2nd Issue — Speedrunning Video Games, how fun is it?
2nd issue | May 2022 | Cover:
Speedrunning Video Games, how fun is it?
Lets break the game!
Speedrun News! — Interview with Speedrunner — Your messages and ideas bract
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1st Page:
Hello gamers, welcome to the our second issue of Game Taste Café (GTC) newsletter.
If you don’t know already, Game Taste Café (GTC) newsletter is here to expand everyone’s knowledge of video games in every aspect possible. In each issue, we focus on a challenging somewhat underdog topic to see what’s new in the games world and what will happen in this industry’s future.
In this issue, we talk about speedrunning video, where it came from and how fun is it? So if you were wondering about this topic for a while, this is your read.
This newsletter is presented to you by GTC studio, written by Tarokh Tarhandeh and designed by Shaghayegh Nazari.
If you have anything video game related to share with us, do not hesitate to contact us via these email addresses:
tarokh.tahrnadeh@gmail.com
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News
Speedrunning-only game named Warstride Challenges released on Steam on April 19th
Focus Entertainment has announced a new fast-paced FPS called Warstride Challenges, developed by Dream Powered Games. The player’s main goal is to finish levels as fast as possible and achieve a perfect run. Along with developer-made levels, the community can also create and share their runs with each other.
Via Gamingbolt
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Speedrunner Finishes the Game in 2 Minutes and 33 Seconds, Setting New World Record
Speedrunner called “Karsto” uploaded their speedrun of the 2006 open world RPG The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, setting a world record of finishing the game in 2 minutes and 33 seconds.
This comes shortly after speedrunner “Dezmone” uploaded their run of 2 minutes and 34 seconds, which was set on New Years Eve.
It is impressive given the fact that the game is pretty large in size and takes well over 40–60 hours to complete from start to finish.
Via Exputer and Gamingbolt
Elden Ring players are on a race to beat the game as fastest as possible
It has been reported on many websites and publications that almost each week a player is beating the other’s numbers in finishing Elden Ring. The goal was to finish the game in less than 30 minutes which was accomplished and the numbers still keep coming.
Via The Verge
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Main Feature
Speedrunning Video Games, how fun is it?
Lets break the game!
Being the best at any possible measure of ranking is one of the things we, humans, think about a lot. We need to win to reach success to continue doing whatever it is that we do. There’s a popular concept, and a sub-culture in the video games world called speedrunning. The goal of speedrunning is to finish a game as fast as possible using anything we can use, including bugs, glitches, etc. To succeed, we need to experience a lot before reaching our goal of winning. Here come failures and getting beat. To sum up, we do not make it so often before finally being able to make it. That is the everyday life of speedrunners who do not give up even when the odds are against them. But why? We will talk about the answer to this question in this article. So stay with us, and let’s speedrun this one as well, right?
Speedrunning, how fun is it? And why?
Being quick and being the fastest has always been implied in many different games, and sometimes it is the ultimate goal of the game by which the winner is chosen. It is not clear when was the first time a game was speedrun, but it was in 1993; with the Internet going wide, people could speedrun games and compare their numbers on leaderboards.
Later on, an annual charity tournament was found in the name of Games Done Quick. People gather together every year and compete in speedrunning games. This event has raised more than 37 million dollars for different charities until last year.
Now that we know a bit about speedrunning history and how it has benefited the world, it is time to answer the question of why do we find it fun? The answer is in our needs and our instincts. We need to win, and we need to be the best when there’s a competition, and we need to be the mastermind when there is a giant maze, an enormous structure that needs figuring out. Speedrunning gives us an answer to all of these needs.
Let’s Break the Game
The game to speedrunners is like a maze that needs to be finished asap. It is like a structure that needs to be broken, and then the broken pieces give the player the advantage of reaching the ending point of the structure very soon. Whoever breaks the game better and reaches the end faster is the ultimate winner and, of course, the ultimate mastermind. Whether you’re the speedrunner or someone who watches the process, it is always fun to experience a human being’s triumph in what they passionately and, of course, so quickly do.
