next »

[SirNiko]

I think the sequence breakability in Zero Mission was a reaction to complaints that Metroid Fusion was extremely linear. The way the game was designed, you couldn't skip anything until the very end, and then those shortcuts were only useful for getting 100% items without fighting the boss of the game first. The only place you COULD sequence break back was anticipated by the devs and they included a funny cutscene (but it prevented you from progressing with the game).

So naturally, when Zero Mission came out they not only made it sequence breakable, but they went so far as to reward it.

Another thing about speedrunning / sequence breaking - logical associations to events. Nothing is worse than inserting some NPC to stand on a bridge and insist "This bridge is broken, come back later!" when the criteria for fixing the bridge is to complete a wholly unrelated quest or talk to some NPC. The player should be able to know precisely what allows them to cross the bridge, or make crossing the bridge a physical problem the player can solve earlier or later by a clever combination of the right powerups or simply skill at jumping and climbing.

-SirNiko

[Core Xii]

Unskippable cutscenes.

[Xecutor]

IMO speedruns are more about game mechanics than level design.
In Quake there is quad damage+invulnerability+rocket jump combination.
In Quake2 there is so called 'bunny hopping' where you can
gain horizontal speed beyond normal limit by jumping continuously and strafing while midair.
Hm. But in both quakes secrets played very important role in speedruns.
So discovering all secrets and speed related powerups do count.

[Derakon]

Clearly a good speedrun is going to demand intimate knowledge of both the level design and the game mechanics. You need the latter to know what the best ways of moving are, how to access areas you aren't meant to reach, how to efficiently dispose of obstacles, and so on. You need the former to know when to best apply each technique you learn from knowing the game mechanics. So, to put it broadly, a game that is well-suited to speedrunning will reward knowledge of both to a large extent.

[SirNiko]

Unskippable cutscenes.

Better yet, there should be an option for no cutscenes when you're trying to get a target time. A clearly marked "Speedrun mode" that reduces randomization is a good choice, like how Super Mario Kart time trials removed the random item boxes and instead started you with triple boost mushrooms.

Tangentially, I can't be the only person who hated the level in Goldeneye where you could fail the mission by getting just too far from your contact while he was talking, but if you waited patiently for him to finish you could miss the target time.

-SirNiko

[FrankieSmileShow]

For a game that is actually geared towards speed runs, something to take into consideration: shortcuts that are late in a game or level, outrageously hard yet so helpful to the time limit that they are mandatory to a good run. I think that those can almost ruin the speedrunning appeal of a game.

An example of this was in Cactus's Shotgun Ninja, there was a very lengthy, late level that was possible to skip entirely through an accidental shortcut, by wall jumping up a very wide shaft that led almost straight to the end of the level above.
It was way too tricky to do right, the width of the gap was wide enough that only a perfect wall jump accross the pit would allow to climb up, and anything short from perfect would make you miss the wall and fall down, or catch the wall lower than your initial jump. The pit was very high, so to climb it up required to like 10 pixel-perfect consecutive wall jumps, maybe more. Just doing one perfect wall jump took many attempts, let alone doing 10 in a row. The level being somewhat late in the game meant that screwing it up made you restart the entire game for another attempt, the shortcut being significant enough to make it mandatory to having a good end time.  I dont remember if that was changed in the end (like if the walls were put closer to make it less outrageous or if the shortcut was taken out)

This wasnt really a problem for shotgun ninja; I dont think the game was created specifically for speedruns. If it were the case though, this could be seen as a significant problem. Or would it? Maybe there are speedrunners out there who like the idea of super risky giga shortcuts that can make or break a run attempt...? In a way those ridiculous diagonal and horizontal bombjumps accross pits in super metroid speedruns are sort of like that... But personally id avoid such cruel things! (I can barely pull off a single vertical bomb jump, I cant believe some people do them horizontally, and multiple in a row..!)


Also, this might sound dumb and obvious but...
Put an overall game timer in the game! And make the timer pause whenever the game is paused or during cutscenes. I mean, you cant go any closer to a direct help to speedrunning than to give an in-game elapsed time counter. As a bonus it gives a touch of "official" to whatever time the runners end up with. Its your official game timer. Okay I know, its obvious, but no one mentionned that I think...

[psy_wombats]

Actually, the example you brought up sounds really obnoxious. Maybe something like that earlier in the level would be fine, but having to restart your perfect run due to a semi-impossible challenge at the end would be rather irritating. If something like that's implemented, maybe a "practice mode" would be helpful so the player could at least grind that point for a while until they had a reasonable shot at success. But then again, I'm not a speedrunner, maybe that would lessen the thrill.

[baconman]

Also, this might sound dumb and obvious but...
Put an overall game timer in the game! And make the timer pause whenever the game is paused or during cutscenes. I mean, you cant go any closer to a direct help to speedrunning than to give an in-game elapsed time counter. As a bonus it gives a touch of "official" to whatever time the runners end up with. Its your official game timer. Okay I know, its obvious, but no one mentionned that I think...

THIS. To the tenth-second, at least; because once your game runs into pro-level competition (as opposed to people just beginning to establish records), that kind of thing becomes critical.

[XRA]

- a sense of being able to catch up if you fall behind, it sucks to know that there is no chance of improvements after one mistake.
- during development, test the game in slow motion and create all sorts of exploitable strings of events in the level's design that relate back to how your mechanics work... the slow motion will make it easier for yourself to casually test..