I'm inclined to say that we should mostly try to avoid weird gimmicks. If the focus is on TASing, then let's show TASes. Here on these forums we are of course extremely familiar with TASing, which tends to mean that we're more interested in the more outré examples of the art, but in a setting like AGDQ I think we'd be better-served by simply showing a set of very high-quality TASes.
The
documentary thread has a bunch of discussion of what would make a good "TASVideos trailer", and I think much of that should be adaptable to an AGDQ TAS block. In general, I'd say that we should prioritize:
* Runs of games that many people are familiar with and that are played in highly-unexpected ways. The SMW ACE run was an excellent example of this at AGDQ 2014.
* Runs of games where the TASer (or an experienced speedrunner) can provide commentary, ideally in-person but with a voiceover or prerecorded speech if necessary. Commentary goes a long way to explaining the sometimes odd-looking decisions made in games.
* Runs that stand on their own well. International Super Star Soccer Deluxe might be a good example here. But really, just run down the
starred runs and select ones you like and/or have the cart for.
I do think it could be interesting to show a speed-TAS vs. speedrunner competition; if nothing else it should help demonstrate how much effort a TAS takes, since I doubt that 4 hours would be enough time to make an especially optimized TAS.
