Official Contest Chat

[OfficiallyHaphazard]

Weasel, how will you know who copied whose design? How will you figure out if designs were copied, because there are high chances that they will be close to same, or maybe even identical?

All of my submissions are the type that if you move something one pixel in any direction. It will not solve. Or the ticks will be way off. It will be easy to see if anyone copied me. I wonder if there is also an 'original' designer that is stored in the DB if someone opens up a design and resaves it. That would make it easy too. Just looking at some of these designs does not make replication easy, even if its only a few pieces. Its a matter of getting the right size pieces in the right locations.

On top of all of that, he only has to judge the top 10 (or so). And if many of them are established users, it will be easier to distinguish the originality of their designs.

What will happen if the winner had multiple accounts, but only submitted his/her designs on one of the accounts, but the designs came from the other accounts? What will happen then, because technically the designs were made by a single person, not multiple, but the designs come from different accounts?...

I just read in the Official Rules: your Submission must be your original work

Thanks, Weasel, but being a programmer myself, I always try to find out flaws and think of security features in everything that I do, whether it is programming a game, making software, or making a website. I'm not worrying about if I will win or not, but I just don't feel good when I lose when people abuse loop-holes in the rules.

For instance, the rules state that one entry may be submitted per household, but what happens if one submits at school or at a university? Technically, it is not a household because others who submit their design are not always your family members; therefore, ip address checking and other forms of verification are out of perspective.

Sorry for these, um, some-what harsh comments, but I must speak my mind. I am not blaming you in any way.

~I'll shut up now about this topic.

Thanks for everything.

These posts are really funny in retrospect

[2phun]

:giggles quietly: Wasn't going to say anything, but glad I wasn't the only one who noticed.

[Sgt Superman]

They were funny at the time because it was ovbious robokish.net was up to something.

[Xyle]

A beautiful/graceful solution for Canyon with 6 pieces... Way to many points as it is powered.
My competition entry is a weird sticky thing, which although amusing is not pleasing, but lowest score I could make.

My comp entry... +13
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=6792749

My nice original attempt... +19 (6 pieces)
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=6895828

[maxc246]

For the record my losing -9 total solutions...
URL Design Name Level Name
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=6673147 1c180t -6? Displacement
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=6723836 2c66t -4 Stuck
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=6767686 3c216 -3 BLUE Be a Champ
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=6793300 4c132 -9 8BB Gate Keeper
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=6792749 5c303 +13 Canyon

I look forward to seeing RoboBoy/Krisna's HandsOff Water Champ Displacement.

Dude, those were awesome. I really didn't think Stuck could be done without powered wheels. Not only did you do it, but you caught the object with a stick and kept it in the goal. Really great job.

Max.

[Xyle]

For the record my losing -9 total solutions...
URL Design Name Level Name
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=6673147 1c180t -6? Displacement
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=6723836 2c66t -4 Stuck
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=6767686 3c216 -3 BLUE Be a Champ
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=6793300 4c132 -9 8BB Gate Keeper
http://fantasticcontraption.com/?designId=6792749 5c303 +13 Canyon

I look forward to seeing RoboBoy/Krisna's HandsOff Water Champ Displacement.

Dude, those were awesome. I really didn't think Stuck could be done without powered wheels. Not only did you do it, but you caught the object with a stick and kept it in the goal. Really great job.

Max.

Thanks for your praise...
BUT, if you liked mine you are going to love the winners...
Check out designs in the winners thread.
They are awesomer.
http://www.fantasticcontraption.com/for ... f=3&t=5553

[LTLFTC]

They were funny at the time because it was ovbious robokish.net was up to something.

Begs the question why. If I'd delivered papers for the same amount of time I spent on my contraptions I could by three itouch's. What thrill is there in competing and cheating. Where is the sense of self respect. I feel sorry for them.

[Xyle]

They were funny at the time because it was ovbious robokish.net was up to something.

Begs the question why. If I'd delivered papers for the same amount of time I spent on my contraptions I could by three itouch's. What thrill is there in competing and cheating. Where is the sense of self respect. I feel sorry for them.

Perhaps he was more efficient... Borrowing other peoples designs is much quicker.

[2phun]

They were funny at the time because it was ovbious robokish.net was up to something.

