So you want to speedrun...
🐍 SNAKE FARM 🧑🌾
...but you're not sure where to start. No problem!
Here's a quick, step-by-step guide to get started speedrunning this game.
If a video guide is more your speed, @silasoftrees has created an excellent one that you can watch here. They include a quick overview of the game itself and the current speedrun categories.
What you'll need to get started:
- A copy of SNAKE FARM.
- A computer that will run SNAKE FARM. It's built for Windows, but can be run on any system. It's also pretty lightweight on the hardware requirements, so you don't need a whole lot of computer to play it. For other systems:
- Steam Deck: no extra steps required! Steam Deck takes care of the compatibility with Proton. (This is mainly how I play!)
- Linux: Proton is built into Steam for Linux. You'll just need to enable Steam Play in Settings, and it works like a charm.
- macOS: Requires a few extra steps, explained in this post by @mintexists.
- Something to keep time. Some options:
- LiveSplit: If you've watched a few speedruns or a GDQ event, you've probably seen this in action on the bottom or side of a runner's screen. Has very slight learning curve, but there's a great how-to video on their website.
- Any sort of stopwatch: There's no requirement for a timer to be visible in your runs for leaderboard submissions. I mostly use my phone!
- YT Frame Timer: If you want to get really precise, this tool is recommended on the Speedrun.com Resources page, and can be used after uploading your video to YouTube. As of this writing, competitive times haven't gotten so tight that we have to check milliseconds, but it's a good thing to have!
If you just want to run for fun, that's it! Speedrunning can be really fun as a solo pursuit!
What's that, you say? You want to compete on the leaderboards?
Awesome! You'll need just a few more things:
- Software to record your gameplay.
- OBS is free and open source, available on any platform, and is pretty simple to use, but there are lots of other options out there. I haven't been able to get it working on Steam Deck, so instead I use...
- Decky Recorder, a plugin for Decky Loader which is a neat customization platform for the Steam Deck. (If you go this route, you'll also need a USB drive or some other solution to transfer the recording files off the Deck. I won't go into that here, but there are lots of tutorials around the internet you can follow.)
- Somewhere to host videos of your runs. YouTube and Twitch are both popular options for speedrunners. I use YouTube because it's pretty straightforward.
- A Speedrun.com account to submit runs.
So now that you've got everything you need, what's next?
Play SNAKE FARM!
Technically you can start on speedrunning as soon as you install the game, but you will definitely have a better time if you've got a good handle on the gameplay. Also, it's just a really fun game!
Pick a category!
Go to Speedrun.com/SNAKE_FARM to check out the leaderboards and rules for each category. Clicking on a time on the leaderboards will take you to a video of the run so you can get an idea of what the gameplay is like for that category.
Submit a run!
Time your run, upload the video, then click "Submit run" on your chosen category and fill out the form. One of the moderators will verify it shortly, and it will go up on the leaderboards.
Join our Discord server!
Have questions about running? Want to talk strats? Come join the SNAKE FARM speedrunning community on Discord!
