Suggest Ways To Make Together Retro More Interactive

[SpaceBooger]

The more I post on this site the more games I want to play. I thought the 2 games at once was a good idea... but I think we were trying to cater to too many people at once.
I think anyone, including myself, who wants to play a game (like a RPG) will play it anyway and discuss it here like they always have.

I do think we need a rhyme and reason to the Together Retro section... Something like keeping the games score based. Meaning arcade like where there is a score to brag about. I almost think wee need to keep it retro arcade similar to the launch game - Defender.

The more I think about it all old arcade games would be better, plus many have console ports, so that we can share scores and set goals and such. I remember we used to have Super Mario Brother tournaments back in the day. We would each get to play as far as we could without dying with the end of the first castle as a mandatory stopping point. We would write down the score and the highest score won. I can't tell you how much fun I had playing the same old levels over and over again trying to figure out ways to out score my friends. So I do think score based games are the way to go.

[racketboy]

I do think we need a rhyme and reason to the Together Retro section... Something like keeping the games score based. Meaning arcade like where there is a score to brag about. I almost think wee need to keep it retro arcade similar to the launch game - Defender.

I was actually thinking some of the same thing -- or at least have more of a focus on arcade/score-based games.
I had the most fun when we were trying to get our scores up higher.

I'd hate to totally limit to those types of games as there are so many other great games to explore like that, but I do want to focus at least a bit more on those.

[SpaceBooger]

I'd hate to totally limit to those types of games as there are so many other great games to explore like that, but I do want to focus at least a bit more on those.

I don't see a problem with limiting those games to play for score. Other games are cool to play, but we usually play them on our own. The word of mouth on this site has generated a lot of interest in games that I never heard of before - you don't need Together Retro for that.

You could do a monthly "Retro Spotlight" article to explore other games. An article can spark just as much interest for a game as together retro would... but a score and competition would boost together retro more than just an interesting game.

[AwesomeMonstar]

Just gonna throw this out here, for the next game, maybe somebody particularly skilled in whatever the next game may be do a Let's play thread.

For those of you who don't know what that is, just record yourself playing through the game kinda narrate in any way you want to. Also a Great big splash page for each new game like you did with JGR is a good thing to keep up, with bulletin points about the game and what it meant in it's point in history.

[xraydash]

I think focusing on score based games is a good idea too. Games like Defender and Dig Dug don't take that long to play so you can squeeze a round or two in if you've only got a few minutes. (Of course, you have to sink some time into them if you want to get those high scores!) Everyone has other games going on so the quick pick-up-and-play games leave plenty of time for those.

[GSZX1337]

Just gonna throw this out here, for the next game, maybe somebody particularly skilled in whatever the next game may be do a Let's play thread.

That's a good idea. The only thing is, how do we decide who's the most skilled or who should do the LP.

[AwesomeMonstar]

Just gonna throw this out here, for the next game, maybe somebody particularly skilled in whatever the next game may be do a Let's play thread.

That's a good idea. The only thing is, how do we decide who's the most skilled or who should do the LP.

I don't really see anything wrong with a volunteer sort of basis. On the main page for the game they could just say that they're going to do an lp of the game and that should cover it.

[Ivo]

I'd just like to throw out there that I believe focusing on score attack games is a bad idea. I think score attack games appeal to a subsection (one that may overlap a bit with our typical forum goers, but not necessarily going to attract new people to TR).

Defender worked out quite decently despite being hard as heck, but Marble Madness didn't seem to take off similarly (I'll grant that had the "trackball" problem). Our current game is Dig Dug and I'll let you judge how that one is in terms of audience (and it is such a great game as well). I posted this on another thread somewhere: I think we should have an even mix of score attack with progress based action games (some games fall into both camps), with less frequent portion of longer games (not just RPGs, but also strategy games where they apply, or longer action / adventure titles as well).

Ivo.

[Bootaaay]

I can see the advantadge of using score attack games to help drum up a bit of competition, but I don't think non-score based games should be left out as we can always create a bit of competition for them - for example, say the next Together Retro was Super Mario World on the SNES; as theres no leaderboards to compete for, whoever is running Together Retro should compile a list of goals to complete throughout the game with a set ammount of points for each one, and the first person to achieve these goals and then post a snapshot of their TV/PC screen to prove it gains the points and we could keep a leaderboard that way - however, I realize that would make Together Retro more of a race to complete the game, so how about some goals can only be obtained a set number of times and others can be gained by anyone who reaches them - for example;

. Defeat Ludwig von Koopa - 10pts (xInfinite - can be obtained by anyone at anytime)
. Disover the Top Secret Zone - 20pts (x3 - can only be obtained by the first 3 people to post it)

[Ivo]

I can see the advantadge of using score attack games to help drum up a bit of competition, but I don't think non-score based games should be left out as we can always create a bit of competition for them

I implicitly thought about something like this, but without the "first to get there" vibe (and without assigning points to it either). I think when some progress based, non-score game shows up everyone playing could suggest challenges to whoever wanted to try it - this depends on the specific of the game of course, it could be speed runs, "full" exploration of maps, getting all of X item, killing all enemies, or doing a "flawless" run (not get hit / not lose lives / don't use continues, whatever is most appropriate). Some games are better for this than others. I'll take Nights and Virtua Cop as examples, as they are in the upcoming calendar (although they are actually ALSO score attack games). In this case the most obvious thing is to just run for best scores, but in Nights you get ranked in each level (granted, based on score) One "challenge" for Nights could be A rank every level (it is possible to B rank some and still get higher score than someone with all As, I reckon). Virtua Cop is perhaps a better example, as you can strive to finish a level or the whole game not getting hit once (this is seriously hard). Or something more accessible (still requires some skill) is to finish it in default Saturn settings (instead of jacking up the number of credits in the option menu).

Ivo.