The Unofficial Compact Coaster Contest

[sniper1263]

CONTEST CLOSED :confused:

[snoop_doggy_dog]

too many rules, ease down a bit

[sniper1263]

absolutely not... you should go check out the compact coaster thread, and get an idea of whats possible. To be honest, the excitement rating rule is somewhat pointless since you need a high excitement rating in order to have high points, but I don't want people posting anything less and wasting space. The ride time is again somewhat pointless, however, it's there to provide some sort of limit the to height of the coaster without actually limiting the height.

[snoop_doggy_dog]

again, too many rules, ease down a bit. Believe me. I had too many ruless for my contest and no one joined.

[Milkdud]

I like this idea, I will definatley try and enter!:up:
Also, I disagree about easing up on the rules, more rules makes the contest more challenging which, in return, makes it more fun and enjoyable :D.

[Bitter Jeweler]

Just so you know, but not to discourage.....

This (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=443891) contest is going on.

This (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=444200) is also going on.

and This (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=444567) apparently is an equal and opposite reaction to those.

So much to do, so little time :D

[Thergothon]

I think I'll join this contest too. I really like the idea of the points system.

[rizzla]

Damn, now we really have a lot of contests going on. I am actually really glad that there are some people out there who enjoy "compacting" coasters as much as I do.

To be fair, though, I reckon anybody who is interested in a challenge should first try mrdarklight's:

http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=443891

Simply cause he came up with it sooner. I have been spending too many hours yesterday on an 8x6 coaster to give it up now and start with this contest... ;)

Apart from that I have to agree that the rules are quite interesting and I'll surely give it a go after I have finished/given up on the coaster I am working on - snoopy, you obviously haven't read "our" other thread over at the ride exchange otherwise you'd know that 10x10 coasters are quite popular. :)

[rizzla]

I first toyed with a Twister coaster @ 7.53/6.19/3.21 which would gain me 5.66 points and I thought (after my experiences with the other competiton) that was already damn good.

However, then I remembered one coaster type in our thread over in the exchange forum which had produced results that are just perfect for this competition, high excitement, medium intensity and low nausea: The Giga Coaster! I am afraid to report that it reaps the best results for this very competition and you might think about banning it. I built any odd design (just 11x6 squares) to see if I was right and it produced something like 7.5/5.1/2.3. From my experience, no other coaster type comes close.

[sniper1263]

Well Rizzla, that would leave you at a 7.60, which is a darn good start for this contest, but not impossible to beat. If you submit, it most certainly will not be banned. Ofcourse, this means you'll have two coasters I'm gonna have to beat.... :eek:

sniper1263

[snoop_doggy_dog]

Point System:
Excitement Rating + (Excitement - Intensity Rating) - Nausea Rating = Final Points

Ex:
Excitement: 7.50
Intensity: 5.00
Nausea: 3.00
Final Point Value = 7



Hey, I was wrong about the ease up thing. Sorry man

Can I use that point system for my contest!?

[sniper1263]

Uh, well just as long as it's not another compact coaster contest. It would be pointless to have the same EXACT contests going on. It's bad enough there are so many compact coaster contests going on.

[sniper1263]

Someone had mentioned to me that the point system used in this contest gives the Giga-Coaster an unfair advantage against other coasters. I agree with that statement. I therefore have changed the point system. It has been updated above.

Basically, here's what you need to win:

High Excitement
Intensity not greater than Excitement
Low Nausea

Another reason for this change is because I realized that some people, including myself, find that the intensity is the reason we wish to ride it. It provides the insane adrenaline rush that we so much enjoy, and can even become a part of the excitement. I hope you like and appreciate the new rules and changes.

sniper1263

[rizzla]

I reckon that sounds better. Let's give it a go, I'm sure soon I'll have a first attempt ready to be posted.

[The_Skyo]

No powered launch or block brakes, just 2 brakes to keep intensity down. 6 inversions and 9x9 area. I made a vid but not sure where i can host it.. it's 10.5 megs. heres a pic tho

http://img195.exs.cx/img195/7514/roached7bd.jpg

[rizzla]

Like The_Skyo's here's a first attempt for this competition with a normal lift hill and no block brakes to speed things up. This is the first time I ever touched the Spiral Coaster, which all in all is a bit boring - it's got a nice "spiralling" lift hill option, but with only 11 kmph the ride time is nearly 3 minutes.

http://www.sininen.de/spiral1.jpg

Three things I want to mention:

1. At least with this coaster, with excitement around 7 nausea rises exactly at the same pace - so for example I made two versions, one with exc 7.15 and nau 2.52 and one with exc 7.13 and nau 2.50...

