This is the thread dedicated to DCT's categories. Adding and removing them, their rules... This is merely a simple post presenting the thread. For actual subject matters, read what's below.

This current post is about adding a new category for the game : all stages. It has been requested by a couple players due to a general weariness of any%. As it implies, one would have to collect every sun stones in order to unlock the extra stages. Which means completely different routing than any%.

Here would be its rules :

" Beat all the stages the game has to offer.

Timing rules :

• Timing starts upon the first frame of the fade-down process that applies to the screen after creating a new game.

• Timing ends on the frame that the "vision clear" text of the last remaining extra has reached its final position on the screen. "

About this last line, we had made a poll about our stance on stage play order : https://strawpoll.com/polls/GJn4GRbpXyz Although our sample size is small (we should have opened this discussion earlier with the poll, mistakes were made), the results are unanimous : people favor freedom of choice over the played stages. This will allow custom order of the extra stages to be played (potentially begin with the hardest one first, Ex 4), but also strategies to save some time in the world map movement and level scrolling. Unfortunately, the time limit (which was up to wednesday 23th) apparently didn't apply or something, and anyone can still input results. So, here's a link of the results 90 minutes exactly after the due date for recording purpose : https://imgur.com/a/BLLT7se

I'll add the category as it is for now, and will update it later if I forgot some detail, or if there's something people want changed.

After a bit of discussion in the server, two categories have been designed : all dreamstones and all S ranks.

• all dreamstones is getting all gems at once in a stage, for all of the stages, including the extras which you thus need to unlock.

Run begins like any%, and would end on the first frame that the final unlocked picture is being fully shown on-screen with Klonoa dialogue.

• all S ranks. Perfect play, all collectibles in all stages, no damage and screen retries. The ultimate 100% experience.

Run begins like any%. Since you unlock the Gallery by doing this, we have the run end on the first frame that the Gallery icon appears on the world map. Which immediately happens after getting the last S rank, because you’re automatically being brought to the world map to see it unlock.

Much like before, I will push these forward, and make corrections if I or you notice any oversights.

A new and huge trick for the game has been found, and it may impact the leaderboard :

The video (courtesy of Tompa - and NOT Tomba) explains most of what there is to know about it, but I’ll still summarize it here very quickly.

Right before any stage / boss ends and loads out, if you pause at a very specific frame, and choose to return to the map screen, the "instance" will be considered beaten and you will instantly warp to the map. As in, you fully skip the stat screen, artwork unlock screen, and stage unlock animation in the world map. Saving tremendous time across the run if you do it everywhere you can. And dreamstones are saved.

However, and as you may have guessed, this trick compromises the timing definition of the all dreamstones category. As the end of which is timed upon the first frame of the cutscene of the final unlockable artwork gets played : https: //youtu.be/f4krtF8dA6k?t=11804

Although it would be a crazy unlikely scenario, this trick could accidentally be used to entirely skip over the end point of the run. And honestly, I’m wondering if it’s even reasonable that I’m bothering about this.

But, if we were to change this end point, then perhaps a working replacement could simply be to push the end of the run to the first frame of the world map displaying, after getting out of the last extra stage. A "flash" white frame, as such : https: //youtu.be/f4krtF8dA6k?t=11810

Or, just like in all stages, make it so we end the run when the "vision clear" text reaches its final position. Which would make for more consistent rules. https: //youtu.be/f4krtF8dA6k?t=11798

Thankfully, no runs have been submitted for this category, so we can change anything we want about it at will.

I'm still not sure if it's worth doing anything about it, as you'd have to either be trolling, or be dumbfoundedly unfortunate to have it happen. But if people are fine with the move, we may changing it to either of these (I personally favor the second option)

I think I'd prefer ending time on the last Vision clear stop. Might be a good practice for after the run if it is skipped, going back over and showing each vision does have 100% dreamstones

Okay, it's been 3 days. We're gonna change the end point of all dreamstones to that of :

"

• Timing ends on the frame that the "vision clear" text has reached its final position on the screen, after completing the last remaining extra stage.

"

Which is the exact same to that of the all stages category.

