30th November 2023, 5:59 AM
(This post was last modified: 30th November 2023, 6:14 AM by Master Raiden. Edited 1 time in total.)
Routing Levels
Finding the best route through a level is a big part of speedrunning, and can sometimes be more important than optimization and execution. A perfect run on a suboptimal route could potentially be beaten by an average run on the ideal route. In this section, I will share some tips and the different things you should consider when routing levels to make sure you're not leaving valuable seconds on the table.
Overview
The two key ingredients to routing are finding a good path and choosing the right stats for the path.
The question is, how do you know if the path you have chosen is the best? And how do you know the stats you chose for that path are the best? What if there is a different path and stat combination that is faster?
There is really no quick and easy solution. Finding the best route requires a lot of time, experimentation and creativity.
Generally, it is a good idea to remain open minded and not become fixed to one particular path or set of stats. While you may find yourself getting good times as you become familiar with the path and stats you chose, you could be leaving a lot on the table if your route is not optimal.
Finding the ideal route is therefore an iterative process. Experimentation and refinement of numerous routes and stat combos is often required to identify the optimal setup.
There are different levels of refinement you should aim to achieve when you are routing. Unless you have a huge amount of time at your disposal, you will need to be smart with how you go about routing so that you can test multiple setups without having to pull an all-nighter.
The following sections are listed in order of increasing refinement.
Viewing Levels
Before you begin devising a route, you need to get a detailed understanding of a level's structure. I recommend using the PR2 Block Editor since it comes with a whole lot of different features that allow you to understand all the elements of a level.
One of its most useful features is the ability to zoom out really far. This makes it a lot easier to visualize the overall layout of a level, helping you come up with new ideas, evaluate different paths and identify shortcuts more easily.
It also allows you to view block options. With the introduction of Custom Item Blocks, Custom Stat Blocks and Teleport Blocks, finding the best route becomes more difficult since each block can impact you in a different way. The Block Editor removes all this uncertainty.
Jumping and Landing
Knowing which blocks to land on and jump from is one of the core essentials of routing. Picking the right blocks will allow you to conserve speed and reduce the number of motions required to get to where you need to be. This is one of the first things you should aim to discover when routing levels, and can be done by looking over the level or simply playing it a few times.
If you always find yourself slowing down or making mistakes at a particular section, it can help to look over the level again and try landing and jumping from different blocks.
Choosing Stats
Using the right stats can make a huge difference when speedrunning. Generally, having high speed, moderate acceleration and moderate jump will yield decent results, but depending on the level, you will need to spend your stat points differently to get the best result.
Speed should be prioritized on levels where there are long periods of running involved. If there are many sections where you can reach top speed, maximizing your top speed will benefit you in all those sections. In a large majority of cases, it is better to have a higher speed at the expense of acceleration and jump.
Higher acceleration should be used on levels where there are regular changes of direction, or a lot of crawling and swimming involved. In these cases, you do not have the chance to utilize your top speed, so it can be better to trade some speed for acceleration so that you can maximize your average speed in these areas.
The amount of jump you choose to use depends on the height of blocks you will be required to regularly jump up and which blocks you want to land on and jump off. You also want to avoid super jumping since it is quite costly to perform. Inspecting the level and counting blocks is often enough to know how much jump you will need.
Keep in mind that your stats can change during the course of the level from Happy Blocks and Sad Blocks, so selecting your stats based on how many of these you will bump can help you take advantage of those blocks while also having the right stats at the right time.
For example, if you plan on using 96, 60, 46 stats in a level where there is a Happy Block at the beginning, you can opt to enter the level with 91, 70, 41 stats instead.
Stat Blocks and Time Blocks
Being selective about the Stat Blocks and Time Blocks you bump in a level can save you a significant amount of time, but it's often difficult to find out how to achieve the best outcome.
Happy Blocks are sometimes placed away from the natural route of the level, requiring you to sacrifice a little bit of time to collect the extra stats. It can be difficult to determine whether it is worth making the sacrifice to bump a Happy Block, but generally, collecting Happy Blocks earlier means you will carry the stat advantage for longer. So it may be worth giving up a little more time to bump a Happy Block at the start of a level compared to bumping one near the end of a level. But ultimately, identifying the best option comes from rigorous trial and error.
Some levels also require you to bump Time Blocks to stay alive. While you may instinctively try to collect every Time Block available, this can slow you down. In most cases, the more Time Blocks you bump, the more time it will cost you. In contrast, the fewer Time Blocks you bump, the faster you will be and as a result, you can get away with bumping even fewer Time Blocks which will save you even more time.
Knowing how many Time Blocks and exactly which ones to bump can be achieved by inspecting the level and thoroughly testing your route to understand your pace and how much time you require.
