The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Shoegazer on November 19, 2008, 07:54:16 am
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Okay, it was a toss-up between this and Time Pilot, but here goes..
- parent set (elevator) , default settings, no cheats
- use any mame version or variant you wish
- last day is December 2nd (around midnight Pacific time)
- high score wins (a tie means there's more than one winner)
- no savestates, savestate practices, etc during the round.
Good luck!
Shoegazer
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I LOOOOOVE me some elevator action.
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OK, I've never been able to post a score before and I've never played this game before, so....
here goes
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Can an administrator please lock this thread??
;)
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Well I just played my first 4 games of Elevator Action and it took me 2 games just to figure out what the red doors are for. Anyways, my best score was 16200. It seems like if you really wanted to, you could just wait on one level and kill bad guys forever to rack up an infinitely high score, even though it would be incredibly boring to do so.
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I played 3 games and got up to 12k. Never played that game before - it is pretty darn fun. I'll have to add that to my game list on the MAME.
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Nice choice. I always liked this game when I was younger but it was all the way across town so I never really learned how to play it. This gives me a good reason to play something besides Robotron and Joust for at least a few days.
Dave
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Glad you liked the choice. The game is so much fun, one of my all-time faves from way back in the day. Anyway here's my top score.
Shoegazer
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Can't come close to that. I did notice that the controls are rather quirky at times causing death. :(
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I suck at this game. Any tips from the experts?
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Sure, Ray. Here's a few things I do to boost my score; hopefully they'll help:
* Kick enemies whenever you can, rather than shoot them. Notice you get more points that way.
* Shoot the lights out whenever you can. You get more points per kill when the lights are out.
* Try to time the lights so they fall on the heads of the enemy. Mega-points there.
* One strategy I use is to stay at the top part of each screen (first 10 or so floors, before the escalators appear). Rack up about 3000-5000 points just shooting lights and kicking enemies, then continue. There IS a time limit, after which the alarm will sound and you're basically f**ked.
* Don't worry about missing one of the red packages if you're near the end. If you get to the bottom, you'll automatically get transported to the nearest red package you missed. In fact sometimes I deliberately race to the bottom first and get myself transported upward, which is especially easier on the higher levels.
* If you're at a spot where you're waiting for an elevator, turn the other direction and keep firing shots two at a time. That way when anyone pops out, they'll die almost immediately.
* Develop really, really good reflexes. ;-)
Hope it helps. Have fun!
Shoegazer
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When I started shooting the lights, my overall scores went down...I died alot more.
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Nice Tips Shoegazer. I like drop kicking them when I'm riding up and down the elevator and they're on the next floor waiting for me. It looked really funny the first half dozen times. I'll keep the lights in mind.
What level did you make it to?
I was almost done with level 3 and had 32,500 points. The bastiges started to lie down and fire ruining my crouching technique.
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I didn't even know you could shoot lights.
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Smiley: Yeah, a flying kick onto/off of an elevator is a lot of fun, and it can help rack up points more quickly. That's another tip I forgot.
I *think* I made it to the middle of level 5 though I can't remember now.
Shardian: As far as shooting the lights, all I can say is you really need to practice getting good at it. It's definitely key to getting the higher points. Think about this: you get a limited amount of time to finish each level, and after level 3 (as smiley has pointed out) it gets ridiculously hard. So the key to scoring higher in this game is to squeeze out as many points per level as you can, and making every kill count for as much as possible. I try to play as much of entire game in the dark as possible, since I know I'll score higher that way. Plus there's always the added bonus (and fun visuals) of watching the enemy get bonked with falling lights. ;-)
Shoegazer
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Can't come close to that. I did notice that the controls are rather quirky at times causing death. :(
Yep. Something I remembered when I found it again in Mame, and that has pissed me off a few times since. I actually was divided on this game when I first saw it because I liked the idea but thought the graphics were kinda like big lego set, big and clunky. Of course, this was at least '85, perhaps '86 and was next to games like 720 and Hyperdyne at Peter Piper. My brother was pretty decent at the game though and I enjoyed watching him play. However, when I came back to it a few years ago I became a bit fond of it, and unfortunately when I've thought to play it in the last year have simply forgotten to load it when I've sat down. Now I shant forget.
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Curious to know. Are the enemies able to see you in the dark and not shoot you or is there more of a delay in shooting you when the lights are out? I didn't really pay attention. Too much emphasis was on trying to knock them over the head with the light fixture. So much so, my score has gotten worse instead of better.
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I don't think the lights influence the enemy's behavior at all, though I could be wrong. One small tip for getting better with the lights - I find I'm always making quick up/down motions on the elevator near the lights, to line up my shot to hit them, and also to be sure any shots the enemy fires won't hit my feet and kill me.
