|
|
Post by Malban on Nov 3, 2019 9:18:12 GMT -5
Actually The more I think about the VW, the more I think the set maximums are "bad". I think I would prefer a) no maximum - regardless of the game (if someone plays 10 hours - that certainly also is an acchivement!)
or
b) only games which can not be maximized or c) a timed maximum
(c would probably require a video session of the complete game as a proof - say 1/2 hour limit, maximum score in that time, video on utube as proof or something like that)
Certainly this would leave out a couple of games. But the way it went, I (and probably others), concentrated on maximizing, so that 100 points would be "secure" no matter what.
The "endgame" of the competition was thus decided by one or two scores only (instead of 6). Also "draws" are more easily reached if players have a predefined option to get equal scores.
Malban
|
|
|
|
Post by Malban on Nov 3, 2019 9:21:07 GMT -5
PS
I think I am the only one who commited scores to all games!
Ha!
|
|
|
|
Post by playvectrex on Nov 3, 2019 10:11:52 GMT -5
Actually The more I think about the VW, the more I think the set maximums are "bad". I think I would prefer a) no maximum - regardless of the game (if someone plays 10 hours - that certainly also is an acchivement!)
Says the guy who got first place already without endless play!! hahaha. No sir, I don't think you need endless play xD I don't know about everyone else, but I'm assuming many of us work a full time job and may have a family as well. While the concept of limitless play seems like a good idea possibly, it is a real disadvantage for those that just can't put in endless hours. I probably stayed up late way too often just trying to get high scores in games, let alone playing them endlessly. I think I am the only one who commited scores to all games! That's a great callout... so I don't know when the games were announced, but next time maybe we can post the games a bit earlier so people can purchase games if necessary. I was totally going to purchase Frontier at the beginning but assumed there was no way it would arrive in time. |
|
|
|
Post by VectorX on Nov 3, 2019 10:13:21 GMT -5
Yes, I think the majority of us don't want endless games. That's why limits started being set several years ago.
|
|
|
|
Post by fruktodlaren on Nov 3, 2019 10:27:51 GMT -5
I am torn in that question. I got way above the maximum in Minestorm, so for me in that particular game, no max would probably be to my advantage. But some of the other maxable games I was no way near the maximum.
|
|
|
|
Post by 8-Bit Waves on Nov 3, 2019 11:37:01 GMT -5
PS I think I am the only one who commited scores to all games! Ha! I was going to but then I realized having a worse score than my competition would give them a few extra points so I didn't bother on a few. I suppose that can be a bit of a downside to the scoring system. |
|
|
|
Post by VectorX on Nov 3, 2019 12:47:33 GMT -5
I got way above the maximum in Minestorm, so for me in that particular game, no max would probably be to my advantage. That's not fair to the people that don't have a flash cart and have Vectrexes that crash when Mine Field 13 is completed. It's not fair on mine (although I have a flash cart though) since, on Field 30 or 32, invisible mines appear (sorta...  ). I can never pass that without cheating by turning the brightness up so I can see them moving and I'm not going to cheat on a contest. If someone uses Mine Storm II or the later versions that don't crash on 13 but don't have invisible mines then they also have an advantage over myself and anyone else who has the invisible mines version. |
|
|
|
Post by playvectrex on Nov 3, 2019 13:22:05 GMT -5
I agree Minestorm is a game many of us have an advantage on just because we're good at it. There's always going to be some disadvantage for those who don't have the game, or flash cart, or multi-cart, or paid game though. The real advantage for someone that has all of the games, and can score high on most of them: is that even if someone takes away the 1st place on some game that's not maxable, the person with more 1st place scores just gets to pull their next 1st place score up into the top 6.
