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New MAME High Score feature!


Johnny T

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5 hours ago, jimj said:

Start off with a feature request.  I think it'd be great if there was a separate "High Scores" forum.  Within the forum you could then have a stickied post for "featured game of the month" and another stickied post for "featured game of the year".  That should cause there to be some more interest and common competition in the same games, especially games that aren't the most popular games.  People would also have a way to communicate and trashtalk (good natured of course :) with others by posting about games their playing.  All high score troubleshooting posts could also stay in this forum.  It also looks like occasionally people need to report false high score uploads for themself, that could happen here too.

I really like this idea. It would help tie peoples forum username to their high score username and be able to have a bit of banter and get some tips on how to improve etc. It would also be fuel for ETA Prime or a.n.other to do a YouTube video showing how to play the game of the week (or just featured games - maybe across a few different genres so there's something everyone). If we have a (for instance) Donkey Kong thread within the High Score forum then it could be used to give tips on how to get a high score, a bit of trash-talk/banter, helping if someone had a problem with the game or was stuck at a certain part etc. It would be more 'game focussed' than LB/BB focussed? 

The only downside I could see with this is whether we would be straying into bad legal territory with this? If someone (heaven forbid) didn't have the necessary rights to play the game but we were all talking about a certain game then (from the outside) it would look like we were sharing the game around and that could transition in legal hot water??

Not sure though... probably not as there seems to be plenty of forums discussing games so I can't see there being issues..... :)

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I've been excited about doing more social features like the above related to the high scores myself for quite a while, which is one of the reasons why we put the social question on the poll. It definitely did get a good response. Stuff like this is one of the reasons why we're working on hiring a web/mobile developer.

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5 hours ago, Johnny T said:

I really like this idea. It would help tie peoples forum username to their high score username and be able to have a bit of banter and get some tips on how to improve etc. It would also be fuel for ETA Prime or a.n.other to do a YouTube video showing how to play the game of the week (or just featured games - maybe across a few different genres so there's something everyone). If we have a (for instance) Donkey Kong thread within the High Score forum then it could be used to give tips on how to get a high score, a bit of trash-talk/banter, helping if someone had a problem with the game or was stuck at a certain part etc. It would be more 'game focussed' than LB/BB focussed?

I completely agree with that.  I didn't think of it this way, but yeah, "more 'game focused' than LB/BB focused" is really what it'd be.  Forum name could be something a little more general like "High Scores and game talk".  This would be a straightforward way to increase the social aspect of using LB/BB (and awareness of the High Score feature).

2 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

I've been excited about doing more social features like the above related to the high scores myself for quite a while, which is one of the reasons why we put the social question on the poll. It definitely did get a good response. Stuff like this is one of the reasons why we're working on hiring a web/mobile developer.

I'm not a big social media/mobile guy, so there are probably a lot of ways to improve the social features I haven't thought of.  Glad to hear that this is an area of focus for you.

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On 8/6/2022 at 3:19 AM, Johnny T said:

It would help tie peoples forum username to their high score username

Another obvious idea I missed.  I don't see a way to change my forum username.  Is this possible?  I'd like to change my forum username to "InvaderJim" so everyone knows who's conquering the leaderboards.  :)

Found it.  In the top right corner click on your username and go to "Account Settings->Display Name".  Don't know how I missed this the first time I looked.

Edited by InvaderJim
answered my own question
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I am curious as to the formula used to calculate "Top Players ranking". I assume it sort of like 1 point for each person below you for each game ranked on, even those under top 100. Ranking is kept track of even if not in top 100 for any given game. And if I am assuming correctly, does it include 1 point for just playing a game. This because it's possible to be the only one ranked so far in a particular game/variation. Also would ties in a game ranking count towards a point. Hope I'm explaining correctly. Is it as straight forward as this or something else?  thanks.   BTW I'm 7th on the "Top Players" board and moving up..

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5 hours ago, cannonwillow said:

I am curious as to the formula used to calculate "Top Players ranking"...

