Alternate way of handling end of WC...

[Chris Lemon]

So it might be too late in the developmental process to consider this, or it might be a pain to program, but I wanna throw out there what I'm thinking, mainly because the other option right now is doing actual work.

(Also, is there a reason you couldn't steal some of the code from www.mediamacros.com/item/item-949076501/ to make a music fading routine? It looks like a simple loop from where I sit, but I sit among the Director-ignorant.)

So I'm looking at how the WC ends now, and I think there's a better way. Right now, if there's a win, it pulls out to the wide shot of the set , presumably to show off the flashing lights and what-not. I'm not sure if you need to - I think the dings and the music and the flashing money do the trick there, especially since you're gonna show off that screen as you "come out of break" between games anyhow. (Hear me out here.)

I propose the following:

1a) When the round is completed unsuccessfully, either the clock stops where it is (if the last answer is either illegaly clued or correct, but not a win (say an illegal clue was given previously), or sits at "0" (in the case the time expires.) A PgDn removes the clock from the screen, and at this point any boxes that are dark from illegal clues are re-illuminated (but not turned - we've discussed that in the other thread, although this is where you would remap the keys) for the post-mortem.

1b) If the round is WON, the "$10,000" or whatever flashes in the area the clock lives in, the music hits, and the trilons cycle in the expected pattern. a PgDn cuts the music and the trilons go to all-lit.

2) On the appropriate cue (say, "We'll switch partners now and get ready for Game 2, stay with us!"), a PgDn fires the music, the "$10,000" flashes (if applicable) the board starts to cycle regardless of what is displayed on it. PgDn kills this and fades to black.

3) PgDn fades up again, and HERE'S the wide shot with the WC reset to all-Pyramids again, as if they were coming out of the break for Game 2. PgDn kills music, and one more takes to Category Board, where we review the categories and get the game underway.

What do ya think?

[whoserman]

I was thinking that too. Sounds like a great idea if it's reasonable.

[deano14]

well it sounds interesting but I like the wide angle shots with the lights and dings and flashing 10,000 or 25,000 like they do on the tv show, it would be interesting if you could do both by figuring out how to do a wide angle shot after u win then be able to zoom in like u were describing.

[whoserman]

Maybe Todd could figure in the "I/O" keys like the FF program.

[Chris Lemon]

deano14 said:

well it sounds interesting but I like the wide angle shots with the lights and dings and flashing 10,000 or 25,000 like they do on the tv show, it would be interesting if you could do both by figuring out how to do a wide angle shot after u win then be able to zoom in like u were describing.

Uh, yeah, thanks for that.

[deano14]

no problem Lemon ;D


I mean if your going to be making the game exactly like the tv show which I think Todd is trying to do then no your explaination of this in my opinion wouldn't make the game feel right.

I think how Todd has it set up now is pretty close to the show and besides when it does go out to the wide angle shot after u win in the WC u can zoom in manually anyway.

[whoserman]

deano14 said:

no problem Lemon ;D

No offence, Dean, but...

WHOOOSH!

I think Chris was subtly commenting on your run-on sentence that one must read over two or three times to understand what you're saying.

[deano14]

oh sorry no that wasn't meant to be a knock against chris, just using his last name, sorry Chris, my bad, hope u didn't take what I said the wrong way, damm I have to go back to english class, thanks for the heads up whoserman ;D

[whoserman]

Quick side-bar.

Dean, when someone WHOOOSH's you, they are implying that you missed a point. Chris made a sarcastic comment, and you responded as though he was sincere. I wasn't implying that you may have offended. Just so you know.

We now return you to your regular program. ;-)

[deano14]

ahhh, gotcha, ;D damm computer lingo ..lol

[deano14]

so anyway Chris getting back to what you were saying, in my opinion seeing the wide screen shot after u win makes it much more exciting. I know in the show they panned from wide to close up, but I know in Todd's version when it does pan out u can manually zoom in too, wouldn't that just work fine as well?

[jeffp]

Chris said:

2) On the appropriate cue (say, "We'll switch partners now and get ready for Game 2, stay with us!"), a PgDn fires the music, the "$10,000" flashes (if applicable) the board starts to cycle regardless of what is displayed on it. PgDn kills this and fades to black.

3) PgDn fades up again, and HERE'S the wide shot with the WC reset to all-Pyramids again, as if they were coming out of the break for Game 2. PgDn kills music, and one more takes to Category Board, where we review the categories and get the game underway.

