12 Hour Challenge #12: February 26-28, 2021

12 Hour Challenge #12
February 26-28, 2021

This feels important.

We've reached the same number of challenges as the number in the title of the challenge. This calls for celebration!

It is my hope that the 12th 12 Hour Challenge finds you eager and excited to participate. I've been hosting these challenges since July 2015. Since then, thousands of participants have learned new speedruns. A few have even gone on to get world records in the games they learned here, which is awesome to think about! Even if you didn't get a record, perhaps the 12 Hour Challenge gave you a chance to try speedrunning for the first time, or to branch out and try a completely unexpected game. Whatever the case may be, the challenge has meant a lot of different things to everyone involved, and I thank you for being a part of it, either in the past, or right now.

For the first timers: welcome. The 12 Hour Challenge is simple. You can do it. On the weekend of February 26-28, I want you to learn a speedrun in twelve hours or less. Pick whatever game you desire. Don't try to be perfect. Learn the essentials, rehearse the tricky things, and get yourself to a point where you can complete your first run before your twelve hours have gone by. How you use the time is completely up to you. I've seen people cram until the 11th hour and then crank out a run at the very end. I've seen people race their game all day with friends and just notice improvement through playing. It's completely in your control.

As always, this challenge is community driven. I need your help spreading the news, so please retweet the tweet, upvote on Reddit, and use the hashtag #12HourChallenge on social media. Let's make the 12th 12 Hour Challenge the BIGGEST and BEST one yet. Who are you going to challenge?

By the way, all of the challenge info for challenges past and present is available on my website:
https://www.go1den.com/12-hour-challenge

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Theme:
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For the twelfth 12 Hour Challenge, I want to try something different. Normally the theme guides you to a certain GENRE of game. For this challenge, I don't want to restrict that; instead, I want to change the way you think about DOING the 12 Hour Challenge. This time the theme is "Better with Friends". I want you to invite at least one other person to learn the same game as you. You can learn together or separately, but ultimately you'll have at least one other person to motivate you and race the game with you when you're all done learning.

There is a channel on the Discord server called #game_suggestions. If you don't have someone to learn with, I would encourage you to talk with others in this channel to find anyone who might be interested in learning the same game as you. You are also encouraged to use our voice channels during the challenge if you want to chat with others learning the same game.

Another channel on the Discord server worth mentioning is #race_scheduling. Once you've found someone else learning the same game as you, schedule a race here to take place after the challenge! It will be a fun way for you to show what you learned and meet people who are at the same point in the learning process.

Note: The theme is an OPTIONAL piece of the challenge, designed to keep things interesting for returning participants. You are NOT required to use this theme. This time around, more than other times, I strongly encourage you to consider it. I want the 12th challenge to focus on a sense of community and bring people together for a fun weekend of learning.

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Twitch Tags
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On the day of your challenge, be sure to set your Twitch stream tags to include BOTH "12 Hour Challenge" and "Speedrun".

If you followed my directions above, during the 12 Hour Challenge, your stream will show up here:
http://bombch.us/DAuN

This is a great site to bookmark if you want to watch other challengers all weekend long!

Don't forget to remove the tags from your stream when you are finished with your challenge.

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - JOIN THE 12 HOUR CHALLENGE DISCORD!!
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The speedrunning community is extremely welcoming and excited to help you learn! To facilitate this, the 12 Hour Challenge itself has an official Discord that participants can join: https://discord.gg/yaSYafu

Join the Discord for tons of information about specific game communities, or to ask any other challenge questions you might have. It's a very supportive and engaging group of people, who are just as excited about the challenge as you are. There's a list of game-specific Discords, a place to post your first run splits and VOD, and channels for asking questions and brainstorming what to run. We also have voice channels on the Discord that you are free to use during the 12 Hour Challenge.

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Ready to play?
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Please visit my website for the links to sign-up, to view who has already entered, to join the Discord, and for all other relevant social media links.

http://go1den.com/12-hour-challenge

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Rules
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The craziest thing happened: the Rules Committee was all set to meet and approve a 300-page, legally binding document concerning the regulations of the challenge, but they're just not in session right now due to covid restrictions. Unfortunately, this means I don't have any rules to enforce. Bummer. I had my banhammer ready to go...

Good luck!
-Golden