Dig Challenge

[Paradox]

I mentioned to some about my dislike for Dig Challenge, I apologize
for the way I approached it. I actually do like the mode, it just
isn't what I expected.

1. I think there should be a separate mode or an option in Dig
Challenge to only be based on either time or garbage lines cleared. I
think garbage lines cleared is a better indicator of downstack ability
compared to time based because when it is time based you can stall for
a few seconds. Time based would work well too though, and I'm sure it
would require less changes.

The way it is now is also an interesting take, in many ways it
simulates multiplayer.

2. Also I'm not sure what the purpose of normal mode is compared to
real time. In normal mode there is no garbage canceling or blocking
anyway. The difference between the two is that normal waits for you to
place your piece down to give you garbage. When the difficulty rises
it is impossible to downstack because you will be instantly topped out
when you place your piece. Either modes work but I prefer that only
one is kept, especially for the sake of leaderboards.

3. A piece efficiency statistic would be an interesting stat. Garbage
line cleared / Pieces would show you how efficient your downstacking
is in a percentage. For example, if I cleared 10 garbage lines using
20 pieces then my efficiency would be 50%.

I even compared the efficiency of some players and found that great
downstackers were 20%+ and newer players were around 4-8%. Blinks
world record driller I think is around 46% efficiency ( I think he
used 39 pieces for 18 lines of garbage).

[Zircean]

1. We're probably going to introduce multiple sorting options, which would effectively make it based on any criteria it saves in the record.

2. I'm not sure what Normal mode either, but it hasn't been rebalanced since we allowed garbage to build up. So, that's probably why that's happening the way it is.

3. You're right, but Nullpo has no way of keeping track of garbage lines yet. I was planning on doing that so that Caffeine's efficiency and flux stats could also be implemented. This will probably come along with that.

[Alex Kerr]

Watch out for efficiency; if you just do a straight pieces used per garbage rows cleared evaluation, then you encourage waiting for adds to come in. Blockbox Survivor tracked TGM levels as a secondary to encourage clearing lines in addition to having efficient downstack and posting a good time.

[Paradox]

I always figured those modes like survivor were meant to be pure
downstack games. Survivor is also time based records so you are not
penalized for waiting. Even with the TGM levels most people ignore it
and wait. Personally I thought it was just to help you minimize pieces
used (increase efficiency).

You are right with the current scoring system. Of course there
shouldn't be efficiency based on that because the current scoring is
based on lines sent.
For the garbage-clear mode I suggested I think it should be based on
pieces per garbage line, or caffeine's stats.

[Zircean]

"Blockbox Survivor tracked TGM levels as a secondary to encourage clearing lines in addition to having efficient downstack and posting a good time."

Except nobody cared and just posted times anyway.

[Alex Kerr]

briannn has also requested this feature. I think we could probably make a Level Lock flag for practice that disqualifies from the regular leaderboards.

On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 12:27 PM, Apocalypse <death...@hotmail.com> wrote:

...I would like it if Dig Challenge would have config for one to be
able to "freeze" a lvl, (ex: set it to level 15 and have it remain
that lvl throughout, no increases)

[Wojtek Kowaluk]

maybe additional game type: realtime, normal, this?

[Zircean Draconnia]

The speedcurves are different for each mode, technically. Normal has
to be rebalanced as well. Should we do something about that?

On Jan 24, 8:46 pm, Wojtek Kowaluk <w.kowa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> maybe additional game type: realtime, normal, this?
>
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> On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 2:19 AM, Alex Kerr <kitaru2...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > briannn has also requested this feature. I think we could probably make a
> > Level Lock flag for practice that disqualifies from the regular
> > leaderboards.
>

> > On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 12:27 PM, Apocalypse <death_kr...@hotmail.com>