Sel 🍁
@selcouthmind
Indie CC/speedrunner | Charity Marathon Host | Head Org @preventathon.com | Interviewer & Showrunner @fastestfurs.com | Ambassador @safeinourworld.org | Member @theclocktowerttv.bsky.social | theselcouthmind@gmail.com
Vendor Alley was fantastic this event! I picked up a number of things, but the main one I love is this on-site commission of my vtuber from @sgtmug.com ! It has such joyous energy and captures her beautifully. Do go check out Mug if you haven't seen her work!
Saturday was my final official obligation: tabling for Fatales! I've always been too busy to table for Fatales, so it was fun to finally get a chance to. Had some wonderful conversations with attendees and my tabling partner @melavara.bsky.social !
Finally, to end off Friday, I gathered a group of folks together for an escape room by @twistedtailsescape.com . Turns out when half the group are puzzle game speedrunners, you can beat an escape room super quickly! We were the fastest time of the event and almost the fastest time this year overall
Friday then continued with the Canadian meetup and the international meetup! This was the largest turnout I'd ever had for either meetup and it was so much fun seeing new and old faces. The international meetup turned into an Irn Bru taste test thanks to @argick.bsky.social (it's very good!)
Friday was super busy! Up first was @kuritas.bsky.social 's run of SWORN! It was so much fun commentating the run; go watch it if you haven't: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTTJ...! Be prepared for lots of 6-7! The photog volunteer also got one of my favourite GDQ pictures of me to date.
Wednesday I actually left the venue 😱 I was invited to join @danejerus.bsky.social , @asuka424.bsky.social , and @cubsrule21.bsky.social for a trip to Mall of America. Last time I was there, I was in grade 12, so it was cool to see it again ... and also pick up some much needed allergy meds.
Sunday featured dinner with the @preventathon.com staff and their partners who were onsite. It's incredible to think back to AGDQ were staff dinner was 6 people and now there are so many of us! We also somehow managed to find a time when everyone could make it, a true scheduling miracle!
Finally sitting down to write an SGDQ recap thread. Overall, it was an incredible event, if a little weird just being there as an attendee (we had the best badge though!). I still found plenty of ways to keep busy without being an official volunteer, including somehow collecting tons of ribbons!
Attending #SGDQ2026 from outside the US? Come meet fellow international attendees on Friday, July 10 onsite! 2 pm - Canadian Meetup 4 pm - International Meetup If you feel you belong in either group, come join! Partners are also welcome! Vibes are chill; the goal is just to meet and hangout!
31. PlateUp! Another run I need to learn as the result of a charity stream incentive. Chaos, cooking, roguelike, co-op ... all very on brand for me!
30. Gemporium. An extremely cute indie I learned about from @theemaskedmango.bsky.social ! Just another case not enough time/energy/brain space right now for a long indie run. Very fun casually though, especially if you like unique shop simulators.
29. Among Us. I unironically want to speedrun this at some point just for the memes. There's more strategy than you might expect!
28. Video Game Fables. A unique RPG I encountered back when I was covering a ton of indie games on a regular basis. I'd need to go back to it, but I remember at the time thinking it would make for a fun speedrun. Maybe a submission project for RPGLB 2027? 🤔
27. Isle of Jura. A wonderful cozy and educational indie game that I once really wanted to route. However, I've found other games that I'm more passionate about since, so it will likely stay in the backlog forever ... unless I need a submission for a fish themed marathon
26. Hitman (2016/World of Assassination). I've technically started running 2016, but one day I'd like to work up to running the full modern trilogy and/or Freelancer mode. The WoA engine scares me a little bit lol (I guess this is also technically more FPS training lol)
25. A Hat in Time. I nearly started learning this run co-op at one point and now it's back near the top of the list as a solo run due to a charity stream incentive. It was the first 3D platformer I completed and I'm excited for the challenge of learning it.
24. Peglin. A rare roguelike that successfully drew me away casually from Slay the Spire for a couple of months. I haven't looked too deep into the speedrun yet, but this is high on the list of roguelikes to learn to run!
23. Papers, Please. I love this game (and style of game), but the categories are much longer than I'm interested in. It's also super memory intensive and I just don't have space in my brain to hold all the information.
22. Pizza Possum. I almost learned this run with my former co-op partner, but we ended up picking up Slime Rancher with a co-op mod instead. Chaotic and cute roguelike is right up my alley, so maybe one day I'll learn it solo.
21. Octodad: Dadliest Catch. Such a fun and silly game with a cool speedrun. I'd love to especially run co-op, but it's couch only and the ways around that are ... janky at best. Also iirc I hardlocked my casual save, so maybe it's for the best that I don't touch this one.
20. BPM: Bullets Per Minute. More FPS training, but with my two loves roguelike and rhythm. I am still very much getting the hang of this one casually, but I would love to try a run at some point once my skills are ready!
19. Helldivers 2. Speaking of training FPS skills, I'm working on learning HD2 casually so that I can speedrun it thanks to an incentive from a charity stream last year. It's certainly a learning experience even without considering the live service element (live service runners are a strong bunch)
18. NecroVisioN: Lost Company. Another run my 3D movement and FPS skills aren't quite ready for. This run is a WILD ride and the community for the series is full of wonderful folks and good resources. Please go check it out if you've never seen it because I promise you won't be disappointed!
17. Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! I adore the CSD franchise and 3 is my favourite of the bunch. There are apparently some glitches for the game, but there's no public resources, the Discord invite on SRC is dead, and the main runners are Japanese. I may end up just running Remustard instead.
16. Super Mario 64. I fully blame @kingjo444.bsky.social and the relay at AGDQ for this one. I really enjoyed learning my star and a couple of the category extension runs look super cool! I'm just intimidated by emulation and other games are higher on the to-learn list.
15. Titanfall 2. This is super aspirational as I haven't even played it casually yet, but I love the world of Titanfall/Apex Legends and TF2 runs are genuinely some of my favourites to watch. I'm slowly building my FPS and 3D movement skills, so one day I'll get there!
14. Sticky Business. A wonderful indie game that I love casually, but would require a significant amount of work to route (@schalakitty.bsky.social has a super fun showcase category, but I'm more interested in an All Stories type run). I also run enough SRC pages as is.
13. Scarf. Another game I picked up with the goal of learning the run. Unfortunately, it doesn't run super well on my PC and the lag made the casual experience unpleasant, so it is on the backlog until a future specs upgrade.