+DZ-Jay Posted November 16, 2015 Author Share Posted November 16, 2015 Maybe I'll break 1000. Maybe you'll submit a score, uh? At least one? -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 16, 2015 Author Share Posted November 16, 2015 (edited) Great news! Thank you for organising the tournament. I know some young girls that will be very happy with the news about this year's tournament. Cheers. I'm looking forward to it. It just isn't the same without the K. Girls taking a stand. vengeance is mine!! I need to start practicing first. i have a couple buddies ultimate flashbacks to do and then i can start on practicing. I want to see you beat your previous score, pimp! You can do it! How many points will be competitive? I'd like to see how far away I really am from all you ringers. Should we shoot for highest level completed or most points? The championship marks its rankings by game score, but there are also achievements for advancing through the levels. That said, don't play for the rules or the prizes, play as you like and share your score! We always encourage people to challenge each other in whichever ways they want. We can also make a special challenge for the most levels completed. That why I need a grips03 arcade controller! Were the winners of past years using one? As far as I know, no. Most of the veterans cut their chops playing on the stock hardware. I will tell you that, as opposed to other 4-way games on the platform, Christmas Carol was specifically and painstakingly designed to take advantage of the Intellivision disc controller, reading all 16 directions. I find rolling my thumb around the disc to be a great advantage on tight corners, just like a gated 4-way joystick on a classic arcade machine! im coming for you! Will we see a Yellow score from you this year? I'm excited to participate for my first year. In fact its the first intellivision game I've ever played, and its great. Thanks for the nice words. If you enjoy playing the game, you'll have a great time in December! :thumbsup: I hope to see you all there! Soon! -dZ. Edited November 16, 2015 by DZ-Jay 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
First Spear Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I wonder if putting the scores on a curve would make the contest more/less fair? My 7-year-old played last year on a real Intellivision II with II controllers. This year he'll play with Flashback controllers, but there no way he can excel against an ace with a hardcore controller, not to mention folks playing in emulation with who-knows-what kind of USB stick.... Maybe we could have a "traditional" category with classic hardware and an "unlimited" category for all of the others? I use Intv2 arcade controller and 4-way gate. Last year I got 14,325. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 20, 2015 Author Share Posted November 20, 2015 (edited) ... but there no way he can excel against an ace with a hardcore controller, not to mention folks playing in emulation with who-knows-what kind of USB stick.... I hear this a lot from people who play in the original hardware. However, my experience is the opposite: the winners and high rollers of the championship have been by and large people playing in original hardware. Personally, having played the game using all sorts of methods, I find that a 4-way gate provides no real advantage, except for personal preference. I know that it may sound weird, since most maze-like or 4-way arcade games on the Intellivision (including some home-brews) are notorious for having "dead-zones" which force you to press on specific spots on the disc. However, Christmas Carol has been carefully crafted and tested to use the 16-way disc to great advantage, in the natural "roll your thumb" way, allowing for cutting corners during turns and fast zig-zagging. All that said, I do agree that veterans should be graded differently from new comers and casual players. I hope your son plays this year again. Ultimately, the whole point is to have fun and share in the Holiday enjoyment. dZ. Edited November 20, 2015 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+grips03 Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I wonder if putting the scores on a curve would make the contest more/less fair? My 7-year-old played last year on a real Intellivision II with II controllers. This year he'll play with Flashback controllers, but there no way he can excel against an ace with a hardcore controller, not to mention folks playing in emulation with who-knows-what kind of USB stick.... Maybe we could have a "traditional" category with classic hardware and an "unlimited" category for all of the others? It's not fair to expect a seven year old to beat the best players. Btw I'm not the best player. Players with stock hand controllers have the best scores. I certainly don't. I have about half the score they do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpel Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Maybe this is the year I win a mug I hope I will win my third mug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpel Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 FYI, I always played with the original controller (Intellivision I) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I'm soooo thirsty ;-p 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 20, 2015 Author Share Posted November 20, 2015 I'm soooo thirsty ;-p You didn't get mugged last year? Well, at least you got patched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
First Spear Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Earning the certificate was a great thing for him last year. In this era of Xbox, I can almost never get the kids to play Intellivision - however Carol vs Ghost gets a workout come December! I hear this a lot from people who play in the original hardware. However, my experience is the opposite: the winners and high rollers of the championship have been by and large people playing in original hardware. Personally, having played the game using all sorts of methods, I find that a 4-way gate provides no real advantage, except for personal preference. I know that it may sound weird, since most maze-like or 4-way arcade games on the Intellivision (including some home-brews) are notorious for having "dead-zones" which force you to press on specific spots on the disc. However, Christmas Carol has been carefully crafted and tested to use the 16-way disc to great advantage, in the natural "roll your thumb" way, allowing for cutting corners during turns and fast zig-zagging. All that said, I do agree that veterans should be graded differently from new comers and casual players. I hope your son plays this year again. Ultimately, the whole point is to have fun and share in the Holiday enjoyment. dZ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 Earning the certificate was a great thing for him last year. In this era of Xbox, I can almost never get the kids to play Intellivision - however Carol vs Ghost gets a workout come December! Great! Just don't let him get discouraged. Tell him that if he plays on the original hardware, with the original disc, he's already playing like the pros. