NoLimits 2 Tournament 2014 - input/feedback needed

[hyyyper]

As many of you know, we have hosted an annual NoLimits tournament for quite some years. And if you didn't, you know it now

We would like to continue hosting these tournaments, but since NL2 is vastly different from NL, the tournament will have be adapted as well to make sure the contests/tournament rounds are still interesting, challenging and above all, fun!

We would like you to think with us how the contests or tournaments might be changed to ensure all this. If you have any ideas, suggestions or other things you want to share, please post in this topic and we'll make sure the contests will be as enjoyable as before.

If you are new to this site or the tournaments/contests, feel free to ask questions as well!

So, I have some topics on which I would like your feedback, but if you think I have missed something, feel free to add stuff!

- Set up. The tournaments usually started with a Free-for-all round, only a certain number of players advanced to the knock-out phase where two players went Head-to-head until four players remained for the Final round. Do you guys (girls?) want to continue in this style or is their another set up you would like to see?

- Timing. In the past, round would probably last 4-5 weeks. This was usually just enough time to either hand built or Newton something and support it before the deadline passed. As NL2 has a completely different building method, and many more options for scripting, environment and (interactive) scenery, do you think you will need additional time to finish off a coaster?

- Scope. In NL you could build only a single coaster and that was it. Now though, you can build entire theme parks with multiple coasters and animated flat rides. Do you think the focus should still be on designing a single coaster with just the immediate surroundings or are you interested in having a contests where you are tasked with building (a portion) of a park?

- Judging. This was done in the good old T/A/O-format. Ten points for Technical, Adrenaline and Originality could give you a maximum of 30 points, which is then divided by 3 to get your score in the format of .../10. Do you think this judging method is still valid or should it be changed? For example, categories can be dropped or made less influential (you might think building a track is SOOO easy now, only 5 pts can be scored). Or perhaps categories should be added, such as theming or interaction/scripting.

- Rules. I have tried my best to come up with original rules each time, but they usually came down to either: - Train/type limitations, - Height/length/speed limitations, - Template boundaries. Occasionally there would be a rule not to use any vertical loops or you were required to do something specific. Do you think these rules should remain, change or do you think additional rules should be implemented for a certain reason?

So that's what I think are to most important aspects of our contests and tournaments. Please gather your though and let us know how we can make sure that the contests and tournaments for NL2 can be as enjoying as possible.

count me in for nlt

i think we should go for the same but more of building the park over the course of nlt, so the winning track gets put into the park and then onto round 2 and we should do a blind mice round where we pout teams toghter to do a coaster and theming and then go from there

[mkingy]

Definitely keep the rules - I think that's what motivates people to get further through their rides!

My only concern with the park creation is detaching people's 3DS skills from their coaster skills. 3DS building is now a skill of NL creations but I think the focus should still be primarily on the track design if possible. I don't mind the inclusions of parks in the mix but just that they aren't too harsh on anyone who struggles with 3DS!

Looking forward to it - I'll certainly be entering!

[Metazoanhaddock]

ill be sure to participate

[Coasterkidmwm]

As far as the scope goes, remember a park with 5 coasters could wreck someone's computer, so maybe have it split up into two parks for 4 rounds or something like that. I generally liked your rules and limitations that revolved usually around a real world "thing" being built at the time (and those that didn't involve a ride being built that year), so definitely keep that. Also it's way easier to judge something that is somewhat constrained than a total freeform track.

I kind of liked a few years ago where you kept expanding upon the same template. I think that this could be implemented very well into NL2. You could make a template with 3 or 4 different areas for coasters depending on how many rounds you want to have. Each round you would introduce 1 section of the template in which 1 coaster will be built by the contestants. On the second round, you would put the second area of the template in place for every continuing contestant's park. That way, every contestant keeps building upon their own park while the focus is still on every individual coaster. In the end, you would score the last coaster and you would determine the winner by the overall quality of the remaining contestants' overall parks. Just an idea I'm throwing out there. Could very well be changed or added upon.

