How Neon White Lets You Speedrun Speedrunning

Hey there!

Every year, I dedicate my last video to the
most innovative game from the last 12 months.

In the past I've talked about time-travelling
detective games, brain-busting block pushers,

and time-looping archeological adventures.

So, what should I pick for 2022?

Well.

I've always been interested in speed-running.

That's the practice of taking a game, and
trying to finish it in the fastest way humanly

possible.

This requires you to play with impeccable
skill.

To understand every facet of the game's underlying
design.

To research movement tech.

To exploit skips, shortcuts, and sequence
breaking.

And, sometimes, to break the game into a billion
pieces.

It's a fun part of gaming culture - from annual
conventions like Awesome Games Done Quick,

to YouTube chronicles like Summoning Salt.

But, let's be honest: I'm never going to do
it.

This requires an unbelievable time commitment
- a top Ocarina of Time runner says he spent

more than 4,500 hours on the game.

I could spend that time doing much better
things, like watching the Shrek the Halls

Christmas special 9,000 times.

So... what if you made a game that simulated
the feeling of being a speedrunner.

That gave you the chance to learn a move set,
practice running over and over again, find

skips and shortcuts, and slowly get better.

But without the thousand hour commitment?

Well, that would be Neon White.

♫ Upbeat Music ♫

So, at it's most basic, this is a first-person
platforming game.

In each level you pick up these carefully
placed weapon cards - they can be used to

shoot down demons.

Or they can be discarded to unleash a special
move, borrowed from other platforming games

- like a double jump, forward dash, rocket
jump, hookshot, or ground pound.

And so you must race through each level, shooting
demons, discarding cards, and moving with

speed and skill.

Now, you could finish each level, move on,
fast forward through the cringe dialogue,

and roll credits in a few hours.

But, that's not really the point.

“If you just play to win each level without
going back to optimise your time, you’re

not really playing Neon White,” says creator
Ben Esposito.

The game initially began as a first person
shooter mixed with a deck builder.

You'd assemble a deck of cards, and then get
dealt random weapons and powers in the middle

of a fight.

Which... kinda sucked.

But when Ben changed the prototype to have
a breadcrumb trail of hand-picked cards, his

friends quickly started running through the
levels as quickly as possible, trading back

and forth their best times.

Which led to Neon White as we now know it.

It's a big departure from his previous game
- the noodley hole 'em up Donut County, which

was designed to appeal to as many people as
possible, with its simple gameplay and controls.

This time, Ben wanted to make a game that
a few people would absolutely love - a strange

mix of Counterstrike surf maps,
Toonami anime, Dreamcast aesthetics, Visual Novel

dialogue and more.

Anyway, like Ben says - Neon White is most fun
when you play the level, and then try to do

it again - but faster.

But during development, this wasn't always
obvious to people and they would blast through

levels without ever thinking to retry for
a better time.

So the team developed a system that would
encourage players to optimise.

It's called Insight - designed, as Ben says,
"to orient people to the true 'fun' of the

game."

So when you start a level for the first time
you're given a screen like this.

Everything's locked.

So you just play the level.

You're probably a tad slow, you might make
a few mistakes, you might hesitate - and so

you get a bronze medal.

WHITE: "Cleared it".

This unlocks a leaderboard with your friends'
times, and also shows you how fast you'll

need to go for a better reward.

Each level in Neon White is incredibly short.

A stage might only take 20 or 30 seconds to
finish.

So... they're always quick enough to encourage
another go.

So you play again.

This round, a timer appears on screen.

You play faster, you're more accurate, you
know how the level's laid out so there's less

hesitation.

This time, you get a silver medal...

WHITE: "I'll take it".

...and you can now race against your own ghost,
to see how you can do it even better.

Neon White feels great to play - it has tight,
responsive, and reliable movement mechanics,

and all the standard forgiveness features,
like coyote time and edge rounding.

It's just intrinsically fun to play, so replaying
a level never feels like a chore.

And it's crystal clear that with just a bit
more skill, a bit more accuracy, a bit more

practice, you could totally do it better.

So you play again.

Optimise.

