High scores for versions 40 & 41 are still in the database and are perfectly valid, they just can't submit anymore.
I really wanted to make a high score solution that did not involve you pitting yourself against a dozen bored kids you don't know with too much spare time on their hands. I also wanted to avoid you scoring regularly in 400th-10,000th place in the globe.
My first reaction was to implement a 24-hour rule - your ranking is based on the last 24 hours of high scores. This is OK, but not perfect. What if a single office, group of friends, or school wants to compete amongst themselves, and only themselves?
I have to credit Ryan Madsen for the idea of instancing the high scores. This will allow any group of people to create their own set of high scores, and only have to worry about being ranked between each other. On the main game screen you can type your own custom group name in the "World" field - just that simple! The field will default to the domain you're currently playing the game on, so if the game ever gets sponsored by some Flash Portal you'll be playing against your friends there.
As a little side bonus I'm also tracking failures now, too. This only counts if you see the red "gameover" box - quitting to the main menu doesn't count as a failure at all.
Aubrey is working hard getting the new version of Space-Squid.com up and running and we'll see new stuff soon. Until then, keep racking up the high scores! I'm a fairly firm "king" in the space-squid.com arena. :)
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Maybe make the spaceships move around a bit?
ReplyDeleteThat might add a bit of depth to the game. Right now it's a bit self-oriented, if you know what I mean
I usually don't pay attention to high scores because I'm almost never good enough to be in them. Something to ponder (probably not for this game but maybe a future one) is having multiple lists defined in different ways. For example, 'high scores among those who got the first star in 3 seconds' and 'high scores from your IP block' and 'high scores for games played on Wednesday' and 'high scores for everyone who jumped out of the water 5 times'. If you hooked up to the Facebook API you could also have 'high scores among your friends'. The instanced high score list would be 'high scores for people with the same World field'. Multiple lists means you can compare yourself to others like you, and you have more of a chance to be on the list.
ReplyDelete@AfroNanny: well the game *is* called space squid. :P It's all about mister squid!
ReplyDelete@Amit: Yeah people not being good enough to show up in the high scores is exactly why I made instancing and the 24-hour list. If I were to get into a complex set of lists like you mention - I'd probably do it in a future game, not have scores at all, and just have "badges" for playing the game on Wednesday, for jumping out of the air 5 times, etc. :)
I guess what I'm trying to accomplish with the high scores is to show people that this game can be easy, but it can be quite challenging if you try to do a few things. Namely, grab stars with your feet (the big one) and grab stars without using boost.
By urging you to play with a bit more flair, instead of just burning through the levels collecting everything with your head on easy... you might find a fun game. :)