Welcome to Season 3, which comes with the blessing of both kkstrong and Hendor!
Please make sure you read all of this post, as there is a lot of new stuff since last time ;)
When you look at a map, do you see places where a corner jump might save valuable seconds? Do you see enemies that you might just be able to squeeze past? Do you see doors that do not need to be opened? If you do, that's good. However, perhaps the best question is: Do you have the skills to play the way you see?
Think you’re a good player? Prove you’re a great one.
::New Stuff
I’ve hijacked the format of the first two seasons and expanded upon it; there will now be four, separate, simultaneous competitions:
- Speed – Amateur
Speed – Pro
Highscore – Amateur
Highscore – Pro
Similarly, the “Pro” event will be contested by the best players, whilst the participants in the “Amateur” event will be people who aren’t regular highscorers but nevertheless wish to compete.
All four competitions will be played out on the same map each round.
When joining, you should state whether you intend to do both the speedrun and highscore events, or just one, and whether you consider yourself a “pro” or an “amateur”. Although I should be able to judge which event to put you in, it would be helpful if you can evaluate your skills to make my task much easier. Obviously, if you’re not that good a player, it would be stupid to volunteer for the pro event, and vice versa.
:: The Groups
The first stage of this competition will be played in groups of 4; therefore, our total number of players should be a multiple of 4 (although I can rearrange it if this doesn’t work out). Once we have a good number of people to play, groups will be randomly allocated. I will not be playing, although vankusss, who will be helping me run this from behind the scenes, will be competing.
:: The Format
In the first round, the first group stage, you will play three maps. Everyone in every group plays the same map at the same time. Each group does not have their own map. This means that speedruns and highscores will be submitted on the same map. Both the “Pros” and the “Amateurs” will also compete on the same map.
Based on your performance, you will be given points. The fastest player in each group will get most points, while the slowest person will get least.
After playing through the three maps, the player in each group with the most points will advance to the next stage. The four next people with the highest scores will advance as well.
:: The Scoring
1st in group - 4 points
2nd in group - 3 points
3rd in group - 2 points
4th in group - 1 point
To get points, you must submit a demo. If you do not submit a demo, you lose a point. All you need to do to secure yourself at least one point is to submit a demo.
Too boring so far? Well, tough.
…
Ehehe, not really; there will, of course, be bonus points!
The Golden Player - The single player who submits the best score/fastest time in each event will get + 1 point. This player will accumulate 5 points on the round (4 + 1). In the event of a tied first place, all tied players will get the bonus point.
:: Rules
-You will always have a minimum of one week to complete your demo. This should be way more than enough.
-Submit your demos using Nreality. If you don’t have Nreality, why not? you can download it here
-The maps will be chosen by me from NUMA. Please do not post the demo you are submitting on the map's page before the contest is over.
-Do not PM me your demo.
-You can discuss the competition in this thread or in #n-highscores, although do not show other people your innovations or reveal tricks that they may have missed until after that particular map has been finished with.
:: About Nreality
I will resubmit all maps used in this competition to NUMA in order to enable a "protectedcontest" feature. This will mean that you will be able to see the frame count/score of other people’s demos, but not the actual demo itself. You will be able to view your own demos throughout the competition. You may submit as many demos as you want, whenever you want within the allotted time period for a round.
To use Nreality (skip the first two steps if you already have Nreality downloaded):
1 - Download the program using the above link and unzip the contents to a folder somewhere on your computer.
2 - Open the program from this folder. If you move the program out of the folder, you will lose some features.
3 – Choose “configure” from the main menu. Make sure you choose the right mode you want to submit your demo in (either speedrun or highscore). If you record a demo in the wrong mode and not realise, you will most likely finish last in your group. Thus, it is very important you record your demo(s) in the right mode.
4 - Click "userlevels" from the main menu.
5 - Enter the map number as given in the NUMA web address.
6 - Press "Load Map" and the program will automatically download the map from NUMA. Neat, huh?
7 - Click on the downloaded map just as in the old userlevels to play it.
8 - Any personal best will be recorded to the right of the map title.
9 - To submit your demo, ctrl-click it. (command-click it for Macs.)
::Misc
Many thanks to Furry_Ant for the image :D