i speedran grouse mountain (and lost to sylvie) (and hatrian) (and others)

So... moments after my grouse mountain solo exhibition stream, RP0 (in my Patreon discord) let me know that it actually had some of the qualities of a good speedrun game. We raced, and the competition was fierce and quick and exciting! And then it got serious.

I had not designed grouse mountain intending to make a game for speedrunning, but the flurry of activity that lasted one night was thrilling! RP0 got the record, then I think I topped his record, then he topped mine. I let John Molloy (my friend and collaborator on HANDMADEDEATHLABYRINTH) know, then Hatrian (a mysterious stranger invited by RP0) knocked everyone out of the park with what felt like a nigh-perfect run. I went to bed, just full of energy and satisfied with all the cool play that had come out of my tiny nokia jam game.

And then I woke up to sylvie's run, one that narrowly cut down the time from Hatrian's already-excellent one that I thought surely wouldn't be topped.

grouse mountain is not just a speedrun game! If you don't want the short experience spoiled for you, play it here before watching this video!

There were only about five of us competing (that I knew about), if you could call it that. But, being caught up in it was wonderful. I don't really have anything else to say except that five people can feel like the world for a little while. Thanks to y'all for racing with me.

P.s. Shoutout to John, who never managed a WR in time but did get his time to sub-30s!!! Although I raced to upload my record shortly before RP0 crushed it, I never once managed to achieve sub-30s ;P

P.p.s. Hatrian's speedrun can be found here.

P.p.p.s. Sylvie's video is unlisted on youtube, it was only ever linked directly on twitter. You can see our exchange here.