I'm curious about that to and it kind of relates to another idea I had.  It'd be nice if scores from games/setups that don't pass the anti-cheat checks could still be uploaded.  I haven't personally ran into this yet, but I could see myself wanting to change the dip switches on some games.  A way I could see this working is to not give these unverified uploads a position #.  In the leaderboards these unverified scores would have an asterisk in place of a rank #, but will still be sorted by score (or whatever is used for the top player ranking on "Top Players" board).  Then for those viewing the leaderboards they could have a checkbox or setting to control whether they see the unverified scores.   Unverified scores wouldn't affect a verified score's ranking (i.e. unverified scores wouldn't affect your numerical ranking per game or on the Top Players board.

It's nice to have some anti-cheat checks in place to help ensure that we're playing the games the same way, but there are also legitimate reasons to use tweaked setups and/or different versions of MAME.  My guess is that most of us aren't super concerned about people trying to cheat this system (i.e. we share high scores for the fun of it, not to make money :), so most people wouldn't mind the option of viewing and sharing unverified scores.  It would also allow those who can't get their scores to pass the verification checks to still participate.

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18 hours ago, jimj said:

I'm curious about that to and it kind of relates to another idea I had.  It'd be nice if scores from games/setups that don't pass the anti-cheat checks could still be uploaded.  I haven't personally ran into this yet, but I could see myself wanting to change the dip switches on some games.  A way I could see this working is to not give these unverified uploads a position #.  In the leaderboards these unverified scores would have an asterisk in place of a rank #, but will still be sorted by score (or whatever is used for the top player ranking on "Top Players" board).  Then for those viewing the leaderboards they could have a checkbox or setting to control whether they see the unverified scores.   Unverified scores wouldn't affect a verified score's ranking (i.e. unverified scores wouldn't affect your numerical ranking per game or on the Top Players board.

It's nice to have some anti-cheat checks in place to help ensure that we're playing the games the same way, but there are also legitimate reasons to use tweaked setups and/or different versions of MAME.  My guess is that most of us aren't super concerned about people trying to cheat this system (i.e. we share high scores for the fun of it, not to make money :), so most people wouldn't mind the option of viewing and sharing unverified scores.  It would also allow those who can't get their scores to pass the verification checks to still participate.

I'm not as sold on this idea. I think it would maybe over-complicate things. The scores then with an asterisk could be from anything - infinite lives or some other tweak. Personally (and, just an opinion) I prefer nice and simple. Non-tweaked official versions of the game are counted and that gives assurance that the other people on the same high score board were playing the same game as you.

Nothing to stop people tweaking things to play the game for their own enjoyment and to beat their own personal bests - but I don't think their scores should be recorded on LB/BB. :)

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7 hours ago, Johnny T said:

I'm not as sold on this idea. I think it would maybe over-complicate things. The scores then with an asterisk could be from anything - infinite lives or some other tweak. Personally (and, just an opinion) I prefer nice and simple. Non-tweaked official versions of the game are counted and that gives assurance that the other people on the same high score board were playing the same game as you.

Nothing to stop people tweaking things to play the game for their own enjoyment and to beat their own personal bests - but I don't think their scores should be recorded on LB/BB. :)

I agree, otherwise we need high score boards for every possible game setting. And this would be more than overwhelming. Having proper controls and setting them up correctly is really important to get high scores. A bit off topic, but still related to high scores. I wish there was a way reduce input lag in stock mame like you can in retroarch using FBNEO. This is really a problem on games like Centipede. At a local Arcade/Bar I frequent (Up/Down STL), I regularly score 600K +. I can barely clear 100K on mame. With FBNEO and run ahead tweaks, I can get around 300K. Still not like the real arcade Centipede, but better. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/8/2022 at 10:35 AM, cannonwillow said:

I agree, otherwise we need high score boards for every possible game setting....