Hope it helps... good luck. You've still got plenty of time to top 53,400. ;-)
Shoegazer
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EE is fantastic, one of my "closet favorites" back in the day (i.e. - game not that popular at the time). Taito also hooked me with Front Line way back when. :)
Anyhow, here's the official world highs:
http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=22&pi=2&gi=3785&vi=1226
My personal high is about 15k or so. . .
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Damn that G. Ben Carter. ;-) I just barely missed the top 10. Ah well...
I also loved Front Line. Awesome game. One of those games (along with Scramble) that I revisited in my adulthood to kick it's @ss for all the lunch money it used to steal away from me. I finally "beat" it, thought that's probably not a great feat. All I did was get to the end of the game, which isn't really all that far. In those early years the amount of system ROM needed to store game data wasn't that large, so the game worlds were actually pretty shallow. Getting to the end of Front Line and Scramble brought that point home even more. I was disappointed but not surprised when I reached their ends.
Then again, I didn't get much farther beyond that in each case, so maybe there's more to it than that...
Shoegazer
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I agree Front Line and Scramble were both loads of fun for me too. Gas, grenades, goats...
You've got to love the mix.
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I'm just interested in clearing buildings so perhaps my score could be better. Still, I was at the bottom of the third...or was it fourth?...building when I bought it for good. Higher....or, uh, farther than I've gotten ever before. It's curious that it almost seems wrong to go to the bottom to finish the level. Almost like the anti-thesis of Crazy Climber.
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Well, after the kids went to bed, I had a quick game and I think I did pretty well! I died finally on level 6, with a score of 85150.
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For some reason my regular EA doesn't work, but the bootleg does. EA returns works, but the floors are missing for the most part :(
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Original EA doesn't work (properly) in earlier versions of Mame. In fact, the bootleg version is in my favourites list, because when I made it about 2 years ago only the bootleg worked.
AFAIK there is no gameplay difference between them.
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I don't think I'll be able to touch that score. I seem to be getting worse instead of better.
You seem to be the board pro so far. Any tips or tricks you can share? Thanks.
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You seem to be the board pro so far. Any tips or tricks you can share? Thanks.
Tips and tricks?
- Practice for about 20 years to sharpen your reflexes and mind. I used to playEA at the North Rocky bowling alley in the 80's, when the rich kids were throwing their money away at Dragon's Lance and Space Ace.
- Just try to get through the levels, rather than maxing points.
- when coming down an elevator, always jump off and kick guys below you - they won't shoot.
- bring the elevator down far enough to get the guys to shoot, then go back up for a moment so that the bullet misses. Then kill them at leisure.
- when coming up in an elevator, jump up and shoot to get the guys waiting for you.
- crouch whenever possible, as this makes you a smaller target.
- when waiting, crouch at the end of a corridor, in front of the closest door. If that door opens, you can just kick the guy coming out.
Your dude has the equivalent of a 9mm semi-auto pistol, while the guards have the equivalent of muskets and only half a brain. Even my mother would know what to do. Tease them to shoot their loaded shot, then move in for the kill as they reload.
If you find that the controls keep f*cking you up, try setting your joystick to 4-way as the game is designed that way.
Neat tip about extra points in the dark, I had never realised before that it adds 50 onto each kill done in the dark. Explains away a confusion I've had over what points you get for what kill.
The end-level bonuses are worth it. Each time you finish it jackpots up another 1000 points, so by the time you are finishing level 5 you get 5000 points.
That's all for now!
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Original EA doesn't work (properly) in earlier versions of Mame. In fact, the bootleg version is in my favourites list, because when I made it about 2 years ago only the bootleg worked.
AFAIK there is no gameplay difference between them.
It certainly works by .104 . Look at the dev history on MAWS and you'll know when it was functional.
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Zebidee: Nice tips, thanks for sharing. I'm not sure I agree with you on just getting through the levels rather than maxing points - you can easily rack up 3-5k per level without dying on the top 10 floors - but hey, you're a better player than I am, so you have to be doing something right. ;-)
Nice job.
Shoegazer
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Zebidee: Nice tips, thanks for sharing. I'm not sure I agree with you on just getting through the levels rather than maxing points - you can easily rack up 3-5k per level without dying on the top 10 floors - but hey, you're a better player than I am, so you have to be doing something right. ;-)
Nice job.
Shoegazer
Thanks! Hey, I admit that I often go up half a floor to pop a guy, just for the points. And I love dropping lights on guys for extra points. I just don't make it my primary objective.
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It certainly works by .104 . Look at the dev history on MAWS and you'll know when it was functional.
I started playing EA on my laptop in early 2005, which pre-dates Mame .104 I think.
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Original EA doesn't work (properly) in earlier versions of Mame. In fact, the bootleg version is in my favourites list, because when I made it about 2 years ago only the bootleg worked.
