Recent posts by CoolTapes on Kongregate

Topic: Games / Notessimo very fun

http://www.team-atemis.com/notessimo/saved/2007…

By the way, is anyone else having trouble loading user songs? I started listening to them (some great songs, btw), but then it stopped working. Clicking “yes” to load the song doesn’t do anything. I tried it again today, and had the same problem. Everything else still seems to work fine, though.

Topic: Games / Notessimo very fun

Thanks. I do have a little musical knowledge. I tried to pick songs that would be easy to figure out, rather than trying to make something up, which would take a lot longer and probably suck anyway ;)

Topic: Games / Alpha Force

I love this game too, and I’ve beaten it a few times. At the beginning of the game, I don’t worry too much about what colour a powerup is before picking it up. I just try to collect as many as possible, to power up the weapons as fast as I can. Once I get the weapon up to level 7, which is the max, I pretty much stick to the missiles, which I think is the best overall weapon. It’s not the best for any one thing, but it gives you decent spread and decent forward power at the same time.

One thing that I didn’t notice until I had played the game a bunch of times: you can get powerups from the fast planes that fly in one at a time from the right side, not just from the big guys and the usual groups of small enemies. You have to hit a whole string of them in a row, though, which is hard to do. I usually only successfully do it about once a game, if I’m also trying to get all the other powerups at the same time. Once you miss a plane, you know you’re not going to get it, so you might as well forget them and focus on the powerups you know you can get.

Topic: Games / No More Walkthroughs on Site

I’ll admit, I should have worded that more nicely… but I’m still pretty surprised at the response. I mean, sure, we could all be doing more important things with our lives, but we’re here on Kongregate instead, because we don’t have a problem with wasting time playing games. And I’d bet that a large portion of us are here because we think that achievements and challenges are a really great idea. That’s why I felt comfortable to make those comments here. I was just trying to give my personal view on the matter, just like everyone else. I’m sorry that it came out more like an angry selfish demand, rather than a suggestion. I certainly don’t expect one player’s opinion to change the way things are done here. But I really wasn’t expecting the guy who makes the badges to criticize me for being enthusiastic about collecting them. I guess that means that the achievements were never meant to be such a big deal in the first place. I tend to get a little carried away when it comes to video game competition. Again, sorry for being a jerk, and keep up the good work.

Topic: Games / No More Walkthroughs on Site

Hey, I don’t have a problem with guides at all. And I don’t have a problem with someone using a guide on every single game they play. Like I and others have said, the biggest part of the challenge in most games isn’t just in knowing what to do, but in doing it successfully. So my suggestion is

a) total freedom on forums for guides

and

b) no more achievements for games where the guide gets you the badge all by itself.

If it’s not such a clear cut case, like if figuring stuff out is a really big part of a game, but there is still a significant amount of execution required, then I think that should at least be taken into account when deciding on the difficulty rating for the badge.

According to those criteria, I would say the Starshine badge should have been rated easy, and the 3D Logic badge shouldn’t have been made. Obviously, it wouldn’t be fair to delete badges or change the difficulty after the badges are made, but it’s something to think about for future badges, maybe.

Topic: Games / No More Walkthroughs on Site

Here’s a suggestion: don’t make badges for games that are super easy to beat with a walkthrough. With most games, it still takes some amount of skill to get the badge, even if you have gathered all the tips you can get. On the other hand, it’s kind of ridiculous to have a badge for something like 3D Logic. It’s great that people are sharing game knowledge and strategies, but it’s silly to have badges where that knowledge makes the achievement completely trivial.

Topic: Games / Notessimo very fun

Ladies and gentlemen… The Beatles! http://www.team-atemis.com/notessimo/saved/2007… Just the first bit of the first verse, but you never know, I might finish it.

Topic: Games / Notessimo very fun

http://www.team-atemis.com/notessimo/saved/2007…

Not sure why I decided to do this particular song, but hey…

Topic: Games / Notessimo very fun

http://www.team-atemis.com/notessimo/uploaded/2…

A decent first attempt, I think.

Topic: Games / Einhander Tribute

Sooooper cool. This site needs more true shooters. Can’t wait.

Topic: Kongregate / Point system fix?

I don’t think Kong is giving away too many or too few points for anything. It’s just that, with all 4 categories lumped together, points aren’t really a good measure of anything in particular. It’s great to reward people for all of those things, but it would be cool if there was a leaderboard where you could look at the top name and say, “That, without a doubt, is the best overall Kong player.” I don’t know if the site even keeps track of how many of a person’s points were earned by which method, but it would be neat to have a scoreboard where only points earned through challenges and achievements count. Just for the sake of bragging rights.