It might not be super practical, but an idea to consider for next year... and I'd be down with it:
- Make preprogrammed carts with all of the games on them preloaded (just a cheap circuitboard, EPROM and menu like the SK multi-cart). They would be fixed (non-reprogrammable) and it would be a commemorative item to have. Everyone that wants to play must purchase one at the beginning of the Vector War (maybe though families could purchase one, and pay a smaller entry fee for additional participants), and the proceeds contributes to the prizes. Prizes could still be donated as well.
- Would be cool as well to get some game developers permission to make these special carts with some games that are not necessarily already downloadable though. It would be in their interest as well because a bunch of people will be putting their game through its paces and their game is added to an exclusive mixtape of sorts. It would also help people feel good about purchasing the vector war cart if they already have a flash cart, or some of the games.
- Pics should show the special cart, controller, score and code! (I don't know if you noticed, but I made sure to include my controller and cart in every pic ;-) )
|
|
|
|
Post by D-Type on Nov 3, 2019 16:32:14 GMT -5
Maybe the no-max-score idea from Malban has some merit. To get a really high score often requires a lot of time. If a top player is busy putting on a super high score, they can still only get 100 points and they've probably used a lot of time doing it that is not spent on another game. The next highest player still gets something like 90 points, regardless of the score gap.
No max outs changes the strategic element. A key strategy could be to not release any of your scores until the 2nd last day and definitely only submit exactly 6 scores if you can help it, but that does make the event less fun for everyone.
You could limit the amount of scores per day from the middle of the event onwards, though no format will ever be perfect!
|
|
|
|
Post by Chainsaw on Nov 4, 2019 6:32:38 GMT -5
I'm also not a big fan of the "marathon" games that we can play endless or for hours. But the problem: There are many of them on Vectrex. Or also games where "collecting of points" is possible, if you invest enough time in it. Example: Web Warp (was not in this Vector War): You can stay slow at the beginning of the game and shoot enemies to increase the score. (Wasn't this forbidden in last Vector War with Web Warp afaik?) Cosmic Chasm: Even in this game, there is a little bit "score collecting" possible. You can just play it, and die somewhere in Mission 7, 8 or 9 because the center cores in the rooms will be too fast. But you can also fly in the easier missions around through the rooms and shoot enemies to collect points, before you go to the center room to place the bomb. Star Castle: Just never destroy the "inner wall" so the enemy will never shoot his fast weapon against you, and it's easy to collect points shooting only the outer walls. I think everybody could list more samples (Star Hawk, Clean Sweep etc.) And most of them are time-consuming but most of these ways to collect points are not funny. So I think it is good at it is or it was in the last Vector Wars. Only this year, 500'000 for Star Trek was too much for me, was not motivated to play this game sooo long :-) Another way could be, to count some achievements in games instead of collecting the points (or combine it), but there would be the problem, what players had to make fotos during the game or record everything on video. Too much effort... (For example how many creatures did the player capture in Web Warp. Or Clean Sweep: Which level was reached or did the player reach level 10 with the endless-symbol. Cosmic Chasm: Which mission was reached) But as I said, foto shooting during the game or makeing videos would be a problem. Now I wrote a lot again... Finally I want say, the Vector War is good as it is for me, changing every year some rules would result in too many discussions I think. And it's a small war with 20 players and we have fun playing Vectrex, it's not a public tournament with 1000 peoples. (Not yet  ) It is good that we have a litmit by marathon-games in my opinion, but it should be a good advised one. Limit in Mine Storm this year was OK. Oh by the way: Does the Mine Storm II or the European Mine Storm versions run well on US Vectrex machines? For example with Vecflash or Mateos Cart? Because the first (or all) US Mine Storm ROMs with level 13 bug or with invisible mines don't run on my European Vectrex. The game ROMs start, the game is playable, but when I reach levels with invisible mines, the game slows down very much. So much that is similar to a crash, game is then not playable anymore and I have to reset. Maybe the problem is the different BIOS of the machine? I know I already asked this in the past, but maybe somebody have an idea or solution ? EDIT: Oh I wrote now also "invisible mines", but it is "star dust" and as far as I know they should be also visible as small dots, depending of correct adjusted brightness? |
|
|
|
Post by VectorX on Nov 4, 2019 9:25:59 GMT -5
Only this year, 500'000 for Star Trek was too much for me, was not motivated to play this game sooo long :-) As was mentioned in a post, perhaps 50,000 points will be knocked off of that next time. And probably 10-15 seconds should be added to qualify for Hyper Chase. All other games I can make the minimum with barely breaking a sweat on; it took me two sittings to finally qualify on Hyper Chase with over half an hour of playing. That's just too difficult, as others have said on here! EDIT: Oh I wrote now also "invisible mines", but it is "star dust" and as far as I know they should be also visible as small dots, depending of correct adjusted brightness? The dots/space dust aren't that hard to see, they're like the dots that turn into mines at the beginning of every level, just a little dimmer. |
|
|
|
Post by pfromdapab on Nov 4, 2019 21:04:54 GMT -5
All I know is I got my ass handed to me hahahah. Good fun tho. Thanks for the good times!
|
|
|
|
Post by playvectrex on Nov 4, 2019 21:09:34 GMT -5
Oh by the way: Does the Mine Storm II or the European Mine Storm versions run well on US Vectrex machines? For example with Vecflash or Mateos Cart? Because the first (or all) US Mine Storm ROMs with level 13 bug or with invisible mines don't run on my European Vectrex. The game ROMs start, the game is playable, but when I reach levels with invisible mines, the game slows down very much. So much that is similar to a crash, game is then not playable anymore and I have to reset. Maybe the problem is the different BIOS of the machine? I know I already asked this in the past, but maybe somebody have an idea or solution ? EDIT: Oh I wrote now also "invisible mines", but it is "star dust" and as far as I know they should be also visible as small dots, depending of correct adjusted brightness? Yes it plays ok, but I have noted a weird bug here that I captured on Video. Posted in the Facebook - Vectrex Fans Unite! group: www.facebook.com/groups/vectrex/1133742883502754Basically on level 3 when you shoot a mine straight on that shoots back at you, the screen goes absolutely nuts and then it finally fires back at you. I had it happening repeatedly on the VecFlash cart with the Rom included in the download ZIP for this competition, but not with the SK 2.0 cart. Yes for the "invisible mines" just turn your brightness up til you see the dot, then back it off until it's gone. You should be able to see these mines as dots not, one or two... and it's playable. For Hyperchase, if you don't have a good original controller, forget about it. 140 would be a better qualifying time though, still very hard but much more doable than 125. Some parts of what make this competition fun is figuring out the ways to get points... and you still have to fight your urge to hurry up the process, and you need to not have your hands cramp up using the small original controller! I still want to beat Dark Tower now that it sounds so doable. Because of this competition it's forced me to give it more of a chance, and it's growing on me. I don't like the random aspect of games giving you death or high score... I like to figure out the skill / strategy required of a game and then execute on it. Knowing is only half the battle and none of these Vectrex games have walkthroughs posted  |
|
|
|
Post by VectorX on Nov 4, 2019 22:59:11 GMT -5
All I know is I got my ass handed to me hahahah. Yeah it happens I placed 2nd once but these other times I haven't had much time to check out new games (I was able to play Vec-Man and Veccy Bird though since it's obvious how to play those two! I just don't want to cram for new games, just enjoy them as they are before beating them to death). Glad you had fun though and hope to see you around here! |
|
|
|
Post by Malban on Nov 5, 2019 2:00:07 GMT -5
|
|
). I can never pass that without cheating by turning the brightness up so I can see them moving and I'm not going to cheat on a contest. If someone uses Mine Storm II or the later versions that don't crash on 13 but don't have invisible mines then they also have an advantage over myself and anyone else who has the invisible mines version.
) It is good that we have a litmit by marathon-games in my opinion, but it should be a good advised one. Limit in Mine Storm this year was OK.
