The following is a proposal for a 12 Achievements category, based on the game's 13 Steam achievements.
I'm aware that this game doesn't exactly have an active speedrunning community, but it would be nice to get at least some feedback on it (Fiona in particular - I'm sorry, but you are the game's sole moderator). Some specific feedback I'm looking for includes opinions regarding the inclusion/exclusion of Faster and Reset, as well as opinions regarding the category's name; I've been calling it "12 Achievements" (or jokingly "DownWithCis%") but I'm not sure about that name, tbh?
None of this is urgent, of course. :p
[section=Rules] All runs must start from the main menu. The timer starts as soon as input is given to start the game. The timer ends as soon as the conditions for the last achievement are met.
Throughout the run, you must meet the conditions for all of the twelve achievements listed below (all Steam achievements except 'Faster'). The achievements may be collected in any order.
[section=List of achievements] This is a list of the game's achievements and the conditions required to unlock them. The precise frame-specific 'timing' conditions are only used for retiming the end of a run (if necessary), and so only the one for the last achievement in a run is relevant.
Reset Erase the phone's data without having reached the bottom of the diary. Awarded upon clicking 'Accept'. For a run, this is counted as the first frame after the pop-up disappears.
Free WiFi! Connect to the Melren Open Wi-Fi network (password: 29064). Awarded upon either clicking 'Accept' OR upon receiving the pop-up for Alice's email (15 seconds after reaching the bottom of the diary; this activates the wi-fi regardless of its prior status). For a run, regardless of whether or not the email skip is used, this is counted as the first frame after the wi-fi icon in the top-left changes to its 'connected' variant.
<3 Log in to Sam's 'Sam-Thing' account on Lovbirds (password: 0131). Awarded upon clicking 'Accept'. For timing, this is counted as the first frame after the profile becomes visible.
<3 <3 Log in to Sam's 'Sam-Thing-Else' account on Lovbirds (password: 1219). Awarded upon clicking 'Accept'. For timing, this is counted as the first frame after the profile becomes visible.
Bookworm Click on every topic on the Be You forum (including the VIP thread, though you are not required to have unlocked it). Awarded upon clicking on the link to the last thread. For timing, this is counted as the first frame after the webpage changes (either to the topic in question or to the login page).
VIP Enter the VIP thread on the Be You forums (security question answer: 1961; account password is randomised). Awarded upon entering the VIP thread after logging in. For timing, this is counted as the first frame that the VIP thread is visible.
Photo Booth Let go of any sense of ethics you may have been clinging on to and send Sam's selfie to Phil_free (and receive his response). Awarded upon clicking 'Accept' on the message pop-up. For timing, this is counted as the first frame after the pop-up disappears.
Secret Garden Unlock the diary in the Calculator app (password: 85922). Awarded upon clicking the 'Diary' icon. For timing, this is counted as the first frame that the diary itself is visible.
You've Got Mail Send the draft email. Awarded upon clicking 'Send Draft'. For timing, this is counted as the first frame after you are returned to the inbox.
Photo Album Download any one of the image attachments in the E-mail app (ie. not any of the ones on the Be You forum). Awarded upon clicking on the attachment to download it. For timing, this is counted as the first frame that the 'File added' notification is visible.
DJ Download any one of the audio attachments in the E-mail app. Awarded upon clicking on the attachment to download it. For timing, this is counted as the first frame that the 'File added' notification is visible.
The Truth Erase the phone's data after having reached the bottom of the diary. Awarded upon clicking 'Accept'. For timing, this has the same conditions as an Any% run (ie. the first frame of the credits).
Use the 'to top'/'to bottom' button 10 times. Awarded upon clicking/pressing it the tenth time. The game has a bug involving this achievement, and even if it didn't there would be problems with it; see the 'notes' and 'potential methods' sections below for more information.