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 I hope I will win my third mug LOL! You can throw a Carol-themed tea-party! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TestaOn Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) DZ-Jay~ First of all, great work with development of your contest and all the cool achievements and incentives. That's first rate stuff. Secondly, the scores that have been achieved are blowing my mind. I've owned the game for a year now (thanks to an unnamed homebrew collector who graciously sold one to me) and I am getting pretty good... apparently NOT! Wow! Those little Carols on the LEADERBOARD are ridiculous! I've got ghost-beating envy. A couple questions... Over the course of my first few dozen games, I developed a pattern on level 1 which got me through with a perfect score, but then all of the sudden my pattern failed on one game and now, it doesn't EVER work anymore. Is that some sort of AI logic that reacted to my repetitive moves or something? Another question (that may have been addressed last year but I missed it): I think I picked up on the fact that the score changes color after it turns over from 9999, which explains Fushek's winning score in yellow (or maybe orange) 9159. But his level only says L:53. How can that be? Is that turned over too? I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere. I actually did a few searches in AA and read your entire webpage looking for those answers but didn't find them. Edited November 23, 2015 by TestaOn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+grips03 Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 level flips at 255 if I remember right255 + 53 = 308 yellow add 10Korange add 20KFushek has 29,159 Last year in the thread some of the really good players posted videos on how to best complete each level. I recommend watching those videos to increase your score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) DZ-Jay~ First of all, great work with development of your contest and all the cool achievements and incentives. That's first rate stuff. Secondly, the scores that have been achieved are blowing my mind. I've owned the game for a year now (thanks to an unnamed homebrew collector who graciously sold one to me) and I am getting pretty good... apparently NOT! Wow! Those little Carols on the LEADERBOARD are ridiculous! I've got ghost-beating envy. Yes, there are people who have made some fantastic scores in there! In any case, don't feel discouraged. The rules will change slightly this year. The plan is to encourage newcomers and separate them from the veterans. Besides, the contest is always fun, no matter your score, so I encourage you to just play and post yours and join in the fun! A couple questions... Over the course of my first few dozen games, I developed a pattern on level 1 which got me through with a perfect score, but then all of the sudden my pattern failed on one game and now, it doesn't EVER work anymore. Is that some sort of AI logic that reacted to my repetitive moves or something? Hmmm that's some sophisticated AI there to remember across games. However, I think it may just be all in your head -- maybe the Ghost Of Christmas Presents is psyching you out? The AI of the game is deterministic, and depends on time and your avatar's position at any point. That means that once you develop a pattern, it should work every time -- as long as you follow it exactly and keep the same timing. That said, like Pac-Man, if you miss one step, or do something slightly different, all bets are off. Moreover, the AI is entirely rules based. That means that you should depend less on patterns, and more on paying close attention to enemy behaviour. For instance, if you know how the Ghost will behave when you do a particular movement, you can take advantage of that and exploit it. In fact most of the high rollers in the championship do exactly this. The beauty of it is that, if you screw up your pattern somehow, you can easily recover and still win. Another question (that may have been addressed last year but I missed it): I think I picked up on the fact that the score changes color after it turns over from 9999, which explains Fushek's winning score in yellow (or maybe orange) 9159. But his level only says L:53. How can that be? Is that turned over too? Grips responded to this, and the score colour table is on the game manual as well. As for the level number, it rolls over at 255, so 255 + 53 = 308 and that's Fushek's final level. I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere. I actually did a few searches in AA and read your entire webpage looking for those answers but didn't find them. No worries. Some of those technical details have not really been covered directly before, mostly because it never occurred to me that people would actually roll over the level or the score! dZ. Edited November 23, 2015 by DZ-Jay 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 You know what? The score actually rolls over at 256 (255 internally, since it is kept as zero-based, but the display adds 1). This means that Fushek actually has 309 levels. I'll confirm this tonight and update the leaderboard accordingly. Whoops! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TestaOn Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 However, I think it may just be all in your head -- maybe the Ghost Of Christmas Presents is psyching you out? You're probably right there. Maybe I got better at turning corners and affected the ghost reaction. And I appreciate the concept of watching the enemies movement. That's the beauty of these games anyway. After developing a pattern on Pac-Man back in the arcades in '82, I used it to achieve 40 or 50 keys at one point then I abandoned it forever, deciding that scrambling was what makes that game fun for me. Then Ms. Pac Man came out and it was like the Technicolor scene in Wizard of Oz. Ahh... Grips responded to this, and the score colour table is on the game manual as well. Of course it is. And you just jogged my memory of reading that. Regardless, thanks for the great game. I will heed Grips' advice and seek out those videos. I want to at least get good enough to beat my nephews' scores. It's payback time for those rugrats outscoring me when I've been playing INTV for 35 years and they've only been playing about 8 or 10. They've surpassed my abilities in most games, but I still dominate in Baseball and Armor Battle. And they are getting closer on Utopia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 A couple questions... Over the course of my first few dozen games, I developed a pattern on level 1 which got me through with a perfect score, but then all of the sudden my pattern failed on one game and now, it doesn't EVER work anymore. Is that some sort of AI logic that reacted to my repetitive moves or something? i found a pattern that works 100% of the time on level 1. No matter how high of a difficulty level you get. I could show people but i dont know if dz wants me showing it to everyone or not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+fdr4prez Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 (edited) Hey, that's neat. I don't know how people could remember all the Pac-man patterns Edit: I can't even remember the pattern to solve Rubik's Cube Edited November 24, 2015 by fdr4prez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Edit: I can't even remember the pattern to solve Rubik's Cube you turn one side 45 degrees. Then you pop one of the corners out. The whole rubics cube will fall apart. Put back together in correct color pattern. I will send you a bill for that knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+fdr4prez Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 That was the only way I could do it, and the one shaped like a pyramid, too. It was a whole lot easier than peeling the labels off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 i found a pattern that works 100% of the time on level 1. No matter how high of a difficulty level you get. I could show people but i dont know if dz wants me showing it to everyone or not I don't really mind, but I think it's better if people discover their own patterns. I do encourage everyone to share strategy and techniques. If you learn what makes the patterns work, you can play to your advantage in any situation. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) You're probably right there. Maybe I got better at turning corners and affected the ghost reaction. And I appreciate the concept of watching the enemies movement. That's the beauty of these games anyway. After developing a pattern on Pac-Man back in the arcades in '82, I used it to achieve 40 or 50 keys at one point then I abandoned it forever, deciding that scrambling was what makes that game fun for me. Then Ms. Pac Man came out and it was like the Technicolor scene in Wizard of Oz. Ahh... Fun Fact: A key difference between Christmas Carol and Pac-Man is the open space play-field. On the surface, this disparity seems subtle, but it results in some fundamental changes to game-play mechanics. In other words, if you think that what makes Pac-Man "Pac-Man" is the maze structure, then you are exactly right: take the maze away, and it is an entirely different world! The open space play-field brings with it two new features that are radically different from Pac-Man: interconnected junctions and dead ends. You probably don't think about it much, but the reason you can escape a Ghost in Pac-Man is mostly because they cannot turn around, and junctions are far apart. This means that if you go in an opposite direction, the Ghost must continue on its current path and can only change direction once at the next junction, which gives you the opportunity to move away or turn yet again. In Christmas Carol, such restrictions are less strict: The enemies still cannot change directions on path, but the open spaces act as multiple junctions interconnected with each other, giving the enemy the ability to turn around in a very close circuit. This results in an almost immediate change of direction to go after Carol! The second fundamental difference is dead ends. When I first encountered them during testing, these seemed like a programming nuisance and a definite bug. On further inspection and iteration, they actually helped balance game-play. The fact that an enemy can go into a corridor with no exit, means that Carol has every opportunity to get away while the enemy hits the wall and turns around. In practice, this is the perfect counterweight to the increased stalking efficacy that the open spaces add to the enemies. These differences impact on game-mechanics at a very fundamental level, greatly influencing enemy AI. By the same token, new player mechanical features arise to counter the emergent AI. The end result is a radically different type of play that, although at first seems subtle and familiar, is in practice a whole different experience, which requires some different sets of skills and behaviours. One last thing that I'd like to say about this is that, although in retrospect everything fits together nicely, it was hardly by design. I wanted open spaces, so I added them. As a consequence, this "broke" the game. I experimented with many different tweaks to find a proper balance to the AI. The dead ends were completely accidental: An enemy walked in, got stuck in a wall, and the game crashed. I thought it was a bug I needed to fix. Then I thought, what happens if we leave it there? I had to change the simplistic path-finding code to support hitting a wall (which is impossible in Pac-Man!) and turning around (which is forbidden in Pac-Man!). Little by little these features went in, sometimes by choice, sometimes by way of experimenting, and sometimes by pure accident; and with careful tweaking of each one, it all came together in synergistic beauty. From the response I've seen, it was all worth it. -dZ. Edited November 24, 2015 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 (edited) dupe. Edited November 30, 2015 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 It's coming! The contest starts tonight, Midnight (EST)! Right now, Santa's Helpers are fixing and updating the official web site... so get ready! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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