Hey all.

A new patch, 1.7.0, is coming to Steam and consoles later this month.

It looks to be quite a doozy. I'll post the patch notes in full below.

The key takeaway is: Fixed World, as we currently know it, will no longer exist. A new Fixed World seed has been chosen for 1.7.0 onwards. This means we'll need to separate off all existing times for that category, and start fresh. We can't compare apples to oranges. (or should that be tomatoes?)

In addition to this, there are LOADS of balance changes that will impact attainable times on Random/Hard/Extreme/Endless. I don't know how yet, we'll have to play it by ear, and submit the best times we can. We should make sure to attribute new runs to the 1.7.0 patch, and learn whether the old patches can be beaten. If we can't challenge the existing times, we'll have to consider archiving those off too. There's no immediate rush on this, we have patch numbers logged against each run, so can adjust as necessary once we've all had a good go.

Good luck! I hope the changes bring new life and energy into the game.

Now we know what the end conditions are for Endless (1001 levels) I think we should update the Endless category to reflect this.

At the moment we are using the timer to record the highest level reached, but I think we can abolish that now and instead record complete runs and the time taken. (as per a usual speedrun category)

Think we need to relax the rule of playing continuously though. It's not a healthy thing to do, and I wouldn't want to encourage or incentivise people to try it. (They are of course free to do so of their own accord)

Are there other games that have set a precedent of how long games are recorded? Do they allow consecutive play sessions to be stitched together? curious how this can work in the fairest possible way.

Saturday at 19:00 EST we are going to finish the Seeded World Tournament that began in May.

You can watch the event at twitch.tv/danvincent

Four semi-finalists remain in contention. They will race against each other, all using the same levels. but those levels are being kept under wraps!

After two games, we crown a winner. GLHF!

Hey guys.

I hope you have been enjoying speedrunning TJ&E BITG! I know when the game launched in March there was a buzz around it, with lots of submissions and the meta being explored in new and interesting ways.

Things have cooled down in the past couple of months, in my mind because of two things:

1. the game entered into a volatile phase; many patches were released in rapid succession which caused drastic shifts in the ways we could play. We were finding creative exploits & strategies, only to discover they were being patched out. Many of you simply want to wait for the game to reach maturation before devoting your time to learning it. You don't want the rug pulled out from under you.

2. the developers soured your opinion of the game through tone-deaf comments directed towards members of this community. I apologise to anyone affected by that. This is your leisure time & I encourage you to spend it however you please. When it comes to playing a video game: there is no right, there is no wrong, your enjoyment and the enjoyment of your viewers is of paramount importance and must always be respected. We are speedrunners, not a free marketing tool. In an ideal world, free of interference, we could be both. I am in full support of the devs controlling the image of their game by any legitimate means within their boundries, but we control our content and our time.

It saddens me that I even needed to address that last point. If TJ&E devs read this: don't worry about what we are doing in our own little niche, and how that might reflect on you. You are doing enough damage to your brand with that appalling Twitter account. We can't possibly be doing any more harm than all that YEET and BRUH nonsense.

With all that said: I would love to focus on the positives, the future of the game & how we can enjoy it. We have a FUN game to play! physical editions are going out this week and next, and 1.5 is out July 1 on PC. (Consoles shortly after. They have to go through the quality checks of the individual platform holders)

1.5 brings with it two new modes: EXTREME difficulty, and ENDLESS mode. I look forward to seeing how quickly you guys can beat Extreme, and how far you can take Endless! To create a fair environment, I am proposing we archive all the existing runs into the 'Legacy' category for each difficulty, and start fresh. Are there any objections to this? If not, I will do this on July 1. The reason is: you cannot compare the existing runs fairly against a run you can complete on 1.5. I want you guys to contest the top of the leaderboard, not chase an impossible target. I cherry picked out the MITB glitch runs previously, but now there are too many changes to present spawn rates, present durations, enemy damage, backer island presents, etc etc - the list goes on. Your previous runs will still exist in the Legacy categories, and could be filtered down if you were ever interested in seeing who had the best times on specific versions etc. No data will be lost.

Please give your thoughts, and if you are considering running this game again: Welcome back! I look forward to a healthy leaderboard full of new and interesting runs. Good luck! Have fun! STAY FUNKY!!

Can we get the new individual tracks added to this website please? There are a few missing now. Thanks!

We'll be accepting your speedrun submissions soon!

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is the fourth main game in the TJ&E series, available as a digital download on Steam (PC), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, & XBOX One.

A physical copy is available for pre-order through Limited Run Games. PS4 and Switch only. If you want the collectors edition, you'll need to be quick as they're expected to go FAST. First batch go on sale at 10AM EST on Friday 15th February, with the second batch available the same day at 6PM EST. If you miss out, the regular edition will continue to be available as a pre-order for the following 45 days.