Camel try Expert Leeching

[The TJT]

I still say, no bumper leech AT ALL.

If I could leech points when finishing game, I would:

1. Find out how much time I need after bumpers to finish the game.
2. Leech to that time, trying to finish only lucky leeches.

Which would make playing quite boring.

They spoiled this very good game with bad scoring anyway, some luck involved(question marks), brick bonuses are sometimes too big. Imho best scoring would be based on play time only....Long live Rock'n' Marble!

[LN2]

As you can see from my uploads last night, I love the game. ...got the hang of it very quickly.

I just discovered the game by reading this thread and started playing it 2 nights ago. It's very cool.

From what I saw though you don't really have a lot of time to leech on that expert course and still finish...unless I'm not seeing the actual spot that is the complaint of leeching. Can someone put up a screenshot showing the exact bumper?

I am assuming it's where there are 2 bumpers really close to each other and in a somewhat confined area. However, that's in a early level so each second spent there is big time lost bonus points for time left completing the last few levels.

I had a 427k game at expert playing the game without spending more than a few seconds at those..where I still build up to 99.9 seconds left to start the last world(no slot machine or lottery for addon time)...and I know there is still a lot of room for improvement beyond that 427k also as I just now am learning those worlds well.

I guess I'll have to download and watch that one 550k game cuz I suspect that is really the one showing this point leeching.

[Francois Daniel]

As you can see from my uploads last night, I love the game. ...got the hang of it very quickly.
I am assuming it's where there are 2 bumpers really close to each other and in a somewhat confined area. However, that's in a early level so each second spent there is big time lost bonus points for time left completing the last few levels..

Yes, it's this spot.

I had a 427k game at expert playing the game without spending more than a few seconds at those..where I still build up to 99.9 seconds left to start the last world(no slot machine or lottery for addon time)...and I know there is still a lot of room for improvement beyond that 427k also as I just now am learning those worlds well..

Wow ! How have you made ? 427 K without leech and 99,9 sec, you are a master of Camel Try

If you leech on the spot you can make over Tommi's score, I guess.

Francois

[LN2]

My 427k game I did leech from that spot for about 10 seconds. I still was able in the next level or 2 get back up to 99.9 starting the last couple levels...which is important for the big point bonuses on those last few.

I am playing the "special course" now. I had a 602k run last night. The top scores for that are pretty good runs. The top ones by that 1 guy are where he gets that nice row of blocks crushed in series for big time points. I have been able to do that in beginner in that 1 world with lots of blocks to crush but not yet in the special course. I have him as far as time to complete levels though. If I could get that block crush he had I would be up around 640-650k.

He is 50+k ahead of me in points after that 2nd or 3rd world...yet at the end I was only 30k behind him so i have him for the rest of the course except for that 1 block crushing area...figure it's just a matter of time before I get a run where I nail those blocks just right also.

I'm still improving on the special runs though. I still haven't quite grooved my lines...forget spots now and then and run into those 2 sec penalty Xs etc. so likely can squeeze out another 10-20+k from time bonuses shaving a couple seconds off a few of the later worlds. I did finish that 602k run with like 75 seconds left though...so had a great run on that last world. ;D

[QRS]

Rick:A wonderful game right? I just love Cameltry!!

I will prolly start playing that game again later on, but now I have a lot of things to do in real life, and t-6 and the deca takes time too

Good scores so far btw Rick! It will not be easy for me to even get close to those! I will do my best, but it will have to wait

Cheers!

[LN2]

I only played Cameltry about 1-2 hours each for each course to get the scores I posted to MARP so far. The "special" course is taking a little longer though...mainly cuz a lot more to learn about the worlds to optimize getting through them better without getting lost or running into those Xs..although there actually are a couple spots where overall it's better to bounce off an X to get through a spot very quickly versus waste 2+ seconds to get through it clean.

[QRS]

I have played Cameltry a lot, but I need a better thing than my mouse to play it.. In the arcades Cameltry had a spinner for controll, and I would prefer that!

