Jump to content
IGNORED

2022 VGS NES Weekly Contest - Lode Runner!


BeaIank

Recommended Posts

9 hours ago, BeaIank said:

Let me know which you prefer and we will go with it.

The problem as I see it is this: the player who gets to level 21 without dying and w/o having to kill a single/or very many enemies to do so looses to the player who needed to kill enemies to pass levels, died 20 times and spent an hour casually farming enemies.

Not killing enemies in this game is more often the better tactic and more difficult to pull off.  Not only does this make low score a better challenge, it also makes point pressing difficult to define as it's quite easy to kill enemies unintentionally.  Ex: player drills hole, enemy falls in, enemy climbs out, player changes direction of movement for any number of reasons, enemy falls back into hole as it closes up.  This will happen countless times in the course of a run and once again the less accomplished player is rewarded.

I think progress + low with no limit works best short of requiring everyone to record a speedrun which would almost certainly disenchant those already playing who are not prepared to record.

  • Like 2
  • Agree 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, PII said:

The problem as I see it is this: the player who gets to level 21 without dying and w/o having to kill a single/or very many enemies to do so looses to the player who needed to kill enemies to pass levels, died 20 times and spent an hour casually farming enemies.

Not killing enemies in this game is more often the better tactic and more difficult to pull off.  Not only does this make low score a better challenge, it also makes point pressing difficult to define as it's quite easy to kill enemies unintentionally.  Ex: player drills hole, enemy falls in, enemy climbs out, player changes direction of movement for any number of reasons, enemy falls back into hole as it closes up.  This will happen countless times in the course of a run and once again the less accomplished player is rewarded.

I think progress + low with no limit works best short of requiring everyone to record a speedrun which would almost certainly disenchant those already playing who are not prepared to record.

I heartily second this!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, BeaIank said:

Made it progress + lowest score, but I am limiting to one reaching the 31st stage. I don't want this to drag forever for one to do a run.

Could just make it where if you loop the game your run ends.  Having a score on stage 1 in itself proves that you looped the game since you can't actually get a score until you beat stage 1.  Also, there's no way to prove the number of loops short of taking pictures every time.  I don't think we'll have much to worry about though...I tested out some of the later levels and honestly, it gets pretty damn tough.  Doubt many (if any) will make the level cap anyway, nevermind through all 50 stages.

But yeah, distance + low score sounds like the best option in my mind.  It also has the bonus of not voiding submissions that came in already 🙂

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:
1 hour ago, BeaIank said:

Made it progress + lowest score, but I am limiting to one reaching the 31st stage. I don't want this to drag forever for one to do a run.

Could just make it where if you loop the game your run ends.  Having a score on stage 1 in itself proves that you looped the game since you can't actually get a score until you beat stage 1.  Also, there's no way to prove the number of loops short of taking pictures every time.  I don't think we'll have much to worry about though...I tested out some of the later levels and honestly, it gets pretty damn tough.  Doubt many (if any) will make the level cap anyway, nevermind through all 50 stages.

But yeah, distance + low score sounds like the best option in my mind.  It also has the bonus of not voiding submissions that came in already 🙂

I like the idea of playing the whole loop.  I don't like the level limiting much, but I can understand the reasoning behind it and if most prefer that then its for the best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, PII said:

I like the idea of playing the whole loop.  I don't like the level limiting much, but I can understand the reasoning behind it and if most prefer that then its for the best.

In theory I agree with you, but in practice, I do not want to be playing a game forever and a day just to try and get a good result.  Level limiting is good for competitions: the less amount of free time needed, the more attractive it looks to casuals who poke their heads into the thread.  31 stages is already more than enough... 🙂

Edited by Dr. Morbis
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Dr. Morbis said:

In theory I agree with you, but in practice, I do not want to be playing a game forever and a day just to try and get a good result.  Level limiting is good for competitions: the less amount of free time needed, the more attractive it looks to casuals who poke their heads into the thread.  31 stages is already more than enough... 🙂

But if no one had ever looked at Baskin Robin's 31 and said to themselves: "That's not enough", none of us would ever have known the joy of Bacon-Flavored Ice Cream!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Events Team · Posted
2 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

In theory I agree with you, but in practice, I do not want to be playing a game forever and a day just to try and get a good result.  Level limiting is good for competitions: the less amount of free time needed, the more attractive it looks to casuals who poke their heads into the thread.  31 stages is already more than enough... 🙂

This. 31 is way more than I intended. We're old, we don't have as much free time. TMNT2 runs already took way too much time and I have no intention to let such thing happen again this season.
Shorter runs are better for the competition, specially considering the players that take part in it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, mbd39 said:

Not bad. Kind of reminds me of Wrecking Crew.

This is one of the first horizontally scrolling platformers ever  made, predating SMB1.

No jumping mechanic = not a platformer 😛

As far as I know, Pac-Land is the first true scrolling platformer, also predating SMB.

As for this title, I played a single game and it must've taken me almost two hours, so I don't know if I'll have time for even a second attempt, knowing that an even better run will take even longer...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Events Team · Posted
Just now, Krunch said:

@BeaIank Is mine acceptable as a picture even though it's showing 7 lives?  I lost all of my lives down to 1 without progressing past this level, and missed the pic.  So there wouldnt be a score change since no progress.

Yes, it is. You can stop earlier without losing your lives if you so desire.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, mbd39 said:

I hope that some more scores are posted. I wonder if the changes in ruleset earlier in the week kept people from participating.

 

 

Tough to say, might be the beginning of summer factor too.  Not the most popular week... but still not exactly easy to place top 3.  I thought it was a decent game and didn't find it super hard myself.  But with a busy week and just starting 6 hours before the deadline today, I'm just going with what I got posted.  It's just not a game that's easy to spend all day grinding, even though it would probably work.  

Above all I'm quite fond of how well-programmed the ladders are.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...