Hello to all the runners.
We now have IL leaderboards in the "Level Leaderboard" dropdown tab under the game menu.
The IL leaderboards are not sorted by console because they will be using IGT, to which console will have no effect. Instead, this is the basic layout:
<Level Name> --- <Category> --- <Character>
You will still have to select the console, but it will have no effect on your submission ranking. I think separating by character is beneficial, as each character has a unique play style. You only need to submit the IGT of the level, and you must provide proof. Moderators will correct this if needed.
If you have any suggestions on how to improve this system, you may post them here.
Niiiice.
edit: Hang about, no distinction between Normal and Reverse?
Looks good, Metal Knuckles is missing though. Console and Platform on the submissions page appear to be the same thing too.
Are emulators permitted? I don't know about the effects of using them in this case.
Also, is there any plan to implement reverse/balloon/tag?
Added Metal Knuckles. I'll fix the console and platform issue when I get home.
Emulators are largely untested. As far as I can tell IGT seems to be accurate by level, and RTA saves time via loads. I'd like more testing, but I never use emulators, to be honest.
As for Reverse, Balloon, etc. I may add them as miscellaneous categories. Some may be fit for the main LBs, but I think I can definitely add them as misc if they are wanted.
Oh one more thing. This is strictly using the Time Attack mode correct? Rules didn't mention, but it would make a huge difference on times.
Nice! I remember trying to make IL leaderboards on a Geocities website years ago when TSC said they wouldn't make separate charts for No OoB. As I could tell from Daily's recent experience with talking with TSC staff, they have no plans of changing that. With that all being said, there's a few things I want to bring up, and ask in general.
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Not only are there times on TSC, but I believe there's also times on Cyberscore. And on CS, they also separate by character, and have every mode: Grand Prix (3lap/flap), Time Attack (3lap/flap), Reverse (3lap/flap), Balloon, and Tag. Ideally we would just take times from all of those charts and put them on here, because I doubt most people will take the time to submit. Honestly, most won't even know these leaderboards exist here. Another thing related to this is now that we have a third set of leaderboards (although these have No OoB which is nice), it kind of makes leaderboards on separate sites redundant and the decentralization of information isn't really the best.
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Regarding times that already exist, I know I have a bunch of old videos for some of my old PB's. The quality is god awful because they're from like 2007 with a garbage camera, but they exist. I'm sure I also have records that have no video proof. Would these times with no video proof be not allowed on the charts? What about the times with the awful quality (where you can't even really see the time)? Here's an example:
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Okay, so I posted that video specifically for a reason, because we'll need to sort this stuff out asap. Go to about the 0:11 point in the video, you see I do a jump that goes through a wall that normally shouldn't work. I just want to clarify whether something like this exists, since there's also a similar trick on Radical City reverse. I assume it'll be treated as No OoB based on the precedent set by the Knuckles helix skip in speedruns, but I figured it would be smart to bring it up now.
I think that's all I've got for now!
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I'm not quite sure what all the major differences in Time Trial are. Is it items enabled and possibly boosting off characters in GP mode? I guess we can consider adding both if it makes a huge difference that warrants separate categories. There were a few things I didn't consider at first when making the boards, but we can gradually add stuff. I can add GP mode if we want. So many categories! Personally I see Tag and Balloon fitting in as Misc categories, and possibly even Reverse. I dunno what you guys think on that though. It would probably get a little crowded on here. TSC doesn't require video evidence, and I've found the interface to be really confusing to navigate personally. I do prefer the more user friendly interface of SRC, and the inclusion of RTA boards with ILs.
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Yeah. Since that video does have a legible time on the results screen, I probably would allow it. I suppose I should make a note to include the results screen, and also to make sure that the time on the results screen is legible in the case that someone owns a camera incapable of capturing the game. Likely won't be a big issue these days.
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Also, my definition of out-of-bounds is to actually leave the track itself and run in an area that would otherwise not be accessible without clipping. So hopping to another part of the stage from one part of the stage seems to be valid for No OoB. I can agree on that, but if anyone else has an opinion on the matter, then please share it. This is also why separating by character is a good idea to me, because not every character can make some of these jumps.
