I just became the moderator for "Creeper World: Anniversary Edition" (https://www.speedrun.com/creeperworld?h=Any&x=wkpvz4gk). The game is very inactive (4 full-game runners ever, last run before mine was 2 years ago). I have never moderated a game before so I am looking to moderators of other games for feedback.
Here are the any% rules as they stand currently: "Complete every mission in the main story. Double-Speed is allowed, and you don't have to clear your save data between every run. Run starts when clicking into the first mission, and ends on closing the statistics graph for the last mission."
This wording leaves quite a bit of ambiguity, and I would like to clarify it. One interpretation would be that you must complete the levels in the "default" order that they are available from a fresh save file. Another interpretation is that you can complete the levels in any order, so long as you complete all the levels in a run.
The biggest advantages of the sequential ordering I can think of are: This is what is available from a fresh save file It makes the most intuitive “sense” for what a full run should look like. It makes run verification easier (no need to have a tally of which levels are completed). Gives all runs a more uniform flow.
On the other hand, in favor of any ordering: There isn't any (known) functional gameplay difference in allowing for runs in any order, and if something was found, the rules would have to change anyway to ban runs starting on completed save files. We are already allowing runs from completed save files, so it seems like a bit of an artificial requirement that you have to go in order. It would probably allow for faster overall times since you could do the hardest levels immediately and quickly reset if you don’t hit them. It allows for more creativity in runs, giving people the option to play more how they would like. No runs would be obsoleted with this definition, since you can always choose to run sequentially even with this definition. Personally, I think runs are more fun if you are not required to slog through the boring tutorial level immediately.
I could also add a separate category to cover both cases, but it seems a bit excessive for a game with such a small playerbase. Open to feedback, curious what the standard is for other "independent level" type games. I did make a similar post on the game forum (https://www.speedrun.com/creeperworld/thread/hpcfs) a week ago but no one has responded lol. I know for sure I want to clarify the rules one way or the other, just not positive which way to go.
@inkling16 you can link directly to the rules, so you don't have to quote them
But I would go with the non-linear order due to me appently liking to do more work
Although I'm sure people will play the levels in their normal order even with having this
I would look at other boards that do this and see what they're like and why they do it, but I don't know any major ones that do