I bought a spinner a while ago, and I will see if I can use it on Cameltry to get a better feeling.

Btw, I think tha training stages are those that are hardest to beat.. or inporve my scores on.. I got a 200k+ on some of the clones and it is the only game that I have come close to "perfect".. On the other courses there are still a lot of room for improvement.

My favorite is the special one though.. except for the last passage on stage 10... I have had 600+ games many times and failed cause I lost like 15 seconds spinning arround without reeching the goal..

When I start to play it again, I will study it more though.. I mostly played it for fun and competed with my friend David (Oakster at MARP).

Maybe I can get him to start playing again

[Francois Daniel]

I have played Cameltry a lot, but I need a better thing than my mouse to play it.. In the arcades Cameltry had a spinner for controll, and I would prefer that!

And you gain time with Mouse ? I use keyboard or paddle, but I haven't play with mouse yet. Maybe, it's the key for made Hi-scores. And you, LN2 you use mouse too ? Or a spinner ?

Francois

[QRS]

I can only speak for myself, but I will always produce better scores with a spinner for games like this, tempest and Arkanoid.. same with a wheel for games like Outrun (hehe) Pole position etc.. Some people can adapt very well and prolly get better scores with a mouse, but I´m NOT one of them

I even uses a pad for outrun on mame.. and that´s just because I can´t get any good scores at all with a mouse.

[LN2]

I have played Cameltry a lot, but I need a better thing than my mouse to play it.. In the arcades Cameltry had a spinner for controll, and I would prefer that!

ahh, never saw it in the arcades...but was busy in college then so wasn't playing much when that game came out....was really only 1 arcade I would visit and play at for about a 5 year stretch.

Btw, I think tha training stages are those that are hardest to beat.. or inporve my scores on.. I got a 200k+ on some of the clones and it is the only game that I have come close to "perfect".. On the other courses there are still a lot of room for improvement.

Yeah for training it really comes down to how quickly and how many combos you can get out of that 1 world in that area that has a lot of blocks. You need some 1000x4 and 1000x5 hits to get up over 200k.

My favorite is the special one though.. except for the last passage on stage 10... I have had 600+ games many times and failed cause I lost like 15 seconds spinning arround without reeching the goal..

I know that feeling! I have done it also...but now have a system that once into that final goal area only takes me 1-2 seconds to get on the goal(most of the time, I still screw up and get stuck motionless against a wall there...end up wasting 5+ seconds then to get to the goal).

In my 603k run I just submitted I lost about 4 seconds at the end...where I was past that bumper to the goal "room" but then in doing my quick turn I turned too quickly and ended up back in the bumper room...took me 4 seconds to get back out of it....yuck.

I use a mouse for cameltry...as well as almost all other analog games. I think I do well on these without much practice because of my few years playing FPS games online like the quakes. You learn very precise mouse control playing those games....which carries over into playing games like Marble Madness, Camel Try etc. using the mouse. I just have to play with the analog sensitivity a lot until I get the feel that seems right....then just some practice mainly learning the course...and I'm off.

I just submitted a couple morescores. The camltrua-beg run was from the other night but for some reason wouldn't playback for me that night. I would get the "tilt" on the 2nd world. Tonight I was about to play the game more when I said what the heck I'll try the playback again..and it worked fine....perhaps something was up where I needed to restart to reboot macmame the other night. Camel Try inp playback is a little odd anyway if same on PCs vs macs. When the game starts where the cursor is initially for selecting a course can vary some...this can result for some inps it selecting the wrong course versus what you actually played..so you have to try the playback a few times until it selects the right course...then it's fine. On playing it back the actual final score on playback can be different from when you actually were playing it also for some reason. It plays back to the same score each time though. I hada couple where I ended up with 500-2000 points less on the playback versus when I played it. Is it like that on pcmame also?