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Time Trials and Grand Prix are pretty different honestly. Of course, GP has other racers, and GP is faster due to other factors. There's the obvious example of rings being faster and using boostpads and whatnot. Also, for flaps, in GP you can accumulate a ton of rings and wait to get speed shoes and start a lap so you're going extremely fast, which isn't possible to do in TT. However, the biggest difference isn't items, but weather. As far as I know (from playing the GCN version), TT and Reverse are always played in clear weather, meaning you can fall into the water. A lot of characters can't go over water, and even those that can (like Super Sonic) are slowed down a bit by it and can't really drift off of walls because of the slowdown, meaning you have to constantly jump with him. This changes strats and routes significantly with some characters, so yeah they're pretty different.
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Yeah I mean I plan on beating all of my old records anyway, so it shouldn't be an issue. It would just suck leaving off the times of competitors from the past due to not having video proof, because video proof ten years ago was just a whole different beast back then.
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I agree with those being fine for No OoB, and I'm sure others wouldn't reject. Just figured it was good to clarify before people start submitting stuff and then we change rules and cause a mess.
I'll add GP when I get home then. I misunderstood what Daily meant I think. I didn't consider all that stuff. Didn't know the weather was fixed either. I figured you two would know way more about what to do. I just had people ask about ILs.
Alright. I redid the boards. Here is what I did:
- For Level Selection, I added Grand Prix, Time Attack/Special Modes, and Reverse.
- Balloon and Tag are submitted under "<Level> Time Attack/Special with "Special" Category, and "Get 5 Balloons" or "Tag" as the "<Level> Special Mode". You can test out the submission form if you are interested in seeing how it works.
- Moderators will fix incorrect submissions.
- Whichever is fastest between "Get 5 Balloons" and "Tag" will be displayed as the best time for the "Special" Category on the complete board view. However, when you click the "Special" board itself, you can switch between those two categories.Sorry that I can't really fix this, but otherwise Tag and Balloon would be on the same board. You can sort by character and mode on the Special board.
- We have Full Race (No OoB and OoB Permitted) as well as Best Lap (No OoB and OoB Permitted) for Grand Prix, Time Trial/Special, and Reverse categories.
- Special is designated for Time Trial/Special because from what I see, it only adds more blank boards in the Full Race and Best Lap categories if I make a specific "<Level> - Special" in the level selection menu. It seems to not be an issue, but I won't be surprised if I have missed something by doing all this.
- OoB and No OoB haven't been specified as designated categories for Special Modes, but honestly I don't see how going Out of Bounds would be faster for these modes anyway. Please correct me if I am wrong.
- I can't seem to format the character menu for the boards. So the character select menu is still kinda bulky. As times fill the board, this may not be an issue. I don't expect them to be too full, but I may start adding times from various other sites onto these boards.
I think that is everything. Please let me know if something is wrong. You guys have been very helpful. Thanks.
The when it's set up now is probably the best we can do it for now sadly, unless the people who run the site can make an easier system for this. And yeah, going OoB won't be helpful for tag or balloons (not that I could think of at least) so it's fine not having a OoB/No OoB specification. The character menu part does look somewhat bad, but there's probably nothing we can actually do about it for now.
Hopefully people start doing some ILs and submitting! I was working on one yesterday and I'm going to do another today, so I'll probably submit those tonight. I'm going to get my buddy Etch to maybe submit some stuff here too, though I don't think he'll be around for another week or so, and I'm not sure whether he'll take the time to do it anyway.
I have decided to remove characters as a subcategory, and instead the times will be defaulted as "Any", with the fastest overall time being listed on the "view all" board page.
This gets rid of the clunky character selection blocks, and the times can be filtered by character to better represent specific character ILs. Ideally, it would be split by character like it was previously, and the fastest overall runs would be displayed on the main IL page listing all of the categories and levels, but unfortunately with the way it was before, it would only list the best times for the "Default Character" (which was Sonic) on the main page. Subcategories cannot exist without a default, so that's kinda lame.
Oh well. Seems like this is the best option.
I appreciate entirely the work put in so far and I know the system isn't really working with us so we'll take what we can have. It is better than nothing (although I'm very happy with what we have).
If in an IL you make a career with several characters, would the worst moments be obsolete or would they appear? I do not know if it can be done, but I think that instead of filtering by characters it would be good to create subcategories to play with all the characters without mixing, as in the time attack with balloons and tag. I do not know if I explain it well. (Google translate, I'm sorry).