4 replies to this topic

[hungrybay101]

Hello everyone!

 

I'm massively re-designing one of my defunct pinball tables at the moment and will be released under VPX 10.7 hopefully come January 2021 (assuming VPX 10.7 is out by then). It will have lots of different modes, multiballs, several mini wizard modes, 4 levels of "monster battles" (as the table's theme is about fighting monsters and saving the kingdom), and an ultimate wizard mode (after completing the 6 mini ones and defeating the boss monster).

 

Would you be interested in this table also having a leaderboard website? These are my ideas:

 

The leaderboard website would contain submitted highscores in the last week, month, year, and all-time. It would also have other things such as challenges and speed runs.

 

Of course, it would be hard to prevent cheating, especially given VPX does not have table locking. I'll put in some basic things to deter cheat submissions, but I will also have a video verification system where someone can submit a YouTube video of them achieving the score they submitted (along with proof they did not modify any of the table elements, and they show on-screen their set game difficulty). Verified scores would appear separate from, and above, unverified ones in the leaderboards. Since verification would be very time-consuming, I would only allow verification of scores that make it into any top-5 lists. And again, this is not fool-proof, and a disclaimer on every leaderboard page would indicate so.

 

Submissions would also include the table version so that scores / leaderboards are separated by version, and they would also include the player's set game difficulty.

 

Submission would work similarly to PinemHi where you would register a name and receive a code. In-game, you push a button to input your code, which is then saved and activates leaderboard submission. At the end of each game, you are asked if you want to submit your game (which would include the score and other things such as your timings on major events, such as the wizard modes, for the speedrun boards).

 

The game would still work normally even if someone did not get a code and input it, and even if the code is invalid/expired or an internet connection could not be established. The game would warn of these conditions though (except when no code is entered).

 

Please let me know what you think and if you would be interested in this for my upcoming table.

[anthias]

Back in the middle ages there was a site that did this for a load of VP tables. The tables were modified by their authors to interact with the site, and it was awesome. I forget what it was called, but it was a sad day when it went down. I say do it!

[hungrybay101]

Back in the middle ages there was a site that did this for a load of VP tables. The tables were modified by their authors to interact with the site, and it was awesome. I forget what it was called, but it was a sad day when it went down. I say do it!

I think I remember this website, though I don't remember the name either. I was originally just going to make a site for my own table, but in theory I could make a new site that others can use for their tables as well.

 

Of course, unfortunately I don't think there is any fool-proof method of preventing spoofing submitted scores especially now that VPX is open source and does not allow table locking. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know, and maybe I can get a site spun up for other tables!

[gtxjoe]

One exists.  Check out https://orbitalscoreboard.com

and

http://docs.orbitalpin.com

Edited by gtxjoe, 16 January 2021 - 09:29 PM.

[hungrybay101]

One exists.  Check out https://orbitalscoreboard.com

and

http://docs.orbitalpin.com

Nice; looks promising. No need for me to build something then ATM beyond my own table.