How about this for step 2--On the host's cue of "We'll be back to play the second half of the show. Don't go away." (These words can vary from one episode to another.), PgDn restarts the theme song, the flashing prize money display (if applicable) and the board cycling with the trilons still showing what was up at post-mortem with the studio background having been blue since the start of post-mortem (and remaining blue until the next PgDn), there can be controls (such as I/O) to zoom in and out of the WC. The next few presses of PgDn should do the following in order:

- Kill everything and fade to black (this would be the time to turn the projector or TV off while setting up for game 2 because...well, if you look at the next line, you'll see).

- Make a new options screen for between games appear (currently non-existant).

Options available on this options screen would be as follows:

"Side that Goes First" and "Always Show Score" would function same as at the present time at the start of the program, only this time, exclusively setting up these options for game 2.

Here's what would be new:

"Left Team Win Amount" (if the left team wins game 2, this would be the cash amount that would flash should they win in the WC)

"Right Team Win Amount" (same as "Left Team Win Amount", except applying to the right team)

"Mystery 7 Prize" (this would be the text that would flash should a perfect 7 out of 7 be achieved with the Mystery 7 category).


Here is an example:

Side that Goes First: Left
Always Show Score: Yes
Left Team Win Amount: $10,000
Right Team Win Amount: $25,000
Mystery 7 Prize: Laptop Computer

In the above example...
The left team starts game 2.
Top corner score displays are on for game 2.
If the left team wins game 2, they play the WC for $10,000.
If the right team wins game 2, they play the WC for $25,000.
The Mystery 7 offers a laptop computer.

Once these options are set, the next PgDn's should...

- fade to black again (this would be the time to turn the projector or TV back on)

- restart the theme song, and follow step 3 as described in Chris' original post on this thread, with the red studio background and the WC board trilons reset to all pyramids once again, as seen when returning from commercial. Also as described above, another PgDn would kill the theme music, and one more would cut to the shot of the front game category board with categories to get the second front game underway.

After WC round 2, step 2 and 3 should function as posted above, only at step 3, instead of killing the music, the next PgDn after the fade-up should advance to the credits scene (after the host says, "So long").

[deano14]

that sounds good Jeff. ;D and Chris

umm I think I already brought this stuff up in the other post titled: Re: Usability report for RC2a...

Dean

« Reply #28 on: 03/15/2005 at 02:20:10 »

Hey Todd, here is another thing I noticed, not a biggy just thought I would point it out, not sure if it's possible anyway,

but in the Winners Circle after u win the game the music and lights and flashing all stop for a bit while the winner talks with dick clark and whoever is on stage at that time, then when its just about to go to commercial, the music and lights and flashing 10,000 or 25,000 or 100,00 depending on what they win all start up again. just wondering if ther eis a way to put this feature into the game?

Maybe using the page down key after u win stops the lights music and flashing and bell until u want to go to commercial or switch off, just a though? not sure if it's possible or not.

hope this makes sense.

anyway keep up the good work(posted on 03/15/2005)


but not as graphical as what u have posted but it's to the point, looks good though. ;D

[Todd Robinson]

Sounds like quite a bit to chew on.

Something I've wanted to change that I haven't mentioned is changing the winning sequence (or losing). There are some really good ideas; they're things I'd like to see happen.

jeff, I don't think I'm too hot on the options screen between games. I realize the projector or screen can be turned off to hide the second options screen, but my concern lies within the game operator sitting far away from the projector as I usually do. It may be too much for the person to manage. Plus, most of those options can be set at the first options screen anyway or don't need to be changed anyway. For example, why would you want to show/hide the scores for game 1 but not for game 2? And the Mystery7 text container can be just as easily changed before the game starts. Those are just some thoughts.

On problem about animating the close-up version of the game board will be the lights. Right now, each bulb is lit and drawn like that in Photoshop. If I animate the lights, it's not going to look as good as all lights will have to be drawn unlit. To be lit, I'll have to use Flash's paintbrush and the effect doesn't look as clean. I don't mind Flash's paintbrush being used for the animating lights as long as it's not a close-up view. That's why I cut to a wider-angle shot when the board is animated. I suppose I could compromise by cutting and pasting little lit light bulbs created from Photoshop into the close-up shot and see how it works instead of Flash's paintbrush but Flash will probably choke on it and display a choppy animation.

Overall, these are all great ideas and I will work with my game some more to see if I can make some of these ideas happen.

[Chris Lemon]

deano14 said:

so anyway Chris getting back to what you were saying, in my opinion seeing the wide screen shot after u win makes it much more exciting.

Right. And in my opinion, you're a flipping idiot.

Todd, it's all good, right now I'm just hoping to see a playable version of the game soon. Bells and whistles can wait.