SpeedRunners is one of those games anyone can pick up at a convention or party. Every now and then though there's this one guy at these events that starts to kick everyone's butt. It's probably because he knows the basic strats of the game. Good thing I'm here to share these with you.

If you're a novice player, or someone considering buying SpeedRunners (it's in Early Access until April 19th!), you might find these tips useful.

Let's start with the basics and work our way up. Before I get to items, I assume you understand how SpeedRunners work -- 4 players spawn in a map, and the camera follows the players in front. If you fall off-screen, you lose. "Press a to jump and figure it out" is usually good enough of an explanation.

One important thing to understand is momentum and how to get it. A very simple example is the gif below.

• Both players jump down
  
• Both players hit a diagonal slope
  
• The slope transfers their downwards momentum into sideways momentum. That's why they have that fancy trail.

Items are what makes SpeedRunners the friendship-destroying game many people love. I'm going to use GIFs to illustrate proper use of items. Note that these are basic tactics just to help new players understand what's happening.




The crate might seem like a useless object as it's easy to jump over, but pro level SpeedRunners players had decisive matches because of it.

• Use it to dodge golden hooks
  
• Place it in spots where players have to slide, that'll slow the others down or force them to burn items
  
• Place them where upwards ladders end - that forces players to awkwardly jump over, costing valuable momentum

The Golden Hook is probably the most iconic and friendship ruining weapon. There's more to it though as we've seen from high level play.

• It's easy to dodge over long distances by sliding
  
• Most efficient against other noobs or close-range against experienced players
  
• Having it in your inventory limits experienced opponents' actions

Let me talk about that last point for a second. When you have the Golden Hook you're playing a mind game with the people in front of you. Most people will anxiously slide all over the place, anticipating the hook -- while others will keep onto items like the Crate in order to dodge. The best players in the world use the hook to break opponents' super-speed which is also very effective.

Remember that you also take your opponents' momentum when grappling them.




The Rocket is a slow but effective weapon. It will slowly lock onto a target and follow it... if there's open space. Otherwise it can be used efficiently in tunnels when you need to stun the 3 players in front of you.

• Effective in close-quarter situations
  
• Slow in open spaces
  
• Great stun if it hits

The Freezeray was added as a more direct item that can freeze multiple enemies. The core feature is that it goes through walls and can be used with great efficiency during varying vertical paths.

• Has a build-up
  
• Fires through walls
  
• Freezes your enemies for a couple of seconds

If your enemies had momentum, that momentum will transfer to their frozen state -- it's not always good to freeze someone going a downhill slope very fast.



In the gif above, you see that the momentum of SpeedRunners with no friction transfered to the downhill slope -- and the freezeray wasn't as effective




The beautiful shockwave is an effective area weapon. In the most recent iteration, ti fires in front of the casting player. It will blow up all over items and push players away from its central direction. It means it's also great for boosting yourself forward.

• Area weapon that counters everything in the game
  
• Great for offense and defense
  
• When used skillfully, creates magnificent moments of all players slowing down

A very fast weapon that just keeps on rolling forward. The Fireball is players' favorite item to clear a path (including through other players). It can be fired backwards to knock down players mid-air, and has the same stun effect as The Rocket.

• Fast forward-rolling weapon
  
• Great for clearing paths, like getting rid of crates
  
• Efficient for both offense and defense if used properly

The fun of SpeedRunners comes when all items come together and result in situations like this:




I hope this helps people get a head start in SpeedRunners and eventually get a s good as these guys from the recent King of Speed finals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=425xdDwOlQc

Community! What do you guys think? Am I missing any vital beginners tips?

SpeedRunners is one of those games anyone can pick up at a convention or party. Every now and then though there's this one guy at these events that starts to kick everyone's butt. It's probably because he knows the basic strats of the game. Good thing I'm here to share these with you.

If you're a novice player, or someone considering buying SpeedRunners (it's in Early Access until April 19th!), you might find these tips useful.

Let's start with the basics and work our way up. Before I get to items, I assume you understand how SpeedRunners work -- 4 players spawn in a map, and the camera follows the players in front. If you fall off-screen, you lose. "Press a to jump and figure it out" is usually good enough of an explanation.

One important thing to understand is momentum and how to get it. A very simple example is the gif below.

• Both players jump down
  
• Both players hit a diagonal slope
  
• The slope transfers their downwards momentum into sideways momentum. That's why they have that fancy trail.

Items are what makes SpeedRunners the friendship-destroying game many people love. I'm going to use GIFs to illustrate proper use of items. Note that these are basic tactics just to help new players understand what's happening.




