- Real time clock
- Clock is started when the player assumes control of the character for the first time - i.e., in the case of Prince after the dududududuuu in the first dungeon.
- Clock is stopped when the player loses control of the character and the end sequence is played. In this case I guess that would be when we enter the princess room.
This is how they do it over at the ESA, SDA, and all other major speedrun events I've ever seen.
Why is this method so popular? Well, a speedrun should reflect the complete time from start to finish, including any deaths and/or mistakes. This is how we can have "proper" world records that are a thrill to be watched being played and broken. Not so much when you can restart a level 500 times until you get it right. Naturally, restarting and saving/loading is per definition ALLOWED in speedruns, if the game supports it (savestates and emulator cheat does NOT count however), but the time used to employ such measures will still be counted.
Although the segmented runs I've found so far are very impressive I feel that a lot of the "wow"-factor is lost when you realize it's been restarted and loaded/saved a million times. The real excitement of watching a speedrun, or playing one for that matter, comes from the fact that you are doing it all at once.
What do you guys think? Do you have any opinions or input? I will lead by example and post a video of me playing PoP within the near future. I really do suck at this game currently, but I thought I would throw it out there to see if anyone else is interested in the "normal" way of running games, translated over to PoP.
If it is already being used by anyone, please get in touch with me so I know what time I need to beat, as this is the only form of speedrun that I am interested in!
![Smiling :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Cheers,
Brandon