Speedrunning, the practice of completing a video game as quickly as possible, often delves into technical intricacies that extend beyond mastering the intended mechanics. A significant aspect of this pursuit is the discovery and exploitation of glitches, programming errors that allow players to bypass normal game progression or achieve impossibly fast times. This article examines the methods by which these glitches are found and the techniques employed to integrate them into optimized speedrun routes.
Before a speedrunner can even contemplate seeking out glitches, a deep understanding of the game’s underlying structure is paramount. This involves more than just knowing the optimal path; it requires an almost forensic examination of how the game functions at a technical level.
Reverse Engineering and Debugging
Often, the most profound glitch discoveries stem from techniques borrowed from software development itself. Reverse engineering involves taking a compiled program and attempting to deconstruct it to understand its source code or algorithms. While full deconstruction is rarely necessary or feasible for casual speedrunners, understanding key sections of code can reveal exploitable logic.
Memory Inspection
Tools like memory viewers or debuggers allow individuals to observe the game’s running processes in real-time. By monitoring memory addresses, speedrunners can witness how variables change, how states are represented, and where the game might be holding data that can be manipulated. This is akin to peering under the hood of a car to see exactly how the engine is firing and where a loose wire might be.
Hex Editors and Save File Manipulation
For more persistent or complex glitches, understanding the raw data files of a game can be crucial. Hex editors allow direct manipulation of binary data, including save files. By understanding the structure of a save file, one can alter parameters that the game might not otherwise permit, potentially triggering unintended behavior. This requires a meticulous approach, as even a single incorrect byte can corrupt data.
Exploring Unintended Paths
Beyond direct technical analysis, speedrunners often find glitches through relentless exploration and experimentation within the game world. This is the realm of the curious explorer, pushing the boundaries of what the game designers envisioned.
“Out of Bounds” Exploration
A cornerstone of glitch hunting is the pursuit of “out of bounds” (OOB) areas. These are sections of the game world that exist beyond the normal playable map. By carefully manipulating character movement, physics, or specific game events, speedrunners can position their characters in areas that are not meant to be accessible. This often involves precise jumps, wall clips, or utilizing environmental hazards.
Boundary Pushing and Clipping
Many games have invisible walls or collision boundaries that prevent players from moving freely. Speedrunners meticulously test these boundaries, looking for weaknesses where character models can “clip” through surfaces. This might involve pressing against a wall at a specific angle, performing a particular animation, or using an item in proximity to the boundary. These methods are like finding hairline cracks in a seemingly solid wall.
Environmental Interaction Analysis
The way a game’s engine handles interactions between the player, objects, and the environment can be a fertile ground for glitches. This includes examining how physics engines react to collisions, how water or other liquids behave, and how projectiles or other in-game elements are processed.
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Categorizing Glitch Exploitation Techniques
Once a glitch is discovered, the challenge shifts to reliably incorporating it into a speedrun. This requires not only understanding how the glitch works but also when and why it occurs, and how to trigger it predictably.
Sequence Breaking and Skip Methods
The primary goal of most glitches in speedrunning is to bypass large sections of the game, skipping intended challenges or progression points. These are the shortcuts that fundamentally alter the game’s intended trajectory.
Triggering and Maintaining States
Many glitches rely on putting the game into a specific, unintended state. This could involve having a certain number of items, being in a particular location with specific health values, or having a particular sequence of actions occur in rapid succession. Maintaining this state as the player progresses is key.
Physics Exploitation
The game’s physics engine, designed to simulate real-world forces like gravity and momentum, can be a powerful tool for glitches. Speedrunners might exploit imprecise collision detection, exaggerated physics reactions, or unintended conservation of momentum to gain height, traverse long distances, or break through barriers. Imagine using a trampoline too rigidly, and instead of bouncing, it propels you in an unexpected direction.
AI Manipulation
The behavior of non-player characters (NPCs) is governed by artificial intelligence routines. Sometimes, these routines can be tricked or manipulated into performing unintended actions. This could involve leading enemies into specific traps, causing them to pathfinding into walls, or exploiting their reaction times to gain an advantage.
Item and Inventory Manipulation
The game’s inventory system and how items are managed can also be a source of exploitable bugs.
Duplication Glitches
These glitches allow players to create multiple copies of an item from a single instance. This can be invaluable for acquiring resources or key items much earlier than intended. The method often involves a precise timing of item acquisition or usage.
Inventory “Stashing” and Mismanagement
Certain games might have vulnerabilities in how they handle data when items are added to or removed from the inventory, especially under specific conditions or during transitional moments. Exploiting these can lead to unintended item effects or even allow items to be “used” in ways that aren’t normally possible.
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Warping and Teleportation Exploits
The most direct form of bypassing content often involves unintended movement across the game world.
“Out of Bounds” Warping
Once a player is OOB, they can often exploit the game’s loading or streaming mechanics to quickly travel to distant areas. This might involve triggering a level transition while still positioned outside the playable map, causing the game to “snap” the player to a new, intended location.
Console Command Exploitation (PC)
On PC versions of games, especially those with developer interfaces or console commands enabled, speedrunners can sometimes leverage these commands to instantly warp to specific locations or trigger events. While often considered “tool-assisted” by some purists, they are a factual element of the speedrunning landscape on these platforms.
