Part 1: theballaam96

Tom Ballaam

Hometown: Nottingham

Currently Living: United Kingdom

Primary Speedgame: Donkey Kong 64

Q:  What's the first speedrun you ever watched? What got you into speedrunning?

A:  The first speedrun I watched was one of Cfox7's 5-Kong runs that he had on Twitch. It was definitely before any of the recent route revelations with Donkey Kong 64 Any%. I started speedrunning because I was genuinely fascinated by being able to skip so many of the core game mechanics and items and I wanted to replicate them. I remember telling my siblings about all the various tricks you could do with DK64 to shatter everything that a casual player would do. I will put my claim to fame as guessing the Any% WR as Sub 30 long before it ever went sub 30.

Q:  What was it like for you when you first started running? 

A:   It was hard. At the time, I didn't really know of Twitch or anything like Skype groups. All I did was watch Cfox7's runs on YouTube and try to replicate some of the stuff that he did. It took me a while, but I got the hang of most tricks. Tiny Helm Lobby Early was notably hard for me, but it is for most beginning runners. It wasn't until late 2015 when the Any% WR went to 27:17 that I started to get a sense for how big the community was. 

I guess my experience isn't exactly traditional since I started speedrunning when I didn't know a community existed. I was introduced to the community in 2015, then became a part of it in late 2016. Since 2016, everyone has been pretty welcoming.

Q:  How has speedrunning changed for you now? 

A:  Well, it's definitely taken up a lot of time, as speedrunning naturally does. It has led me to become more technical with things and understanding how various different parts of games and software work. Speedrunning exposes you to a lot of interesting stuff like that, especially when you make the active choice to try to understand how all the tricks that you're doing actually work. In terms of actual speedrunning, it's very enjoyable. It's a nice relaxing activity that I can do whilst doing other stuff, especially since I know routes pretty well. At the very start, you would have to thoroughly concentrate on every little bit of movement, every trick, what the route is, etc. But now, it's practically second nature.

Q:  What are you currently working on?

A:  I'm trying to improve my Personal Best in No Levels Early and eventually work that down to World Record on the N64 version. WR is a 2:17:52. My current PB is a 2:20:21.

Q:  Speaking of NLE, how do you feel about your DK64 NLE LOTAD that you published earlier this year with Kiwikiller67?

A:  I'm very proud of it. It's definitely one of the top five things that I've done with the game, others being various meme category world records and glitch discoveries. It took so much work to create, especially since 2 major glitch discoveries (Spawn Snagging and Phase Walking) occurred whilst it was being made. So, some of the LOTAD and the majority of the route had to be completely redone. I'm definitely happy with the outcome and with how well it was received by the community. 

Q:  Who is a speedrunner that you admire that doesn't run DK64 and why?

A:  Well, you don't technically run DK that much anymore, can I say you?

I would prefer for the sake of the interview that you didn't choose me, although I thank you for saying that!

A:  Then, I'd have to say Pjii. The guy has taken Banjo-Tooie to another level entirely and the quality of his runs are immense. It's just unbelievable that one person can have WR in every single category of a game. And he's had that title for quite a while now, I'm sure.

Q:  Ballaam, what does an ideal speedrun look like to you?

A:  The easy answer would be to say a TAS (tool assisted speedrun), purely because of its flawless execution and the amount of tricks you tend to see. However, I think that an ideal speedrun in the long run is one that isn't 100% perfect. It will have small errors, take a few tries to get some of the harder tricks, and so on. Having a speedrun like that promotes promotes an attitude where someone can be motivated enough to actually take WR or bop someone's PB. Beating it would be hard especially if it's a WR, but it's possible.

Q:  How do you think our generation of gamers will incorporate video games (and speedrunning) into middle and old age? Where do you see speedrunning going in the future?

A:  I think most people will probably give it up outside of the occasional run every month or so because of how life is: spouse, kids, career, friends, etc. However, I think that there are definitely a few dedicated runners who would take speedrunning into their late 30s and early 40s, especially those who do streaming on Twitch full time. 

Community is definitely one of the big points of speedrunning for me. In terms of the future, I would like to see a growing sense of community and care for everyone in the community, especially when big decisions are made.

Q:  Lastly, is there anybody who you'd like to shout out or plug their stream?

A:  Kiwikiller67 and Bismuth. Kiwi obviously because he co-created the LOTAD, but both runners have been really nice and welcoming to the majority of the DK64 community. They're both nice people and have great streams.

Thanks, Tom.