Indiana, USADue to a rising interest in Glitched and Cheated runs, I've created these categories so you can compete on the leaderboards. Let me know what you think of the additions, and let me know if there are any more categories you would like to see opened!
I would totally support a locally embedded version of the game on the leaderboard, assuming it runs at the same pace as the online version. One use of the source code would be to figure out what exactly is different between each version. When I set the requirements for the speedrun, I didn't exactly know what the difference was between each version. I noticed that spawn rates changed some time around .930, so that's why I set that as the requirement.
Now, preset seeds have always been a point of conflict in the speedrunning community. There are a few points that I'd like to bring up about the topic, and how they relate to this game in particular.
Preset seeds often reduce or completely nullify the RNG in a speedrun. This could be seen as a pro and a con. One benefit you pointed out is that it reduces the amount of grind necessary to achieve the world record. This is especially important when the RNG gets in the way of the competitive aspect of the speedrun. Oftentimes, RNG will slow down or sometimes kill a speedrun, and players work around that in-game using strategies that eliminate risk, sometimes at the cost of time. This aspect I find less competitive, because in order to achieve the world record, runners have to cut corners and take risks every run anyways. In Motherload, we expect to find a relic at some point in the run, and we play around that despite the low odds. I find this aspect of the grind to be anti-competitive because it simply rewards the person who hits reset more often than the person who can't play as much but has better control overall. Sometimes though, RNG makes you react and think on your feet, which makes for a fun, competitive speedrun. This aspect of the run would be totally removed with preset seeds, so you have to think about what we would be missing before you pick your side. In my opinion however, I'm not exactly sure we would miss a whole lot. This type of RNG mostly sees action when you hit a stroke of relics or early mineral spawns. Again, this is to be expected when you are shooting for world record.
Now there's no denying that preset seeds change the game. Knowing exactly what happens in game that was meant to have RNG takes away from the game itself. Whether it takes away from the speedrun though is a matter of debate. In my opinion, the speedrun of a game doesn't have to meet the developer's intention of how the game was meant to be played. But there's a big difference between manually altering the game's code (which I assume is required for preset seeding) and just playing the game differently. For a glitchless category, we typically take what the developers gave us and play it as it is. Minecraft any% uses preset seeds because you can set the seed in the options menu. Motherload does not. The effect is the same, but the means by which we get there is not.
Preset seeds make the game competitive in a different way. When we remove the RNG (except for things like Natas' movement or earthquakes), it's up to the runner to optimize what's left. That means knowing exactly how many things to buy, when to sell, when to refuel, etc. We also have movement and mouse accuracy that play a role in the equation, which I honestly find fascinating from a viewer's perspective, and fun from a runner's perspective. In many ways, this will turn out like the Minecraft any% set seed speedrun, which, to my surprise, is still competitive today (although updates have pushed it to extinction, not a problem in our case). I can't see this as a bad thing, considering all that I've said in this paragraph. It'll just be a different speedrun than what we had before.
Overall, the prospect of a preset seed speedrun sounds pleasant. We just have to distinguish between preset seeded and random seeded runs. I do believe this necessitates another category in order to preserve the accomplishments of the current record holders, and because any% glitchless is what it is. Now this doesn't take away from the fact that the record for any% glitchless is still a huge grind; I think it always will be. Some speedruns just come out that way. But by putting preset seeded speedruns in its own category, we create a new challenge for a different form of the game.
Thank you for expressing your concern about the moderation for this game. I understand that you should not have to wait as long as you did for your runs to be verified. I have been very busy with school in the past couple of months, so I apologize for the inconvenience. If you're still interested in becoming a moderator, please message me back. I look forward to adding you to the moderation team!
And as for your most recent run, the timer was stopped after Natas's health dropped below 0. The timer should stop once you see his health bar disappear. I re-timed this part of the run, which came out to be 8.5 seconds, and added that to your final time. Rounding down, this made the official time of your run: 18 minutes, 2 seconds. If you feel this was mistimed, feel free to re-time your run and record the results in this thread. If you're curious about why the timer should stop there in general, go ahead and ask!
Thank you for bringing this point up.
The rules specify: "You must play on version .930 or higher". Motherload Goldium Edition was marked by the developers as being versions 1.000 and up. Arithmatically, 1.000 is technically greater than .930. But because Motherload Goldium Edition is a paid video game while Motherload is not, and because they are recognized as different games by XGen Studios, they should be recognized as separate games on speedrun.com. Therefore, Motherload Goldium Edition belongs in a separate category from Motherload.
If you feel like Motherload Goldium Edition should be added as a category, let me know and I will add a section for it.
Do note the purpose of the "You must play on version .930 or higher" was added for consistency- mineral spawn rates are different amongst versions less than that. There are versions above .930 that, to my knowledge, do not affect the spawn rate or any significant portion of the speedrun, and thus are allowed by the rules. But the purpose of the rule isn't to allow the newest expansions to be played in the same category.
Hope that helps!
It seems as though the link is broken, so if you are curious about where it lead, here are some archived pages (don't get your hopes up): https://web.archive.org/web/¤/http://forums.xgenstudios.com/forumdisplay.php?51-Motherload
