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Monday, October 29, 2012

Sequence (PC) (2011)

Sequence (PC) (2011)*
*Now known as Before the Echo (PC) (2011)
: Jax Ltd. (manufacturer and distributor of the board game Sequence) filed a claim against Iridium Studios (developer of this video game) over the name Sequence. To avoid any complications and fees, Iridium Studios renamed Sequence to Before the Echo.

Menu Screen

Relevant Links:
Sequence (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Before the Echo (Steam Store Page)
20121029:
This game was pretty fun. It employs several interesting gameplay mechanics. One such mechanic is using experience (XP) points to pay for crafting recipes (synthesis). One can increase the amount of XP points to improve the probability that such a recipe will succeed.

Note: If the attempt to synthesize a recipe fails, the ingredients do not get used, only the XP points are consumed.

Of course the main mechanic of interest is switching between three possible music fields: spell, defense, and mana. When battling, attack arrows will occasionally fill the defense field and every arrow that is missed damages the player. Colored arrows damage the player more than regular arrows. In order to attack the enemy, heal, or defend, the player casts a spell and must successfully execute the sequence under the spell field. Casting a spell consumes mana and mana must be recovered under the mana field.

Difficulty options.

Tip: There exists an optimal amount of experience points to use to craft a recipe. Let's say the cost X gives a probability of Y. At probability Y, one can compute the expected number of tries it would take for there to be a success. Math below. Multiply that amount by X to get the average cost. As you increase X, you increase Y. At first this lowers the average cost, but eventually the average cost begins increasing again.

Optimal Use of XP Chart:
Difficulty 01: 010XP for 79.5% is an expected 012.578XP
Difficulty 03: 039XP for 67.3% is an expected 057.949XP
Difficulty 04: 056XP for 63.7% is an expected 087.912XP
Difficulty 0X: 074XP for 60.5% is an expected 122.314XP
Difficulty 0X: 117XP for 57.4% is an expected 203.832XP
Difficulty 08: 145XP for 57.8% is an expected 250.865XP
Difficulty 09: 168XP for 55.7% is an expected 301.615XP
Difficulty 13: 287XP for 52.7% is an expected 544.592XP
Difficulty 15: 347XP for 50.4% is an expected 688.492XP
Difficulty 17: 425XP for 50.1% is an expected 848.303XP

Battle. Red = Defense, Blue = Mana, Green = Spell

Caution: There was a situation where I loaded an enormous amount of experience for something, in order to record X and Y above, and then accidentally went ahead with the crafting. This situation is equivalent to playing a game for several hours and then losing the save file. It's equivalent because some of the time spent used to earn the experience has been lost. This was upsetting. I hope you can avoid the same error I made.

I should also note that I liked the voice acting.

Steam Achievements:
20121029 2:09pm Defeat your first enemy
20121029 2:34pm Obtain all three droppable items from any single enemy.
20121029 2:36pm Defeat the Holiday Whompa.
20121029 2:42pm Complete a battle without failing a spell.

Math:
Let $X=1$ be a success and $X=0$ be a failure, with the probability of success being $p$. Now we want to compute the expected number of trials until $X=1$. If there were $k$ trials until success, that means we had to have had $k-1$ failures and one success. Thus the probability of requiring $k$ trials is $p \cdot (1-p)^k$. Thus the expected number of trials until $X=1$ is $$\sum_{k=1}^\infty k \cdot p \cdot (1-p)^{k-1}.$$ This can be rearranged as $$-p \cdot \frac{d}{dp} \sum_{k=1}^\infty (1-p)^k$$ which in turn equals $$-p \cdot \frac{d}{dp} \left( \frac {1-p}{1-(1-p)} \right)=\frac{1}{p}$$

You synth (create) items using XP and can desynth (sell) items for XP.

[20130104]
20130104:
Upon booting up the game again in two months, I went back to replay all the enemies from Floor 1, Floor 2, and Floor 3. Then I did some grinding on Floor 3 until I had the ingredients to synthesize Inhibitor the Third, and more ingredients to synthesize Key the Third. On floors after the first, there is a corresponding floor guardian who uses his/her power to try to screw you over. Synthesizing the Inhibitor for the corresponding floor prevents the power from being used on the floor, with the exception of when you battle the guardian in person. To advance from one floor to the next, you have to synthesize the corresponding Key.

In any case, I was also reminded of how great the music is. I believe in the long run, the actual number of soundtracks used for gameplay gets repetitive, but the spells and difficulty of the monster changes. As such, repetition is actually good, since then you get used to parts of it enough to get a flow, but other parts of the game change.

As a side note, I had skimmed one review and the reviewer oversimplified the game as being a rhythm game with RPG elements slapped on, making the game needlessly complex and requires excessive grinding. In defense of the game, I would first say that grinding often goes hand-in-hand with RPGs. I would also point out that the rhythm game is being used as the battle mechanism. That is, one could have theoretically stripped this game of the rhythm game, replace it with a standard RPG battle mechanism, keep the story, and turn it into a standard RPG. The combination of the rhythm mechanic is what makes the game exciting and novel.

After you successfully synth a scroll, you have to complete a goal to unlock it.

Of course, the fact of the matter is that Sequence has a lower metascore than Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (2007), an RPG with Bejeweled as the battle mechanic. Thus I did some more reading and it seems other complaints consisted of a lack of songs and childish dialogue. I already mentioned how I saw the limited number of songs in a positive light, but it's a fair point to put forth. However, on the point of the dialogue being childish, I would disagree. I believe the dialogue matches the subtle humor found throughout the game. After all, there's a weapon named Doublerain Bow and the description of a Goblet is "A little goblin. His name is Billy."

Overall, the game seems to have several qualities worth loving or hating, and the combination of where you stand on each quality will determine if you like the game or not. I like the game, and would be willing to grind if I had the time, but alas, I have to move on to other games for the moment.

Some of the dialogue can be pretty funny.
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Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Adventures of Shuggy (PC) (2012)

Overview and Recommendation:
The Adventures of Shuggy is a puzzle platformer that places some emphasis on finishing each and every level quickly. While the game's single-player mode is fun, its multiplayer mode is even better. If you like challenges, try getting to the top of the leaderboards (or grab a friend and try getting to the top of the co-op leaderboards)!

Game Loading Screen.

[20181211 Edit]
20121028:
Steam Game Time: 22 minutes
20121230:
Today I played through the co-op game with Michael while waiting for Josh to return. Michael had Num3 changed to Num0. He also used one hand to play. Although the randomly moving mosquitoes were annoying,* the co-op mode was fun.

Co-op.

I asked Michael what he thought of the game, and he told me that the two-player game had some decent tension and that it was a decent platformer. He felt like the game could have been made in 1991, but that it's still pretty good.

*20220531: I read that on the PC version their path is actually predetermined. However, it would take a good reason to memorize their path (e.g., cherry on top optimizations on a top run)
[20181211 Edit]
20130113:
Today I played through the co-op game with Josh. Josh had Num3 changed to Enter. I recall he used two hands to play.

We made a good team and we were able to make it to the top of the leaderboards on several levels.

[20181211 Edit]
As of 20130119, I've achieved the following times (with Michael / Josh):


Josh and I first got 24:91. But we felt we could break 24 seconds. First we got it to 24:73. Then we got it to 21:81! So then we wanted to break 21 seconds. And that's when we achieved 19:10!

Tip: When going for a best time, make sure you're aware of whether there is or isn't a power available on that level.

Steam Game Time: 4 hours (total game time)*

*20171026: I'm not sure if this is exactly 4.0 hours or approximately 4 hours

[20130119]
20130119:
Today I played the co-op level named Holes by myself and managed to get a time of 59.71, moving up in ranks.

Let Player H be the Horizontal Player.
Let Player V be the Vertical Player.
1. Player H runs to the top platform.
1. Player V runs to the block left switch, then to the block down switch.
2. Player H jumps up onto the block and gets the gems to the top-left and returns to the block.
2. Player V runs to the block right switch, but should get off after it passes the next platform located above the block up switch.
3. Player H gets the gems above the spikes and the gems to the top right. Then moves to the block down switch, then to the block left switch, then to the block right switch.
4. Player V gets the remaining gems.

Holes.

I numerically labeled the steps which I believe can be executed simultaneously when playing with two players. It's possible that Player V can take Player H's task of activating block down switch during Step 3. If not completely, then at least partially.

Consumed with the idea of playing two characters by myself, I played the level again and got 55:25, putting me at 3rd on the leaderboards. I played again and got 51:31.

The Switch Central time can be improved by first noting the order of the switches. Then determining a decently efficient route.

Steam Game Time: 5.1 hours (total game time) / 4.4 hours (last two weeks)

[20130119][20171026 Edit][20181211 Edit]

Ada played as Daisy and I played as Elvis (20171025)

20171025 Snapshot:
Steam Game Time: 6.0 hours (total game time)
20171025:
Today I played the game with Ada. We played through the Gallery. It was strange because we encountered some levels which I had certainly played before, but I can't remember who I played them with.* In any case, it was fun to watch Ada fumble or master the controls. I would say that until today I didn't realize the amount of precise motor control that goes into playing platform video games.

There were a couple of other minute details I observed. Here are the ones I can remember:
1) Her: fear to collide with mines and consequently unnecessary reaction such as jumping to her death or running into said mine; Me: stand still because I know I'm not going to hit a mine or last-minute jump to safety if I miscalculated

After failing the first time, Ada wanted me to take over and complete the swing for her during the subsequent attempt, but I insisted she do it. She succeeded!

2) Her: jumping onto a platform, but then running past it; Me: jump onto a platform and land where I want to be
3) Her: timing of a delayed jump (a special game mechanic used in one of the levels); Me: quick refinement and repetition of action through visual cues to consistently execute, but in general, more intuition on the timing
4) Her: waits for enemies, generally due to fear of collision, but sometimes due to limitation of imprecise movement; Me: I can make it (sometimes I don't)
5) Her: sideways orientation was not intuitive, and her first encounter with it, she persisted in using left and right instead of up and down; Me: it's possible I also first tried left and right, but immediately switched to up and down and from there movement was nearly as precise as the normal orientation

Steam Game Time: 8.8 hours (total game time) / 2.8 hours (session game time)

After Ada was too tired to continue, I decided to go through and do a quick recording session that involved me going to each level and checking the time for it, for both co-op and single-player. I then played a level until I achieved a satisfying record. Unfortunately, when I finished playing, I had realized that the recording program (OBS) never started recording.

I did well on this level (20171025)

*20220530: It's possible the familiarity comes from single-player mode.

Steam Game Time: 9.9 hours (total game time) / 1.1 hours (session game time)

[20171025][20220530 Edit]
20171027:
Today I played solo for about 2 hours 20 minutes (10:37PM to 10/28 12:55AM*). Actually, I spent time going through the leaderboards (something I tried to do on 20171025), with the first 48 minutes for the co-op levels (and occasionally making comments or playing) followed by the single-layer levels (and occasionally playing). Later Ada came home and we played for about 1 hour (10/28 12:55AM to 10/28 1:59AM*). We played through the Graveyard. I then continued playing solo for about 1 hour 45 minutes (10/28 1:59AM to 10/28 3:47AM*).

*20220530: According to timestamps of my OBS recordings.

Steam Game Time: 15.0 hours (total game time) / 5.1 hours (session game time)

[20220530 Edit]
20171108:
Today Ada and I played through the Clocktower (and finished with one level from the Boiler Room).

Steam Game Time: 16.5 hours (total game time) / 1.5 hours (session game time)
20171113:
Today Ada and I played through the Gallery room and improved our times.

Steam Game Time: 18.7 hours (total game time) / 2.2 hours (session game time)
As of 20171028/20171108/20171113 My friends and I have achieved the following times:


Note that if the "DATEPLAYD" field is less than or equal to 20171027, then the "Rank" and "TIME1" fields were populated on 20171027. Otherwise, the "Rank" and "TIME1" fields were populated on the same date as the "DATEPLAYD" field.
20171122:
Today I focused on quantity over quality; I played as many levels in the Boiler Room as I could and only replayed those which I absolutely felt like I could easily improve. However, playing with the keyboard put a lot of strain on my left wrist. One reason was playing with bent wrists. Another reason was the left hand was handling both the directions and the jump (space). Though I suppose I could have used my right hand. Regardless, I should have used a controller.

Remark: I had not played any levels in the Boiler Room (Single Player) before today.

Steam Game Time: 19.9 hours (total game time) / 1.2 hours (session game time)

[20220522 Edit]
20220522:
Today I completed all the Boiler Room levels. Many of these levels make use of a repeating time mechanic where the current active player character's actions are recorded for a set amount of time (I believe 20 seconds). At the end of the time, a shadow will repeat those actions (and all the shadows before it will repeat as well). The active player character must not run into any of it's shadows (so the player must plan accordingly). One strategy I did not explore was using an active character to keep a door open without having to hold the corresponding button down.

As a side note, today I played with a keyboard (my old ROG laptop) and did not feel any strain on my wrists.

Steam Game Time: 22.6 hours (total game time) / 2.7 hours (session game time)
20220523:
Today I was able to play a few levels from the next unlocked area, the Gallery.

Steam Game Time: 22.7 hours (total game time) / 0.1 hours (session game time)
20220525:
Steam Game Time: 23.1 hours (total game time) / 0.4 hours (session game time)
20220526:
Today "Hurdles" in the Gallery was a fun challenge. One tech I had discovered was to reset the level and hold down the action button. This allows an immediate jump over the first hurdle.

As for the "cave" area, I suspected there was tech to avoid going into it. I theorized that one could do an early jump that allows for a bounce off the cliff, then that would save the travel into the cave. Continuing to try this level, I eventually managed to do this early jump. At first I thought I wouldn't be able to repeat it, but eventually I was able to do it more frequently until eventually it was part of an 18.25 second run (rank 11). The trick is to make a small jump onto the platform that precedes the cave area in order to land onto the earlier part of that platform. Then make a small jump onto the floor. This allows an earlier charge to bounce off the cliff. Otherwise, the more common behavior is to make a big jump which places the player about mid-platform with no time to charge. The player character then naturally walks and falls to a spot that is beyond the starting spot required to bounce off.

And last but not least, the final platform can easily be reached by starting a jump charge as soon as one lands.

There is likely additional tech, but that's all I figured out.

Steam Game Time: 24.2 hours (total game time) / 1.1 hours (session game time)
20220529:
Steam Game Time: 24.9 hours (total game time) / 0.7 hours (session game time)
20220530:
Gameplay Log:
Finished all the Gallery levels
Started playing through Graveyard levels

Steam Game Time: 27.8 hours (total game time) / 2.9 hours (session game time)
20220531:
Gameplay Log:
Finished all the Graveyard levels

Steam Game Time: 29.2 hours (total game time) / 1.4 hours (session game time)
20240103 Snapshot:
Steam Game Time: 29.3 hours (cumulative game time)
Last Played: 20220604
20240103:
I recently learned about a video game library manager called Playnite which I have found to be such an invaluable tool. After it imported my games, I have gone through and changed the Completion Status for games with time played greater than 0 to "Beaten" or "Completed" where applicable. After this process, I'm going down the list starting with the most played games and looking for games that I haven't Beaten and completing the first game which I decide not to put on hold ("On Hold") or abandon ("Abandoned"). The first game I decided to try and finish was this one!

Setup: Played on PC with a controller (Logitech F310).

Gameplay Log:
Having not played the game in a while I was a little disoriented. After some time and in combination with my records above, I discovered that I had just unlocked the Clocktower. Furthermore, an uncompleted room has a dark doorway and a completed room has a lit doorway. The areas have the following connections to the Dungeon:
Graveyard (finished 20220531) - Dungeon (finished) - Clocktower (not yet started)
Boiler Room (finished 20220522) - Dungeon (finished) - Gallery (finished 20220530)
Finished all the Clocktower Levels
Having completed all the levels in the single player mode, my total time was 01:05:39:55 putting me at a ranking of 20.

The next rank above me is ahead by 5 minutes, which is a lot to cut. However, it would be easy to find all the low ranking levels and improve on them first. It will, however, be a little tedious to capture the rankings for all the 116 levels.

Note to self: I have a Google Sheet with entries for the co-op levels.

Steam Game Time: 32.4 hours (cumulative game time) / 3.1 hours (session game time)
20240104:
With some exceptions, I want to bring rankings for all levels to below 100.

Gameplay Log:
I spent some time making a record of my current ratings and times.
I started tackling levels with the lowest ratings.
After 12 levels I improved my overall rating from rank 20 to rank 19.
I left off on "Time to Hide" in the Boiler Room but I couldn't easily even beat the level. I think I should take notes as well as review my prior solution.
It seems I did not record the 20220522 session - or maybe I did and it's stuck on my ROG laptop
In any case, because I didn't have a recording available, I decided to watch a run on YouTube (which happens to be a great run): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nAHDm8Um9Q

Steam Game Time: 37.8 hours (cumulative game time) / 5.4 hours (session game time)
20240105:
Gameplay Log:
Went through about 15 to 20 levels with low ranks; my overall rank from 19 to 15 with progress towards 14
Left off on "Beast Cavern", which I played yesterday but I didnt' take the rank down to below 100.

Steam Game Time: 43.6 hours (cumulative game time) / 5.8 hours (session game time)
The Adventures of Shuggy (PC) (2012)*
*The Adventures of Shuggy (XBLA) (2011)

Relevant Links:
The Adventures of Shuggy (Wikipedia.org)
The Adventures of Shuggy (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
The Adventures of Shuggy (XBLA) (MetaCritic.com)
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