or have fallen behind in the current meta of speedrunning. The purpose of this post is to provide the necessary clarifications, rule changes, and the reasons behind them. We would like community feedback before we codify these rules, so we can discuss any problems you may notice or bring up any points we overlooked.

All Category Rules:

Current: RTA Time starts on the first frame the player is controllable ( currently when the screen turns black after "Noita" disappears ) and stops when "Completed the Game!" appears.

New: RTA Time starts on the first frame the player is controllable, which is when the screen turns black after "Noita" disappears, and stops when "Completed the Game!" appears.

• Mild grammar change.

Current: For runs that use the Hollow Egg exploit, the timer begins when you start the first run that directly affects the submitted run. The initial run, and any following runs, must also follow all game and category rules and has to be in the recording. These rules do not apply to the separate Hollow Egg Category.

New: For runs that use the Hollow Egg exploit, the timer begins when you start the first run that directly affects the submitted run. The initial run, and any following runs, must also follow all game and category rules and has to be in the recording. These rules do not apply to the separate Hollow Egg Category. (Currently nonexistent, when a run is submitted the Hollow Egg sub-category will be added to the appropriate category)

• We wanted to clarify that the separate Hollow Egg category does not yet exist.

Current: Recording must have game sound and no substantial area of the screen blocked.

New: The recording must have game sound and no substantial area of the screen blocked, and must start before “Noita” fades to black in the beginning. The recording has to be playable on Speedrun.com.

• This provides direction on when to start the recording, and what kind of websites they are allowed on. As long as you aren’t submitting a speedrun to google.docs (yes that has happened) it will be allowed. Just make sure people can actually view the run.

Current: No mods unless specifically excepted by the category. Where a mod is allowed, the mod list must be shown contiguously either before or after the run.

New: Mods are allowed as long as they provide no gameplay advantage or disadvantage. Examples include the Streamer Wands mod for Live Streamers, the Enable Logger mod for livesplit auto-splitters, the Pride Tablet mod to recolor tablets, or any Seed Changer mod for Set Seed Speedruns. The mod list must be shown contiguously either before or after the run.

• One of the bigger changes of the lot. For a long time now certain mods, despite being strictly disallowed by the rules, have been accepted as long as they provide no gameplay advantage. It is ESSENTIAL they provide no gameplay advantage or disadvantage, or they will be immediately denied. We also decided to enforce no game disadvantage as well, so runs can be kept on a level playing field. Usage of mods will be accepted case-by-case, but you’ll have no cause for concern as long as you’re using innocuous mods like Streamer Wands.

Removed: Enable Logger -mod is allowed for livesplit autosplitters.

• Unnecessary, as it has already been clarified above.

Current: Seed must be randomly generated by the game for "Random Seed" and may be chosen by the player for "Set Seed".

New: Seeds must be randomly generated by the game for “Random Seed” speedruns, and are chosen by the player for "Set Seed" speedruns. On Random Seed speedruns, you cannot look up the seed using a tool that gives you information on the seed.

• Making it clear that looking up information on a random seed is not allowed. We will also remove the “Seed must be randomly generated by the game.” from all Random Seed categories and “Seed may be chosen by the player via Seed Changer.” from all Set Seed categories as they are redundant.

Current: No save file manipulation to gain an advantage.

New: You cannot edit your save file to remove the flag that you’ve killed a boss to gain a Full Health Regeneration.

If a seeded run requires modified spell progress, note what must be removed so other runners can use the seed.

The removal of the Bones folder to restrict the spawn of the Wand Ghost is allowed. If the Wand Ghost spawns in your game you cannot use the wand it drops, but you may pick up the gold.

• Some more significant rule changes. This clarifies that Boss Flags cannot be removed once they are killed. It prevents All Bosses from being far easier and more forgiving, or any other run that may benefit from random heals being scattered throughout the map.

• We had originally intended to ban the removal of Spell Progress too, but this had several problems. It’s nearly impossible to verify what spells have and haven’t been unlocked, and it would be incredibly unfair to restrict runs from being submitted just because someone hasn’t 100%’d the game. It also limits certain seeds from being run, as slightly modifying the unlock of even a single spell could alter an entire seed’s spell pool. Under the current rules, it’s possible for a newer player to find some god seed, and have every experienced player be permanently locked out of ever running the seed because they cannot remove their spell progress. Under the new rules, far more seeds may be able to be used when mixing and matching the removal and addition of certain unlocks. The only caveat being that without noting exactly what is removed and what isn’t makes it hard for other runners to match what is being run. It can also be difficult for a newer player who may not have unlocked everything to know exactly what it is that makes their seed exceptional, so we’ll have to play it by ear moving forward.