Topic: Off-topic / Nintendo Wii?

Even if the wave-your-arms-around stuff is just a lame gimmick (which to me it is), there’s still a lot of new games you can play “normally” if you choose to, plus there’s the Virtual Console… but then again, the VC shouldn’t be your main reason to buy it. I mean, if you like old games, think of all the old hardware and games you could get on eBay for 500 bucks!

Topic: Kongregate / Badge Suggestions!

Horizontal Hardness Badge (hard – 30 points) Beat Alpha Force without losing a single life

Probably still my favourite game on the site, but I think I’m alone in that fact. :P

Topic: Kongregate / Naming The Ant

The Ant

Topic: Kongregate / What's your rating system?

When you rate games, is it just off the top of your head, or do you have some kind of guidelines? I know that rating games is never an exact science, but I try to stick to a kind of vague system in order to keep my ratings fair and consistent. Here it is:

1 star – Reserved for total wastes of time like “Rubber Band Ball”, “Jonny Cumquick” or whatever it’s called, and anything by MrcredsAlex.

2 stars – Games that are really crappy, but that’s the only thing wrong with them. Any kind of serious attempt at gameplay gets at least a 2. These games suck hard, but at least they don’t laugh in your face with their badness.

3 stars – Games that aren’t great, but have some redeeming qualities other than the fact that they’re functioning games.

4 stars – Games that are really good, but could be significantly better if one or two things were changed. The key word is significantly.

5 stars – Games that are so good, I can’t say anything bad about them that isn’t a ridiculously minor nitpick.

So that’s my system. What criteria do you guys look at when rating?

Topic: Games / Why Second Life is cool

Anymore?

Topic: Off-topic / Name the 1st thing that comes to your mind when...(G)

Balls!

Glass!

Topic: Kongregate / Pedopriest on Kongregate

I take it back. Maybe this thread isn’t less than we need to solve this. There has been a variety of different opinions, and some pretty good suggestions too. I like the idea of some sort of rating/disclaimer/warning system, even if it wouldn’t be entirely adequate in all cases. I wouldn’t blame Kong for deciding to just not bother with a game like this one, because it’s probably more trouble than it’s worth. But let’s face it: very few games are going to cause as much trouble as Pedopriest has, and a simple warning screen with a content descriptor and an age limit suggestion would be more than enough for the vast majority of games containing potentially offensive content.

Topic: Kongregate / Cheaters and Haxorz

Yeah. Not to put words in anybody’s mouth, but wasn’t Sylicas’ little story supposed to be making fun of hacking?

Topic: Games / castlewars tournament Win 100 kong points

Ok, what happened? Did I miss a game I was supposed to play? When is rd. 2 happening?

Topic: Off-topic / 6 word stories (very short stories...)

Why Splash? It doesn’t do anything!

Topic: Off-topic / 6 word stories (very short stories...)

Thanks for humouring me, you guys!!!

Topic: Kongregate / Pedopriest on Kongregate

(The balance between developers’ rights and users’ rights?)

Developers don’t have a “right” to have their game appear on Kongregate, and users don’t have the right to never see anything that might offend them while visiting a website. So basically it’s up to you. Like others have said, Molleindustria didn’t do anything wrong by making the game, and you wouldn’t be doing anything wrong by refusing to host it. It’s just a matter of what image you want to show to the public as a private business.

Part of what’s so great about Kong is that there are so many different games, and that comes from allowing any developer to join in by submitting their games. But that’s just a nice feature, not a rule that needs to be written in stone. It doesn’t mean you need to accept every game submitted, or let a controversial game die a natural death via the user rating system.

So it really comes down to questions like: What is greater, the number of people who will be offended if you censor certain games, or the number of people who will be offended by the game itself? If some of those offended people are users, will they stop playing here? If some of those offended people are potentially valuable developers, will they boycott the site because of it? And perhaps most importantly, how do you (greg and other top Kong people) feel about these issues, and how much do you want it to affect how the site is run?

Me personally, I wasn’t all that offended, and I gave the game a crappy rating because I didn’t think it was much fun. But I’m just one guy. Some people, like me, don’t mind being exposed to almost anything in exchange for the unmatched quantity and variety of good games that Kong provides all in one place. Some people would rather know in advance what they’re getting, and would be willing to sacrifice a little of that convenience in order to avoid nasty surprises like Operation Pedopriest. What percentage of Kong’s users do these groups represent? I have no idea. The opinions of a small number of forum posters and angry commenters is less than you need to resolve this issue.

Topic: Off-topic / 6 word stories (very short stories...)

Nobody else will post. How sad.

Topic: Off-topic / 6 word stories (very short stories...)

I have the thread to myself.