Fly'N Leaderboards - Tips & Tricks to improve your rank

This is a small compilation of general information on how to improve your rank in the Fly'N leaderboards. Beside information on the different buds there are also some illustrated examples for a better understanding of the written text.

1. Introduction and Basic Information

While taking a look at the Fly'N leaderboards one will realize that some player names appear more often than others in the Top 10. The reason for this is (if not by any chance connected to incredible talent which is pretty rare) a lot of dedication (sometimes 100+ hours played) and a general understanding of the game mechanics as well as the general game design. In this guide I will try to explain different points of those game mechanics as well as the game design connected with some illustrated examples which should help the average player to improve his rank if he wishes so. If you wish to become number one rank you will also need the dedication mentioned before, atleast in most cases.

Your rank in the leaderboards is determined by your points and your points are determined by different factors. Important are those three: your time, your number of deaths and the number of collected helys. The system itself is a bit more complex but generally the rest of the factors are boiling down to the number of Helys because you need all fuins in one level to get the last Helys and you usually need to sing to all three hidden creatures to get all fuins. The maximum points one can get in a level is 108000. From there on you get "penalized" for shifting from the "ideal playthrough" of a level. As a sidenote: There is one confirmed level where you can obtain 5 Helys and as such get more then 108000 points. As a second side note: I have absolutely no idea what happens if two player have the maximum score. I think the better time will then get the better rank.

Of course you can play the game without ever looking at the leaderboards. But some of the information here can be helpful even if you don't plan on challenging the top (or any other) ranks.

2. General Tips & Tricks

As mentioned before your points are the important factor for your rank. But: the penalty for not having all four Helys or dying is pretty huge. I cannot say if it is even possibly to get a top rank while not collecting everything since I neither know the amount of points a Helys nor one second of time (in comparison to the preset "best time") is giving. As far as I can judge it also differs from level to level. So to make it easy: If you wish to get a top rank you may not die, you shall collect everything and only your time will determine your placement.

This means before ever attempting to do a speedrun you first need to know where everything is hidden in the specific level and you need to know how to play the level without dying (also you need to be capable of playing it that way). So, for your choosen speedrun level, here is your first steps list:

• You play the level normally not caring if you die and not caring for your time. You just try to figure out where everything is placed
  
• You decide on an optimal route for playing the level
  
• You check the different parts of your route if there is a possibilty to do it "faster"
  
• You play the level until you either can't stop raging or you have a time you are satisfied with
  
• You may iterate your route until you find the "real" best solution

So far so so good. Everyone has to determine the optimal route for himself. But how do you actually play a part "faster"? Here I will provide the most general tips & tricks combined with examples. Some of them may be common logic, others may be rather unexpected.

• The jump button is press sensitive. This means the longer you press the higher you jump. Most times it is not important if you jump a bit longer or not. But in a few cases, especially while you have a part you are going upwards, it can creates a delay of some seconds in total. On the other hand if you do not jump high enough you may not reach the platform.
  
• If possible avoid to glide. While you may need it to get from left to right or vice versa you almost never need it while falling down. Knowing where you have to land and how to jump will save you a lot of time.
  
• Make maximum use of your abilities like the double jump and the game mechanics. For example if leaving a checkpoint with pressing the jump button you can still jump two more times.

• To solve the part in the two pictures above you have at least two possibilities. The average player would probably jump out of the checkpoint, land on the ground, jump up and collect the fuins while gliding. As you can see it is also possible to jump out of the checkpoint and collect all fuins with two timed additional jumps without landing on the ground beforehand.
  
• Learn how to change between your two visions fast and in the most effective way. If you are able to change while jumping without losing your momentum you can play this sequence in one go. Its easier said then done. You come from the right, then you jump and after passing the first "barrier" you change your vision, you land on the ground and collect the fuin, you jump again and change the vision a second time before reaching the next "barrier" and so on.
  
  
  
• Moving platforms: They are generally quite the pain since they can ruin your run completely. As far as possible try to remember the timing so you get to a platform while it is in the right position. Often those platforms move only in one of your two visions. Try to use this to time its position although this is nearly impossible to do. If a platform is elevator-like try to avoid changing the vision because of obstacles. Sometimes its possible to solve the part without a change of vision.
  
• You have the ability to return to your last check point. In some cases you need to do this because you are trapped in a section without a chance to return otherwise. On other occasions this ability can also be used to spare time. An example is in the two pictures below. Below the checkpoint you reach by the stream there is a little area you can sing to one of the inhabitants of the second tree (you need two Helys to get there). Instead of crawling back up you can use the "shortcut". Look at the round arc to get the connection between both pictures.

So far the general stuff. I will go on with a bit more specific information to the buds (at least for two of them).

