Fixed movies not playing on Linux version Speed up Elevator streaming to next level All new Fixed World with much larger maps Removed the very small maps that would appear on Level 8 and Level 19 in Fixed+Random Reduced Earthling density by around 65% across all levels in Fixed+Random Reduced Bush/Tree density by around 50% across all levels in Fixed+Random All Earthlings will now chase you to the very edge of the map, edges of water/ice and can now walk down revealed secret paths Remove ‘level cap’ on presents in all modes. This means you can find ALL presents from the beginning of the game Many under the hood improvements to memory usage Fixed an issue where players could go beyond Level 25 when an Endless save was active Fix everything bunched up on Funkotron in Endless Fix No Ship Piece on Level 25 in rare cases Fix Lamont showing up on Level 28 of Endless Optimized all assets in the game Adjustments to camera while falling down levels Present timer now pauses when falling All inputs disabled while falling (prevents players opening presents and teleporting) Fix Torch breaking present timer Fix other PlayerStates (like Cupid effect) breaking present timer Fix 'Jump To' invulnerability exploit Removed multiplayer presents from showing in single player games Fixed an issue where Elf could spawn infinitely from a bush Removed hit box offset on Hat of Sure Walking Added XP Notification to bottom left of HUD Adjusted XP Bar Colors to hopefully be more noticeable to new players Fix the amount of XP rewarded for picking up a ship piece Fixed FPS Cap not remembering every time you load the game Added 100 FPS Cap option Man In Black will no longer chase if you have no presents Tornado is now more aggressive once player gets in range Earthlings now have a random chance of dropping aggro when players are under water Button/Coin Meter chains are maximum 4 presses Speed up animation when pressing button/feeding coin meter Removed forcing the player into position when feeding Coin Meters/pressing Buttons Removed forcing the player into position when speaking to a friendly Earthling Various fixes for Earthling pathfinding in Networked and Endless Fix Sushi not always providing heal Mailbox Monsters will stay off secret paths Fix Ghandi not providing his safety is another Ghandi was nearby Power Hats will no longer be automatically gifted to player when stepping off the Elevator Power Hats must be found on the level by searching bushes and trees Power Hats now sparkle when they are nearby Power Hats now provide XP when picked up Hat of Breaking no longer makes all presents broken Hat of Breaking now makes present blow up sometimes when you drop them Hat of Breaking now prevents damage from Broken Presents Hat of Breaking now blows up all nearby Earthlings when a present breaks on the player Update Nap's credits

Hey all.

A new patch, 1.7.0, is coming to Steam and consoles later this month.

It looks to be quite a doozy. I'll post the patch notes in full below.

The key takeaway is: Fixed World, as we currently know it, will no longer exist. A new Fixed World seed has been chosen for 1.7.0 onwards. This means we'll need to separate off all existing times for that category, and start fresh. We can't compare apples to oranges. (or should that be tomatoes?)

In addition to this, there are LOADS of balance changes that will impact attainable times on Random/Hard/Extreme/Endless. I don't know how yet, we'll have to play it by ear, and submit the best times we can. We should make sure to attribute new runs to the 1.7.0 patch, and learn whether the old patches can be beaten. If we can't challenge the existing times, we'll have to consider archiving those off too. There's no immediate rush on this, we have patch numbers logged against each run, so can adjust as necessary once we've all had a good go.

Good luck! I hope the changes bring new life and energy into the game.

Updated the category as described.

It's empty for now but i've submitted a 23hr+ run for Seawalker to watch :'D

Hopefully that inspires others to have a go!!

Will action changes to the category tomorrow, unless any more discussion takes place.

Here is what I plan to do:

• Archive/ delete the existing runs. (We used seconds to represent levels. So if someone reached level 50, they would log it as a 50 second run. If they reached level 100, they would log it as a 1 minute 40 second run. Leaderboard was inverted to show the slowest "times" at the top. We don't need to keep this approach now it's clear there is an end condition to reach: Level 1001.)

• Set the category up as a traditional Speedrun category: fastest is best. Run must show levels 1 - 1001.

• Rules to match other categories: "Timer starts when character is selected (For solo runs) or when all players have joined & the elevator leaves Level 1 (Multiplayer) with everyone inside. Timer ends when final ship piece is collected. Game audio must be included and audible. Starting presents must be the stock default. Game capture needs to be unobstructed and continuous."

OK cool! that's great info, thanks.

I did some research after my post and learned that most speedrun games expect them to be run "single-segment", and my concern about it promoting an unhealthy activity is unwarranted. I can definitely see the potential for save scumming by allowing people to stitch together play sessions, and not only that: it seems unfair to compare a run that has been done over many weeks by someone fully awake and putting forth their best efforts/attention, vs. a runner who plays the same game in a single playthrough and naturally tires as fatigue sets in.

I guess I was concerned that a mode like Endless will take too long to complete in a single playthrough without being unhealthy. I still think it's unhealthy to do it, but at least it's "the done thing" within the speedrun community, and we wouldn't be asking any more of people than other games already do.

Now we know what the end conditions are for Endless (1001 levels) I think we should update the Endless category to reflect this.

