mania

So, I patch finally hit for console. We all knew this was coming, now it's time to start the discussion about what to do with the leaderboards. So far it's only hit PS4, and the build is the same as the current PC build, 1.03 (where the default build would be 1.0). So here I'm going to be outlaying some options about what to do.

Variable vs Sub-Category:

In the long term, sub-categories for separation on builds will be the go to. But in the short term, that might not be the best option, as we don't exactly know if there will be further patches, in between patches, small patches, patches that impact mechanics, etc. I'll talk more about that in the future, but for now I'll just show what the difference is.

A variable looks like this:
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It can be filtered on the leaderboards, but the default listing is just 'whatever is fastest'. The issue with this long term is that someone playing on a patched version, even if they were to filter the leaderboards, would still have their submission competing with the unpatched version. For example in this picture, the submission would still say "6th" on their personal profile, which isn't particularly accurate for competition on that version.

A Sub-Category looks like this:
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This will be the long term solution. But how to actually handle the sub-categories is something that needs to be discussed. For example, how to distinguish the sub-categories. This may more apply for ILs than full game runs, where separation may be more obvious.

If you were to just use the build number, then someone on 1.0 would be excluded from competing without using the glitch. Take for example Alluusio's run for Studiopolis 2, which was done on PS4 on Sept 1st, using build 1.0. However, he did not use, or attempt to use, the glitch that is only available in that build. For all intents and purposes, it should be competing with the runs on build 1.03. You could still name them as such and just submit to the one that applies to you, but that would seem rather confusing to a submitter, and incorrect labeling.

Another option would be to label them as "Patched" and "Unpatched". This would allow distinguishing between using what is available on unpatched versions, vs what is not. However there's a few issues with this still, what if there's another patch, and a 1.06 comes out? If that were the case, and there's a level with 2 bugs, both work on 1.0, 1 works on 1.03, and none work on 1.06, then where do I submit a run that was done on 1.03? This is more likely to happen in full game runs, where there could be 10 bugs usable on 1.0, then 5 on 1.03, then 2 on 1.06, etc.

My personal perference is to have only 2 sub-categories if possible. However, if they make a build past 1.03, then there's going to be some mess one way or another. My personal preference is to have to two sub-categories be, with more catchy names, "The newest build, permitting older builds if there is no difference" and "Everything else".

The issues with this are this would mean for full game runs, if a build was made beyond 1.03 then all 1.03 runs would be grouped together with 1.0 runs, at a disadvantage. However I find this preferable to them having their own sub-categories, because a) I don't think anyone will optimise a good run before the last build is released anyway (they won't be patching this in 2020), and b) the competitiveness for an in between build will almost certainly be 0, so it'd just be sitting there as dead weight. The same would apply to ILs under the same unlikely criteria as described above, but I think anyone who is using a bug that ends up getting patched just has to be aware to know that could be happening in the future, as has to suck it up if it does.

Last point on the IL charts, but the "overall board" (This one: ) will only disaply the default sub-category. I'm amusing the community response based on actions from what I've seen so far is that the majority would prefer the default in that case to be the "Patched" runs. So that for example, that board would display Level_Select's 2'51"77 on Titantic Monarch 2 Sonic, instead of his 48 second time on console, even though both could be submitted under different sub-categories. Either way not everyone will agree no matter what we choose, but I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts so we can make the most people happy.