Atari 2600 HSC Season 10, "IDEAS POLL"

[JacobZu7zu7]

-VOTE OR MAKE SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR `IDEAL` SEASON 10.

 

-I think we all can agree, it's time to start hooking up a Season 10... SOON!

 

-Post any ideas or feelings about the Atari 2600 HSC or Moderator Q&A.

 

- Voting is not the final say, it's just to help the next moderator...see what the majority of players want,

and for the players to discuss amongst each other their ideas and thoughts ...

Edited August 3, 2012 by JacobZu7zu7

[LidLikesIntellivision]

I voted for the second option: keep the HSC familiar but change somethings.

 

What changes?

 

1) I would like to see another Knock-Out Tournament. Maybe we could alternate normal and Knock-Out Tournaments (even seasons normal, odd knock outs??)

Knock Outs would have the HSC Season status and we would avoid having a normal and Knock Out at the same time.

 

 

2) Best tips are cool but with so many seasons it's rare to have a never played game so I see no point in having this bonus. I pretty much prefer the bonus of the Atari 7800 HSC, i.e., not obligatory but eventually used and based in some cool achievements like beating historic patch score, TG record, RetrocadeMagazine records and beating the amazing Scores Record from HSC like that we see in the 7800 which brings me to next suggestion.

 

3) Creat a HSC Atari 2600 High Score Table! Yes we already had many Season and we need to honor preveous players. But it isn't that hard to collect all the highest scores. I think the new moderator should have the time to do it...

 

4) Similar the HSC Records we should create, and pin, the Hall of Fame.

 

5) Give the champion of a season some kind of prize. Ideas: we have the + Subscribers, green name for modetators, maybe a golden roman number for HSC won Seasons like I Liduario, II OyamaFamily, III Toymailman, IV Jiffremok etc... Or a special patch or other kind of trophy. I once saw this cartridge in AA store, it's a cart for special messages. We could make a cool label for this and do like FIFA with the World Cup Trophy. After three championships won by a country it was given to the country (Brazil won it!) then they made another Trophy and will give when a country achieve 5 championships. We would put the name of champions with the number of championships in the message and give the cart like FIFA does. I think the Melody Board permits this.

 

---

The Moderator

 

I think he should be a regular player too, that way it's more difficult he loses interest. (Not saying it happened with Ze__ro)

He must have the time to do a good work.

[LidLikesIntellivision]

For my suggestion # 5 I posted this Thread and changed my mind. It should only be given to the Grand Knock Out Champion!

[Scrabbler15]

It's no secret that I thoroughly enjoyed the Knockout format.

 

Issues with this format as I see it:

 

- It's human nature to be less interested in the tourney after a person gets knocked out. We tried to address this by adding a points system. Having both formats at the same time covers all the bases, but also creates additional challenges.

 

- It had to have been a nightmare for Jacob to keep track of scoring who's in and who's out and who has a new post and whose post affects the knockout and what the standings are and who has what points and who is in what place for the week and the tourney, etc., etc. etc.

 

- Since the points system seemed to have less priority than the knockout, it created the impression that the points didn't matter as much as in a regular HSC season. This seemed to reduce interest in the tourney for some players.

 

 

Issues with the original HSC format as I see it:

 

- It's human nature to be less interested in the season when it becomes clear that a person is hopelessly behind in the scoring.

 

- Liduario makes a good point about the tips. It's difficult/increasingly difficult/virtually impossible to come up with an absolutely original tip that no one has ever seen before that is worthy of additional points in the standings.

 

 

My number one suggestion would be shorter seasons. This would be more like a series of sprints than a marathon. For the regular format, it would just mean ending sooner. For the knock out format, it might mean eliminating players three at a time, and then two at time, until we have the final four.

 

With shorter seasons, alternating between formats would be a more viable option.

 

 

Whatever is decided about the next HSC season, I will be here and playing.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Scrabbler15

[Mister VCS]

I voted for the second option: keep the HSC familiar but change somethings.

 

What changes?

 

 

 

2) Best tips are cool but with so many seasons it's rare to have a never played game so I see no point in having this bonus. I pretty much prefer the bonus of the Atari 7800 HSC, i.e., not obligatory but eventually used and based in some cool achievements like beating historic patch score, TG record, RetrocadeMagazine records and beating the amazing Scores Record from HSC like that we see in the 7800 which brings me to next suggestion.

 

3) Creat a HSC Atari 2600 High Score Table! Yes we already had many Season and we need to honor preveous players. But it isn't that hard to collect all the highest scores. I think the new moderator should have the time to do it...

 

4) Similar the HSC Records we should create, and pin, the Hall of Fame.