It may be good practice to show the cutscene of the final unlockable artwork, as well as the dreamstone/stats on each stage on the world map. But it's nowhere necessary for run verification.

Hey. Let's start talking about DCT ILs. (People have been mainly asking about extra ILs, but I figured we can add the normal ones as well in one swift sweep).

For the general IL board structure, we'll take direct inspiration from EoD. But we also have to adapt to the new categories of this game.

Without further ado, here's what I devised :

• Any% level category.

I opted to not include the variant where you collect the sun stone, because, it doesn’t have a full-game speedrun counterpart. That and it feels rather unfulfilling. Wouldn’t be difficult to add in, in case you guys disagree.

• 100% level category, comprised of three run types :

° S rank

° 100% (with damage)

° 100% w/ the sun stone.

It’s possible that the 100% category for some stages out there may lead to look exactly like S rank ILs. If this happens, S rank submissions are to be favored.

The last one seems boring, as you’re mostly only switching strategies for one section (if the strategy even changes at all). But it does technically have a full-game run counterpart : all stages. I wouldn’t add it personally, but again, it’s your call. Also easy to add.

Just like in EoD, DCT has autoscroller stages. And we’ve confirmed via testing that out of the five (which are located on the X-7 stages this time), 1-7, 3-7 and 4-7 can be matched to the TAS without much effort and difficulty. Even when you pick up everything. This is because the screen scrolls slowly in those stages, so if you’re not too slow, you can catch up to it before the loading-zone gets accessible.

As such, these stages don’t have much speedrunning value, so I really think we shouldn’t bother with them. Much like EoD, we would still add these levels in, for a consistent IL board look, but submissions of them would be prohibited.

On the other hand, 2-7 and 5-7 are different by that they scroll up. You can’t buffer anything unless you play frame-perfectly (or even more precisely). It at least makes tying the max time a difficult but meaningful endeavor.

We’re also gonna reuse the EoD system when it comes to managing the extra ILs who happen to have a in-game timer. Those are extra 1, 3 and 5 (the rest are puzzle levels).

RTA will be the main metric (just like anything else), while IGT will be filled within the submission form via variables. There, you input the time and here we go.

For IGT, pausing would be banned, except for edge cases (stuff like accidentally pausing, for very briefs periods, during non-gameplay sections to give an example). But remember, you can still submit runs even with compromizing amounts of pausing in it. The IGT counterpart will be omitted, but the run will still be timed as RTA, as this is perfectly fine. Such that the time-attack spirit is kept alive. Oh and because the IGT times may be unreadable as more runs are being submitted, one trick is to filter the runs, in which you'll see the IGT variables people have submitted... and be able to find the fastest one (you can try this out on the EoD board). Absolutely wonderful.

Obviously, some categories might be unusable for certain levels. Garlen is the biggest example, as only any% suits him. You unfortunately can't make it clean, without making the back end extremely complicated and honestly miserable to use. With src anyways, simplicity is best.

So, tell me what you think. (I tried to cover everything but this was posted in a hurry, so sorry for the mistakes.)

No reactions to my post. Maybe the people are in a silent acceptance of these change ideas… but I just finished putting in place.

DCT ILs !

Some unforeseen situations I had to adapt to :

• I forgot “bosses” had timers too. So they just behave like ILs. (Race stages are perhaps a better name ?)

• The Garlen fight doesn’t have any vision clear message. I guess we'll time the end point of the fight the same way we do it in any%.

• Additionally, this fight doesn't award you any rank. So, no need to worry about no damage. And this is true for All S Ranks speedruns too !

• I've noticed some naming inconsistencies, or dubious naming choices in the EoD board (which can most likely be credited to me).

For instance, the EoD board has the main stages called “X-X” instead of “Vision X-X”. Even though the latter is the one to show up in-game.

The extra stages are called "EX-X" on the world map, or Vision EX-X" in-stage... and yet, we decided to call them "extra X"

For the sake of relative naming consistency, I used the same logic for the DCT names.

It's not a big issue, but it's kind of irksome. I won't change anything like this without your clear consent.