QueerRudie Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 (edited) (Just adding this for the Front Page Updates, so I can find it easily) Hey all- Since we didn't have this thread already, I decided we needed one. A.J.- Is it feasable to have one ready for release on Monday Morning? I could tie it into announcing the winners of Challenge I and introduce the new challenge at the same time- so we can get some flow-through of people? My goal is that we do one TPR Challenge a month, starting on the second Monday- That way we can build up an audience for that- thus my question. Edited June 6, 2011 by mcjaco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Has it really been a month since we started the challenge thing? I mean, I can have the terrain file finished by tomorrow if I work very fast, but I think downtime in between challenges would actually be a good thing. IMO, we don't need a constant barrage of challenges and promotions one after another without a break. It's like a dramatic fist-fight. HIT HIT HIT HIT dramatic pause HIT HIT HIT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 I'd agree with AJ. A nice pause would be nice. Besides, we have the Track of the Week contest to tie people over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 I'd only give it about a week pause, to be honest. One thing to keep in mind - this is the GAMES forum - and as much as I do understand that it's about video games, I also really do like the idea of us actively PLAYING GAMES in this forum! But I do agree that a short pause is probably required, after all, any good game that is made requires good pacing. But in the meantime, developing the next contest behind the scenes so you're ready to go with it should be happening as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 I've already got the one to follow for May 'in progress'- And I've been thinking... perhaps going a bit over the top might be in order this time... Robb- I've sent you an e-mail with a request in it- I'm sending money to cover not only my order- but the 'bit over the top as well'- But with the recent spate of Prince Desmond's presence, I figured it was time for a Big Dipper themed RCT II challenge. More info once I get it formulated- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 I have the terrain finished (I'm on my mobile, can't upload it for a few hours). The challenge of the challenge is this - you've been ordered (by the Grand Gardens manager) to build a roller coaster in the style of Arrow Dynamics. He says that the plot of land is great for roller coasters and that he got a good deal! The catch is that absolutely NONE of the land is flat. He wants several specific elements in the ride (let's get creative - reverse sidewinder anyone?). Basically, I lovingly ripped QR's idea (Hat tip to you!), and added in the challenge of completely uneven terrain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 I -LOVE- IT! Perhaps we should come up with a name for Crazy Park Manager? He's going to be involved with the Big Dipper Challenge, too... As for elements: I have to ask- We need a Drachen Fire-style CorkWinder element! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 (edited) Draft: PRESENTING... A TPR Official Game Exchange Challenge! NoLimits - My Favorite Ride is Vortex! What happens when your manager's favorite coaster is an Arrow? DOWNLOAD THE TRACK/TERRAIN FILE NOW! History: Having successfully mooched off of members of a theme park enthusiast website to make his Grand Gardens popular, the manager has hatched a new plan. He recently took a "research" trip to Kings Island in Ohio and came out of the park with a favorite roller coaster - Vortex. Now, he has, once again, bought a large expanse of land for a relatively inexpensive price. The problem is this - none of the land is even close to being flat. He wants a roller coaster like Vortex on that land. The Challenge: Build an Arrow Dynamics multi-looping coaster. Because the manager wants a coaster like Vortex, it must do the following: Have a drop of at least 138 feet Reach a speed of at least 55mph Have at least two loops, two corkscrews, and a batwing Also: You are not allowed to modify the terrain in any way. "But wait, [insert moderator's name here] - what do we need for this challenge?" All you need is NoLimits Coaster version 1.6 or later to play. This track file has no 3DS either. "How do I submit my finished track?" Upload your track to the TPR Game Exchange! When you upload your contest entry to the exchange, be sure to list it under the "TPR Challenge" file type. Judging There will be two winners of this challenge. Member's choice - at the end of the challenge, TPR members will vote to decide which track is their favorite. Moderator's choice - also at the end of the challenges, the Game Exchange moderators will decide which track is their favorite. "[insert moderator's name here], what do I win?" You Get CRAP! ONE lucky winner, as voted on by our members will get a **HUGE** TPR BAG OF CRAP! You read that right- A REAL, AUTHENTIC, GENUINE, ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES TPR BAG OF CRAP! Honestly, this will be one awesome bag of crap filled with kick-ass stuff! But wait! There's MORE! Everybody who PLAYS the challenge, and turns in a park will get a 50 pt. bonus in their exchange accounts! That's right - you get something just for making a track. Keep deadlines in mind! The contest begins today - Monday, April 18, 2011 - and ends on Monday, May 2, 2011. On Wednesday, May 4, 2011, the public voting will begin for the member's choice winner, and will last one week. Good luck, and enjoy the landplot - if you have any questions, feel free to ask your Game Exchange moderating team - mcjaco A.J. djbrcace1234 QueerRudie Have fun! Hope those guests like your rides! Edited April 18, 2011 by A.J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted April 17, 2011 Author Share Posted April 17, 2011 Perfect. I love it- GO FOR IT! BTW: I really think we need to come up with a name for Crazy Park Manager- as he's going to be involved in the next TPR RCT II challenge... