Carol vs. The World 2015 Championship

[gamer1867]

 

 

Welcome, gamer1867! Another rookie for the mix! This competition is getting heady, I hope you have to constitution for it.

 

That 853 is really not a bad score at all, and it is close enough to 1K that I'm sure you can smell it!

 

I will ask you one favour, though. Can you please send bigger screenshots? Those are so tiny and low-res that it is hard to discern the score properly. At 45, Santa's eyes are need every bit of help they can get.

 

-dZ.

 

Hi dZ, thanks for the welcome and encouragement! And yes I can certainly send bigger pics ... I am hoping the next one will be past 1000. I hope you had a good Christmas! Only a few days left in this year's contest.

[Opry99er]

Carol takes the #2 all time spot on the tracker (behind Kaboom for the 2600). This tracker is several years old now, so this is no small feat.

 

This next week will end on FRIDAY.... due to it being the last day of the year. After that, the tracker will get a new thread and start the 2016 season.

 

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/233350-what-have-you-actually-played-tracker-for-2015-season-8/page-43?do=findComment&comment=3402294

[+Darrin9999]

3536

[atariron82]

I finally had a chance, amidst all the Holiday hustle and bustle, to open my sealed, signed CGE copy of Christmas Carol (thanks DZ and JZ!), and give it a few goes

 

Still learning the tricks of avoiding that crazy fast mean Snowman:

 

One perfect level--

714

 

 

[+DZ-Jay]

I finally had a chance, amidst all the Holiday hustle and bustle, to open my sealed, signed CGE copy of Christmas Carol (thanks DZ and JZ!), and give it a few goes

 

Still learning the tricks of avoiding that crazy fast mean Snowman:

 

One perfect level--

714

 

DSC05512.JPG

 

 

Whoa! Hey, atariron82, if you have a sealed version from CGE 2012 that you just opened, then know that it has a critical bug in it that prevents it from reaching the Boss Level!! :o :o

 

-dZ.

Edited December 29, 2015 by DZ-Jay

[+DZ-Jay]

3608 and some pics of what I dream about being chased by each night playing this game so much! :grin:

 

Close. Actually, the Evil Snowman was inspired by Calvin & Hobbe's mutant snow goons.

[+DZ-Jay]

Just catching up with the activity from last night...

 

 

Hi guys! I just want to post a score...Oh! I almost forgot to introduce myself!My name is Buck and my dad is Opry99er.My age is 6 okay?

 

...

 

WISH YOU GUYS HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMASTIME!

 

Hi, Buck, and welcome to AtariAge and the CvW championship!

 

At six years-old you are on your way to becoming another legendary player, like your Father. Just keep on crackin', and remember to use the Practice Mode and to post your scores and any other achievement you earn.

 

 

 

Hey all!

 

So again, I cant seem to break 2000

 

I was really happy with my score to level ratio but then of course candy cove the second time around destroyed me!

 

shot0005.gif

 

a perfect on level 16:

 

shot0004.gif

 

and finally a score entry for canonitis:

 

Highscore_12-21-15.gif

 

not his best of the season...but best he has managed to either screenshot or not have his game freeze up

 

we will have to see if we can pull milinea away from team fortress 2 long enough to finally get a score in! haha

 

Hi, stupus! I believe you've already mastered your previous high score. Canonitis has some work to do, and Milinea, well, he will have to get a bit of Christmas Spirit.

 

 

Here is the boy on his way to a new high score. Ill let him post his new score later.

<snip>

 

It's always great to have children playing in this competition, since they makes Christmas Time that much sweeter and exciting. I loved playing with my nephew last week, and we had a ball!

 

This is us playing Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve in our pajamas, and eating jelly beans.

 

 

I finally got some time to play today. I beat my best scores for 2012 and 2013, but I still haven't been able to recreate the magic of 2014. This game was a contender as I entered Ranger status with 5-6 lives, but it quickly fell apart. I'm still happy with my achievement as I've only made Ranger a few times.

 

 

 

Nice going! At least you're still in the race -- you only have about 500 points to beat your highest score from last year.

 

I'm trying to make Ranger this year again, but I don't seem to be able to...

 

 

Man i made a lot of stupid mistakes.
image.jpeg

 

Said the man who's posted 20-something Perfect Christmasses!

 

 

Engoy all the scores i am going to post!

 

Oh, we will!

 

 

I died in candy cove.

 

 

 

 

Don't fret, Candy Cove gets even the hardest of veterans.

 

 

1,048

 

That's good progress, Gorfy! Although you made 1.9K a few years ago, so you have some ways to go...

 

 

 

Hi dZ, thanks for the welcome and encouragement! And yes I can certainly send bigger pics ... I am hoping the next one will be past 1000. I hope you had a good Christmas! Only a few days left in this year's contest.

 

I did have a wonderful Christmas! It was a blessed time, with my sister, her husband, and nine year-old child. I don't see my family very often (although they came for Thanksgiving as well), but I specifically enjoyed spending Christmas with a little kid in the house -- that just makes everything glow with cheer and excitement! :)

 

 

 

Carol takes the #2 all time spot on the tracker (behind Kaboom for the 2600). This tracker is several years old now, so this is no small feat.

 

This next week will end on FRIDAY.... due to it being the last day of the year. After that, the tracker will get a new thread and start the 2016 season.

 

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/233350-what-have-you-actually-played-tracker-for-2015-season-8/page-43?do=findComment&comment=3402294

Wow! Impressive! Of course, the credit goes to all those obsessive players that glued their hand-controllers to their hands and can't stop playing the game!!