 

5) Give the champion of a season some kind of prize. Ideas: we have the + Subscribers, green name for modetators, maybe a golden roman number for HSC won Seasons like I Liduario, II OyamaFamily, III Toymailman, IV Jiffremok etc...

---

 

 

Copyright Mister VCS (former Colecovision HSC mod)

[LidLikesIntellivision]

We could also try to combine normal and knock out.

 

25 Rounds + Finals with 4 survivals (optional 4 survivals + the next top score player)

1 to 19 normal HSC. (we have almost the entire HSC normal with a little more tension to be in the top 10)

 

20 to 25 Knock Out with the 10 top score players. (As Scrabbler said at this point "a person is hopelessly behind in the scoring" who may "be less interested in the season" wouldn't IMO complain at this point about elimination pressure or being outside the 10 top players)

 

 

 

I don't know if this would be still considered the Familiar Hsc variation... I think yes it is still the familiar format. Or did I vote wrong

[Lauren Tyler]

I've talked to Mister VCS and left a message with Albert about becoming the new Atari 2600 HSC Moderator, and I personally feel we should keep it the same. However, if I were to become moderator, I'd be open to suggestions about modifying things.

 

I will also add I do have some moderating experience elsewhere.

[Chuck D. Head]

Voted for old school HSC plus changes. If someone is taking the time to mod it, they should be able to add their touch. I would ok with alternating regular and knockout. I agree that the best tips is not needed, but I really enjoyed some of the side quests that Ze_ro gave bonus points for (special avatar, photoshop pics, etc.)

[JacobZu7zu7]

I've talked to Mister VCS and left a message with Albert about becoming the new Atari 2600 HSC Moderator, and I personally feel we should keep it the same. However, if I were to become moderator, I'd be open to suggestions about modifying things.

 

I will also add I do have some moderating experience elsewhere.

 

CHECK!

 

Moderator #1 to chime in is LarcenTyler...

 

If he gets the nod from Albert, we will have a new Moderator for Season 10.

[roadrunner]

bigbee99 is still waiting to get MAME HSC mod status. And i'm still waiting to get Lynx HSC mod status.

[roadrunner]

About an 2600 HSC all time records thread. Whomever puts one together, it's going take a bit of doing. There's 9 pages of threads to go though.

And oyamafamily posted a bunch of scores for different game modes that we weren't playing, sorta unofficial HSC records.

[LidLikesIntellivision]

About an 2600 HSC all time records thread. Whomever puts one together, it's going take a bit of doing. There's 9 pages of threads to go though.

And oyamafamily posted a bunch of scores for different game modes that we weren't playing, sorta unofficial HSC records.

 

I'm thinking to put only the scores submited during the HSC contests and only the accepted scores. Still a good bit of work but it seems it's possible to rely in the first posts with the final scores updated by Ze__ro.

If we decide to have this thread I could collect the highest scores from each game and send a PM to the Moderator.

[JacobZu7zu7]

I voted for the second option: keep the HSC familiar but change somethings.

 

What changes?

 

1) I would like to see another Knock-Out Tournament. Maybe we could alternate normal and Knock-Out Tournaments (even seasons normal, odd knock outs??)

Knock Outs would have the HSC Season status and we would avoid having a normal and Knock Out at the same time.

 

2) Best tips are cool but with so many seasons it's rare to have a never played game so I see no point in having this bonus. I pretty much prefer the bonus of the Atari 7800 HSC, i.e., not obligatory but eventually used and based in some cool achievements like beating historic patch score, TG record, RetrocadeMagazine records and beating the amazing Scores Record from HSC like that we see in the 7800 which brings me to next suggestion.

 

3) Creat a HSC Atari 2600 High Score Table! Yes we already had many Season and we need to honor preveous players. But it isn't that hard to collect all the highest scores. I think the new moderator should have the time to do it...

 

4) Similar the HSC Records we should create, and pin, the Hall of Fame.

 

5) Give the champion of a season some kind of prize. Ideas: we have the + Subscribers, green name for modetators, maybe a golden roman number for HSC won Seasons like I Liduario, II OyamaFamily, III Toymailman, IV Jiffremok etc... Or a special patch or other kind of trophy. I once saw this cartridge in AA store, it's a cart for special messages. We could make a cool label for this and do like FIFA with the World Cup Trophy. After three championships won by a country it was given to the country (Brazil won it!) then they made another Trophy and will give when a country achieve 5 championships. We would put the name of champions with the number of championships in the message and give the cart like FIFA does. I think the Melody Board permits this.

 

---

The Moderator

 

I think he should be a regular player too, that way it's more difficult he loses interest. (Not saying it happened with Ze__ro)

He must have the time to do a good work.

 

I really like many of these ideas...!

 

It doesn't seem like a good idea to combine the two K.O/HSC, because of players losing interest

in playing, because they lost in the K.O. It should stay seperated from a HSC Season.

