Hi Lasertankers,
I was wondering, since contests bring so much nerve and energy to
communities,
why not a contest for the Lasertank user community?!
I know the idea is not entirely new in this group... but maybe the
problem was
not introduced in the proper way.
Here I'll try to explain my idea of contest, and then if people are
interested
enough maybe we can start up something.
Since Lasertank is not a two player competition type game we cannot
organize
this kind of contest, but we may imagine other kind of contests.
1. Level Creation Contest
=========================
People send levels for the contest to Donald (or someone else, if
Donald is too
busy). Let's say, everyone who wish to enter can send a maximum of three
levels, all levels sent should of course be original and have playback
files
attached, just to be sure they are solvable. Moreover, no level will be
allowed to enter if the author cannot provide a playback file with a
solution
in less, lets say, than 200 moves. This way we avoid long, boring
levels and
stimulate people to send in short (or middle sized), interesting smart
levels!
After the deadline, the levels file set gets published and everybody
can download
it.
After a month or so (the time to solve/explore the levels), people can
vote the
best level. For example, they send an mail containing the first 10
places to
Donald. After the voting deadline we can count all the votes for all
the levels
sent in and find out who is the Best Lasertank Level Creator 2004!
What we try to measure with this contest is not how difficult to solve
a level
is, but how much enjoyable playing experience the level produce. We
all know
that lasertank level soving CAN be very enjoyable! Too difficult
levels become
boring, too easy ones get too repetitive... so I imagine some users will
discard the too easy levels, or the too difficult ones (maybe they
can't even
solve them) and vote levels that surprised them most.
I think people play lasertank because they like it. The reason why
people like
to play lasertank is simple: it is a good game. It is well balanced,
it has
simple controls (keyboard and mouse), it has very simple rules that can be
learned in minutes, it has something for all ages, and the list can
continue...
But not all levels are equal. Maybe people are different, and may like
different things, but in what concerns lasertank I think most of us
like most
the moment when we find the solution after two days of search, and
then we say
to ourselves: "It was soo simple, so evident, yet I failed to see it
all this
time event if it was right before my eyes"! Some levels produce these
satisfaction, some levels just fail to make us happy! It is this
measure of
quality that propose to judge levels, and voting is the best way to
know what
people prefer.
Besides, apart from naming a winner, this contest will teach level
authors what
to try to express in their levels. Level creation is an art and is as
enjoyable
as soving levels. Knowing the target public should help level creators
with
their work.
Well, this is my idea of level author contest for lasertank.
2. Level Solving Contest
========================
After the first contest ends and we know know how to classify levels
in order
of user preferences, we can choose a set of levels from these (25, 50
or even
100 best ones) and start the second contest. Everyone who enters
should
send solutions to the proposed levels (as many solutions as they can).
Solutions will be compared using the standard # of moves and then # of
shots
method. Each level has its own list of results (e.g. for each level
there is a
winner, a second place, and so on). The winner is the player who
has most #
one scores. If there are more players with the same number of winnings
then we
can choose the one who has most second place positions, and so on. If
a level
is too easy to solve it doesn't matter much because every participant will
solve it and it will count to the final score for everyone. And in
fact, we do
not test in this contest the ability to find a solution for a deadly
level in a
limited amount of time, but the ability to find the best solution,
with no time
limit. There will be a deadline for sending solutions of course, and after
that, the winners for The Best LaserTank Player 2004 will be announced.
In any of these contests there will be of course a second place, a
third place
and so on :-) With so many good players and level creators, I'll be
more than
happy to get into the first 20 :-)
Well, these are my suggestions! These rules here are only a starting
point.
After dicussions in the group we may agree on the final rules and the
exact development of the contest, if anyone is interested.
Cheers,
Minel
I was wondering, since contests bring so much nerve and energy to
communities,
why not a contest for the Lasertank user community?!
I know the idea is not entirely new in this group... but maybe the
problem was
not introduced in the proper way.
Here I'll try to explain my idea of contest, and then if people are
interested
enough maybe we can start up something.
Since Lasertank is not a two player competition type game we cannot
organize
this kind of contest, but we may imagine other kind of contests.
1. Level Creation Contest
=========================
People send levels for the contest to Donald (or someone else, if
Donald is too
busy). Let's say, everyone who wish to enter can send a maximum of three
levels, all levels sent should of course be original and have playback
files
attached, just to be sure they are solvable. Moreover, no level will be
allowed to enter if the author cannot provide a playback file with a
solution
in less, lets say, than 200 moves. This way we avoid long, boring
levels and
stimulate people to send in short (or middle sized), interesting smart
levels!
After the deadline, the levels file set gets published and everybody
can download
it.
After a month or so (the time to solve/explore the levels), people can
vote the
best level. For example, they send an mail containing the first 10
places to
Donald. After the voting deadline we can count all the votes for all
the levels
sent in and find out who is the Best Lasertank Level Creator 2004!
What we try to measure with this contest is not how difficult to solve
a level
is, but how much enjoyable playing experience the level produce. We
all know
that lasertank level soving CAN be very enjoyable! Too difficult
levels become
boring, too easy ones get too repetitive... so I imagine some users will
discard the too easy levels, or the too difficult ones (maybe they
can't even
solve them) and vote levels that surprised them most.
I think people play lasertank because they like it. The reason why
people like
to play lasertank is simple: it is a good game. It is well balanced,
it has
simple controls (keyboard and mouse), it has very simple rules that can be
learned in minutes, it has something for all ages, and the list can
continue...
But not all levels are equal. Maybe people are different, and may like
different things, but in what concerns lasertank I think most of us
like most
the moment when we find the solution after two days of search, and
then we say
to ourselves: "It was soo simple, so evident, yet I failed to see it
all this
time event if it was right before my eyes"! Some levels produce these
satisfaction, some levels just fail to make us happy! It is this
measure of
quality that propose to judge levels, and voting is the best way to
know what
people prefer.
Besides, apart from naming a winner, this contest will teach level
authors what
to try to express in their levels. Level creation is an art and is as
enjoyable
as soving levels. Knowing the target public should help level creators
with
their work.
Well, this is my idea of level author contest for lasertank.
2. Level Solving Contest
========================
After the first contest ends and we know know how to classify levels
in order
of user preferences, we can choose a set of levels from these (25, 50
or even
100 best ones) and start the second contest. Everyone who enters
should
send solutions to the proposed levels (as many solutions as they can).
Solutions will be compared using the standard # of moves and then # of
shots
method. Each level has its own list of results (e.g. for each level
there is a
winner, a second place, and so on). The winner is the player who
has most #
one scores. If there are more players with the same number of winnings
then we
can choose the one who has most second place positions, and so on. If
a level
is too easy to solve it doesn't matter much because every participant will
solve it and it will count to the final score for everyone. And in
fact, we do
not test in this contest the ability to find a solution for a deadly
level in a
limited amount of time, but the ability to find the best solution,
with no time
limit. There will be a deadline for sending solutions of course, and after
that, the winners for The Best LaserTank Player 2004 will be announced.
In any of these contests there will be of course a second place, a
third place
and so on :-) With so many good players and level creators, I'll be
more than
happy to get into the first 20 :-)
Well, these are my suggestions! These rules here are only a starting
point.
After dicussions in the group we may agree on the final rules and the
exact development of the contest, if anyone is interested.
Cheers,
Minel