Zeta Flow

I beat this level 3 times in a row and it still shows up as undefeated ... http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/ZetaFlow.php?ID=3227 - that and I have the suspicion that he rated his level a 5 after I gave it half a star ...

Despite being a noob level where they make it sound impossible, etc, for ego purposes, defeating it was quite easy. Shoot off the top sections and hug the bottom edge so that majority of its annoying weapons are off screen. Then wait at the bottom and it will actually stop next to you and the spread launcher stuck on the core (the only weapon still on screen) will miss you mo matter how many times it fires. You have to be on the right hand side of it or it won't work - I tried the left and got shot.

Levels like this are annoying, the unbeatable drivel stickt is stale and unimaginative at best.

*edit*
The server has updated the data now so I guess it was just a matter of waiting for it.

Levels that claim to be unbeatable and levels that actually can't be beaten are annoying. Nothing can really be done about the former but I'm looking forward to a system that weeds out the unplayable levels, perhaps putting them into a seperate list or disallows ratings until it has been beaten.

Preventing a level from being saved unless beaten by the author is another good filter that has been mentioned already.

Geiss wrote:The server has updated the data now so I guess it was just a matter of waiting for it.

Nope, that was just me fiddling around with it (I manually added 1 to the win count). I beat the level myself and it did not update. After some testing it seems to be an issue with escaping strings (that means special characters are messing it up, probably the : or +), I'll fix it as soon as i can.

~MD

Funny you should mention that -- http://zetaflow.skylogic.ca/gallery.php ... rBy=rating

This level currently rated the highest is undefeated - it has a ton of plus marks in the title... with infinite lives, its possible to win. I played it again to make sure and won but the bug is still affecting it. Wonder if people knew that special characters would do that?

Oh yeah, I rather like that level (though it's not my favorite, ha ha) and have beaten it quite a number of times. I noticed it wasn't recording my wins, but it never occurred to me to report that.

I've also beaten that "Just try, good luck 100+" level a couple of times.

I think i've fixed it, let me know how it turns out
~MD

It works now

Too bad all those other wins didn't keep, as 0.1% from close to a 1000 plays seems a bit unrealistic considering that you have infinite lives.

Yep, works now! That particular level will soon have a more realistic success percentage, as it's one that I go back and replay fairly often.

The first thing I like to do when playing that one is taking out the two sets of ship following single shots. Next I eliminate the moving arms, allowing me to line up shots on the switches more effectively. Eventually I work my way inside the radius of the rotating parts and park next to the core till the end, though I occasionally have to swtich targets when a new weapon platform rotates in with some spreads on it.

Geiss wrote:I'm looking forward to a system that weeds out the unplayable levels, perhaps putting them into a seperate list or disallows ratings until it has been beaten.

Preventing a level from being saved unless beaten by the author is another good filter that has been mentioned already.

I like the part about disallowing ratings until beaten. I'm assuming that you meant that the stars would simply be disabled until there was a value above 0 in the success column? People could rate but it wouldn't be evident until beaten?

Or better yet, have the stars outlined in pink, with a note at the top of the gallery to explain why. I bet that would take the machismo out of those designers

Hah! I like that pink idea. Some of these people seem like they have such a big macho complex that pink would actually scare them.

Still, I'm more in favor of not letting a level show up at all until the designer beats it themselves. And then have it disappear again if edited, until they beat it once more. Though maybe there could be a separate "art" category that isn't subject to that restriction? Maybe art levels shouldn't have statistics showing?

Eh, but look how easy it is to propose changes when you're not the programmer. So please take these suggestions with an appropriately sized grain of salt, MD.