Improve.

Do better.

Get a gold medal!

How on earth could I have done that any faster?

WHITE: "Didn't even break a sweat".

Neon White's visual design and architecture
is intended for clarity and zero ambiguity.

It's all clean white buildings, with green
plants that point towards where to go, and

obvious visual affordances like staircases
and archways.

Plus, the enemies and cards are placed through
the stage like a dotted line from start to

finish.

But that easy route is also a red herring.

Because each and every level has a secret
shortcut that can be exploited to get an even

better time.

And that's the reward for a gold medal: a
level hint, which shows you where to break

from the obvious route to get a faster time.

So you play again.

With a little more practice, some problem
solving, and a dollop of skill, you should

have everything you need to net yourself the
ace medal.

WHITE: "It's 'cause I'm the best".

But this finally unlocks the global leaderboards
- and the temptation to go even faster.

Perhaps you'll keep trying.

Eke out a few extra seconds.

Search YouTube for tips - wait, you can parry
bullets in this game to get a speed boost?

What!

And if you do that, you just might unlock
a fifth, secret, red medal - for times set

by Ben himself.

And so by going through this process, you
get the feeling of being a speedrunner on

that specific level - but in mere minutes,
or perhaps a few hours.

Rather than weeks, months, and years.

You get to feel like an AGDQ superstar.
Without the time commitment.

Of course - none of this is particularly new.

Leaderboards have been around since the arcades.

Player ghosts since ancient racing games.

And I praised the hidden medals in Assault
Android Cactus for how they reward the best

players - without demoralising those who can't
make the grade.

But there's something special about the way
Neon White does it.

For most games...

time trials, speed runs, gold medals, and
so on are the exclusive domain of a few elite

players.

Something that we mere mortals just watch
on YouTube.

But that's not the case in Neon White.

Practically everyone who talks about this
game says the same thing - it's almost impossible

to move on without, at the very least, a gold
medal.

Maybe an ace if you're feeling spicy.

And it's no surprise: the short levels make
replaying easy.

The tight controls make it fun.

And the insight system encourages you to do
it, by gradually easing you in from a stumbling

level finisher, to a slick speedrunning superstar.

And so that's why I'm picking it as the most
innovative game of 2022.

WHITE: "Not bad for a dead guy, huh?"

Some honourable mentions, as always.

Like 2019's winner, Baba is You, Patrick's
Parabox is a block-shunting Sokoban game that

soon gets super meta.

This time, the block you are pushing around...
might just be the level you are playing in

- creating a recursive nightmare of infinite
possibilities.

Sounds like it would melt your brain, but
the elegant and considered puzzle design gently

guides you along a journey of surprising twists
and a-ha moments.

Citizen sleeper is a micro RPG with an inventive
dice-based mechanic.

Each morning you'll wake up with a handful
of dice showing random values.

You can then spend these dots on different
tasks, which forces you consider your priorities

- which jobs are most important, and which
characters do you want to hang out with most?

This makes every choice feel more meaningful.

Vampire Survivors looks like junk and basically
plays itself.

But this automated twin stick shooter is impossible
to put down.

By lifting the most compulsive parts of clickers,
RPGs, musou games, and synergistic deck builders,

this game burrowed its way into my brain until
I forcibly kicked it off my Xbox.

There was also the Non-Euclidean adventure
Hyperbolica, the goofy rhythm game Trombone

Champ, and Tunic - the game that hides its
best mysteries in a vintage instruction manual.

This year had some real gems.

And if you want to know my ten favourite games
of 2022, then check out GMTK on Patreon - those

on the video tier can now check out my game
of the year list.

Patreon is also the number one best way to
support this channel and everything I've been

doing this year.

Since January I've made videos on topics like
invisible choices, economies, combing genres,

and solving problems, and games like Deathloop,
Hitman 3, Rollerdrome, and Elden Ring.

I've made five dev logs about my magnet game,
an interactive video essay, a huge Unity tutorial,

minis on God of War and Fortnite, and ran
another monster game jam.

Thanks to everyone on Patreon who supports
this channel, your kindness means the world

to me.