Phase 3 Balancing issues/changes

I notice the deadline for the changes to the Round 3 code is coming up, and we’re still on the virtually unchanged version of the game engine.

Especially considering the near-unanimous support among lots of players for removing the Perlin noise generation entirely and going back to the old map generation, as well as possibly changing the object generation percentages, I hope we’ll see a version with these changes made.

But will we have a chance to review these changes and comment on the balancing of the new percentages, etc, before the deadline, or will the deadline be extended so that we can comment before the final version is decided on?

This might also be important with the number of bugs being found in the damage and speed code - the fixes to this will probably be substantial enough to also need the many eyes of the players to check on it and comment before the final version.

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Hi, I was wondering if I could get some clarification on some of the new rules:

  • Does getting hit by an EMP do any damage/have a score penalty to the player getting hit?
  • If it is decided that a boost should be capped by the damage (as the current rules state, but not what is currently implemented):
    • When there is no damage, the boost speed is 15 as usual
    • When there 1 damage, will the boost speed be capped at 9 or 8? Because, as I understand it, the maximum β€œnormal” speed (which you can obtain by accelerating) when your damage is 1 is capped at 8?
  • If it somehow happens that you are at a speed above your currently allowed maximum speed (not sure if this could happen, but asking hypothetically) will you be slowed down the next/current round to your maximum allowed speed?
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I would really like at least 2 weeks from the last bug fix to the tournament. Pretty please ? If that means the third tournament is pushed out a bit does that matter ? There is a large time gap between the third round and the finals.

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Yeah, this happens when you boost, and then manage to hold the boost until the counter runs out. Then you drop back to speed 9 (MAXIMUM_SPEED).
Things should correct when next you hit damage, fix car or try to accelerate (I think)

Oooh I second this , with an extra huge helping of β€œpretty please”.

2 Likes

Soooo… pretty cold weather huh?

Least it helps keep those CPUs nice and chill…

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Hello everyone,

Thank you for all the feedback in this thread, issues on github and issues raised elsewhere in the forum.

We are working on ingesting all the feedback (largely around map gen and the fix mechanic) and will have a new balancing update release for you soon. We are still analyzing all the feedback but once we are done will give an ETA for the new release.

3 Likes
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Hello everyone, we will have a new release ready by Monday (20th July 2020) evening.

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Good evening!

There is a new release available -> https://github.com/EntelectChallenge/2020-Overdrive/releases/tag/2020.3.2

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Thank you so much for these fixes.
I think the terrain is quite sparse now but that will allow for more player interaction and less dodging terrain.
I’m excited to try it all out.

Hi @Arne, I assume the player portal has not been updated yet?

Not yet, keep an eye on the portal though, It will be there during the course of the day

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Thanks @Arne !

Will there possibly be an announcement here as well?

Hi, thanks for all the work on the new release! I’ve been playing around with the new map generation for the past day or two and I’m really glad that the gigantic blobs of walls and mud have been removed, but I personally think the new maps might have gotten a bit too sparse. I think this is mainly due to the new code that ensures that there is always a path through which to navigate - I’ve found that it often leads to long-ish stretches with nearly nothing on the map with the new damage mechanic also playing a much smaller role - this leads to rather simple navigation which I personally find a bit disappointing. Also, I think there might be a possibility that the code that that makes sure that there is always a navigable path might be biased toward the left side of the map - you can see this if you crank up the mud or wall generation percentage up really high.

This is an example of one the matches with the new map generation (three consecutive rounds, seed 52658):

[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘βˆ±β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘Tβ–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘Β»β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]

[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘Tβ–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘βˆ±β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]
[β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]

[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘βˆ±β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘*β–‘β–‘β–‘Β»β–‘β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘*β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]

This morning I’ve been testing the new code and I disabled the bit that ensures that there is always a path to navigate through. I find it to be a good balance between allowing easier navigation and higher speeds but also still making the damage a relevant problem. An example of a map generated with it disabled (also three consecutive rounds, seed 6857):

[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘βˆ±#Ξ¦β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘βˆ±β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘Tβ–‘β–“β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘Tβ–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–“#β–“β–“β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“βˆ±]
[β–‘Ξ¦β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“β–“β–‘βˆ±β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“β–‘]

[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘βˆ±β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘Tβ–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘#]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘Tβ–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘#β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“βˆ±β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘βˆ±β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘]

[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘Tβ–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘#β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘βˆ±Ξ¦]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘Tβ–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘#β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘*β–‘β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“βˆ±β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘]
[β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–‘β–“*β–‘β–‘]

I realize these are nitpicked examples, but they illustrate my point nicely. Sorry for the long post - I’m fine either way with the map generation, but I thought I rather say something earlier on while it might still be possible to tweak the game engine.

4 Likes

I agree it’s a bit too sparse. And if there is any chance of a terrain bias that needs to be removed.

3 Likes

Hello @kobus-v-schoor and @LouisLotter , thank you for the feedback on the map generation. This version was very generous with the guaranteed path being 15 blocks and the object generation being scaled down.

We may look at reducing the guaranteed path length to get more interesting results but if we do it would be minor. Given this is the final stretch we don’t want to make any major changes to how the engine behaves (bug fixes aside).

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Hello @demaniak can finally explain what happened here:

  • when boost counter hits 0 player moves 9 blocks (bug)
  • furthermore which this version of the starter pack when using a boost you move 15 blocks regardless of damage (bug)

^ the 2nd one is already fixed the first one will be in the next release

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Hello everyone, the player portal has been updated with the latest engine.

Hello @demaniak the player portal has now been updated with the latest engine.

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