bruh

For me personally it was the best ESA I've attended. I'll start with what I felt was improved from last year.

• The tech area being hidden away made for a much nicer and neater look to the main hall as compared to last year where it was off to the side with all the equipment and boxes strewn about behind the computers/consoles where the runs were happening.
• Larger arcade with a better selection of games (nothing like 5am Jubeat while it's empty)
• Having co-commentators names appear on screen using RFID codes (though giving them to the runners as well seemed redundant)
• Seemed like tech was more on point than usual, despite all the delays everyone certainly did their best.
• More runners from NA/Asia/Aus helps make the event feel even bigger and I met many amazing people who otherwise wouldn't have come.
• Speedgaming tourney room was a fantastic idea and Feasel did a brilliant one man job coordinating with people

Now, sadly, to what didn't quite work for me

• Lack of instructions on the arcade machines for switching games. Maybe I was just blind and missed a sign but I didn't know you could switch to other games until very close to the end of the event.
• Quiet practice room was not always quiet and a severe lack of pc's didn't help the situation (though I understand this is mostly due to the sheer increase in numbers)
• Temp/guest badges needs to be a thing for people who are only able to attend (or only want to) for one or two days
• Quality of the badges is not very high. The art is fantastic but the material is too easy to bend or rip.
• Volunteers only being compensated by vouchers to spend at the hotel. I get we no longer had the Dominos deal going so I'm not asking for free pizza but anything bought at the hotel was extremely overpriced in comparison to elsewhere. Last year volunteers were also given free tickets. So the value of compensation for volunteering this year seemed about 20% of what it was last year. (I'm still going to apply again because I enjoy it but it may put people off in the future, letting volunteers know the perks BEFORE they sign up would be great)
• Lack of staff at EVERY SINGLE food outlet in the area. This is a problem that the city of Malmo itself should probably address. They should liaise with local businesses better and let them know they will need extra staff during large events. I heard of people waiting upwards of an hour for (so-called fast) food and this seems unacceptable.
• No clear rules on the food/drink situation on the event floor. After the karaoke incident I was informed by the lady working the staff counter that the whole first floor should be devoid of ANY food that was purchased outside the hotel, as well as, of course, alcoholic drinks. Which is totally fair if that is their rule. However, clearly very few people knew this since it was probably harder to find someone who didn't eat or drink on that floor.

And finally while this is not event specific its more of a general problem with the discord server. As a volunteer at the info desk I often found myself looking for hosts/readers for whatever reason and while you can ping individuals on there if they aren't looking at their phone they may not even see it. It's fine having different channels open for the hosts/readers/tech etc but there should be a General Volunteer room where everyone volunteering can communicate more easily with each other. And having the reader/tech/donation/mod schedules posted for all volunteers to see would help too. J♥

Yo, is anyone going to be in copenhagen on sunday 24th? I'll be arriving at 4pm before getting a train to vaxjo

Sign me up :D

Game Update: Smashed the old WR for Jade Cocoon using new strats that are less RNG intensive and overall faster.

Also been working on new routing for Vagrant Story NG+ and am consistently getting under 1:25 even with bad RNG. With better luck and more practice I can probably beat RiskbreakerY's time for the NG+

SirPenguinSC2 and I both submitted Jade Cocoon and we're both happy to race if at all possible :D I have even devolped new strats since last I played it at I55

I don't run any FF games but I do know Vagrant Story (set in the same world as FF12 and tactics) Any interest in having that too or is it literally just FF games?

