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Been thinking how to easily explain some terminology used in speedrunning. Here's how I'd explain the difference for these terms.
Exploit: Intended action/behavior, unintended use
Bug: Intended action, unintended behavior/use
Glitch: Unintended action/behavior/use
Exploit: Intended action/behavior, unintended use
Bug: Intended action, unintended behavior/use
Glitch: Unintended action/behavior/use
Exploits are generally things that make you think, "Ooh. Clever." Pause buffering or taking advantage of momentum are common exploits that can help you make precise jumps or sequence breaks.
Bugs are a bit more finicky, but they often are used to clip out of bounds, but you can also get character stat anomalies or, you know, building up speed for 12 hours. Technically, the game is acting as programmed.
Glitches break the spoken and unspoken rules of the game. Graphical glitches are easy to spot, but others include breaking through game limits, underflowing stats, or tricking the game into spawning an end-gate early in a stage.
One easy way to think of it is with shopping in an RPG.
Exploit: Getting tons of common drops quickly that sell for a huge amount.
Bug: Selling an item with a listed price of $50 but getting $5000 due to a coded math error.
Glitch: Selling -1 items to get a million bucks.
Exploit: Getting tons of common drops quickly that sell for a huge amount.
Bug: Selling an item with a listed price of $50 but getting $5000 due to a coded math error.
Glitch: Selling -1 items to get a million bucks.
I want to add a note that bugs and glitches often come hand in hand. Most patches address bugs, and because of that, speedrunners often find a work around to get that glitch to happen in later game versions.
