Virginia, USAI agree with Windex. As far as I'm concerned, the keyboard WRs are a bit ridiculous.
After the bug is patched, will those records be wiped? Because at that point the records would be unbeatable. We assume it'll be fixed eventually, so why accept them now anyway?
We should instead be ignoring those runs, or pushing them into a 'glitch' category like other communities, so that our front facing leaderboard isn't a barrier to entry.
Or at least have the touchscreen category be front and center. That way people will see a time that they can dream to one day beat.
I'm not a speedrunner by any means. However, I've always loved playing 2048 on my phone. My sister and I even send screenshots of our new highscores to each other to show we beat them. So when my boyfriend(who loves speedrunner), told me that the then WR for touchscreen was 8.5 minutes, I knew I could beat that! That pushed me to try, and less than an hour later I had a video with me beating it.
I don't think we trying to squash that. I know that unless someone specifically looks online for bugs on how to run 2048 like the current top runs, they will never try. And it's not like we have a sticky detailing how to do it either.
Conclusion: Much like we all wish they would region lock China in PUBG, can we please move the glitch runs to their own category?
I don't currently have a point in this discussion, but I am curious as to why my newest runs have been sitting in queue for a week, but we obviously have mods active on the board.
If you guys can shitpost on how best to exploit a glitch, and whether or not small tile runs are cool or not, we could also be keeping the board up to date with current and active WRs.
You going to link to a video there?
Because benchmarks has your phone as a '555' compared to my own phones '3328', which leads me to believe otherwise. Even the benchmarks X score, which is used specificaly in regards to gaming, has a difference of over 20k between our phones.
Which do you imagine is easier?
Using one of the many well tested, well reviewed apps on the market, a.k.a what most people coming into speed running would try, or, downloading 3rd party software on their PC, plugging their phone into it, turning on USB debugging, running that program, hoping your drivers are compatible with the program, and then finally recording using that program? Because that's what your link leads to. A list of steps and a program to download. 2048 is a casual game, and I'd imagine that when someone looks to speedrun a game like 2048, they aren't going to be jumping through hoops.
It's an obvious answer, I think.
But hey, what do I know? I'm just the only person actually running 2048 on touch screen.
Also, as far as my phones ranking goes:
My phone is 38th out of over 2000 phones. It is equal in strength to top of the line phones from the biggest makers, which a quick Google tells me makes up less than 12% of the Android market. The other 88% is made up of lower line versions from different makers.
Which again, means if it's stuttering on my phone, means it's stuttering on others phones as well.
What you're doing, is gatekeeping.
Choices given are:
Use the app you chose, which is crap. Use third party PC programs to record, which is a massive hassle that obviously came with zero community input. Get a top of the line $1000+ phone to maybe run the game at close to top speed while locally recording as usual.
You're blocking out 99% of potential runners because you'd rather be right, than accommodating.
Which is cool. You're super mod, so your word is final.
But next time you want to start posting links to free results on how to record your phone's screen, you should instead consider how many people are going to go through the effort to do it.
Oh believe me, it's worse than that. The ingame timer starts the moment the ad finishes playing on startup, but we're expected to time from our first input. Which is meant to give us a moment to consider how to start the run. A strategy moment.
So either we need to run our own on screen timer, or we need to ignore the ingame timer completely and remember the exact moment we started actually playing. Again, a feature only seen in the newly required app version for runs.
I really don't mean to complain, but as it is, barely anyone runs touchscreen. I'm pretty sure at this point, that it's just me. I'd like competition. I'd like people to run against. And right now, if I can barely run the required version, and record at the same time, how can I expect someone with a $1000 super phone to decide that 2048 is their new thing, and run against me? Especially since every counter point I have above is valid. I want an open community, and the current app is stalling that.
Requiring touches to be visible is a great idea. Stops people from using a Bluetooth keyboard, or controller.
Requiring video of the run from start to finish is super obvious.
Requiring players to use a specific app that no one has tested(other than me?) under recording conditions seems the exact opposite of a good idea.
And again, you're over complicating things.
If my phone is struggling to run the app you've suggested, and the best screen recording software on the app store at the same time, than 90% of all Android users are going to run it even worse than I am.
Is suggesting that the best option be to find a way to externally record the screen really a fix?
Most phones and tablets don't have mini HDMI out.
Most users don't have casting capable tvs, or networks.
The only realistic option for most users is having someone else record using a secondary camera, which would require a huge time investment as 99% of run attempts end in failed runs.
Again, this is restricting the potential of the running community and I don't think it's realistic. You can't exclude the larger portion of the community because their phones can't run the needed software, or make use of external recording setups.
Between my posts yesterday, and today, I did test runs with the three most downloaded screen recorders on Google play.
DU Recorder: 50m downloads AZ Screen recorder: 10m downloads Screen recorder - Free no ads: 1m downloads.
I did runs while recording, using the app suggested in the rules, and using the app that the current top two runs used.
For all three recording programs, there was stuttering, slowdowns, and in one instance an outright hard reset(Screen recorder - Free no ads).
Using the version I've been running on, I had mild slowdowns using DU, but not bad enough that I'd say that the speed the game is running is affecting how long it takes to reach 2048.
With AZ, it ran as I expected it to, which is about 95% of normal speed.
I skipped screen recorder - free no ads for this one as it just doesn't run all that well to begin with.
For reference, this was done on a OnePlus 3T, which GSMArena.com has as 38th strongest phone, one point away from the Samsung Galaxy S9+, within 100 points of the Note 8, Note 8+, Pixel 2, and the S8 Active.
As I said above, if my phone is stuttering, so would just about most of the Android market, unless they bought a brand new phone this year. Which most people won't, and didn't.
2048 is a simple game, with simple programming. Forcing the community to only use a version that is slow, has ads, and a wonky timer because it's the original version stifles it.
I have atrocious internet, and uploading 300mb takes hours and hours at times. No reason to upload a new best time if no one is even beating my current one, you know?
Plus if I widen the gap to a minute between first and second, that will lower the chances anyone will even attempt.
As for an external option, I'd think video capture would be much better than someone recording the run over my shoulder.
That, or buying a TV or second device to stream my screen to(which I'd imagine would also cause slow down), and attempting to record using other software. This would also necessitate turning on developer mode to activate touch view, or perhaps another third party program to do the same thing. Kinda seems over complicated when the goal should be to keep things as uncomplicated as possible to grow the community.
Can I get some clarification on why the verified version of the app is set as (Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gabrielecirulli.app2048) when all current runs have been run on (2048 - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tpcstld.twozerogame)?
I ask because the version suggested in the rules tab runs like crap, has ads, and slows to a crawl while recording. I'm running on a Oneplus 3T, and bench marks has it as still a top 40 phone, so I can't imagine anyone else would be able to run that much better than I can, which could severely affect how many new runs are posted in the touchscreen section.
Could a moderator take a look at that, and consider changing the suggested app to the one most used? I have new recorded runs that I've saved up for when someone eventually beats my current record, but they are useless now with the app change.
I can do the times again, but the new suggested app simply doesn't run as well while recording.
They could each have their own subcategory?
The original game was 4 x 4, so should be the main category.
After that, I see no reason their can't be a category for each variation, as they each have their own level of ease or difficulty in regards to size.
