Procyon Games

I've made one more change to the ranking algorithm.

For those who don't know, the ranking algorithm is based on the same algorithm Google uses to determine its search results (which is the same algorithm SL is now using when you enter a search query in the "Find All" dialog). The change I made a couple days ago fixed a problem with points leaking out of the system, but it concentrated those points too much with people who had undefeated records. This latest tweak distributes those points evenly among everyone who's played games in the time window (two weeks). This is actually closer to what Google does for their own rankings.

Samantha Poindexter has created a line of En Garde T-Shirts. Choose from a variety of witty saying guaranteed to enrage your opponent. And you don't have to say a thing! The shirts are offered as "sharewear." When you pick up a pack, you can make a donation for however much you think they are worth. Just come visit the En Garde Arena and pick up your set from her vendor there.

I made a slight change in the global ranking algorithm.

Previously, a player gained points by defeating other players with points. The way it was calculated, it went through each player, found the players that person "owed" points to (because that other person had beaten them), and gave them some points.

The problem I found was, if a player was undefeated, then the points that they got just evaporated. That made for lower, flatter scores overall. I didn't think that would be much of a problem, but it turns out there's a lot of undefeated players (mostly people who have played one or two games and haven't lost). So a lot of points were getting lost

So now, undefeated players keep all their points, instead of them evaporating.

This change affects all the games with global player rankings: En Garde, Frootcake, and Danger Zone.

Valentine Janus is having a huge, one-day event featuring all four Procyon games! If you play one of my games like En Garde and you haven't tried the others, here is a great chance for you to get some cross-game experience, meet new players, and have lots of fun. Go out there and give Val some support, if nothing else, because I think trying to run four tournaments all at once is a recipe for mental breakdown.

The event takes place Saturday, July 12, in the Zarahemla sim.

Danger Zone games will be running from 4:30AM-4:30PM.

The Frootcake tournament runs from 6:30-6:30.

Both Frootcake and Danger Zone will use the "Local Tournament" scoring, where every game gives you some points, you get more points for every player you beat, and your cumulative score is tracked on the scoreboard.

Then, there's an En Garde tournament, of course. It will run from 1PM-4PM.

And finally, Take it Easy games will be played fro 6:30-7:30PM.

There are other games being played as well, including 7Seas Fishing and Show Jumping.
Val will total up all your scores across all games in her Grand Champion system, to determine the top player for the day!

My server crashed around 3:30AM last night, which means games that were played between that time and 7:30AM (PDT) were lost. I've gotten everything back up and running now.

The reason it crashed was it simply ran out of memory. I've tried a bunch of optimizations but you people are playing too many games! I've put a request in to my hosting provider to be upgraded to a larger package.

I've released a new version of the Deck of Cards, version 1.03.

Now included is the game "Crazy Eights." It's the game "Uno" was based off of. Everyone tries to get rid of their cards first by matching suits or ranks. It's fast and simple, and works for 2-5 players.

The upgrade is free to existing deck owners. You should have received a notice already (and it will tell you when you rez it). The deck doesn't use the same licensing system I use for my bigger games, so it's not as automatic. If you have any problems IM me and I can send it to you manually.

I'm currently in the middle of a server upgrade, so you may see some glitches. I've had some reports of scoreboards going blank; if this happened to you you can force it to reload by clicking on it. The Follow Me HUDs are not working right now, I'm working on getting those back. If you have any other problems (anything saying "Server error, report to Rifkin") please let me know about it.