Windswept (Demo): Bridge-Wheel Waterway Any% in 0:31.983 [WR on 11/5/23]
1I got a 32.483 and 32.183 before this.
This one took about 5 days (somehow). I started off by doing my own routing for the level before checking out the IL WR and a couple of full-game runs. Then, I spent a bit of time testing some things to better understand how to optimize this game/level.
-Gliding more or less maintains your speed, but does cause you to lose a little bit if done long enough (distance and repeated amounts)
-Killing enemies freezes you in place (while the timer is running) for 4 frames
-Hitting a bridge-wheel freezes you for 5 frames
-You can fall faster as the duck by holding down
-You can influence your swimming height by holding up or down (not used here)
I spent a lot of time losing runs to the glide over the water (0:15) and the second to last shell jump (0:28). After I stopped being stubborn, I decided to find better strats and visual cues to make those sections work more consistently.
-The water glide: the old strat was to do a big jump and then glide but that was basically a crapshoot since you can't see yourself through the trees.
-The shell jump: the old strat was to do a max height jump before the shell jump but that caused me to land late and not have enough time to attack to keep my speed. With the new strat, you just do the shell jump right after you go off-screen.