So I've been giving some thought on how to give away my last Sudoku Gold cart as part of a NesWorld Contest, and I was hoping to get some peoples input on my idea.

Basically, I was thinking about having a game competition.

The idea would be that people would play games that they own and submit a screen shot of how far they got in the game.   So if you got to level 10 in Bubble Bobble, that would be worth 10 points.  If you beat the game, you're score would double.  So Bubble Bobble has 100 levels, so you'd get 200 points for beating it.

The reason I think this idea would be fun, is that it would encourage people to play a whole lot of games.  There would be extra incentive to beat the games, but I think a person would be more likely to play several games in an evening rather than try to play one to completion.

The only way to do this is to require people to post (and keep updating their one post per person) with what level they got to, the points value, and a picture showing it.

I would like to enforce that you need to "own" the game you are playing (meaning no ROMs).  So the pic would need to include an open NES near your TV.

Anways, do you guys have any thoughts or ideas?  

Here are things I've been wondering.

How do you keep it fair?
Do I require a relatively current newspaper banner taped to your TV when you take the picture?
Do I ban the game genie or Game Action  Replay?   (I think they should be banned)
Do I allow cheat codes? (I think yes since we cant enforce it otherwise.
I imagine most people will just warp right to Mike Tyson. It also makes Contra, Adv Island 2, etc.. easier.)

What about allowing pirate carts or famicom games?
Do I differentiate between variations? Meaning if you beat the yellow metroid, you cant then submit a pic of you playing the silver version.  What about Tetris (Tengen vs Nintendo)?


How do you track the levels in other games?  SMB has 8 levels and 3 (or is it 4) sub-levels per level.  So is SMB worth up to 48 points (8 levels x 3 sub levels * 2 for beating it)
What about Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior?  Should your points be based on the level of your character?

What about "sniping"  People who wait until the last day of the competition before posting their pics.

What about photoshop. People who either doctor the screen shot of the game, steal someone else's, or start collecting screen shots before the competition starts and just dub in the newspaper clipping later.

Anyways, please post your thoughts.    I've actually been thinking about this a lot.

I would want to have this contest end after Eurocon, so that the last (Sudoko Gold #100) gets awarded last.

Al

Hey Al, good ideas but i think it's better to do a design contest or a mod contest. That way it's hard to fake stuff. Maybe a box art or manual art for your next game to come? Or maybe a console mod?

I like the gaming contest idea.  It gives everyone a fair chance to win it.  The other stuff requires a skill or knowledge base.  A gaming one does not.
~~NGD

I agree with NGD, we can all play games, but I know I do not have much skills desiging images.

1. I whink you should pick so many games that can easily be found.

2. No game genies

3. using codes could be hard to inforce, so mabye pick games that don't have any, like SMB

4. pick games that have point values, like the mario games, we can then add them up at the end.

Thats just off the top of my head. I would love to be a part of a game after game contest, now that I finally got a camera to post my scores.

-DutchBoy-

I was kind of thinking it should be kept open.  There are a ton of games I own but have never played.  I get the impression that if someone posts that they got to:  level: X of game: Y, then other people who own the game will think to themselve,  maybe I should do that one too.

I just dont know if some games like 1942  even have levels.  If they do, I doubt I've gotten to level 2 in them :)

I think this would get a lot of people playing and posting frequently.
I'm still thinking out the details.  Thanks guys for the input.

Hakan, did you get my last PM?

Al

Ok i have some ideas for games also. Al i didn't get it, checked my inbox but nothing new, please resend.

i think you should pick a game each week and the person who can get the most points for that game gets a win.  do the contest for 10 weeks or so and who ever has the most wins at the end gets the game.  it would be too hard to calculate the points with so many different games.  and then you get to pick the games you want to see crazy points for.  

That's not a bad way to do it.  It's more orderly.   The downside, is I was hoping by leaving it wide open so that it introduced people to a wide variaty of games they own but might never have played.  But this way would actually expose people to the depth of a bunch of games.

For example, I've never played Gradius, but if I was motivated to play for a week I might get to really like it.

Thanks,
Al

Perhaps, instead of picking a game each week, you could pick several dozen (or even hundreds if you're up to it) of games, and set rules for the scoring of how many points that game is worth for each given task.  If your goal is to introduce people to new games, you can pick obscure titles and leave out games like Super Mario Bros.  You could also eliminate all the pirates, imports, or whatever else you want it to eliminate or include.  Proof may be a problem.  I have a bunch of pics of ending screens of games I beat that I've been saving, so proof of date completed should definitely be required.

Although, I do like your previous idea better of having somebody help you with the graphics for your next game.  It would definitely drastically improve your next game if done correctly. Plus I'm good at that, and I know I'd be able to do a good job.

however you decide to do it,  just make sure you let people know what games your gonna be using so they have time to get them

I miss when we used to do the Game of the Week, where one member would pick a game and we'd all play it and talk about it, so I'm always down for these types of things.

I'd say the best way would to pick 10 games and give everyone 2 weeks to do them.  Then at the end of the 2 weeks see who has the highest score in each game and give them a point.  Then, after the number of rounds you doing this for, add up all the points and you have a winner...

We could just do that again. At first there was more interest in game of the week but later on the interest was minimal, just like the contests now. I dunno what exactly to do but i think once in a while a contest would attract more people.
Maybe we can do both, i haven't had a chance to talk to Martin about this.

GOTW was awesome, but doesn't hold interest long.  Same with the contests, which blows my mind.  People were lining up to give away free stuff and only a handful of people were doing anything to take it.  Hopefully this contest might breath a little life into the forums, we have been pretty slow lately :(

Of course I think we can for go the whole contest and Al can just ship me the gold cart  ;) ;D ;D
~~NGD

yeah reviving Game of the Week would be awesome cause like I said before it was always fun having everyone play the game and give their opinions on it.  I think we could do both the GOTW and contest, and by doing that it would keep people busy...

Maybe if we Did GOTW, and the Gaming challenges that last two weeks and maybe the creative contests that last a month.  That way there's a little more activity...

And once/if we do this week should all go to different forums and spread the word to get more activity in here, cause like you guys said the activity lately is slowing down.  

Also I just noticed that Nintendo indefinitely closed their forums, so there has to be some refugee old school games from there that are looking for a place to discuss NES....

Also I had another quick idea.  We should start a Screenshot guessing game in the general board, where someone posts a zoomed in screen shot of a game and the rest guess which game it is and the person who gets it right gets to post the next shot.  I've always found these fun and something everyone and get in on, also it may help get traffic going through here...

NationalGameDepot wrote on 20. Sep 2007 at 15:11:

GOTW was awesome, but doesn't hold interest long.  Same with the contests, which blows my mind.  People were lining up to give away free stuff and only a handful of people were doing anything to take it.  Hopefully this contest might breath a little life into the forums, we have been pretty slow lately :( Of course I think we can for go the whole contest and Al can just ship me the gold cart  ;) ;D ;D ~~NGD

yea, but if a gold sudoku is up for grabs people will compete.  i think he should get 5 bucks per person to compete in the contest so all the contestants are serious.