Don't worry about the knockout, this is NOT considered a HSC Season or a change in rules.

The next K.O. contest can happen again... along side the running 2600 HSC, for players that want to enter a K.O...I think I can make another K.O. contest... this fall or winter!

 

 

I like the idea of kinda crowning the 1st place finisher each round... and keeping track of things,

like the 5200 HSC or the CV HSC crunch of all the numbers...

 

Best tips I like the idea of having still, but award only 1 point or no points at all... tips encorage

an even playing field for people that play a game they never tried before.

 

#2 suggestion I like... the bonus being, beating a previous top score or reaching 50ks,

etc... I liked drawing pictures for Oink! and designing a Skateboard but without Zero,

we should do a gameplay ONLY bonus challenge in the game we play.

 

No best tips bonus or non gameplay bonuses...

Edited July 30, 2012 by JacobZu7zu7

[littleman jack]

I think the person who decides to be moderator should keep it familiar, but add his/her own touch and change whatever strikes his/her fancy. I enjoyed the times I played in the past, but my main enjoyment is simply in playing the games and seeing how everyone else is doing as well. Bonus points for side items/quests are great as well. I love the way the 8-bit contests go with that. I'd be happy to participate however the new HSC goes.

Thank you to Zero and thank you to the new person when it starts again.

Edited July 30, 2012 by littleman jack

[roadrunner]

About an 2600 HSC all time records thread. Whomever puts one together, it's going take a bit of doing. There's 9 pages of threads to go though.

And oyamafamily posted a bunch of scores for different game modes that we weren't playing, sorta unofficial HSC records.

 

I'm thinking to put only the scores submited during the HSC contests and only the accepted scores. Still a good bit of work but it seems it's possible to rely in the first posts with the final scores updated by Ze__ro.

If we decide to have this thread I could collect the highest scores from each game and send a PM to the Moderator.

 

I think the high scores from the knockout rounds, harmony games rounds, threads started by 2600Guru, JacobZu7zu7,

Vocelli, and Zoyx should all count towards the all time records.

[Vocelli]

Ok, finally some action here.

 

My thoughts. I might be repeating someone elses ideas but here are mine.

Original High Score Club:

~ I liked two things. The extra little fun stuff we had to do for extra points and the fact that anyone can join at mid-season. Other than that, I thought it was long and got boring. I maybe only spent two days playing the games a week.

The KO Style:

~ I loved this format. I really liked having the list of games before it started. I actually went out and bought all the games (except one) before the season started. This format really pushed me to play all week knowing I could be the one out. I set many personal best scores. I also liked how the next weeks game was announced two days before the week started.

~The only thing I didn't like was the length. We needed to KO more players earlier. Maybe 3 the first 3 weeks with 3 games during those weeks. Then two until we hit top 10. The final four was fun.

 

Other suggestions:

~Have the regular HSC, shorten it, then take the top 8 players for a 'bracket style' tourney the last four weeks.

~Have the hybrid style HSC/KO again

~Have two seasons going at once. One for original HSC and one KO tourney.

 

No matter what format is chosen, it would be up to the new moderator to decide. We could also change Moderators once in a while. While my time is tight now, I would love to Moderate in the future.

Hope everyone is well. Let do this thing!

[Gorfy]

"~Have the regular HSC, shorten it, then take the top 8 players for a 'bracket style' tourney the last four weeks."

 

I like this idea of Vocelli, except I would suggest the KO part to include only the top 4 players over the last two weeks. Bonus points for best tips should only be given for games that haven't been played in the HSC previously.

 

It might also be interesting to experiment with organizing teams for an occasional, short tournament.

 

Since the 2600 HSC involves much work for the moderator, it may be advantageous to appoint two co-moderators who could take turns doing the weekly hsc?

[Vocelli]

Gorfy suggested, It might also be interesting to experiment with organizing teams for an occasional, short tournament.

 

Wow, Gorfy, you have some great idea there! Not sure how it would happen but damn that would be fun.

 

 

"Some people are satified with simple play and score. I have a furious desire to compete.', ~Vocelli

[toymailman]

I like both the KO format and the regular format. I like Liduario's suggestions as well.

 

For the KO format it could be a dual track competition to keep player's interest. Stress that there will be a KO champ and a Season/points champ.

 

For the regular HSC seasons:

• Eliminate the best tips bonus. There are so many games that it is not likely a new tip will be submitted anyway.
  
• Do not have the drawing competitions as was done in a previous season. Speaking for myself, I do not have the time to participate in non-gameplay aspects of the 2600 HSC.
  