The Process of Glitch Discovery and Documentation
Finding a glitch is only the first step. The journey from a random occurrence to a reliable speedrunning technique is arduous and meticulous.
Casual Exploration and Serendipity
Many groundbreaking glitches are found by accident. A player performing an action slightly differently, exploring a rarely visited corner, or simply encountering a bug during normal gameplay can stumble upon something significant. This is the joy of discovery, akin to finding a hidden cave while hiking.
Random Event Triggering
Sometimes, a glitch appears only when a very specific, and often rare, combination of in-game events occurs simultaneously. Identifying these precise trigger conditions is the challenge.
Player-Initiated Experimentation
Dedicated speedrunners often embark on “glitch hunting” sessions, deliberately trying to break the game. This involves systematically testing hypotheses about how certain mechanics might interact. They might try jumping off a cliff with a specific item, or performing a series of rapid inputs.
Systematic Testing and Hypothesizing
Once a potential glitch is suspected or observed, a more structured approach is taken.
Isolating Variables
To understand what causes a glitch, speedrunners must isolate the specific actions, items, or game states that trigger it. This involves changing one variable at a time to pinpoint the exact cause.
Reproducibility Testing
The ultimate goal is to make the glitch reproducible. This involves identifying the input sequence and game conditions required to trigger it consistently, reducing the element of chance as much as possible. This is like deciphering a complex recipe, ensuring every ingredient and step is correct.
Documentation and Community Sharing
The collaborative nature of speedrunning communities accelerates the discovery and exploitation of glitches.
Video Evidence and Annotation
Proof of a glitch is often captured via video recordings of gameplay. These videos are then analyzed and annotated to highlight the precise moment the glitch occurs and the actions taken.
Written Guides and Tutorials
Once a glitch is understood and documented, it is shared within the speedrunning community through written guides, forum posts, and video tutorials. This allows other runners to learn and incorporate the glitch into their own runs.
The Impact of Glitch Exploitation on Speedrunning
The integration of glitches fundamentally reshapes how games are played in a speedrunning context, often leading to entirely new optimization strategies.
Route Redesign and Optimization
Glitches can completely invalidate existing speedrun routes. A new, highly efficient glitch can force a runner to rethink their entire strategy, potentially shaving minutes or even hours off a record. This is a dynamic process, with established routes constantly being challenged by new discoveries.
“Favorite Glitches” and Core Techniques
Certain glitches become so fundamental to a game’s speedrun that they are considered core techniques, shaping the entire strategy. These are the reliable tools in a speedrunner’s arsenal.
Emergent Strategies
The discovery of a single glitch can sometimes lead to an entire suite of emergent strategies. Runners may find that a glitch that allows them to skip one section also opens up opportunities to exploit other mechanics in a chain reaction.
Categories and Community Norms
The presence of glitches can also influence the categories within which games are speedrun.
“Glitchless” vs. “Any%” Categories
Many games have distinct categories: “Any%” where any means are allowed, including glitches, and “Glitchless” categories where players must complete the game using only intended mechanics. This distinction allows for different types of player skill to be showcased.
Tool-Assisted Speedruns (TAS)
In Tool-Assisted Speedruns, players use external tools to input commands frame-by-frame, allowing for perfect execution of complex glitches and strategies that would be impossible for a human player. While not representative of typical gameplay, TAS runs often push the theoretical limits of what is achievable in a game.
The Evolution of Game Design and Emulation
The pursuit of glitches in older games has had a ripple effect on how modern games are developed and how older titles are preserved.
Developer Awareness and Patches
Game developers are increasingly aware of how speedrunners interact with their games. While some embrace it, others may patch out certain glitches in subsequent updates, leading to a “race against time” for runners to perfect their strategies before a game is altered.
Emulation and Preservation
Emulators provide a controlled environment for speedrunners to discover and exploit glitches, often with enhanced debugging tools. This also aids in the preservation of older games, with speedrunning communities often documenting the nuances of these titles.
The world of speedrunning and glitch exploitation is a testament to human ingenuity and the intricate ways in which players can interact with digital environments. It transforms games from static entertainment into dynamic puzzles, constantly being deconstructed and reassembled in the pursuit of ultimate efficiency. The journey from a curious bug to a record-breaking exploit is a fascinating microcosm of problem-solving and collaborative innovation.
FAQs
What is speedrunning in video games?
Speedrunning is the practice of completing a video game or a specific section of it as quickly as possible, often using advanced techniques, strategies, and sometimes glitches to reduce completion time.
How are glitches discovered in video games?
Glitches are typically found through extensive gameplay, experimentation, and analysis of the game’s code or mechanics. Players may also use tools like emulators, debugging software, or collaborate within communities to identify unexpected behaviors.
Why do speedrunners exploit glitches?
Speedrunners exploit glitches to bypass difficult sections, skip large portions of the game, or gain advantages that significantly reduce the overall completion time, allowing for faster and more competitive runs.
Are all glitches allowed in speedrunning competitions?
No, the use of glitches varies depending on the rules of the specific speedrunning category or community. Some categories allow all glitches (any% runs), while others restrict or ban certain glitches to create different challenges.
What tools do speedrunners use to find and exploit glitches?
Speedrunners use a variety of tools including game emulators with debugging features, frame-by-frame analysis, memory viewers, and scripting tools. They also rely on community knowledge, trial and error, and sometimes reverse engineering to understand and exploit glitches.