Test yourself:
Identifying Reference Points
As you practice a level, you will soon discover optimizations that require some degree of precision. Having reference points can help you time your movements and make the optimizations work.
These reference points can be blocks or art. Finding and taking advantage of reference points can be achieved with thorough testing of your route.
Playing to Your Skill Level
Unless you are aiming to set the absolute fastest time possible, it can be better to refrain from attempting difficult maneuvers. Most of the time, an excellent speedrun is achieved with the successful execution of multiple consecutive precise optimizations, and throwing away such a run with an unreasonably risky move can mean that you spend another few hours grinding away.
Each optimization has its risks and rewards. You should be selective about which optimizations you attempt depending on your ability. You may be better off becoming fluent in a slightly suboptimal route than trying to brute-force more optimizations than you can handle, only to realize that you missed an easy timesaver along the way.
Playing to your ability also applies to the stat blocks that you bump along the way. This primarily pertains to your jump stat, since it becomes increasingly difficult to perform small, precise jumps when you have a high jump value. Depending on the level, you may be better off avoiding a few Happy Blocks to keep your movements easy to control.
If you find yourself constantly failing at a particular point in a level, it may be worth simplifying your route to increase your success rate.
Further Experimentation
Once you are comfortable with your stats and route, you can take some time to uncover ways to make your run even faster and easier to execute. This is the time to experiment with alignment, snapping onto blocks and other less obvious optimizations that you would never come across when practicing a level normally. You may be surprised to find how much extra time you can save with your set of stats.
Practicing with Test Levels
You can easily practice navigating difficult parts of a level by creating your own level focusing on sections that you are having trouble with.
This can allow you to practice and test different ideas after you have already established which stats you plan to use and thoroughly tested a few routes. Practicing on test levels will help you discover easy or consistent ways to perform optimizations, as well as experiment with different items.
Recreating a section of a level can also help you compare different routes by allowing you to time yourself from the beginning of the section to the end. Testing and timing yourself on each route means you will be able to determine with certainty which one is faster.
General Tips
Finding the best route through a level is a big part of speedrunning, and can sometimes be more important than optimization and execution. A perfect run on a suboptimal route could potentially be beaten by an average run on the ideal route. In this section, I will share some tips and the different things you should consider when routing levels to make sure you're not leaving valuable seconds on the table.
Overview
The two key ingredients to routing are finding a good path and choosing the right stats for the path.
The question is, how do you know if the path you have chosen is the best? And how do you know the stats you chose for that path are the best? What if there is a different path and stat combination that is faster?
There is really no quick and easy solution. Finding the best route requires a lot of time, experimentation and creativity.
Generally, it is a good idea to remain open minded and not become fixed to one particular path or set of stats. While you may find yourself getting good times as you become familiar with the path and stats you chose, you could be leaving a lot on the table if your route is not optimal.
Finding the ideal route is therefore an iterative process. Experimentation and refinement of numerous routes and stat combos is often required to identify the optimal setup.
There are different levels of refinement you should aim to achieve when you are routing. Unless you have a huge amount of time at your disposal, you will need to be smart with how you go about routing so that you can test multiple setups without having to pull an all-nighter.
The following sections are listed in order of increasing refinement.
Viewing Levels
Before you begin devising a route, you need to get a detailed understanding of a level's structure. I recommend using the PR2 Block Editor since it comes with a whole lot of different features that allow you to understand all the elements of a level.
One of its most useful features is the ability to zoom out really far. This makes it a lot easier to visualize the overall layout of a level, helping you come up with new ideas, evaluate different paths and identify shortcuts more easily.
It also allows you to view block options. With the introduction of Custom Item Blocks, Custom Stat Blocks and Teleport Blocks, finding the best route becomes more difficult since each block can impact you in a different way. The Block Editor removes all this uncertainty.
![[+]](/forums/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
Try it yourself![[Image: GeVgVXh.png]](https://i.imgur.com/GeVgVXh.png)
Jumping and Landing
Knowing which blocks to land on and jump from is one of the core essentials of routing. Picking the right blocks will allow you to conserve speed and reduce the number of motions required to get to where you need to be. This is one of the first things you should aim to discover when routing levels, and can be done by looking over the level or simply playing it a few times.
If you always find yourself slowing down or making mistakes at a particular section, it can help to look over the level again and try landing and jumping from different blocks.
Choosing Stats
Using the right stats can make a huge difference when speedrunning. Generally, having high speed, moderate acceleration and moderate jump will yield decent results, but depending on the level, you will need to spend your stat points differently to get the best result.
Speed should be prioritized on levels where there are long periods of running involved. If there are many sections where you can reach top speed, maximizing your top speed will benefit you in all those sections. In a large majority of cases, it is better to have a higher speed at the expense of acceleration and jump.