3. The Buds - Different Gameplay Mechanics

A. Flyn

Since Fly'ns special ability is the singing it is often sufficient to "just" consider the general tips and tricks. Additionally the radius where an event (reviving the inhabitants of the world trees, activating a Helys powered platform ...) is activated by singing can differ from event to event. So generally running into it while singing will get you the best result in most cases. But pay attention, and this is important, while you are singing you are UNABLE to change your vision. This can ruin your run and cost you a lot of time.
In the two pictures above you can see how Fly'ns singing can "change" the level and give you access to previously blocked areas. And you made the inhabitants of the Helys world a little bit happier by destroying the garbage.
For the sake of Fly'ns section not being to empty I will mention one example here which I could have posted in the above section as well. While being in the small stream you can leave it forcebly by changing your vision. In this example you would be guided a bit higher and you would need to track down again. Change your vision and spare the way and time.

B. Lyft

Lyft is my second favorite bud. His special ability is sticking to every wall which is not polluted by red garbage. The general needed knowledge here is that it needs a certain amount of time to stick to a wall and to unstick from it. So try to reduce those steps. Either stick to the wall and crawl it completely or jump to abbreviate the way. Herefore I have two examples:
In this case if you stick to the wall your way is "considerably" larger. So to save time start jumping beneath the first fuin and use your double jump and then stick to the wall again.






Well, the second example may be a bit better. In the pictures below you see that there are some fuins on the right wall.
You could jump to the right, stick to that wall, crawl up and so on. The "faster" method here would be: let go without jumping while pressing right, then make a double jump without sticking to the right wall, and after collecting the fuin you can press left, in order to stick to the left wall again.

C. Ywok

The black bouncy Ywok is my favorite bud although his special abilty to transform into a black ball and to bounce from every surface (even the red garbage ones) is sometime rather hard to control. First off, Ywok can not bounce on every surface. For example (and probably the only case) Ywok will also die like the other buds if he gets hit by the raising level of garbage in the speed levels. Another important information is that his ability has a small delay. So sometimes even if you press the button fast enough before hitting the garbage surface you will still die. One of the most important things to know is that you don't need to jump in order to get the first bounce of Ywok. You can activate his ability while running. If you make multiple bounces without stopping the transformation the altitude will decrease. If you change back one time you get the original altitude again. And this reduces Ywok's special ability to a few points. One is your timing when to press the button the first time and the other thing is if you need to change back between the bounces. For me this was the reason I had the least problems figuring out the optimal route in world 3 and you can really appreciate the level design here because you always have the feeling you know how the designer wanted this part to be played. Here two examples aswell.
The part in the picture above can be tricky to play but it is (atleast for me) fairly obvious how it should be played. Run to the right and transform into the ball form aorund the point the fuins are going up and then bounce off from the wall. The "hard" part is for you to shortly retransform between your wall bounce and the next bounce on the garbage surface because after bouncing off from the wall your altitude will not be high enough anymore to reach the top of the next platform.
The next example is a nice one and contains five pictures. To make it short you will notice if you start your bounce on the left platform and just press right without changing back you will get all the single fuins on the garbage platforms because you are in the correct trajectory pathway. Okay I admit you need to hit the first fuin manually, so it is a little tricky. But after that just pressing right for three or four platforms.
And this is my information about Ywok. I will now proceed to the last bud.

D. Nyls

Well, how to put it. I can't provide much information about Nyls for two reasons. I have not played with Nyls nearly aslong as with the other buds and I just can't grab the right feeling for playing him which is partially the reason why I haven't played much with him. Nyls has a lot of movement freedom which makes precise movement incredibly hard. You can propel up to three times and while doing so you have to pay attention to your timing when starting the first propelling, the duration of the button pressing since it will influence the length of the propelling and, the most difficult, the direction you wish to propel. I haven't figured out (I also haven't really tested it) if it is faster to run on even ground or to propel constantly.
In comparison to the other buds (for instance Lyft crawling up a wall) his ability can and has to be used in rapid sessions which leaves you less time to react and "think". This can make his playstyle, especially for speed runs, pretty hectic.
As a sidenote: There seems to be a difference in playing him depending on your control device. While using the gamepad you can choose the direction in which he will propel by pressing in that direction. While playing with keyboard and mouse he will circle and you have to stop the right moment so he will propel in the wished direction. The keyboard and mouse "seem" easier to control but are probably slower than someone with a gamepad.
Sadly, I can not provide examples for Nyls. Sorry about that.

4. Final remarks

Well this is it for my first guide. I will still edit it if I don't like the design of some parts anymore or if I notice that I forgot something I wanted to tell you. Feel free to make comments on possible mistakes on my part, be it grammar, words or what is written here. I will correct it as fast as possible. You can also use the comments section for posting own tips & tricks here. But due to laziness I probably will not incorparate them in the most cases. No evil intention here.

So as final words: Thank you for reading


PS: If you have the time also check my two other guides:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=261180215
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=269238601

[Adelion]

Heh, I'm fairly content with my placements actually and hope to keep them. Just wanted to make a guide and why not for a game I both love and am able to play well or atleast patiently enough to get some good results?

[Athari]

Want to see some active competition, eh?

[Leaf]

sehr schöner guide ;)