Current Ion Fury TAS Videos
Any%
z1a1 any% (v1.1):
https://youtu.be/b6xYRo0zV98
z1a1 any% (v1.02):
https://youtu.be/u3zwsw3kuq4
z1a5 any% (old video with grenade launcher):
https://youtu.be/aR3m3O1t9Wg
z1a5 any% (new video without grenade launcher):
https://youtu.be/R9HNetpth4E
Zone 1 any%:
https://youtu.be/LoY4lNuUTHk
z2a1 any%:
https://youtu.be/teUYTJkfvdg
100%
z1a1 100%:
https://youtu.be/BYoW2iB3nek
z2a3 100% (WIP):
https://youtu.be/EjAOBedd8iA
I've wanted to TAS this game since it came out, and now it's finally possible. Well, it's been possible for a while apparently but I only got it working recently. I'm running this through WSL 2 on Windows 10.
Ion Fury is a modern game running on a Build Engine source port called eDuke32. The great thing about this is that it means other Build Engine games can also be TASed if they run in eDuke32 (or its forks). This includes Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Blood, among others. There's plenty more to this game, but this is just a basic overview of Ion Fury speedrunning. I'm confident that you'll see an Ion Fury TAS on this site at some point in the future.
Like other Build Engine games, Ion Fury has a huge amount of speed tech and it's got a very high skill ceiling. Here are some of the techniques Build Engine speedrunners take advantage of:
SR-50
This is a movement technique that carries over from Doom. Typically, you'll see speedrunners move by strafing diagonally. They use a combination of the forward + left/right movement key to do this. This is sometimes called "SR-40" but I've never heard Ion Fury speedrunners say that. SR-50 is when you take that to the next level and also hold down the "strafe" key while turning the camera in the direction you're moving. This makes you go quite a bit faster in Doom but it only makes a small difference in Build Engine games. It's about 6% faster in this game if I recall correctly. So SR-50 movement inputs go like this:
W + D + <strafe> + turn right
In case you don't know, the "strafe" key is a key people would use back in the day when a lot of people played first-person shooters with only the keyboard. The arrow keys would move you forward or backward and let you turn left and right. But if you held the strafe key, the left and right arrows would make you strafe sideways instead of turn. If you combine W + A or D and Strafe + left or right, you can think of it like you're moving twice, which makes you go a little faster. At least, that's the way I visualize it.
Usually, the strafe key is Left Alt but I bind it to Left Shift because libTAS doesn't seem to let me use the Alt key. Turning right can be done with the right arrow key so you don't have to be moving the mouse constantly. Speedrunners will bind these keys to something more comfortable to use but that doesn't matter for a TAS.
Clipping through walls
Like other build engine games, Ion Fury has plenty of wall clips to go around. It's not quite as broken as the older games (actually, nowhere near as broken) but it still has its fair share. Here are a few examples:
https://youtu.be/bL111PSESIM
https://youtu.be/v0z0ZSA9r6g
Melee techniques
In the 2nd video in the previous paragraph, you'll notice that deeperjungle is using the melee weapon a lot. This is because swinging the baton while you're in a tight space actually makes you move faster. I don't know why it happens, but it does. So he'll use the baton any time he's crouching under a sliding door or in a vent. Using the melee weapon underwater also makes you swim faster.
Grenade Jumping
When you read "grenade jumping", you might think it means we'll blow ourselves up with a grenade to boost off the explosion somewhere. Well, it doesn't work like that here. Sure, getting shot in the back or blowing yourself up can make you move forward a little faster, grenade jumping in this game works differently. Here's what I mean:
https://youtu.be/w_3OERoD8Zw
In this game, you shoot a grenade then jump off it while it's in the air. The explosion doesn't help you, the actual grenade does. Pretty cool, huh? Lots of things can be skipped with grenade jumping, including entire boss fights.
Categories
There are several speedrun categories for this game, but the two I care most about are any% and 100%. Any% is pretty self-explanatory if you've watched speedruns. Just run through the game as fast as possible. 100% is where it gets interesting, though. In 100%, the goal is to beat every level, find all the secrets, and kill all the enemies. With over a hundred secrets and thousands of enemies on the highest difficulty, it's a really insane category and it's so much fun to play and watch. The game also has a built-in 100% counter which tells you if you got everything, which is nice.[/b]