2. Somebody here posted that it's a bit annoying when people complain about the rules and make suggestions about how to change them - however, none of us are experts at making these rules and if it turns out that a change would make the competition fairer or more exciting, it would be beneficial. Having said that, I now (of course :)) propose a tweak to the scoring system to encourage higher excitement ratings: Points = Exc - 1/2nausea. That would make the 7.15/2.52 version (5.89) better than the 7.13/2.50 (5.88) attempt. And imagine I could do a Twister with an excitement rating of 8.00 but nausea 4.00 - with this rule change it would better the Spiral coaster...

3. I believe I now know why the exc ratings change. If you create a coaster in the Sandbox and test it, you get the lower ("basic") ratings. As soon as you open it and lay down the paths, the ratings jump up (+0.18 in my case) - probably the paths already count as scenery (?). We should use the "raw" values of test mode far away from the entrance and without paths (or just use the Coaster Creator menu and use the ratings there).

[rizzla]

Right, here is an attempt at doing another 10x10 Twister. Central piece is a loop through another loop.

http://www.sininen.de/doubleloop.jpg

Now I have saved several versions, with slightly different layouts and block brake speeds:

7.41/6.24/3.17 (7.41-3.17 = 4.24) - see screenshot
7.43/6.48/3.27 (4.16)
7.45/6.73/3.39 (4.06)
7.56/6.70/3.47 (4.09)
7.57/6.36/3.37 (4.20)
7.61/6.51/3.42 (4.19)
7.70/6.91/3.66 (4.04)

So the most unexciting variation wins with the current rule set, which is a bit of a shame, cause the 7.57 and 7.61 variations are probably harder to achieve. And with the current rule set they all don't stand a chance vs the Spiral Coaster.

[sniper1263]

Hmmm... I don't know Rizzla. I'm kind of getting annoyed with the point system. I agree with what you said however to modify the equation, however, I feel that too much goes into the factor than simply the stats. Structure alone is exciting. Actually riding it, efficiency, and so on. There's just too much to factor in that a simple equation can solve. I'm going to close this contest. I'm sorry Rizzla if you have worked alot on this, but I feel it's better to close it.

I appreciate your thoughts and ideas for this forum, and really enjoyed your conversations about it as well. Thanks Rizzla, and sorry...

sniper1263

[rizzla]

No worries - "inspired" by this contest I at least created that huge LIM Launch coaster I posted in our original thread over in the exchange forum.

Let's use this chance to talk about what would make a competition good. I very much enjoyed the "smallest footprint" competition by mrdarklight, cause it really got me experimenting. I reckon there is at least one variation of that we could do - like "smallest footprint leading to excitement x without using any brakes" (forcing the use of a lifthill).

Apart from that your idea was sound but it just has the problem of favouring certain coaster types. The simplest idea would thus be to concentrate on one coaster type only and use your scoring system for that (though even with the adjusted system I'd guess the best coaster will have an excitement rating of barely above 7.00 cause the nausea rating would probably rise faster than the exc rating).

The idea behind your scoring system is generally right, though - compare, for example, the two 10x10 coasters WARDL895 offers in our original thread - I at least think after "riding" both coasters the Vertical Drop is better, the Compact Inverted is too fast - reflected in the intensity ratings, both have about the same excitement, but the intensity of the Compact Inverted (Virus) is nearly 3 points higher, the nausea well over twice the level of the other coaster, too.

Just setting limits might be fine, too. "Highest excitement with intensity below 7 and nausea below 5" for example. Or "Highest excitement with nausea below 2" for a real challenge. The latter might not produce a really cool coaster but - for me at least - optimization by itself is most fun about a competition.

In general, though, it doesn't look like many people are into designing compact coasters. At least more people download than post - my original thread starter (7x12 compact coaster) was downloaded more than 150 times, the Skyscraper over 80 times, and a few others between 30 and 70 times. I will keep on designing whether there is a competition on or not.

[sniper1263]

Rizzla, how do you know how many times your stuff has been downloaded? I'm very curious to know how many times my stuff has been downloaded.

Thanks
sniper1263

[rizzla]

It's my own website (I think the proper jargon labels it a "domain") so I have logs where I can check such things.