Golden Era Game of the Week 9/18/2004: Hot Shocker

[Weehawk]

Golden Era Game of the Week

See introduction here

The Game: Hot Shocker

romname: hotshock

Screenshot:
(click to see current MARP scores)

Reward: $25 (usd)

Deadline for submission to MARP: September 24, 2004 2359 hours GMT

Further Bounty: none

Thought it was time to do a lesser known game again this week.

From E. G. Felaco, who brought us such other classics as......well, OK, they didn't bring us anything else either...comes Hot Shocker.

Dudley the world's most dedicated lineman, must change the color of the entire grid, while avoiding the Gooneybirds, who slow him down, and the Hot Spots, which kill him, before running out of line. Grab the telephone to make the Hot Spots temporarily disappear and speed up Dudley.

Not a bad little game, but control of Dudley is frustrating. He often seemed not to go where I told him to, often seemingly bent on suicide. Just too stupid to live.

Use WolfMAME .86

[Weehawk]

Results:
1st: Ian Sutton
2nd: Don Hayes
3rd: SiKrAiKeN

The race in the cumulative totals begins to look very interesting...

With yet another first place, Ian gets to within a single point of the top three, and with a close second Don Hayes pulls again to within striking distance of the overall lead.

[sawys]

Once again, i notice that players post their inps in the last 4 hours of the challenge.

I think it's a bad way to beat score cos we can't see progression and it's the worst way to compete with others players.

This way to do is only to win money prize that you offer John.

[Ian Sutton]

Once again, i notice that players post their inps in the last 4 hours of the challenge.

I think it's a bad way to beat score cos we can't see progression and it's the worst way to compete with others players.

This way to do is only to win money prize that you offer John.

I know what you're saying. But if you want to win this seems the best strategy. If I had submitted my score as soon as I recorded it, then I feel it's probable Don (or someone else) would have beaten it since he was only a few thousand short. Then if he uploads at the last minute I can't respond. Despite the cheesiness, it's still fair to all. I just do the best I can for the week and cross my fingers.

[destructor]

Bonus points for 1st in every day can be good solution.

[dbh]

Once again, i notice that players post their inps in the last 4 hours of the challenge.

I think it's a bad way to beat score cos we can't see progression and it's the worst way to compete with others players.

This way to do is only to win money prize that you offer John.

I actually didn't start playing this game seriously until Thursday. I played a bit on Thursday evening and then off and on through the day on Friday. I got my 177K late on Friday so I really wasn't intentionally holding it back until the last minute.

Bonus points for 1st in every day can be good solution.

Interesting suggestion. But might be too much of an advantage for someone who can spend time each day playing and improving on a game as opposed to someone who only has a couple time during the week to play. It would almost certainly encourage more early submissions, though.

Something simliar to the 48-hour submission rule used in the Deca's might be helpful in preventing people from holding on to top scores achieved early on. Due to the nature of the GEGOTW, though, this would likely have to be changed to a smaller timeframe (eg, maybe something like a 4-hour rule). Adding a limit on how many submissions a player can make during the week would make things even more interesting.