Armadillo Run forum

We must change something, people don't play levels anymore....
There are so few players in every contest, not only in C or B league.
I suggest a drastic solution, even just for a temporary time:

Stopping every league except for A one, and forbid posting scores

Everyone will play only one level, so there will be no dispersion of players in the various leagues; moreover, everyone will post his solution, because till the end of the contest there won't be a clear winner.
Then, if people will return to the game, we can re-open another league and another one and so on..
I bet people will restart playing, and solutions list will become longer and longer.

eh... I'd keep N... I doubt I or a lot of others would be here if there was
Or maybe two A's (and no N) one posts scores and one does.
Hmmm

Maybe A and B? Just like the old days.

A - easy difficulty/maybe some title restrictions
B - any difficulty, no restrictions

N+A

+D.

TSchultz wrote:+D.

yeah,agree.

Let the old guy say. Listen to Cresta, please. He proposes very wise thing. You should return to classic scheme: A & B, plus Matacus (which lasts for 1.5 months, not for 2 weeks).
And I think that you should leave posting scores - it's part of the game.

And T everyone once a month or two?

yeah, i was against adding all these extra comps from the beginning, i think i evan said this would happen when they were intraduced:)
anyway yeah cresta speaks sence
back to the old days
yeay! might evan start playing again

Cresta, maybe you should email PeterT with your proposal and the poll results?

Why? To destroy C & N league forums? I don't think it's necessary. Just post there messages about closing till enlarging amount of players.

Well, is there any way we can attract more people to this place to compete an' stuff?

I really like having a selection of contests I can enter; I actually wish there were more. Though I do agree with the proposal; I believe fewer contests with plenty of entries each is way better than many contests with few entries.

I think we should combine C with B and combine N with A. B contest could be a free for all with whatever you want such as special rules, a really hard level, or both, etc. and A contest can have the normal winners but also have another set of winners that aren't yet veterans. The highest light scorer would still host next like always. If a non-vet got the highest score of anyone (let's say light), they would win 2 medals -the normal medal and the non-vet medal- and also host the next contest.

I like not posting scores.

The D-League is flatlining (dying). I think we should examine why the "downhill trucking" matacus was so popular and try to make D-comps more like that.

*This is the most I've ever used the semicolon. :shock:

I believe that probably leaving only one comp would be exaggerated...
Let's try waiting the end of N and C contests (03.12), and then starting only A & B league, without N and C...

Let Matacus go on as normal.

I just have doubts for the N league: I don't want to keep it, but I like Drago's proposal: " A contest can have the normal winners but also have another set of winners that aren't yet veterans", really wise!

Just let some newbies express their ideas..

Don't know about posting scores..
Maybe adding some rules, for example:

Wait for 4 people to post their solution before starting bets, or
Waiting 2 days for A league and 3 for B in case less than 4 people have posted their soluiton..

The number of players that have posted their solutions could be easily verified by counting messages like "I've posted mine" in the forum thread, left by who post his solution to the host.

What do you think?

This raises a lot of points, but you asked for opinions - here goes.

The first premis is that "people don't play levels any more". Its not true. The latest N was showing 17 downloads. So around 17 are playing. What is true is not that people aren't playing, but that people aren't putting entries in.

Some people just like to play, not enter. Not all are fired to 'win' like so many of, say, those who post competing scores. I am certain, however, that many are phased by the instant posting of unattainable scores, and embarrassed or discouraged from entering. We certainly don't encourage an attitude of " here's a fun attempt, but its a rubbish score". I enter like this for this very reason, which ironically is why I won the last one. In the N league especially, it would be good to see everyone just joining in a display of entries (this poll just got in before my last post in the latest N)

Now some players (see above) think posting scores is part of the game, and I completely agree that it adds spice. But this is only true amongst peers (eg A to A). It does not help, say, N league participation if, within minutes of a new competition being posted, some expert posts a score using only $8.

Next - the A league is perfectly playable, but is too quick for many with a life outside Armadillo, and the N league timings suit them.

In brief, then,
1. Keep the N league. Longer time. No experts. No posts of ineligible player scores (which allows the same frisson of posted scores within the league if wanted). Do encourage ineligible entries, which are educational.

2. By all means merge higher levels, although I agree that its nicer to have the variety available. (Merging would mean less strain on inventing new levels)

3. Concentrate, not on why nobody is playing, which is not true, but what it is we do that puts people off entering.

I just had a little vacation but came back a week ago. I took a look at the A and B contents.

I didn't have much time this week so I didn't have the time for something very tweaky. It was how tweaky the A contest was that put me off. I actually got very close to a light score that would have won by 200 points but simply didn't have the time to tweak it to success. I almost didn't attempt this level at all because of the way it looked.

As for the B contest. CN posted a score that just put me off instantly. I couldn't be bothered to try and work out how he managed that light score. It turns out he didn't. I believe his light solution is dark. The bars that pull the box out of the hole create force. That's why it is so easily lifted out.

Anyway, I guess my point is this. I'd like to see levels that aren't so difficult to get a solution, but are well designed to allow for a wide range of scores. I also agree that posting scores, although fun, can kill my will to play.

I am guilty of both of the things that I'm complaining about. My "Thread_The_Needle" level had such a tricky initial start that I think it put off a lot of people from playing. Then there was a joke post of a light score that didn't exist but put everyone off from even attempting it.

Then there was CN's "X-Game" level that I scared everyone off from entering by posting my own scores. I got to this level soon after it was posted and slapped down a score that just put most people off.

I think if no scores can be posted everyone will think they stand a chance. Everyone must agree that once you get a solution to a level it's so easy to tweak it to a much better score. But if there is a post of a great score 30 minutes after a level is posted most people can't be bothered to even look for a first solution.

It seems a shame, because I enjoyed the ego of posting great scores, but the enjoyment of winning was lost when nobody else entered. I would have preferred to see a big list of entries with mine sitting at the top.

Just my opinion. Just banning the posting of scores is so easy to test. No changes need to take place to the forum really. It's the most obvious first step in my opinion. If it doesn't work, we can reduce the ammount of comps.

Ask yourself this question. How many times have I not bothered to play, or didn't submit an entry to, a competition because someone posted a great score?