• We also elected to ban the pickup of Ghost Wands in all categories. The gold is still allowed (tablets away!), but it’s currently possible to fill your Bones Folder with absolutely insane wands, and have a seed never be matched simply because you found your Ghost Wand immediately. It ruins the integrity of the shorter runs in which it is allowed.

Sub-Category Rule Changes:

• Note that all rules regarding Random Seed and Set Seed have been clarified in All Category rules, along with any rule citing Ghost Wands, so they will be removed as they are superfluous. If no rule has been specifically noted then it will remain unchanged.

Any% Random Seed and Set Seed:

New: Beat the game!

Teleportless Random Seed and Set Seed:

• No changes.

All Bosses Random Seed and Set Seed:

Current: Anything that has a pillar piece on the boss pillar above the tree counts as a boss: Alchemist, Pyramid, Wand Connoisseur, Dragon, Gate, Kolmi, Wizard, Mecha Kolmi, Tiny, Friend, Forgotten and Leviathan.

New: Anything that has a pillar piece on the boss pillar above the tree counts as a boss: Alchemist, Pyramid, Wand Connoisseur, Dragon, Gate, Kolmi, Wizard, Mecha Kolmi, Tiny, Friend, Forgotten and Leviathan. Killing 9 “Little Friends” is not required before killing “Big” Friend.

• As the recent (3/11/23) bugfix patch has finally fixed Friend’s scaling failing to work, some clarification was necessary on how the kill will be counted moving forward. Despite Friend only counting on the Tree Pillar after 9 friends, it completely and utterly changes the nature of the run if that is a requirement in the All Bosses speedrun. For reference, Friend has 762.5 HP if no Little Friends have been killed, then when 9 of them have been killed it skyrockets to 29,313 HP and takes only 0.1x Slice & Projectile damage. Given that Little Friends explode when they die, it’s very likely a chain reaction will occur that kills all of the Little Friends at once. If that happens, Friend then has 222,596 HP and takes -0.4x Slice & Projectile damage making him far, far more difficult than even an 11 Old Kolmi. It can also be difficult to verify exactly how many little Friends have died. For these reasons, we decided to grandfather in the old kill requirements, meaning you only have to kill Friend and none of the Little Friends.

11 Orb Random Seed and Set Seed:

• No changes.

33 Orb Random Seed and Set Seed:

Current: 33 orbs must be collected before killing the boss and finishing the run.

Boss kill is required.

New: 33 orbs must be obtained before collecting the Sampo and defeating the boss. The boss kill at 33 orbs is required.

• Minor grammar changes.

Current: No external tools for finding the orbs. Guiding powder is allowed.

New: Only guiding powder is allowed to locate the orbs on Random Seed Speedruns.

• This reinforces the all category rule of “On Random Seed speedruns, you cannot look up the seed using a tool that gives you information on the seed”, but makes it clear Guiding Powder(Flummoxium+Unstable Teleportatium combined creates a trail that points to the nearest orb) is allowed.

Low% Random Seed and Set Seed:

• No changes.

Overfed Random Seed and Set Seed:

• No changes.

Hitless and Hitless Any% Random Seed and Set Seed:

Hitless Any% Set Seed:

Current: The "Golden Beard" must be seen for the run to be valid. Seed must be randomly generated by the game.

New: The "Golden Beard" must be seen for the run to be valid.

• Removing the inaccurate requirement.

• No other changes for Hitless for the moment, but there will be an upcoming forum post discussing the future of both categories, and seeing if there is room to thaw some of the rules or maybe even change the name of one of the categories altogether. It occurred to us that despite the name of the categories being Hitless, there is NO specific rule that has anything to do with being hit at all. This was demonstrated in Den_’s 16m Hitless run, where they were struck by a Poly Wizard in Temple of the Art, but because they took no damage, either in Mina form or Sheep form, the run was considered legitimate. Further discussion is warranted, but initially our thoughts lie toward making one category “Damageless”, and one category “Hitless”. Note that no run would ever be removed in either category, or any category, because of a later rule or category change.

That sums up the changes we are planning to make for now. If there is anything we didn’t add that you can think of, or any other concerns you might have, please let us know below! We will allow time for a discussion to take place, but when that is over, or after a few days past the last post, we will update the rules as seen above or with the amendments anyone can think of.