Kong

-=EDIT=-
The content of this post has been moved to the FAQs.

Read them, know them, love them, tattoo them to your ass if it helps but don't break them.

Slime Slayer

if we pause a game, to go to run some errands, would this effect our average frame rate?

Kong

No. Frame rate is not counted while it is paused.

Also the fast forward button will not increase your recorded frame rate. So you can not force lag and then hold the fast forward key to make up for it.

If you are unsure if your computer is fast enough to play the game at 100% speed that is ok, submit the score anyway and we will let you know if it was too slow. If it is slow then your score will be deleted but it wont be counted as intentional cheating.

You can hold the "end" key to see the maximum FPS that your computer is capable of for the the current game. It should be above 100%. A few games, especially 3D games, take very powerful computers.

If your computer is fast enough to play the game and you are playing fair then you have nothing to worry about. Banning is only for people that are trying to cheat.

If you are the type of person that has more fun finding ways to cheat than playing fair, that is fine. I am the same. Just let me know what you discover.

Winnebagel

That's good info. I didn't know you could hit that key to get this.

I am always surprised when people come up with this stuff. I'm just not wired that way, so I'm amazed when people find new ways to cheat. Hopefully, the new system will help prevent most of that.

joz

I use pause a lot, but that's because I play at work and I have to stop the game so I can answer the phone. I'm a telecom operator and it gets difficult to play games like Tetris Tengen version and answer the phone. I use other applications on the computer to help assist my work. If this is a problem I'll stop and stick to games like TMNT and other side scrolling games where pause doesn't help out.

Kong

It only matters if it looks fishy or not. It only takes 2 or 3 pauses in a trivia game for it to be fishy. For it to be fishy in a beat'em up like TMNT it would need to be hundreds. Puzzle games would be in the middle. Unless you are setting really high scores or playing trivia games we wont look too closely at pauses.

Kong

Please reread the rules in the first post. Some of them have changed.

Kong

Rule addition again.
The following rule was added to the Mastering requirements.

1. If a game loops, you only need to complete the first loop. That means some games such as Donkey Kong will be very short and easy to beat.

Here are some examples of games this will effect.
Super Mario Bros
Legend of Zelda
Castlevania
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Kung Fu
Vulcan
Flicky
Punch-Out Arcade

Some examples of games that would NOT count as loops.
Pac Man
Galaga
Space Invaders
Asteroids
Centipede

elrod21

I think Kung Fu should be two loops because you only get the full heart made of hearts above your head after the second loop which would be the better ending no?

Either way I guess I should go back and get my mastery for such games (except I never stopped at the required screen when I played before.)

Kugyince

Elrod: First loop only. This is to simplify the approval process for the GM staff.

elrod21

That's cool! I will do it that way then.

Kong

And to simplify it for users too. We're trying to eliminate rules with exceptions.

There may seem like there are a lot of rules but I think we have done a decent job of making them simple and cover all special circumstances that could ever come up.

elrod21

I understand completely and I really do appreciate all you and the other mods do for the site. (For virtually free I might add as well.)

alohaex

Maintain at least 95% FPS

What is an FPS?

Kugyince

Frames per second.

alohaex

Thanks Tenser

alohaex

Question if the game has stages but you are not required to go to them and they serve no part in the game story do you still need to go to them for game mastery submission

Kong

Link to the game?

alohaex

Star Trek 25th Anniversary for the NES has many planets you can visit but most of them play no part in the game main story. There just there for you to fly to and beam down to then it tells you that there is noting here to do and you don't need to be there

Retro Uprising - Arcade - Star Trek 25th Anniversary

Kugyince

They can be skipped.

alohaex

Ah good to know thanks Tenser

goombaman

are we allowed to farm in RPGs, games such as Final Fantasy are hard to do unless you sit in one place to up your lvls a little, also, are we aloowed to die in Rpgs, or other long games such as Ledgend of Zelda without restarting, these are probly stupid questions, but i just wanna be sure i am of course talking about mastering, not for a high score

Kugyince

If the game is SRAM enabled (games that had battery saves in the cart such as Zelda and FF) you may grind as it is part of the game genre.

alohaex

So just to be clear we can die and then resume the game from our last save in an RPG if we did a battery save right and we don't have to start the game again from the begining for mastery submission right

joz

correct