At the moment we are using the timer to record the highest level reached, but I think we can abolish that now and instead record complete runs and the time taken. (as per a usual speedrun category)

Think we need to relax the rule of playing continuously though. It's not a healthy thing to do, and I wouldn't want to encourage or incentivise people to try it. (They are of course free to do so of their own accord)

Are there other games that have set a precedent of how long games are recorded? Do they allow consecutive play sessions to be stitched together? curious how this can work in the fairest possible way.

Saturday at 19:00 EST we are going to finish the Seeded World Tournament that began in May.

You can watch the event at twitch.tv/danvincent

Four semi-finalists remain in contention. They will race against each other, all using the same levels. but those levels are being kept under wraps!

After two games, we crown a winner. GLHF!

Thanks Mandals.

I have archived all existing runs into the "Legacy" categories, and added an option for Extreme runs.

1.5 should, I understand, be out later today for you to attempt to place on the newly purged leaderboards.

GLHF!

Hey guys.

I hope you have been enjoying speedrunning TJ&E BITG! I know when the game launched in March there was a buzz around it, with lots of submissions and the meta being explored in new and interesting ways.

Things have cooled down in the past couple of months, in my mind because of two things:

1. the game entered into a volatile phase; many patches were released in rapid succession which caused drastic shifts in the ways we could play. We were finding creative exploits & strategies, only to discover they were being patched out. Many of you simply want to wait for the game to reach maturation before devoting your time to learning it. You don't want the rug pulled out from under you.

2. the developers soured your opinion of the game through tone-deaf comments directed towards members of this community. I apologise to anyone affected by that. This is your leisure time & I encourage you to spend it however you please. When it comes to playing a video game: there is no right, there is no wrong, your enjoyment and the enjoyment of your viewers is of paramount importance and must always be respected. We are speedrunners, not a free marketing tool. In an ideal world, free of interference, we could be both. I am in full support of the devs controlling the image of their game by any legitimate means within their boundries, but we control our content and our time.

It saddens me that I even needed to address that last point. If TJ&E devs read this: don't worry about what we are doing in our own little niche, and how that might reflect on you. You are doing enough damage to your brand with that appalling Twitter account. We can't possibly be doing any more harm than all that YEET and BRUH nonsense.

With all that said: I would love to focus on the positives, the future of the game & how we can enjoy it. We have a FUN game to play! physical editions are going out this week and next, and 1.5 is out July 1 on PC. (Consoles shortly after. They have to go through the quality checks of the individual platform holders)

1.5 brings with it two new modes: EXTREME difficulty, and ENDLESS mode. I look forward to seeing how quickly you guys can beat Extreme, and how far you can take Endless! To create a fair environment, I am proposing we archive all the existing runs into the 'Legacy' category for each difficulty, and start fresh. Are there any objections to this? If not, I will do this on July 1. The reason is: you cannot compare the existing runs fairly against a run you can complete on 1.5. I want you guys to contest the top of the leaderboard, not chase an impossible target. I cherry picked out the MITB glitch runs previously, but now there are too many changes to present spawn rates, present durations, enemy damage, backer island presents, etc etc - the list goes on. Your previous runs will still exist in the Legacy categories, and could be filtered down if you were ever interested in seeing who had the best times on specific versions etc. No data will be lost.

Please give your thoughts, and if you are considering running this game again: Welcome back! I look forward to a healthy leaderboard full of new and interesting runs. Good luck! Have fun! STAY FUNKY!!

You can already split the leaderboard into displaying only specific consoles, using the Filters. I think that's the tidiest way to keep things organised.

Fingers crossed, their optimization efforts will reduce the disparity between platforms. I realistically expect PC will always be the most competitive platform though.

Good question!

I think hats are OK, it should be up to the user whether they want to make use of an available gameplay option. I look at it as a player's choice, part of the game, like choosing a character that has the best stats to compliment their strategy, or whether to risk the RNG to get a good doorway.

Will hats help, or hinder? We simply don't know the trends yet, which makes it difficult to judge whether hat runs will need to be separated out into their own category. Time will tell. At least to start with, I think keeping the categories minimal is a good thing.

Allowing the player to choose whether hats are enabled adds to the variety - which I am all for! When the timer is running, as long as you all started the game on an equal footing, how you interact with the game and your choices are what make speedrunning so compelling.

What do you think?

Thanks for the suggestion! We definitely intend to expand on the categories. Now the game is out, we have more of an idea how the game might be played, and can begin to flesh out the specifics of the speedrun page a bit more.

Can we get the new individual tracks added to this website please? There are a few missing now. Thanks!

We'll be accepting your speedrun submissions soon!

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove is the fourth main game in the TJ&E series, available as a digital download on Steam (PC), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, & XBOX One.

A physical copy is available for pre-order through Limited Run Games. PS4 and Switch only. If you want the collectors edition, you'll need to be quick as they're expected to go FAST. First batch go on sale at 10AM EST on Friday 15th February, with the second batch available the same day at 6PM EST. If you miss out, the regular edition will continue to be available as a pre-order for the following 45 days.