Higher acceleration should be used on levels where there are regular changes of direction, or a lot of crawling and swimming involved. In these cases, you do not have the chance to utilize your top speed, so it can be better to trade some speed for acceleration so that you can maximize your average speed in these areas.
The amount of jump you choose to use depends on the height of blocks you will be required to regularly jump up and which blocks you want to land on and jump off. You also want to avoid super jumping since it is quite costly to perform. Inspecting the level and counting blocks is often enough to know how much jump you will need.
Keep in mind that your stats can change during the course of the level from Happy Blocks and Sad Blocks, so selecting your stats based on how many of these you will bump can help you take advantage of those blocks while also having the right stats at the right time.
For example, if you plan on using 96, 60, 46 stats in a level where there is a Happy Block at the beginning, you can opt to enter the level with 91, 70, 41 stats instead.
Stat Blocks and Time Blocks
Being selective about the Stat Blocks and Time Blocks you bump in a level can save you a significant amount of time, but it's often difficult to find out how to achieve the best outcome.
Happy Blocks are sometimes placed away from the natural route of the level, requiring you to sacrifice a little bit of time to collect the extra stats. It can be difficult to determine whether it is worth making the sacrifice to bump a Happy Block, but generally, collecting Happy Blocks earlier means you will carry the stat advantage for longer. So it may be worth giving up a little more time to bump a Happy Block at the start of a level compared to bumping one near the end of a level. But ultimately, identifying the best option comes from rigorous trial and error.
Some levels also require you to bump Time Blocks to stay alive. While you may instinctively try to collect every Time Block available, this can slow you down. In most cases, the more Time Blocks you bump, the more time it will cost you. In contrast, the fewer Time Blocks you bump, the faster you will be and as a result, you can get away with bumping even fewer Time Blocks which will save you even more time.
Knowing how many Time Blocks and exactly which ones to bump can be achieved by inspecting the level and thoroughly testing your route to understand your pace and how much time you require.
Test yourself:
![[Image: hLqLkSt.png]](https://i.imgur.com/hLqLkSt.png)
Identifying Reference Points
As you practice a level, you will soon discover optimizations that require some degree of precision. Having reference points can help you time your movements and make the optimizations work.
These reference points can be blocks or art. Finding and taking advantage of reference points can be achieved with thorough testing of your route.
![[Image: UDXquz1.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/UDXquz1.gif)
Playing to Your Skill Level
Unless you are aiming to set the absolute fastest time possible, it can be better to refrain from attempting difficult maneuvers. Most of the time, an excellent speedrun is achieved with the successful execution of multiple consecutive precise optimizations, and throwing away such a run with an unreasonably risky move can mean that you spend another few hours grinding away.
Each optimization has its risks and rewards. You should be selective about which optimizations you attempt depending on your ability. You may be better off becoming fluent in a slightly suboptimal route than trying to brute-force more optimizations than you can handle, only to realize that you missed an easy timesaver along the way.
Playing to your ability also applies to the stat blocks that you bump along the way. This primarily pertains to your jump stat, since it becomes increasingly difficult to perform small, precise jumps when you have a high jump value. Depending on the level, you may be better off avoiding a few Happy Blocks to keep your movements easy to control.
If you find yourself constantly failing at a particular point in a level, it may be worth simplifying your route to increase your success rate.
![[Image: BcByly9.png]](https://i.imgur.com/BcByly9.png)
Further Experimentation
Once you are comfortable with your stats and route, you can take some time to uncover ways to make your run even faster and easier to execute. This is the time to experiment with alignment, snapping onto blocks and other less obvious optimizations that you would never come across when practicing a level normally. You may be surprised to find how much extra time you can save with your set of stats.
Practicing with Test Levels
You can easily practice navigating difficult parts of a level by creating your own level focusing on sections that you are having trouble with.
This can allow you to practice and test different ideas after you have already established which stats you plan to use and thoroughly tested a few routes. Practicing on test levels will help you discover easy or consistent ways to perform optimizations, as well as experiment with different items.
Recreating a section of a level can also help you compare different routes by allowing you to time yourself from the beginning of the section to the end. Testing and timing yourself on each route means you will be able to determine with certainty which one is faster.
General Tips
- Test Thoroughly
Spend an even amount of time testing each route so that you can make a fair comparison between them. But don't spend too little time on each one. Give the routes time to show their true potential before deciding which one you want to go with.
- Practice More
The more time you spend practicing, the faster you will become. I have often surprised myself with how much time I was able to save just by practicing the same route over and over again. Small optimizations will become second nature once you are familiar with the level you are speedrunning, and they will add up to make a huge difference.
- Don't Quit Early
If you make a mistake during a practice run, don't forfeit. Continue playing until the end so that you can practice the remainder of the level. You do not want to ruin a good speedrun simply because you didn't get enough practice near the end.