The crate might seem like a useless object as it's easy to jump over, but pro level SpeedRunners players had decisive matches because of it.

• Use it to dodge golden hooks
  
• Place it in spots where players have to slide, that'll slow the others down or force them to burn items
  
• Place them where upwards ladders end - that forces players to awkwardly jump over, costing valuable momentum

The Golden Hook is probably the most iconic and friendship ruining weapon. There's more to it though as we've seen from high level play.

• It's easy to dodge over long distances by sliding
  
• Most efficient against other noobs or close-range against experienced players
  
• Having it in your inventory limits experienced opponents' actions

Let me talk about that last point for a second. When you have the Golden Hook you're playing a mind game with the people in front of you. Most people will anxiously slide all over the place, anticipating the hook -- while others will keep onto items like the Crate in order to dodge. The best players in the world use the hook to break opponents' super-speed which is also very effective.

Remember that you also take your opponents' momentum when grappling them.




The Rocket is a slow but effective weapon. It will slowly lock onto a target and follow it... if there's open space. Otherwise it can be used efficiently in tunnels when you need to stun the 3 players in front of you.

• Effective in close-quarter situations
  
• Slow in open spaces
  
• Great stun if it hits

The Freezeray was added as a more direct item that can freeze multiple enemies. The core feature is that it goes through walls and can be used with great efficiency during varying vertical paths.

• Has a build-up
  
• Fires through walls
  
• Freezes your enemies for a couple of seconds

If your enemies had momentum, that momentum will transfer to their frozen state -- it's not always good to freeze someone going a downhill slope very fast.



In the gif above, you see that the momentum of SpeedRunners with no friction transfered to the downhill slope -- and the freezeray wasn't as effective




The beautiful shockwave is an effective area weapon. In the most recent iteration, ti fires in front of the casting player. It will blow up all over items and push players away from its central direction. It means it's also great for boosting yourself forward.

• Area weapon that counters everything in the game
  
• Great for offense and defense
  
• When used skillfully, creates magnificent moments of all players slowing down

A very fast weapon that just keeps on rolling forward. The Fireball is players' favorite item to clear a path (including through other players). It can be fired backwards to knock down players mid-air, and has the same stun effect as The Rocket.

• Fast forward-rolling weapon
  
• Great for clearing paths, like getting rid of crates
  
• Efficient for both offense and defense if used properly

The fun of SpeedRunners comes when all items come together and result in situations like this:




I hope this helps people get a head start in SpeedRunners and eventually get a s good as these guys from the recent King of Speed finals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=425xdDwOlQc

Community! What do you guys think? Am I missing any vital beginners tips?

Hi everyone! Here's the video from last Friday's King of Speed Finale. If you missed it, spoilers -- it's a very, very good match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=425xdDwOlQc


Are you in the Boston area?

Are you Silver or higher?

Drop us a line. We're organizing a tournament at PAX East and you might just get in! PurpleTurkey is going to be there, too. Just drop us a mail to contact at tinybuild dot com -- we'll sort it out.

Hi everyone! Here's the video from last Friday's King of Speed Finale. If you missed it, spoilers -- it's a very, very good match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=425xdDwOlQc


Are you in the Boston area?

Are you Silver or higher?

Drop us a line. We're organizing a tournament at PAX East and you might just get in! PurpleTurkey is going to be there, too. Just drop us a mail to contact at tinybuild dot com -- we'll sort it out.

Who is going to win - PurpleTurkey or Desnamed?

We will find out - https://www.twitch.tv/tinybuild

Now that you all know SpeedRunners is coming out on April 19th, we've got something special planned for the final, most amazing King of Speed ever.


This Friday at 6pm CET we will host the finals between the King of Season 1 (PurpleTurkey) and the King of Season 2 (Desnamed).

• Friday April 8th @ 6pm CET
  
• Tune in at http://twitch.tv/tinyBuild

I got a chance to talk to PurpleTurkey, and he's feeling pretty confident:

"I will win.... Don't want to sound cocky" - PurpleTurkey


Who will win? Cast your vote here - https://twitter.com/tinyBuild/status/717692307739394048

Now that you all know SpeedRunners is coming out on April 19th, we've got something special planned for the final, most amazing King of Speed ever.


This Friday at 6pm CET we will host the finals between the King of Season 1 (PurpleTurkey) and the King of Season 2 (Desnamed).

