EPTSpeed Runs
A few months ago I watched my arch enemy and co-writer Artanis[Xp] trying something different: Doing Speed Runs in Brood War. I did know about the phenomeneon of speed running from events like the Awesome Games Done Quick Marathons, even though I didn't fully understand the fascination behind it.
However, the attempts my Dutch clan mate tried to establish a personal goal were funny as hell. He developed strategies, which required Micro Management on a somewhat „higher“ level than his current skill allowed, at least at first. I distinctly remember loading and reloading save games, after the stormed his own Arbiters, after doing the Jaehoon or after randomly dying to odd AI movements. It's always a pleasure to see him fail, although he wasn't really mad about it. In the end, he did it and finished his run in under one hour.
Point is, the speed runners are another forgotten part of Brood War. It sounds really boring to just run through the campaign abusing bugs. I do remember watching some silly runs of other titles based solely on the idea to just abuse the painful mistakes some coder did ten years back. For Brood War, surprisingly enough, it's a mix between abusing bugs, tricks and a lot of strategy. The requirements are really high, at least from my perspective.
Back in the days, at the age of about 13, I had a lot of trouble to simply beat several missions, today it really is not an impossible objective anymore. However, to truely master a mission with own parameters – e.g. beating a mission in under X minutes – is a lot more difficult than you might imagine, or you think is possible. You need tons of creativity to remember you could simply slide your workers to a beacon / mineral / whatever, after carefully analysing a dozen's enemy unit movement patterns. Plus, there's often the challenge to cast one spell just at the right time. Not a second later, not a second earlier.
I really do apologize for writing this article with little to no information, as Artanis refused [„because I'm lazy“ - Artanis] to do it, even after begging and there was some sort of mix up with C&PKCD. Maybe you understand why the former is the enemy of foreign Brood War. Anyway, Artanis did link me to an archive of the most amazing runs. I do suggest you watch some of them. For now, I guess I leave you with the mission that impressed me the most – and by that I mean is what Artanis linked me. Please note how perfect the timings are and how much it must have took to figure out exactly this solution to the problem of destroying this remote building.
However, the attempts my Dutch clan mate tried to establish a personal goal were funny as hell. He developed strategies, which required Micro Management on a somewhat „higher“ level than his current skill allowed, at least at first. I distinctly remember loading and reloading save games, after the stormed his own Arbiters, after doing the Jaehoon or after randomly dying to odd AI movements. It's always a pleasure to see him fail, although he wasn't really mad about it. In the end, he did it and finished his run in under one hour.
Point is, the speed runners are another forgotten part of Brood War. It sounds really boring to just run through the campaign abusing bugs. I do remember watching some silly runs of other titles based solely on the idea to just abuse the painful mistakes some coder did ten years back. For Brood War, surprisingly enough, it's a mix between abusing bugs, tricks and a lot of strategy. The requirements are really high, at least from my perspective.
Back in the days, at the age of about 13, I had a lot of trouble to simply beat several missions, today it really is not an impossible objective anymore. However, to truely master a mission with own parameters – e.g. beating a mission in under X minutes – is a lot more difficult than you might imagine, or you think is possible. You need tons of creativity to remember you could simply slide your workers to a beacon / mineral / whatever, after carefully analysing a dozen's enemy unit movement patterns. Plus, there's often the challenge to cast one spell just at the right time. Not a second later, not a second earlier.
I really do apologize for writing this article with little to no information, as Artanis refused [„because I'm lazy“ - Artanis] to do it, even after begging and there was some sort of mix up with C&PKCD. Maybe you understand why the former is the enemy of foreign Brood War. Anyway, Artanis did link me to an archive of the most amazing runs. I do suggest you watch some of them. For now, I guess I leave you with the mission that impressed me the most – and by that I mean is what Artanis linked me. Please note how perfect the timings are and how much it must have took to figure out exactly this solution to the problem of destroying this remote building.
Credits
Text: Gecko
"Proof Reading": Celetuiw
Not that helpful: Artanis
Last Minute Panic Crew: Celetuiw, 2pac, Gecko
"Proof Reading": Celetuiw
Not that helpful: Artanis
Last Minute Panic Crew: Celetuiw, 2pac, Gecko