Begs the question why. If I'd delivered papers for the same amount of time I spent on my contraptions I could by three itouch's. What thrill is there in competing and cheating. Where is the sense of self respect. I feel sorry for them.

Perhaps he was more efficient... Borrowing other peoples designs is much quicker.

With a minimum 5+ designs being saved per minute (depending on the time of day), I'm thinking it would take longer to type in and browse all those levels to find the perfect design than it would to actually learn the techniques necessary to build the perfect design. Talk about a thrilling endeavor. Delivering papers sounds more entertaining.

[Mike.the.kitty]

They were funny at the time because it was ovbious robokish.net was up to something.

Begs the question why. If I'd delivered papers for the same amount of time I spent on my contraptions I could by three itouch's. What thrill is there in competing and cheating. Where is the sense of self respect. I feel sorry for them.

Perhaps he was more efficient... Borrowing other peoples designs is much quicker.

LOL

[AlecR]

When will the judging be done?

[John Langenbach]

Wonder when the next contest will be. Hopefully soon. My skills have improved greatly and I think I will do much better in the future.

[cooljenny]

Had a great time with the competition. Never intended to submit until I was egged on by my kids. Didn't read the scoring rules in the beginning so I didn't realize until later that if you so much as think about a powered disc your score is through the roof. Anyway someone asked to see my first crack at gate keeper.

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=6829945

Came up with this very quickly (before I read the scoring rules) and declared victory. It was only when I read the rules and couldn't get my ticks below 100 (that extra tick was costing me 1 point) that I scrapped and went to a brown stick solution using one of the orange balls on the side. I gained a few points but my ticks were 233 - I didn't tweak very much.

I do want to say that after looking at the ingenious designs I enjoy the four blue rod solutions for champ, the unpowered solutions for the second pit in canyon, and the rods-only solutions to stuck the most. I'm sorry but as far as the balls-only solutions to stuck - while I can only imagine how long it took to tweak those in - I just don't appreciate them as much. From a scoring standpoint it doesn't seem consistent that everything else being equal (ticks, etc.) a solution using 3 rods only gets the same score as one using 8 or 10 blue balls (or whatever makes that break even).

My suggestion for future scoring would be to make the hands-off badge more points and don't weigh the balls-only solution so much. Also, (I don't know how hard it would be to design and control something like this) but what about a contest where you get a certain amount of time per quest (an hour or two) and no more and then the amount of time you took less than that would earn you bonus points as well as simplicity, badges, and ticks.

As far as cheating. Cheaters will cheat at anything. I do want to say that when I first looked at garmin's displacement I thought I had opened one of my saved (and discarded efforts) for two blue rods. It looked identical - I just couldn't tweak it in - so it wasn't. I spent probably half of my total time of the competition on trying to tweak in my displacement and I didn't. If I had been a micron over one way or the other it might have worked and then it would have been identical. In that particular scenario, once you realize that the big ball will balance on a blue rod and try to win the level with a second blue rod you will tend to a very limited number of solutions.

Signing off until the next email inviting me to another contest.cooljenny

Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:17 am
Private message

[edalton13]

I think I may have had the honor of the 11th place finish. So close, but yet so far:

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=6865768 - -6 pts
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=6710253 - -6 pts
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=6846089 - -4 pts
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=6824059 - -6 pts
http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=6782310 - 10 pts

Total - -12

I spent so many hours trying for a 2 peice water solution to displacement and couldn't get it more than 3/4's the way in.

[meggitt]

http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=6950255

[jakel5555]

I'm sorry to announce that you are almost correct, edalton.

[edalton13]

Damn, sounds like I'm number twelve then. If I would have committed a few more hours, I could have pulled into the top ten. Any way I could throw around a few wild accusations to get two of them disqualified? I'm quite certain a -27 can only be done by selling one's sole, that must justify a disqualification.

[GaminKWB]

Damn, sounds like I'm number twelve then. If I would have committed a few more hours, I could have pulled into the top ten. Any way I could throw around a few wild accusations to get two of them disqualified? I'm quite certain a -27 can only be done by selling one's sole, that must justify a disqualification.

I only sold one of my sole's. And I am okay with it, although I walk kind of funny now.