^ Seconded. The 2011 (I think that was the one) was definitely a great one with the combination of the terrain element and the retention of the park through the entire comp. I think that building a single coaster per round to create a park up through the competition would be great, let each winning ride become a part of the template for the next rounds.

while its already been said, the 2011 NLT was what I had in mind when I originally asked about it. With the ability to make multiple coasters in one park, we could still focus on one coaster per round but build on that so that the final round will have a full park. My thinking was that with a greatly expanded building area the coasters dont necessarily have to be near each other to be part of the park so that they dont crash a lower end computer, like mine. I think the rules and ratings should pretty much stay the same though, however I think the rounds should take advantage of the new coaster types available to us, such that I think a roar o saurous type round would be a lot more interesting that a lightning run type round or a run of the mill B&M round

I'll participate this year.


I think round 1 should be 1 coaster, in a template with rules. Pick the top (insert number here) and have them advance to round two, a park scenario with something like 'must have a large coaster, kiddie/family coaster, 2 flat rides, scenery" and whoever wins that round wins the tournament.

I'm definitely down to do a tournament.

I really think that despite the fact NL2 can handle "parks," though, it really should be 1 coaster/1 park per round; especially when dealing with woodies some people's computers really can't handle more than one track smoothly, even if the scenery is light. I'm not even worried about myself since my computer runs parks fine, but I think it will deter participants if people feel like they're not going to be able to build smoothly.

I also wholeheartedly agree that 3D objects should be a very minor consideration, if considered at all, especially since it's not even strictly a part of the sim, but rather generally accomplished with 3rd-party software.

I'd like to see several categories like the Olympics

have a forum vote on the top seven coaster style and have two tournaments or those types.

So something like:

best suspended
Best Dive
Best Flying
1 - 7

An interesting setup for rules I think would be "Design can not exceed current dimensions of the SECOND place operating record holder of any of the following categories: height, length, inversions of similar real world types" ------- OR ------- World's Greatest "Design MUST exceed ALL current operating record holders in the following categories: Height, Speed, Length, Inversions (should they be found on real world similar models), and drop length.

These categories should not include recreations. I think all recreations can be judged in the same category. Best recreation is the designers ability to replicate an existing or defunct real world roller coaster, the type should not be a factor in the ability to recreate existing dimensions.

I think to be fair to those that don't have the hang of the overwhelming functions of the editor that the above should be based on ride design more so than environmental theming. 80/20


I think best roller coaster should be it's own category, cannot exceed ANY similar style real world (operating or defunct) stats, any style of coaster, must be themed

Ride/theme judge = 50/50

______________________________________


Park Contest

All parks must have an entrance and the entry point set outside the entrance

All parks must have at least 2 roller coasters and no more than four

All parks must have at least two flat ride

All rides must be walking path accessible between each other and the entrance

Best of maybe four voted on themes

I think there should be two seperate contests held at seperate times.

The first would be focused purely on the ride.
- each round would be 2-4 weeks with 1-2 weeks between each round as a judging period
- You can add theaming to a ride if you want to, but will not impact your score at all
- Possibly have a pre-made park with boudries ranging in difficulty where if you choose to use the more difficult boundry there will be a difficulty multiplier added to your score.
- each ride can only have 1 designer
- An idea for scoring would be 25% community score, 25% compitition score (all entries must cirtique other entries in a fair manner), and 50% judge score. This way the judges still have a higher say in score, but gets the community involved as well.

The other tourney would be kinda like a team challenge where multiple designers would work on a single ride.
- Team sizes of 2-4 designers.
- Build period would be 4-6 weeks to give people more time to work together.
- 1-2 week judging period
- Theming will be judged
- Make a pre-made park with pathways that has areas where coasters would go.
- as you progress in the tourney you'll build in the other sections of the park that you haven't used yet.
- same 25,25,50 judging as single tourney

I know the group compitition will be harder on older machines, but it will allow people with good 3d skills to shine while still letting the people without those skills be able to join in as well. Just my 1/2 cent on the subject.

Count me in.

Is it too late to sign up?

[hyyyper]

^No, considering the tournament hasn't been announced yet.

I'll remind you all that this topic is just to give us a feel for the kind of contests/tournaments you'd like to participate in, now that NL2 has been released.

A proper topic will be opened once we get closer to the actual start of the tournament.