 

Other possible options:

• Have the seasons be dedicated to certain companies such as TigerVision, Parker Brothers, etc. We would play all the games of a certain company and then crown a champion for that company. We could break up large companies like Atari or Activision into multiple seasons if need be. Conversely we can combine really small companies into one season.
  
• Has anyone tried the multi-player aspect of the new Java based atari emulator? If it works well then we could have bracket type tournaments with various sports or head-to-head games. We could have our own super-bowl if this is possible. We could even do regular seasons with playoff brackets.
  

[Vocelli]

Toy has some great ideas too!

Edited July 30, 2012 by Vocelli

[LidLikesIntellivision]

(...)

 

I think the high scores from the knockout rounds, harmony games rounds, threads started by 2600Guru, JacobZu7zu7,

Vocelli, and Zoyx should all count towards the all time records.

That's ok too but we need to choose what type of records we want (of course we can do both).

 

We can have HSC round scores that can be beated only in a next HSC round with the same game. You can't submit a score whenever you want but once you make it, it's there to prove your feat for a good time. That's how it's been in the 7800 I mentioned, and copyrighted by Mr.VCS!

 

If we go with every record in every thread (not only the HSC), IMO it's like saying: hey look at those records, if you can beat them just start a thread to submit scores, you make the rules (3 days in 2600Guru, an entire month in Harmony Games, a similar HSC round in Zoyx, Jacob and Vocelli threads, IIRC).

 

If we do that way, I would prefer to make many threads, one for each game and wait players to submit their records. Like I saw in retrocademagazine. That's nice too!

 

With the second scoreboard type we would have 3 different sites to submit scores.

TG where you must use real hardware, record game play, send tapes, wait for the referees' aproval.

RetrocadeMagazine where you still must use real hardware but often only need to send a picture.

AA where you can play with emulation or real hardware and you can submit scores without pictures, here the honor system works!

 

Like I said we can make both things But I don't like the mixture.

[DT Kofoed]

Regular HSC is great: I do agree with the tip bonuses, etc.

* I think the biggest enhancement we've found from the Knock-out Tournament is posting the games to be played at the start of the season, for the benefit of those of you who only play on produced carts.

 

I think a KO can accompany the HSC easily: interested players sign up at the start of the HSC, and are eliminated one per week as we go along playing the HSC season games. It doesn't have to have any effect on the HSC at all, just a side quest for the truly committed nerds. The HSC remains to pull any eliminated players back into the season.

 

I'd be more than happy to moderate. I spend too much time on here anyways

Edited July 31, 2012 by DT Kofoed

[Lauren Tyler]

Anyone know where Albert is?

[roadrunner]

(...)

 

I think the high scores from the knockout rounds, harmony games rounds, threads started by 2600Guru, JacobZu7zu7,

Vocelli, and Zoyx should all count towards the all time records.

That's ok too but we need to choose what type of records we want (of course we can do both).

 

We can have HSC round scores that can be beated only in a next HSC round with the same game. You can't submit a score whenever you want but once you make it, it's there to prove your feat for a good time. That's how it's been in the 7800 I mentioned, and copyrighted by Mr.VCS!

 

If we go with every record in every thread (not only the HSC), IMO it's like saying: hey look at those records, if you can beat them just start a thread to submit scores, you make the rules (3 days in 2600Guru, an entire month in Harmony Games, a similar HSC round in Zoyx, Jacob and Vocelli threads, IIRC).

 

If we do that way, I would prefer to make many threads, one for each game and wait players to submit their records. Like I saw in retrocademagazine. That's nice too!

 

With the second scoreboard type we would have 3 different sites to submit scores.

TG where you must use real hardware, record game play, send tapes, wait for the referees' aproval.

RetrocadeMagazine where you still must use real hardware but often only need to send a picture.

AA where you can play with emulation or real hardware and you can submit scores without pictures, here the honor system works!

 

Like I said we can make both things But I don't like the mixture.

 

 

No need for mutli threads.

The games were played, people posted scores, the games had deadlines. It shouldn't matter who started the thread.

We had different 5200, 7800, and Lynx HSC mods and i put together the all time records threads.

I counted all the high scores for each game.

The high scores should be documented for future reference.

[LidLikesIntellivision]

(...)

 

No need for mutli threads.

The games were played, people posted scores, the games had deadlines. It shouldn't matter who started the thread.

We had different 5200, 7800, and Lynx HSC mods and i put together the all time records threads.

I counted all the high scores for each game.

The high scores should be documented for future reference.

 

I'm very happy with the adition of score tables, either exclusively HSC or for HSC, Harmony Games and other threads The first type is only my personal preference.

I still offer my help with collecting scores to create the tables and even for future updates, as the new Moderator likes.

 

Besides with so many HSC long seasons the only difference could be the scores in the homebrew games played in Harmony Games and I won 3 Harmony rounds against 0 HSC