Abstract
Speedrunning in general means to play a video game fast, i.e. using all means at one’s disposal to achieve a given goal in the least amount of time possible. To do so, a speedrun must be planned in advance, or routed, as referred to by the community. This paper focuses on discovering challenges and defining models needed when trying to approach the problem of routing algorithmically. To do so, this paper is split in two parts. The first part provides an overview of relevant speedrunning literature, extracting vital information and formulating criticism. Important categorizations are pointed out and a nomenclature is built to support professional discussion. The second part of this paper then refers to the actual speedrun routing optimization problem. Different concepts of graph representations are presented and their potential is discussed. Visions for problem solving are presented and assessed regarding suitability and expected challenges. Finally, a first assessment of the applicability of existing optimization methods to the defined problem is made, including metaheuristics/EA and Deep Learning methods.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
To put it in Newman’s words: “That which is in front of Link is space already consumed.” [28].
- 2.
Symbols altered from original to prevent ambiguities.
References
GDQ Tracker - Event List. https://gamesdonequick.com/tracker/events/. Accessed 6 Feb 2022
GDQStat.us. https://gdqstat.us/previous-events/agdq-2020/?series=0. Accessed 6 Feb 2022
Reverse Bottle Adventure - ZeldaSpeedRuns. https://www.zeldaspeedruns.com/oot/ba/reverse-bottle-adventure. Accessed 6 Feb 2022
speedrun.com. https://www.speedrun.com/oot. Accessed 6 Feb 2022
Bäck, T., Hammel, U., Schwefel, H.P.: Evolutionary computation: comments on the history and current state. IEEE Trans. Evol. Comput. 1(1), 3–17 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1109/4235.585888
Coello, C.A.C., Lamont, G.B., van Veldhuizen, D.A.: Applications Of Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms. World Scientific Press, Singapore. 2. edn. (2007)
Currie, G.: Fictional truth. Philos. Stud. 50(2), 195–212 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00354588
De Jong, K.A.: Evolutionary Computation: A Unified Approach. MIT Press, Cambridge (2016)
Deb, K.: Multi-Objective Optimization Using Evolutionary Algorithms. Wiley, Hoboken (2001)
Dijkstra, E.W.: A note on two problems in connexion with graphs. Numer. Math. 1, 269–271 (1959)
Dorigo, M., Di Caro, G.: Ant colony optimization: a new meta-heuristic. In: Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC99), vol. 2, pp. 1470–1477 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1109/CEC.1999.782657
Downey, R.G., Fellows, M.R.: Parameterized Complexity. Springer (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-0515-9
Ehrgott, M.: Multicriteria Optimization. Springer, 2nd edn. (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-27659-9
Eiben, A.E., Smith, J.E.: Introduction to Evolutionary Computing. Natural Computing Series. Springer, 2. edn. (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44874-8
Ford, D.: Speedrunning: transgressive play in digital space. In: Nordic DiGRA 2018 (2018). https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.12357.91369
Gendreau, M., Potvin, J.Y., et al.: Handbook of Metaheuristics, vol. 3. Springer (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91086-4
Hart, P.E., Nilsson, N.J., Raphael, B.: A formal basis for the heuristic determination of minimum cost paths. IEEE Trans. Syst. Sci. Cybern. 4(2), 100–107 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1109/TSSC.1968.300136
Hay, J.: Fully optimized: the (Post)human art of Speedrunning. J. Posthuman Stud. 4(1), 5–24 (2020). https://doi.org/10.5325/jpoststud.4.1.0005
Hemmingsen, M.: Code is law: subversion and collective knowledge in the ethos of video game speedrunning. Sport, Ethics Philos. 1–26 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/17511321.2020.1796773
Huang, S., Bamford, C., Ontanon, S., Grela, L.: Gym-\(\upmu \)RTS: toward affordable full game real-time strategy games research with deep reinforcement learning. In: IEEE Conference on Games (CIG) (2021). https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.18639.82081