Did you know there’s also a website that keeps track of this kind of race? That website is www.speedrun.com; you could check any game’s stats and speedrunning numbers there. Check the numbers or join the race yourself!
Speedrunning has been a part of the gaming community from the very beginning, and as an independent culture of its own, it is growing year by year or, better to say, game by game. It is a wonder where it goes in years and generations ahead. Maybe it will become the ultimate way to polish video games before they publish, or it will become more popular and more tournaments and events will focus on it.
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Interview
Karter aka Karterfreak is one of the top speedrunners in games like Metroid and Rogue Legacy. We’ve had a little chat with him and asked him all about speedrunning.
Hello Karter and welcome to our 2nd issue. First things first, introduce yourself for our readers like when did you start playing video games, when did that lead to speedrunning, what are your favorite games and things like that. We already know you have dome some amazing records on Metroid Dread and Rogue Legacy 2. Tell us about that as well.
I started playing video games very young (around 3 or 4 years old), starting with Super Mario Bros, Punch-out!, Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart and Super Metroid. I was introduced to speedrunning in the form of Mario Kart 64 time trials in the early days of the internet with the website mariokart64.com and I’ve been hooked since. My most recent speedruns were Metroid Dread and Kirby and the Forgotten Land, though Metroid Dread had a lot of staying power for me due to being a huge fan of the series.
Living and breathing as a speedrunner, what is it like being a part of this community? How fun is it to speedrun a game? Is it mostly fun because of the game breaking or is there something else to it?
For me the best part of the speedrun community is the collaboration in dropping the record lower and lower. There are so many different aspects from routing, glitch hunting, and actually executing the run that really only come together because of the collaboration between a game’s community.
As for the most fun part of speedrunning for me, I would have to say the initial routing and discovery period of a game is by far the most enjoyable. Working out optimal routes to get to the end of a game or get to 100% as quickly as possible are what really drive me in the early months of a new speedrun.
Now that we have talked about it, what do you think about the video game industry investing more on speedrunning which can obviously help games to get polished better, get better Q&A, etc.
I wholeheartedly that speedrunners would be great at QA, especially those who do glitch discovery. Many people who do this in speedrunning are already very good at reproducing glitches or tricks in a game and explaining the steps to reproduce it in a concise manner, and some even already work in QA as a result!
If you were a level designer or a game designer, what would your reaction be to a speedrunner doing all sorts of stuff with your game?
Personally I would love seeing people enjoy my game enough to really dig deep into how the game works! The communities are often fantastic and will even talk with devs if they are willing to listen (more devs should do this!). On the bug fixing side of things, many things speedrunners do would get a pass so long as they don’t directly impact the game in a negative way for someone playing it the first time. Hard to execute glitches and tricks would be kept around but things that ruin the experience such as crashes would have to be figured out to help improve player experience.
Is there anything else you would like to share with us? We are all ears.
For anyone who has interest in speedrunning but hasn’t taken that first step, please do! You don’t need to be a ‘pro gamer’ to enjoy the hobby, and you’ll learn a lot about your favourite game as you improve against yourself! Many communities also have very helpful resources and guides to help you get started with speedrunning the game of your choice. The best part is you’ll meet lots of awesome people! Some of my best friends I’ve met through this hobby!
Thank you for all the great answers and thank you for your time. I enjoyed talking to you and I’m sure that the gamers reading our newsletter also enjoyed the interview too. Have a great day and continue doing your runs.
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Your messages and ideas bract
We asked you on our Instagram (@gtc_game) that how fun do you find speedrunning and why? Over 60% of you answered you find it fun and if you were to measure the fun ratio, you would think its almost 75% fun.
Having other ideas? Share them with us via our social media channels and our website:
📣Instagram: @gtc_game
📢Facebook: @GTCgame
💭Twitter: @_GTC_Game_
💬Linkedin: @game-tase-cafe-gtc
🌐Website: gtc.ee
You could also download the full PDF version of this newsletter via the link below:
