| Author |
Message |
Joerg (Joto)
New Solitaire Player
Username: Joto
Post Number: 1
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 11, 2005 - 9:49 am: | |
Hi Solitairees :-),
i've tried the demo a few days and now registered PGS. I was amazed of the big collection of games and the possibility to adjust all settings (i'm visually impaired and need big Cards and special Colors of Background a.s.o. - all possible in PGS).
I used another and very ancient Solitairegame-Program "Solitaire Deluxe" (it comes from my Windows 3.x times with me until my XP-Box today) and has about 30 games within.
Now, as i have PGS, it can retire. Well, nearly! PGS has all what Solitair Deluxe have (Tours, Highscores, different games a.s.o.) and more of course...but PGS is missing one speciality i love in Solitaire Deluxe. The "challenge scoring mode".
The idea behind challenge scoring is, that you are rewarded more points for every card you place on the foundations in a row without using the waste, stock or rearrange cards in the tableau.
So, if you play i.E. Klondike and place the Ace on the foundation you earn 1 Point, if you have the 2 ready and place it in the next click too you earn 5 Points (now 6 total), if you have the three (or another ace or any other cards that are playable and fits on the foundation at the moment) you get 10 points more for the next card. So first card in a row 1 Point, second 5 (making total of 6), third 10 (total of 16), fourth 15 (total: 31), fifth 20 (51), .... you get the idea?
The row is aborted if you use sth. other than placing cards to the foundation. Turning the card on the stock. Placing a card on the waste (of course: Moving a card from the waste to the foundation will not break the row - as you've placed another card on the foundation) or rearranging a card on the tableau. When this happens the row stops and the next card which is placed on the foundation will start a new row and counts only 1 Point again (5, 10, 15 for the next cards again).
Winning the game will add another 5000 Points Bonus to the score in Challenge Scoring.
Why do i love this scoring so much? Because it adds another thrill and complexity to the gameplay. First you want to solve the game of course...but with challenge scoring you also have the intention to build long rows and place them together one after another on the foundation. So in Klondike you don't put every possible card on the foundation immediately. You want to collect most cards on the tableau until you are really forced to play off the cards (to get the highest score).
But this collecting may be dangerous too. If you want to bite a too big piece you maybe oversee and pass the point of solving and get stuck. So don't want too much and don't want to less.
And, even the same solved game, not neccesarily scores the same points. It depends how long your rows of layoff cards were. Of course there is a maximum (collecting and arrange all cards before placing the first on the foundations) and in some games there this scoring makes no sense (or better no difference) as there is no arranging or waste and/or stock (like in "fourteen out") in which you gain the same points in every play depending how many cards you have "solved", but in other games it gives me (and my buddy - with wich i do challenges) amazing thrill. We play tours in challenge mode and compare the total points.
It is only a suggestion. If you don't like the idea or there is a technical problem, never mind. PGS is good enough and worth every penny as it is now. But if you like the idea, maybe we can see this feature in one of the next versions *HoldingThumbsCrossed* so that i can retire my Solitaire Deluxe finally and completely.
Happy Solitair-ing
JoTo |
Thomas Warfield (Support)
Moderator
Username: Support
Post Number: 839
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 10:28 am: | |
That's an interesting system.
The primary problem with any scoring system is how to make it work across all types of games. This system may work for Klondike type games, but it won't work for others. Putting in a system for one type of game is a problem since people will expect it to work for all types. |
Kjell Petterson (Kjell)
Intermediate Solitaire Player
Username: Kjell
Post Number: 38
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 12, 2005 - 4:08 pm: | |
On the subject of scoring systems...
It appears to me that some players may have 'lucked out' with certain games and report great scores after playing a limited number of games, and then never upload new scores (possibly because their percentages have been dropping).
You do set limits for the number of games played required to be posted on the scoreboard. How about introducing a time factor, e.g. automatically deleting scores which are more than six months old? |
Joerg (Joto)
New Solitaire Player
Username: Joto
Post Number: 2
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 3:19 am: | |
@Thomas:
Thanks for your reply.
OK, i really don't know as much about solitaire games as you and i even not have tested all 601 games in PGS yet :-)), but as i write earlier: "This scoring makes no sense in some games (like Fourteen out)". But would it harm? You get the points you get in such games. If your points are 52 in normal scoring or 4730 (or whatsoever) in challenge scoring for this game it makes no difference, isn't it? And somewhere in your code you have to add up the points of the game. If you add 1 or (1 + 5*(NumberOfCardsInRow - 1)) seems the same to me (in a programmers view).
OK, i must admit, there is a trapdoor here. You have to set the "RowEndsNow" condition somewhere in the game and reset the NumberOfCardsInRow Variable to zero if the player uses stock, waste or tableau. And this would be different in every game. Maybe this would be a problem. But every game has a different layout and different rule now too. So it could be done somehow, i think.
But if this scoring system is implemented it will make such games in which it makes sense even more interesting or do "nothing" (don't harm or break anything) in others. And Users that don't like it can select "Normal" or "Vegas" scoring as in the past of course.
Maybe i oversee here sth. If you have time, i'll be glad if you show me a game in which you think that this scoring system will break the program or harm. I'll be glad to learn this new aspect.
But again...this feature is not a "must have". I love PGS as it is too.
Thx. again for your precious time and reading my posts.
CU
JoTo |
|
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page