These week-long marathons have gamers play in speedruns. This approach spotlights the player (known as a speedrunner) using almost every method at their disposal to complete games as quickly as possible. Everything like abusing game-breaking bugs, practicing tricks that have as little as a sixtieth of a second window to perform, and using technical knowledge of how the games are programmed are exploited.
Approximately 2.8 million dollars was raised in both of these events in 2015. The gamers who gather at these events show off a level of skill in video games that the average player can only gawk at.
The rules and strategies for any specific game are set by the speedrunning community. Cheat codes and game modification devices are not allowed, and usually the games must be played on the original hardware. Video streams of record times are shared and archived to keep everyone honest. You can learn more at http://speeddemosarchive.com or search for a speedrun of game you love on YouTube for examples.
There are many categories to play the games in. ‘Glitchless’, meaning that bugs and glitches are not allowed and the game should be played as intended. ‘100%’ indicates that the community has defined what a complete play through of a game requires, such as collecting all items or completing all objectives. The ‘any %’ category is where anything goes and seemingly impossible things can happen. The Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time being completed in under twenty minutes is an example.
Being an exhibition, the focus at these events is more on entertainment than achieving world record times, though it has happened on occasion. You can expect races of famous games, two players manipulating single controllers, blindfolded runs, and more.
Awesome games Done Quick runs through to the evening of Saturday, January 9th.
Event information can be found at https://gamesdonequick.com
You can watch the live stream at: http://www.twitch.tv/gamesdonequick
The schedule: https://gamesdonequick.com/schedule