AFAIK there is no gameplay difference between them.
It certainly works by .104 . Look at the dev history on MAWS and you'll know when it was functional.
I'm running .128 and it just sits there all stupid like. Bootleg boots fine.
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I'm running .128 and it just sits there all stupid like. Bootleg boots fine.
Update your romsets.
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I love Elevator Action. One of my all time favs. Looked at my high score and it was 31,900. Guess I am not as good as I thought lol. Great scores guys! Make a u tube vid!
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Thanks for the tips Z.
Tips and tricks?
- Practice for about 20 years to sharpen your reflexes and mind.
I've been play games for about 30 years and for certain games I'm as sharp as a tack and bring the game to its knees. While for others, I'm as dull as a particularly dull spoon and am brought to my own. I partially attribute it to spending those hard earned quarters on games and learning it's subtle nuances and tricks that others wouldn't be aware of unless they played it as avidly as the better players. I remember how hard and ruthlessly I'd play on my last quarter. It was almost like playing as if your life depended on it. When you play like that (on the dozen or so games you normally play) daily, you tend to get quite adept at certain games.
I'm not throwing in the towel yet. Perhaps I'm due for a breakthrough.
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I'm running .128 and it just sits there all stupid like. Bootleg boots fine.
Update your romsets.
Romsets are updated to .128 - Could be the version of Mame i'm using too.
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I'm running .128 and it just sits there all stupid like. Bootleg boots fine.
Update your romsets.
Romsets are updated to .128 - Could be the version of Mame i'm using too.
I dunno. I've always used the parent set. I just checked out the same rom on .128u3 and it works just fine. It hasn't changed for at least a couple years. No idea what your issue is.
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Well, compared to you guys this is a crappy score, but it's my all time high so far.
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I'm running .128 and it just sits there all stupid like. Bootleg boots fine.
Update your romsets.
Romsets are updated to .128 - Could be the version of Mame i'm using too.
I dunno. I've always used the parent set. I just checked out the same rom on .128u3 and it works just fine. It hasn't changed for at least a couple years. No idea what your issue is.
Try deleting your elevator.ini and elevator.cfg from the \mame\ini and \mame\cfg directories respectively, just in case they are screwed up. Maybe look at deleting save-state files as well.
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Upped my score to 77,450
I can feel your breath on my back. I tried to improve it last night, but only got about 74500. I might just get primed with a beer and have another go. Wish me luck ;D
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Gaining, slowly...
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Some great efforts in this comp.
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I've been busy doing a duuble USB port for one of my cabs, so haven't had another game yet. However, here are some more tips for new players:
- don't stand underneath an elevator
- if you're coming down to the last section (5 elevators) and the next elevator is going the wrong way, then send your own elevator up a little bit until you can't see it, then go back down again. Conveniently, you'll find the next elevator coming up to meet you. This also works in other areas.
- If you're in the last section and you spy a red door on the side opposite to you, don't try to jump across to get it as the outcome is often fatal. It is SAFER to go down to the bottom, then you'll be teleported back in front of the red door that you missed. Make sure that you note which elevator shaft goes straight down to the basement.
- in the second-last section, if you need to wait for an elevator, then try jumping across the shaft onto the little ledge to the far right (or far left). Right side seems to work better for me, probably because I'm a righty and my brain works that way. You can hole-up here for ages because there is no door, and baddies can't come at you from behind.
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Man, already the last day. Yeah, if no one tops Zeb, then he gets to pick the next game. Oh, also, just for the sake of completeness: another tactical element is not to stay in elevators once they're down all the way, because you can't crouch in them. I've gotten tagged this way several times because I don't notice the elevator has bottomed out.
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Oh congratulations, but yes a bit late.
So, time to pick a new game eh?
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So, how about I nominate Donkey Kong Jnr for the next competition? In particular, I want to nominate a non-parent variant: "DKONGJRJ", or the Japanese version of DK Jnr. The reason why is because this version has a different level progression sequence to the US version, and the Japanese version seems to make more sense. I played this Japanese version at the local shop down the road, when I was a kid.
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Um....well....I'd love to play DKJr, parent or no....but Fronty was quite in time. Notice the expiration is midnight US Pacific time, and Fronty posted at 9:25pm.
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Um....well....I'd love to play DKJr, parent or no....but Fronty was quite in time. Notice the expiration is midnight US Pacific time, and Fronty posted at 9:25pm.
Well, the time on this forum said 11 past midnight, wherever that is, so what do you know.
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Re: Game competition # 7: Elevator Action
« Reply #50 on: Today at 12:11:25 AM »
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Perhaps a bit late, here it goes none the less:
86,000
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I think that we're all champions.
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I run a close 47th!
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Guess I get to pick the next one. I'll post the new thread if that's allright with Ummon. BTW how does this work? Do I start it right away or wait?
