Hello from the mod team! We've been considering this for a while, but now it's official: Journey mode speedruns will now be timed with In Game Time (IGT)!

Additionally, if you’re running on PC, we have created a LiveSplit autosplitter. This was made specifically to record IGT, and can be used as your final time when submitting a run. See more details here: https://www.speedrun.com/tetriseffect/guide/wkbh1

Due to the fact that it only works on PC, the autosplitter is completely optional.

RULES UPDATE! PLEASE READ! Runs are timed using in-game time. Timing ends the moment the 90th line of Metamorphosis is cleared (DO NOT submit the time shown after the credits). If your run contains deaths, the time shown just before respawning will be added to your final time. Pausing is allowed, but exiting to the menu will invalidate your run. Excessively pausing or abusing pauses is banned. All runs require permanent video proof. Please do not submit a timestamped Twitch stream VoD (Twitch highlights are ok).

Here's a quick FAQ about the switch to IGT:

Q: What's wrong with using Real Time Attack (RTA)? A: RTA times include a few unsavory things: loads, level-ups, and the delay before a level transition for music. The time taken by these non-gameplay elements could vary by up to 20 seconds between runs. Almost all of this is out of the control of the player, and some of it is hardware dependent.

Q: Why did we use RTA before? A: When the game first came out, using Zone paused the timer. This meant you could build up your stack during Zone while the timer was paused, and then clear the lines afterwards to progress very quickly. Zone no longer pauses the timer, so this isn’t an issue anymore.

Q: Isn't this less accurate? The in-game timer only shows seconds. A: Due to the accuracy issues with RTA, using IGT is far more accurate, and ties to the second are very rare. When there is a tie, the mod team can do an accurate retime for both runs.

Q: What do you mean by "permanent video proof"? A: A number of runs were submitted as an automatically generated Twitch stream VoD with a timestamp. Unfortunately, these VoDs expire, which means the run no longer has video proof. You can turn these into permanent videos by going to the Video Producer and turning the run into a Highlight, or uploading to YouTube.

Q: What does this mean for my previous runs? A: We'll handle all of that for you. We’ve already retimed every run using IGT while deciding whether or not to swap timing methods.

Q: Why is my run gone? A: If your run is no longer on the leaderboard, that can mean one of two things: A change in the rules means the run is no longer valid. We can't re-verify the run. Potential reasons for this are because the video link isn't valid or it was run on an old PS4 version where the timer behaved differently.

Q: What does this mean for new runs? A: The run itself stays the same, but make sure to check the rules when you submit the run to ensure you submit correctly.

Q: What if I die in my run? A: This doesn’t invalidate the run. While the timer does reset, just add the time shown before respawning to your end time.

Q: Can I run on a new file? A: No. Because a new file will exit at the end of every area, runs on a new file will be invalid.

Q: Can I still use LiveSplit without the autosplitter? A: You can use LiveSplit to keep track of your personal times. However, keep in mind that LiveSplit on its own tracks RTA, and thus won’t be comparable to the leaderboard.

If you have any other questions, the easiest way to ask is to comment on this post or open a thread. We will get a notification, and anybody with the same question will be able to see it too.