I have revised how we time our runs, all runs will now be frame timed upon verification. The current criteria is as follows:

FOR INDIVIDUAL LEVEL LEADERBOARDS:

Timer starts on the first frame in which the first slash is rendered

Timer ends when the last bubble is popped on the level

FOR FULL LENGTH any% or arcade%:

Timer starts on the first frame in which the first slash is rendered

Timer ends when the last bubble on the final level is popped

I feel this is currently the most reliable and accurate way to time runs of all categories. Any suggestions, questions or concerns can be sent in this thread. This will all be posted in the Game Rules and Category rules as well.

what exactly do you mean by "first slash is rendered"? the start time of my wr is on the frame where like 10 bubbles have already been popped and the slashx6 text has already appeared long ago

also imo it would be better if individual level speedrun timing started when the level is reset instead of when the start ring is clicked, there are some cyclebased levels (like 24) where you have to wait a few seconds in fullgame speedruns but in IL speedruns you can just wait to click start at the last moment, which saves these few seconds out of nowhere, just a suggestion though

many other games like red ball and the world's hardest game use this IL timing method too

@TheEgglet Your wr time is started on this frame, which is the first frame that a slash from the mouse input is rendered

Atleast it's supposed to. I may have messed that bit up

As far as your 2nd comment, I am totally open to this idea but I would require a bit of help to retime the 60-70+ individual level runs that have been submitted. Easier to start now than later. My time zone is CST Gmt-6 so any delay in response is because of that

For individual levels, level 1 is going to be notoriously hard to time accurately and I dont believe there is a method that will be able to time level 1 specifically as accurately as possible

i can help retime the individual level runs

as for level 1 runs should probably still start from reset level because the lag can be exploited like in daewe's speedrun to get insane times

also another idea: maybe timing could end when the screen becomes blurry (or screen becomes blue) and the level complete cutscene starts (like 0.2s after the last bubble is popped)

it's way easier to spot than the last bubble being popped and imo feels more appropriate as a run end point because you can't control the player anymore and the post-level "cutscene" starts

my individual level run titles were retimed with the reset level -> screen goes blue (or blurry if it doesn't), if last bubble end is kept then i retimed it with reset level -> last bubble popped in description

@TheEgglet If you could provide an example of an individual level timed with your criteria, that would help me understand what exactly you're recommending. If the "blue frame" after the last bubble is popped has a consistent time gap between the last bubble popped and the frame appearing, then I would gladly allow that change.

As for retiming, I would like for you to become a permanent member of the staff team, you have much more experience running flash games than I do. Plus, I dont have much time to verify this many runs constantly. If you have any questions about mod let me know, otherwise I'll give you perms

I believe the timing rules for the full runs are still viable

ye i see no issue with current fullgame timing rules

also good point about the consistent time gap actually, the time between the last bubble popped and the blue frame varies between .200s and .267s so its probably better to keep timing end when last bubble is popped

to clarify for the reset -> screen becomes blue timing, my lv10 speedrun would retime to: Time starts at 1.200 and ends at 6.067 at 60 fps to get a final time of 0h 0m 4s 867ms. Retimed using yt-frame-timer

also about the staff, sure i'd be willing to become one, i have a lot of free time

I volunteered to be staff about a year ago and i would still also gladly help with the retiming aswell :D

@TheEgglet @Daewe You are both being added as moderators. You can still submit runs as a moderator, you just need another moderator to verify it for you. You both know and use YT Frame timer, that is what I would like you to use for verification.

The current frame timing rules for individual levels will now be the following:

Timing an Individual level run:

Timer starts on the first frame in which the level resets, and the yellow "START" ring first appears

All currently submitted Individual level runs should be re timed using these rules to your best ability

I'll be able to add you when Mace gets online

2 more things:

1. reset should be visible in the recording for accurate retiming, a lot of daewe's old level speedruns are cut to after the reset so they'd have to be rejected, can you add that to the rules? at least the first frame of the level after the reset should be visible, thats the one where the score reads 1234567890

2. arcade mode individual level speedruns should be allowed if they don't die as the only difference between the two modes is in dying

retimed and verified all of daewe's IL runs

@TheEgglet it's easier just to have all individual runs in classic mode for the sake of simplicity.