I don't think that Ummon is qualified to be an adjudicator, but I certainly don't mind you choosing the next one, co-champion FrontyDev!
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I vote on making them shorter though. There are tons of games out there and a faster paced competition would be great. How about making them a week long?
Either that or have 2 going at the same time.
~ D
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Zeb, the time displayed is generally either server time or your own. I was on Pacific time last night and it showed Fronty's post at 9:25. As for starting the next comp thread, I've repeatedly said the winner can and that I will if they don't by a certain day.
DeL: hmmm. I don't know if there's enough people involved in any particular one such a split, but maybe the length could be changed. A vote thread on this could be started.
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For what it's worth. I like the pace. A week isn't nearly enough for a casual player. I play a bit on the weekends and occasionally on the weekdays.
Because of this thread, I played and enjoyed some Elevator Action. Nothing worthy of a highscore, but I did have some good times playing a game that doesn't normally get much "action" on my cab.
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Zeb, the time displayed is generally either server time or your own. I was on Pacific time last night and it showed Fronty's post at 9:25.
Yeah, we all worked all that out pretty easy, and have moved on since. Seems that the forum site shows US east coast time, not US Pacific. I'm in Australia, so it is all about 180 degrees out of whack from what time we are. I just assumed that FrontyDev knew what he was talking about when he said he was late, because the forum clock said 11 past midnight.
The only thing I might feel vaguely slightly slighted about was that I missed a chance to play one more time to get a better score. But that was a long shot anyway and hey, Fronty won fair and square and congrats are due. NEXT!
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For what it's worth. I like the pace. A week isn't nearly enough for a casual player. I play a bit on the weekends and occasionally on the weekdays.
Because of this thread, I played and enjoyed some Elevator Action. Nothing worthy of a highscore, but I did have some good times playing a game that doesn't normally get much "action" on my cab.
Cool. Yeah, most comps I've played in have been a month. Retroleague is, I think, a week. No thanks. Based on these, I picked two weeks as a tentative period which has seemed to work just right.
The only thing I might feel vaguely slightly slighted about was that I missed a chance to play one more time to get a better score.
Yeah, I imagined so. Alas.
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I have a couple of suggestions for the game competition. Instead of having the winner choose the next game how about we use a list of participants on a circular queue? That way everyone gets to choose a game. If the person in turn isn't available then the decision passes to the next person on the list.
What your suggesting takes organization and manpower. What Ummon has done is create something that allows people to play if they like, and requires very little resources to keep going. I'm sure he wouldn't object if you were going to make a website displaying the results and a list of upcoming games.
Soon, we'll need official rules!
I also would like to suggest a special coop round. We choose a game that allows 2 player coop and use the sum of both player's score as the submission for the high score. We could make some ground rules like no team hopping during a round. IOW you are stuck with the first person you paired with (or something like that).
For example, games for a coop game round could be Alien Syndrome, Top Gunner (Jackal), Marble Madness, 1943. Those four don't allow continues or reset the score upon continuing. Games like Gauntlet and Smash TV sounds like a great choice too but it's so tempting to insert more coins. Maybe limit the coinage to allow games like this. Anyway what do you guys think?
I like this idea. Twingalaxies makes it so when one player is dead, the game ends and the scores are added. That way a single player can't keep playing. Some games that works out better. Compare the score for Mario Bros. duel player vs 1 player. It's a huge difference.
Other variations:
Most points on a level (game like Mario Bros, Rush'N Attack, Jungle Hunt, Qbert, Donkey Kong, etc)
First to score a perfect on the first level (Galaga, Galaxian, etc.)
First to score a perfect game on X levels (Pacmans)
Speed runs - Fastest through specific levels of games: Asteroids, Space Invaders, Breakout - probably need to video record the whole segment)
Quickest kills/Best Combo (Fighting Games)
Without fear of losing our quarters, I'm sure we could come up with some other entertaining variations besides score.
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Yeah, we all worked all that out pretty easy, and have moved on since. Seems that the forum site shows US east coast time, not US Pacific. I'm in Australia, so it is all about 180 degrees out of whack from what time we are. I just assumed that FrontyDev knew what he was talking about when he said he was late, because the forum clock said 11 past midnight.
The only thing I might feel vaguely slightly slighted about was that I missed a chance to play one more time to get a better score. But that was a long shot anyway and hey, Fronty won fair and square and congrats are due. NEXT!
You can change the forum to show any time zone you like, just go into Profile, then to "Look and Layout Preferences" to change it.
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Indeed lew has illuminated the situation in its entirety. Another factor here is forum layout. These threads get more traffic than just snap posts. Adding more 'features' makes for more to keep track of in posts. To follow through on your ideas, it might be optimal to have two threads, stickied, one for snap posting, the other for discussion, voting, whatever.