Design flaw in the construction board
by Jackal · in General Game Discussion · 06/11/2003 (5:17 pm) · 8 replies
I think the board is called construction.
It's the one with the two construction towers and you have to jump up from level to level to level.
Anyhow I found two design flaws in the board:
1- The top stars for both the structures should be red stars. Otherwise there is no incentive to finish the board. Players just sit in the center of the board with money shot and wait for the purple stars. Anyhow who tries to make it to the top to finish the board loses because the other players sit in the center waiting for purple stars. It's flawed.
2- If you shot into the water you can't get out. You get stuck. This happened to me today. I actually had to shoot myself along the shore line underwater to get out of the water. Because shooting straight up wasn't enough to get out and you would roll all the way back down to the bottom of the water floor. So if you go in the water at all: game over.
It's the one with the two construction towers and you have to jump up from level to level to level.
Anyhow I found two design flaws in the board:
1- The top stars for both the structures should be red stars. Otherwise there is no incentive to finish the board. Players just sit in the center of the board with money shot and wait for the purple stars. Anyhow who tries to make it to the top to finish the board loses because the other players sit in the center waiting for purple stars. It's flawed.
2- If you shot into the water you can't get out. You get stuck. This happened to me today. I actually had to shoot myself along the shore line underwater to get out of the water. Because shooting straight up wasn't enough to get out and you would roll all the way back down to the bottom of the water floor. So if you go in the water at all: game over.
#2
Purple stars show up every 30 second and move around so in a 3 minute match, you might see a purple star at the bottom between the towers maybe 4 times (max). Money Shot also shows up randomly on the power-up you mention, probably 1 out of 4 times. It is extremely difficult to win by camping the purple star with Money Shot because its too random.
Another reason camping doesnt work well is because its time dependant. Sitting around waiting for 30 seconds until another purple star shows up usually costs you the match. The faster stars are scooped up by other players, the quicker the match is over, and the less purple stars that will appear.
As for the water - yes, its a hazard on that level. Don't go in it. If you do, you pay the price. This just means you have to take more careful shots when high on the towers.
Justin
21-6
06/12/2003 (4:52 am)
Matt is accurate. There are 5 stars (4 yellow and 1 red) at the top of each tower as well as two stars (red and orange) in between the top level of the towers to go after. Of course, there are another 4 stars on the level below the top which are easy to get once you reach the top.Purple stars show up every 30 second and move around so in a 3 minute match, you might see a purple star at the bottom between the towers maybe 4 times (max). Money Shot also shows up randomly on the power-up you mention, probably 1 out of 4 times. It is extremely difficult to win by camping the purple star with Money Shot because its too random.
Another reason camping doesnt work well is because its time dependant. Sitting around waiting for 30 seconds until another purple star shows up usually costs you the match. The faster stars are scooped up by other players, the quicker the match is over, and the less purple stars that will appear.
As for the water - yes, its a hazard on that level. Don't go in it. If you do, you pay the price. This just means you have to take more careful shots when high on the towers.
Justin
21-6
#3
When every player has a score of over 10,000 at the end of the game it's really just a moneyshot+purple game.
There's no way to win the game by actually going after the stars that are on the board by design, and that's the flaw.
It's a sit in the center with money shot - campers map, and that's what makes it lame.
2- I agree that water should be a penalty, but you miss the point that YOU CAN'T GET OUT! You always roll back in. Over and over. A 8 shot penalty is a bit too much.
06/12/2003 (7:43 am)
1- You said "the game is consecutives" but yet the most consecutives you can get on any level (except the top) is 3. And on the top it's only red+4 = 700. Meanwhile the guy who sat in the center holding money shot waiting for the purple got 800 each time and he can get 2 or 3 of those before anyone gets the top.When every player has a score of over 10,000 at the end of the game it's really just a moneyshot+purple game.
There's no way to win the game by actually going after the stars that are on the board by design, and that's the flaw.
It's a sit in the center with money shot - campers map, and that's what makes it lame.
2- I agree that water should be a penalty, but you miss the point that YOU CAN'T GET OUT! You always roll back in. Over and over. A 8 shot penalty is a bit too much.
#4
I honestly have never encountered a camper on that course that could win the game. That doesn't mean there isn't a flaw in the design so I suggest we do some more testing at the next scheduled play session this Saturday at 2PM EST. If there is an flaw, we will correct it in the next update.
As for the water, I will add an item to the 2.1 list to fix the terrain so that you can get out of the water if you happen to end up there.
Thanks for taking the time to give us your feedback and help to make Orbz a better game.
Justin
06/12/2003 (8:32 am)
Jackal - I honestly have never encountered a camper on that course that could win the game. That doesn't mean there isn't a flaw in the design so I suggest we do some more testing at the next scheduled play session this Saturday at 2PM EST. If there is an flaw, we will correct it in the next update.
As for the water, I will add an item to the 2.1 list to fix the terrain so that you can get out of the water if you happen to end up there.
Thanks for taking the time to give us your feedback and help to make Orbz a better game.
Justin
#5
I just shot myself into the thing that launches you straight up (at the top of the tree) and as soon as I launched the other player cursed me so I was heavy. So I couldn't go high enough to not fall back down into the launcher again. It must have launched me 6 times before the curse wore off. During that time there was absolutely nothing I could do.
06/12/2003 (9:59 am)
Outside of the water on the construction map, the worst "Oh I'm trapped" I've seen so far is on the Ghost Yard board, but it was pretty funny.I just shot myself into the thing that launches you straight up (at the top of the tree) and as soon as I launched the other player cursed me so I was heavy. So I couldn't go high enough to not fall back down into the launcher again. It must have launched me 6 times before the curse wore off. During that time there was absolutely nothing I could do.
#6
06/12/2003 (10:43 pm)
I agree Jackal. Getting Goobered in that launcher SUCKS...but it's a great trick to pull on the competition ; )
#7
Save those power-ups for just the right moment!
Justin
21-6
06/13/2003 (4:35 am)
There are a few cases where a Goober is as good as a Freeze Frame. Catching someone in the Accelerator on the top of the tree in Haunted Grove is an example of that.Save those power-ups for just the right moment!
Justin
21-6
#8
man, it sure has been a loooooooooooong time sense I played :(
06/13/2003 (5:58 am)
Muahahah! I love catching those pesky little bots with the Goober :)man, it sure has been a loooooooooooong time sense I played :(
Torque Owner Matt Sayre
2) Yeah, the water's deep. Pretty heavy penalty for taking a swim. That being said, it's pretty easy to avoid going in there.