 

 

I finally had a chance, amidst all the Holiday hustle and bustle, to open my sealed, signed CGE copy of Christmas Carol (thanks DZ and JZ!), and give it a few goes

 

Still learning the tricks of avoiding that crazy fast mean Snowman:

 

One perfect level--

714

 

DSC05512.JPG

 

 

Welcome, atariron82! We're glad you could make it! That's a perfectly respectable score for a rookie, and with just a few days to go, you'll have to get crackin' if you want to get anywhere.

 

Phew! That's all posts so far. I'll update the leaderboard soon... MERRY CHRISTMAS (time)!!!!

 

-dZ.

[+DZ-Jay]

I've updated the leaderboard and the ranking and stats on the first post. Only three days to go! So, get crackin'!

[pimpmaul69]

My 22nd perfect christmas. Accidently reset game but no biggie cause it was a horrible game.

[pimpmaul69]

My 23rd perfect christmas. I reset on purpose cause i died but forgot i was on helper and not novice.

[pimpmaul69]

I make a lot of poor choices in life. This game was full of them.

[+DZ-Jay]

Here are my latest scores. I still haven't made it to Ranger Elf since 2012, nor have I managed to reach 2,000 points again. However, it does raise my high score a bit, so anybody with the "Bake A Humble Pie" achievement better watch out!

 

 

Name: DZ-Jay

Date: 12/29/2015

Score: 1,930

<- Perfect without even trying...

<- Yay!

<- I'm still a Helper Elf... Umph!

<- Darn it! I survived Candy Cover for this??

 

 

I will update the leaderboard later.

 

[pimpmaul69]

I tried....

[pimpmaul69]

Hey dz, do you know when the last time the game gives out extra lives?

[pimpmaul69]

Almost forgot. My 24th christmas of perfect.

[+DZ-Jay]

Hey dz, do you know when the last time the game gives out extra lives?

I don't recall right now how many points it is, but I know that once you go Yellow, it can't give you any more.

[pimpmaul69]

Went from my highest score ever to this.

[pimpmaul69]

25th perfect christmas.

[pimpmaul69]

Dz, just reminding you if you didnt see my new high score.

[TrekMD]

Played today and beat my high score for this year and almost saved Christmas twice! So close!!! Need to keep tyring.

[+Darrin9999]

7674

[+DZ-Jay]

Dz, just reminding you if you didnt see my new high score.

 

Of course I saw it! I will am updating the leaderboard now... patience, grasshoppah.

[+DZ-Jay]

Christmas Carol Fun Fact: Christmas Carol uses a specially concocted formula to compute the cost of extra lives. In the original, single-stage version of the game, what is now called the "Demo" version, extra lives were awarded on every 225 points; which happened to be half the points needed to complete a "Perfect Level" bonus. This proved much too easy for players, who would rack up points indefinitely and go upwards of 100 levels in one sitting.

 

During development of the final version of the game, we increased the cost to 300 points, yet during testing we noticed it was still too easy to play indefinitely. Some testers reported the predictable expectation of extra lives as part of their game-play strategy, which I never intended. Extra lives are a "bonus," an award given for progress; and should never be a game mechanic.

 

Therefore, I decided to make the cost of lives increment as player skill improved. I liked the idea of getting your first extra life at 300 points, it seemed fitting and it fell right at the threshold of initial improvement; so I started with that. Then I decided to add and incremental cost to each life based on how many lives have been awarded so far.

 

The mathematics are a bit esoteric, but the implementation is quite simple:

The cost of an extra life is 300 points plus half of that times the number of lives awarded, plus the previous cost.

 

In practice, the game keeps track of the cost of each life in an accumulator, and adds to it the new cost. It also keeps track of how many lives have been awarded so far. On every scoring event, it checks whether that cost has been met, and awards an extra life if it has. After awarding an extra life, the game code computes the additional cost of the next one, and adds it to the accumulator; then it increments the count of lives awarded.

 

I've never had to compute the cost of arbitrary lives, but for the curious, I just distilled the following formula:

points = ((cost * (count + 1)) + ((cost * (count^2 + count))) / 4)

Legend:

cost = 300 points (constant)

count = number of lives awarded so far (zero on first award)

points = total number of points needed to earn "count + 1" lives.

So, for example, the first life (count = 0) costs:

((300 * (0 + 1)) + ((300 * (0^2 + 0))) / 4) = 300 points

 

The second life (count = 1) costs:

((300 * (1 + 1)) + ((300 * (1^2 + 1))) / 4) = 750

And so on.

 

 

Thus, your first life is at 300 points (no lives awarded before, and no previous cost), while your next life is at 750 points (300 + ((300 / 2) * 1)), and on it goes. This proved to be adequate, and spaces the lives apart just enough for them to feel like you've earned them, yet remain rare enough to be precious.

 

I hope you found this bit of technical trivia of the game interesting.

 

Cheers!

-dZ.

Edited December 30, 2015 by DZ-Jay

[+DZ-Jay]

CONGRATULATIONS, PIMPMAUL69!!!

 

You've not only beat your previous score, you have more than doubled your highest past score with a second Yellow score! That is quite an impressive feat.

 

I will not hesitate in saying that grips03 should be paying attention and start practicing a bit more -- you are quite his challenger!

 

That is not to say that grips03 has been sitting on his laurels. His progress has been fantastic, beating his old score by a couple of thousands. A true Grand Master Elf.

 

In other news, I see that the House Of Helper Elves is running dry... how about if some of those rookie Novice Elves practice a bit and graduate to Helpers? The night is young, and we have a bit less than two days to go!

 

And with that, I've updated the official leaderboard and the stats and rankings on the first post.

 

Cheers!

-dZ.

Edited December 30, 2015 by DZ-Jay

[+Darrin9999]

7470 My second perfect christmas (Pimp is the man!!) and finally a KILL Screen!!