Iškovs, A.: Travelling murderer problem: planning a morrowind all-faction speedrun with simulated annealing (2018). https://www.kimonote.com/@mildbyte/travelling-murderer-problem-planning-a-morrowind-all-faction-speedrun-with-simulated-annealing-part-1-41079/. Accessed 6 Feb 2022
JstAnothrVirtuoso: Finding the Optimum Nadeo Cut... With Science!! (2019). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZsAjvO9E1g. Accessed 6 Feb 2022
Lafond, M.: The complexity of speedrunning video games. In: Ito, H., Leonardi, S., Pagli, L., Prencipe, G. (eds.) Fun with Algorithms (FUN), vol. 100, pp. 27:1–27:19. Schloss Dagstuhl–Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik (2018). https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.FUN.2018.27
Lample, G., Chaplot, D.S.: Playing FPS games with deep reinforcement learning. CoRR (2016). http://arxiv.org/abs/1609.05521
Miettinen, K.: Nonlinear Multiobjective Optimization. Kluwer (1999)
Mocholi, J.A., Jaen, J., Catala, A., Navarro, E.: An emotionally biased ant colony algorithm for pathfinding in games. Expert Syst. Appl. 37(7), 4921–4927 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2009.12.023
Newman, J.: Playing with Videogames. Routledge, London (2008)
Newman, J.: Wrong warping, sequence breaking, and running through code. J. Jpn Assoc. Digital Humanit. 4(1), 7–36 (2019). https://doi.org/10.17928/jjadh.4.1_7
Rajabi-Bahaabadi, M., Shariat-Mohaymany, A., Babaei, M., Ahn, C.W.: Multi-objective path finding in stochastic time-dependent road networks using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm. Expert Syst. Appl. 42(12), 5056–5064 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2015.02.046
Ricksand, M.: “Twere well it were done quickly”: what belongs in a glitchless speedrun? Game Stud. 21(1) (2021). http://gamestudies.org/2101/articles/ricksand. Accessed 6 Feb 2022
Rishiwal, V., Yadav, M., Arya, K.V.: Finding optimal paths on terrain maps using ant colony algorithm. Int. J. Comput. Theory Eng. 2(3), 416–419 (2010). https://doi.org/10.7763/IJCTE.2010.V2.178
Scully-Blaker, R.: A practiced practice: speedrunning through space with de Certeau and Virilio. Game Stud. 14(1) (2014). http://gamestudies.org/1401/articles/scullyblaker. Accessed 6 Feb 2022
Scully-Blaker, R.: Re-Curating the Accident: Speedrunning as Community and Practice. Masters thesis, Concordia University (2016)
Scully-Blaker, R.: The Speedrunning museum of accidents. Kinephanos (Preserving Play, Special Issue), 71–88 (2018). https://www.kinephanos.ca/2018/the-speedrunning-museum-of-accidents/. Accessed 6 Feb 2022
Stewart, B.S., White, C.C.: Multiobjective A*. J. ACM 38(4), 775–814 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1145/115234.115368
Szita, I.: Reinforcement learning in gamecurrs. In: Wiering, M., van Otterlo, M. (eds.) Reinforcement Learning: State-of-the-Art, pp. 539–577. Springer (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27645-3_17
Sörensen, K.: Metaheuristics-the metaphor exposed. Int. Trans. Oper. Res. 22(1), 3–18 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.12001
Togelius, J., Karakovskiy, S., Baumgarten, R.: The 2009 Mario AI competition. In: Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), pp. 1–8. IEEE Press (2010). https://doi.org/10.1109/CEC.2010.5586133
Volvy: Reddit post about the Morrowind all factions speedrun route (2018). www.reddit.com/r/speedrun/comments/9u1r9o/using_ai_to_grind_out_routes/e91dg6w/. Accessed 6 Feb 2022
Ye, D., et al.: Mastering complex control in MOBA games with deep reinforcement learning. In: AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence 34(04), 6672–6679 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1609/aaai.v34i04.6144
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Groß, M., Zühlke, D., Naujoks, B. (2022). Automating Speedrun Routing: Overview and Vision. In: Jiménez Laredo, J.L., Hidalgo, J.I., Babaagba, K.O. (eds) Applications of Evolutionary Computation. EvoApplications 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13224. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02462-7_30
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02462-7_30
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-02461-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-02462-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)