Forums → Game Walkthroughs → Compulse crib
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I notice some of the reviewers for the quite excellent projectile game Compulse are interested in finding the minimal score for the game. I believe I've either come close or, excluding bugs, have found that minimal number at 100 under par (or 4 under pro).
I believe the principles of the game mechanics are as follows:
* If left to its own devices, the ball will accelerate towards the bottom of the screen, obviously. However, it it bounces off the bottom of the screen, it will lose ~20% of its vertical. If it bounces off the sides, it will not lose any horizontal momentum. This applies to one-way walls as well as the edges of the game area.
* A note about the walls: if the ball approaches a wall from the side, it will appear to warp if any part of the ball is on the other side of the wall as it crosses it.
* The edge of the ball is the white border. The edge of the blocks is the grey borders.
* If any part of the ball is touching a block, it will accelerate in the direction of the block at a uniform pace per unit time. That is to say, the longer the ball is in contact with the block, the more the block will affect the ball's velocity.
This is important, as it leads to the following:
* If you want to slightly increase/decrease the effect of a block without putting in another block, you should just move the one block accordingly.
* If you want to use less blocks to get a ball moving quickly, place the block so the ball will contact it when the ball is moving in the desired direction, or when it is moving slowly.
* Blocks can be placed anywhere, including over switches, the goal and (although this is useless), mines.
I think that about covers the main points. My scores for the levels are as follows:
Lvl | Score (Par, Pro)
1 - 1 (2,1)
2 - 1 (2,1)
3 - 1 (2,1)
4 - 1 (2,1)
5 - 2 (4,2)
6 - 1 (4,1)
7 - 2 (6,2)
8 - 1 (4,1)
9 - 2 (8,2)
10 - 3 (6,3)
11 - 2 (6,2)
12 - 1 (6,1)
13 - 1 (3,1)
14 - 3 (7,5)
15 - 1 (7,1)
16 - 2 (8,3)
17 - 2 (5,2)
18 - 1 (5,1)
19 - 5 (10,5)
20 - 5 (10,5)
21 - 5 (10,5)
22 - 2 (6,2)
23 - 2 (7,2)
24 - 3 (14,4)
25 - 6 (12,6)
If anybody wants, I can post why I think they are the minimal scores, or how such can be acheived. If anybody can beat these scores, I'd like to know how it was done
- 9 Replies
(posted for the sake of completeness, I didn't want to bump the thread seeing as this is only related to V1.1)
So reading the blog, I noticed SP3000 et al. managed to score a low 44, to which I thought "how is this possible! D:<"
So I went back and tried to trim down some of my old solutions. Lo and behold, some of the scores above aren't actually the best. How embarrassing.
Yeah Strop, you might be surprised at the ultra-dorks out there, who are exceptionally well at flash/video games. I wouldn't feel bad though, as you could pown such people in conversation any day >
Hey, I'm a dork too!
I mean, seriously. I'm seriously competing in the Compulse contest: I want that iPod! My old mp3 player has been on the fritz for ages and nothing I do to try and get it working again...works.
So you have not completed the last five levels yet? I've only beaten the first 16, and I'm one under pro... but I'm not a total pro at flash/console games so that's great for me haha.
Wait, how could you possibly beat level 18 with only using one direction pad? Maybe you are an uber-dork.... haha just kidding.
And I thought I was doing well :/ Ah well, no shame in losing to an uber-dork
Also, I have a couple things that I would like to add. They involve fine adjustments of the blocks. If you'd like to change the power and affect of the blocks, you just have to reposition them. A single pixel can make or break the game. First thing is the side of the block that the ball enters. If it goes through the same direction that the block moves the ball, it will accelerate the ball. If the ball enters through the side, the block will curve the trajectory of the ball in its direction. If the ball hits the tile head-on, the block will either slow or change the direction of the ball. You can also change the position of the block. You don't want to make the ball go through the center of every block. We are going to use a red block as an example. The further the left edge is from the center of the ball, without leaving the perimeter of the ball, the more power the block will have. This is because the ball will get sucked into and propelled through the entire block. If you just want to nudge the ball a little, move the block to the left side. 'when the ball is falling, you can change the direction and distance of the ball by moving a block up and down the ball's trajectory. The higher the block, the further the ball will travel in the direction of the block. This can be useful when avoiding mines.
And Strop, your scores are much better than mine, but I see that you had trouble with level 25 as well. The actual scores for that level are par 4 and pro 3. Just a heads up, you won't be able to submit your score unless all levels are under par. I have every level beaten, including 25 (did it with 6, I know that it can be done with 5), but my stats show %92 completion. This might be an error on John's part, so if enough people are experiencing the same problem, we should contact him.
I just found another trick that helped me get under pro scores on three levels: If you can't get the right angle with a block, try using the opposite block to bounce the ball against the wall.
Woah, wait, the results I posted above? They're for the first Compulse. I haven't properly revealed my results for the second one- but I can tell you that 100 under par is closer to 30 under pro in the second.
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