Such a shame it's not likely to happen at easter I was really looking forward to meeting up with y'all again. Still, thanks for the updates at least, flick'

Game Name: Vagrant Story

System: PS1

Category: Any% NG+

Gameplay Estimate: 1hr 30 minutes Ending/Bonus Estimate: 5 minutes

Possible Donation Incentives: Defeating Asura (the games super boss with 999 on all stats)

Sample run

Description: Vagrant Story is a dungeon crawler RPG set in the same universe as Final Fantasy 12. Set many years after the events you play Ashley Riot, kind of a medieval James Bond, venturing into a town to stop a mysterious group in gaining control of ancient magicks. NG+ is quite a fast paced run since it allows you to have a game with maxed out stats. You then just breeze through the game avoiding traps and getting hit by mooks as much as possible. Since recording the video above I have improved my equipment considerably and as such the sound and video quality will be much higher

Game Name: Rick & Morty's Rushed Licensed Adventure Game System: PC (Flash Game) Category: Any% Gameplay Estimate: 12 Minutes Sample run video Description: It's a short and fun flash based point and click adventure game based on the world of Rick & Morty. Some nice animations and witty dialogue as you'd expect from R&M. OK it's a meme game. What else is there to say Availability: Probably friday definitely saturday/sunday

We should organise our own speedrunning event. With Blackjack and Hookers!

Hey Flicky. You know I said I was going to do a highlight/fail reel for the event. Sorry for the delay but after the event I suffered a back spasm that aggravated an old spinal injury (kinda the main reason I got into speedrunning but that's a story for another time). Anyway it left me bedridden for about 10 days. After that I have just started university so I was pretty busy.

So I finished them a few days ago. Should I upload them to my youtube account and you can take them from there or should I put them in a drop box?

Yeah I think everyone had a really fun time at this little event. I will try not to beat a dead horse when it comes to complaining about everything that's already been mentioned.

Being by the main stage was a bit of a double edged sword; on the one hand the obvious noise issues but it was not a terrible location since people could walk in and easily spot our little booth. I think everyone at one point had an issue with the lack of space in the practice area but that's not something that could really be helped with around 20 people storing their stuff, playing games, watching streams etc.

In the future I think doing three 24/7 (or 24/3) streams a year might be a bit unfeasible unless we attract a lot of European runners or most of us are running the same games every event. However doing 10am to Midnight streams would be a lot easier both for the runners and anybody on tech. We'd need a whole team of tech people for 24hr streams.

Having that huge tv to show people walking by was a fantastic thing, if only it could have been a tad higher. Having it at chair level meant that anybody in front was blocking the view for anyone in the 2nd or 3rd rows. And of course more seating would have helped but that goes without saying.

I don't know how viable it would have been in this instance considering the lack of space but having just one table set apart from all the consoles and monitors in the practice area just for food would have been good instead of everything spread out all over. I was talking with some other people and also thought that a microwave and kettle in the practice area (away from monitors and consoles as much as possible) would have been a great idea just to warm up food or make hot drinks. I dunno about you guys but I drink like 10 cups of tea a day and was starting to get withdrawal by the end of the weekend.

I was speaking to another exhibitor that works for GAME on the train ride home and apparently the NEC in Brum has so much space we won't know what to do with it in December. And he also told me that there is a huge likelihood that there will be an in-house sleeping area so no camping necessary.

I think that's everything. Huge thanks once again to Flicky and Planks and everyone else who was there, making it a great event for all. Hopefully see you guys in the future

Looks good. I'll see y'all in the morning

I've never been to Coventry but I'll have a tv, console and camping stuff with me. Nearly every train station has a taxi rank outside, I'm sure we can find a black cab big enough to carry us and our stuff

I'll be arriving at cov station around half 9 in the morning. Is anyone else gonna be there around that time and want to share taxi? I'll come help setup anything that's needed too!

Anyone else concerned that there is literally no mention of the speedrun section on the Insomnia website? I mean I know it's a new thing but I looked, there's nothing about it anywhere.

And yeah if anyone adds me on skype the name is Jay Dizzle. No idea why people get multiple results for that one email address. You can't miss me, my avatar is Suezo

skype:?chat&blob=eeks9eWT--4OhIk58SwKKTPbTtaJlMTcZ4OEVUX7JaIH1ErbiZRXd8eYlHe7yvnKnD6XAVzJuYPJtuBC5Eg

OK well if everyone adds me on skype I'll create a group chat. Jumponradiatorcod@hotmail.co.uk

Just make sure when you add me to mention insomnia or something.

By the way do we have a skype group? It would be a lot easier to communicate and collaborate if we could talk in real time.