Spore - August 14, 2018

Edit history:

SDAVerification: 2018-08-14 12:36:44 am

2018-07-24 02:02:13 pm

Game Page: http://speeddemosarchive.com/Spore.html

Spore () (pc) [Any %] [Single Segment] [Hard]

Decision: Accept

Congratulations to 'KinglyValence'!

Thread title:

SDAVerification

2018-07-24 02:02:13 pm

Run Information

Spore () (pc) [Any %] [Single Segment] [Hard]

Verification Files

http://v.speeddemosarchive.com/spore-v_IQ.mp4

Please refer to the Verification Guidelines before posting.

Please post your opinions about the run and be certain to conclude your post with a verdict (Accept/Reject). If you wish to remain anonymous, you can also send a pm with your reply to 'sdaverification' (please state clearly in that case which run you have verified). This is not a contest where the majority wins - Each verification will be judged on its content.

LotBlind

2018-08-05 01:12:12 pm

Looks like the runner has placed top 3 in all of even the more competitive categories for this game on speedrun.com. This makes me think there's got to be something to all the strategies – very difficult to judge otherwise but they do seem to make sense and are executed with decisiveness. The menuing is not flawless through the first half of the run. The icons are a bit on the small side (very much actually) but I still would like to see more confidence with these in an SDA run. I assume the choices are the same each time? If so, this could be coded into numbers that indicate which tabs you need to visit on which upgrade. Whether there was room for more microing is also very difficult to tell, the tribes-beings have some amount of autonomy.

30:40 - Here you switched from going to one village to doing another one first. I'm curious as to what caused this decision, seeing as this doesn't seem to be the straight path between all of them.

I'm guessing you couldn't have, say, split your tribe and sent them out to two villages at once in this stage of the evolution?

I'll just wait a bit for a reply...

Looks like the runner has placed top 3 in all of even the more competitive categories for this game on speedrun.com. This makes me think there's got to be something to all the strategies – very difficult to judge otherwise but they do seem to make sense and are executed with decisiveness. The menuing is not flawless through the first half of the run. The icons are a bit on the small side (very much actually) but I still would like to see more confidence with these in an SDA run. I assume the choices are the same each time? If so, this could be coded into numbers that indicate which tabs you need to visit on which upgrade. Whether there was room for more microing is also very difficult to tell, the tribes-beings have some amount of autonomy.

30:40 - Here you switched from going to one village to doing another one first. I'm curious as to what caused this decision, seeing as this doesn't seem to be the straight path between all of them.

I'm guessing you couldn't have, say, split your tribe and sent them out to two villages at once in this stage of the evolution?

I'll just wait a bit for a reply...

KinglyValence

2018-08-08 12:36:35 pm

Thank you for reply, LotBlind.
I have been running this game since early 2015 on speedrun.com and have gone back and forth on holding the world record but have always been in the top runners. However, the full game on Hard has never been attempted by anyone else and I believe this time will stand for a long time. The speed run for this game began with 3 hour runs on Normal about 3 years ago, to just under an hour run on Easy by row_ on this site, but now Hard difficulty is just over an hour.
The icons are very small because when in 1080p mode in the game, it just makes everything very small. This game came out in 2008 and I guess it was more common to not run in 1080p so the developers did not account for this, but it was not my decision to make them small.
Spore is also a very random and change heavy game, which is intended by the developers. Each time playing the game, it will be very different. So the menuing will have to be figured out on the spot each time and can not necessarily be predicted perfectly since the upgrading parts are not always the same and what menu the game will start you on will not be the same each time. And Spore does not let the user map or change any buttons, so giving tabs numbers on the key board is not an option.
As for Tribal Stage, it is hard to see the reason behind strategies especially when only seeing the finished product, which I am sure this is the case for many speed runs. However, the strategy is to Blue face friend all the 9/9 tribes then go back and then Green face ally the starting 6/6 tribe. However, the spawn map is never the same and I got an unfortunate layout. There is more to it than this including which tribe is more upset at your tribe than others. But I can assure viewers than every major decision is on purpose even if it looks a little odd. Also, the tribal chieftain must be present for all performances so I could not split my members a part. Especially on Hard difficulty all members are required to fill the relationship bar at the top of the screen. On Easy difficulty there is much more leniency in the amount of tribe members involved in the performance.
I take it as a very nice complement to hear the tribe members appear to have some autonomy, because in reality tribe members are very difficult to control and sometimes have a mind of their own or forget what they are doing. There was a lot of practice that specifically went into making the tribe members behave and look as coordinated as they appear in the video. Smiley

Thank you for reply, LotBlind. 
I have been running this game since early 2015 on speedrun.com and have gone back and forth on holding the world record but have always been in the top runners. However, the full game on Hard has never been attempted by anyone else and I believe this time will stand for a long time. The speed run for this game began with 3 hour runs on Normal about 3 years ago, to just under an hour run on Easy by row_ on this site, but now Hard difficulty is just over an hour. 
The icons are very small because when in 1080p mode in the game, it just makes everything very small. This game came out in 2008 and I guess it was more common to not run in 1080p so the developers did not account for this, but it was not my decision to make them small. 
Spore is also a very random and change heavy game, which is intended by the developers. Each time playing the game, it will be very different. So the menuing will have to be figured out on the spot each time and can not necessarily be predicted perfectly since the upgrading parts are not always the same and what menu the game will start you on will not be the same each time. And Spore does not let the user map or change any buttons, so giving tabs numbers on the key board is not an option.
As for Tribal Stage, it is hard to see the reason behind strategies especially when only seeing the finished product, which I am sure this is the case for many speed runs. However, the strategy is to Blue face friend all the 9/9 tribes then go back and then Green face ally the starting 6/6 tribe. However, the spawn map is never the same and I got an unfortunate layout. There is more to it than this including which tribe is more upset at your tribe than others. But I can assure viewers than every major decision is on purpose even if it looks a little odd. Also, the tribal chieftain must be present for all performances so I could not split my members a part. Especially on Hard difficulty all members are required to fill the relationship bar at the top of the screen. On Easy difficulty there is much more leniency in the amount of tribe members involved in the performance.
I take it as a very nice complement to hear the tribe members appear to have some autonomy, because in reality tribe members are very difficult to control and sometimes have a mind of their own or forget what they are doing. There was a lot of practice that specifically went into making the tribe members behave and look as coordinated as they appear in the video. :)

LotBlind

2018-08-08 02:48:50 pm

Ok. I'm very happy with this reply! It sounds like it's pretty much as I expected (well actually better than I thought). Yes, "god games" often have the AI controlling problems. Smiley

Right, so I recommend writing some notes explaining aspects of the game like you did in that reply because your audience will include people who haven't necessarily played the game at all. It's optional of course but I'm sure they'll be able to appreciate it even more that way.

Great that you decided to submit here, looking forwards to seeing more runs from you.
Easy Accept! (someone just has to crop the timer from the video)

SDAVerification

2018-08-14 12:36:45 am

Decision posted.