That would be overwhelming, but not what I proposed.  I'm more concerned about lack of participation in the high score leaderboards (due to problems passing the verification checks) than cheating.  A simple binary toggle to view/include verified vs unverified would give people the choice of including unverified scores when they view the leaderboards.

Just noticed this feature request for a "high score companion app" that's similar to some of the things that have brought up in this forum:

It's got my vote.  :)

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  • 1 month later...
4 hours ago, cannonwillow said:

Finally did it. Took the number 1 spot in leaderboards. Is there a social site to discuss various things for participants of the LaunchBox MAME community leader boards?

 

Well done!! What game did you do it in? A separate forum for bragging rights etc was discussed but don't think it's been implemented (I've not seen it yet anyway). :)

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17 hours ago, Johnny T said:

Well done!! What game did you do it in? A separate forum for bragging rights etc was discussed but don't think it's been implemented (I've not seen it yet anyway). :)

I am talking about the overall top player ranking across all MAME games.  And would like to see a site or forum area that not just is for bragging rights, but also used to discuss problem solving of high scores being accepted for certain games. Some you must start a 2nd game, others you must wait in attract mode until high score table appears before playing, yet others must wait until high score table appears after playing your game, in order for high score to get uploaded. Would also be a great place to discuss game specific strategy and how to best optimize your controls for specific games.

 

Edited by cannonwillow
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13 hours ago, cannonwillow said:

I am talking about the overall top player ranking across all MAME games.  And would like to see a site or forum area that not just is for bragging rights, but also used to discuss problem solving of high scores being accepted for certain games. Some you must start a 2nd game, others you must wait in attract mode until high score table appears before playing, yet others must wait until high score table appears after playing your game, in order for high score to get uploaded. Would also be a great place to discuss game specific strategy and how to best optimize your controls for specific games.

 

Wow! I didn't realise you meant 'every' game! That's impressive mate - well done... no wonder you're looking for a place to tell the world :)

I hope you're not in front of me at Toki....?

Hopefully one of the mods will be able to take this as a suggestion and see if there's a wider appetite for it. I would certainly love it. And it would encourage many more visits to the forum. :)

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2 hours ago, Johnny T said:

Wow! I didn't realise you meant 'every' game! That's impressive mate - well done... no wonder you're looking for a place to tell the world :)

I hope you're not in front of me at Toki....?

Hopefully one of the mods will be able to take this as a suggestion and see if there's a wider appetite for it. I would certainly love it. And it would encourage many more visits to the forum. :)

There is a high score channel on the discord, but hardly anyone ever posts in it.

 

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1 hour ago, neil9000 said:

There is a high score channel on the discord, but hardly anyone ever posts in it.

 

Thanks Neil. I didn't even know we had a Discord channel - although, to be honest, I'm not a fan of Discord. It's one long stream of chat and doesn't really suit to archiving information like a forum does. :)

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On 10/4/2022 at 9:35 AM, Jason Carr said:

FYI, we are actually planning to work on some more social features regarding high scores. ;)

Awesome.  This will be an incredible addition to the Launchbox forums, or additional site. Should eventually make it a much more popular forum to visit!

Edited by cannonwillow
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I have two "glitched" scores from some sort of crashes in the past. I usually use my built arcade machine, but sometimes have used my laptop just using the attached keyboard. Both of these "glitched" high scores show an outrageous score. I think they happened from hitting wrong keys and crashing out of the game, and then stopping process in Task Manager. Both times I was using my laptop.

One is Gunbarich  (Gnbarich) with a score of 4,227,661,310. The other is Gunbird 2 (set 1 version) with a score of 1,212,762,699. In both instances I am tied for 1st with one other individual. 
 

Is there someone that can remove these errant high scores? I have seen scores like these on other games from different players also.

Edited by cannonwillow
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some games you can continue your score by adding credits and continuing the game but i normally just go by one credit play then restart when all lives gone so i was wondering about other peoples thoughts on piling virtual cash into the machine for continues to get a mega high score

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