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 All posted up with somewhere to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 A big portion of the lack of promotion for the NL contest is my fault. End-of-semester reports, class scheduling, and closing shifts every day have really eaten up my time. I apologize. Should we give an extension or something? A bunch of people have downloaded the template, but no one has submitted an entry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 ^ Start pimping that contest out. That should get you more activity. Most of these clowns enter the last day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Can we get a front page advertisement? Puh-leese. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Why don't we figure out what we are going to do with it before we are going to put it on the front page. For example, should we give a 1 week extension? I'm ok with that. But someone does need to promote it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 This is me being an advertising newbie. Bear with me... What other ways is there to promote the contest besides the front page and the Facebook/Twitter feeds? I bumped the thread again, but I don't think that's enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 Well, the first question is - do we want to extend the deadline, and if yes, until when? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 I think it would be best to leave it as is this one time - it's a better way to gauge how many people are interested in the NoLImits challenges as opposed to RCT ones, in the same timeframe (which I did allot the same amount of days in this contest as the RCT one). Plus, this way no one playing in the next RCT contest can complain that we have the NL people an extension and not them. The official chellenge aspect of the forum is still young anyway, so there is room for trial-and error, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 Sorry for being 'late' to chime in on this (Busy day here in Airlineland) If they complain about the a RCT II challenge being to difficult- they get two weeks. The complexity level of NL (For me at least) is over the top- so a week-extension, I think, is a good thing. I'm also repeating it in chat as well- just to get people to look at it, and it's gotten some good buzz. Hopefully, this will light a fire under people's asses to get moving. Perhaps a 'parody' ad would get some attention here- such as: "TPR Enters a time warp. And the result is one more week to compete in the TPR April Challenge." or "The IRS gave you four more days this year. We're better than that. Here's seven more to get your TPR April Challenge in." I'll keep screaming about it in chat- just to keep things moving on that end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 OK, here's what I've done. I've extended the contest through to Monday, May 9th. I would hope that is plenty of time. I've also put it on the front page of TPR, tweeted about it, and put it on our Facebook. It's going to be up to you guys to continue to promote it from here on out. Hopefully we'll get a few entries. The other question is - Is this contest too hard? I mean, it's one thing to make it a challenge, it's another thing to deter people from playing because it's too hard. I deal with this in video game design all the time. On one hand our designers want to make things really difficult for the player, but there is a huge difference from something being kind of a challenge, but still fun, and getting you so frustrated you throw the controller against the wall. Bottom line is - people want challenges they feel they can overcome. If you give them something that's too hard, too much to read, too many details, overall, too time consuming...they aren't going to bother. That's why sometimes the most successful challenges might be the most simple. Give that some thought.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 Good call on the UserGroup, Robb- I'm working the challenge now to see 'how it works'- my NL skills are for crap; still learning how to do it right, I'm afraid, but I like the concept behind the challenge myself. It's very challenging, however, for me- but I'm chalking that up to being a noob at NL more than anything. Perhaps asking the contestants after the challenge closes for feedback (at least for the time being) would allow us to gauge the 'difficulty' level of these things? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 I've actually never set up a usergroup on TPR before (never needed to), but we'll see how it pans out. If no one joins, I'll just ditch the idea... On another note - you can see how promoting the contest, upping the prizes, and probably making it a little more clear really helped. Follow suit guys.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 On the subject of difficulty - perhaps we should test the challenges ourselves BEFORE they go live? That way, we can work out the kinks and we can have "example" tracks for download to help players understand them better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 That's sort of what I did with the first RCT II challenge: I played it myself for functionality before I posted it- I figure, if I could solve it within a certain period, others would be able to solve it as well. I don't want the challenges to be so hard people go "no" to them and walk away- at least not now. In the future, however, I've toyed with the idea of having a mulit-leveled challenge in the future- that is, a 'basic' level and an 'advanced' level of a scenario. Why? well, so the 'advanced' players (CS, 'realism' types) could have one solution- and the 'basic' players would have another. I'm not quite ready to put that into motion yet, as I'm still working out the kinks of the process. Not to mention, that's going to require some time to develop outright. I'm seeing some motion on the NL scenario now that it's getting out and there's good word with it- the extention of time should really help drive this a bit further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 People look into things way too technically. Since when have Arrow coaster loops been anything other than...loops? Sorry I haven't been active in the thread, the past few days have been tough with Grad Nites and other things happening here on the resort that make my shifts extra-super-long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 These kids read into everything, and make it more complicated than it it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts