However:
"Don't take Sam out of the places he's usually supposed to go for more than five seconds. Eg. don't use a rocket jump to leap out of an arena so you can walk along its rim and get to the next area if it takes more than ten seconds to do so."

That is so damn pathetic. Speedrunning is about getting from start to finish as fast as possible within game limits. If you can't do shortcuts that kills at least half of the fun.

"During your speedrun, save the game from time to time (use the F6 button). If you die during it, you may resume from your last save point and continue on."

And I thought a speedrunner should never die.

"Quake Done Quick: The first speedrunning site, and inspiration to all that followed."

> That is so damn pathetic. Speedrunning is about getting from start to finish as fast as possible within game limits. If you can't do shortcuts that kills at least half of the fun.

The point of Speedrunning is to be skilfull as well as to get the end quicker than anyone else. But where's the skill in rocketjumping onto the rim of the arena, then walking for two minutes, skirting past all the touchfields that should trigger the appearance of enemy monsters? It's boring to watch and takes the fun out of playing because everyone else would have to do the same. Quake didn't have this because it was a closed environment (or maybe that should be because it was better designed? :) )

Also, you can still make shortcuts, just as long as they don't take you out of Sam's normal stomping grounds for longer than ten seconds (eg. into the places where there's nothing to do but walk and walk and walk...) So you can hop over the walls between arenas in Alley of Sphinxes, exploit the shortcut secrets in Sacred Yards and so on.

As for the dying and continuing, I didn't really want to implement this. But the second difference between Quake and Serious Sam is the SS levels are HUGE! Especially in Second Encounter. Few people are that skilfull or that lucky as to complete the equivalent of three Quake levels. However, it's not a problem. Anyone who dies during the speedrun will qualify. But anyone who does the same level without dying will automatically beat them, no matter what the time. Dying's the equivalent of adding 99999999 years to your finishing time. So if you are skilfull enough, you will still beat the others hands down. Any of you professionals won't need this crutch and can just ignore those who do :)

I hope you understand why I implemented these rules. I don't like rules, I hate people having to take time to understand them. But I see no other way of keeping the skill in the game (where would Quake speedrunning be if you could beat the most skilfull guys times by rocketjumping through a wall and passing through empty void until you hit the exit? may as well legalise Godmode.) If anyone can think of better rules, I'd love to know, and will likely implement them.

--SERIOUS SPRINT--

http://www.3dactionplanet.com/serioussam/sprint/

The rules says you can't use shortcuts that take you out of the the normal arena for more than 10 mins. It's easy to understand why that rule is implemented, but it's also wrong considering that one of the most basic "rules" of speedrunning is to use every shortcut you can.

If you keep the rule you'll end up with looong demos with obvious shortcuts being missed.
If you discard the rule you end up with runs were the player walks outside the normal arena for two minutes and this is extremely boring. Either way,it feels wrong (for me anyway). Either you get unoptimized runs or you get boring but optimized runs. None of which interests me...
sorry betaalpa :)

/thomas

With these rules, Serious Sam is a viable speedrun, indeed it's an excellent one, as my runs and Dekar's have proved. We've both made thirty minute rounds into two minute ones, with space for even faster runs possible. There's a _lot_ of places a ten second walk outside the arena will cut down on finishing time. (while HappyHomo has also taken part, he's a bit more like Robocop, going slowly from one place to another and methodically slaughtering everything he comes across. But this approach works too until someone faster comes :) )

So give it a try :)

--SERIOUS SPRINT--

http://www.3dactionplanet.com/serioussam/sprint/

I (and I'm sure there are other folks) haven't seen that yet, and I'd love to see stuff like that. If there are such shortcuts isn't it a skill to discover them?
Why don't you open two categories, unrestricted and restricted and let everyone have their fun?

"But the second difference between Quake and Serious Sam is the SS levels are HUGE! Especially in Second Encounter. Few people are that skilfull or that lucky as to complete the equivalent of three Quake levels."

These are not secret paths. They are simply walls that are low enough to jump over, and the other side is just featureless expanse. All you need to do is look at them and they are there. There's no skill in finding or utilising them. My rule ensures they are not used all the time. You can use them as shortcuts into the next arena, but can't simply stay up there out of harm's way until you reach the exit.

I would contest that Serious Sam levels, particularly those on the Second Encounter, are much larger even than the Doom levels (I've played that as well), especially those in Second Encounter. Serious Sam's Serious setting is also IMO harder than the toughest settings of Quake or Doom (and Serious isn't even the hardest setting!) No mistake, Serious Sam is a serious hardcore gamer's game! However, I take your criticism and I'll remove the rule anyway. To be honest, I prefer a shorter list of rules.

So does anyone wanna get involved? Be one of the speedrunners on the next gen game :)

Betaalpha

--SERIOUS SPRINT--

http://www.3dactionplanet.com/serioussam/sprint/

--SERIOUS SPRINT--

http://www.3dactionplanet.com/serioussam/sprint/