QRS, you are welcome to try to play these back in pc versions of mame. I tried a few in VirtualPC and got mixed results. A couple of them would playback fine the first 5 worlds even then mess up on the last with a "tilt". Most would "tilt" on the 1st or 2nd world. I have no idea why that happens. I guess perhaps if I am moving mouse or let go/press button during the countdown perhaps in the saving in macmame on pc-mame that results in a tilt or something. It's odd. For the few that do playback well you can at least see a sample.

It's always at the start of levels too so it's almost something you likely could alter some frames if you found the right ones at the start of a world to avoid the tilt. No way I'm gonna try and figure that out though.

In the regular cameltry-spc I am 450 points shy of your 3rd place score...ahhh! haven't submitted that one yet. It's also odd the cameltrj-spc scores are all higher...does that version give more of the +5 seconds and timer stops for the mystery blocks? In playing it a handful of times I didn't see any real difference from the regular cameltry.

It might end up being the first games where I submit a score that's not in the top 3. I kind of liked all of my submitted scores are in the top 3...oh well...had to end sometime I guess.

[Francois Daniel]

[quote="LN2"]
ahh, never saw it in the arcades...but was busy in college then so wasn't playing much when that game came out....was really only 1 arcade I would visit and play at for about a 5 year stretch.
[quote]

In fact, spinner is the controller made for the game because there is a spinner in the demo mode

Francois

[The TJT]

So the new rule is in effect now?

I still think voting options were not right -there should have been an option for "no bumber leech at all", those 2 bumpers are not located on the track to finish the track anyway. Option "you can leech if you finish the game" is strange imho.


Marp democracy, hahaha

[The TJT]

Old marp thread:
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a ... _id=007y3O

Not much conversation, I recall someone answered me personally that it's so hard to do the leeching, that it's maybe ok...Nothing happened to leeching techniques, not enough interest from the players, maybe the game was too slow back then...It's now slower, but faaaster computers, I hope

[LN2]

So the new rule is in effect now?

I still think voting options were not right -there should have been an option for "no bumber leech at all", those 2 bumpers are not located on the track to finish the track anyway. Option "you can leech if you finish the game" is strange imho.

If you check the options for that poll there were 3 choices...one was a "no" which means no bumper leeching period.

I wish I was around when that stuff was being discussed or I had played the game(maybe was around but didn't know the game so never looked in this thread til recently).

Anyway, I would have said how about an option to not allow the lottery for the extra 20 seconds also. That "feature" of the game is what really allows someone to leech at those bumpers for quite a while...knowing they will run out of time before completing that world...but hoping they get the 20 second bonus which they then can complete that world and then the rest of the worlds for that course. That gives them 20 seconds or more of an advantage over the others. I say or more cuz if you finish a level with very little time left you can get that slot machine thing and add on even more time.

I haven't done that in any of my runs. In fact I finish that world with at least 40-45+ seconds left in the scores I submitted for it. I do spend a little time at those bumpers though...but just a little. Once my ball comes out of that area once especially if it gets thrown down into the pin area I just go with it and complete the level then cuz the time wasted getting back to the leech spot again makes it overall not worth it then. You can get to it quickly initially cuz you are flying down that lane to get to that area.

I should download and watch that 549k run cuz I'd bet he got that slot machine and lottery time bonuses to be able to get that high in score. That one score is clearly in a different zone than all others.

[The TJT]

hard subject this one too...
I just don't like things like leech a bit etc.

lottery would not have any effect if all bl would be forbidden. Then again, the problem would be to make difference between recordings getting 99,9 time at aend levels, cause it's the max you can get.

Maybe total time to finish game would be good, but then you wouldn't have to get the blocks and bonuses etc. That would propably take something out of the original game idea, but maybe it would be better anyway...Damn game programmers, first they make a good game, then they mess up the scoring completely. They just didn't know that, which is proven by 99,9 sec maximum start time...just like galaga player 1 doesn't have enough digits for score. And we have not even maximized cameltry here at marp yet.

Do you smoke Camel?