• Friday April 8th @ 6pm CET
  
• Tune in at http://twitch.tv/tinyBuild

I got a chance to talk to PurpleTurkey, and he's feeling pretty confident:

"I will win.... Don't want to sound cocky" - PurpleTurkey


Who will win? Cast your vote here - https://twitter.com/tinyBuild/status/717692307739394048

We're proud to announce today that SpeedRunners will see its full release on April 19th, only two weeks from now!



It's been a long and incredible journey since we released the first beta build back in 2013. Now, over 50 updates and 2 years later, we're finally at a point where we can confidently call the game finished.

When the game first entered Early Access, we had no idea how much the game would take off - or that we would be working on it for such a long time. It was a humble prototype back then - fun and playable, but filled with game-breaking crashes and many exploitable bugs. With hard work, dedication and a lot of helpful feedback, it slowly expanded it into a highly competitive game (an official eSport even!) that sold over a million units. The process has been amazing, thanks to you; the wonderful community we've come across here on the Steam forum <3 <3 <3

Now, the full release won't be just another small update. We've got a couple cool new features lined up for you.

Along with the full release, the game will also be available on Mac and Linux. It's all the same codebase, which means there's full cross-platform support. So Mac and Linux players can play with each other, as well as with PC players. We've been running a beta for this the past few weeks, and it looks like the game runs smoothly on these platforms, so yay, finally! Full Mac and Linux support!

This is a big feature, that we've been working on in secret for quite some time. In the full release, you'll be able to design, upload, share and even sell your own custom speed trails! Here's an example of one that I made:



Ever since we introduced the first trails on handicapped characters and as a reward for winning the ESL tournament, people have been super excited about getting their own trails. Some even went as far as hacking the game to get their own custom trails in. Well, this is no longer necessary, as we've built an full-fledged trail editor just for you! This editor allows you to create the most outrageous, fun, fancy and sweet-looking trails you can imagine. You can create layers, use your own artwork and even add particle effects! Here's another that I made, just for fun:



Once you're happy with the trail you've created, you can submit it to the community for curation. If it's accepted, other players will be able to buy it from the steam store, and you'll get a portion of the revenue!

We've created a new campaign mode, which dives into the backstory of some of the beloved SpeedRunners characters. It's a Mario Kart-style campaign, in which you play against bots of various difficulty levels in a tournament setting. We hope this will be a fun addition for new players, where they can safely learn the tricks of the game. For those of you who have already logged hundreds of hours online, it shouldn't be much of a challenge to beat the bots and unlock 4 new hand-drawn comics, centered around Moonraker, Gil, Buckshot and the Falcon's struggles in New Rush City.

Finally, we added a feature for twitch-streamers, which allows viewers to bet on the outcome of your matches. We've previewed this feature in our weekly King of Speed livestream, and it has proven to be a fun new way to experience SpeedRunners as a spectator on twitch.tv. Viewers will be able to bet special 'tinyBuild points', which they can use to craft discount coupons to tinyBuild's collection of games. Even if you're not into these types of coupons, the betting makes for a cool meta-game among viewers.

What's more, you can already start trying out these new features today! That's right, we're doing a beta-test while still in Early Access. So meta. Right-click on SpeedRunners in your Steam Library, select Properties > Betas and opt into the beta branch. This will give you access to the test-version of the final build, so you can already start creating cool-looking custom trails!

NB: We'll also be updating the normal version of the game today, so that it's compatible with the beta version. Aside from the new features mentioned in this post, we've also fixed a few bugs here and there. See the changelog for more details.

What does leaving Early Access mean for the development of SpeedRunners? Well, let me start by saying that development will continue. There's still room for improvement and new features in SpeedRunners. For example, we're planning to overhaul the ranking system at some point. Also on the todo-list is more extensive support for ghosts to pratice with/against. So just because the game is coming out of Early Access does not mean we'll stop developing for it. However, we will be shifting our focus internally to console development, which basically means that updates will be spaced further apart.

Finally, as a thank-you to all the players who have supported us and helped us in the development of SpeedRunners during Early Access: we've made a special, Early Access-only trail that only you get exclusive access to! You'll be able to show eveyone what you were part of the original community that helped build this game into what it is today!



And there you have it; only two weeks until final release, you guys! Time to GET HYPED! :D

-Casper

We're proud to announce today that SpeedRunners will see its full release on April 19th, only two weeks from now!



It's been a long and incredible journey since we released the first beta build back in 2013. Now, over 50 updates and 2 years later, we're finally at a point where we can confidently call the game finished.

When the game first entered Early Access, we had no idea how much the game would take off - or that we would be working on it for such a long time. It was a humble prototype back then - fun and playable, but filled with game-breaking crashes and many exploitable bugs. With hard work, dedication and a lot of helpful feedback, it slowly expanded it into a highly competitive game (an official eSport even!) that sold over a million units. The process has been amazing, thanks to you; the wonderful community we've come across here on the Steam forum <3 <3 <3

Now, the full release won't be just another small update. We've got a couple cool new features lined up for you.

Along with the full release, the game will also be available on Mac and Linux. It's all the same codebase, which means there's full cross-platform support. So Mac and Linux players can play with each other, as well as with PC players. We've been running a beta for this the past few weeks, and it looks like the game runs smoothly on these platforms, so yay, finally! Full Mac and Linux support!

This is a big feature, that we've been working on in secret for quite some time. In the full release, you'll be able to design, upload, share and even sell your own custom speed trails! Here's an example of one that I made:



Ever since we introduced the first trails on handicapped characters and as a reward for winning the ESL tournament, people have been super excited about getting their own trails. Some even went as far as hacking the game to get their own custom trails in. Well, this is no longer necessary, as we've built an full-fledged trail editor just for you! This editor allows you to create the most outrageous, fun, fancy and sweet-looking trails you can imagine. You can create layers, use your own artwork and even add particle effects! Here's another that I made, just for fun:



Once you're happy with the trail you've created, you can submit it to the community for curation. If it's accepted, other players will be able to buy it from the steam store, and you'll get a portion of the revenue!

We've created a new campaign mode, which dives into the backstory of some of the beloved SpeedRunners characters. It's a Mario Kart-style campaign, in which you play against bots of various difficulty levels in a tournament setting. We hope this will be a fun addition for new players, where they can safely learn the tricks of the game. For those of you who have already logged hundreds of hours online, it shouldn't be much of a challenge to beat the bots and unlock 4 new hand-drawn comics, centered around Moonraker, Gil, Buckshot and the Falcon's struggles in New Rush City.

Finally, we added a feature for twitch-streamers, which allows viewers to bet on the outcome of your matches. We've previewed this feature in our weekly King of Speed livestream, and it has proven to be a fun new way to experience SpeedRunners as a spectator on twitch.tv. Viewers will be able to bet special 'tinyBuild points', which they can use to craft discount coupons to tinyBuild's collection of games. Even if you're not into these types of coupons, the betting makes for a cool meta-game among viewers.

What's more, you can already start trying out these new features today! That's right, we're doing a beta-test while still in Early Access. So meta. Right-click on SpeedRunners in your Steam Library, select Properties > Betas and opt into the beta branch. This will give you access to the test-version of the final build, so you can already start creating cool-looking custom trails!

NB: We'll also be updating the normal version of the game today, so that it's compatible with the beta version. Aside from the new features mentioned in this post, we've also fixed a few bugs here and there. See the changelog for more details.

What does leaving Early Access mean for the development of SpeedRunners? Well, let me start by saying that development will continue. There's still room for improvement and new features in SpeedRunners. For example, we're planning to overhaul the ranking system at some point. Also on the todo-list is more extensive support for ghosts to pratice with/against. So just because the game is coming out of Early Access does not mean we'll stop developing for it. However, we will be shifting our focus internally to console development, which basically means that updates will be spaced further apart.

Finally, as a thank-you to all the players who have supported us and helped us in the development of SpeedRunners during Early Access: we've made a special, Early Access-only trail that only you get exclusive access to! You'll be able to show eveyone what you were part of the original community that helped build this game into what it is today!



And there you have it; only two weeks until final release, you guys! Time to GET HYPED! :D

-Casper

Sick fanart of Salem, give this guy a thumbs up

Hi everyone! r51 introduces a series of important bugfixes alongside brand new artwork for Warehouse (now called Mansion), and a Ghosts feature in Practice Mode.

• Added a Ghost to the Practice Mode. Race against your own best time!
  
• Updated Festival layout
  
• Enabled Mid-Game Joining in Custom Games
  
• Enabled playing unpublished maps in local multiplayer matches and in practice mode
  
• New art for Warehouse; it's now called Mansion
  
• Editor: AI volumes can now be set for specific bot difficulties. Change test bot difficulty with [ and ]

• fixed an issue where the camera would zoom in endlessly
  
• improved finding lobbies
  
• fixed a bug in level select causing RWS to be picked less
  
• bug fix for the progression storage
  
• fixed a bug where and old version of a level was loaded if you opened it right after saving
  
• a couple of other small bugfixes
  
• fixed a bug in the draw ordering of local vs. remote players

Also added Hungarian translations.