MDARULZ
cag superfan
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Mark shows off his CC shirt at FSX.
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« on: March 31, 2006, 10:02:52 PM » |
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Thanks for everyone's patience in my getting to this. As Mark Boolman notes in another thread, I definitely have a day job, being a self-employed computer consultant, and that takes a lot of my time, in addition to me playing catch-up when I return from events !
As most of you know, this was the inaugural edition of the event, and I spent around 80 hours organizing, consulting (with Joe LeVan, my partner in this endeavor, plus with players), and writing (and writing, and writing...). The latter took up most of the time, with web page info, forum commentary, forms, the player contract, banners, signs, flyers, etc. Not to mention, the workup on the spreadsheets that served as my data entry and calculation base. Still, this was expected, and the good news is, if Joe and I decide to do another go-round (very likely, at this point), then the lion's share of the preparations are done. Not to mention that the players are now aware of the event, and will (hopefully) talk it up.
Of course, not all went perfectly. Next time, a number of issues will be addressed, and will serve to correct some minor (and, less than minor) problem issues. Examples: some players waited longer than I would have liked to get their scores taken; certain rules needed to be emphasized more than they were; the rules and scoring system need to be set, and in place, well before the event; and I needed to be in a more central location to the games, at all times.
Still, I think that the planning, player involvement and consultation before the event, and my efforts to address past contest issues, can be appreciated by everyone. Not to mention the fact that both popular games, and great choice in games that each player could play, were some incredible perks that everyone liked (plus, knowing the game titles in advance didn't hurt either, and also allowed for more record scores to be set, in all likelihood).
Speaking of the new world records, here's the complete list from the event:
CAGDC tournament rules (one hour time limit), where the game time was exactly one hour:
Donkey Kong, 459,900, Brian Kuh
Frogger, 216,990, Donald Hayes
Ms. Pac-Man, 191,900, Donald Hayes
CAGDC tournament rules (one hour time limit), where the game time was under one hour:
Dragon's Lair, 373,508, Bryan Wagner
Paperboy, Hard Way, 249,289, Brian Kuh
Pole Position II, 62490, Bryan Wagner
The Glob, 111,859, Mark Alpiger
The Glob, 118,150, Donald Hayes
Tetris Plus, 280,400, Donald Hayes
Note that all games were subject to the noted time constraint, along with being set to factory settings (the CAGDC standard for all games being played). Therefore, this explains the Pole Position II record being lower than that listed on TG - TG uses non-factory settings for a lot of their settings, while CAGDC never does. Note however that some games have no official listing for their factory / default setting, so in those cases, research and guesswork prevail. I'll have all the details up in my full write-up, and on the CAG scoreboard, ASAP.
Now, to the non-world records for the rest of the contest game titles (again, all games were played using the CAGDC tournament rule of a one hour time limit):
1943, 1,241,920, Brian Kuh
Crystal Castles, 795,374, Kelly Tharp
Pengo, 464,440, Frank Lupia
Road Runner, 1,210,020, Brian Kuh
Super Puzzle Fighter II X, 300,950, Ryan Moss
Track & Field, 83,080, Brian Kuh
Zoo Keeper, 3,350,880, Bryan Wagner
Next, let's look at the final player rankings. Eight players (out of 11 entered) qualified for ranking by playing the minimum requirement of 6 games. To determine their numeric final score, all qualifying players had their top six scores kept, and compared to the rest of the field's top six scores (the rest of the scores were thrown out, since, as notated on the web site, and contest promotional material and the contract, only the top six scores would be counted / considered / looked at). The number of qualifying players each beat was added up for the six game titles. Also, a bonus add-on was possible, if a player 'clocked' the rest of the field (after the results were pared down to the best six for each qualifier). Details on this will appear in the full write-up on the web site, in the future.
Player / total score / percentile (for comparison) / prize money won
Brian Kuh 42 99.20% $200
Donald Hayes 40 96.39% $100
Bryan Wagner 39 77.08% $50
Frank Lupia 35 66.81% $25
Ryan Moss 35 25.43%
Pat Laffaye 34 48.76%
Kelly Tharp 31 55.55%
Richard Marsh 28 26.00%
The two players with a tied score were subject to a tie-breaker, which went to Frank Lupia. However, this was not noted at the event, as an error was made in the score totals. Specifically, I awarded one point extra to Frank than I should have, but this did not matter, as the final ranking result was the same, either way.
