Maybe putting a map-pack up for sale, or sending the demo to schools to spark interest. Schools are often looking for a cheap alternative to expensive software that is already on the market, and having it be a game too is just icing on the cake (chocolate cake).
I will support CL with whatever they do, even if their next game is "Corporate Soda Bottle Constructor".
And congrats to CL i think the level was really great, it was easy to solve, and you always could squeez out a lot of money.
And the possibility of different bridge designs was really cool, I just hope for the next one that we get a reply mail, so we know you got the bridge.
Looking forward to the next contest, hope they will start soon
BTW, CL, what was your cheapest design ?
My expensive bridge at
http://www.citicom.com/~matt/bridge.gif
AFAIK, Vienna has some nice bridges, too!
I would also like to say that I hope people are paying for this program. It would be a real bummer if CL could not make enough coin to keep up this great work. I will be happy to chip-in for any new software they produce.
Unless I'm missing something though, we don't seem to have any dedicated web space to upload map packs etc. CL need to get this sorted ASAP 'cos it's user support that really makes a game last 'n' last (Half-life, Operation Flashpoint, etc)
I didn't enter the contest but I downloaded the file(just for kicks). and I thought that the winner would build a bridge a lot like grays. the thought never crossed my mind that the type of bridge calis build would win.
Yeah, with the not-so-small river Danube running through, we got some of these ;)
And we got some collapses, too!
Remember the ´Reichsbruecke´ going down early in the morning (with just an empty bus and a single car on it, iirc) the same day when Niki Lauda had his horrible Nurburgring fire crash?
And then there was the (unnamed) new bridge that collapsed even before it was opened to the public. Actually my father did the material calculation for that one! And he had a hard time to prove that his calculation was ok. Finally, he kept his job when they found out that more than one bridge worker redirected concrete transports to their own weekend house construction sites!
So the bridge went down. Well, we all know what happens if you remove just a small piece, or weaken a few links ;)
That's a really interesting design. It's great seeing the winners, because they show a distinct lack of of imagination in my entry (which I thought was pretty good at *100,000* under budget! WOOHOO!!)
This will make me think much more creatively about my next designs Thanks for posting the bridge!
Carlosius Minimus
Ah well, even Gray got beat, so I guess you're way out of our league. =)
Congrats on the best Bridge.
My expensive attempt @ 114948
(http://www.rivendell.d2g.com/scsht006a.GIF) (http://www.rivendell.d2g.com/scsht006a.GIF)
but I do not think it is random because then some bridges would only fail some of the time
You can get my bridge at I
ftp://ftp.complang.tuwien.ac.at/pub/herbert/maximus1.zip
badtumbl is my first try, over optimized.
I had rectangular supports and tried to remove the lateral links at the bottom to save $. But this design seems to need the weight of these (There shouldnt be any other forces there.). Just re-insert another lateral link (to make it symmetric again) and it will work.
ok8not5 is even more interesting, as it can withstand 7 and 8 cars, but it collapses with 5 and 6. So if you ever wondered whether it is possible to build a bridge that gets more stable with more weight on it, look no further ;)
(on the other hand, it is probably the higher speed of the lighter train that brings down this bridge, not sure about this...)
...actually just posting crap to check my current subtitle again :D
regds to all :biggrin:
CONGRATULATION TO YOU, LUCKY POST ,Calis, IT TRUELY SI A MAGIC APARITION INDEED!
Your number 5 is basically what I had before I started to optimize..
Or did you use heavy steel for the supports?
P.S. I felt that the Contest Bridge thread was getting too long... Let's start a post-contest thread...
Go here for my screenshot and bridge:
http://home.pacbell.net/monster9/93094.zip
Of course, I will make the bridge public, so we all can optimize it further. I really spend only a few hours to get the cables into place, so there should be at least some hundred bucks still to save :)
BTW: the design applies well to some other levels, e.g. normal level 12 can be done around 55k that way :)
This second design was my best effort prior to the contest end. This is what I wish I'd submitted. Still wasn't enough to get an honorable mention I'm afraid.
My last bridge I designed after the contest was over, and before the results were in. I was inspired by Gray after discussing what method he used to design his bridge. I never came close to approaching his score.
I hope you all enjoy my failures, I know I've learned from them. I look forward to seeing everyone elses designs.
I want to extend a thank you to mendel for hosting these pictures and the bridges.
Calis, that's an awesome design...never even crossed my mind to try something like that! A thoroughly deserved win! :-D
And a big vote of thanks to the CL team for an excellent competition. I know I wouldn't fancy testing all those #### bridges!!
My bridge is available at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/chillum/chillum.pxb if anyone wants to take a look, although I know which one we really want to see....
(Edited by Chillum at 12:45 am on Oct. 30, 2001)
I'm sure I joined the slew of people around the ,000 mark with a similar arched design. From tests it seemed that the lower the arch the cheaper, so I was content to submit a rather wobbly arch weighing in at ,884. Congrats to Grey & crew to find cheaper, higher solutions.
Overall I must say that the comp has been VERY entertaining, if somewhat stressful. I think that the decision to limit the bridges to 1 and discourage talking has worked in the comps favour. I'm pretty impressed with 108 entries, more than I thought were on this forum. Hopefully some statistics will also show how varied the designs were.
I would like to say how much the contests have extended the lifetime and fun element of Pontifex for me, and I hope this has a knock-on effect of increased sales.
So, Contest Two, what changes do we need? I'll leave the actual problem to CL of course, but I'd like to see the following: (once they recover from this weekend)
* Email confirmation of bridge received.
* Calis banned (just kidding)
* Some way to clarify the settling issue. Perhaps a later version to have a competition mode that starts the train say 20 seconds after start is pressed. If reliable bridges are sought the train could zip back and forth 100 times for all I care
I for one was praying that on the one run that CL did of my bridge it wouldn't get a freak collapse. (I'm also wondering about floating point consistency here?)
Anyway, thanks all for a great competition and I look forward to round 2