[section=Sources for achievement conditions] • https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=851053355 • This YouTube video • Original research/experimentation
[section=General notes regarding the 'Faster' spam bug] • When the button is pressed normally, it triggers a jump from the current position to either the top or bottom of the current conversation/list, depending on the direction last scrolled by the player. As far as I can tell, this jump always takes the same amount of time. When a jump is in-progress, the player cannot scroll at all, and the only way to cancel the jump is to exit from the current conversation/list (difficult on PC, given the speed of the jump). • The internal 'number of times pressed' counter starts at 0, and the achievement triggers as soon as it reaches 10. The counter does not increment past 10. The value of the counter persists unless you reset the phone and then immediately quit the game. • The counter can be incremented (by 1 each time) in three ways: • NORMAL: Clicking on the button while it is visible (and there is not a jump in-progress) will increment the counter and play a sound effect (as well as triggering a jump). • MID-JUMP: Clicking on the button while a jump is in-progress will also increment the counter (but will not trigger a jump), and will play a sound effect. • INVISIBLE: If the button would appear in a particular conversation/list if the player scrolled, then clicking on the location of the button will increment the counter, regardless of whether or not it is visible (note that a jump will not be triggered if the button is not visible). This will not play a sound effect. • Like most other buttons in this game, it only counts as being pressed (for all three methods above) if the mouse button was both pressed down AND released while hovering over the button (though it can be moved off of the button between those two events); specifically, upon the release of the mouse button. The enter key shortcut does work with the button.
[section=Potential methods for verifying 'Faster'?] • : Not at all ideal since it automatically excludes people not using Steam (including anyone on Android, iOS, or Switch), and isn't particularly convenient even for people that are using Steam. Achievement notifications are also delayed, and sometimes don't show up at all until another achievement is unlocked; this poses a problem if for some reason Faster is the last achievement that someone collects. • : Imprecise, though precision isn't required unless Faster is the last achievement collected (which I suppose is something that could technically happen; this method would be useless in that case). As mentioned in the notes above, not all actions that cause the counter to increment will cause a sound effect to play. This would also require all runners to have sound effects audible in their recordings; not sure if that would be considered.. acceptable? Another problem that I just realised: the sound effects are so much quieter than the game's music, which makes them more or less inaudible and pretty much precludes this method as a possibility. • Visual (ignore spam bug): ie. the first frame of the jump. It's unclear how this could be done with a 100% success rate; in small lists/conversations it would probably in some cases be unclear if a jump actually occurred or if it was just the player's scrolling. • : So, this method would have used a combination of visual and sound effect verification to make sure that each discrete jump actually occurred (though would still have had other issues), though the volume of the sound effects kind of makes this as impossible as the standalone sound verification method. So, whatever. • Ignore achievement: Given the difficulty in verifying this achievement, honestly it might just be best to not require it for the run (though of course it wouldn't really be an all achievements run any more). This is the option that I personally think works best out of these five.
[section=Example run] This is an example run I did in this category (without Faster), clocking in at 01:05. It's not fully polished, but it shows what a run might look like.
The basic route layout that I used: • Reset • Activate the wi-fi • Log in to Lovbirds • Collect the forum achievements and download the selfie • Enter the diary and scroll to the bottom, starting the 15s timer • Send the selfie to Phil • Collect the three E-mail achievements • View Phil's reply • Head to Settings and use the persistent pop-up bug to complete the run
And the times for each achievement: 00:03.33 | Reset 00:12.18 | Free WiFi! 00:15.93 | <3 00:19.10 | <3 <3 00:30.10 | Bookworm 00:43.38 | VIP 00:47.65 | Secret Garden 00:57.23 | You've Got Mail 00:58.51 | Photo Album 01:00.28 | DJ 01:02.23 | Photo Booth 01:05.68 | The Truth
And (just to make sure!): please don't feel like you can't suggest (major or minor) changes to the category just because I've already run it. I'd be happy to redo my run (which I'd probably be doing anyway, given the imperfections) if it meant having better rules for the category.
Wow, super nice post. I only play on iOs so I'm not concerned, but please Finn make this man/girl dream comes true. (And please add a picture to the sr.com game page)
Ps: Make Sappho become mod :)
Oh, thanks! And as for you being on iOS, you'd still be able to run it if you wanted to, tbh. As long as you meet the conditions for each achievement, it doesn't really matter if you're actually on the Steam version or not.
Edit: oh, and I'm a girl. She/her
A well-researched and written post! Unfortunately it only serves to further prove that I don't know this game as well as the people actually running it do. :V
I've reached out to Sappho and she's agreed to accept a position as mod for the game. Apologies that I've not been super active with this game - tbh I sent in the first run as a joke of sorts, but it's been great to see people actually sit down and figure the game out. Here's to many more fast runs and 15 second email waits!
How is that cover image?
(I've also added the missing platforms and removed the regions. I'll get around to making the Achievements% category as soon as I get a chance.)