In addition to that, one other point error was made, in awarding a bonus point to Kelly Tharp when one should not have been awarded. Again, this made no difference to the final ranking.
In reviewing all of my score sheets, just to double-check myself and my data entry, I found two other errors. One was likely a typo, where I entered 81,300 points for Donald Hayes on Track & Field, instead of the correct 81,200. Also, I neglected to enter a higher score for Pat Laffaye on Pole Position. He made a score of 54,700 points, but I only had his previously high score of 53,380 points entered. Again, neither of these errors affected these, or any other player's, final result rankings in any way. Nonetheless, I regret the errors, and will implement further checks at the next event to all but eliminate the possibility of a recurrence. And, if the errors had affected any player's monetary outcome, I would (of course) make it right by them.
Now, while any errors are basically unacceptable, please note that there were a total of 131 scores submitted, so two errors aren't terrible, but, frankly, more than one is unacceptable, and even a single one is quite dubious. Again, I'll be implementing measures to all but eliminate this happening again.
Now, to cover the last little 'negative'. On the third day of the tourney, I posted the up-to-date results, and two players were upset about the circumstances surrounding the dropping of scores before calculating both player ranking, and bonus points. After lengthy discussions with numerous players (thanks go especially to Pat Laffaye, and Bryan Wagner, for their time and input), I determined that a slight ambiguity could be interpreted in the wording of the player contract, such that multiple methods of determining both rank, and bonus points, could be seen as being the method to be implemented. On that basis, Joe LeVan (Challenge Arcade owner) and I decided that a simple majority vote among the available players would settle the matter. By a vote of 5 to 2 (with one player abstaining), the original vision of what I intended (all results for qualifying players, past the top six, would be totally discounted (dropped) before any and all calculations were done).
OK, now that all of the less than interesting stuff has been explained, I'll wrap up with some highlights and tidbits from, and about, the event:
. Shawn Cram predicted that Brian Kuh would win the event, and he was correct. I must say that Brian's playing prowess was unexpected, and impressive. I knew Brian had major talent, but I didn't realize how prepared he'd be for the event, and I also didn't know that he'd be capable of making 5 (out of 6 possible) #1 scores. Good job Brian !
. Needless to say, I was also impressed with Donald Haye's results, and especially liked that he set the most world records at the event, with four. Of course, Bryan Wagner and Brian Kuh setting two wr's each is not to be forgotten, either !
. I was really happy to be able to bring the complete 'The Glob' kit to the event, including the original control panel setup. Just as I remembered it from the 80's, it was a pleasure to finally play the title the way it was intended (versus using the default Pac or Ms. Pac CP, with the buttons on the far right - yechhh !). I set a wr of 111,859 points on the game on the first day of the contest, usurping Donald's 80's record of 88,508. Donald later topped that, with the 118,150 mark mentioned above. I didn't have time to play again during the tourney, but since my departure time was so late on Monday, I played about 8 games that day, and managed a decent new wr of 133,834 points.
. Dragon's Lair was a hotly contested title. My friend Kelly thot that he had it locked up, and declared that no one would beat his 369,205 score that was submitted the first day. Needless to say, he got a surprise when not just one, but two players, beat his score, which he declared as a 'perfect game'. So much for that idea... According to Bryan Wagner, the difference was in a couple of the scenes - the 'whirlpool', and 'platforms'. Sometimes a player will get randomly lucky, and other times, it's a matter of paying attention about when to max things out. Whatever the case, Bryan did the best, and set a new wr, since Greg Sakundiak told me at the Houston event last December that his score resulted from a game glitch, where a scene repeated (and, I think that he said he garnered an extra 4000 points from the glitch). Glitch games are disqualified in my book, so, BW is the new wr holder. It's all the more amazing, since I set the game on what I guessed was the factory setting of 'easy', versus 'hard'. This setting gives 11 moves in the final scene, versus 14; thus, less points are possible, and yet, Bryan still made a wr !
Well, that pretty much sums up most everything of note. I appreciate all the players that turned out and supported the event, and I hope that the few issues that came up are understandable ones, especially in light of this being a first-time event. I also hope that attendance really takes off next year, and if so, I can guarantee a great time will be had by all !
P.S. For all those that were there, please post your stories, comments, suggestions, and other ideas (such as game suggestions for next year) in this thread. It's your tournament, and with your input, it will continue to be the best one around !
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